Futures Education

The interwoven futures of humanity and our planet are under threat. Urgent action, taken together, is needed to change course and reimagine our futures.

In the twenty-first century, educators around the world are being told that they need to transform education systems to adapt young people for the challenges of a global digital knowledge economy. Too rarely, however, do we ask whether this future vision is robust, achievable or even desirable, whether alternative futures might be in development, and what other possible futures might demand of education. Drawing on ten years of research into educational innovation and socio-technical change, working with educators, researchers, digital industries, students and policy-makers, this book questions taken-for-granted assumptions about the future of education. Arguing that we have been working with too narrow a vision of the future, Keri Facer makes a case for recognizing the challenges that the next two decades may bring, including: the emergence of new relationships between humans and technology the opportunities and challenges of aging populations the development of new forms of knowledge and democracy the challenges of climate warming and environmental disruption the potential for radical economic and social inequalities. This book describes the potential for these developments to impact critical aspects of education – including adult-child relationships, social justice, curriculum design, community relationships and learning ecologies. Packed with examples from around the world and utilising vital research undertaken by the author while Research Director at the UK’s Futurelab, the book helps to bring into focus the risks and opportunities for schools, students and societies over the coming two decades. It makes a powerful case for rethinking the relationship between education and social and technological change, and presents a set of key strategies for creating schools better able to meet the emerging needs of their students and communities. An important contribution to the debates surrounding educational futures, this book is compelling reading for all of those, including educators, researchers, policy-makers and students, who are asking the question 'how can education help us to build desirable futures for everyone in the context of social and technological change?'

One of the central roles of education is to prepare students for the future and yet its study is often a neglected issue. This work focuses on the futures field as an educational resource using case studies from around the world, and on the nature of education for sustainability.

We task fewer industries to think about the future than we ask from education. In societies where constant change is the norm, schools today must prepare students to be successful in environments and contexts that may differ greatly from what we experience today. But, are we really thinking about the future? With contributions from four continents, this book reveals a ‘snapshot’ of some of our best thinking for building new education futures. Diverse experiences, visions, and ideas are shared to help spark new thinking among educators and policymakers, provoke conversation, and facilitate new ideas for meeting human development needs in a rapidly transforming world. Edited by John W. Moravec Chapters authored by: Leona Ungerer; Lisa B. Bosman, Julius C. Keller, & Gary R. Bertoline; Audrey Falk & Russell Olwell; Silvia Cecilia Enríquez, Sandra Beatriz Gargiulo, María Jimena Ponz & Erica Elena Scorians; Robert Thorn; Erling N. Dahl, Einar N. Strømmen & Tor G. Syvertsen; John W. Moravec & Kelly E. Killorn; Pekka Ihanainen; Stefania Savva; Gabriela Carreño Murillo; Erik Miletić

An unusually multifaceted approach to American higher education that views institutions as complex organisms, Academia Next offers a fresh perspective on the emerging colleges and universities of today and tomorrow.

This book traces the dominant shift over the last century from an idea of physical education-as-gymnastics to an idea of physical-education-as-sport-technique, and outlines the contemporary processes of commodification and commercialiZation of physical culture and academicization of teaching that have already begun to make this emphasis on sport-related skills problematic.

“We desperately need the dynamic revolution in education that this book offers us, reflecting the new ways of thinking and being on this planet that will permit us to live in peace as a global family even through massive climate changes. Read it and put these ideas into practice as quickly as possible in any ways you can!” —Elisabet Sahtouris, Evolutionary biologist and futurist, author of EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.