GIVING YOUNG PEOPLE THE EDGE!

Working with young people makes you realise that we are living in digital times and that change is happening at an exponential rate. What is encouraging is meeting and working with the young people  on the new 'Made in Barnsley' programmes at Horizon Community College, Holy Trinity Catholic and Church of England School, The Dearne ALC, Outwood Academy Carlton and Outwood Academy Shafton. I have met so many young people who are creative, imaginative and passionate. They want to develop their understanding of the world of work;  finding out about engineering, construction and healthcare and developing the skills that matter; the skills that will give them the edge.

The scary thing is that there are more high achieving students in China and in India than there are people in this country and, it is more than likely that, someone in China or India can do your work more cheaply than you can. Increasingly, if your work is routine and systematic and organised, a computer can do your work faster, cheaper and better than you can. In the past bright young people were encouraged to become lawyers, doctors, accountants and to work in the city moving money around but the age of left-brain dominance is coming to an end. The future belongs to a different kind of young person; someone with a different kind of mind. The future will belong to designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers... creative and emphatic right-brain thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between those who get ahead and those who don't.

Drawing on research from around the advanced world, Daniel Pink, in this book everyone should read, outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are essential for professional success and personal fulfilment and reveals how to master them. He has identified the six things we need to do to thrive and succeed in this new world

• We need to be designers, 
• We need to be storytellers, 
• We need to be team-players,
• We need empathy,
• We need to explore and play,
• We need to create meaning in our lives.

As Dan Pink says "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 its greatest joys." This approach lies at the heart of the Cutlers' 'Better Learners, Better Workers' 'Made in Barnsley' scheme which focuses on developing skills and character alongside knowledge and understanding.