Toward the futures of educational research with hope

At the beginning of UNESCO's (2021) enlightening report, it is clearly stated that “[o]ur world is at a turning point” (p. 1). This assertion could not be more accurate when people worldwide have suffered and are gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic; when people across the planet are experiencing various natural or man-made challenges or disasters such as climate transformation, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and the discharge of radioactive water in Japan; when the entire human population faces the excitement and uncertainty brought about by the new technologies including generative artificial intelligence, genetic modification, and human augmentation, etc. As of September 2023, it appears that we find ourselves navigating a sea of chaos and complexity. No one can predict with certainty where our journey will lead in the future.

However, education is undoubtedly a pathway to the future. As UNESCO (2021) pointed out, “[w]e already know that knowledge and learning are the basis for renewal and transformation” (p. 1). Education signifies our commitment to nurturing the growth of young generations who are the future heroes. Education is not value-free; it embodies hope. As educators, we aspire to form education as a common good worthy of our trust and dedication. Through education, we collectively shape the future.

This is why educational research today is indispensable and of utmost importance. At this turning point, “[n]o trend is destiny” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 3). The future is plural. We need to identify the possible futures of education in particular and the world in general. We need to justify which futures are worthwhile, supported by adequate evidence. We need to imagine alternative futures for education and the world when people strive for a better one. Educational research allows us “to think differently about learning and the relationships between students, teachers, knowledge, and the world” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 3).

Against this background, Future in Educational Research (FER) has been developed by Southwest University, a leading institution in education in China, with the assistance of Wiley, a cutting-edge academic publisher in the world. As a future-oriented, multi-disciplinary, international journal, FER encompasses a wide range of education-related issues and trends. Original articles that advance empirical, theoretical, and methodological understandings of education, teaching, and learning are welcome. FER invites innovative perspectives on the new policies, technologies, and theories across different levels of education. Interdisciplinary dialogs and multidisciplinary works aiming at shaping the sustainable development of education are cordially welcome. We hold great respect for all serious discussions about the future of education and educational research, because we believe that “[m]ultiple alternative futures are possible” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 3). The launch of FER indicates our hope and attempt to call upon scholars across countries and continents to imagine and shape the futures of education and educational research together.

This inaugural issue of FER exemplifies the mission of the journal. This issue features six articles discussing various possibilities of the future of education, which can be broadly categorized into three sections.

The first section comprises two articles focusing on the futures of public and private education, respectively. It starts with a historical review of the nine large-scale curriculum reforms since the founding of the People's Republic of China by Luo (2023, the issue), the co-editor in chief of FER. Luo considers that compared with previous national curriculum reforms in China, the ninth curriculum reform emphasizes the operability of Compulsory Education Curriculum Program and Standards (2022 Edition). It also pays attention to the interpretation of Curriculum Standards 2022 and teacher training, focuses on providing rich curriculum resources, and encourages curriculum innovation in regional and school-based levels. In the future, reform efforts will concentrate on optimizing the curriculum implementation, advancing localized adoption, and innovating pedagogical approaches to nurturing students. Luo provides an insider's reflection on the landscape and future of curriculum reform in public schools in China.

In contrast, White (2023, the issue), contributes an inspiring deliberation on the rights and wrongs of private education from a largely global but partly British perspective. White presents three arguments against private schools: they promote social exclusiveness, have created a ruling élite, and are unjust. Then, he critically discusses the meritocratic conception of society that it presupposes. Finally, he provides future perspectives on private schooling across the world. He looks at the proposed and actual measures to abolish or curtail them and explores educational proposals to limit the power of meritocracy, including reforms in the school examination system. In this way, White's discussion has an international relevance, even though he mainly targets private education in Britain.

The second section consists of two articles commonly focusing on the issue of student engagement in online learning environments. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the global ecology of learning and teaching has been profoundly changed by information technologies. Hew and Huang (2023, the issue) point out that although online learning is becoming ubiquitous around the world, it is still perceived as a weaker option compared to on-campus face-to-face learning because of the persistent and prevalent lack of student engagement in online learning environments. After describing three key challenges of fully online learning, they present three possible strategies to address these challenges: promoting active learning through the online flipped classroom model, enhancing self-regulation skills, and reducing the sense of isolation through the use of chatbots. Through these discussions, Hew and Huang provide an insightful review of the possible strategies and directions to promote student engagement in online learning beyond the era of COVID-19.

Similarly, Yin (2023, the issue) addresses the concern of promoting student engagement in online learning from a more specific perspective. Using a sample of 5672 undergraduate students from eight higher education institutions in China, Yin examines the association between students' engagement and their online course experiences in emergency online learning during COVID-19. The results identify three types of pedagogical factors influencing student engagement, namely, three “extensively adaptive factors,” two “partially adaptive factors,” and one “dual-effect factor.” These findings indicate the importance of teacher training for instructors to make better use of online learning and reveal the pedagogical opportunities to improve student engagement in technology-mediated learning in the post pandemic era.

The third section contains two articles with similar interests in exploring the connections between the future of education and different forms of intelligence and technologies. Dietrich and Zakka (2023, the issue) provide a reflection on the relationships between education, neuroscience, and creativity. Inspired by the concept of multiple intelligences, creativity research, particularly from neuroscience, considers that there are also different types of creativity. However, the idea of different types of creativity has not yet taken hold in education because it is not the predominant approach in the neuroscience study of creativity. Dietrich and Zakka explain why empirical neuroscience research has failed to distinguish different types of creativity, and then outline the negative implications for education if creativity is continuously being treated as a monolithic entity. Finally, they introduce a division of creativity into three types that could result in a more individual approach to teaching and promoting creativity in classrooms.

Focusing on the emerging technology of ChatGPT, Liu et al. (2023, the issue) discuss the future of education in the era of generative artificial intelligence. Through a systematic review, they summarize the viewpoints of Chinese scholars and experts regarding the implementation of generative artificial intelligence in education. A majority of Chinese scholars support the cautious integration of ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence into education, as they view it as a learning tool that offers personalized educational experiences for students. However, scholars also raise concerns related to academic integrity and the potential hindrance to students' critical thinking competence. As a result, they propose a framework called DATS to outline an optimization path for future applications of ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence in schools.

Taken together, these six articles in this inaugural issue of FER paint a vivid and complex picture with different possible futures of education. The discussions on various educational topics, the adoption of diverse research methods, and the syntheses of distinctive observations and reflections by individual researchers present readers a rich collection of intellectual explorations on the future of education.

FER, with the editorial team of the journal, sincerely invites you to join us and engage your expertise, wisdom, and passion to explore and develop the futures of educational research together.