On February 25, the EdCan Network announced the launch of its Strategic Foresight Think Tank Series, a national initiative inviting educators to step back from day-to-day pressures and imagine new possibilities for the future of Canadian K-12 education. This series represents the first phase of a multi-year project that will generate future scenarios and practical tools to support planning and policy development under conditions of growing uncertainty.
Across the country, educators are navigating a landscape marked by rapid technological change, shifting demographics, rising economic pressures, and increasing polarization. These dynamics are shaping students' lives: they appear in classrooms as increasingly complex student needs, widening achievement gaps, declining mental health, growing absenteeism and disengagement from learning. Educators are burning out as student needs evolve faster than the resources available to support them.
"In a time of accelerating change, education systems cannot rely on past evidence to guide future decisions," said Kathleen Lane, Executive Director of the EdCan Network. "This initiative will equip education professionals with structured tools for thinking about the future, enabling more proactive, resilient planning across jurisdictions. By engaging educators from across Canada in exploring alternative futures, we can begin to imagine what learning could look like in a world defined by uncertainty. And in doing so, we can help restore hope at a moment when many feel stretched beyond capacity."
The Think Tank Series will bring together educators from diverse roles, regions, and lived experiences who will meet for nine virtual "jam sessions" between March and December 2026. Using structured foresight methods participants will create vivid, plausible futures for Canadian K-12 education grounded in the complexities of real practice.
Through this work, the group will contribute directly to the creation of a Futures Scenarios Report and a Discussion Kit; resources designed to support strategic planning, policy analysis, and decision-making across school districts, ministries, and education organizations. These tools will serve as foundational components of the EdCan Network's broader multi-year effort to generate rigorous, usable futures knowledge for Canada's K-12 sector.
"Our education systems are facing pressures that can feel overwhelming," Lane added. "But when we imagine alternative futures together, when we give ourselves permission to ask 'What if?', we unlock new possibilities. The Think Tank Series is the beginning of a larger effort to invite that curiosity, that courage, and that collective wisdom back into the conversation."
Call for Participation
Educators from any role -- including teachers, school leaders, student support staff, superintendents, and others -- are invited to submit an Expression of Interest by March 15, 2026. EdCan is seeking participants who bring a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences.
