An outdated education model is failing school students, leaving them unprepared for the modern, high-tech and global workforce, according to a new report.
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The Mitchell Institute report’s co-author Megan O’Connell said the education system had been formed in the manufacturing era and was not designed to teach students how to navigate complex environments and multiple careers.
“Young people need different skill sets to what is taught in the traditional curriculum if they are to thrive in high-tech, global, competitive job markets,” she said. “Many young people are being left behind and without significant change, we can expect to see more missing out in the future.”
Annette Foley, the head of Federation University’s School of Education, said she welcomed a report that broadened the idea of schooling.
Professor Foley said vocational education and training was often not as valued in schools compared to academic skills, and it was important to challenge that perception.
She said VET and applied learning offered young people more agency and critical thinking skills such as emotional intelligence, social confidence, communication and general knowledge needed in the “new world of work”.
“We are seeing more and more young people disengaged from schooling and not going into TAFE or higher education and that is a problem for society,” she said. “Young people learn in all sorts of ways and to have a system that could incorporate more applied learning models in the curriculum could only be a good thing.”
Professor Foley pointed out there were already schools and institutions that understood the importance of developing more than just academic skills, but this needed to be stronger across the sector.
She also said the lack of funding in the TAFE sector was concerning, especially in regional areas, which created a gap for young people who did not do well in or wish to pursue higher education.
The Victoria University-based institute brought together leaders in government, education and industry to determine why school leavers faced such high unemployment rates, with traditional pathways such as university degrees not providing the same level of employment security as they did previously.
The group agreed that Australia’s education system focused too narrowly on traditional knowledge and “urgently” needed to change.
