Why is Cognitive Education Important?
If we live in a world today that is often volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, what kind of thinking and learning skills do we (and our children) need to create a future that is filled with hope?
Rapid technological development and globalisation are shifting business models and disrupting labour markets.
New categories of jobs that never existed before are starting to displace many traditional occupations. These changes are creating a rising need for new skills.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that an average of 42% of core skills required to do a job effectively will shift in the next four years and that 54% of current employees will need reskilling and upskilling by 2022. Amongst the growing demand for new skills, a high premium is placed on specific skills that can enhance thinking and learning. In the WEF’s 2022-skills outlook a high premium is placed on cognitive skills like analytical thinking, creative thinking, critical thinking, reasoning, innovation, active learning and learning strategies, and complex problem-solving.
Although these skills are gaining prominence and are becoming the new global currency of the labour market, the current education and training system is mostly inadequate to equip individuals for the future world of work. New and innovative ways are needed to develop the skills that are required for the current and future workforce to thrive within a global economy.
This kind of innovation is especially important for developing countries, whose population comprises more than two-thirds of the world’s population today. What is at stake is that we fail to close the gap between the rich and the poor. Thus, how can we optimally develop specific thinking and learning skills that will unlock a hopeful future for people in the developing world? Furthermore, how can we develop these cognitive skills in ways that will enhance human dignity and uphold our collective wellbeing?
Thus, what are the crossroads we are at appropriate to education and training? Furthermore, what declaration of possibility can we make that has the power to transform our communities and inspire us towards a hopeful future? In this regard, the field of Cognitive Education can make a significant contribution.
