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October 2026

Technology Literacy Is the New Basic – For Everyone, Not Just the Coders

4 min read
AI Literacy & CurriculumSkills & Future of Work

Technology literacy – a working understanding of AI and data – is the new basic. Why every student needs it, not just the ones who will go on to code.

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October 2026

How Do You Prepare a Child for a Job That Doesn't Exist Yet?

Skills & Future of WorkAI Literacy & Curriculum

Of the 170 million new jobs the world is set to create by 2030, many don't exist yet – just as prompt engineer or AI ethicist didn't a few years ago. So how do you prepare a child for a job that hasn't been invented? You don't teach the job. You build the person who can meet it.

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02

October 2026

In a World of Confident Machines, Critical Thinking Is the Premium Skill

AI Literacy & CurriculumEthics & WellbeingSkills & Future of Work

AI produces fluent, confident, professional-looking answers – and it's wrong a lot of the time. Most teachers already worry that students can't tell the difference. That gap is going to make one old-fashioned skill more valuable than almost any other: the ability to think critically about what you're being told.

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03

August 2026

Stop Handing Children a Map. Teach Them to Find Their Own Way.

Skills & Future of WorkAI Literacy & Curriculum

Every plan we make for a child's future rests on a prediction – and right now our predictions about work, technology and the world they will inherit are less reliable than ever. What if we stopped handing children a map and taught them to find their own way instead?

4 min readRead article

About the Author

Paul Penfold

Paul Penfold

Paul Penfold is an education and technology consultant based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with six decades of experience spanning classroom teaching, academic research, government policy, and humanitarian service. He advises schools, ministries, and EdTech companies on AI in education, alternative education, and learning technology, and has published 37 papers on immersive and virtual-world learning. His career includes refugee education on the Thai-Cambodian border, pioneering virtual-world hospitality education at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and national tourism HR strategies across Asia and the Caribbean.

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