A FUTURES PERSPECTIVE
A missing dimension
This figure is a reminder that the curriculum contains both a spatial and temporal dimension. As in the 1970s the global dimension was seen as largely absent from the curriculum so, since the 90s, the future has increasingly been seen as a missing element on the temporal dimension.
It is as vital for children to understand the temporal interrelationships between past, present and future as it is the spatial interrelationships between local, national and global. Yet, if all education is a preparation for the future when and where are pupils given the opportunity to explore the futures that they would like to see come about? (Hicks, 2006)
Futures education
Futures education is the term used internationally to describe a form of education which helps students think more critically and creatively about the future. In more detail it:
- enables pupils to understand the links between their own lives in the present and those of others in the past and future
- increases understanding of the economic, social, political and cultural influences which shape people's perceptions of personal, local and global futures
- develops the skills, attitudes and values which encourage foresight and enable pupils to identify probable and preferable futures
- works towards achieving a more just and sustainable future in which the welfare of both people and planet are of equal importance1
Futures studies
Futures studies is the international field which educators can draw on in order to aid such curriculum deliberations. Futures studies as a field of academic enquiry emerged in the 70s. Its broad ranging concerns are addressed in different ways by organisations such as the World Futures Studies Federation and key texts such as the Knowledge Base of Futures Studies (Slaughter, 2005) and Foundations of Futures Studies (Bell, 1997). The purpose of futures studies is to 'discover or invent, examine, evaluate and propose possible, probable and preferable futures' (Bell, 1997). He continues 'futurists seek to know: what can or could be (the possible), what is likely to be (the probable), and what ought to be (the preferable)'. Dator (1996) elaborates further:
Futures studies does not …pretend to study the future. It studies ideas about the future …(which) often serve as the basis for actions in the present… Different groups often have very different images of the future. Men's images may differ from women's. Western images may differ from non-Western, and so on. One of the main tasks of futures studies is to identify and examine the major alternative futures which exist at any given time and place… another major task of futures studies is to facilitate individuals and groups in formulating, implementing, and re-envisioning their preferred futures.
A futures perspective
Most commonly teachers talk about the need for a futures dimension in the curriculum and the ability of students, therefore, to take a futures perspective on personal, local, national and global events and issues. One of the first writers to draw attention to the need for this was Toffler (1974) in his, still very relevant, Learning for Tomorrow: The role of the future in education. His key thesis is that 'all education springs from images of the future and all education creates images of the future'.
During the 80s futures issues were taken up in the UK by some global educators and during the 90s interest grew in young people's images of the future (Hicks & Holden 2007). Page (2000) has carried out work with early years, Hicks (2001) with the middle years and Hutchinson (1996) with secondary pupils. International case studies can be found in Hicks & Slaughter (1998). A futures dimension is crucially important in all areas of the curriculum from personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS), citizenship and geography to design and technology and science. Geographers, in particular, have begun to include a futures perspective in their work (Hicks, 2007) and it is vital that other subjects now follow suit.
1. I am indebted to the DEA for permission some time ago to use this form of wording.
References
Bell, W. (1997) Foundations of Futures Studies, 2 vols, New Brunswick NJ: Transaction
Dator, J. (2005) Foreword, in: R. Slaughter, ed. Knowledge Base of Futures Studies (see below)
Hicks, D. (2001) Citizenship for the Future: A practical classroom guide, Godalming: World Wide Fund for Nature UK
Hicks, D. (2006) Lessons for the Future: The missing dimension in education, Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing
Hicks, D. (2007) Lessons for the future: A geographical contribution, Geography, 92 (3): 179-188
Hicks, D. & Holden, C. (2007) Remembering the future: What do children think? Environmental Education Research, 13 (4): 501-512
Hicks, D. & Slaughter, R. (eds) (1998) Futures Education: The World Yearbook of Education 1998, London: Kogan Page
Hutchinson, F. (1996) Educating Beyond Violent Futures, London: Routledge
Page, J. (2000) Reframing the Early Childhood Curriculum: Educational imperatives for the future, London: RoutledgeFalmer
Slaughter, R. (2005) Knowledge Base of Futures Studies, CD-ROM Professional Edition, Brisbane: Foresight Institute
For further information see: 'A futures perspective: lessons from the school room' (available in Downloads) and Hicks, D. (2008) A futures perspective in education, in: S. Ward (ed) A Student's Guide to Education Studies, Routledge.