World Youth Skills Day 2023 | QUIZ

Skilling Teachers, Trainers, and Youth for a Transformative Future

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

The theme for World Youth Skills Day 2023 is Skilling teachers, trainers and youth for a transformative future. It highlights the essential role that teachers, trainers and other educators play in providing skills for youth to transition to the labour market and to actively engage in their communities and societies.

Technological advancements and shifting labour market dynamics increasingly call for agile and adaptable skill sets. It is crucial that we empower young people to navigate these changes effectively. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is well placed to meet these demands by reducing access barriers to the world of work, ensuring that skills gained are relevant, recognized and certified, promoting green skills and practices, and offering skills development opportunities for youth who are not in education, employment and training.

On World Youth Skills Day, let us unite in recognizing the potential of young people as catalysts for change and commit to providing them with the skills and opportunities they need to build a prosperous and sustainable world for all. Together, we can shape a brighter future where no young person is left behind. World Youth Skills Day (unesco.org)

All youth need to develop a set of core life skills to manage school, work, outside interests, and social relationships successfully. From the perspective of brain development, these skills include planning, focus, self-control, awareness, and flexibility—also known as “executive function” and “self-regulation” skills. No one is born with these skills, but everyone can learn them through practice.

Though early childhood is a critical time for the brain, when connections are being made that become the foundation for a child’s future health, learning, and behaviour. Adolescence is equally a vital “window of opportunity” for building core life skills—and for practitioners to provide support.

Teachers and trainers are the foundation of quality education and quality education is what brings a lifetime of opportunities for millions of people. Without their guidance, we can’t thrive in our lives. Post-pandemic, the entire skilling ecosystem is going through a major paradigm shift. Being an important part of the skilling ecosystem, teachers and trainers adapted to some major changes and had to learn a lot of new things. 

Some of the most critical skills that any teacher or trainer should possess, include;

• Communication
• Computer skills
• Conflict resolution
• Creative thinking
• Critical thinking
• Leadership
• Organizational skills
• Patience
• Teamwork
• Time management