Fred Oswald seems to cringe audibly when the words “21st-century skills” are mentioned. But that’s not to say that the professor of industrial and organisational psychology at Rice University does not think such skills exist. Rather, he believes this set of “non-cognitive” skills - including resilience, pro-social skills, conscientiousness - have always been required in society, but the demand for them has now increased.  

“What makes them 21st-century skills? Technology and internationalisation - these disrupting forces, how are they going to shift the relative weight on these skills?” he asks. “With automation, if the technical aspect can be automated, does that leave the worker to have to concentrate on the non-cognitive skills, the social skills? I would not say these are new skills, but they are [now] just receiving more emphasis [from employers].”

21st-century skills

Speaking on this week’s Podagogy podcast, he explains that organisations will try and influence education so as to produce workers with these skills.

“Businesses have an interest to find talent that will give them a competitive edge, so [if] they can [persuade schools to] develop that talent to their own advantage, they will do it,” he explains.

Whether schools should - or can - listen is, of course, highly debatable.

Work-school balance

Oswald’s view is that a balance is needed. He believes schools should have an eye on what the jobs market requires, but that businesses need to be more realistic about their role, too.

“Some organisations need to lean more to training, rather than selection. They are depending too much on the school system,” he argues.

But even if schools did choose to teach the non-cognitive skills that companies are asking for, could they do so? Oswald says the research cannot yet answer that question, but he believes the work of professors Angela Duckworth and Carol Dweck (click the links for their appearances on the Podagogy podcast) is beginning to show us what might be possible.

He also explains that some of the research he has undertaken with US assessment companies has also produced encouraging results of correlation between grade scores and these skills.

Focus on skills

But for now, Oswald thinks teachers just need to have these skills in mind when teaching, and to think about the balance between them and knowledge.

“We need to do more research to understand the balance between skills and knowledge in schools and how that translates to value for organisations,” he says. “A lot of effort and teamwork and leadership happens in classrooms but we do not necessarily recognise it as such [through assessment]. I think educators need to be more mindful of these skills in their classrooms.”

You can listen to the podcast on your podcast platform (search for “Tes - the education podcast”) or in the player below. Oswald also discusses the impact of big data on assessment and the “partial reality” of the “skills gap”.