Futures education: Curriculum and educational practices in Australia, Spain, and Chile

Abstract

The images of the future among young people have been conditioned by the stories present in the media, films, books, and also in school. Educational curriculums are made up of a selection of knowledge that privileges some ways of understanding the future over others. Young people often imagine a future that is in economic, social, and/or climate crisis. However, they also imagine a bright future for themselves, detached from the future they imagine for society. In this article, we present a qualitative analysis of the curriculums of Australia, Spain, and Chile, together with interviews with teachers from these countries. We investigate the presence and absence of futures education in these curriculums, their degree of development regarding futures education, and make a first analysis of the influence of futures education in schools. To do this we identify four dimensions: situate in time, anticipate, imagine alternative futures, and social action. The results show that, while the Australian curriculum explicitly includes education for the future, the Spanish and Chilean curriculum include it only tangentially. In addition, the socio-cultural context of schools and the will of the teaching staff are elements that determine the implementation of futures education in the school context. Diversos estudios nos indican que las imágenes del futuro que tienen los jóvenes están condicionadas por los relatos presentes en los medios de comunicación, las películas, los libros y también en la escuela. Los currículos educativos incluyen una selección de contenidos que privilegian unas formas de entender el futuro por encima de otras. Los jóvenes suelen representar un futuro en crisis económica, social y/o climática. Sin embargo, estos imaginan para sí mismos un futuro brillante, totalmente desligado del futuro de la sociedad. En este artículo presentamos un análisis cualitativo de carácter descriptivo e interpretativo de los currículos de Australia, España y Chile, junto con entrevistas a docentes de estos países, para estudiar la presencia y ausencia de la educación para el futuro en sus planes de estudios, así como su grado de desarrollo, y hacer un primer análisis de la influencia de la educación para el futuro en las escuelas. Para ello identificamos cuatro dimensiones: situar en el tiempo, anticipar, imaginar futuros alternativos y actuar socialmente. Los resultados muestran que, mientras que el currículo australiano incluye de forma explícita la educación para el futuro, el currículo español y chileno la incluyen solo de forma tangencial. Además, el contexto sociocultural del centro y la voluntad del profesorado son elementos que determinan el desarrollo de la educación para el futuro en la escuela.

19. Imagination and justice: Teaching the future(s) of higher education through Africanfuturist speculative fiction

“…We watch a 10-minute TED Talk by Nnedi Okorafor from 2017 where she reads from the novella and reflects on Africanfuturist science fiction. We introduce the workshopping format and use it to discuss the current scholarly interest in futurity, and how the class can engage with the exciting questions that are currently being addressed by generatively critical research to imagine and make liveable futures together (Castellví et al, 2022;Facer, 2019a, Facer, 2019bMuñoz, 2019;UNESCO, 2021).…”

Higher Education for Good

“…We watch a 10-minute TED Talk by Nnedi Okorafor from 2017 where she reads from the novella and reflects on Africanfuturist science fiction. We introduce the workshopping format and use it to discuss the current scholarly interest in futurity, and how the class can engage with the exciting questions that are currently being addressed by generatively critical research to imagine and make liveable futures together (Castellví et al, 2022;Facer, 2019a, Facer, 2019bMuñoz, 2019;UNESCO, 2021).…”

Development of an up-to-date competency profile of the head of the university educational program

“…The conclusion about the need to promote the idea of sustainability through university educational programs to prevent the climate crisis and environmental emergencies was also voiced in the article [6]. Thus, in our opinion, the heads of educational programs in higher The actual issue of the development and implementation of educational programs is raised by the authors of the article, discussing the time factor of the implementation of the HE (higher education) and the strong-willed efforts of teachers in achieving the results of professional training [7]. In their opinion, the constant change in the socio-cultural context and the professional qualities of teachers should be taken into account and the adjustment of the educational program should be carried out.…”