Hear from Pearson CEO Omar Abbosh on the key trends influencing the learning landscape, and Pearson's opportunity to meet them head-on.
It’s been just over 200 days since I became CEO at Pearson and so far, it’s been an incredible journey listening to and engaging with customers, partners, and employees. During these six months, we’ve also done a deep dive on what’s happening outside the company that is shifting our world. Two converging trends are landing on the world of education and work, and we should pay attention to what they mean for students, employers and workers
The first trend is a looming demographic shift that means the Baby Boomer generation is leaving the workforce, increasing the pressure for talent sourcing in an already constrained labour market. Consider that 10% of US jobs will be vacated by retiring Boomers over the next six years. Declining birth rates mean we’re also not replacing people in the labour market as quickly as we need to. If you look at statistics across different sectors, such as nursing and teaching, there is a worrying vacancy gap, just as there is a growing demand for skilled professionals in these fields. Already, we have a gap of 511,000 roles for nursing jobs, 300,000 for engineering and 273,000 roles in allied health in the US alone.
The second seismic trend is the breathtaking speed at which AI is sweeping through our world. According to research by Goldman Sachs, AI investment will approach $100 billion in the US and $200 billion globally by 2025. Even if we are in a bit of a hype bubble now with AI, it’s still going to have profound implications over the next 10 years for how we live and work. The ability to use AI to personalize learning means we will be able tailor learning to achieve better individual outcomes for people. It also has huge implications for the world of assessments and for the verification of skills. When anyone can have AI do their work for them, you want to know that your surgeon has the skills he or she is supposed to have. Assessments and verifying skills become critical.
I’ve been talking to a lot of CEOs and companies. The combination of these trends means they are trying hard to:
- Find new pools of talent
- Work out how to help their employees develop skills at pace to stay current with the advances in technology and AI
- Design a future workforce that takes account of which skills can be automated or augmented by AI
At Pearson we think we have an opportunity, and even a responsibility, to help meet these needs. You are going to see Pearson focus more and more on delivering the trusted assessments and the language learning we are already known for. In addition, we’re looking at how we can support early career learners and how we can be innovators in the enterprise skills space. You’ll also see us do a great deal of this with the help of AI.
Our world is challenging all of us to build human skills at a pace that matches the rate of technology development.
Individuals badly need more - and different – learning opportunities. We want to find the people and the partners who can join us in meeting this pivotal moment in human history.
[This article first appeared on Omar Abbosh’s LinkedIn, 29 July, 2024.]