EDUCATIONAL PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Abstract

Just as education is, by definition, a futures-oriented activity, so Future Studies is also, by definition, an educational activity. This paper attempts to show how Future Studies can be used in longer term education planning, particularly as it relates to demographic trends in Canada in the next twenty-five years. "Demographic trends" describe the size, age and distribution of the Canadian population along with the speculations on the direction and rate of change of these trends in the future. There are two important time periods and their effects to be considered: the change in the birth rate between 1939 and 1959 (the number of births increased by 12,000 a year on average over the 20 years) and the birth rate from 1959 to 1976 (where the number of births dropped each year by about 9,000 a year on average for these 15 years).