“How can we prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, to tackle societal challenges that we can’t yet imagine, and to use technologies that have not yet been invented? How can we equip them to thrive in an interconnected world where they need to understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views, interact respectfully with others, and take responsible action towards sustainability and collective well-being?

Recognising the urgent need to open a global discussion about education, in 2015 the OECD launched the “Future of Education and Skills 2030” project (Education 2030, transitioning to Education 2040). The project aims to support countries in adapting their education systems by considering the types of 21^st century competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values) that students and teachers need to thrive in the future.”

The Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1960 to advise governments. Its mission is to “build better policies for better lives.” It is headquartered in Paris. The U.S. Department of State says, “The OECD provides a setting where governments can compare experiences, seek answers to common challenges, identify good practices, and develop high standards for economic policy. For more than 50 years, the OECD has been a reliable source of evidence-based policy analysis and economic data.”

Access: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/future-of-education-and-skills-2030.html

Quick Focus: Check out the learning compass.

Connection to Volo: Volo’s mission and foundational principles relate well with suggestions in the OECD learning compass. For example, consider this from p. 13

“Thus, approaches to curriculum design and learning progression is shifting from a “static, linear learning-progression model” to a “non-linear, dynamic model”, which recognises that each student has his/her own learning path and is equipped with different prior knowledge, skills and attitudes when he/she starts school. And, student assessment has thus also shifted from standardised testing only to different types of assessments for different purposes.  In line with these changes, the focus and purpose of monitoring education system performance have shifted from the traditional valuing of accountability and compliance to include valuing of continuous system improvement through feedback at all levels of the system.  Most importantly, the role of students in the education system is changing from participants in the classroom learning by listening to directions of teachers with emerging autonomy to active participants with both student agency and co-agency in particular with teacher agency, who also shape the classroom environments.  “