The changing world of skills

In this article, we discuss how a changing world is leading to an emphasis on new types of skills and competencies.

This line of discussion raises a fundamental question: What is a skill? In responding to this question, we also explore various definitions and how to conceptualise different types of skills.

What is a skill?

There is no simple answer to the first question, as a skill can be defined in many different ways. According to the European Commision (2015), the word “skill”…

“Refers to the ability to apply knowledge, use know-how to complete tasks and solve problems and carry out the tasks that comprise a particular job. As an overarching/multidimensional concept/term, “skill” can be also used as a proxy measure on occupation, qualification, educational attainment (these measures have the benefit of being readily available in a range of quantitative datasets).

Other abilities, used at daily work, such as teamwork and problem-solving, are also considered as skills (however it is not always easy to be measured due to their subjective nature)”

The changing nature of knowledge

Knowledge is no longer being thought of as something that is developed and stored in the minds of students, experts, represented in books, and classified into disciplines. Instead, it becomes more and more apparent that knowledge is now seen more as a fluent, energy-like system of networks and flows. Knowledge is defined – and valued – not for what it is, but for what it can help to do (Ehler, 2020: 14).

Although challenging, we argue that skills can be mapped into varying types of taxonomy, some of which might be more useful than others, depending on the ultimate purpose of that taxonomy.

The need for change

Irrespective of taxonomy, the need for change, and for new means of exploring and categorising future skills, is a critical task for institutions, national qualification and quality assurance frameworks, and individual lecturers also.

Let’s consider the following questions:

• What does the term “skill” mean to you?
• Do you have a particular definition of the word, that distinguishes it from other, related terms, such as “task” or “competency”?
• What types of skills and competencies do you think are critical for future-proofing careers?

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