The purpose of this Challenge Paper is to start an online dialogue around "Re-thinking public education." This dialogue will lead us to basecamp:London on November 3 & 4, 2019. While it draws on current research, it is not an academic paper or a thesis - it is intended to set out some major challenges which need to be addressed by those who are passionate about public education and care about our collective future.

This paper creates a space for you to react and provide feedback, to identify what you agree and disagree with, and to add your input. When we all get together at basecamp:London, we can then explore these reactions together, and identify ideas, opportunities, coalitions and "expeditions" to carry the insights from our conversation into the world. Furthermore, it needs to support the development of key competencies required for living in the 21st Century and that we must be able to find sustainable solutions to the issues we face. Creativity and critical thinking will be vital for human survival.

The Champion of this Paper is Garth Chalmers, Vice Principal at University of Toronto Schools. This paper was written with the support and input of Stephen Murgatroyd and J-C Couture of the Centre for Futures Leadership - a non-profit organization dedicated to futures literacy and analysis so as to enable leadership for a preferred future. Contributions to this work were also made by Jean Stiles.