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International Review of Education

, Volume 62, Issue 3, pp 253–278 | Cite as

Training 21st-century workers: Facts, fiction and memory illusions

  • Helen Abadzi
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Technological achievements require complex skills for the workplace, along with creativity, communication, and critical thinking. To compete effectively in the global economy, governments must provide their citizens with relevant education and training. To help close the skills gap, international agencies often advise governments of developing countries to de-emphasise basic knowledge and focus instead on complex cognition and systemic improvements. However, the donors’ advice may be due to memory biases of highly educated people. Such training strategies would fail most students, because complex skills are built by combining and automatising shorter chains of thoughts or behaviours. An effective training process requires much practice, feedback and rearrangement of subcomponents over time. Execution of various tasks must become automatic and effortless to avoid using up too much of the very limited capacity of what is termed the “working memory”. Marketable skills are those skills which are fluently performed without excessive cognitive load. To provide complex skills for all, including non-cognitive skills, curricula should therefore first ensure detailed instruction and practice of basic components which can then be strung together and applied to new tasks. Policy advisers seem unaware of these scientific insights, so they are not taken into account. The article reviews the essential neurocognitive functions involved in the acquisition and execution of skills chains. The author concludes that to improve the skills of economically disadvantaged populations, donors and governments must acquire expertise and offer advice on the basis of cognitive science.

Keywords

skills “21st century” learning curves automaticity low-income countries vocational training “cognitive science” 

Résumé

Former la main-d’oeuvre du 21e siècle : faits, fiction et illusions de la mémoire – Les prouesses technologiques exigent des compétences complexes adaptées au poste de travail, parallèlement à la créativité, la communication et la pensée critique. En vue d’une concurrence efficace dans l’économie mondiale, les gouvernements doivent dispenser à leurs citoyens des programmes d’éducation et de formation pertinents. Désireuses de contribuer à combler le fossé des compétences, les agences internationales conseillent fréquemment aux gouvernements des pays en développement de désacraliser les savoirs de base pour valoriser la cognition complexe et les améliorations systémiques. Cependant, ce conseil des organismes de financement pourrait reposer sur une mémoire défaillante de personnes hautement instruites. De telles stratégies de formation feraient échouer la plupart des élèves, car les compétences complexes se construisent en associant et en automatisant de courtes chaînes de pensées ou de comportements. Un processus efficace de formation exige beaucoup de pratique, de retours d’information et la réorganisation d’éléments secondaires sur le long terme. L’exécution de diverses tâches doit devenir automatique et dénuée d’effort pour éviter de trop exploiter la capacité très limitée de ce qui est appelé la « mémoire de travail ». Les compétences commercialisables sont celles qui sont pratiquées couramment sans fatigue cognitive excessive. En vue de doter tous les individus de compétences complexes, y compris de compétences non cognitives, les programmes de formation devraient par conséquent dispenser en premier lieu une instruction et une pratique détaillées des composantes de base, qui peuvent ensuite être reliées ensemble et appliquées à de nouvelles tâches. Les conseillers en matière de politiques ne semblent pas être conscients de ces découvertes scientifiques, de sorte qu’ils ne les prennent pas en compte. L’auteure recense les principales fonctions neurocognitives impliquées dans l’acquisition et l’exécution des chaînes de compétences. Elle conclut que, s’ils entendent améliorer les compétences des groupes économiquement défavorisés, les organismes de financement et les gouvernements doivent acquérir une expertise et prodiguer des conseils fondés sur la science cognitive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of Texas at ArlingtonArlingtonUSA

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