Abstract: This chapter reviews some of the changes in the demand for knowledge and skills that are placed on young people to be successful in their future, and then examines what this entails for teaching, teachers and the work organisation in education. The chapter also acknowledges that the laws, regulations, structures and institutions on which educational leaders tend to focus are just like the small visible tip of an iceberg. The reason why it is so hard to move school systems is that there is a much larger invisible part under the waterline. This invisible part is about the interests, beliefs, motivations and fears of the people who are involved in education, parents and teachers included. To address this, the final part of the chapter examines issues around the political economy of changes in education to facilitate this, including incentives to encourage innovation and the need to redesign assessment.

Key words: attitudes, creative thinking, critical thinking, cross-curricular learning, curriculum, digitalisation, education industry, educational assessment, elaboration, equity, evaluation, inequality, innovation, knowledge, memorisation, MOOC, PISA, professional standards, project-based learning, skills, social capital, standards, sustainability, TALIS, teacher professional collaboration, values