The Future of Education

ROSINA DORELLI, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF DA VINCI LIFE-SKILLS.

Article 26 of the United Nation’s Universal declaration of Human Rights (1948), relates to education. Part of section 2 states that, “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality.” I would like to question whether the current English state education system is adequately meeting this goal.




What is implied by, “the full development of the human personality”? Do we have a common personality? Science has shown that humans have large complex brains and live in large complex social groups. We appear to have a strong sense of curiosity that leads us to want to explore, understand and manipulate our environment. Research suggests that, “intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience.” (Stern, 2017). Is focusing on a narrow set of academic skills and sitting high stakes exams the best way to fully develop a human personality, to enable them to flourish in life?


Humans have a unique mental flexibility to adapt to our changing environment, but the transition from hunter gatherer tribes to the industrial revolution happened in just a few thousand years, “the genes that guide human brain development have not undergone remarkable changes during the last 50,000 years. This means that as a species, humans are genetically adapted to accomplish requirements of the world as it existed at approximately 48,000 BC.” (Stern, 2017). Designing a well-rounded education system for the modern human is therefore a complicated task that perhaps requires a combination of ancestral knowledge and modern technology.

 

The current UK state education system was invented at the end of the nineteenth century to meet the needs of the industrial revolution and to prepare children to live in an increasingly complex world. It has helped to raise standards in literacy and numeracy, provided opportunities to bridge the class divides and improved our economic progress in the global arena. The UK ranks 15th and 17th in world literacy and numeracy according to the studies lead by the OECD’s 2018 PISA reports, but, “the UK’s students were also found to have the second lowest levels of “life satisfaction” in the OECD.” (The Times, 2022). So where are we going wrong?

 

We are now entering a new technological revolution, with the rapidly advancing inventions of smart phones, virtual reality and AI. It is an increasing VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world. We can no longer predict what our children’s future will look like. Businesses are complaining about the lack of skilled workers, not just in IT, but in life-skills such as teamwork, self-management and creative thinking. Hi-stakes exams are causing depression because, “a third of pupils in England are in effect written off at 16 because they fail to get grade 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs” (The Times, 2022), add this to the threat of climate change and the unethical use of dopamine addiction in many social media platforms, it is no wonder that we are seeing an alarming increase in unhappiness and mental health issues in our young people.


We have founded Da Vinci Life-Skills to help tackle some of these problems. We have created a vision of what education could be in the future, directed to the holistic development of the whole human personality. Based on extensive research, we are building a new curriculum and assessment model to meet the needs of future generations. We are focusing on the development of life-skills and how to nurture human beings’ inherent curiosity and love of learning. Our 5 project pathways explore a range of academic, physical, social/ emotional and creative/intuitive skills, guided by the UK National Curriculum and student interest. We believe that a convergence of ancient wisdom and technological innovation can guide us into a creative, ethical and sustainable future for all. To find out more please visit, https://davincilifeskills.com.




References:


OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm

 

Stern, E. (2027). Individual differences in the learning potential of human beings. npj Science Learn 2, 2. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-016-0003-0

 

The Times Interim Report, (2022). Retrieved from

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/society/education/education-commission

 

UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (10 December 1948). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights



This article was first published in Engage 24.

BY ROSINA DORELLI, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF DA VINCI LIFE-SKILLS • September 12, 2022

In Harmony With Peace Concert

By Ann Beatty • June 1, 2026
On Friday evening ( 29 May, 7.00 pm The Actors Church Covent Garden) we had the pleasure of listening to this very special concert, bringing together the Choir of King's College London and the Princeton High School Orchestra in a celebration of international friendship, collaboration, and shared values. This project reflects a commitment to peace, sustainability, equality, and cultural exchange, uniting young musicians from the United Kingdom and the United States through the universal language of music.

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here