Aussie Kids Need New Skills for the Future

July 11, 2017 - PRLog -- Australian children will face dramatically different workplaces in 20 years' time with a new set of skills required for professional success, according to entrepreneur and businessman Creel Price.

His warning comes as economists point to a fourth industrial revolution underway that is threatening to wipe out nearly half the jobs in Australia.

Global business juggernaut PricewaterhouseCoopers has forecast 44 per cent of Australia's jobs are at risk over the next 20 years because of technology.

Mr Price said children of today would need a "portfolio of life skills" to keep pace with the rapid change to ensure successful working lives in the future.

"Some futurists are predicting that children of today will have 40 different jobs across 10 career paths in their working lives," Mr Price said.

"The change ahead means academic ability in subjects like maths and science will play second fiddle to life skills such as innovation and resourcefulness.

"In 20 years, the average corporate job we know today will not exist."

Mr Price said the life skills that would apply to any profession in the future included:

• Imagination
• Initiative
• Resourcefulness
• Resilience
• Interpersonal skills i.e. team work, leadership and communication

He called for life skills to be incorporated into the core curriculum at Australian primary schools.

"It's important we arm our children with skills today to meet the demands of tomorrow and one of the best ways we can do that is by teaching them entrepreneurship," Mr Price said.

"Entrepreneurship teaches us to keeping trying new approaches when we fail and to be resourceful and creative when it comes to problem-solving."

Mr Price, who started his first business as an 11-year-old selling strawberries from his family's farm, founded the social enterprise program Club Kidpreneur to offer Australian children the chance to learn non-academic skills.

More than 600 Australian schools had offered the program to students over the past seven years, but it was not part of core curriculum.

"More than 12,000 children have done the Club Kidpreneur program and launched a diverse range of businesses, from recycled fishing lures to pet cravats and computer games," Mr Price said.

"The reality is that computers will take over many of the jobs that are being done by people today. Our children need skills that enable them to be flexible and adaptable in the workplace of the future."

Mr Price said the education system needed to celebrate entrepreneurial skills like resilience and innovation as much as academic and sporting success.

"The best entrepreneurs in the world were not the smartest kids at school or the best at sport. They learned to be innovative and resilient and they developed strong interpersonal skills like leadership and team work."

Club Kidpreneur, aimed at children in Years 4 – 6, involved developing, producing and selling a product with the student businesses assessed by a panel of real-life entrepreneurs.

Winners were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Moose Toys in Melbourne, the fourth largest toy company in Australia and the fifth largest in the United States, to witness innovation and operation in action.

Registrations for the Club Kidpreneur program for terms 3 and 4 are open.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sequel PR

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