With the rapid changes technology brings to everything from the jobs market to how we consume and experience entertainment, teachers are tasked with preparing students for an unknown future. And while it’s a certainty that whatever can be automated in the future will be, the most human of human qualities are tipped to be even more valuable than ever.

Paul Taylor has been the principal of Banora Point Public School for a little over a year. The school is located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales in Tweed Shire. Taylor is the founder and one of the dynamos behind iOnTheFuture, a not-for-profit teacher education conference aimed at bringing the world’s leading educators face-to-face with NSW public school teachers.

First launched in 2013, the next conference will be held on August 25 in Kingscliff, just south of Tweed Heads. Leading figures of innovative education will come together to consider and discuss our changing world, the changing future of work and how well kids are being prepared for this future.

“Artificial intelligence, robotics and automation are changing the way we live our lives today,” Taylor says.

He cites CSIRO Research that predicts at least 50 per cent of today’s jobs will be replaced or seriously disrupted in the next 10-15 years.