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Is it time to consider post-schooling? - Part 1

by Zabrina Epps


First, what do I mean by “post-schooling” and why initiate the topic? Let’s try this exercise in perception. What comes to mind when you see, or think about “SCHOOL”? Although there’s no way for me to ascertain the thoughts, memories, and emotions that came up for those reading this post, it might be a good place to begin a focused inquiry about the futures of education. I raise this question from the perspective of education in the United States. However, many school systems and education policies throughout the West are similarly structured such that they compete via the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).  As professional futurists who lead futures projects in a myriad of industries (and to achieve planetary sustainability), should we also consider the need to evolve how learners are educated?


How do we get to the future(s) from here?


A key principle of the futures/foresight fields is recognizing when something no longer fulfills the purpose for which it was designed. As I read articles, social media posts, and email list-servs discussing the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), I wonder if today’s students are being exposed to anything emergent? While there have been decades of reforms to the curricula, technologies, and teaching practices, the early 19th Century structure of schooling remains intact - daily instruction in disaggregated disciplines over 180 days (give or take a month). And despite what we’ve learned about the relational aspects of learning, most learners are expected to be passive listeners to a subject-matter-expert (with the expectation of achieving self-mastery primarily on their own). 


Disengagement and detachment


A recent Gallup-Walton Family Foundation survey showed that today in the United States, students are more disengaged in school than they were a year ago. In the forty years since I completed primary and secondary education, I have noticed a change in students (especially young students) attitudes and relationship with schooling. Children have become less optimistic about schooling. We have witnessed video footage of students lamenting over their curriculum, the overuse of substitute teachers, and being housed in old unhealthy buildings. And in the initial weeks of the 2024 school year, students and parents continue to appeal to politicians, policymakers,  and education leaders about not feeling safe due to bullying, harassment by adults, and mass shootings. 


During an education segment of NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute, author Karin Klein, with NPR education correspondent, Cory Turner, and host Brittany Luse discussed how the steep rise in student absenteeism after the COVID - 19 pandemic continues to persist despite the integration of online learning since the pandemic. In addition to this post-pandemic phenomenon, Klein, also attributed the lack of engagement to, 1)  50/50 split of students who are interested in attending college, and 2) the increased use of AI by students (and teachers) to complete assignments. Bandura (2002) describes an education of self-directedness where students are less dependent on instruction to grasp new ideas. “Students now have the best libraries, museums, and multimedia instruction at their fingertips…and they can use these resources for educating themselves” (p.176). With 48% of K-12 students and 46% of teachers using AI at least once a week, the discussants pondered the question, “what is school for”?


Preparation without anticipation

I conducted a brief search on LinkedIn on “future.” As you can imagine, posts and articles abound that investigate the futures of (fill in the blank). One post highlighted the future of business characterized as “adaptable structures.” Another LinkedIn member mentioned the realization of disrupting technologies and the need for “embracing the unknown, adaptability, curiosity, and lifelong learning”. That post concluded with, “technology is not just a tool, it’s a mindset. It challenges us to think differently and push boundaries”. Here are just of few of the headlines from my latest search:


  • “Growing green: Education for a sustainable future”

  • “Leading the energy transition: Opportunities and challenges for at sustainable future”

  • “Agentic AI systems - The next evolution of work”

  • “Blockchain: The natural extension of today’s internet”

  • “4 disruptive tech trends that will define the future of banking”


How are schools preparing students for the technological and social changes that will define much of their adult lives? In a paper calling for the restructuring of education to prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), the authors observe, “Educational institutions have contributed greatly to reshaping future technologies by being the test laboratories for innovations. In the meanwhile, there is an immense need for looking beyond the traditional educational approach.”


Voices of Gen Z: Perspectives on U.S. Education, Wellbeing and the Future, 2023

The Gen Z perspectives report shows less than half of the high school students surveyed felt prepared for their futures despite their overall feelings of optimism about the future. For students with no interest in attending college, only 46% felt they were given the opportunity to engage in activities where they excelled. Most schools are focused on preparing students for college entry (albeit not college persistence). Meanwhile, 44% of the jobs in 2021 that required a college degree have dropped that requirement.


A quick check in here. Does the schooling, you perceived at the start of this article, prepare students to “build their strategic foresight muscles” (Lustig, 2015)? Are the investments in new buildings, technology centers, software, and the gamification of parts of the curriculum enough to equip students with the imagination and critical thinking skills to engage with futures? Perhaps the school you thought of does. But most do not due to the persistent focus on curricular mastery, competency, and competitiveness for university seats. Most schools continue to train students to regurgitate the “whats” of the past, rather than investigating the “what ifs” of their futures. 


Introduction to human development

Lastly, with all of the emphasis on curriculum mastery and regulating the use of AI, education systems seem to have completely lost sight of the human development aspect of learning. Years of reforms to increase PISA scores (and international competitiveness) have led to major cuts in funding for arts, field trips, and other extracurricular activities. Programs and activities that enable students to visualize their futures and expose learners to diverse people and real-life situations around the globe, ignite student expectations of how they can apply their learning. Out of class activities also support learners' self-efficacy, resulting in the kinds of citizens that are needed in our rapidly changing and complex global society.


As the curriculum has gotten more technologically-driven (with significant teaching time and investment in STEM subjects), what is to become of  scores of students who do not see themselves or their dreams reflected in the curriculum? Education that develops not only the mind, but the psyche, emotions, and spirit mandates a forward thinking curriculum that cultivates self-development resulting in human agents who are ready and willing to explore possible societal and planetary futures. If we as futurists and foresight professionals can co-create NEW systems to support learning through one’s life cycles, what could we design? And, would we continue to refer to these places/spaces as “school”? 


I welcome your thoughts as I develop Part 2. When you envision learning in 2030, 2050, and beyond, are we still sending learners to a building during work hours? Can learners receive credit for learning outside of traditional school time (or a building)? The possibilities are many and some education systems are trying new models. Whatever is envisioned, it is my hope that learners are valued for their uniqueness rather than their conformity.


References:

  1. Bandura, A. (2002). Growing primacy of human agency in adaptation and change in the electronic era. European Psychologist, 7(1), 2-16. Retrieved from            https://fgul.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.fgul.idm.oclc.org/docview/   614363986?accountid=10868

  2. Byabazaire Y., Lynne M. W.,  Siti N. S.,(2020). Restructuring Educational Institutions for Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)., iJET ‒ Vol. 15, No. 3.

  3. Gallup-Walton Family Foundation, (2023). Voices of Gen Z | Perspectives on U.S. Education, Wellbeing and the Future, Gallup, Inc.

  4. It’s been a minute (B. Luse, Host). (September 6, 2024). NPR. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1197958424

  5. Lustig, P. (2015). Strategic Foresight: Learning from the Future. United Kingdom: Triarchy Press.


Images:

  1. Oliver Tacke, An interesting talk, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  2. Voices of Gen Z: Perspectives on U.S. Education, Wellbeing and the Future, p.10


 

Zabrina Epps, Ph.D., has been an APF member since 2019. She is an education futurist, leadership coach, and researcher. She is a Fellow of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. She has served on her local Board of Education, taught as an adjunct communications instructor, and advised educators, students and leaders.

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