Future Focused Skills: How to develop social responsibility

In our previous posts in the Future Focused Skills series, we explained why it's important to teach future focused skills, and gave tips on developing critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, self-management and leadership skills. Today we look at the final skill in our model: social responsibility. 

Social responsibility is an important skill that employers expect, and a crucial factor for developing ethical, just, and well-functioning societies. Here is some advice to develop it in yourself: 

 

Social Responsibility 

 

What it is 

Behaving ethically and sensitively toward social, cultural, civic, and environmental issues. Those that understand cultural differences are better placed to work in increasingly globalised workspaces. 

 

Otherwise known as  

• Integrity  
• Ethical 
• Multicultural Cultural Competence 
• Sustainability 

 

Tasks to seek out 

• Working with diverse groups. 

• Supporting sustainability initiatives. 

• Interfacing with the community or governmental organisations around community issues. 

• Dealing with activities that pose ethical dilemmas or are ethically ambiguous. 

 

Ways to practice the skills within these tasks 

• Consider how your cultural identity and previous life experiences might influence how you view and understand certain events. How might someone with a different cultural identity or different experience view an event differently? 

• Explore ways to better practice sustainability within your family, school, or workplace. 

• Volunteer with a community organisation. Explore how the organisation works with other organisations as well as local governmental leaders. 

• Explore current ethical dilemmas within a field that interests you, such as bias in artificial intelligence systems. Read articles offering different views on the ethical dilemma and explore your own position on the issue. 

As with all skills, after practicing, ask for immediate feedback from teachers or peers so that you can build on your performance and improve next time. 

 

What we do at Pearson Online Academy 

We hope you have found the Future Focussed Skills series useful. At Pearson Online Academy, we integrate these skills across the curriculum and each one is explicitly taught. We build additional opportunities for students through clubs and societies and the Student Council, and our Success Coaches, tutors and teachers have regular conversations to help them progress. 

Contact us to find out more.