Jennifer M. Gidley

From the beginning of time, humans have been driven by both a fear of the unknown and a curiosity to know. We have always yearned to know what lies ahead, whether threat or safety, scarcity or abundance. Throughout human history, our forebears tried to create certainty in the unknown, by seeking to influence outcomes with sacrifices to gods, preparing for the unexpected with advice from oracles, and by reading the stars through astrology. As scientific methods improve and computer technology develops we become ever more confident of our capacity to predict and quantify the future by accumulating and interpreting patterns form the past, yet the truth is there is still no certainty to be had. In this Very Short Introduction Jennifer Gidley considers some of our most burning questions: What is "the future "?; Is the future a time yet to come?; Or is it a utopian place?; Does the future have a history?; Is there only one future or are there many possible futures? She asks if the future can ever be truly predicted or if we create our own futures - both hoped for and feared - by our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and concludes by analysing how we can learn to study the future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Secret to Growing Brilliant Children tells you everything you need to know about Steiner's revolutionary educational approach, and how remarkably aligned it is to the latest research in education and developmental psychology. Discover how to adapt it for the 21st Century to help create healthier futures for our children. This book is the first in a series of three that will explore how to contemporise the core values of Steiner Education for our times. In its seven research-based chapters you will form a deep understanding of Rudolf Steiner's vision, how Steiner Education works, and what its role could be in preparing our children for futures of great change, complexity, and uncertainty. This peer-reviewed material, previously published in a range of journals and scholarly books, is here brought together for the first time as a single reference work. It is designed for all readers, from parents, to teachers, education researchers, and government policy makers.About the Author: Jennifer M. Gidley is an author, educator, psychologist, and futures researcher. Her PhD thesis 'Evolving Education' won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for Academic Excellence. She is an Adjunct Professor at both UTS, Sydney, and Southern Cross University, NSW, and is Research Director of the Oceanic Research Institute, Australia. Jennifer is also a mother and teacher who designed and built from scratch Australia's most innovative Steiner campus, pioneering new architecture and a renewable energy playground. She created a revolutionary student curriculum and teacher education program, and later played a crucial role in bringing Steiner Education into the Australian National Curriculum. She was the longest serving elected President of the World Futures Studies Federation (2009-2017), a global NGO and a UNESCO and UN-ECOSOC partner. Her recent books include "Postformal Education" (2016, Springer) and "The Future" (2017, Oxford University Press).

This book explains why the current education model, which was developed in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrial expansion, is obsolete. It points to the need for a new approach to education designed to prepare young people for global uncertainty, accelerating change and unprecedented complexity.The book offers a new educational philosophy to awaken the creative, big-picture and long-term thinking that will help equip students to face tomorrow’s challenges. Inside, readers will find a dialogue between adult developmental psychology research on higher stages of reasoning and today’s most evolved education research and practice. This dialogue reveals surprising links between play and wisdom, imagination and ecology, holism and love. The overwhelming issues of global climate crisis, growing economic disparity and the youth mental health epidemic reveal how dramatically the current education model has failed students and educators. This book raises a planet-wide call to deeply question how we actually think and how we must educate. It articulates a postformal education philosophy as a foundation for educational futures.The book will appeal to educators, educational philosophers, pre-service teacher educators, educational and developmental psychologists and educational researchers, including postgraduates with an interest in transformational educational theories designed for the complexity of the 21st century. This is the most compelling book on education I have read for many years. It has major implications for all who are in a position to influence developments in teacher education and educational policy. Gidley is one of the very rare scholars who can write intelligently and accessibly about the past, present and future in education. I was challenged and ultimately convinced by her contention that ‘what masquerades as education today must be seen for what it is – an anachronistic relic of the industrial past’. Gidley’s challenge is to ‘co-evolve’ a radically new education. All who seek to play a part must read this book.Brian J. Caldwell, PhD, Educational Transformations, former Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Chair, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)