Tourism education futures initiative: current and future curriculum influences
RIS ID
100592
Abstract
Introduction Students entering the uncertain world of the future and, in particular, the vulnerable tourism sector, need d ifferent skills, aptitudes and knowledge to succeed; and to achieve this goal, educational systems need radical change (Wallis & Steptoe, 2006). A fundamental re- tool and redesign is necessary. No incremental change, but rather change in the nature of what is taught and hovv it is taught. Skills and knowledge sets must be redefined, stmctures and assumptions need to be questioned, and the old ways of doing things must be replaced with a programme that actually enables o ur children to be prepared for a century of challenges. In tourism, employment in the coming decades mmt have a very different profile than it does today. In 2020 students will be applying for jobs that do not even exist today, and much of what we teach our students is obsolete by the time they graduate. These pressures and the increasing need for responsible stewardship of tourism destinations call out for a new paradigm of valuesbased tourism education. T his chapter will describ e the work of the Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) community. In pa1ticular, examples of how the TEFI values have been incorporated into tourism curricula will be described.
Publication Details
Sheldon, P. J. & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2015). Tourism education futures initiative: current and future curriculum influences. In D. Dredge, D. Airey & M. J. Gross (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Hospitality Education (pp. 155-170). United States: Routledge.