Rachael Smith — Education Futurist
Helping education build agency and hope in the face of uncertainty
Futures literacy, AI literacy, curriculum and strategic foresight across the education and youth ecosystem.
Every young person with the agency to shape their future, and those around them equipped to help them get there’?
I work with schools, universities, youth organisations, governments, NGOs and foundations to turn uncertainty into curriculum, strategy and practical action.
Rachael Smith
Founder | Education Futurist
“The future is not something to fear; it is something to build, together.”
THE VISION
Every young person with the agency
to shape
their future.
and those around them equipped to help them get there.
The OECD’s Trends Shaping Education work makes the leadership challenge clear: education systems are being shaped by forces far beyond the school gate, from technological change and labour-market disruption to climate pressure, demographic change, inequality, polarisation and declining trust. Futures literacy is no longer a luxury for innovation teams. It is becoming part of the work of curriculum, leadership and governance.
But most frameworks for building it still assume ideal conditions: protected time, resourced teams, stable systems and space to experiment. That is not the reality for most schools, universities or organisations working with young people.
The Challenge
Young people are inheriting a world their institutions were not built for
AI is reshaping learning, work and knowledge faster than most education systems can respond. Climate instability is changing the conditions of childhood and adulthood. Youth unemployment, precarious work, mental health pressures, social fragmentation and declining trust are now part of the terrain young people must navigate. Yet much of education still prepares them for a more predictable world: stable careers, linear progression, familiar institutions and problems with known answers.
For schools and youth-facing organisations, this creates a leadership problem as much as a curriculum problem. Strategy cannot only be about improvement against yesterday’s measures. Curriculum cannot only be about content coverage. Governance cannot only be about compliance and risk avoidance.
The question
is the same whether you sit in a school, youth programme, university, policy team or new institution:
How do we help young people develop agency in conditions of uncertainty, and how do we build the capacity around them to make that possible?
We teach young people to adapt, but not always to question. To cope, but not always to shape. To prepare for the future, but rarely to imagine which futures are worth building.
What I Do
Training, curriculum and strategic design: agency for young people, capacity for those who support them, and futures-ready institutions around them.
CURRICULUM & COURSES
Futures literacy, AI literacy and future-facing curriculum for schools, universities and youth settings.
- Futures-infused AI literacy for students and staff
- PSHE, Citizenship, Careers and enrichment programmes
- Futures literacy modules, courses and learning pathways
- Student workbooks, facilitator guidance and assessment evidence
TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING
Practical professional learning for the adults shaping young people’s futures.
- CPD workshops, INSET and leadership sessions
- Futures literacy and foresight methods
- AI, agency and human judgement
- Train-the-trainer and facilitator development
YOUTH FUTURES & DESIGN CHALLENGES
Structured futures work that helps young people question inherited futures and build their own.
- Futures literacy assemblies and workshops
- Anticipatory design challenges and project sprints
- Personal futures, purpose and possible selves
- Programmes for schools, universities, youth organisations and alternative settings
STRATEGY, PARTNERSHIPS & NEW INSTITUTIONS
Futures-informed consultancy for organisations building, improving or rethinking education.
- Anticipatory audits and future-readiness reviews
- Strategic foresight for leadership and governance
- New school, programme and institution desigCurriculum architecture, learner profiles and launch roadmaps
- EdTech, platform and partner programme integration
The Futures Cycle
Think beyond tomorrow.
Shape what’s next.
Where the challenge is substantial, I use the Futures Cycle: a structured, participatory process developed through my postgraduate research at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and field-tested in schools.
It is built for decisions where the way forward is unclear and the cost of getting them wrong is high, such as rethinking a curriculum or setting strategy in conditions that keep shifting. Working together, we test the assumptions your current plans rest on and examine how the next few years could plausibly unfold, so the decisions you make now hold up in more than one version of the future.
Other ways to work together
Not everything needs the full process. I also offer courses, workshops, audits and frameworks, and build bespoke programmes for schools, universities and youth organisations facing a particular strategic challenge. The Futures Cycle informs all of it, whatever the format.
WHAT I DO
Training, curriculum and strategic design: agency for young people, capacity for those who support them, and futures-ready institutions around them.
01
Curriculum & Courses
Futures literacy, AI literacy and future-facing curriculum for schools, universities and youth settings.
- Futures-infused AI literacy for students and staff
- PSHE, Citizenship, Careers and enrichment programmes
- Futures literacy modules, courses and learning pathways
- Student workbooks, facilitator guidance and assessment
02
TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING
Practical professional learning for the adults | | shaping young people’s futures.
- CPD workshops, INSET and leadership sessions
- Futures literacy and foresight methods
- AI, agency and human judgement
- Train-the-trainer and facilitator development
03
Youth Futures & Design Challenges
Structured futures work that helps young people question inherited futures and build their own.
- Futures literacy assemblies and workshops
- Anticipatory design challenges and project sprints
- Personal futures, purpose and possible selves
- Programmes for schools, universities and alternative settings
04
TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING
Futures-informed consultancy for organisations building, improving or rethinking education.
- Anticipatory audits and future-readiness reviews
- Strategic foresight for leadership and governance
- New school, programme and institution design
- EdTech, platform and partner programme integration
Charterhouse Asia
|
Edinburgh Futures Institute
|
Metafuture
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FRSA
|
Teach First Ambassador
THE CALENDER
Upcoming events
Registrations open
26
oCTOBER
2026
AI, Agency and Futures-Ready Learning
AI, Agency and Futures-Ready Learning
Monday · 17:00–18:00 GMT
£44
admissions
Registrations open
23
November
2026
Reframe a Live Education Challenge
Applying Futures thinking to one live challenge
Monday · 16:00 – 17:30 GMT
£80
admissions
+
SOON
2026
The Next Conversation
New sessions are being planned.
But you don’t have to wait.
1:1 with Rachael
BOOK A SESSION →
Shall we
Rethink what comes next?
Young people deserve more than preparation for a future someone else imagined. Whether you’re a teacher, a leader, or an institution working with young people, if you’re ready to build that capacity together, reach out
Book A Discovery CallIdeas
Thinking about futures, education, and what comes next
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Futures Literacy: Why Every Child Should Leave School Futures Literate
Just over a million people aged 16 to 24 across the UK were not in education, employment or training at…
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Foresight is a governance capability. Education hasn’t caught up with that yet.
The argument that foresight is an organisational capability rather than a planning exercise is one that reads obviously once you…
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AI alignment is a futures literacy problem
Everyone building AI systems is talking about alignment. How do we ensure AI serves human values? How do we make…
Let’s build what comes next
If you’re developing curriculum, building strategic capacity, or designing something new — I’d like to hear about it.
Stay in the conversation
Occasional thoughts on futures, education, and building what comes next.