Message from the Principal

Yesterday I had the pleasure of opening the ESF Marketing Competition held at KGV School. The competition involved students from KGV School, Island School, South Island School, West Island School, Sha Tin College, Renaissance College and Discovery College. In school teams, students were presented with a number of tasks based on the theme how to grow the readership of the South China Morning Post – Young Post. This was a challenging topic considering the ‘digital disruption’ that print media has faced over the past few decades.

Our ESF CEO Belinda Greer was also in attendance and she spoke individually to the teams about how they were planning to tackle this complex business problem. We both spoke about the vision for education at ESF in terms of ‘An education worth having’ and how providing these students with experiential and product based learning opportunities helps develop the skills and attitudes needed for the future.

Afterwards, I also reflected on the day and how impressed I was with the way the students collaborated and came up with innovative and complex solutions. It also got me thinking about the skills needed in the world of work now and in the future. An interesting concept considering that the students in the room will be mid-career in around 2045 and possibly still be working post 2070!

The University of Kent (UK) summarised employer surveys on the skills required by graduates and listed the 10 top skills that employers want.

1. Verbal communication – Able to express your ideas clearly and confidently in speech
2. Teamwork – Work confidently within a group
3. Commercial awareness – Understand the commercial realities affecting the organisation.
4. Analysing and investigating – Gather information systematically to establish facts and principles.
5. Initiative – Able to act on an initiative, identify opportunities and proactive in putting forward ideas and solutions
6. Drive – Determination to get things done. Make things happen and constantly looking for better ways of doing things.
7. Written communication – Able to express yourself clearly in writing
8. Planning and organising – Able to plan activities and carry them through effectively
9. Manage time effectively – prioritising tasks and able to work to deadlines
10. Flexibility – Adapt successfully to changing situations and environments

What is interesting about this and other lists I have seen, is the rise in importance of ‘soft skill’. Skills like the ability to communicate, collaborate, be on time, public speaking, self-motivation and showing initiative are moving up the ‘employer want list’. This is a reflection of the dynamic, complex and rapidly changing business environment that now demands adaptability, resilience and growth mind-set from employees as businesses need to become more agile and adaptive organisations.

I think our challenge together as educators and parents is to provide students with a combination of technical and ‘soft skills’. The ESF Marketing Competition yesterday was a great example of providing students with an opportunity to apply their technical business skills to solve ‘real world’ problems within strict time constraints. This scenario provided a strong emphasis on student leadership, collaboration, verbal and written communication, listening, teamwork and drive. The skills that employers are looking for and attributes that will hold our young people in good stead for the complex work and life challenges ahead.

Thank you to Susan Ramsay (editor of the SCMP – Young Post) for contributing to the day and to the teachers from our ESF schools who also attended. A huge thank you to Ian Goff from KGV school who lead and organised this learning experience for our students.

In closing I would like to wish all our students and families a happy Spring break and we look forward to seeing all our students back for another term of learning on Monday 16 April.

Kind regards

Mark Blackshaw
Principal
King George V