“If we do not change the way we teach, 30 years later we’re in trouble.”

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, questions the knowledge based education system of the last 200 years.  With the onset of robots, he says humans cannot compete when it comes to knowledge output.  He wants to see an education direction that allows humans to be smarter, by teaching sport, art and music to hone the soft skills- values, believing, independent thinking, teamwork and caring for each other.

In the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning Competencies, Citizenship, Collaboration and Character correspond to Ma’s call and in the International Bacclaureatte Primary Years Program Learner Profile, Caring, being Principled and Open Mindedness answer the same call. Both of these programs pay attention to the personal attributes that enable learners to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people-skills that robots cannot emulate. In the Victorian and Australian Curricula, the Personal and Social Capability emphasises these soft skills.