Hong Kong’s future development in innovation and technology could match that of Silicon Valley, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in her recent Policy Address, expressing bold confidence in our future workforce.
This year’s Policy Address increases the government’s recurrent expenditure on education by over HK$13 billion ($1.7 billion) and earmarks over HK$130 billion in innovation and technology with the goal of nurturing talent and promoting I&T. But what remains unclear is how this sizable investment is to be spent to equip the next generation with the skills to meet the needs of a new economy where success will be determined to a large degree by its workforce’s innovativeness and creativity.
Not all innovation needs to be high-tech. But the future workforce must be equipped with a new skill set that allows it to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This new era is defined by human-machine interdependence — a fusion of technology that blurs the lines between the digital, physical and biological spheres. This new generation will be facing an unprecedented job market that threatens to reveal a skills gap worse than any generation before them.
In a book titled Six Future Skills You Should Learn Now, published by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and co-authored by Marina Watt and me, we outlined six future skills — digital competency, innovation, life planning, communication, wellness management and resilience — that would be indispensable to future success at work. Education of these skills should be incorporated without delay into the school curricula and supported by the required new funding from the government.
The education sector has seen an increasing emphasis on STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — which are regarded as crucial to success in today’s digital economy and culture. Yet mathematics is the only compulsory subject under the Diploma of Secondary Education curriculum while other STEM subjects remain electives. Even though some schools have started teaching basic concepts on artificial intelligence, coding and applications, they are taught as external programs and hence not accorded the importance which they deserve.
The second obvious challenge of learning future skills is the digital divide, which has been aggravated by remote learning during the ongoing pandemic. A study by the University of Hong Kong revealed that 10 percent of students surveyed have no access to devices with large displays, and even for those with such access, more than 40 percent of them had to share it with other family members. Given their limited digital access, these students will have less chance to develop their digital skills, which will affect their employability, and the students will become more vulnerable in the fast-changing internet age.
To teach future skills in the classroom, students need more than just hardware, internet access and various software. They must be exposed to new learning models that can bridge the gap between traditional classroom teaching and experiential learning such as gamification and project-based learning. However, given the average class size of 30 pupils in local secondary public schools, teachers may find it difficult to implement experiential learning for now.
The above-mentioned challenges are mostly linked to the technical aspect of future skills learning. What about soft skills such as life planning, wellness management and resilience?
The latest Policy Address does address the importance of vocational and technical education in preparation for alternative fulfilling careers. The Policy Address mentions a plan to diversify their courses to meet the diverse interests of students. But diversification is not enough. Traditionally, a university degree has been and continues to be seen as a safe pathway to the job market. To promote vocational and technical education, it is important to design courses that match the actual needs of the labor market. The status of such graduates should also be elevated and reflected in their remuneration. The phenomenal success of the German economy is due in no small part to the respect their vocational and technical graduates command.
Of equal concern is that Hong Kong has one of the highest incidences of depression and excessive stress. According to a study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters this year, almost a quarter of Hong Kong students have reported digestive problems due to stress since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. While the pandemic is still ongoing, it won’t be the last adversity our society will have to face as it’s generally acknowledged that depression continues to be a major mental health issue affecting both our student body as well as our workforce. Therefore, acquiring wellness management skills and resilience is so important to the overall health of our society. Accordingly, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government should set a framework that encourages schools to teach these skills.
Although “necessity is the mother of invention”, as the saying goes, behind every invention is a person. It is, therefore, important for the government to invest and reform Hong Kong’s education system into one that encourages and rewards innovation and creativity. While the government has thus far shown it is willing to put its money where its mouth is, just throwing money at the problem itself will not overcome the challenges before us. It must be buttressed with clear and visionary strategies that leave nothing to chance. It can start by reviewing curricula, improving teaching conditions and strengthening the policy framework to ensure that we are equipping our young people with the skills that will be required for tomorrow’s economy.
The author is the co-founder of Brianstorm Content & Brandstorm Communications and co-author of Six Future Skills You Should Learn Now.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.