As ATEE members will be well aware, teacher education and teaching currently face heightened levels of uncertainty and disruption. Yet, as our conference theme implies, this is not the first (nor the last) time that education seems in a state of flux and impending crisis. In this presentation, Neil Selwyn considers how the conference might engage with ideas of ‘foresight and hindsight’ in ways that can help make sense of where we might like education to be progressing next.

 In particular, Neil takes some of the key questions being addressed at the conference, and considers what can be learnt both from the history of education and the emerging area of 'futures studies'. For example, with the benefit of hindsight what does it mean to anticipate the end of the professionally-trained expert teacher? Alternately, with the benefit of foresight, what does it mean to anticipate inclusive and equitable quality education for all?

 These examples demonstrate the benefits of reframing our current educational concerns through the lenses of foresight and hindsight – offering a sense of clarity, criticality and collective consciousness that can otherwise easily be lost amidst the minutiae of our day-to-day work. These examples also highlight the need for education communities to be more proactive in telling their own histories, as well as becoming more engaged in beginning to collectively and critically anticipate their possible futures.

The presentation concludes with a call to develop spaces within teacher education and educational studies where we can continue looking to the past and to the future in order to make the best of our present situation.