A few years ago I examined how successful society was being in helping people to prepare for the future of work.  It was a time in which there was a lot of innovation around new educational opportunities, but early evidence showed that most consumers of these opportunities were those already well placed to cope with the changes being seen across society.

While the educated middle classes were fervent devotees of innovations such as MOOCs, the working classes were most definitely not.  A paper from the UK government’s Foresight outlined a number of barriers that were stopping this most vulnerable section of society from engaging with the reskilling that would so help them.

Those with fewer qualifications, to begin with, would often cite barriers such as a lack of confidence, lack of interest, and a sense that they’re too old. It’s vital, however, that these barriers be overcome as people from this socioeconomic group gain the most from learning new skills. What’s more, if these barriers aren’t overcome, it’s likely that this group will suffer most from any technological disruption.

Providing support

In her latest book, Long Life Learning, Michelle Weise outlines the kind of “wraparound” support she believes can be crucial in overcoming some of these hurdles.

“To stay focused on their education and career goals, learners need comprehensive wraparound supports, whether they are person-to-person r tech-enabled, to help them overcome hurdles and manage multiple commitments and competing priorities,” she says.

“Better support services will foster the success of all working learners, from the beginning of their exploration all the way through to their next job and subsequent career transitions.”

This support is vital for adults, including the unemployed and those from low-income backgrounds, who face a number of disadvantages when trying to pivot their careers via reskilling.  Weise highlights how overcoming these obstacles may require a range of support, including financial coaching and mental health counseling.

Good guidance

Recent research from Indiana University highlights how Covid-19 has deepened already significant inequalities across society.  Indeed, the data showed that Black adults were around three times as likely to suffer from food insecurity or redundancy during the pandemic.  Similarly, those with no college education were twice as likely to suffer from these things as those with a college degree, with those without even high school education four times as likely to suffer.

What’s more, the pandemic has shone a light on the difficulties those from disadvantaged backgrounds have in making use of the educational opportunities available.  Various studies have highlighted how the widespread shift to online learning as a result of school closures has disadvantaged poorer children whose home life is less conducive to studying than their peers from wealthier families.

Research from the University of Geneva suggests similar challenges with adult online learning too.  It shows that online courses cause inequalities between gifted and less gifted students to widen by 5%.  This gap is largely attributed to differences in behavior and motivation between students.

It’s perhaps no surprise, therefore, that just 13% of workers without a college degree manage to transition into a better-paid job within ten years.  It’s a situation in which many can feel like the system is stacked against them.

Leveling the playing field

“Most working learners are asked to stack training on top of all of the other demands in their lives, from working full-time jobs (or multiple part-time ones) to caring for families and the elderly,” Weise writes.  “As we consider building blocks for the future, perhaps the most critical element to get right will be deliberate focus on 360-degree support services.”

A number of examples exist to illustrate this kind of support.  For instance, City University of New York provide students with an unlimited MetroCard to allow them to easily get to and from classes.  Weiss cites efforts from other schools to provide food pantries and clothing closets to help students.

California-based organization JobTrain provides a range of on-site services, including affordable childcare and legal advice, which can be especially valuable for learners who have a criminal record.

These are examples of support to help learners overcome many of the personal issues that can get in the way of being able to study effectively.  New York-based organization STRIVE provides each student with a case manager who can help with things like personal finances, family situations, and mental health.

Social capital

Weiss argues that effective wraparound support also needs to provide the kind of social capital that is often crucial to securing the jobs we want.  Indeed, social capital is just as much of an asset as financial or human capital.

Here, again, better-off families are at an advantage as they can often pass down their social capital to their children, which can create a yawning chasm between the well off and the disadvantaged.  Effective wraparound support, therefore, has to strive to close that social capital gap.

For instance, Climb Hire aims to help learners build and grow their own social capital.  It’s an approach that was itself built on the hugely successful COOP Careers, which aims to help first-generation and low-income college graduates develop the skills and connections they need to successfully enter the workforce.

Both models expect graduates to “pay it forward” and help those that follow in their footsteps, with the aim being to create a virtuous community that can provide a route into well-paid work that might otherwise not exist.

It’s noticeable that these initiatives are relatively rare, and often provided by third-party organizations rather than the local or federal government.  If we are to make the future of work a fair and equitable one you sense that this has to change and governments need to get much better at providing the kind of support to disadvantaged learners to help them overcome the hurdles that stand in the way of them adapting to the changes that are unfolding in the labor market today.