Future thinking and the need for a transformative approach in education
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Abstract
This article addresses the need to transform education to ensure pupils’ personal commitment required to fuel social transformation towards a sustainable future.
The article explores how the future is addressed in school education, and how we might support students in going beyond imagining apocalyptic visions of the future, or technocratic solutions, both of which are disempowering as they provide no space for imagining and actively contributing to co-creating the future. We explore ways that pupils can critically question the dogma that “there is no alternative” to the current dominant, self-destructive system, and provide an overview of pedagogical approaches which support pupils to critically evaluate their values and engage their imaginations to create alternative visions of the future. The article offers a collection of resources that provides inspirational examples to ignite our imagination about what can and is already being done, and reflective activities to support individuals and educators to explore how and why we imagine the future with a view to encouraging self-perception as an agent of change.
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