In this blog on 21st Century Skills, I will pick up on a number of themes introduced in a previous blog on Young People and the Future of Work to examine critically and creatively (21st century skills!!) the ways in which these skills are understood, and how they have come to be seen as providing some sort of solution to the ‘problem’ of young people’s education, training and employment pathways in/to the future of work.

In this blog, and in a blog that will follow on 21st Century Skills, I will draw on the work that I have been doing in the last 20+ years in this space to explore the ‘history’ of the ‘problem’ of young people and the future of work, and why at this time the idea of 21st Century Skills is seen to be a productive way for governments, businesses, education systems and communities to manage this ‘problem’.