The term Future Skills ties in with earlier competence concepts that have become increasingly important since the 1990s. The focus here is on an understanding of education that goes beyond the teaching of pure specialist knowledge and emphasizes the promotion of application-oriented skills.

Important precursors are the „21st Century Skills“ (2002), which for the first time describe future skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. With the increasing digitalization of the world we live in, various competence frameworks emerged in parallel that focused more strongly on skills in dealing with digital technologies, data and media. The European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp, 2006) should be mentioned in this context. 

In the 2010s, the concept of competence was further differentiated and expanded to include perspectives on social responsibility and lifelong learning (OECD Learning Compass 2023, 2015). At the same time, the first AI-specific competence frameworks were published.

The term future skills became established in particular in the course of these discussions about digital transformation, automation and artificial intelligence. Today, it serves as an overarching term for skills that enable people to act in a reflective, responsible and creative manner in a dynamic and digital world:

"Future skills in broad terms encompass overarching future skills related to personality, the world of work and society that are relevant for all people. ... Future Skills enable people to help shape society and the economy in times of change in a confident, responsible and collaborative manner, thereby strengthening society's innovative power. They encompass knowledge, skills, abilities and values.“ (Stifterverband: Future Skills 2030, 2025)

In recent years, various models have emerged in German-speaking countries and internationally that systematically describe and structure future skills.

Frequently used models include, for example:

• the Future Skills Framework 2030 of the Stifterverband and McKinsey (Stifterverband, 2025),
• the Future Skills Navigator (Pechstein & Schwemmle, 2024),
• the AIComp - Future skills for a living environment shaped by AI (Ehlers, Lindner & Rauch, 2023),
• the Inner Development Goals (IDG Framework, 2021),
• the Future Skills Framework from NextSkills (Ehlers, 2020),
• the OECD Learning Compass 2030 (OECD, 2020).

These models provide a helpful orientation for describing key skills for a changing society. At the same time, the term future skills is not uniformly defined and is interpreted differently by different stakeholders. The multitude of models therefore sometimes leads to conceptual blurring, overlaps and a lack of systematization (Ehlers, 2025: Future Skills in Comparison). There is also a critical discussion of so-called „skillflation“, i.e. the continuous expansion of skills catalogs without sufficient empirical evidence or a clear scientific basis. As many models are developed by different stakeholders from business, politics or education, they often reflect specific perspectives and interests. Future skills models should therefore primarily be understood as orientation aids and should always be considered in their respective context.

In recent years, the term "future skills" has become a central concept in debates on education policy and the labor market. Universities and other educational institutions have a special responsibility to prepare young people for an increasingly complex, digitalized and dynamic world. Learning spaces in which they can develop the skills they need to reflect on and actively shape change are therefore crucial.

As the eTeach Network Thuringia, we see the promotion of future skills as an important opportunity to further develop studies and teaching in a future-oriented way. The focus is not only on the acquisition of individual skills, but also on the ability of students to apply knowledge flexibly, work on complex problems and assume responsibility in a digitally shaped society.

A particular focus for us is on digitalization-related skills. This includes in particular

• the reflective use of digital tools,
• data-related skills, also known as data literacy,
• AI-related skills and
• the ability to critically understand and responsibly use digital technologies.

However, digital skills are not an isolated area, but permeate all future skills and reinforce their impact. They are closely linked to skills such as problem-solving, collaboration and self-organized learning and form an important basis for their development. This is why we not only focus on explicitly digitalization-related skills, but also view them holistically as an integral part of all future skills.

Overall, future skills open up a wide range of opportunities:

• for the promotion of self-organized and lifelong learning,
• for the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills,
• for strengthening collaboration, creativity and adaptability, and
• for the targeted combination of subject-specific and interdisciplinary skills in studies and teaching.

With this in mind, we are committed to systematically integrating future skills into teaching, learning and examination processes. This includes skills-oriented courses, suitable didactic concepts and the use of digital and media-supported teaching, learning and examination formats.