Fast forward to 2030 and the children who started school in 2017 will need to be just as skilled in critical thinking, creativity and empathy as they are in literacy and numeracy and technology.

It is impossible to accurately predict the jobs of the future, says Mark Scott, the secretary of the NSW Department of Education, but schools will need to prepare the next generations of students for a world that will be dominated by intelligent machines.

"Children are now facing a more uncertain future than any child has faced since the Industrial Revolution," Mr Scott said.

Mr Scott this week gave a speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle where he outlined publicly for the first time his vision for education of the future. It was the springboard for the launch of work being done within the department to prepare students for a fast-changing world.