Institute For The Future

Working and learning toward a more equitable future—from the ground up

The future of learning and working may yet be a path to a more equitable future.

The history of education and employment is filled with hope for lifting marginalized people and communities out of poverty and creating paths toward fulfilling and socially productive lives. Nevertheless, in spite of an annual investment of over $30 billion a year by philanthropic foundations, equity is still an illusive goal as K12 innovators, community change agents, impact entrepreneurs, and socially-minded employers work in isolation, without the shared vision of work+learn paths to success or a shared toolkit to design a more equitable future through employment and education.

But on May 1-2, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IFTF invited these diverse and often isolated on-the-ground change-makers to IFTF to build just this kind of shared vision and toolkit for a more equitable future. The change-makers came from across the country—from New York City to Charlotte, Memphis, and Atlanta to Washington state. The two-day event was organized as a design circuit for a more equitable future, drawing on a few basic foresight tools and a whole lot of on-the-ground experience with all kinds of communities. 

A workshop for on-the-ground future-makers

Over the course of the workshop, the changemakers explored big shifts and big stories. They considered the future of Universal Basic Assets—a vision that goes beyond universal basic income to assure that people have the resources they need, not just to survive as individuals (for example, with a universal basic income) but to live productive, socially fulfilling lives in their local and global communities.

The changemakers who gathered examined big shifts in the emerging national learning economy. It’s an economy where Learning is Earning, where and access to abundant information and learning resources jumpstarts advancement and dynamic reputations leverage digital trails to build our brands as learners, workers, and citizens. In this economy, collaborative learning builds solutions networks, and data analytics provide actionable feedback, maximizing return on learning invesments. Continuous learning flows emerge as every exchange is potentially a moment of discovery, skill-building, financial reward—and fun! 

Changing the way we think about pathways to equity

Over the course of the design circuit, the change-makers came up with their own shifts, too—in funding, in narratives about equity, in hiring, in community, in learner experiences, and ultimately in employment. They imagined, for example, a future where

 

• Funding shifts from enrollment-based funding to outcome-based funding
• Narratives shift from the diploma as currency to a world where currency is redefined as knowledge, skills, and competencies
• Hiring shifts from long-term full-time employees to stackable experiences
• Community engagement shifts from “moving up” to “leaning in.”
• Learning shifts from an individualized learning trajectory to a network framework for collaborative learning
• Employment shifts from linear career paths to so-called lattice careers

 

Perhaps the most important shift to emerge from the gathering was the potential transformation from “us versus them” narratives, from a sense of being separate or simply being a bystander to a more holistic vision of everyone working together as a network of changemakers—a network that stretches across personal and community activities, across regional and international boundaries, and across present-day realities and future possibilities.