Teaching for uncertain futures - Neville Freeman Agency

41LEARNING FROM THE FUTUREPart 5Learningfrom thefutureThe future environments of the fourscenario worlds are as complex and fluid as societytoday. Each world combines desirable and undesirablecharacteristics. Desirable features may be easierto identify in A Farewell to Arms or The MagicMountain, but some virtue can be found even in thedystopian landscape of The Grapes of Wrath.Schooling looks different in each of the worlds. In bothUnder the Volcano and The Magic Mountain, it hasbecome more divided as governments withdraw fromschool resourcing and private wealth becomes a criticalelement in determining access to an adequateeducation. In The Grapes of Wrath, schooling is valuedbut schools do not have the resources to provide studentswith rich and stimulating learning programs as theextremes of climate change have sapped resources andplaced society in the middle of an environmental crisis.In contrast, the harmonious society of A Farewell toArms positions schools as valued and highly supportedinstitutions. Schooling is effective in promoting socialequity and in helping young people to overcome socialdisadvantage. Teachers have high status within society.In broad terms, schooling within a pluralist, democraticsociety is expected to provide learning that helps tostrengthen civil society and deliberative andparticipative democracy, to promote individualdevelopment and social cohesion, to develop economicprosperity and environmental sustainability and toprepare young people for active global citizenship.