Four-dimensional education for sustainable societies

Abstract

The rate of change in our lives today has pushed us to evolve and adapt our daily practices so quickly, that if one does not pause to reflect on them it is easy to overlook just how much our world has changed. The past 50, 20, and even just the past 10 years has produced deep and profound changes in our world. Just 20 years ago, many educational systems were under intense scrutiny for not being effective and/or equitable for all learners. Many educational systems were not up to par-and to think, that was before these global dramatic shifts. The call and demand for radically improved, but more poignantly, refocused educational systems have never been higher. What does it mean to prepare young learners for a life in today’s world? What do they need? What do we value? How can we deliver that? These are complex yet critically important questions to the future of education. Today, each of us faces a highly complex, rapidly changing world that affects our lives at a local level. The way we communicate, do business, even interface with our doctors and government officials is altering. Entire industries are deeply impacted by new technologies that continue to arrive at a rapidly increasing pace, with once long-held traditional job skills being phased out-leaving a growing generation of people to ask how they are to make a living.