Empowering the future problem solvers

[Music]

i

want you to think about this

this year’s first graders will be

retiring in 2084.

what does the world look like then what

problems will they be facing along their

way

we don’t know that but what we do know

is that change is happening faster than

ever before

and the challenges we are facing are

mounting higher and higher

we already need to awaken and prepare

the problem solvers

of tomorrow and give them the right

tools to face the challenges

can we agree that our educational system

is meant to prepare the students for

their future working life

and can we agree that dealing with

change and

uncertainties will be as important in

the future

as it is today so

back to our first graders how can we

prepare them so that they when entering

working life

have confidence to deal with the

unforeseen challenges

try to think back to when you were 15

sitting in your room maybe

struggling over your homework do some of

you recall wondering

what you were meant to do with all that

stuff you learned in school

analyzing a poem integral equations

i remember thinking when on earth will i

be using this

what is the purpose of what our kids

learn at school

math science history art or coding for

that matter

a new curricula has been implemented in

the norwegian schools this august

our students will now learn more about

sustainability

public health and life skills democracy

and citizenship obviously

important topics but

how do we make sure our students

don’t just learn about life skills and

community involvement

but also get the tools that are needed

to actually manage life

and get involved i was privileged to

hear

a young student giving a lecture about

her thoughts about future education

and she said that school is just a

waiting station

before life really begins when you just

finish school

then you will enter the world then you

will influence

then you will get something done

but do they really have to wait for that

to happen

i’m afraid today’s kids do not get too

much experience

in making a difference to others i don’t

think we give them

either the opportunity nor the arenas to

do so

at school you are rated in the different

subjects

and your value is linked to how well you

do on tests and presentations

but maybe you have other important

skills that you may not always get to

show

maybe you have the gift of creating

something without a recipe

or maybe you are incredibly good at

being curious and always asking

questions

these are qualities that are super

important in working life

but as it seems it can be quite annoying

in the classroom

there was this boy i heard of

who always had been annoyed that it

hurts to lean against the seat

when traveling so when he was asked to

make something he needed

in arts and crafts he made a sleeping

helmet

i find it very clever even though it was

hard for him to make a good design

but he got a bad grade

because according to his teacher it

would have been much better to just make

a nice looking pencil case

the school system too often in my

opinion

raised their students by asking them to

repeat

what they have learned to show what they

can

the students put two lines below the

answer which corresponds to the

recipe we have given them but what then

what are students going to do with all

this knowledge that we ask them to

repeat for us

school projects are often arranged in

this way we ask

students to find information about the

topic for example

find facts about plastic in the ocean we

ask them to present it to us like an

article or a presentation or a movie

but what if we didn’t stop there what do

we

challenge the students to do the

following

now that you know about the problem of

plastic in the ocean

what are you going to do about it

and that’s when the magic begins to

happen

now the students must use their

knowledge their skills and their

strengths

to find good solutions

i think it’s important that we give

students real problems to solve not just

issues described in a book so

let me tell you about this crowd

they are ninth graders participating in

an innovation camp

organized by junior achievement together

with a local power company

the problem we gave the students was how

to add power to an overloaded

electricity grid

this took place just before the summer

holiday

the students worked with the task for a

few days

and we then selected the very best

solutions

and the winning teams were invited to

pitch their ideas

at the super final at a business

conference after summer

we didn’t tell them to work more on

their solutions we just told them to

show up

but when we met at the conference

several of them had used their summer

holidays

making prototypes this team

had connected a trampoline to a light

bulb so that

when jumping on the trampoline the bulb

was lit

their idea was that trampoline amusing

parks also could be power plants

in fact these students had been doing

homework during summer without anyone

telling them to

and probably without even reflecting on

working on school subjects at all

and check out these guys they look

amazing in their

suits and ties at the super final

because they knew they were going to

present their solution to top executives

in the energy industry

it’s not often you see kids dress up

like this having a presentation in the

classroom

and of course that’s not important

either

but in this case the students wanted so

much to leave a good impression

that they did

i’m convinced that discovering that you

can come up with

solutions which create value for others

is very inspiring for young people to

experience

it’s about discovering that you have

skills that can be used to

solve big challenges or smaller problems

and that you can create value for others

outside of school

who benefits from your solution

and during the process you relate to the

unknown and unforeseen that tend to show

up when dealing with problems

that builds confidence and that’s about

building life skills

in a world where we constantly are

dealing with new information and new

ways of doing things

just think about the pandemic then we

owe it to our kids to exercise on this

next time it’s something else that

strikes us

that makes us change courses

change habits must make a new plan

and by the way we need people

who take initiative and responsibility

both in their own life but also in their

communities

experiences that give students

confidence to take initiative to make

something happen

is very much about citizenship

it’s not about pointing to a pro

pointing to a problem hoping that

someone else will be solving it

it’s about taking responsibility

yourself

this can be the very first part to

community engagement

with all which also gives them tools to

do something with what they are

passionate about

we need that i would say we are totally

dependent on it to solve the challenges

of tomorrow

for me school was perfectly normal

i didn’t quite know what career i wanted

so i chose to study economics and

management because it kept doors open

for different opportunities

my first job after graduation happened

to be in banking and finance

it was not planned more by accident to

be honest

but also very interesting and inspiring

so i was perfectly fine i had my degree

i had a good job and in 2016 i looked

back at 15 years of experience and had a

manager role

ahead of customer service which i loved

but still something was missing

one day i was asked to be

at a jury at the startup expo at least

that’s how i

understood it but by entering the expo

i was blown away

this was no ordinary expo this was

young students telling their world about

their ideas through their youth

companies

there were products like a waterproof

backpack made of paper

a dress that could be tied and designed

in 10 different ways

a gaming glove to prevent inflammation

several of them had made very good

profits

but what impressed me was their

enthusiasm

their young courage remember this was

young students age 17 running companies

as a part of their education

i envied them for the pride they had in

their

business and products they were somehow

empowered

today my job is to support

teachers to train students in problem

solving

but it’s also about building important

competence for the future of work and

business

we need the next generation to have

skills to create new jobs for the future

we need to empower them with skills like

creativity

confidence the ability to cooperate

and taking initiative and responsibility

to make something happen

but since i started my journey in this

job

i’ve discovered that it’s first and

foremost about this

empowering young people to make

a change

let them solve real problems and give

them arenas where they can bring their

ideas to the table

let them see that their solutions are

good enough

sometimes even quite brilliant

let them experience that what they learn

at school

math science history art or coding for

that matter

is important and relevant and can be

used to create value for others

let them see that they can make a

difference today

just now they don’t have to wait till

after finishing 13 years

at school and by

empowering young people today we are at

the same time building

competence for the future working

business so that you

and your business will be more prepared

for the uncertainties you are facing in

the future

so let’s together make sure as many

students as possible gets this

opportunity we need to work together

school and working life to make sure

our children this year’s first graders

are empowered to meet the challenges of

the future

my opinion is that the next generation

is

exceptionally good they have

important dreams for their future

this crowd will be taking care of us

when we are old and tired

this crowd will be in the front line

facing future challenges

this crowd is the future problem solvers

let’s help them get the tools they need

to put their ideas

into action let’s empower them

we owe it to them thank you

you