The Increasing Importance of Creativity as Work Skill

[Radka Jágriková]

In a 2016 report The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the core skills needed for work in 2020, as identified by professionals from leading global companies, were presented and compared to those identified five years ago. Creativity has moved from number 10 (as predicted for 2015) to the third most important skill to have, following complex problem solving and critical thinking. ‘Creativity’ was in the context of this research defined as ‘the ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem’ (World Economic Forum, 2016, p. 52).

 

Top 5 skills needed for work in 2020:

Complex problem solving

Critical thinking

Creativity

People management

Coordinating with others

(Gray, 2016)

How can we make sure that children and young people get a chance to develop these vital skills in education settings?

References

Gray, A. (19 January 2016). The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-th...

World Economic Forum. (January 2016). The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf