定义教育4.0：未来学习的分类（英）

Skill development begins at a young age. Research suggests that early-childhood schooling and primary education have a large positive effect on critical cognitive development, building skills which are then multiplied through learning later in life. For example, recent research by the World Economic Forum shows that investing in just one important skill area – collaborative problem-solving – could add as much as $2.54 trillion to global GDP.1 Yet, according to UNICEF, less than half of young people around the world are currently on track to acquire the full range of skills needed to thrive at work and in life.2

One key challenge preventing the broad development of future-ready skills through childhood education is the lack of a common foundation, definition and understanding of the skills needed for the future and how these can be developed from an early age.

In particular, across a wide range of research into the future of work by the World Economic Forum and other organizations, employers are not only signaling demand for creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and skills relating to the development and use of technology, but are placing more and more emphasis on interpersonal and socio-emotional skills. The latter include the ability to collaborate, coordinate and communicate effectively with others. The role of education should be to prepare young learners for this future.

With the growth in demand for these skills comes the need to adopt a holistic learning approach that includes not only concrete skills for economic success, but attitudes and values that set individuals up for a lifetime of learning. These include embracing the interpersonal and societal values that promote cohesive and tolerant economies and societies, respect and uphold the integrity of their institutions, and appreciate the fragility of the natural environment.

In short, the future of education lies in empowering young learners to embrace and develop their uniquely human qualities – those unlikely to ever be replaced by technology. The World Economic Forum refers to the teaching and learning of this set of abilities, skills, attitudes and values as “Education 4.0”, a framework developed through deep and broad consultation with education experts from schools, non-profits, education ministries and the private sector and refined over the course of several previous publications (see Figure 1).