“Adventure activities and surfing in particular help prepare pupils by building a set of key skills around thinking, questioning, balance, creativity, leadership and collaboration.”
A recent article in The Daily Telegraph suggests the problem of the jobless youth is one of the most important facing society today. It’s not that there are no jobs out there; rather that the available openings require skills that young people simply don’t have, leading to a frightening wave of austerity-stoked, chronically depressed young people across the country.
The world of work is currently out of sync with the world of education. This dangerous mismatch between the needs of employers and of job seeking youngsters is not only resulting in high youth unemployment but arresting economic development. Youth unemployment currently hovers around 20 percent, with the total number expected to reach more than a million again this year.
As the needs of employers change to reflect new pressures of finance, resource costs, carbon and biodiversity, the way that knowledge and information is used for problem solving is starting to shift at the same speed. With unlimited information available for free online, the art of asking good questions is becoming more powerful than knowledge itself. Organisations who value challenge and questions as well as knowledge will build resilience.
Concerns such as those raised by the 40% of Institute of Directors members who thought that young people were unprepared for the world of work would be countered by young people having practiced solving real issues before they apply for their first job.
As the economy recalibrates to new measures of success and approaches such as Cradle to Cradle and ‘circular economy’ drive the development of new products and services, a new set of thinking and doing skills will be needed by the workforce of the future. A more sustainable competent pool of job candidates, for all positions from secretary to manager, is key to resilience and staying in business. Throw this in the mix with the problems facing our planet and the future looks rather challenging.
Can surfing help save the planet and aid the economy? Whether you ride big waves or not, there are lessons to be learned. We’ve got to get the next generation up to speed with the size and scale of the challenges ahead. The world’s best big wave surfers didn’t wake up one morning, paddle out and surf some of the biggest waves ever ridden. They started by surfing small waves, by studying the ocean, swimming mile after mile and holding their breath under water for minutes at a time. They understood the size and scale of the challenge and made sure they were ready.
Adventure activities and surfing in particular help prepare pupils by building a set of key skills around thinking, questioning, balance, creativity, leadership and collaboration. Wild environments allow kids to learn about and understand risk. They can then apply these skills to some of the futures biggest challenges relating to jobs, food, carbon, energy, biodiversity and resources.
A process is needed to give young people a solid grounding in areas of critical concern to leaders in business and government who are balancing the demands of today whilst planning for the challenges of tomorrow.
There’s good news out there: all around the world there are wonderful examples of people and organizations that are making determined efforts to do things differently in education and in business, health care, architecture, communities and in adventure. It’s vital that teachers are tapping into these businesses, giving pupils the best opportunities to become change makers.
Exceptional accomplishments in exploration and adventure, on the sea, in the mountains and in the world of nature, feature strongly in the U.S.’s history. Britain has led the way in the use of outdoor learning and adventure for the development of young people and continue to lead the way in what’s truly possible in the great outdoors.
New solutions and new models of working will require new thought; we know that fresh minds with fresh eyes are a potent force that can be engaged to help figure them out.
