Ready for the real world?

SRL wants to hear what you think of your education.

What kinds of things are you learning now that feel like they’ll be really useful to you later on in life? What do you wish you could be learning in school? How do you find good information about important life skills? Explore ways school prepares students—or doesn’t—for the world outside of school.

BACKGROUND

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report highlights how technology, like AI, and global changes are reshaping the job market. At the same time, students around the world are asking: Are we being taught what really matters?

This project invites students to explore how schools are—or aren’t—helping them gain skills for the future, and to share stories of what’s working or what’s missing.

Take a look at this list of examples and look around your community. Are there programs and classes to teach people practical skills?

Some examples of job & life skills:

• Financial literacy
• Digital literacy
• Leadership skills
• Critical Thinking and problem solving
• Business and work etiquette, including cross-cultural etiquette and collaboration
• Specific job skills (shop class, coding, digital marketing, resume writing, Excel spreadsheet crash course, etc.)
• Public speaking
• How to network
• Interviewing
• Managing the cost of post-secondary/higher education/college
• Applying for a job
• How to communicate effectively online and source factual information
• How to take care of your mind and body/ How to take care of your Wellbeing and mental health
• Cooking, nutrition and health
• Taxes
• Having knowledge of sustainable solutions (green skills)
• Finding the right career option for you
• Career and Technology Education (CTE) classes – what’s working well? What could improve? What CTE classes are missing? AI and global networking
• How to work together as a team member effectively
• Speaking a foreign language

Use these questions to guide your thinking:

• What are the fastest growing and declining jobs today?
• What practical skills do students wish they were learning?
• Do you feel prepared for technological and societal changes?
• Are there programs in your community (inside or outside school) helping students get job or life skills?

When it comes to learning practical skills, what’s working well? What should change?

1. This is who taught me… produce a story about an individual or organization that helps students achieve these "real-world" skills. Take a look at students learning life skills in the classroom.
2. My school is good at….produce a story exploring a program at your school or another school in your community that is successful at teaching real world skills. Look at two international schools who have won awards for excelling in learning about sustainability Australia and Nepal.
3. I wish I knew…. produce a story focused on the kinds of practical skills you or other students feel is missing from your education. To help think about what you could learn at school: Take a look at some of the skills young people wished they would have learned at school.

• Yao Zhao’s pepper business journey - How does Yao Zhao use his passion and skills to become a leading business owner? How could this example inspire a school curriculum? How could teachers use this example?
  
  
• Muhammad Yunus and microloans - Watch this short video about how Muhammad Yunus supported communities facing poverty. What skills did he possess? Is the idea of Micro loaning workable in your local community, how would it help? what proposals could you make for a local initiative ?
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• Earthshot Prize 2024 finalists - Watch Prince William introduce the Earthshot finalists of 2024, to see how people are using their knowledge and skills to create new opportunities for growth and jobs. Does your school encourage solution-based learning?

If you’re not learning something in school that you believe is important, how are you getting information about it, or how do you wish it were taught? For example: do you look on social media, ask family/friends, or read books, watch news and videos, read magazines, or listen to podcasts?)

What do you want to be learning now to help you when you’re ready to go out into what’s often called the “real world,” beyond school?

OPTIONAL REFLECTION: Take a look at this UK based website to see some of the careers that are linked to different subjects. What is your favorite subject at school? What careers could it led to? What skills do you feel young people need to develop more of in school? Is your school successful at developing real world skills that could lead to future employment? Have you ever thought about volunteering when you are older many charities are always looking for volunteers and could feed into future work. Take a look at volunteering with International based charities such as the Red Cross.

• Profile (2-4 min. long): A profile is the story of one person. It has voiceover (VO), b-roll, pictures, nats (natural sound), interviews of family members or peers of that one person. Here’s an example of a profile.
• Explainer (2-4 min. long): A video explaining a concept. Often it includes a host/narrator speaking directly to the camera. The tone could be serious, funny, or informative. Here’s an example of an explainer.
• News package (3-5 min. long): Video stories about newsworthy issues and topics. A news package has factual information, balanced reporting, research, voice overs, multiple interviews soundbites, b-roll footage. It may also include things like infographics, a reporter standup, nats (natural sound from filming b-roll). Here’s an example of a news package.
• NAT package (2-4 min. long): A video story guided by the natural sound from interviews and the environment where you’re filming. Natural sound, commonly known as “NAT sound,” puts the viewer in the place the story was told by enhancing the scene(s) with video containing rich audio such as a musician singing at a train station, a storm approaching, or the sound of a tractor plowing the field. This kind of story would often not have a voiceover narration. Here’s an example of a nat package.

This resource is part of the Global Education Toolkit and was made possible with support from the Longview Foundation.