This interactive tool contains six education scenarios developed by NCSL, based on work undertaken by the OECD, to reflect the possible impact of global challenges on schools. Using these scenarios, you and your team can become better strategic thinkers and practitioners.

Scenario planning offers a way of exploring the challenges, threats and opportunities that the future may hold for schools, and to consider how those factors will affect strategic decisions.

With its roots in US military planning, the technique has been adopted successfully in the corporate world, and its use is growing all the time - because it is one of the few proven tools for developing the capacity to understand and manage uncertainty. As part of the BSF process, scenarios have proven particularly useful as a way of exploring the views of other stakeholders (teachers, students, parents and others in the local community) in developing a vision for future learning.

As well as the six example scenarios, this unit also offer guidance on taking the process further by developing scenarios specific to the circumstances of individual schools.

Follow this link to open the Scenario Tools in a new window.

This is a commercial package developed by Bryanstone Square. It is an online tool providing a series of dilemmas abut how schools should develop.

Using the online mechanism, subscribing schools and LA's can gather responses from a large numbers of stakeholders, with results broken down to show how different groups of stakeholders respond to the dilemmas. A detailed report is provided to subscribing schools and LA's as part of the service.

The tools is demonstrated during Phase 1 of the BSF programme as a means of gauging differing views on some of the principles that will influence decisions about transformational remodelling of schools.

Follow this link to open Socrates Tree in a new window.

This interactive version of the Key Idea cards is designed for use, either by individuals exploring different ideas for transformation or by teams exploring and prioritising key ideas. Used with an internet enabled computer links provided for exemplification work as direct live links to the case studies and examples used. This version is ideal for use on Interactive Whiteboards. Using 'drag and drop' cards can be moved and grouped into user defined areas. Cards can also be grouped by categories with user options to change the categories for each card. Available in both Primary and Secondary phase versions, the tool requires a minimum of Flash 8 and requires an internet connection to make use of all features.

Follow this link to open the Key Idea cards program.