Schooling for Tomorrow - the first two phases of the project

Phase One

Phase One concentrated on laying the ground with analyses on trends and methodologies, in which the key outcome was a set of six SfT scenarios for schooling systems:

• ATTEMPTING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO
• The "Bureaucratic School Systems Continue" Scenario
• DIVERSE, DYNAMIC SCHOOLS AFTER ROOT-AND-BRANCH REFORM (“re-schooling”)
• The "Schools as Focused Learning Organisations" Scenario
• The "Schools as Core Social Centres" Scenario
• THE PURSUIT OF ALTERNATIVES AS SYSTEMS DISBAND OR DISINTEGRATE (“de-schooling”)
• The "Extending the Market Model" Scenario
• The “Learning Networks and the Network Society" Scenario
• The "Teacher Exodus and System Meltdown” Scenario.

In addition, the project worked on parallel analyses of innovation, networks and the role of technology in education.

Phase Two

Phase Two focused especially on working with a small number of volunteer “inner-core” systems, exploring how futures thinking can inform concrete challenges for educational leadership and policy-making. The English-speaking system in Ontario found scenarios a useful way to forge dialogue around the future of the teaching profession while the French-speaking sector used our scenarios to build the “7th scenario” vision for their minority system. England created a ‘toolkit’ (Futuresight) for school leaders, and the Netherlands similarly focused on leadership applications. The “Secondary Futures” project in New Zealand has adopted a range of innovative approaches to build capacity in different communities and stakeholders to think creatively about the long term. The lessons learned from this phase led to a publication on the use of the scenario method in education.

Alongside these applications, we looked in detail at and published on issues and developments around the ‘demand for schooling’ and ‘personalisation of learning’.