31 October 2022
This autumn, Edgbaston High School for Girls (EHS) are taking steps towards future-proofing pupil outcomes by adding creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to the timetable.
Global industry and education specialists world-wide warn that as algorithms and artificial intelligence replace many routine jobs, the workplace of tomorrow will require people who can reflect, reason and come up with creative ideas and solutions to problems.
Cognito Lessons are EHS’s direct response to those warnings and aim to nurture the core cognitive and non-cognitive skills that young people will need in the future.
Since September, all pupils in Years 7 and 8 at EHS have been participating in a weekly dedicated 35-minute Cognito Lesson to develop the competencies they will need in the workplace to help get them work and life ready. Working individually and in group situations, girls are given fun tasks and exercises that will challenge their ability to think creatively to solve real-world problems. Based around five core Creative Thinking pillars of Analytical ability, Communication, Open-Mindedness, Organisation and Problem Solving, the sessions use active approaches to learning and girls will be given a clear understanding of what sorts of skills they need to hone and why they are important.
Director of Teaching and Learning at EHS, Dr Amit Rajp, said: “As automation, artificial intelligence and algorithms replace many of the routine functions that people fulfil, to earn a living, the young people who will thrive in the future will be the ones who can do what machines can’t: reason, reflect, come up with new ideas and develop new creative solutions.
“As educators we’ve been hearing for a while about the chronic skills shortage in industry, but this is the first time we’ve carved out a dedicated space in the weekly timetable to explicitly work on honing these kinds of skills and competencies – all capabilities that will be highly transferable whatever career path our pupils choose to take.”