Descrizione
Education systems are increasingly asked to respond to climate disruption, technological acceleration, social inequalities, democratic fragility, and uncertainty, while often remaining organised around standardisation, disciplinary fragmentation, employability, and short-term performance. Therefore, schools do not simply prepare students to adapt to social, technological, and ecological change; they also shape the ways young people imagine what futures are possible, desirable, and worth pursuing. In the Anthropocene, this role becomes politically decisive.
The central claim of this IIF Policy Paper is that futures literacy should become a core educational competence, developed through interdisciplinary practices that connect science, literature, sustainability, and collective imagination. Science education can help students engage with complexity, uncertainty, systems thinking, and the socio-ethical implications of technological change. Literature and narrative practices can expand the range of futures students are able to imagine, question deterministic or catastrophic narratives, and support ethical and political reflection. Together, these domains can help education move beyond adaptation and become a space for collective agency.
The Policy Paper is addressed to a multi-level policy audience: school leaders and teachers, local and municipal education authorities, regional and national policymakers, teacher education institutions, and organisations working at the intersection of education, culture, science, and civic participation. This reflects the core argument of the brief: futures-oriented education cannot be implemented only through top-down reform, but requires coordination across classrooms, communities, institutions, and policy systems.
