The beginning of the school year is a great time for refreshing our thoughts about school vision and giving expression to what we want to achieve in the year ahead. I find I’m always busy at this time of year, participating in teacher-only days before students return to begin their studies. These days are generally times where school leaders are keen to spend time thinking about the ‘bigger picture’ of education, before descending into the ‘valley’ where the more immediate issues and concerns become a priority.

Of course, as someone who spends quite a bit of time thinking about the bigger picture issues, I’m more than happy to be a part of these days – because unless we spend at least a little time with our eyes on the horizon we’re likely to stay in the ‘rut’ of our current existence, unable to address some of the things that really do need addressing in how our schools are organised and operate.

For some time now I’ve followed the work of the the Beyond Current Horizons (BCH) project in the UK, which has been looking at the future of education beyond 2025 , After two years of hard research this project has drawn to a close, but the research has culminated in the creation of the new FREE web resource Vision Mapper containing six future scenarios of how the world may look in 15 years time.

The resource has been designed to be used as a pratical toolkit for long-term planning, supporting people to think systematically about the future to inform actions needed now. It’s well worth a browse, as there is material there to support a range of activities that could be incorporated into a “beginning the school year TOD”, everything from a series of activities to help you with your vision exploration, to a full-on school redesign pack with step-by-step outline of a process inspire your educational vision and help you get started with your planning.

If you haven’t already planned what you’re going to do on your TOD, or if you’re looking for something that might add a little more direction and engagement, you may well find something worthwhile in this resource.