Teaching for uncertain futures - Neville Freeman Agency

55APPENDIXmarked contrast to those for humanservices (health, welfare etc), whichare weak.Science and technologyTechnology is everywhere. It ischeap, mobile and always on. As aresult people are connected locallyand globally, which in turn drivestransparency and ethics. Despite this,there are significant generational andsocial differences, especially whenit comes to getting the very latestand greatest gadgets. Technologynow means that surveillance is a factof life and everything is continuallymonitored and measured. Notsurprisingly, the wealthy use every trickin the technology book to maintaintheir incomes and status.The use of performance and memoryenhancing drugs is commonplace andthe recent appearance of geneticallymodified and enhanced children iscreating all kinds of ethical issues.The new generations are obsessed withtechnology and see it as a cause foroptimism about the future.PoliticsA single party dominates domesticpolitics although the opposition doesscore occasional victories when issueslike the environment become localised.The main swing factors are still theeconomy (especially tax and interestrates), immigration, crime, transport,health and education.Elections are increasingly being foughtand won over the issue of happiness.This is essentially the idea that moneyis no longer everything (once you haveit). Therefore the balance betweenwork and family life has becomemore important and so too has thebalance between private profit andenvironmental and societal health.Internationally, United States andAsian influence is still strong althoughlocal economic, environmentaland security issues tend to trumpregional and even global agreements.Globalisation is in the form of transnationalisationby corporations inalmost seamless association witheconomic rationalist governmentsthrough many bilateral links ratherthan truly global networks. This newethical consciousness – originallycreated when climate changeentered the public mind – is nowbecoming evident in the beginningsof local ‘collectives of concern’ (notyet comprehensive communities),alternative limited-issue politicalparties, new forums (real and virtual)and new media outlets.EconomicsThe economy is good but uneven.Some industries do very well whileothers struggle in the face of low-costcompetition from abroad. There isstill a significant skills shortage butartificial intelligence and robotics aremaking up for this in many areas.The personalisation of productsand services is a major trend, as isuser-pays, which means that peopleeither fly low-cost or business class(metaphorically speaking). Much of theGold Coast is now owned by the newlyrich Russians, Indians and Chineseand there is a major bush/cityeconomic divide.A Farewellto ArmsThis is a world in which …SocietyAustralia is enjoying something of acultural renaissance with immigrants,young people and older peopleall contributing fresh thinking andideas across all areas of society.This is driving innovation andexperimentation in business, the artsand education. Even the media hasshifted away from its metropolitan biasand is now more locally embeddedand positive about everything fromimmigration and climate change to thevalue of children and senior citizens.Family lifeFamilies are seen as vitally importantto the health of the nation. The idea ofthe family has also been extended toinclude older generations and there ismore of a balanced feel across society,especially since married men are nowsubject to legislation about how muchtime they spend at work. Technologyis an important component of familylife but there has been some degreeof technology pushback. Individualsand organisations are realising thata balance is required between amodernity in which things are sped upand people are connected virtually andtraditional communities where thereis a sense of history, relaxation andphysical connectedness.SchoolsSchools are well respected andare at the very centre of the newlyenergisedlocal communities. As aresult there is a high degree of trustin the education establishment andthis enables students and teachers toexperiment with a number of radicalideas, particularly in relation to the useof technology.