What are the Global Trends for Lifelong Learning? FE Soundbite 669

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Loads happened this week. I have been away in Singapore at a very cool summit – the Global Lifelong Learning Summit. I was invited by the event organisers (who are lead on delivering the Singaporean Lifelong Learning system… and it is very interesting), the summit had multiple Skills Ministers, at one point two Skills Ministers on stage having a discussion.. but from different countries at once – I’ve been to hundreds of conferences, but I have never seen that before!

What do the Global Agencies see as the challenges for Lifelong Learning?

At the summit there was also the ILO, OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF… this was an off the chart conference…. and felt like a working holiday, I was chatting with really interesting people about the future of skills, the future of lifelong learning… I mean I do this everywhere (even with the lady on the plane, the taxi driver coming from the airport… I love it)… but wow, they say travel broadens your mind. This was epic.

What are the ‘hot areas’ that World Agencies and Gov’s are looking to address in Lifelong Learning?

So there were a few recurring findings and themes. We have had videos come out already… and more will come next week, I didn’t want to bash out six videos in a day… this is gold! … and I mean some really interesting Global experts.

Common themes for Lifelong learning – how to make it easy for those in work – particular focus from Singapore is that they want to focus on Mid-Career learners and help them with transitions and upskilling.

Also Singapore has a philosophy… that is pretty Agile to be honest… to teach learners to learn, unlearn and relearn and quickly. Interesting… they have epic productivity here. A lesson to be learnt there!

• Micro-credentials… have massive potential… according to ILO, OECD… and every Government that was here!
• SMEs – need support and help with lifelong learning, upskilling and reskilling staff. Everyone mentioned SMEs at some point!
• Singapore’s Lifelong Learning Credit system (some content on this is coming soon!)… is also very interesting!

Automation and speed of changes and impact to work and jobs is high on the agenda – I chatted with a couple of Professors on this (anyone who knows me, knows I am super excited about the skills for the jobs of the future). So that was cool… but what was weird, that I am in Singapore and one Professor who I enjoyed meeting was from Cardiff Uni.. I live in Exeter. Like across the River Severn type of stuff… I travelled for 13 hours! .. but to be fair Phil does mainly hang out in Singapore and Vietnam exploring skills for the jobs of the future. Singapore is getting more and more mentions of a model and system for us to explore in the UK. So I would recommend our UK audience to check it out.. and our international audience to as well.

Anyway, I wanted to focus on the summit… as I am buzzing about it. So many cool people and ideas. I went all Skills Geek, also chats about what micro-credentials could be in the future, how to upskill and reskill. Also.. OECD shared that in 2019, 280+ Million young people were NEET… and their plans to address this. That is a lot of people and the challenge is massive… but wow, I so enjoyed the conference and travel expands your mind, my eyes were opened to many new ideas.

So I hope you enjoy the content already and also the pieces that are on their way. Here is a tag page to the conference / Global Lifelong Learning Summit. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Also, turns out globally there are different pressures – Europe and Singapore – aging population is a big issue, India on the other hand, total opposite, explosion in young people into the labour market! Also, Cost of Living Crisis… is localised to places like Europe, at the moment, it isn’t a global thing!

We also had a very cool Livestream on the Cost of Living Crisis… a great one! … and I had a pretty epic background for my stream – overlooking Marina Bay Hotel and the Bay… I’m gonna miss that view!