Fostering Education and Skills Development is the second cycle in DLR Projektträger's Strategic Foresight series for the future European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience (STR), following the inaugural cycle on the future of work. It examines how Europe's education and skills systems can adapt to demographic decline, AI and digitalisation, and rising demands on learners' well-being over the next 10 to 15 years.

Desk research produced 26 initial trends, refined through expert interviews and then tested in an online survey of 132 experts across 22 countries, who prioritised the ten most significant developments. A workshop with 32 participants across Europe mapped the first-, second-, and third-order implications of each trend using the Futures Wheel method.

The ten trends include mounting teacher shortages (40% of EU teachers are already over 50, only 8% under 30), AI and digitalisation reshaping skill demands while widening existing gaps, declining student mental well-being, the twin transition deepening socioeconomic skill divides, the rising importance of social and emotional skills, and persistently low adult upskilling rates.

The report's best-case scenario for 2040 is structured around five pillars: a sustainable, empowered teaching workforce with competitive pay and manageable workloads; fair and responsible use of technology that closes rather than widens digital divides; well-being and social skills embedded as core parts of education, not add-ons; lifelong learning genuinely available to all age groups and backgrounds; and education systems resilient to demographic decline and the twin transition.