Students everywhere are already mourning the end of summer and feeling the twinge of excitement – spiked with dread – of a new scholastic year. Everything has a bright sheen to it, from the unopened books to the squeaky tread of new shoes and the stiffness of new uniforms.
Some students will change schools and others will take the leap of faith and enter the brave new world of tertiary education.
Despite everything – from the after-school hours to the mental stamina needed to grasp unfamiliar subjects – schools give us the best years of our lives. And the most important years. Because beyond the short-term goals of getting good grades there is the long-term objective of preparing for a career.
The future of our students runs parallel to the needs of the country’s economy. While students are studying in the present, they are preparing for a future that will demand different skills than previous generations had. A quick run through the recruitment ads is a good indication of how the economy changes human resource demands.
Jobs like market research data miner, digital strategist, social media marketer, search engine optimisation consultant and digital revenue manager did not exist a mere decade ago, simply because no human resource department or the economy at large had a need for such specialisations.
Those who specialised in these areas – and who now have built a career out of it – were students whose teachers, career counsellors and parents could anticipate the skills demands of the future and helped put students on the right track.
In much the same way, it is the students who are careful yet adventurous in their choices who will meet the career needs of the future. Of course, the main source of job growth in the local labour market will be the traditional sectors such as health, services and high-end manufacture. However, even these sectors are undergoing changes and will, in turn, need different skills than they do today.
What fuels these changes is technology.
Technological innovation is creating new sectors but also changing existing ones. For example, booking engines and review websites have rendered the traditional travel agent practically obsolete. And think how crowd-sourcing – prime examples are Uber and Airbnb – is already having a profound impact on the economy. Cloud-based hosting services and start-up incubators are making it possible for people with vision and business ingenuity to take their ideas to the local and European market and monetise them.
However, students cannot do it on their own. To ensure we are preparing today’s students for success tomorrow, we need strong vocational support and an education system that is ambitious and can perceive what the future will hold. It does not need a crystal ball to do that, rather, the education system must be in constant dialogue with all sectors of the economy to discuss what their present and future needs will be.
It would be wrong were the education system to rest on the laurels of the current record employment figures. It is positive that Malta posted the greatest drop in unemployment in decades and that it is nearing full employment figures. Still, employers are having to source employees abroad, either because they cannot find enough Maltese workers or because the latter do not have the right skills.
The education system has the responsibility to cater for the present and future needs of the country. In turn, a strong and visionary education system will modernise Malta’s workforce and help the country gear up for the future.