Sharpening New Zealand’s future focus: A scenaric stance

Abstract

Future focus is one of the eight principles of the New Zealand curriculum. However, the term is sometimes conflated with the more-expansive term 21st-century learning, which, this article argues, accepts uncritically dominant assumptions that New Zealand's future is as part of a hyper-globalised, fast-paced, capitalist world. This article insists on future focus as a means of developing the curriculum to support pupils as they learn to think critically about globalisation, sustainability, enterprise, and citizenship. Using the example of scenario-building in the context of carbon-based economies and high-consumption lifestyles we emphasise that futures education requires important skills of study, analysis, creation, imagination, and interpretation.

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Citation
Matthewman, S., & Morgan, J. (2014). Sharpening New Zealand’s future focus: A scenaric stance. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 1, 24–32. https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0327
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