Learning Reimagined: RADICAL THINKING FOR EQUITABLE FUTURES LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 BIG PICTURE 2 Our known systems, everyday Given the enormity of changes, we purposely pulled out of our routines and relationships typical areas of focus to better understand even broader possible implications for children, families, educators and more. have been radically disrupted. While reports can feel like a sealed chamber, we’ve designed this as This report, which came out of a partnership between Imaginable an open invitation for dialogue. Which of these scenarios do we Futures and IDEO, sets out to capture the global disruption of our strive to avoid, and how? Which are an inspiring call to action? In education systems and to offer an evidence-based vision of the articulating broad opportunity areas, we hope to hear from global future, that takes into account both the constraints and the communities with diverse perspectives about how they would opportunities of this historic moment. It references a moment in adapt these ideas. Our hope is that we might collectively imagine a time, amidst a rapidly changing world; as our ecosystems continue better future and begin thinking about what it will take to get to evolve at unprecedented rates, so will the insights in this report. there. To arrive at these insights, we have leveraged the tools of design We also acknowledge that we are standing on the shoulders of fiction and futuring: analyzing the drivers of change (a global giants. This report would not exist without those who have long pandemic and economic fallout, and movements towards racial invested in building and improving our education systems: justice), citing early signals of hope (the heroic response of teachers, school leaders and caregivers alike. There is much educators and supporting community, for whom this report holds a demanding, complex and important work being done already in deep reverence) and sketching future scenarios (opportunity areas response to the seismic shifts of recent history. If not for those and imagined outcomes that can help us better understand and leaders, radical and optimistic imagination would have no plan for what is to come). foundation from which to grow and thrive. What’s Inside 1 STATE OF 2 STATE OF 3 NAVIGATION 4 CONCLUSION EDUCATION THE FUTURE TOOLS We conclude with deep belief in the power of collective action to radically reimagine more equitable systems of learning. This section clarifies Here, we anticipate alternative We close the report with the current reality of futures across global education. a section dedicated to our communities and resources to help navigate this education systems, We clarify seven different Drivers, time with compassion and amidst the seismic or major societal shifts, across our lead through complexity. shifts of this moment. ecosystems. Within each Driver, we explore signals - or early indicators of how 5 APPENDIX they are beginning to play out today. Lastly, we share potential imagined Scenarios for each Driver, and Opportunities within them. Visit the appendix for a deeper dive into the research and methodology behind our seven Drivers and predicted futures. LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 01 STATE OF EDUCATION 5 LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 The historic inequities embedded in our education systems — race, gender, geography, wealth, income, culture — have been further brought to light by the recent seismic shifts in our society. Our everyday routines have shifted, and so have the routines of learning. We need leaders who can redistribute power and co-create with community members meeting this moment with brave and radical redesign. These profound and heart-wrenching ruptures mean that we can no longer wait to ask the fundamental questions about what we teach, how we learn and who has access. LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 WHAT IF, 1.3 billion 63 million 100% of at this moment of children teachers governments disruption, our systems of are out of school (primary and secondary) pressured to protect and learning could be redesigned worldwide due to around the world are prioritize education funding in to eliminate the inequities school closures affected by school future budgets. linked to the closures in 165 countries. The financial and social burden that are embedded in our coronavirus Source: UNESCO of returning to school include pandemic. schools and our diagnostic assessment of Source: UNESCO communities? The urgency student preparedness to learn, learnings gaps assessment to evolve, to deploy radical and cost to retool the physical 368.5 million space. imagination, is here. 50% of Source: Brookings children in students 143 countries worldwide don’t have computers at home. who normally rely on schools for daily meals must now In sub-Saharan look to other sources. African, 89% of students don’t have Source: UNSDG computers at home. Source: UNESCO 7 LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 02 STATE OF THE FUTURE 8 LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 We use the tool of Futuring so that we ‘Futuring’ allows us to might better understand what’s coming, and thus more effectively make choices imagine possible outcomes that support the futures we hope to see. We cannot predict the future but we can actively practice defending against its with the hope of exploring, negative effects and intentionally accelerating its positive ones. better sensing and equipping ourselves for This section of the report is an exercise in anticipating alternative futures across the potential realities global education. ahead of us. 9 LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 THE HIERARCHY The following terms help us define the different stages and components of the Futuring process, referenced OF FUTURE across the remainder of this Report. FORECASTING DRIVERS SIGNALS FUTURE SCENARIOS DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES Major societal shifts Examples, or early Scenarios help us to explore Opportunities are the that will have broad indicators, of how each the future by looking at what particularly vulnerable impact on the future of Driver is beginning to might come to pass, possibilities and hopeful learning. play out today depending on how current antidotes to collapse. All trends evolve and what imagined - we play on their actions people take to potential utility within the influence them. identified future scenario. These "what if” questions are intended to jolt our traditional ways of thinking. 10 LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 THE DRIVERS 1. SOCIETY 5. TEACHING The Social Contract of School as Caregivers and #1 Public Education is Families as Teachers 1. SOCIETY These Drivers help us Changing The Social Contract of Public categorize the trends that are Education is Changing 6. COMMUNITY influencing the future of 2. TECHNOLOGY Interconnectivity, in #2 Learning Technology is TECHNOLOGY education, informing design Tension With Isolationism Mandatory; Relationships are Learning Technology Is opportunities. and Neo-Tribalism Mandatory; Relationships Are at a Distance At A Distance 7. HEALTH #3 3. PLACE Mental Well-being is Space & Time Bend; Power Headlining; Compassion is Spatial & Time Bend; Power Displaced From Proximity Required Displaced From Proximity 4. ECONOMY #4 Back to Basics in the Back To Basics In The Informal Informal Economy; Future Economy; Future of Work Redefined Of Work Redefined 11 #1 #5 SOCIETY COMMUNITY The Social Contract of Public Education is Changing Interconnectivity, In Tension With Isolation and Neo-Tribalism #2 3. Spatial & Time 4. Back To Basics In PLACE 1. 2. Learning The Social Bend; Power The Informal Spatial & Time Bend; Power #6 Technology Is Contract of Public Displaced From Economy; Future Displaced From Proximity TECHNOLOGY Education is Mandatory; Proximity Of Work Redefined Changing Relationships Are Learning Technology Is #3 At A Distance TEACHING Mandatory; Relationships Are Schools As Caregivers At A Distance And Families As Teachers #7 HEALTH #4 5. School as 5. Interconnectivity, 7. Mental well-being Mental well-being Is Caregivers and In Tension With Is Headlining; ECONOMY Headlining; Compassion Required Back To Basics In The Informal families as teachers Isolation and Compassion Required Neo-Tribalism Economy; Future Of Work Redefined LEARNING REIMAGINED | AUGUST 2020 Although we cannot predict the future in full, we can begin to arrange our speculation into logical FUTURE patterns that help us organize and envision what may come. We use the Growth, Transformation, Collapse, Constraint framework to identify the nature of our diverse Future Scenarios, acknowledging SCENARIO that not all change evolves in a binary - simply positive or negative - direction. Each Future Scenario across our “State of the Future” section is identified as one of these 4 archetypes of change. ARCHETYPES Growth The growth archetype identifies Collapse The collapse archetype identifies scenarios within which education scenarios within which education is largely flourishes, though current beset by rapid breakdowns and forces issues remain inadequately of change outside its control. It is addressed. It is characterized by characterized by total erosion or overall growth, together with some rapid decline, deeming the current unrealized goals and even some system obsolete and replacing it with setbacks. another. Constraint The constraint archetype identifies Transformation The transformation archetype identifies scenarios within which education scenarios within which education continues, but with a diminished role. establishes a successful new paradigm It is characterized by an inability for