According to current trends in education, one of the six possible scenarios discussed as part of the future(s) of education project, as designed by the OECD, show schools disappearing but replaced by informal learning networks. Completely dissatisfied with schools, or perhaps because of an upheavel in local culture, students access knowledge and learn to innovate through their membership in a variety of networks. Based on cooperation and interactions these networks have only as much power as their students, and the business environments they serve convey to them, making them always at risk to others who do the same job better or who are more adept at attracting network members.
Life long leaning and the movement through various networks is the norm, while standard or agreed upon curricula has disappeared. Thus the population is diverse with network popularity being determined by both local and global influences. Small group settings abound, with homeschooling and networks of homeschools extensively using technology for innovation and communication. Technology has dropped in price so that everyone has access to tools and virtually no digital divide continues to exist. Learning networks cross age, ethnic, and language boundaries.
People may be trained in education and if so may be hired by a variety of networks on an as needs basis. These “learning professionals” may be responsible of content delivery, network organization, or development of instructional materials or designed online environments to aid the dissemination of particular types of knowledge.
The OECD itself says:
This scenario imagines the disappearance of schools per se, replaced by learning networks operating within a highly develop “network society.” Networks based on diverse cultural, religious and community interests lead to a multitude of diverse formal, non-formal, and informal learning settings, with intensive use of ICTs.
You can follow this link to read more about the geopolitical and attitudinal conditions that likely predict and support this scenario of greater bureaucracies for the management of schools.
