Cognito
Lessons

As global industry and education specialists world-wide warn that algorithms and artificial intelligence are set to replace many routine jobs, the workplace of tomorrow will require people who can reflect, reason and develop creative ideas and solutions to problems.

Cognito Lessons, launched in September 2022, are EHS’s direct response to those warnings and aim to nurture the core cognitive and non-cognitive skills that young people will need in the future.

All pupils in Years 7 and 8 at EHS participate in a weekly dedicated Cognito lesson to develop the competencies they will need in the workplace to help them to become work and life ready. Working individually and within groups, girls will be given fun tasks and exercises that will challenge their ability to think creatively to solve real-world problems. Based around five core Creative Thinking pillars of Analytical ability, Communication, Open-Mindedness, Organisation and Problem Solving, the sessions will use active approaches to learning and girls will be given a clear understanding of what sorts of skills they need to hone and why they are important.

Director of Teaching and Learning at EHS, Dr Amit Rajp, said: “As educators we’ve been hearing for a while about the chronic skills shortage in industry, but this is the first time we’ve carved out a dedicated space in the weekly timetable to explicitly work on honing these kinds of skills and competencies - all capabilities that will be highly transferable whatever career path our pupils choose to take.”