‘How To Predict The Future’ was written in the latter stages of 2024. Given the static nature of a book, this section will offer updated practices and perspectives in real time.

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The Power of Predict-ability

June 2025

A century ago, schools engaged children in the 3Rs: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (there’s only one capital ‘R’ in those three, but we’ll leave that issue for another day). Since then, society has added myriad topics and capabilities to the educational mix. These include: thinking skills, emotional intelligence, road safety awareness, digital literacy, future studies, financial literacy, anti-bullying measures, and perhaps even part-time parenting. No wonder that teachers feel overwhelmed.

Just to complicate the options list even further, I’m going to add another that I believe has significant importance for children’s futures. I call it ‘predict-ability’, which is the capacity to accurately analyse, calculate, predict, and even sense what is going to happen in the future. It’s important because of the rapidity of change that today’s children will soon experience. And before you think that it’s ridiculous to help children to predict, please consider some powerful strategies in three different timeframes:

Short term (1 to 5 seconds). Predictive cues in reading; sensing what an opponent is about to do in a sports game; analysing the direction of a group discussion and responding insightfully.

Medium term (1 day to 1 year). The ability to create near-future results in examinations or competition, which is predominantly determined by the study, the practice and the mindset that is done beforehand.

Long term (more than a year). A focus on nutrition and exercise that creates their health outcomes 20 years ahead; developing flexible plans for ever-changing future careers.

Predict-ability helps children to understand that they may have some influence over their life up ahead, and perhaps to even create some hope for their future. Imagine a child’s mindset that is full of their dreams and aspirations, rather than the images and dangers portrayed by most of the media in the world.

Developing Their Predict-ability

So… how can we help young people to develop this predict-ability in children? Here are six options:

ASKING QUESTIONS. The best thinkers in your class/es are not necessarily the ones who give the correct answers to the questions you ask. They’re the ones who ask the most insightful questions. Reframe their mindset towards asking questions, rather than only answering them. Socratic thinking has stood the test of educational time. Encourage them using question starters such as: How do you know that? Could you clarify that comment for me? Are you suggesting…?; Why do you believe…?

DEVELOPING A PREDICTIVE MINDSET. Many adults and children view the future as something that is inevitable, and that it’s simply going to happen to them… or at them. While major changes on the planet are beyond an individual’s control eg geopolitical events, it’s a different matter when it comes to how you can influence your own future eg your health and wellbeing; your fitness level; your attitude about life; how you will respond to a difficult circumstance. Children need to develop agency over their own thinking, and learn to develop more hope about their future prospects.

BOOSTING RESILIENCE. Develop flexibility and resilience in children so they will thrive through anything that happens in the future. The secret is to implement protective factors. These are interventions in children’s lives that can lead to healthy development, which may involve friendships, mentors, and engagement in sport and recreational activities. This is a strong basis for helping children to plan ahead themselves.

On the opposing side, risk factors can compromise a child’s future. Being allowed to run around the local streets at midnight when they are ten years old is one example. This also include experiences that cause toxic stress and anxiety, such as emotional and physical abuse. Risk factors compel a child to struggle with the present, rather than proactively look ahead. The world will be an even better place in the future if we lower the risk factors and raise the protective factors in children’s lives today.

PREDICTIVE LITERACY. One strategy for boosting literacy is to occasionally ask them to predict what might happen next in the book they are reading (or the movie they are watching). Another variation is to show them the title and the cover of the book and ask them to conjecture on the content of the book. These practices encourage a child to build connections with their prior knowledge, and to develop predictions about the rest of the book.

HYPOTHESIZING. Encourage children to develop hypotheses about anything and everything. Ask a question eg What might occur if we double the natural fertiliser in our school garden? From there, rewrite the question into an if-then statement after conducting research and experimentation. Later on, revisit your initial if-then statement, and adjust accordingly. Hypothesizing encourages children to look ahead and to consider the possibilities about life.

GOAL-SETTING. Show children how to set and achieve goals. Even just writing them down will give children a greater chance of making goals happen. You might ask a child a series of questions such as: Q. What do you need to achieve? How and when will you do it? Goalsetting generates a belief that they have some control over creating their own future. When times get tough – which they invariably will – goalsetters are more likely to resolve the issue, rather than wait for life to dictate to them.

The future is meant to be a promise for young people, not a threat. Rather than exposing them to media that negatively sensationalises a frightening future, generate in them the capability of accurately predicting a more optimistic future – at least from their own perspective.