In 2016, the Oxford Martin School collaborated with learning company Pearson and innovation foundation Nesta to provide a report offering new insights and evidence about the skills and competencies that would be required for businesses, governments, and education experts in 2030.
Published a year later, The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030 report would have a worldwide reach and eventually find its way to a youth entrepreneurship school in Poland. For the first time, researchers combined human expertise with machine learning to produce a nuanced view of future employment trends. Among its key findings, the report forecasted that one in five workers were in occupations that faced a high likelihood of decline while indicating that strong social skills would be the key to success as demand for uniquely human skills rises.
These research findings formed the core for Kalisz-based Smart Club, an innovation and development school for children and teenagers. Founded in 2018 by team management consultant and business coach Agnieszka Kubicka–Błońska, the school offers an education that combines practical skills in personal, social, and financial development.
It is truly gratifying to see our research being put into practice to help prepare young people for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
It was while developing their education program that the team came across the Future of Skills report and decided to use it as a basis for the educational program. Agnieszka Kubicka-Błońska, said:
'The report was very inspiring, useful and guided us through the process of programme-development. By integrating the report findings with our own experience of years of working with youth, our qualified educators have developed an innovative set of activities and tools that prepare program participants for the challenges that life will bring.
‘By participating in our classes, they gain confidence, learn how to fulfil dreams, build relationships, understand the value of money and how to use it wisely. We shape entrepreneurial mindsets, expand participants’ horizons, teach the art of cooperation, and offer many interesting projects.'
Michael Osborne, Professor of Machine Learning, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Work and co-author of the report, said:
'It is truly gratifying to see our research being put into practice to help prepare young people for the challenges and opportunities of the future. The Smart Club's innovative educational program, inspired by our findings, certainly seems to be equipping students with the crucial skills and mindsets they will need to thrive in a fast-changing world.’
The Oxford Martin School continually strives to bring multidisciplinary solutions-focussed research that has real-world impact and is proud of our role in the development of the Smart Club educational programme that is nurturing young minds in Poland.