THE ACCOUNTANT_AUTUMN_2018_VER-7-L

FEATURE
Is our workforce ready
for an age of acceleration?
LISA PULLICINO
AN AUDITOR BY PROFESSION,
LISA IS A PARTNER AT PWC
MALTA WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR
HUMAN CAPITAL AND FOR PWC’s
ACADEMY.
I have a son aged fourteen. As he embarks on what is
to be the start of a long student journey that should equip
him with what is required to join the workforce, my biggest
concern remains his future employability. My concern
does not emanate from a common concern that robots
might replace human activity but rather from a more basic
concern: whether our current teaching methodologies
are preparing him and our young generations adequately
for the skillset which the workforce of the not-so-far
future will need.
The world in which we operate is going through rapid
change - one where transformation is a reality - accelerated
among other things by the onset of the new digital era. As
a parent and as an employer, I often wonder whether, as a
country, we are equipped enough for this transformation;
and whether our education system is agile enough in the
face of these accelerated changes. How prepared are this
and future generations, how prepared is the country’s
current and future workforce, how prepared are our
current and future leaders for the agility and flexibility that
will, without doubt, be required of them?
Individuals’ preferences, behaviour and interactions
are evolving, and the way in which organisations operate
is also transforming. This shift poses important questions
about the skills which will be required in future, our
assumptions about careers and employment, and the
extent to which Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine
learning and robotic process automation will enhance,
lessen or replace human activity. Now, more than ever,
our educators, employers and business leaders need
to collaborate, to anticipate, to plan and implement a
fully-fledged strategy that will enable Malta to build the
workforce of the future. And we must act fast, if we want
to remain relevant and competitive.
The change that we require needs to start at the very
heart of our education system – it needs to focus on the
country’s vision for education, the quality of teaching and
the agility to transform and remain sustainable.
The quality of teaching, a sustainable approach
To achieve the success that other countries have
achieved within education, we need to study and analyse
their success factors in depth. Finland, for instance, is
without doubt a pioneer and a world leader in this area.
For starters, the teaching profession in Finland is highly
valued, it follows a school system based on equality and
trains teachers through science-based programmes.
Teachers are free to choose their methodologies. Their
aim is to equip students with a ‘can do’ attitude, a creative
mindset, a problem-solving outlook and agility to adapt –
all factors that are somewhat distinct from our country’s
exam focused culture.
The speed at which the world is changing and the
digital era within which we are operating must be planned
and catered for. Teaching methodologies cannot stagnate
when everything else around us is changing. Not only must
teaching content change but too must methodologies –
moving away from an individualistic class-based approach
into a team project-based approach, moving away from a
one-man, one-solution mindset to solving complex issues
together, moving away from a hand-holding culture to a
research-based, collaborative culture.
Learning skills rather than subjects
While businesses today are in need of highlydeveloped
talent in a wide array of specialized areas,
employers and graduates often realize that there is a
mismatch between what qualifications prepare our
graduates for and the career-relevant skills that the
modern workplace demands. The solution lies in the next
level of innovation in learning to address this skills gap.
Traditionally, teachers primarily teach and have
taught school subjects. We now need to move away from
teaching subjects and towards a future where teachers
will increasingly teach comprehensive learning skills.
We need to move away from learning mechanically and
move into a space that our children, our young adults and
our more mature audiences are active learners and fully
engaged. This will make teaching and training problem
and phenomenon based, developing learners’ analytical,
problem-solving and thinking skills. It will lead to a much-
14 Autumn 2018