The educational field is under constant reconstruction. There are many ideas how educational field will develop, what kind of systems we will have: some say that status quo will remain, others claim that major changes are ahead. Prognosis of the future often occupies thoughts of many educational scientists, practitioners, and politicians (Facer, Sandford, 2009; Cole, 2012; White, 2020; Chermack et al. 2020; Kesson, 2020). Future scenarios for education are also developed by the international and supranational organisations (OECD, UNESCO) and those have significant ideas which can support our knowledge of what the future is bringing and what we can do to make it work for us. 

The objective of this presentation is to broaden the discussion on the future of curriculum in schools by bringing in data from empirical research conducted in 2021-2022 on the future of school, the insights from the work of international organisations, and the post-structuralist and post-humanist concepts to think this data with theory (Jackson and Mazzei, 2012).

The main questions that we want to reflect on are:

• How the new ideas, technologic developments and natural changes find ways into school curricular? How do the practitioners feel about it? What is probable? What is desirable?
• How can the power relationships and ownership of learning shift? 
• Should schools remain the central institution for education, or will learning disperse into other contexts and institutions?
• When and how will the subject-based teaching change? What is probable? What is desirable?

Delphi method for empirical research was used. In the first round 70 practitioners and educational experts provided their opinion on desirable and probable developments of the educational system. Majority of questions regarded curriculum. The results are interpreted using the thinking-data-with-theory strategy, proposed by Jackson and Mazzei in 2012.

The following are interim findings: - Based on the analysis of the documents developed by OECD and UNESCO, educational field should be facing and tackling new types of challenges such as ecological change, spread of technologies, major changes in everyday life. Although the empirical study indicates that the practitioners and experts of the education field have a strong belief that in the upcoming 30 years no significant changes will happen. - There is a theoretical understanding that school children and youth are to be treated as equal developers of curricular in the broad understanding of the concept (what to learn and how to learn). Although the interim results of delphi study indicate that teachers and educational experts are skeptical of the idea that a child or a young person can equally participate in decision making. A child is considered as non-full-human and not fully capable. Therefore, we can foresee that it is desirable that the teacher remains the central figure of learning process and decide what is to be learned. - Learning in contexts other than school (open spaces, hubs, etc.) are considered as desirable as long as school remains in the centre of learning process. It is considered a less important, less serious way of learning, but cooperation with other actors in the educational field is desired for more entertainment. However the idea to remove school as institution and allow the learners to construct their own learning in the spaces and organisations of choice is not desirable. - Removing boundaries between subjects and forms of learning is accepted as already happening, although what is desirable – again, for the school (formal) education to remain dominating, as the non-formal learning is considered as a „good way to spend free time, but not for real learning“

Cole DR (2012) Introduction: The future of educational materialism. Educational Philosophy and Theory 44(S1): 3-17; Duobliene, L., et al. (2022). The Anthropocene in Educational Discourse: moving from academic insights towards official documentation. (Submitted for publication) Facer, K., Sandford, R. (2009). The next 25 years? future scenarios and future directions for education and technology; Jackson, Alecia Y., Mazzei, Lisa A. (2012). Thinking With Theory. A New Analytic for Qualitative Inquiry. In Thinking with Theory in Qualitative Research: Viewing Data Across Multiple Perspectives, Routledge; Kesson K (2020) Three Scenarios for the Future of Education in the Anthropocene. Journal of Future studies (2020, April 12). White J (2020) Education in an uncertain future: Two scenarios. London Review of Education 18(2): 299-312.