DEVELOP THE SKILLS AND ATTITUDES THAT MAKE YOU UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT!

We need to stand back and think about the skills, knowledge and understanding our children and young people need to thrive and succeed in the increasingly complex world we all live in. We know that "The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind... computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands....

...The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share it's greatest joys."

If you haven't read 'A Whole New Mind' by Dan Pink you have missed a great book that looks at how we have moved from an agriculture age through an industrial age to an information age and are now entering a conceptual age. Being in a conceptual age means that the challenge we all face, because of abundance, automation and the impact of globalisation, is that workers need to develop the skills and abilities that make them unique and different. Dan Pink looks at what it will take to excel in this new conceptual age: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. These skills lie at the heart of the Cutlers' 'Made in Sheffield' programme and must shape and underpin the curriculum and the new offer we make all our children and young people.