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Five Upskilling Trends to Watch in 2025

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As we start 2025 the world of workforce development and upskilling will continue to evolve. These five trends highlight significant opportunities for early adopters who are prepared to embrace change and innovate. Here’s how organizations and institutions can position themselves for success in 2025.

1. Doing More with Less
In 2025, constrained immigration policies will reshape workforce dynamics, particularly in Canada and the Western world. With declining public support for large-scale immigration and shifts in government priorities, businesses and institutions will face increasing pressure to rely on existing human capital. For organizations, this means investing more in upskilling and reskilling their current workforce to fill skill gaps traditionally addressed through temporary international labour. Post-secondary institutions must also adapt, as finite undergraduate numbers force them to reduce costs and seek new revenue streams. Forward-thinking institutions will pivot toward workforce training and professional development for mid-career workers, creating sustainable opportunities despite declining international student revenues.

2. Embracing the Impacts of AI
Artificial intelligence will continue to revolutionize workplace productivity in 2025. Businesses that thrive will be those that embrace AI as a tool for enhancing efficiency and innovation. The demand for professionals skilled in leveraging AI to maximize output will rise sharply. For post-secondary institutions, the challenge lies in equipping students with the skills to integrate AI into their studies ethically. Personalized, AI-driven learning tools offer a significant opportunity to tailor education to individual skill gaps and needs, creating more adaptive and engaging learning environments. Organizations that adopt AI training now will be better positioned to lead in a more competitive marketplace.

3. Rethinking Credentials
As labour markets tighten due to demographic constraints and reduced immigration, traditional credentialing models will face disruption. Employers can no longer afford to rely solely on degrees as gatekeepers to employment. Instead, they will focus on demonstrated competencies—hiring candidates who can prove their ability to meet organizational needs, regardless of formal credentials. This shift will also pressure regulated professions to adapt, with increasing demands for flexibility in foreign credential recognition and domestic equivalency. Organizations and educational institutions prioritizing competency-based hiring and training will be at the forefront of this evolution.

4. The Rise of Digital Twins
Digital twins are set to transform training methodologies in 2025. Industries like manufacturing and automotive are already building virtual replicas of their facilities, enabling staff to train in immersive 2D and 3D environments. These virtual learning experiences, grounded in realistic simulations and formative feedback, will accelerate skill acquisition while reducing costs and inefficiencies. The balance between virtual training and real-world application will be key. Companies leveraging digital twins alongside hands-on learning will cultivate higher proficiency and preparedness among their workforce. This trend offers an unparalleled opportunity for organizations to revolutionize how they approach complex and technical skills training.

5. Being Human in an AI World
As AI and technology continue to reshape workplaces, the human element will become increasingly vital. Empathetic leadership that prioritizes emotional intelligence and collaboration will drive innovation and engagement. Leaders who excel at fostering meaningful connections within their teams will create environments that inspire creativity and resilience. Additionally, organizations will begin integrating learning with the broader employee experience, ensuring that training is seen as a valuable component of career development. This holistic approach will motivate employees to embrace upskilling opportunities, creating a win-win for both individuals and organizations.

Looking Ahead
The trends shaping 2025 highlight immense opportunities for those ready to adapt and innovate. Organizations can thrive in a rapidly changing world by investing in upskilling programs, embracing AI, and prioritizing human-centric leadership. Early adopters who align their strategies with these trends will lead the way in building a workforce prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Daring to make the eduverse a tool for justice

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Educators have raised concerns about equitable access to eduverse technologies, particularly regarding hardware and internet access. The question of accessibility is especially relevant for students from marginalized backgrounds who may already face barriers in the traditional education system. Another important question to consider is how accessible is the content of eduverse experiences to diverse groups of students?

Non-privileged learners are often under-represented in educational systems. Their experiences often fail to be reflected by the curricula they engage with, and they might be learning material that in fact reinforces systemic injustices. Eduverse technology might be able to address this issue by reimagining the way we approach knowledge production within the classroom. The eduverse—a virtual learning environment within the metaverse designed specifically for educational purposes—offers a chance to rethink how knowledge is created and shared. The metaverse itself is a shared digital space where users interact in real-time through immersive technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

If the eduverse can transform and transcend the physical limitations of classrooms, why not use it to transcend other barriers to fair and robust education? By breaking down geographical and cultural boundaries, eduverse technology enables global interaction on an unprecedented scale. This opens the door for a more inclusive, student-centered approach to learning, aligning with the principles of open and critical pedagogies. These teaching philosophies centre students’s lived experiences, and emphasize students’ abilities to create, rather than simply absorb information. This way of viewing education aligns with the eduverse’s approach, which centres the value of experiential learning.

Eduverse technology offers teachers the opportunity to take seriously students’ historically marginalized real-world experiences as they bring them into life-like virtual experiences. Students will have the chance to connect with students like them whose experiences might contradict the norm, and they will also be more uninhibited than ever in having the chance to learn from students who have had different experiences from them.

The eduverse is a new paradigm for learning. If educators can use it to not only enhance traditional learning methods but in fact critique and better them, its potential for taking education to new places might be more immense than we thought.

4 Ways to Transform Education and Close the Skills Gap

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At the recent Accelerate 2024 conference, Propero Learning Systems highlighted a pressing issue: the widening gap between post-secondary institutions and industry. A staggering 68% of industry associations report no meaningful collaboration with educational institutions, and even fewer see successful outcomes when they try. This isn’t just an academic problem – it’s a strategic challenge. But instead of lamenting, we need to innovate. Here are four actionable steps to rethink how education and industry work together to build a stronger, future-ready workforce.

1. Accelerate Curriculum Development
The traditional curriculum model is too slow for today’s rapidly evolving industries. By the time new courses roll out, much of the technical knowledge is already outdated.
Solution: Adopt real-time collaboration models where industry partners co-create courses, ensuring they stay current with technological and workforce trends. Think agile processes for education—because speed matters.

2. Build Bridges, Not Bureaucracies
Bureaucratic red tape is a creativity killer. Curriculum approval processes often stifle industry involvement, leaving educational institutions struggling to adapt to real-world needs.
Solution: Break down barriers by creating flexible pathways for industry input. Streamline governance structures to allow faster, more meaningful collaboration. Make education a partner, not a silo.

3. Make Continuing Education Affordable
Collaboration often falls apart due to cost. Economic models for partnerships between education and industry can be prohibitively expensive, leaving both sides frustrated.
Solution: Develop economically viable continuing education models that benefit both institutions and employers. Affordable, accessible programs will not only upskill the workforce but also create a steady talent pipeline.

4. Adopt a Mindset of Continuous Adaptation
Static systems won’t survive in a dynamic economy. Education must evolve from slow-moving, insular processes to agile, responsive ecosystems.
Solution: Foster a culture of continuous improvement within academic institutions. Embrace innovation, invest in new frameworks, and empower leaders to deconstruct outdated paradigms. Flexibility is the key to staying ahead.

The Time to Act Is Now
This isn’t just about solving today’s problems—it’s about creating a future where education and industry are equal partners in success. Together, we can close the skills gap, accelerate workforce readiness, and drive sustained economic growth. Join us. Let’s reimagine the way we prepare for the future – one innovative step at a time.

Beyond the Status Quo: A Call for Transformative Educational Partnerships

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Propero Learning Systems’ recent Accelerate2024 conference brought into sharp focus a critical challenge facing our national skills ecosystem: the growing disconnect between post-secondary institutions and industry sectors. A recent survey of 102 national industry associations found a staggering 68% have not collaborated with post-secondary institutions to co-develop curriculum or create meaningful skills pathways. Among those who tried, few reported successful outcomes. The barriers are familiar to many of us: bureaucratic timelines that render technical knowledge obsolete before courses launch, curriculum control mechanisms that limit industry input, and economic models that make collaboration prohibitively expensive. These are not just academic problems—they are strategic challenges that directly impact our ability to develop the talent pipeline our organizations desperately need.

But this is not a moment for frustration; it is an opportunity for strategic redesign. Our most innovative companies have always solved complex problems by creating new frameworks, and now we must apply that same creative thinking to skills development. We need to move beyond traditional engagement models and develop dynamic, real-time collaboration mechanisms that allow for rapid curriculum adaptation, meaningful industry input, and economically viable continuing education programs.

The economic development implications are profound. By creating more responsive skills ecosystems, we can dramatically reduce talent gaps, accelerate workforce readiness, and enhance our national and regional productivity. This requires a willingness to challenge existing structures, invest in new collaborative models, and view educational institutions not as distant entities, but as critical strategic partners in our economic future.

This is not an occasion for resignation, but for innovation. Our academic institutions have always been at the forefront of societal transformation, and now we are called to reimagine our approach to skills development. The traditional model of curriculum development—insulated and slow-moving—is no longer tenable in an economy characterized by rapid technological shifts and evolving workforce needs. We must become more agile, more responsive, and more collaborative.

The challenge before us is to deconstruct the existing paradigms. We need to create flexible, dynamic pathways for industry input, accelerate our curriculum development processes, and develop more economically accessible continuing education models. This requires breaking down internal silos, re-examining our governance structures, and cultivating a mindset of continuous adaptation. Our institutions have the creative genius to lead this transformation—we simply need the collective will to do so.

The time for admiration of these challenges has passed. Now is the moment of action. We invite academic and industry leaders across sectors to join us in pioneering a new approach to skills ecosystem development—one where industry and education are true, responsive partners in preparing our workforce for the future. Together, we can transform our approach, close the skills gap, and position our organizations and our nation for sustained economic success.

The Imperative of Up – Upskilling Action Plan for Canada
Part 3 of a 3 part series

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As a means to effectively address Canada’s growing need for upskilling, we support the development of an all encompassing and robust skills ecosystem, one that is built on ongoing collaboration among all learning providers (including public and private post-secondary institutions, union training systems, and corporate training programs), learners, and employers. This dynamic ecosystem will serve as a framework for aligning the training our education system offers with the evolving needs of the job market and for promoting continuous skills development for our whole workforce.

A Skills-First Approach to Learning

We need to emphasize learning that is directly applicable to specific jobs or industries. The focus of our upskilling and reskilling initiatives should be to equip workers with the competencies they’ll need to thrive in their chosen field. By emphasizing practical skills acquisition we can help ensure that learners are better prepared to meet the demands of the modern workplace.

The success of this skills ecosystem relies on four key pillars: applied learning experiences, customized and flexible learning, competency-based assessment and recognition, and high quality data.

Applied Learning Experiences

Applied learning experiences are the key to complementing theoretical knowledge with practical application. Applied learning encompasses work-integrated learning, cooperative education programs, and on-the-job training. By immersing learners in real-world settings, their experiences will enable them to apply their skills in authentic contexts, which in turn will enhance both their employability and readiness for the workforce.

Customized and Flexible Learning

An effective skills and training system must recognize and address the reality that individuals have diverse learning needs and preferences. By offering customized and flexible learning pathways, just-in-time learning, online learning modules, hybrid learning formats, and skill-based learning units we can better serve individual learners’ schedules, preferences, and skill gaps. This approach promotes a high degree of engagement and helps to ensure that learning experiences are tailored to meet the specific needs of learners and employers alike.

Competency-Based Assessment and Recognition

Competency-based assessment and recognition mechanisms are an essential component of effectively validating the competencies learners acquire through a wide variety of learning initiatives. By using micro-credentials, badges, and industry certificates learners and employers are provided with tangible evidence of an individual’s skills and accomplishments. Such credentials can enhance not only a learner’s credibility their marketability. Aligning assessment practices with industry standards ensures that learners’ achievements are recognized and valued by employers.

High Quality Data

High-quality data is crucial in the skills ecosystem as it ensures that decisions regarding curriculum development, resource allocation, and policy-making are based on accurate and reliable information. Using detailed and precise data to report and monitor student outcomes enables educators and employers to identify trends, gaps, and successes, facilitating targeted interventions and improvements. Furthermore, it supports a transparent and accountable framework where progress and challenges within the ecosystem can be effectively communicated, enhancing continuous improvement and trust.

Through expanded initiatives to: foster ongoing collaboration among learning providers, learners, and employers; embrace the principles of skills-first learning, applied learning experiences, customized and flexible learning; and by adopting competency-based assessment and recognition, Canada can build and sustain a resilient skills ecosystem, one that will help meet the evolving needs of its workforce and drive sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

The Imperative of Up – Upskills Lessons from Abroad
Part 2 of a 3 part series

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The global need for up-skilling and re-skilling

Our global economy is a rapidly evolving one and there has never been a more pressing need for up-skilling and re-skilling programs. As industries undergo transformative changes driven by technological advancements and globalization, it has become ever more essential for individuals to continually expand and enhance their skill sets in order to remain competitive in the workforce. These programs empower workers to adapt to the shifting demands of the job market and contribute to enhanced productivity and economic growth at the national level.

International success stories

Internationally, countries such as Ireland and Singapore have long recognized the critical importance of investing in up-skilling and re-skilling initiatives as a means of bolstering their countries’ economic competitiveness. As one example, Ireland’s government has implemented the Skillnet Ireland program, promoting and offering a wide range of up- skilling and re-skilling courses specifically tailored to the needs of their industries. By creating strategic partnerships with industry associations and educational institutions, Skillnet Ireland has been able to provide accessible and relevant training opportunities that will ensure their workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to succeed in a modern economy.

Similarly, Singapore has launched the SkillsFuture initiative, aimed at empowering their workers to develop their skills over the entire course of their working lives. By providing subsidies and support for training programs, SkillsFuture enables Singaporean workers to maintain relevant skills and be prepared to adapt to a rapidly changing job market.

Upskilling in a Canadian context

In the Canadian context, there have been some commendable efforts to promote up-skilling and re-skilling, but there exists a need for expanded strategic investment and a strengthened commitment to collaboration between public and private sectors. This is essential if we are to ensure Canadian workers are equipped with the evolving skills and workplace competencies they’ll need to thrive in our evolving economy. It will be through fostering a culture of lifelong learning and providing accessible, high-quality training opportunities, that Canada can harness the full potential of its workforce, and drive sustainable economic growth that provides prosperity for all.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Click here to read part 1: “The need for Upskilling in Canada“.

The Imperative of Up – The need for Upskilling in Canada
Part 1 of a 3 part series

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Increased investments in providing upskilling and further training opportunities for Canadian workers are not just a matter of choice. The reality of today’s shifting economy and workplace make them a strategic imperative if we hope to sustain economic growth and ensure our competitiveness in the global marketplace. There are three compelling reasons why Canada should prioritize such investments.

Individual Empowerment

Firstly, upskilling and further training can empower individuals enabling them to better adapt to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern workplace. Technological advancements and automation are reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace. Expanding opportunities for workers to acquire new skills and knowledge, will help Canadian companies and industries by ensuring our workforce is agile, resilient, and capable of meeting tomorrow’s challenges. Adaptability both enhances employability and fosters innovation and productivity, driving overall economic growth.

Social Inclusion and Equality

Secondly, upskilling and further training promote social inclusion and reduce inequalities. Equitable access to quality education and training is a cornerstone of socioeconomic advancement.  Strategic investments in the continuous development of their workforce, enables countries to create pathways for upward mobility and economic empowerment for their citizens. This is especially true for individuals from marginalized communities and disadvantaged backgrounds. Expanding training opportunities benefits individuals and families and also strengthens social cohesion and promotes a more equitable society.

Economic Prosperity and Competitiveness

Finally, upskilling and further training contribute to long-term economic prosperity and competitiveness. A skilled workforce is a key driver of innovation, productivity, and economic resilience. By investing in human capital development, countries will attract investment, stimulate entrepreneurship, and foster increased industry growth. By creating a highly skilled workforce a country also contributes to its global competitiveness, enabling it to position itself as a hub for talent, innovation, and high-value-added industries. In this increasingly interconnected world, those countries that prioritize upskilling and further training will be better positioned to thrive in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.

Investing in Canadians’ upskilling and further training is both a wise investment in human capital and a strategic imperative as we seek to secure our future prosperity and competitiveness. It is by empowering individuals, promoting social inclusion, and driving economic growth through expanded investments in workforce training that we will lay the foundation for a more resilient,  innovative, and prosperous society. It is well past the time for countries like Canada to recognize and prioritize upskilling and further training as one of the fundamental pillars of their economic and social development agendas.