7 essential skills for students to face the future

Critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability, and information analysis skills are things students need to practice early.

Education may be a passport to the future, but schools appear to be failing to impart some of the most important life skills to students, an education expert says.

According to Weforum, in his book The Global Achievement Gap, Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard University's Change Leadership Group, identified seven key competencies that every child needs to survive in the future workplace.

1. Critical thinking and problem solving skills

Companies must continually improve their products, processes, and services to compete. And to do this, they need workers with good critical thinking skills, the ability to ask the right questions to get to the bottom of a problem.

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2. Ability to cooperate and influence

The nature of business is networking. So leadership, teamwork and the ability to influence are becoming increasingly important. According to Dr. Wagner, the key to being an effective leader has a lot to do with “creative problem-solving skills and a clear ethical framework.”

3. Flexibility and adaptability

The ability to adapt and pick up new skills quickly is critical to success. Workers must be able to use a variety of tools to solve problems. In other words, they must be able to learn.

4. Initiative and entrepreneurship

People tend to be risk averse. But in reality, it's better to try 10 things and succeed at eight than to try five things and fail at any.

5. Oral communication skills and writing ability

Fuzzy thinking and an inability to articulate thoughts were common complaints from business leaders Wagner sought information for his book. In addition, young people often use poor grammar and pronunciation. “If you have great ideas but can’t express them, you’re lost,” Wagner said.

6. Skills in accessing and analyzing information

Many workers have to deal with a large amount of information every day. The ability to sift through and extract what is relevant is a challenge, especially when that information can change rapidly.

7. Curiosity and imagination

Curiosity and imagination can lead to innovation. They are important factors in problem solving. Mr. Wagner believes that we are born curious, creative, and imaginative. "The average 4-year-old will ask hundreds of questions a day. But by the time he is 10, that child is more likely to be concerned with finding the right answers in class than asking good questions. What parents and teachers need to do is keep that curiosity and imagination alive," Mr. Wagner says.

According to VNE