FUTURE COGNITION AND EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Social and educational planning has often been characterized by limited vision, short time frames, and consideration of only a limited number of variables. Many current futurists and planners ignore the possibility that the future might be other than a linear extrapolation of the past and present. Educational leaders should be proactive rather than reactive. Training in and experience with value clarification, normative forecasting, consensual validation processes, Delphi, trend analysis and design can provide educational leaders and planners with needed competencies in design, analysis, collaborative processes, and systems planning from a holistic perspective. Since 1970, the Educational Administration and Planning Program of the College of Education at the University of Vermont has included a seminar entitled “Future Cognition and Planning” which has been constructed around the above concepts and processes. In this article the professors who designed the seminar describe its components, its impact on students, its place in a preparation program for administrators and planners, and its value as an instructional process.