Teaching for uncertain futures - Neville Freeman Agency

5INTRODUCING SCENARIO BUILDINGPart 1IntroducingscenariobuildingDaily living totally absorbs most people.Seldom are they able to lift their gaze from theirimmediate future to think about a longer-termfuture, how it may differ from today, and to considerwhat may influence it.In a static or slow-moving world, this lack ofengagement with future possibilities may not matter –individuals and organisations will slowly change astheir circumstances evolve. But today’s world is notstatic or slow moving. Change is rapid, widespread,far-reaching and often surprising.Consider the way the issue of climate change hasshifted from being a fringe issue to a mainstreamtopic, and how the public has embraced the needfor debate about the environment and how climaticchanges might affect life and living in Australia.What will happen next? Current hypotheses includepandemics, obesity epidemics, a technologicalrevolution, terrorism, shifting global power, thedecline of oil as a primary energy source, changes infamily dynamics and economic upturn or downturn.Each of these possibilities has the potential to affecteducation in Australia, its nature and its content.Possible FuturesThere has already been a shift in the way people,particularly the young, access and consumeinformation. Ten years ago Google was unknown.A few years ago YouTube and MySpace did notexist. ‘Blog’ is still a new word for many. Theseinnovations, and others like them, are fundamentally