I wrote the other day of the dangers of over-confidence and not knowing what I didn’t know.

Knowing what we know and what we don’t know seems to me a core competency. How else can we start to move forward and explore and learn?

So I was very encouraged to come across the RSA‘s Opening Minds programme.

The programme has been running some years, and is now being used by more than 200 schools. It’s aim is to encourage schools to teach “real world” skills including Learning, Relating to People, Citizenship, Managing Situations, and Managing Information.

The framework includes a focus on, for example:

• “how to learn”, “to enjoy and love learning for its own sake and as part of understanding themselves” (Learning)
• “how to develop other people”, “managing personal and emotional relationships” (Relating to People)
• “how society, government and business work”, “an understanding of ethics and values” (Citizenship)
• “how to manage risk and uncertainty” (Managing Situations)
• “the importance of reflecting and applying critical judgement” (Managing Information).

The last few don’t seem to have been taught at any of the schools that our bankers went to.

And they all would help with running most businesses, I believe. So all power to the RSA for this programme. You can read about how to get involved here.