Louise Livingston, Head of Training at the Maria Montessori Institute, explains how today’s classrooms can prepare children for tomorrow’s careers
At some point most children are asked: ?what do you want to be when you grow up"? Whether they say an astronaut, a doctor or a footballer, the reality is that 65% of children joining primary school this September will work in job roles that don?t exist yet.
In today?s rapidly changing world, many people, such as social media consultants and app programmers, are already doing jobs that weren?t around 20 years ago. As Richard Riley, former Secretary of Education, said, ?We are currently preparing students for jobs that don?t yet exist, using technologies that haven?t been invented in order to solve problems we don?t even know are problems yet.? In addition, a recent survey conducted by the World Economic Forum found that executives of leading companies rate complex problem solving as the most desirable skill for employees, followed closely by critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and emotional intelligence.
Preparing for the unknown

So how can we prepare children for a constantly changing future" It?s a challenge for a mainstream education system which is focused on academic skills and has a fixed curriculum  – this seems increasingly outdated for today?s world of work.
Schools in the UK become ever more about helping children achieve test scores, which is having a huge impact on the capacities ...