Amid the upheaval of COVID-19, creative adaptation and the availability of technology has been a spark and a lifeline to our economic and social life. Nowhere has this been truer than in education, where teachers and school leaders have responded with resilience and imagination.

As we’ve faced 2020 together, technology has continued to move forward, surpassing what seemed possible for artificial intelligence.

The developments of 2020 highlight the importance of preparing every young person in school today to navigate the world with critical clarity: making sure they develop strong critical and creative thinking skills, built on a foundation of deep content knowledge, literacy and numeracy.

That’s the focus of the first issue of Future EDge, a new quarterly journal in which researchers and educators offer evidence, insights and practical strategies for teachers to use in classrooms.

It is the latest publication from the Education for a Changing World initiative.

The first issue, titled ‘Thinking Ahead’, features:

• Irish author and educator Mary Roche, who presents a practical guide for early childhood educators and teachers to support critical thinking in our youngest learners by using picture books.

• Yasodai Selvakumaran, humanities teacher at Rooty Hill High School and 2019 Global Teacher Prize finalist, reflecting on her own practice and sharing teaching strategies to enrich students’ content understanding through critical and creative thinking.

• Ronald Beghetto, educational psychology professor at the University of Connecticut, on how teachers can identify, model and encourage creative thinking – giving students the tools they need to solve complex problems and harness the power of new technologies like AI.

• Mark Scott, NSW Department of Education Secretary, on achieving our vision to be a responsive and evidence-driven education system, where every student improves each year and leaves school prepared for meaningful civic participation, career success and personal flourishing.

Future EDge is a new platform to spread and spark ideas for improving, enriching and future-proofing our education system.