Education - are we future fit?

Source:  Jeroen Kraaijenbrink, World Economic Forum

Prioritising the past or the future

Are we prioritising the right things at school? I ask this because I recently had a walk with a very smart woman who runs a scholarship program at a boys' senior school. I was surprised by the overwhelming emphasis on sport, and rugby in particular.

I then came across this excellent infographic from Jeroen Kraaijenbrink, which uses World Economic Forum data on what are currently important skills and what employers expect will be most valuable in 2030. Unsurprisingly, manual dexterity and endurance ranks lowest now and, in the future. To be fair reading, writing and mathematics don't fare much better, suggesting school education is a basic entry requirement!

My eyes are drawn to the top right-hand quadrant, the skills that are important today and in the future. My favourite is curiosity and continuous learning but the standout is creative thinking. How many school scholarships are there for creative writers, the best design projects, original thinkers? How do we reward creativity and curiousity?