Dr Lesley murrihy
Through the Future of Education website, I aim to generate a positive, intelligent, empowering and inclusive conversation about the future of education.
We are privileged to live in such interesting times, as our civilisation transitions from the modern, industrial era to a new era – post modernity. As we have transitioned, we have realised that we can critically reflect on modernity and take forward with us into the new postmodern era what stands up to scrutiny, what is of use and what is of value.
The questions now are: what will we take and what will we leave behind? What is the future that we want? You see, we co-construct the future as we (humankind) make decisions on a daily basis about what is of importance to us.
In this time of transition, education is having a hard time of it. In fact, it really is in crisis. Currently, education is characterised by binary thinking. Modern learning environments versus traditional education is just one example. It is hard to get a really good conversation going about what is of value in education when people position themselves firmly on one side of any binary or the other. Rather than seeing that there are multiple lenses through which education can be viewed, and that they all have validity, in education we often try to make “otherness” invisible or ignore what challenges our thinking. Education is stuck in and on its binaries.
With the rapid advances in technology, in particular the advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, there are many challenges facing humanity. In particular, as machines become more “human”, humanity needs to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to be human – to become more fully human. Education needs to be leading the way in this, not following in its wake.
Join me in a postformal conversation about a sustainable and humanising future for education. I welcome varying perspectives and viewpoints, because together, these will co-construct the future of education.
“To develop an approach to education that prepares 21st century students for the challenges they’ll face, both now and in the future, we need to fundamentally change our ways of thinking.”