Classroom resources Future

Your AI-Ready Future

Preparing for careers in an AI-transformed world

Lesson time
4 min
Fits
Lesson Starter (5 min)
Key stage
KS3, KS4, KS5
Format
Discussion
Level
Beginner
Downloads
26
Views
181
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26 downloads 181 views

Before you teach

Get ready

  • Open the PDF (or the SlideForge deck) on the board before the class arrives.
  • Optional: have the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 figures to hand in case students ask.

Teacher notes

Should reflect Slide 9: human skills, prompt engineering, leadership/ethics, curiosity/adaptability, AI-related careers

Learning objectives

  1. Understand how AI is reshaping the jobs market
  2. Identify skills that will remain valuable alongside AI
  3. Recognise new career opportunities emerging from AI

The lesson

10 steps · 4 min

  1. Starts at 0:00

    Have the title up and introduce the idea that AI is changing careers and work.

    • 15 sec
    • Slide 1

    Teacher tip

    Set a positive tone: this is about opportunity, not fear.

  2. Starts at 0:15

    Ask the question and give pairs 60 seconds. Collect one skill from each pair.

    • 1 min
    • Pupils Pair discussion
    • Slides 2–3

    Teacher tip

    Listen for students who focus only on job loss, and draw out the opportunities too.

  3. Starts at 1:15

    Read the three figures, leading with the net number.

    • 45 sec
    • Slide 4

    Teacher tip

    Pause after each figure. "Transformed, not disappeared": most jobs will change rather than vanish.

  4. Starts at 2:00

    Go through the four cards, matching them to the skills pairs suggested.

    • 1 min
    • Pupils Share answers
    • Slide 5

    Teacher tip

    "Somebody said kindness — that is this one" makes the list theirs rather than yours.

  5. Starts at 3:00

    Leave the two definitions up for pupils to copy.

    • 20 sec
    • Pupils Copy the definitions
    • Slide 6
  6. Starts at 3:20

    Go through the three moves and invite pupils to name one habit they will try.

    • 30 sec
    • Pupils Name one habit
    • Slide 7

    Teacher tip

    End on an empowering note.

  7. Starts at 3:50

    Read the takeaway, then stop.

    • 15 sec
    • Slide 8

  8. Debate it (optional — now or next lesson): read the motion and take a first vote — for, against or not sure yet.

    • Optional
    • 1 min
    • Pupils Vote
    • Slides 9–10

    Teacher tip

    Challenge card: What if the new jobs need skills that the people who lost their jobs do not have?

  9. Split the class for and against. Each side builds its case from the three points, then hear two speakers a side and vote again.

    • Optional
    • 5 min
    • Pupils Prepare, speak, vote again
    • Slides 11–12

    Teacher tip

    Ask who changed their mind, and what changed it.

  10. Starts at 4:05

    Say, out loud, who pupils can go to if anything today affected them, and leave the support slides up as the room moves on.

    • 15 sec
    • Slides 13–14

    Teacher tip

    Name the actual person — tutor, head of year or safeguarding lead — rather than leaving it to the slide.

Big question

"If AI can do many jobs faster than humans, what skills will make you valuable?" (from Slide 3)

Adapting the lesson

Support

For pupils who need more help

Provide a simplified jobs/skills glossary and allow students to respond with examples from jobs they already know

Stretch

For pupils ready to go further

Ask students to research one AI-related career and present why it appeals to them in two minutes next lesson

SEND

For additional needs

Pre-teach key vocabulary (displacement, complementary). Allow verbal responses or drawing rather than written discussion

In every lesson

Debate it

For the National AI Conversation

Turn it into a motion: reword the big question as "This house believes…". Split the class for and against, give sides five minutes to prepare, hear two speakers each, then take a free vote.

Set up the debate

National AI Conversation

Set up the debate

The same topic, pitched for each age group. Pick your pupils' pathway: the motion, a prompt to get them going, and three points each way to start their preparation.

Primary · Years 5 and 6

The motion

Should AI and robots do the boring jobs so people don't have to?

Sentence starter: I think they should / shouldn't because ___.

For

  • People would have more time for fun, creative and caring jobs.
  • Robots do not get tired or bored.
  • Some boring jobs are also dangerous, so it would keep people safe.

Against

  • Some people like those jobs and need them to earn money.
  • A job that seems boring to you might matter a lot to someone else.
  • If AI does everything, people might forget how to do important things.
In class
Pupils move to a corner of the room or vote with a show of hands, then tell a talk partner why.
As a full debate
Shorter speeches, with more time for questions from the floor and the final vote.

Secondary · Years 7 to 11

The motion

AI will create more good jobs than it takes away.

Challenge card: What if the new jobs need skills that the people who lost their jobs do not have?

For

  • The World Economic Forum expects about 170 million new roles by 2030, against 92 million displaced.
  • Most jobs will be transformed rather than disappear, with AI taking over routine tasks.
  • New careers are already appearing, from AI ethics to data science.

Against

  • New jobs may appear in different places from the jobs that are lost.
  • Not every new role is a good one; some will be low-paid work checking AI output.
  • The speed of change could leave many people behind before they can retrain.
In class
Small groups with talking roles, Builder, Challenger and Summariser, then the challenge card tests their view. Shorter for Key Stage 3.
As a full debate
Three-minute opening cases, two-minute rebuttals, and questions from the floor.

Post-16 · Sixth form and college

The motion

This house believes schools should prioritise human skills over technical AI skills.

The tension: employability vs adaptability. Research: which skills do employers say they will need most by 2030?

For

  • Empathy, judgement and creativity are the skills AI cannot replicate, so they keep their value.
  • Technical tools change every year, but human skills last a whole career.
  • Employers consistently rank skills such as communication and problem-solving among the most important.

Against

  • Without technical AI literacy, young people cannot shape or question the tools they use.
  • Many of the best-paid new roles need data and AI skills, and school is where access is fairest.
  • It is a false choice: working well alongside AI is itself a human skill.
In class
A formal debate, with points of information offered during the opening speeches.
As a full debate
Longer opening cases, and a show of hands or a digital vote at the end.

Take it further with the National AI Conversation: school debates and judged debates with other schools

Key words

Job Displacement

When existing jobs are reduced or eliminated because AI can perform the same tasks faster or more cheaply. By 2030, 92 million roles are projected to be displaced globally — though 170 million new roles are expected to emerge at the same time.

AI-Complementary Skills

The human abilities that become more valuable as AI becomes more capable — including empathy, ethical judgment, creative thinking, leadership, and the ability to work effectively alongside AI tools. These are skills AI cannot replicate.

Take it further

  • Next lesson Ask students to find one job they’re interested in and research how AI might change it by 2030 — Next lesson

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