By Zabrina Epps
In Part 1 of this blog series, I posed several questions about the future(s) of work and whether current systems of education can prepare learners for work futures. In this post, I reflect on feedback I received from a few parents in response to Part 1. I also share some perspectives from young learners, including those who participated in the 2023 and 2024 convenings of the World Futures Day- Young Voices.
Anticipating learning futures
If those of us who lead and work in futures were matriculated through education systems that were established over two centuries ago, how, then, do we anticipate future teaching and learning systems, processes, and structures? Currently, we are observing how industries continue to change rapidly through the proliferation of automation, AI, and VR. Thus, the technologies that we’ve mastered over the previous decades are disappearing. Meanwhile, our political and social systems continue to fall short of meeting the myriad needs of underserved, exploited, and oppressed populations around the globe.(1) These concerns have seemingly come to pass as the United States (and other countries in the “developed” Western world) grapple with threats to democratic governance at the hands of authoritative technocrats.
As one parent laments, “We talk so much about the futures of university (which is also on the brink of transforming) but not enough about how our current schooling doesn't serve our kids, ourselves, or our futures.
It's time to leverage technology intelligently to personalize learning, AND to teach them to connect with the real world, unmediated by tech. It's a huge ask. But the erosion of the fit-to-environment-ness of schooling, plus the overfocus on STEM topics (love science and math, but) has contributed to the erosion of democracy in the United States, and I'm mad about it!”
Parents are also concerned with how the paths from schooling to work will take shape for their children. Again, with the proliferation of technology, to replace repetitive tasks, e.g., product assembly, what opportunities will be available to students who decide to delay college or pursue fields that do not require a college degree?
On this point, another parent wrote,
“I was on a panel with Amazon Work Solutions to talk about AI/ML and Jobs of the Future, https://thejobsofthefuture.com/emrg-tch-comm-roundtable/emerging-tech-community-round-table-ep-8/.
There are no inner city Job Training Programs - can we prepare our youth for the future without going to traditional brick and mortar schools? How many would sign up for e-learning in AI/ML from Amazon?”
One organization has begun to envision new models for learning. Mollenkamp (2022) writes, “What’s needed [...] is a cluster of new models that empower schools to innovate.” For example,
“Transformative Learning Experience Units (TLEs) are rigorous, project-based curricula designed by Springpoint to create truly meaningful learning experiences for high school students. TLE units engage students’ interests and passions by having them explore real-world, open-ended questions and create products for an authentic audience beyond their teachers.”
Learning at anytime, anywhere, and everywhere
Do we really need school buildings? Or, considering how learning shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, should education systems affirm that all learning does not have to take place in school buildings or on a singular campus? In fact, alternate learning environments have always existed throughout communities, especially ones where schools are under-resourced. Anderson (2023) explains, “Nearly 10 million children attend some type of afterschool learning program.”
Homeschooling has been an option (albeit a contested one), since the inception of formal school systems. McDonald (2021) writes, “the US homeschool population ballooned to more than 11 percent of the overall school-age population, or more than five million students, in the wake of the coronavirus response.” In 2020, I spoke with a friend whose children are homeschooled. She described homeschooling as an opportunity to enrich the family dynamics as her older children assisted their younger siblings. They would often schedule short trips (or even cross country excursions) to supplement the children's curricula. It also meant that her children had already adapted to online learning prior to the 2020 pandemic.
As the summer of 2020 turned to fall, I inquired about how my friend and her children were “gearing up” for a new school year (August, 2020). She clarified:
“I don't have much to share with you about [the new school year] since we are just continuing our usual homeschool. My older two have been doing their virtual school math classes since May while my youngest is doing a math book based curriculum (plus Econ and general science). They will do a math concentration for a while to fast forward through grade levels without interruption from other subjects. Such a system works especially well for my dyslexic kid.”
She also described additional learning activities that her children were engaged in as the school year began.
“We just came back from Georgia and life was nice and peaceful in the state and national parks we visited because kids were already back to school there.”
I also read posts on social media by a parent, who traveled around the country interviewing young people about their schooling experiences and their hopes for their future lives and careers. Many explained their dissatisfaction and boredom with their schools. They didn't feel as if the curriculum was relevant to their personal or cultural experiences, or their career interests. Lastly, many students spoke of traumas they endured in middle and high school at the hands of other students, and/or adults working in the schools. While I am not suggesting that there aren't many success stories of public and private schooling, there seems to be enough of a need to consider learning alternatives when looking at the implications on students’ futures lives and well-being.
Social/Emotional learning and support
In addition to the location of learning, another argument against out of school learning has been that children don't experience enough interactions with other children to form healthy social relationships within their peer groups. However, as McDonald (2021) reports, “scholars [from the Harvard Human Flourishing Program] analyzed data of over 12,000 children of nurses who participated in surveys between 1999 and 2010 and found that homeschooled children were about one-third more likely to engage in volunteerism and have higher levels of forgiveness in early adulthood than those children who attended public schools.”
My friend also weighed in.
“Yes, they [those who talk about homeschooling] do tend to play up the social and emotional aspects quite a bit. And they also tend to go overboard to nearly fear mongering levels about the academic losses or falling behind, as if the stats show formal school has done so well to bridge the many negative gaps varying groups are experiencing.”
The Harvard study also highlighted that, “Cyberbullying, sexting and ‘phubbing’ have also become more common in children’s daily lives, especially in school settings. We might expect that these issues may be less common among homeschoolers than their public school peers.”
All the subjects, all at once
Life is not lived one subject matter at a time and seems to have gotten more complex. However, our memories of past life sometimes create the belief that “it was all so simple then” (Streisand, 1973). The awareness of life's complexities has not filtered into basic curricula until one chooses to attend a specific university program that features these concepts. Ravaglia (2024) explains, “The strict discipline specificity that tends to emerge in schools, especially where instructors have advanced degrees, often prevents students from taking a more integrated approach to their studies. This can result in lost opportunities to look at the same thing from multiple angles to generate a deeper understanding.” Students are keenly aware that they are missing out on essential knowledge to help them as they matriculate and begin to make important life decisions.
Increasingly, students are expressing dissatisfaction with siloed curricula. Graduates of school systems and universities regularly post on social media about the subjects they envision would prepare them for their futures. For example, this video posted by NASPORA.co features students in Philadelphia discussing topics they wish were included in their learning curriculum.
Glimpses and pathways
How do we help students see a path from learning to future work and life? Why don't we ask them? Each year, the global community of the futures professions, (e.g., Future Studies, Strategic Foresight, and other practices of futures thought and analysis) observe World Futures Day on March 1. Futures practitioners meet on Zoom for 24 hours in every time zone starting in New Zealand.
The Association of Professional Futurists, Teach the Future, and the School of International Futures sponsor a parallel track where the sessions are facilitated for and by youth learners from countries around the globe. As Teach the Future asserts on their website, “by teaching the future you can equip young people to face uncertainty and help them envision and create their preferred future.” Below are a few excerpts and perspectives from World Futures Day - Young Voices as reported by its organizers (Giuliani & Habiba, 2023 & 2024).
"Thinking more about what I can do now in order to improve the world. Not only talking about it, but doing actions for it." - Ana Luisa Tabarini Pinheiro, Brasil
Different regions showed distinct approaches to futures thinking. Ethiopia's session of 40 participants demonstrated remarkable optimism despite challenges. Dubai's 14 participants focused on climate change concerns, while Istanbul's session was shaped by crisis-driven futures thinking following a major earthquake.
Ten student participants in the Dhaka session, emphasized trust building as fundamental to futures work. Discussions centered on reframing value systems, questioning the primacy of monetary values versus community worth, and examining how technology impacts vulnerability.
Students in the Cairo session revealed young people's resistance to prevalent dystopian narratives. Participants expressed strong desire for involvement in decision-making processes and emphasized the need for amplifying youth voices in futures discussions.
Although time zones might make it impractical for students across the globe to learn synchronously, there are enough platforms to support shared learning. For example, students in Asia can collaborate with students in Brazil or Canada. Learners can prepare for future careers and lives far beyond where they were born and raised with:
Flexibility in planning, education policy, funding
The will to engage in learning about and with different cultures and ideologies, and
A respect for the diversity of temporal orientations
Just imagine how a“Global School” class reunion might look in 2050.
We don’t force an acorn to grow.
We can provide
the nutrient rich soil,
the light,
and the water,
and the acorn will grow
into an oak.
From www.unschooling.com
References
Anderson, J., (Posted April 18, 2023). The Power of Out-of-School Learning: Insight into the out-of-school learning sector and its unique impact on children's lives. LinkedIn.
Giuliani, L., & Habiba, A. (2024). World Futures Day - Young Voices: Post Event Report. Teach the Future. https://www.teachthefuture.org/reports
Giuliani, L., & Habiba, A. (2023). World Futures Day - Young Voices: Post Event Report. Teach the Future. https://www.teachthefuture.org/reports
McDonald, K., (November 17, 2021). New Harvard Study: Homeschoolers Turn Out Happy, Well-Adjusted, and Engaged. Foundation for Economic Education.
https://fee.org/articles/new-harvard-study-homeschoolers-turn-out-happy-well-adjusted-and-engaged/
Mollenkamp, D., (September 19, 2022). New Directory of Innovative School Models Aims to Encourage Experimentation EdSurge.
New School Models n.d. National Association of Independent Schools
https://www.nais.org/articles/pages/research/new-school-models/
Ravaglia, R., (June 12, 2024). The School House Anywhere Brings Student-Centric Learning To Everyone. Forbes.
Streisand, B. (1973). The way we were. Produced by Marty Paich.
Transformative Learning Experiences - The Exchange
https://exchange.transcendeducation.org/models/transformative-learning-experiences/
Teach the Future. https://www.teachthefuture.org/about
Unschooling School. https://www.unschoolingschool.com/
Image Credits:
IELTS Reading Practice: Impact of the Internet on Global Communication. Published on: August 22, 2024. IELTS.net
WhiteHorse, E., (2024). Frustrated by your students. https://www.dremilywhitehorse.com/blog/frustrated-by-your-students
© Zabrina Epps, 2024
Zabrina Epps, Ph.D., has been an APF member since 2019. She is an education futurist, leadership coach, and researcher. She is a Fellow of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. She has served on her local Board of Education, taught as an adjunct communications instructor, and advised educators, students and leaders.
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