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I chose this tree - a Nothern Rata. Rata start their lives as vines which grow up around another tree, eventually becoming a tree themselves, capturing the original tree in the centre. I like the idea that skills are always built upon other skills and knowledge. We develop skills in this layered way as individuals (e.g. walk, run, skip, etc), but also in workplaces and in communities - we develop our skills by learning from and building on the skills of others. I know it isn't a particularly popular idea, but to me, whatever skills we have or develop in the 21st Century are 21st Century skills. I've lived a lot of my life in a rural area, so knowing how to farm, grow vegetables, milk a cow, make milk and bread, etc are skills that are still absolutely essential parts of my life. The skills I use when living in a city or when working are yet more skills that I have grown up around me, always learning from and with others, that are particular to me life experience and what I need to and want to do to make my way through it. Perhaps the greatest skill we can help students develop is to know how to learn and develop whichever skills will take them through their lives successfully, whatever they do, wherever they live, and whatever circumstances they find themselves in?

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It is an endless space that allows for branches and connections to create and re-create. These skills, concepts, knowledge, attitudes, attributes are all universal.

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I chose the coconut tree because the meaning of the tree is almost the same as humans, the whole tree to the fruit can all be used. Coconut fruit that can grow anywhere shows an adaptable attitude, can survive in any condition shows one must be strong in any condition, coconut fruit which has benefits shows that as humans we should be useful for others.

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The most important part of the future skills is to recognize that we are living animals.  

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We need nature, food, air, and water to thrive. But also recognition, respect, love and belonging. Skills/ competences can sometimes be too dry, to mechanistic to robot-like.

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I choose this tree, the name is not familiar for me. It represents the final chord of the aim I set as a student and achieved it with lots of difficulties on the way. It illustrates the fundamental skills and knowledge which is the key for any success, the way of gaining new knowledge and the joy and self satisfaction it brings at the top. And there is not only one tree standing here, there are some unity of trees and it makes the view and its meaning more powerful.

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I chose this photo as it represents the development of skills or competencies. First there is a small core which grows over the years and finally a person has a durable bark which helps to survive and cope in the changing world.

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I recently learned of Espalier farming technique, and how apple growers use it to train apple trees like grape vines.  It struck me as an appropriate metaphor for this skills exercise:
- While skills naturally exist, intentional cultivation is more likely to lead to productive outcomes
- Just as Espalier brings all the apples within reach, this intentional cultivation can lead to more accessible "harvesting" of skills
- The cultivation is imprecise; we can do our best, but conditions external to our control will still impact our growth
- As others point out in their metaphors, everything is interconnected; while the apples may mature at different paces all along the trees' branches, the general health of the fruit tends to thrive or suffer in solidarity
- Seasons change. A bad crop one year need not doom future performance. This echoes lifelong learning and skills development.
(Noah Geisel)

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I choose this tree because of the research and systematic work from Linnaeus. I think that my knowledge and understanding of teaching is build on top of many fine people before us. What we need to do is to grow a new branch to understand the skilset needed from Industry 4.0

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Great Banyan Tree at the Edison home, Ft Myers, Floria

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21st century skills have many different branches, many different connections and many forms of expression. They grow in unpredictable directions, sometimes straight, sometimes twisting and turning ... Thus, it is difficult to foretell what the decisive skillset for the 21st century will be - like the Banyan tree in my picture, we will have to be open to range of expansion and growth, resulting potentially in a representation in 3D that looks similar to my picture.

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An ode to the pollard willow

It has a robust trunk, but is shaped by environmental elements such as water and wind.
Its main branches are clear, but after that, the branches are almost equal.
It is pruned regularly and new branches grow quickly.
It is not a beauty, but has been useful to the community for centuries (as raw material of baskets, fencing).

So, translated :-)
- influenced by trends and 21st century themes
- groupings of skils and then many subskills
- flexibility, responding to change and trends
- Last, content is essential, not the marketing pitch

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This is a blank slate ...ready to learn as much as possible

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This tree has shed all its leaves. It has unlearnt all the old techniques. It is now ready to learn new things. there are numerous branches and it can learn as much as possible. It is ready to take all the new challenges and blossom. The roots are very strong and that's how it should be. to go in the future you need to go back in the past. With the background knowledge, it is ready for new things and new skills.

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I have chosen a Moreton Bay Fig - an Australian Tree. Its roots are strong and deeply rooted - representing the knowledge base. It roots reach deep down into the soil. It can grow to 60m stretching searching for to the sky representing its need to find the skills it needs. The ariel roots that drop to the ground are distinctive and represents that need to check in with the knowledge base to see how the newly found skills match that knowledge base. This tree is majestic. From little things (seedling) big things grow. Mark McNamara

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Picture by Umberto Salvagnin from Italy - Autumn2, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7803927

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I could imagine each of us as any kind of tree or plant, but a unique and special one. Thus, using the Prof. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers skills dimensions classification, the Triple Helix Model (https://nextskills.org/future-skills-overview/triple-helix/), which I find it quite interesting, our sap may be our individual development-related skills, which permits our survival and growth; our roots, branches, leaves, fruits, flowers, and, in general, our demonstrations/appearances/expressions may be our individual object-related skills, as our way in which we mould us in our relation to our surrounding or environment; and our place on the Earth’s ground and our interaction with our environment, in connection with other trees and plants, other living and inanimate beings, etc., may be our individual organization-related skills, which help us to shape the world where we live and build beautiful landscapes like the one we can see in the above picture of the mixed forest in the Po Valley (Italy) in autumn.

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A piece of art by my hands to signify the true growth.

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My tree here has many branches which signifies that there are many skills that can help towards a better future. The tree grows longer and wider with time representing the regular growth and progress towards future. The thick and strong bark of the tree represents the strong foundation and mature ideas growing up into various new projects and developments. The asymmetrical growth represents that some ideas may work better than others and also the fact that the growing community and future should not have a particular confined pattern. It should progress and diversify by welcoming all new aspects, ideas and skills. The little plants around the main tree signify that many other institutions have a hand in the growth of the future skills and projects.

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I choose seaweed.  It moves with the flow of the water, much like education and emerging technology – we have to be adaptable, flexible and be able to weather all sorts of challenges to our environment. Seaweed farms could be one of the ways to reduce our carbon emissions, so you could say seaweed is future focused similar to education looking to upskill and reskill for the future skill shortages.

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Here I am, one bamboo among many others each growing resourcefully and healthily. I would have preferred 'us' not to be divided by buckets, but that is somehow a reflection of the small family model in the west.

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I chose a picture of the book 'The Hidden Life of Trees' to visualise the interconnectedness of skills. Also there will always remain an unknown (hidden) about transversal skills: we can't exactly pinpoint those skills, they are challenging to assess, ...

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This is such a nice exercise! When thinking of the skills tree, it has to be a tree with strong foundational roots, and a lot of branches that will require constant updating and trimming. Yes, trimming. Most importantly in the skills tree are the fruits that this tree produces. They have to be meaningful and useful. And probably the main indication on whether the skills tree is in good health or not.

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A typical German Mischwald (mixed trees) in a well groomed environment would be my choice. A mixture of skills, which is surrounded by a a good foundation and environment. 

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A typical German Mischwald (mixed trees) in a well groomed environment would be my choice. A mixture of skills, which is surrounded by a a good foundation and environment. 

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I choose this tree for several reasons. Firstly it illustrates the importance of strong foundational skills, such as the foundational literacies in the DCU model. It also demonstrates the interconnected nature of skills. Finally, you cannot see all of the tree from this vantage; perhaps you would need to climb through the tree to see where the next branches take you.

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The roots command the focus in my tree. Here the roots represent the students environment. Without strong roots, a tree will wither and die. Without access to sufficient amounts of water, a tree will be stunted and not meet its full potential. To develop the necessary 21st century skills in our students we have to "water" their roots by supporting their learning journeys and ensuring we provide an environment that nurtures and encourages creativity, curiosity, and collaboration.

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I chose this 1966 lithograph of a spruce forest by William Maltby Sykes to illustrate my understanding of skills: first, the picture itself has a feature that I consider central for many skills, i.e. the ability to present something from a novel perspective and to convey a powerful message. I also like to think of skills as evergreens that, with some care, are resistant to external changes. Lastly, I conceptualize skills more as a forest than a single tree. Each tree in the forest is part of a bigger organism, but it could also live and grow on its own. This conceptualization of skills also resonates nicely with the recent research that shows that trees actually communicate with and support each other (for instance, the work of Suzanne Simard).

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Skills are developed over a long time starting from school and continue into the jobs after the university. We are not able to support students in developing the full range of skills throughout their career. We are simply not with them and we don't work with them as closely as to customise the exact range needed.  What we can realistically do is to plant a sapling for the various skills that they may be interested in doing and the student will grow the ones they resonate with. 

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Skills are developed over a long time starting from school and continue into the jobs after the university. We are not able to support students in developing the full range of skills throughout their career. We are simply not with them and we don't work with them as closely as to customise the exact range needed.  What we can realistically do is to plant a sapling for the various skills that they may be interested in doing and the student will grow the ones they resonate with. 

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This was a bit of a stream-of-consciousness activity for me, as I tried to identify the range of types of capability that are important for humans to develop. The 'tree' metaphor didn't really allow for some of the tangles in the developing branches (for instance the convergence between communications, safeties and thinkings), but this was a nice exercise to reflect on how foundational capabilities begin to branch out into more focused manifestations of skill. I've included physical skills here because these shouldn't be neglected and will always be important, even if our bodies are part bionic - we exist in physical space and navigating it is an essential skill for life. Contextual understanding is about situating oneself in the world. It's already easy to see how these branches will begin to curve back in on one another!

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Adding a tree is really simple - just click the small "+" button in the bottom right corner of this page, and write some text, as well as a picture or link you may have!

Click publish, and we can then all see it!