Experts recommend integrating leadership skills development in school curriculum

The need to prepare Nigerian children and young adults for societal relevance now and in the future in the emerging world of work and knowledge economy has made it critical for the country to incorporate leadership skill development into the school curriculum, particularly at the primary and secondary levels.

This will allow both public and private schools to generate fit-for-purpose and future-ready learners who will create wealth and deliver solutions while still in school, rather than job seekers after graduation.

This was the summary of participants’ opinions and viewpoints at a one-day workshop hosted by Teesas Education, a private learning education centre in Lagos, on Wednesday.

The hybrid event, hosted in collaboration with FranklinCovey, a global education resource training centre, was attended by numerous high-profile school owners and administrators, managers, and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s education system.

They talked about children’s leadership development, with an emphasis on the transformative “Leader in Me” initiative.

The Leader in Me project focuses on three key areas of school development: culture, leadership, and academics, and it helps students develop by coaching them to be great leaders to themselves and others today and in the future.

Welcoming participants, Chairman\CEO of Teesas Education, Mr. Osayi Izedonmwen, said the “Leader in Me programme” was designed as a paradigm shift from the old ways and manner in which school activities and purposes were given to a new and more evolving fashion that will shape learners orientations, thinking, and focus to being life-ready leaders right from when they are in school.

He pointed out that the era where students are taught and prepared primarily to pass exams for the purpose of getting paid employment rather than becoming wealth creators and leaders in their chosen fields is no longer relevant in today’s world, where new knowledge of doing things is evolving daily.

He said this identified gap is what the Leader in Me programme is aimed at closing by inculcating seven habits of highly effective people in children as they pursue their academic journeys and with parent engagement.

He said that was what made the difference between the technologically advanced countries and Africa, with the former leading the latter with a wide gap.

Giving an overview of the programme, Mr Justin Permenter, Regional Director of partnered FranklinCovey Education, who talked graphically, emphasised that there is a global change from the industrial to the knowledge-age economy, and that every country must keep up or risk falling behind.

He shared findings from the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs 2023 Report, which indicate that analytical and creative thinking, technological literacy, empathy and active listening, teamwork, leadership, and social influence are among the skills deemed most important for future workers.

He also mentioned McKinsey’s Future of Work Skills Report, which was published last year and recognised cognitive, interpersonal, self-leadership, and digital skills as four areas of in-demand abilities in the workplace across all sectors of the economy.

He emphasised that it is important that children, especially in Africa, are also trained in those skills like their peers in the more advanced countries to enable them to fit well in the 21st-century economy.

Speaking separately on the workshop’s sub-theme, “Implementing Socio-Emotional Leadership Development in Schools Using Leaders in Me,” the discussants agreed that Nigeria’s school curriculum should be re-evaluated to include content that will make learning more practical rather than theoretical.

The discussion panel, which included Dr Femi Ogunsanya, the founder of Oxbridge Tutorial College; Mrs Modupe Adeyinka-Oni, the executive director of Standard Bearers School; and Mrs Monica Lewis, the head of Pegasus Schools, agreed that incorporating the Leader in Me Programme into the school curriculum would make a significant difference.

Mr. Felix Nwose, one of the participants and founder of Maftouch School in Ogun State, emphasised his eagerness to put the knowledge he received back home to good use.

He, like the other participants, believes that Nigerian schools must expose children to skills that will make them future-ready.