World Yearbook of Education 1998: Futures Education, (David Hicks and Richard Slaughter eds), Kogan Page, London, 1998. 292 pp + x.

ISBN: 0 7494 2236 X

The World Yearbook of Education 1998 is arranged in three parts. Part one deals with the foundations of futures education. Here seven futurists from the USA, Canada and Australia consider themes such as: understanding the field of FS, the nature of global change, the knowledge base of FS, non-western perspectives, listening to future generations and feminist perspectives.

Part two looks at the practice of futures education in a range of contexts from early childhood to post-graduate studies. With nine chapters, this is the heart of the book. It shows very clearly how futures education has taken a range of forms and approaches in different places. Yet it also coheres around a number of common themes. One of these forms the subject of Part three: educating for a sustainable future. Four chapters cover various aspects of this key theme from different national viewpoints.

Overall, this hardback is the most substantive work on futures education ever published. The book is clearly pitched at university and college libraries where it will no doubt be accessible to a new generation of students and researchers. As such it is a useful addition to the somewhat sparse futures education literature. The main problem is that, while students, academics and practitioners in schools will welcome and use a book like this one, those who are responsible for running school systems are looking the other way. These systems give cause for grave concern because they are still operating according to the dictates of defective economics and short-term politics. Both de-focus 'the future' and lock educational institutions into a modus operandi that is still driven by the past and present and not at all responsive to the emerging challenges of the near-term future.