Towards Agility: Scaffolding Anticipative Education in Social Work

Abstract

Abstract Digital transformation, uncertain funding and global competition are rapidly disrupting higher and vocational educational contexts and contributing significantly to the challenges and opportunities of a fluid educational environment. To remain relevant for the 21st century and to Industry 4.0, educational providers, disciplines and professions must anticipate the future world of work and educate today’s students as tomorrow’s graduates with capabilities for work in emerging contexts that may not sit within existing roles, disciplines, trades, professions or forms of communication. The tertiary sector increasingly seeks to navigate these challenges, remain competitive and create engaging learning through flexible, integrated and personalised learning offerings and pathways, adopting digital learning and multi-modal designs and by innovating in curriculum, pedagogies and assessments. However, to transform legacy learning environments and practices requires academic development that builds capability, resilience and agility, as well as an appetite for such transformation within the discipline. It requires a cultural transformation toward anticipative education both in the profession and in the university. In this article, we demonstrate that a framework to scaffold anticipative education does enable social work educators to accommodate uncertainty, build curriculum flexibility, retain relevance and foster academic resilience to navigate and find a fit in new and emerging contexts.