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Leveraging Futures Platform for planning the future of education - Case: The Finnish National Agency for Education

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What are the skills and knowledge that people will need to thrive in the future working life and society in general? How can these skills be taught by the education system? Which new methods will teachers and the administration need? These were some of the key questions that the Finnish National Agency for Education sought to answer through its 2-year foresight program that leveraged Futures Platform.

The Finnish National Agency for Education hired a Finnish consulting company Alternative Futures to facilitate the process. Alternative Futures used Futures Platform as a central tool in its workshops over the course of the project. Five different foresight radars were built during the process of generating views about the future in different areas of society: Manufacturing, Services, Wellbeing, and the Creative sector, plus one radar that combined them all.

During the two years that the project lasted, 26 different working groups worked with the foresight radars. The working groups met several times during the project. They were tasked with identifying and describing potential future professions, and they also worked to make suggestions and recommendations as to how students and employees could be educated towards these new professions, and how the educational system and learning at work should be enhanced to meet the new needs.

The foresight radars built on Futures Platform were used as a tool for mapping out the scenarios of future professions, and bringing structure to the seemingly complicated future landscape. The visual radars provoked fruitful discussions in both face to face and online workshops. Also importantly, the participants could vote and add their thoughts and insights to the topics afterwards, straight on the radars.

Thanks to the accumulating insights on the radars, and the related foresight workshops, the Finnish National Agency for Education was better equipped to plan and implement modern educational paths. These paths will serve to take students of all ages towards the professions of the future.