Labour market changes and challenges for education in the VUCA era

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this article is to present the trends in the context of the ongoing changes in the labor market and, consequently, in the education system. Material and methods The subject scope of the study - individual in-depth interviews was developed in accordance with the adopted research objective, the metric included 40 open-ended questions, grouped into seven thematic areas: Identification of the positions most affected by the changes introduced; Identification of the needs related to the work carried out in the new conditions on the part of employers; Identification of the new competencies needed in the positions for which it was necessary to introduce changes in the way of working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic; Identification of the new qualifications needed in the positions for which it was necessary to introduce changes; Analysis of employment policies in terms of changes resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic; Analysis of the needs of employers in the area of transition or partial transition to the mode of remote working; Analysis of the needs of employers in the area of emerging new functions and tasks related to the control of work efficiency. Results The results of the survey are the basis for the formulation of trends as constructs in the context of the ongoing changes in the labour market and, consequently, in the education system Conclusions The following have been defined as key trends: rehumanization, i.e. a kind of renaissance of the axiological and social layer, communitarianism as a panacea for individualism and consumerism, legal totalization, which is a response to the feeling of being threatened in terms of functioning in the unknown world of VUCA, and intergenerationalism, which has its foundation not so much in changes in the demographic structure, but in their meaning.

Keywords

• education
• competencies
• covid-19
• vuca
• future labour market