How do we prepare our kids for the jobs of the future?

Contact tracing is here, and with it comes yet another industry that we wouldn’t have thought possible a few years ago.

The prediction by the Institute of Future a few years ago – that 85% of jobs in 2030 had not yet been invented – seemed aggressive at the time, but you can see how it is quickly unfolding.

Contact tracing is just the latest in the list – consider professional blogging, big data analyst, social media influencer, drone operators and even Uber drivers – all jobs that seem familiar today, yet didn’t exist until really quite recently.

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Take a look at this BBC article.

It summarises what a Contact Tracer actually does: "A contact tracer does the detective work of calling up people known to be infected with a disease and working out where they have been in recent days and who they might have met. The idea is then to track down those with whom they have been in close proximity and tell them to go into quarantine"

But more importantly it highlights the skill set required.

Three things really jumped for me.

Contact Tracers need high amounts of -

1)    Critical thinking: to analyse the data, apply deductive logic, form and test hypotheses

2)    Communication: to interview people and find out about their movements

3)    Empathy: to break news to someone they might have Covid-19 and manage their emotions

So here is my question.

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What are we doing to get our kids ready for these sorts of future jobs?

It seems to me that the sorts of 21st century skills highlighted above are going to be the route to success for any young person today. Learning skills like critical thinking, communication and empathy will ensure they are ready for whatever job will exist in the future – which as we have seen is impossible to predict today.

For any parents out there – we play a vital role in this, given 7-11 year olds spend 80% of their time at home (not at school). What can be done to instil these crucial traits in at a young age?

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For a simple but novel approach to this, which only takes 5 minutes a day and requires zero preparation, you should really check out www.KidCoach.app.

We have put together dozens of fantastic questions and conversation starters for parents of 7-11 year olds. They have shown time and time again to get kids talking, thinking and developing the key skills need for their future.

3 quick examples to whet your appetite:

1)    Critical Thinking: why are man hole covers round?

2)    Communication: describe a Computer to Julius Caesar?

3)    Empathy: how does your best friend make your feel?

As one parent told us: “I don’t want to spend time Googling. I love how you have such great questions, easily accessible, and well organised by skill. Keep it coming!”

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Visit www.KidCoach.app to get instant access to lots of questions you can use with your kids straight away, to develop these key skills. And make sure you sign up to get on the waitlist for the App we have in development!