Into the unknown ...
Listening to and reading about predictions for the future always makes me smile. I have an advantage, I have some life experience and lived for quite a while on the other side of the globe in a different country. Somehow has this educational system made me very critical and taught me to think for myself and not believe everything I hear and see, no matter how important the people are who are sharing it. There's always an agenda.
The Contemporary Issue or Trend
First of all I don't see the point in this fortune telling about what the future holds. Especially if they (National Intelligence Council) claim that the world wide poverty rate will decrease. I mean, you can hear the opposite every week in national television, not only in New Zealand in Germany, too. All I hear is that the gap between the rich and the poor is opening and not closing. The middle class might be growing but so is the class of the impoverished. In India 1 million young people will join the labour force every year for the next 20 years (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5SwtapHl), to do what? Millions of people in huge parts of India live today the way we have lived more than hundred years ago. They won't be dreaming about to become an entrepreneur, don't they. If you have the time, look up an National Geographic article about India's ship wrecking coast, where huge oil tankers and cargo ships are just driven onto the beach. There they lay and being salvaged under unbelievable working conditions and enormous environmental damage. I believe one of the biggest issues is the continuing trend to ask for everlasting economic growth, based on ongoing consumption. Achievable only if production costs are being lowered in order to maintain profitable, hence automatisation with humans or robots. Reducing manual labour or simplifying it to a degree that no specific education is required, result minimum wages.
Future Focus in my view
As a teenager, back in the 90's I was active in the green/anti nuclear movement in Germany, learning about deforestation and alternative energy solution. I remember Chernobyl, 1986 (reactor meltdown in Ukraine) and believe or not it took another nuclear catastrophic event in Fukujima before Germany decided to shut down all it's own nuclear power plants by 2020. It only took 34 years to achieve this break through.
Where am I going with this you might ask. I believe all teachers in the developed world should spend more time educating young people to become more responsible and sustainable in the way we exploit our planet's resources. One of the three 'key results' from the ERO report states that teachers are yet to fully understand the permissive nature and intent of the NZC (Education Review Office, 2012). Doesn't that key finding open up endless opportunities to bring this problem to the forefront of teaching and learning? Wouldn't it be great to bring together the kiwi ingenuity and mentality to an area that will greatly determine the future of the planet and create and secure jobs for decades to come. New Zealand has everything sun, wind, water, oceans and great people.
Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds (National Intelligence Council, 2012).
Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools (Education Review Office, 2012).
Future State 2030 - Global Megatrends
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