Pupils ‘should be taught selfbelief to tackle AI job market’

YOUNG people need lessons in self-belief to tackle workplace threats like artificial intelligence, Baroness Morgan, the former education secretary, has said.

The Conservative peer, who served under David Cameron, will issue a call today for a new curriculum in schools which teaches “character development opportunities”, including self-belief, determination and resilience.

A “character education” will prepare pupils for “the fast-changing economy”, with new challenges including AI and the transition to net zero, she will say.

The report, published with the Social Market Foundation (SMF), a cross-party think tank, will argue that young people need to be educated in more than knowledge and technical skills.

In a comment issued ahead of publication, Baroness Morgan said: “Developing positive character traits is important for young people and employers. Who we are, how we interact with others, the qualities and values we display are fundamental to flourishing in the workplace of the next decade and beyond.”

Jamie Gollings, deputy research director at SMF, said: “The dawn of generative AI has made it clear just how different the workplace and society of the mid century may be from that today – how this will impact on what knowledge, and which skills, will still be vital is hard to predict.

“One thing that we can be certain of, though, is that character will be as crucial in the 2050s as it was millennia ago. We will need people to collaborate, to lead and to display resilience in the face of a world that could well be even more fractious than we have today. Character will be needed both to thrive in society and be a valuable employee, and, as this report argues, schools should be supported to make this a bigger part of young peoples’ education.”

The report will call for volunteering opportunities for school pupils to be more evenly spread across the country and will highlight examples of character education that could be expanded.

‘Who we are, how we interact and our qualities are fundamental to flourishing at work’