Children born today will be 17 in 2025 and the Department for Children, Schools and Families wants to build a scenario of the likely big issues and questions that will face them. Parents, teachers, employers and children are invited to take part in the research programme Beyond Current Horizons by voting online about the educational challenges of the future.
The research programme includes a website ‘Future Challenges for Education Power League’ where site visitors can rank which educational challenges concern or interest people the most. This Power League is the first of many opportunities to engage in the research programme. It is free to vote and anonymous.
People vote for one question they feel poses the greatest challenge to education in a series of randomly generated pairs. The Power League includes questions such as, ‘What will we need to know in 2025 and beyond?’ or ‘How will new technologies influence our understanding of identity and community?’ The Power League then ranks each of the questions voted for in order of preference. The order of the items changes each time someone casts a vote.
An Expert Advisory Group, including leading researchers, thinkers and policy makers, will commission research papers and set the direction for the research programme by choosing 5 significant questions for education in the context of social and technological change.These questions will then form the basis for a 12 month programme of research, expert consultation and public discussion.
For those who want to comment on the challenges or raise their own questions they can send an email to: beyondcurrenthorizons@futurelab.org.uk.