Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian International School, Bangalore
The most transformative trend in the jobs market today is the broadening of digital access. 40% of workplace skills will become obsolete by 2030 due to digital access. Though 170 million jobs are expected to be created, the growth will be offset by the displacement of 92 million current jobs. International schools embed the most sought-after skills among employers – analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, and leadership – into their curriculums, making their students better positioned for the future job market. To further prepare their students, educators have reframed the conversation of career aspirations from ‘what do you want to be?’ to ‘what problems do you want to solve?’
Agentic AI Fluency (Beyond Prompting)
The adoption of GenAI empowers less specialized employees to perform a greater range of tasks, as well as equip skilled professionals with the tools to solve complex problems more efficiently. As a result, companies are building AI fluency and expertise focused on the proficiency of human, agentic, and business skills. Agentic AI helps with goal-oriented reasoning, multi-step planning, etc., for outcome automation. Though employees are required in driving AI adoption and making agentic workflows run smoother, there remains a risk that AI development will ultimately lead to a replacement of human work, further increasing inequality and unemployment.
To mitigate and navigate these shifts, one of UNESCO’s Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory’s 10 core principles is human oversight and determination. In essence, human-in-the-loop decision-making is required during the process of using AI. It is the system where a human actively participates in the operation, supervision, or decision-making of an automated system to ensure accuracy and accountability; that aids in mitigating bias embedded into the data and algorithms. Students should be taught how to use AI in a way that furthers their career growth prospects, while fostering their own irreplaceable and unique qualities, thus ensuring that they are well-prepared for a professional environment that requires flexibility and further upskilling.
The Skills-First Transcript
Stackable microcredentials are part of a certificate, certification, associate degree, or masters degree programs. Students gain a credential certifying their experience in one aspect of a field based on the number of credits earned. These microcredentials can create pathways with each achievement building towards larger professional goals. Considering that these can typically be completed in 10-40 hours of focused learning, they can be implemented in students’ lives seamlessly while building a comprehensive skill portfolio. With that said, the question of tracking ‘human skills’ like adaptability, curiosity, and resilience as measurable data points remains debatable.
Industry-Integrated Learning (The “Live Brief”)
International school students are provided opportunities to work on real-world issues such as climate-tech or data-governance problems. These experiences equip them with the tools required to develop green technologies, establish sustainable businesses, and make informed decisions. Hence, AI education can be used in conjunction with climate-specific indigenous knowledge and project-based learning.
In a study conducted by Aniella Mihaela Vieriu and Gabriel Petrea on the impact of AI on students’ academic development, taking students’ feedback of their experience using AI on a day-to-day basis would help in creating effective and relevant AI education. Also, exposing students to the cultural nuances, such as AI’s tendencies to not consider cultural contexts when providing answers, would be the most helpful approach as they are aware of the basic technical know-how already.
From Students to “Self-Architects”
Students in India are better positioned in the AI conversation with the government recently implementing INDIAai,the centralized knowledge repository. This serves as a catalyst for the country’s future AI-driven economic growth and societal progress. Most recently, the New Delhi Declaration on AI impact was endorsed by 89 countries.
The current goal of educators is to promote ‘mental elasticity’ to their students, which is the ability to pivot when an industry changes. Microcredentials can build students’ confidence as they prepare to enter an increasingly competitive job market. In conjunction, international schools create an environment that is focused on solving real world issues while integrating their subject content. We aren’t just teaching a curriculum; we are building a career-ready operating system.
Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian International School, Bangalore