A Discussion and Conclusion of the Research Study: Future Schooling and Futures Thinking: Teachers and School Leaders’ Perspectives on Emerging Forms of Learning and Skills Education

Abstract

Peter Carey

This study examined how futures thinking is construed and evidenced in the Australian education system via leadership views, school policies, decision-making processes, and practices, and how educators view the emerging forms of learning best suited to meet the future needs of students. Futures thinking is a method of reflection on the changes that may occur in future years and the possibilities for dealing with those changes. The study investigated the status of Australian schools’ strategic aims, and understandings of the processes needed for sustainable change into the future through the lens of futures thinking, and the present constraints to and possibilities for the emerging forms of learning and scenarios for future schooling in Australian schools. The study was designed in two strands: 1) scenarios for future schooling and futures thinking, which examined participant responses to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ‘schooling for tomorrow’ concepts and HolonIQ scenarios, a private think tank focusing on the future of education in relationship to current practices and leadership aspirations in Australian schools, and 2) the emerging forms of learning and futures skills, which focused on pedagogical approaches and the future skills required by students to meet the opportunities for and challenges of the future. The findings confirm a real desire for change by school leaders, their recognition of the value of futures thinking, the use of scenarios as a mechanism for considering change and future possibilities, and their willingness to lead movement away from content-based curriculum to a personalised skills-based pedagogy in schools. The findings show futures thinking helps foresee change, grasp opportunities, and deal with threats.

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