October 2026
The fastest-growing jobs in percentage terms are high-tech. But the largest growth in sheer numbers is somewhere else entirely: frontline work – farming, delivery, construction, sales, food. The future of work isn't only screens and code. Yet we funnel almost every child towards the same academic route.
Was this useful?
Keep reading
October 2026
Notes from UNESCO's first thematic consultation feeding its Education Beyond 2030 process. The message from the keynote speakers was blunt: for millions of learners uncertainty is already the reality, and the system in place before a crisis may already have been excluding children.
4 min readRead articleOctober 2026
In the worst-case 2045 there are two tiers: wealthy families buy human attention, small classes and a place in a handful of trusted institutions, while everyone else gets a machine. Part 1 of 3 on whether schools and universities will still matter.
4 min readRead articleOctober 2026
Unpacking the 30-expert report on generative AI and learning. The message, in a phrase: learn first, then use the AI.
4 min readRead articleAbout the Author
Paul Penfold is an education and technology consultant based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with six decades of experience spanning classroom teaching, academic research, government policy, and humanitarian service. He advises schools, ministries, and EdTech companies on AI in education, alternative education, and learning technology, and has published 37 papers on immersive and virtual-world learning. His career includes refugee education on the Thai-Cambodian border, pioneering virtual-world hospitality education at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and national tourism HR strategies across Asia and the Caribbean.
More about Paul