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Every two years, the World Economic Forum (WEF) publishes the Future of Jobs Report. The report surveys leaders of 1,000 large employers about their predictions for the future of work over the next five years. This year’s World Economic Forum’s Jobs Report for 2025 paints an exciting picture of the future workforce with some predictable 21st century skills on the list, and some surprising ones. This report gives educators key insights into the kinds of skills they should be cultivating in their students.
As technology continues to reshape industries, jobs are changing faster than ever. So, what does this mean for teachers? It’s a call to adapt your teaching practices to prepare students with 21st century skills, like technological literacy, creative thinking, and self-driven learning.

What 21st Century Skills Will Students Need?
Assuming four years of university or job training, students completing high school this year will join the workforce by 2030. Students in middle school will join the workforce in 2035. Students in elementary school will join the workforce in 2040.
Social studies is the perfect subject to develop these skills. It allows students to apply skills across the social studies domains of geography, economics, history, culture, and civics. Social studies is a subject where students can apply their skills to tackle the world’s complex problems and explore solutions to them. While the content taught in social studies is important, what matters most is that students are able to apply what they learned about history, economics, and other topics to future scenarios.
Explore five of the top skills mentioned in the 2025 Jobs Report that you can incorporate into social studies.
- Technological Literacy: AI, Data, & Cybersecurity
- Curiosity and Lifelong Learning
- Creativity and Analytical Thinking
- Soft Skills: Resilience, Flexibility, Empathy, & Active Listening
- Leadership & Environmental Stewardship
1. Technological Literacy: AI, Data Literacy & Cybersecurity
Technological literacy is the ability to use digital technology to access, evaluate, and create information, as well as communicate and collaborate safely and ethically online. Digital literacy is essential for the future success of students in today’s world. It’s no secret that technology is evolving at a rapid pace. The 2025 Jobs Report makes it clear that cybersecurity, data analysis, and AI are replacing jobs and creating entirely new ones.
Technological literacy allows students to access a vast amount of information and resources. It also helps students learn to evaluate information they find online and safely communicate with others around the world.
Students should begin learning about digital technology in elementary school and continue to develop this 21st century skill throughout their time in school. This approach will lead students toward becoming digitally literate and prepared for the future workforce, regardless of what career path they decide to pursue. By weaving new technology, data literacy, and safe online practices into your curriculum, you will equip students with the skills they need to thrive in a tech-focused world.
Social Studies Integration: Teachers can integrate technological literacy into their classrooms with computers, tablets, and other devices to learn and complete assignments. Digital tools can be used by students to collaborate on projects. With access to technology, it is also important to teach about digital citizenship and how to use digital technology safely and responsibly.
2. Curiosity and Lifelong Learning
Education should instill a love for learning that extends beyond the school years. By fostering a sense of curiosity and exploration, students are more likely to continue seeking out new knowledge and experiences throughout their lives. One part of instilling a love for learning is teaching the skills to be able to find and evaluate information.
Teachers can equip students for the 21st century by developing information and media literacy, so that students can assess the legitimacy of new information. This also means teaching techniques for searching the internet and AI tools, factchecking, and interpreting complex text and data.
Beyond practicing the skill of finding information, encouraging students to take ownership of their learning, seek out new opportunities, and understand that skills will need to be updated throughout their careers is a huge step in developing curiosity. Real-world experiences like inquiry-based projects and guest speakers can bridge the gap between what students learn in the classroom and the skills they will use later in life.
Social Studies Integration: Social studies allows students to explore the world around them and ask questions about their daily experiences and interactions. You can encourage curiosity by posing questions for students about real dilemmas that they encounter. You can encourage question-asking and answering, and provide opportunities to research the answers to questions they want to know. Social studies is the perfect subject to use inquiry-driven projects tailored to your students’ interests.
3. Creativity and Analytical Thinking
Creativity and analytical thinking are essential for academic and career success. You can situate students in real-world, complex decision environments where they analyze and synthesize data, address important issues, propose solutions, and recommend courses of action to resolve conflicts.
Fostering creativity also helps students have better cognitive flexibility, where they can look at a topic from multiple angles, shift their thinking and attention between different tasks, and respond to a change in rules or request.
You can foster creativity and analytical thinking with phenomenon-based learning, which uses real-world events to help students learn by encouraging them to explore topics holistically, rather than focusing on individual subjects. Collaboration also promotes creativity, communication, and teamwork, which helps students expand their perspectives to consider other ones.
Social Studies Integration: Teachers can use phenomenon-based learning to develop creativity and analytical thinking. For example, in a lesson about the Dust Bowl, students investigate the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl, analyze historical documents, maps, and data to understand the social, economic, and political factors that led to the Dust Bowl, , then prompt students to consider solutions and preventative measures for similar situations today.

4. Soft Skills: Resilience, Flexibility, & Agility, Empathy, Active Listening
While technological literacy is growing in popularity, the Jobs Report emphasizes that soft skills will continue to be highly important in the 21st century. Skills like resilience, flexibility, agility, empathy, and active listening are highly important to teach students.
In the classroom, teachers can nurture these skills by encouraging students to work together, solve real-world problems, and show resilience and flexibility when faced with challenges. Project-based learning, debates, and group projects are great ways for students to build those all-important interpersonal skills.
Social Studies Integration: Teachers can integrate soft skills into their social studies lessons with discussions. You can set ground rules for discussions, model ideal behaviors, and praise students who model flexibility, empathy, and active listening. For example, during a discussion about the purposes of government, be sure that students are looking and listening at the student who is speaking. Teach students phrases to respectfully agree or disagree in a discussion, such as, “I see your point, but I would like to add…”
5. Leadership and Environmental Stewardship
The 2025 Jobs Report points to leadership and environmental stewardship as important 21st century skills for students. These skills equip students to navigate future challenges and solve important questions about sustainability in the 21st century.
Students with leadership skills will be able to inspire and guide others, while environmental stewardship encourages responsibility for preserving the planet for future generations. The environmental technology industry is expected to grow 5 percent year over year from 2023 to 2030. Together, these 21st century skills prepare students to address global issues, make informed decisions, and lead with purpose in a rapidly changing world.
Social Studies Integration: Social studies explores the past, present, and future of human life. When teaching about economics, for example, you can explore how the economy is impacted by changes in the environment, like in our lesson about natural resources in this economics unit. In our unit about Africa, students explore pressing environmental issues facing the continent of Africa, like dessertification.
What’s Next
Teaching 21st century skills to students is important, not only for their future employability, but for their capacity to learn, adapt, participate fully as citizens, and support their communities. By focusing on both technical and soft skills and encouraging lifelong learning, you are preparing your students to tackle the world’s complex problems and navigate an ever-changing job market. It’s an exciting challenge, and one that puts teachers at the forefront of shaping the future workforce, and future life.