When looking at the future of education, the World Economic Forum (2020) identified eight qualities that will differentiate great educational opportunities from good or poor ones. What is most striking about those qualities is just how little current systems are set up to address, value, and educate students in the ways identified. In many ways, current movements toward more nationalistic tendencies (Duara, 2022), especially given the potential issues that arise with entangled economic interdependence as is illustrated through issues related to the war in Ukraine, goes against, in many ways, the identification of a focus on global citizenship. Standardization is the opposite of the innovation and creativity discussed in the document. Lack of programming options (Milanesi, 2021) is the anthesis of both technology skills and accessible/inclusive learning. Lack of inquiry based and personalized instruction leads to less opportunities for self-paced and lifelong, student driven learning. The cost of authentic assessment measures and lack of objectivity often introduced in collaborative and creative learning opportunities drives current systems away from problem or project based learning. Global citizenship, innovation/creativity, technology, interpersonal skills such as empathy and emotional intelligence, personalized and self-paced learning, accessible and inclusive learning, and problem-based/student driven learning are all characteristics of creating empathetic, life-long learners, and each of these are the anthesis of the current priorities, structures, systems, and funding realities in our current system.

The most impactful shifts I see coming out of the pandemic are the significant light that was shined on the ineffectiveness of the last 20 years of educational policy on the reduction in gaps between different demographics and the significant need for skills like those identified by the World Economic Forum. In many ways the shift I see coming is one where public education will struggle to justify its approaches to education and is chipped at by a large number of competitive offerings that provide a tailored experience for parents who want something different. My hope is that this moves the educational system forward, but my fear is that we will see those who need the most opportunity, access, personalization, and innovation be locked out of opportunities as the current system clings to an outdated version of instruction that pushes its most innovative and creative teachers towards other options. Perhaps not an inspiring perspective, but if there was ever a time for education to transform it was during the pandemic, and many, many schools have snapped right back to pre-pandemic teaching because outdated and unaligned metrics describe what schools can and should be in outdated and unaligned ways.

Our work with Crafting Heroes is an attempt to create an alternative pathway for schools and work-based learning programs to adopt.

Works Cited:

Duara, P. (2022, March 9). Development and the crisis of Global Nationalism. Brookings. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/10/04/development-and-the-crisis-of-global-nationalism/

Milanesi, C. (2021, September 30). Lack of access to computer science resources, not lack of interest, negatively impacts students from underrepresented groups. Forbes. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinamilanesi/2021/09/30/lack-of-access-to-computer-science-resources-not-lack-of-interest-negatively-impacts-students-from-underrepresented-groups/?sh=44c165a2726a

World Economic Forum. (2020, January). Schools of the future: Defining new models of education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Geneva: World Economic Form. Retrieved from: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Schools_of_the_Future_Report_2019.pdf