A Program to Teach Flexible Skills to Schoolchildren and Students Launched in the UK

As part of the Skills 4 Living program, young people will learn how to handle job interviews, respond to feedback, provide thoughtful feedback themselves, form new connections, and communicate effectively-in short, they will be equipped to succeed both personally and professionally. Additionally, participants will take classes on cybersecurity, protection from online fraud, and overcoming racism, sexism, and homophobia.

The educational initiative is designed for approximately 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25 living in Greater Manchester. The project will also include teenagers who have committed criminal offenses, as well as military personnel and refugees. Several higher education institutions, including the University of Manchester and the University of Salford, are expected to collaborate. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, expressed confidence: "Preparing young people to lead confident, healthy and productive lives is key to their employability and long-term wellbeing. I'm proud that Greater Manchester's young people will be the first in the UK to access this opportunity."

A few months earlier, one of the UK's leading accounting firms, Forvis Mazars, launched a course on social skills aimed at Generation Z. A survey conducted in Greater Manchester back in 2023 identified employers' concerns about young employees lacking skills such as empathy, time management, negotiation, and critical thinking.

Professor Sandeep Ranote, a leading child psychiatrist and chair of Higher Health's UK branch, noted that individuals born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s grew up in a completely different world and, as a result, often lack many essential social skills. According to the researcher, many companies report that young employees struggle with in-person interviews and work meetings, and even avoid speaking on the phone. Ranote is convinced that social media represents the biggest socio-cultural shift of our time, and the way the new generation communicates is now fundamentally different from ours. Meanwhile, Ramnik Ahluwalia, CEO of Higher Health in South Africa and the UK, pointed out that research from Harvard and Stanford Universities in the US shows that 85% of success at work is determined by "soft skills."