A lifetime of questing and questioning

Some individuals proudly declare themselves self-taught - parading their lack of an academic background and highlighting the knowledge they have acquired through their own solo efforts.

Of course, this distinction should not be pushed too hard. There is a set of basic skills, such as reading, which are necessary ingredients for these individuals and which certainly can be taught. There will always be a need for institutions which provide a framework, culture and opportunity for the acquisition of knowledge.

Debates about education tend to focus on either structures - for example, in arguments over selective versus comprehensive education and the role of quasi-independent academies - or upon the nature of the examination system. The ongoing argument about the relative merits of narrow, deep A-levels and a broader, more flexible baccalaureate approach to post-16 education is the most obvious example of the latter.

Very often, this particular argument is couched in terms of a battle between 'academic' qualifications and 'vocational' exams. But this misses the point.

A baccalaureate system is preferable to A-levels, not because it allows for more vocational learning, but simply because it would permit young people greater flexibility in their choice of subjects.

Supporting life-long learning

Indeed, precisely because the specific skills that will be required in the labour market of the future are impossible to predict or plan for, the very notion of 'vocational education' is an oxymoron. It is not possible to impart to young people the knowledge they will need for their careers. Javier Bayer, a learning consultant and the former head of the Talent Foundation, a charity that works to improve learning skills, says our preoccupation with courses and technical skills is misplaced. "What matters most of all is having the emotional capacity and desire to learn", he says. "Technical skills are disposable - we have to be ready to drop them and pick up new ones."

In the end, the debates about structures and tests are a sideshow. The challenge is to enable young people to develop the characteristics, motivation and attitudes necessary to support lifelong learning. Those who succeed in the labour market of the future will be those with a self-development mindset and character. Three attributes are critical: autonomy, open-mindedness and application.

It is clear that individuals with a strongly developed 'locus of control' - the sense that they are in charge of their own destiny - enjoy better economic and social outcomes. With the crumbling of traditional career ladders and life plans, the capacity for autonomy has become even more important. But future learners must also retain an open mind.

It is harder to let go of existing skills than it is to acquire new ones (in a slightly different context, economists refer to this as 'loss aversion'). But a willingness to question and, if necessary, abandon our opinions will be increasingly important as the halflife of knowledge continues to atrophy.

John Stuart Mill, the great 19th century liberal, declared that any person worth listening to "has kept his mind open to criticism of his opinions... No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this.

The steady habit of correcting and completing his opinion by collating it with those of others, so far from causing doubt and hesitation in carrying it into practice, is the only stable foundation for a just reliance on it".

Cracking the books

It is, of course, much easier to declare the need for a 'steady habit' than to acquire it. Along with autonomy and open-mindedness, application is a key predictor of life outcomes. The acquisition of knowledge will not become easier, except in the trivial sense that Information Communications Technology (ICT) speeds up the retrieval of information.

Learning will remain the hard graft of reading, thinking, reflecting and absorbing. An ability to do this hard work - to crack the books, rather than hit the town - has always been essential, but is likely to become more so.

What the Oxford Professor Avner Offer describes as 'commitment strategies', character traits that allow us to make short-term sacrifices for longterm gain, will grow in importance. In this sense, the ability to develop certain aspects of individual character is a vital part of any future-oriented education system.

There is a tendency to see the social and environmental aspects of learning as a separate part of the curriculum. In fact, developing the necessary personal characteristics to support a lifetime of learning is not separate from education, but integral to it.

The capacity for 'prudence', as Offer labels this trait, may seem opposed to the entrepreneurialism upon which our economy and society relies. In fact, it is those with the greatest confidence in their abilities, and a capacity to bounce back should things go wrong, who are most likely to take risks.

Instincts versus institutions

Joel Mokyr, in his book The Gifts of Athena - Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy, shows how specific institutions played a vital part in the development of what he describes as 'useful knowledge' during the industrial era: "The existence of organisations in which such knowledge is preserved, defused and augmented (such as academies, universities and research institutes) were of central importance in explaining progress over past centuries".

Institutions will continue to play an important part in preparation for life's uncertainties. But, over the coming decades, the future of learning will rely as much on the instincts of individuals as the wisdom of institutions.

A lifetime of questing and questioning will, of course, in many ways be more demanding than one in which the skills necessary for a particular trade or profession were learnt before the age of 21, and only slowly, if ever, became obsolete.

We should be honest about the downsides of this new world - uncertainty, instability and risk - especially if we are among those who are currently benefiting from it. But the future in which specific skills will quickly go out of date is also one in which talent should be able to rise, application should be rewarded and each of us will have the opportunity - and perhaps the responsibility - to keep developing ourselves as individuals. It does mean questioning ourselves and our knowledge base regularly. But as the Chinese proverb reminds us, the person who asks the question is a fool for today, while the person who never asks it is a fool forever.

About the author

Richard Reeves is a writer, commentator and speaker with a special interest in the economics and politics of wellbeing and the future of the workplace.

His most recent book is John Stuart Mill - Victorian Firebrand, an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician.