Our Kids Deserve an Education That Prepares Them for The Real World

The world our children are growing up in is almost unrecognisable from the one we lived in at their age. Industries have changed dramatically, technology is evolving at a rapid pace, and the skills needed to excel outside of the classroom can’t be learned from a textbook.

In theory, providing our children with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive outside of the classroom is the aim of the Australian schooling system – but at the moment, we’re failing the test. By overloading the curriculum with erroneous content that is no longer relevant outside of school, we are setting our students up to disengage in learning and subsequently miss developing the critical skills they do need.

Supporting Our Children When They Need It Most
As children near the end of primary school and enter high school, they become increasingly aware of how the world really works. This is especially true in the age of social media, where children are more exposed than ever to the realities of the world around them. How we nurture them during this time of intense growth and awareness can determine a lot about their future. This is called the window of opportunity, and at the moment, we’re missing it.

Research by UNICEF shows that between the ages of 9-14, children undergo a period of vulnerability and opportunity during which they are more susceptible to developing either positive or negative patterns of behaviour. It’s no coincidence that in this timeframe we often see kids start to skip school or participate in risky behaviour. In a lot of cases, this is due to a child becoming disillusioned with the world they have been told they live in and the world they are perceiving around them.

While you can tell a five-year-old that the sky's the limit and their dream to become an astronaut will one day come true, telling the same thing to a 14-year-old who shows no interest or aptitude in science won’t have the same motivating effect. Due to the intense vulnerability experienced during the window of opportunity, kids who aren’t appropriately nurtured can develop a sense of hopelessness or apathy towards their future and, by extension, their education.

Adolescents within the window of opportunity are perceptive enough to know how the world works, at least on a basic level. If we don’t adjust the way we connect with children, they will develop a sense of distrust, disillusionment, and apathy towards their future – and with this mindset, how can we expect them to want to come to class?

Realigning Education with the World Around Us
To make the most of the window of opportunity, we need to enrich our children with skills that reflect the world they’re learning and living in. It’s no longer enough to tell our kids that if they work hard, study at school, and get good grades, they can be whatever they want to be.

That’s not how the world works anymore, so we need to adapt our education system to truly prepare kids for the world they will one day be working in.

During the ages of 9-14, it’s crucial that we establish a sense of self-efficacy in children. This will allow them to understand their place in the world, realistically perceive their potential, and work towards their vision. To help them develop self-efficacy, it’s important that parents and teachers approach children with a sense of realistic optimism. While a child may not be able to realistically achieve a career as an astronaut like they were once told, they may have the skill and interests needed to become a mechanic or an engineer.

Perhaps even more critical is how we prepare kids for a world where changing careers and adapting to new industries is the norm. According to research, Gen Z could change jobs up to ten times before the age of 34 - and with the pace at which industry is changing, many of these roles may not even exist yet. But this doesn’t mean we can’t prepare students for these jobs as much as possible by nurturing the skills we know they will need to succeed.

After partnering with industry leaders such as R.M. Williams, UNICEF, Meta, and Atlassian, we’ve identified six core skills that are needed for students to succeed in the current world; evaluative, influential, imaginative, reflective, perseverant, and compassionate. As it stands, attempts to declutter the curriculum have done a good job of generating more of the same at a time when the world is evolving at an unprecedented rate.

While literacy and numeracy are the best indicators of life-long success that we currently have, they are certainly not the only indicators. Whether it’s inside or outside the classroom, we can only expect children to achieve their potential if we provide them with the skills they need to do so.

At the end of the day, if kids don’t feel that their schooling is relevant to the world around them, what incentive are we giving them to show up as eager and engaged learners for 13 years of their life? If we truly want our students to achieve better results and thrive out of school, it’s time we modernise the education system to better reflect the world around them.

Rydr Tracy is head of educational transformation at Creatable, a professional learning program strengthening the connections between the modern workplace and the classroom.