The Curriculum of the Future
The curriculum is a manifesto, which embodies how society perceives its past, its lens on the present and its aspirations for the future. Thus the curriculum is fundamentally underpinned by its vision of society. A healthy society is one that is founded on the principle of informed, active citizenship.
Purists argue the need for the curriculum to go back to basics — there is a reason why the laws of fundamentals have outlived generations — whilst realists need it to impart skills for an increasingly competitive economy, addressing unemployment and the fit-for-purpose skills shortage. STEM subjects will continue to be fundamental building blocks within the curriculum but these are only necessary and not sufficient. As such, there will be a more potent fusion of the sciences with the arts, and the extinction of the false dichotomy between the two worlds, with subjects such as interactive design emerging to prominence.
The power of a networked society opens up the world to infinite possibilities in the digital age of converging experiences with smartphones, smart homes, smart offices and connected communities powered by self-writing robots. Coding will be a facet of basic literacy on a par with the alphabet and algebra. Coding is a language and, as with any other dialect, it demands the proper discipline of spelling, and punctuation, not in isolation from the culture around us. The curriculum will address the problems faced by society, pioneering life skills to optimise wellbeing of self — physically and psychologically — as well as the environment through the teachings of sport, mindfulness and sustainability. Self-awareness and self-expression will take on new meanings as multiple identities blossom, against the backdrop of eroded privacy. Indeed the internet has enabled easy access to anything and everything by anyone which is liberating, democratising, educating as well as timesaving, but the vastness and validity of information means the curriculum will shift away from knowledge itself — the know-what — to the critical analyses of information — the know-how. History, whilst continuing to be the assimilation of facts, will impart the ability to develop a viewpoint by weighing up evidence.
The traditional delivery of the curriculum, a broadcast model of one-to-many can be enhanced, not replaced, with the intricacy of a one-to-one relationship. The former instils a sense of community through shared knowledge whilst the latter gives rise to personalisation. It enables tailored, interactive and self-paced learning with real time feedback. Mindful of isolated virtual realities, the curriculum will encourage physical interaction and learning with all senses. Attendance may not be in the shape of schools but social, local meet-ups will be promoted embodying participation, enquiry, idea generation and debate. Online, with its capacity for interactivity is a terrific medium for education; its true power comes when the web’s capacity to deliver tangible learning outcomes coexists with a physical ability to inspire action.
The curriculum will reflect the ongoing shift in society by becoming more consumer-centric, informal and fun. Learning adventures will be engaging and story-led with learners placed as the hero in each chapter; each journey unravelling differently, tailored to unleash the latent potential, magic and imagination of each explorer.
The curriculum will be dynamic, modifying itself to respond to the opportunities, challenges and curiosity, society presents but at its core the contents of it will cultivate the creativity and adaptability of citizens. It will enrich citizens with cognitive skills to stimulate the production of ideas, addressing the fundamental human desire to create. With such principles at its heart, the debate around the purpose of education — for attainment or affluence — will cease to exist as both can be achieved.
Whilst society has already reaped the benefits of a wiki peer-peer framework, it is only at the brink of the open source age with collective editing and collaborative production. The curriculum can be composed and curated by all actors — students, teachers, institutions, corporations and government alike. The composition will be in a public-facing space — one of lively debate and discussion, similar to the atmosphere of a lively arts centre. It can evolve with big data patterns, enhancing the relationship between teacher and student with the former manifesting itself as a peer, a mentor, a robot, the environment, and so on.
Lastly, the curriculum will cease to be a word associated with the young, but instead it will encourage lifelong idiosyncratic learning journeys, available 24/7 and crucially, to anyone. Meta-cognition will no longer be a word associated with psychologists but each individual will be more in control of their learning journey. The single most definitive and distinctive aspect of the curriculum of the future is its universality with free, open access.
