Is Complexity Thinking a Useful Frame for Change-Oriented Educational Research?

This chapter explores the extent to which complexity thinking is useful for framing change-oriented educational research - particularly research with a focus on education's future. Its starting point is that the advent of the Anthropocene challenges some of education's foundational concepts, so much so that, if we want to continue to have an education system, substantial re-thinking is required. The chapter reviews the literature on future-focused education. It then looks at complexity thinking in general, and at how it is being used in educational contexts. Using this, it explores the issues this raises for how we think about research in general, and education in particular, and suggests some strategies for framing the kind of research that will be needed to support education's re-development for the age of the Anthropocene.