The social researching firm, McCrindle, recently published its ‘Future of Work’ report for 2022. 

As usual, their enormous survey of students, teachers and parents garnered some interesting results, which schools like ours would be wise to consider. 

Across Australia, we see a fair degree of parental choice across three major school sectors, with roughly 16.6% of the 4.03 million school students attending independent schools. 

The good news from the survey for schools is that 84% of students agree with the proposition that their education is equipping them to thrive in life. That is despite the fact that they also see the tertiary education sector and world of work beyond that as much more complex and difficult to manage than ever before. 

The McCrindle survey also tackles the contemporary issue of hybrid learning – meaning that students can, and have been, taught both at school and at home over the past two years. Interestingly, 70% of students see their ideal learning environment as being hybrid by which they mean spending a mix of time in traditional face-to-face teaching and online learning. 

The new generations of students have more agency in their lives than ever before and expect this to be true in schools as well. They do not consider themselves the experts or the experienced; however, they do expect to have a voice. Correspondingly, they take a great deal of personal responsibility– 76% of students surveyed said that it was solely or largely their responsibility to achieve their education goals. And, 83% of students agreed they will need to practise lifelong learning through their careers. 

We are very conscious that the world of education has been turned on its head by the intertwined challenges posed by the technological revolution in computing and AI, plus the COVID Pandemic since 2020. Jobs of the future will require foundational skills, of course, but also key competencies that cannot be done by AI like creativity and collaboration, plus vital human character qualities like curiosity, grit and adaptability. 

Finally, when they will be looking for jobs in the future, McCrindle believe that Generation Z will be looking beyond security for purpose and meaning in their work. We are already seeing signs of this in the tight labour market of 2022, with workplaces are having to actively consider their ‘Employer Value Proposition’ and the extent to which they can be considered ‘employers of choice’ for workers. 

We aim to be well-informed about the world of education globally, nationally and locally by reading and reviewing high-quality social research like this and engaging in our own surveys of the school community on a regular basis.  

If you have any questions or comments about this, please feel free to contact me by email – Philip.fielden@ngs.nsw.edu.au