Across the world, education systems are increasingly framed around employability, skills alignment, and labour market responsiveness. While these priorities reflect legitimate economic concerns, they risk narrowing the purpose of education to short-term workforce preparation at the expense of broader human, social, and civic development. This paper critically re-examines the dominant employability-driven paradigm in education and asks a fundamental question: beyond employability, what are we preparing young people for in an uncertain and rapidly changing future? Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship from education policy, human capital theory, critical pedagogy, ethics, and futures studies, the paper argues that contemporary education systems are insufficiently equipped to prepare learners for the complexity, uncertainty, and moral challenges of the 21st century.

The analysis highlights how rapid technological change, artificial intelligence, automation, climate uncertainty, and shifting social relations are transforming not only labour markets but also the nature of citizenship, identity, and human interaction. In this context, an education model narrowly focused on skills acquisition and economic productivity is increasingly inadequate. Instead, the paper proposes a re-conceptualization of educational purpose that integrates employability with ethical reasoning, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, social responsibility, cultural understanding, and lifelong adaptability.

Using a conceptual and policy-oriented approach, the paper synthesises global education reform discourses with emerging critiques from the Global South and Indigenous contexts, where structural inequalities and uneven access to resources further complicate future readiness. The paper advances a human-centred framework for education that positions learners not merely as future workers, but as ethical agents, engaged citizens, and contributors to sustainable and inclusive societies. The study concludes by outlining key implications for education policy, curriculum design, teacher education, and institutional leadership, calling for a deliberate shift from instrumentalist models of education towards more holistic and future-responsive approaches.

Employability, Purpose of Education, Future Readiness, Education Policy, Human-Centred Education, Critical Thinking, Ethics and Values, Emotional Intelligence, 21st-Century Education, Global Education Reform

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