The more uncertain the future, the more eagerly people search for «future skills». The Future Skills trend report (Buchs 2025) explores this topic in more detail. It provides criteria for evaluating the numerous competence concepts currently in circulation, for example. The report is a valuable resource for those involved in adult education and learning. And perhaps it is worth exploring the question of what value competence concepts contribute to learning.
An analytical look at the competence discussion
The report begins with conceptual considerations. It classifies common competence concepts (competence frameworks) from a social science perspective. It also asks about their underlying normative foundations, implicit visions of the future, power structures and discourses. These have a direct or indirect influence on educational pathways, learning objectives and performance assessments.
In a time of upheaval, it is by no means trivial to note that adaptive learning is not enough; socially transformative learning is also needed (p. 12 ff.). All too often, deficit-oriented learning concepts dominate, merely emulating rapid change. In a new paper, the OECD laments that adult education and learning neglects precisely the skills that are so urgently needed «in the race for talent and economic growth» (OECD 2025).
The comparison of selected competence frameworks (p. 8 f.) reveals a proliferation of ad hoc categorisations that often disregard both theoretical foundations and normative premises. However, in order to provide « structured orientation » (p. 19) for adult education and learning, competence frameworks must be conceptually consistent, well thought-out, taxonomically compatible and based on empirically evidence. They should not merely be « openly and flexibly defined », as the report too cautiously states on p. 10.
The fact that many concepts fail to achieve this is also related to educational research and the lack of empirical requirements analyses and impact studies. Unfortunately, broad-based lines of research on qualification trends in industries and occupational fields (e.g. in the German freQuenz network) were discontinued after 2010. Today, research primarily focuses on the requirements of digitalisation (e.g. Umbach et al. 2020; Buchmann & Buchs 2025), thereby narrowing the scope of investigation.
The value contribution of competence-oriented education
Consequently, the trend report invites adult education and learning providers not to rely on an ultimate competence framework. It encurages them to critically examine competence concepts and, together with the target groups, to identify the future skills that are crucial for their « life and work context » (p. 21 f.).
Here, what matters is not primarily the market value that providers or graduates of adult education and learning can achieve with new competence labels, but rather the value that competence-oriented education can consistently contribute to individuals, organisations and societies learning. This value is created through the interaction of needs-based competence goals, coordinated curricula and, above all, social recognition of learning outcomes. The question is therefore one of «Bildungswertschöpfung» (the creation of added value through education) (cf. Schöni 2017; 2022). In the impact structure of value creation in adult education, skills are only one factor, albeit a decisive one.
About Walter Schöni
Walter Schöni, Dr. phil., is an educational sociologist and works in the fields of professional adult education and training, human resources development and education management. He lives in Basel.
Bibliography
Buchmann, Marlis & Helen Buchs, 2025. Trends in skill demand and labour market outcomes: The role of digitalisation. In Róbert, Péter & Ellu Saar (Eds.), Handbook on Education and the Labour Market. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing
OECD, 2025. What’s Missing in Adult Learning — and How Do We Fix It? Adult Skills in Focus #14
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/what-s-missing-in-adult-learning-and-how-do-we-fix-it_58b9acfd-en.html (viewed on 03.09.2025)
Schöni, Walter, 2017. Bildungswertschöpfung. Zur politischen Ökonomie der berufsorientierten Weiterbildung. Bern: hep Verlag
Schöni, Walter, 2022. Continuing education as value creation. Towards a new orientation beyond market logic. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 13(3), 261-283. https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.3694 (viewed on 03.09.2025)
Umbach, Susanne, Haberzeth, Erik, Böving, Hanna & Glaß, Elise, 2020. Kompetenzverschiebungen im Digitalisierungsprozess. Veränderungen für Arbeit und Weiterbildung aus Sicht der Beschäftigten. Bielefeld: wbv Publikation