Report Provides Forecast of Southwestern PA Education in 10 Years
Remake Learning has released a report that provides a forecast for what education might look like in Southwestern Pennsylvania region over the next decade.
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Nurturing What’s Next: Imagining the Future of Education in Southwestern Pennsylvania lists a variety of trends and patterns that could affect education in the region. These include:
Unstable education staffing - schools and programs are experiencing persistent staffing shortages as fewer people enter the education workforce.
Influx of opportunities - southwestern Pennsylvania is experiencing a surge of new programs, partnerships, and initiatives.
Shifting demographics - the region’s population is aging, decreasing in size, and becoming increasingly diverse.
Disruptions small and large - learning environments across the region are facing a host of large- and small-scale disruptions from unreliable technology to weather.
Delicate trust - nationally, public confidence in and satisfaction with education and other civic institutions are becoming more brittle, influenced by economic pressures and political polarization.
Digital reliance - digital technologies, especially AI, are reshaping how young people learn and connect.
The six drivers of change were determined by research, discussions, and interviews with parents, caregivers, school leaders, and out-of-school-time educators.
Six Drivers of Change
The report expands upon the six drivers of change and how they are affecting schools in the Pittsburgh region. The unstable education staffing section discusses how staffing shortages are affecting everything from instruction and transportation to school cafeterias and increased turnover among principals and superintendents. The digital reliance section focuses on how technology has helped to personalize learning and improve efficiency, while at the same time raising concerns about learners’ ability to think independently or connecting with friends and peers.
Another portion of the report “presents a variety of provocations that explore the many ways in which learning in southwestern Pennsylvania might change over the next decade.” These include:
How spaces and systems are designed to support learning experiences
How learning is woven into and co-created by the region’s community
How people productively partner with AI to enhance learning
Remake Learning notes that the region is renowned for its approaches to learning, and that its culture of collaboration has led to groundbreaking innovations. The report is intended to provide a 10-year forecast of what the future of learning in the region might look like.
“It is an invitation to imagine - just as Pittsburgh’s own Fred Rogers, affectionately known as Mister Rogers, encouraged generations of children to do,” the report says. “He believed in the power of imagination to shape not only individual lives, but entire communities. In his words, ‘You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.’ Today, that garden beckons us to use our imaginations to seed the future of learning.”
Remake Learning’s report can be read in its entirety online.