Competence foresight

Foresight is important to everyone, and you should always monitor the operating environment in your field with a future-oriented mindset. Foresight refers to sounding the future, i.e., “seeing” and planning for the future, i.e., “creating” the future. Foresight outlines future forecasts to be used in current decision-making. Influencing the future requires awareness of the importance of one’s own actions and choices, challenging current assumptions, imagining desired futures and discussing them.

Asking the “right” questions as a starting point:

  • What do we know that we understand about the future?
  • What do we not understand?
  • What kind of trends and uncertainties can we identify?
  • What kind of different potential futures do we have?
  • What kind of risks related to our actions can we identify?
  • How should we prepare for different future developments?
  • What kind of competence do you need to survive in the future operating environment?
  • How do we produce effective competence?
  • What factors/variables should be taken into account in curriculum work?

How can continuous foresight be used in curriculum work?

  1. It’s easy to get too comfortable with the familiar, the safe and the same. What kind of futures do we not want to see? Let’s challenge ourselves!
  2. The evaluation of the current written curriculum based on the strategy, feedback and future forecasts.
  3. Future-oriented development and implementation.
  4. Preparing for different and surprising futures, such as opportunities for continuous learning.
  5. More agile development through monitoring and foresight of a continuous operating environment.

What to foresee and how?

PARTICIPATION, KEEPING UP WITH YOUR FIELD

  • National cooperation in the vocational field, Competence Foresight Forum
  • Statistics, studies, reports, analyses, journals in your field, social media…
  • Legislation, strategic policies, quality work
  • International networks

INCLUSION, THROUGH STAKEHOLDER COOPERATION

  • Interaction, discussions and meetings
  • Your surveys, feedback and studies
  • Project work, FutureFactory, projects, theses, alumnus work

YOUR SURVEYS AND ANALYSES

  • Operating environment analyses
  • Competence needs surveys

Links

Links and tips for your own foresight work:

Tips on Foresight (Elmo, login required)

Anne Hakala 17.10.2022