(1888PressRelease)
February 14, 2008 - The general public are being asked to take part in a new government research programme called ‘Beyond Current Horizons’ by voting online about the educational challenges of the future. Anyone with an interest in education and how to best prepare children for the future beyond 2025 is encouraged to offer their views at www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/get-involved/power-league.
Beyond Current Horizons is being conducted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and education innovators Futurelab. It will investigate the range of ways in which education might need to change in the light of potential future changes in society and technology.
Parents, teachers, employers and children should all take part – any child born today will be 17 in 2025; what will be the big issues and questions that will face them? Beyond Current Horizons has introduced a ‘Future Challenges for Education’ Power League – a fun and easy way to rank which educational challenges concern or interest people the most. This Power League, which closes on 25 February 2008, is the first of many opportunities to engage in the research programme. It is free to vote and completely anonymous.
People vote for one question that they deem to pose the greatest challenge to education in a series of randomly generated pairs. The Future Challenges for Education Power League includes questions such as, ‘What will we need to know in 2025 and beyond?’ or ‘How will new technologies influence our understanding of identity and community?’
The Power League then ranks each of the questions voted for in order of preference. The order of the items changes each time someone casts a vote. The often-unexpected nature of the pairs being compared and the resulting leagues makes a good starting point for discussion. Why is this challenge more influential? Why is this issue more important than that?
The Beyond Current Horizons Expert Advisory Group, including leading researchers, thinkers and policy makers, will meet in February 2008. Based on public workshops, commissioned research papers and the results of the Power League and other online consultation, this group will set the direction for the programme by choosing 5 significant questions for education in the context of social and technological change. These questions will then form the basis for a 12 month programme of research, expert consultation and public discussion.
If people want to comment on the challenges or raise their own questions they can send an email to: beyondcurrenthorizons ( @ ) futurelab dot org dot uk
The Beyond Current Horizons website www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk details the latest progress, with various consultation tools coming online throughout 2008.
