Education for Human Futures
How do we prepare young people for a future we ourselves do not yet know?
Talks, workshops and advice on languages, philosophy and citizenship education in the age of AI.
For schools and educational institutions: from implementing the new curricula to developing your own educational vision.
Education
School ends with a diploma. What it really gives young people only shows afterwards: in a life they shape themselves, with a personality of their own, work that suits them, and enough inner strength to get through difficult times. And in whether, as citizens, they contribute their share to living together in peace.
Reform as an occasion. Current curriculum reforms confront schools with concrete questions: What is changing in foreign language teaching, in citizenship education, in media literacy, in philosophy? And how does it all connect? These connections hold a great deal of potential that is easily lost in implementation.
The school as a whole. Education is the task of the whole school. It works best where a school knows what it stands for, and where that vision can be felt in the classroom.
At the centre is not, first of all, a subject, but the human being.
Human
Humanity is not something we learn alone. We learn it in encounters with others: in finding our way into a foreign language, in thinking together about questions that have no easy answer, in engaging with people who think differently. Few places offer as many opportunities for this as school.
Language and encounter
Speaking another language opens the door to another world. Literature opens up experiences that are not our own. In language and literature lessons, diversity becomes familiar, and understanding of others can grow.
Judgement
What is fair? Whom can I believe? How do I deal with others thinking differently? Such questions matter to young people more than we often assume. Giving them room in class strengthens young people's judgement and their sense of being taken seriously with their own questions, and of belonging.
Living together
Democracy is more than a form of government. It is a way of living together. Young people learn it by having a say, sharing in decisions and experiencing that conflict and differing opinions are part of it. Freedom, equality and solidarity are not learned from a textbook, but in how we treat one another.
It is precisely these three dimensions, how we communicate, how we judge and how we live together, that AI challenges anew.
Futures
A child starting school in 2026 will leave it around 2040. No one knows what the world will look like then. That AI will shape it is certain. That is why I speak of futures, in the plural: there is no single future for which we can prepare young people. They need to be able to deal with different futures, flexible enough to reorient themselves and grounded enough not to lose their footing.
What young people need in a world with AI is not a technical question. It is the question of how they communicate, judge and live together. And that question arises anew, because AI changes not individual tasks but entire areas of our lives.
Knowledge and trust
Until now, knowing mostly meant knowing something yourself. When AI provides answers at any moment, knowing increasingly means being able to judge whom to believe, and on what grounds.
Language and perspective
When AI translates every language, language learning loses its old justification and gains a new one: learning a language lets you experience that your own thinking, too, is a perspective. No translation can do that for you.
Relationships and closeness
Until now, care came from people. Today more and more young people discuss personal questions with AI, which is always available and never judges. This changes what a relationship means. Young people need to experience what human closeness is: a real counterpart, someone who will sometimes disagree.
Democracy and having a say
Decisions that affect us all are increasingly shaped by AI systems, and those systems carry values and interests. Critical citizens do not just see through this; they have their say.
The current curriculum reforms offer good starting points for this. It is worth thinking further from there.
What I offer
Thinking together
I work alongside schools and educational institutions on the future of their education: through talks, workshops and longer-term support.
For school leaders
What will your school stand for in ten years, and how will that show in the classroom? Which connections between subjects become more important when knowledge is always available? What does AI mean for the role of your teachers?
I support leadership teams in developing their own educational vision and translating it into concrete steps.
For teachers and subject teams
How do we strengthen young people's judgement and their willingness to contribute to society? How do we foster democratic resilience: the inner strength to hold on to shared values as polarisation and AI change how young people inform themselves and form opinions? What does learning a language mean when anything can be translated?
Workshops and training for foreign languages and philosophy, and on citizenship education across the curriculum, practical and with an eye to the new curricula.
For institutions and networks
Keynotes and chairing for conferences, study days, universities and associations, on education, language and democracy in a world with AI.
Every collaboration starts with a conversation about your questions.
Write to me
mail@annarosenbaum.net
About me
A place of encounter
Even as a pupil, I experienced school above all as a place of encounter: in theatre, in the choir, on exchanges. That image has stayed with me ever since.
While studying German, philosophy, Spanish and educational science at the University of Cologne, I became captivated by questions of how we live together: How do we deal with moral disagreement? How are feeling and reason connected in judgement? When can I rely on what others tell me? I spent three years pursuing these questions at the chair of epistemology. Today they arise anew, especially when the answer comes from an AI.
Then I wanted to know what these questions look like in the classroom. I taught German, Spanish, Dutch, philosophy and drama at a Gymnasium and a comprehensive school in Germany and at a school in Enschede. I then spent four and a half years as Education Expert at the Goethe-Institut Niederlande, in a team serving as the national point of contact for the quality of German language teaching, working with schools, universities, the German embassy and other education partners.
Everywhere I have seen how much ethical and existential questions matter to young people, and that engaging with them lies at the heart of democratic life. Since September 2026 I have been working independently in the Netherlands and Germany, in German, Dutch, English and Spanish.
I share current projects and thoughts on LinkedIn.
- SchoolTheatre, choir, exchanges
- University of CologneGerman, philosophy, Spanish, educational science; three years at the chair of epistemology
- ClassroomGymnasium and comprehensive school in Germany, a school in Enschede
- Goethe-Institut NiederlandeFour and a half years as Education Expert and national point of contact for the quality of German language teaching
- Since September 2026Independent, in the Netherlands and Germany
- German
- Dutch
- English
- Spanish