“We’re already experts in school, right?”: Supporting students’ construction of future school scenarios

Recent interest in education futures amongst policymakers and industry has been accompanied by acknowledgement of the need to better include the voices and views of diverse groups in the production of narratives around what future forms of schooling might look like. This paper explores the issues implicit in engaging school students in anticipating future forms of schooling. Drawing on empirical research with secondary school students (aged 12-14 years), the paper reflects on the strengths and limitations of engaging students in such futuring work. Rather than producing liberatory scenarios of radically different forms of education, the paper reflects on how students’ visions of the future school tended to anticipate the continued core structures of schooling, albeit shaped by changes in the mundane, everyday practices of education related to values of care, security and relationality. The paper also highlights the ways in which students’ uses of digital presentation tools, online content and generative AI tended to limit and flatten-out more imaginative and idiosyncratic futures thinking and instead lead to the replication of popular ‘future school’ tropes. It is concluded that student-produced ‘future school’ scenarios perhaps have most value as: (i) a means of working through what qualities, and (ii) characteristics of the existing school model might be usefully amplified, and as a basis for supporting students to work out forms of action that they might meaningfully engage in developing these aspects of their current school experiences. • There is an acknowledged need to better include the voices and views of children and young people in the production of narratives around what future forms of schooling might look like. • Scenario-building is an effective means of engaging school students in anticipating future forms of schooling. • Students’ visions of the future school tend to anticipate the continued core structures of schooling, albeit shaped by peripheral changes that convey desired values of care, security and relationality. • Students’ use of generative AI and digital presentation tools tends to limit and flatten-out more imaginative and idiosyncratic futures thinking, and instead lead to the replication of popular ‘future school’ tropes.