Creativity is more important than ever before. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution upon us, it’s vital to teach students creativity and creative problem-solving skills to ensure their success in tomorrow’s workforce. Creativity is more important now than it has ever been.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are upon us. And that’s going to change the career landscape for the next generation. Creative problem-solving is one of the few skills a machine can’t learn. We need to come together as industry and community to help build these skills in the next generation to provide them with the skillset that will enable them to thrive in the future.
To help support this, Adobe and the Royal Shakespeare Company are partnering to work towards three common goals:
Supporting teachers so they are better able to infuse creativity and creative problem-solving into their classrooms, whatever subjects they teach.
Illustrating how this benefits both students and teachers through higher engagement and greater job satisfaction.
Inspiring teachers to integrate a new approach in their classrooms and give them the tools to kick off their journey of change.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will dramatically change the job landscape and make creativity and creative problem-solving skills even more critical for students to succeed in the modern economy.
The World Economic Forum regularly publishes a study looking at the future of jobs across the globe – those that are most trending by country, and the skills that will be needed to do them. The 2018 report, released in September, offered some startling realities:
Nearly 50% of companies expect that automation will lead to some reduction in their full-time workforce by 2022 – just a few years from now!
Today, around 71% of total work hours are performed by humans, compared to 29% by machines. By 2022 this is expected to shift to 58% performed by humans and 42% by machines.
By 2022, no less than 54% of employees will require significant re-and up-skilling in areas such as analytical thinking, active learning, creativity, originality, initiative, critical thinking and complex problem solving.
Adobe and the Royal Shakespeare Company are teaming up to come at this skills gap from every angle.
Adobe and RSC Education share a common vision:
We are focused on enabling and fostering creativity in young people and teachers.
We are looking to understand and solve the same problem of how to better equip the next generation workforce.
We are enabling teachers to address the gaps through training, resources, and professional development opportunities.
In early 2018, Adobe released a global study exploring creativity and creative problem solving in today’s classrooms – we talked to over 2,000 educators, policymakers and influencers all over the world about how they are helping prepare students to be creative problem solvers.
Here are some of our findings:
predicted that jobs requiring problem-solving skills are less likely to be adversely impacted by automation.
of educators said it’s important for students to learn creative problem solving.
of educators believe we need to find better ways to integrate creative problem solving into today’s curricula.
of policymakers believe we need to find ways to reform the curricula so we can better nurture creative problem solving.
The Royal Shakespeare Company worked in collaboration with the University of Nottingham and Tate on a three-year research project which explored student attitudes to the arts and cultural education in their lives. The research study amassed 6,000 responses from students aged 14-18 in secondary schools across England. The students made clear connections between studying arts subjects and developing creative skills for life.
Over 1/3 said that they would not access arts experiences unless it was through their schools.
The study revealed that arts and culture rich schools enhance students’ lives now and prepare them for their future careers by developing their critical thinking, a sense of their own identity, self-confidence and empathy, and their ability to express ideas and opinions.
Students also said that learning these skills gives them freedom and agency, enhanced health and well-being, motivation to stay in school and a deeper, better relationship with their educators.
We invite you to be part of this movement and start your journey to be a teacher and school enabling creativity in your students:
Take a free course on Adobe Education Exchange, with brand new teacher-led courses starting right now.
Become a Spark for Education school and enable all your students to get started in digital storytelling and creativity.
