There isn't long to go until Grant Dusting takes to the stage at Perth College for Conversations with Grant Dusting at 6.15 pm on Thursday 12 August!
Grant is a social researcher and the Director of Strategy at the internationally recognised McCrindle – an organisation that specialises in human behaviour.
In anticipation of his presentation about understanding and leading the next generation, Generation Alpha, we thought we would share some of the interesting facts McCrindle has uncovered about the next group of students moving through their schooling years.
Generation Alpha
Born between 2010 and 2024, these are the children of Generation Y (Millennials), and often the younger siblings of Generation Z.
There are more than three million Gen Alphas in Australia with more than 2.5 million born globally every week, putting them on track to outnumber Baby Boomers in four years and be the largest generation in the history of the world by 2025.
They are the first generation who will be entirely born and shaped in the 21st century, and many of them will likely live to see the 22nd century as well.
They might be the youngest generation, but they have brand influence and purchasing power beyond their years, they shape the social media landscape, are the popular culture influencers and emerging consumers.
Generation Alpha are the most materially endowed, globally connected and technologically savvy generation ever, known as 'digital natives'.
They will enjoy a longer life span than any previous generation of Australians, will stay in education longer, start their earning years later and so stay at home with their parents later.
It is likely that when this generation reach their early 20's, in around 2034, Australia will have reached a population of 32 million, the global population will be 8.8 billion and India will have surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation.
Renowned social research experts, Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell, coined the term 'Generation Alpha' in their book Generation Alpha: Understanding Our Children and Helping Them Thrive.
"Just over a decade ago... it became apparent that a new generation was about to commence and there was no name for them," Mark said in a blog post on the McCrindle website.
"This was just after the Atlantic hurricane season of 2005, when there were so many storms that the normal alphabetic names had been used up and so for the first time, the Greek alphabet was used.
"In keeping with this scientific nomenclature of using the Greek alphabet in lieu of the Latin, and having worked our way through Generations X, Y and Z, I settled on the next cohort being Generation Alpha – not a return to the old, but the start of something new."
Conversations with Grant Dusting – About the Event
Perth College Dean of Learning Innovations, Andrea Holloway, will start the presentation with an introduction to our sparc program and how it enables Gen Alpha students to develop characteristics that will prepare them for the world now, and into the future.
Grant Dusting will then present his speech on Generation Alpha and how we can best understand and lead them in education. He will discuss topics from the Generation Alpha book which covers the insights and answers needed to help 21st-century kids thrive, as well as the following topics:
- Understanding and empowering this generation
- The significance of technology
- How to get education right for them and the future of work
- Their consumer habits and their role as influencers
- Where and how this generation will live as adults
- The importance of mental and physical wellbeing
- What their future looks like
Grant will also host a Q&A with the audience to finish his presentation.
So, if you are a parent or teacher looking for guidance on how to raise your children, worried they are spending too much time on screens, concerned about how global trends will impact them, or wondering how to prepare them for the future, book your ticket to Conversations with Grant Dusting!
CONVERSATIONS WITH GRANT DUSTING – REGISTER HERE
You can read all of the facts and statistics about Generation Alpha, and compare them to other generations, in McCrindle's handy infographic below.