On Wednesday, October 27th, Axios business reporter Erica Pandey looked at the keys to breaking down traditional barriers in education and what’s next for career readiness, featuring Guild Education CEO & co-founder Rachel Carlson and Education Design Lab founder & CEO Kathleen deLaski.
Rachel Carlson highlighted the shifting perceptions of education, the issues of matching learners with new jobs that require reskilling, and how to help workers prepare to make the shift from today’s job market to tomorrow’s.
- On generational changes within the labor market: “All other generational changes where the labor economy moved from an agricultural economy to an industrial, or an industrial to a knowledge, meant that the father’s job went away and his son was required to reskill into a new industry. In today’s world, the worker is most likely a woman, she’s most likely a mother, and she’s hoping to reskill within her own career.”
- On the need for government support for workforce development: “I think the federal government and our state governments need to make workforce development and skilling a top priority not only of their citizenry, but also of national competitiveness.”
Kathleen deLaski highlighted how education systems can accommodate needs for learners in unique life situations, the rise of older students seeking post-secondary education opportunities, and how the pandemic forced innovation within education systems.
- On the pandemic’s impact on educational structures: “Certainly, COVID demonstrated that all learners need flexibility when it came to online learning, being able to take courses at night, being able to stop and start this sort of thing.”
- On specific areas of concern that are most important to new learners: “Relevance is one that’s increasingly become important because of the mismatch between what’s being taught in some colleges and then the emerging future of work types of jobs that employers are trying to hire for.”
Axios Chief People Officer Dominique Taylor hosted a View from the Top segment with Charles Koch Foundation executive director Ryan Stowers, who discussed how the education system is changing in response to simultaneous changes in societal norms.
- “61% of Americans believe that colleges need to change and better meet the needs of students, and only 16% think that students need to do a better job of adjusting to the tried and tested model of a traditional four-year college degree. So, something is shifting in how we think about the future of learning.”
Thank you Charles Koch Foundation for sponsoring this event.