A professor and researcher at ECA-USP—now retired—José Moran has been a renowned lecturer and mentor for transformative projects in education since the last century. Speaking on the panel “Perspectives for the Future of Education” atthe Bett Brasil Conferencealongside Thamila Zaher, executive director of GrupoSEB, Professor Moran offered a sort of “mea culpa” as he shared his perspective on the topic.

Author of a book that is a must-read for ten out of ten teachers—the educator is the co-author of *Active Methodologies for Innovative Education*, with Lilian Bacich—Moran posed the following question right at the start of his speech: Where did we go wrong in the future, as seen from the past? He recalled that, back at USP in the 1980s, it was said that change in education was just around the corner, and that by the 2000s, everything would be different.

“At this stage of my life, as I approach old age and my future grows shorter, reflecting on the future of schools—at a time marked by a bit of discouragement, yet also a time when we’re developing a different way of thinking—leads me to conclude that we must envision the future as something better than the present. School will be more interesting, and technology will open up many more possibilities for us. But alongside this utopian vision, we know there is a down-to-earth reality, and we must also acknowledge this disconnect between dream and reality,” Moran reflected.

Professor Moran went on to point out that the prospects for the future of education are fantastic, and he emphasized that we must, at this moment, bridge the gap between expectations and reality. “Starting in 2023, we’re going to experiment more and take more risks to build a more interesting and exciting school. I’m an optimist, but also a realist. And I also believe that what makes a school is the coming together of people who want to learn. And you have to always want to learn.”

Tamila Zaher, who admitted to drawing inspiration from Professor Moran’s ideas, also emphasized that schools have never been more necessary than they are right now. The businesswoman, however, explained that it is urgent to change the way schools operate. “It’s difficult to go it alone these days in any sector, including education. That’s why a more global, bilingual, multicultural education—one that’s embedded in ecosystems—will become increasingly common. But the major discovery today concerns the new essential—which I call the discovery of the past: the pedagogical process focused on developing soft skills.”

Thamila also touched on another key issue in this shift: the new role of the teacher, who must be not only a co-creator of learning processes but also a curator and researcher. “The education of the future will also need to be more assertive and data-driven, but while there’s a lot of talk about data-driven education, very little actually happens in that regard. Digitization also needs to be approached from a new perspective. But how can this be done in everyday practice? The answer is: today’s educator needs to have one foot in the future and the other in the past,” she challenged, emphasizing that students will increasingly be in school not to memorize content, but to engage in a learning experience.