On April 20th, the National Institute of Technical Education (INET) developed the congress “Creating your future”, together with the Citi Foundation, the Foundation Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), the program Creating your future, the International Network of Education for Labor (RIET) and the Bank of Development of Latin America (CAF).

Two panels were developed during the event, both of them moderated by the new director of INET, Oscar Ghillione.

The first panel, called “The main challenges and public policies of youth employment”, included Mariano Mayer, National Secretary or Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises; Gonzalo Santamarina, regional director of the Federal Employment Service for Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province; and Lucila Berniell, economist from CAF.

Santamarina opened the panel referring to the fact that 20% of youth in Latin America are unemployed and that the Ministry is developing programs to tackle the problems linked to youth employment.

Mayer pointed out the importance of the Ministries of Education, Labor and Production, working together to prepare young people for the labor market. Furthermore, he highlighted the relevance of SMEs as employment creators and of encouraging the entrepreneur DNA that every Argentinian has.

Berniell talked about the three types of skills that are developed throughout life: cognitive, physical, and socioemotional skills –stating that the latter will be the most demanded in jobs that shall not be replaced by machines.

In the second panel, called “Transition from education to work analyzed by the main actors involved”, experts included Martin Padulla, founder and managing director of staffingamericalatina; Gustavo Fabián Álvarez executive director of RIET; Andres Hatum, professor of Management and Organization at the UTDT Business School; and Ricardo Braginski, journalist specialized in education.

Padulla suggested thinking a process that includes education, work and entrepreneurship as interrelated variables. Besides, he mentioned that skills that are relevant for the future of work: technical skills, such as programming, soft skills, and understanding what are the proper technologies.

Considering that traditional employment tends to decrease and remote work grows, Padulla stated that students will need to learn new skills, different to the skills they learn right now.

Gustavo Álvarez said that secondary level education must be improved, and young people need to be trained on socioemotional skills.

Braginski shared his experience when he started working as a journalist and advised the audience to constantly look for new tools, keep on learning and use socioemotional skills. Finally, Hatum pointed out the lack of relevance of content taught in secondary schools.

 Source: INET