By 2020 our world will have changed and with it the shape and role of education and of educational research. One cannot predict the future, but in this paper three possible scenarios are outlined reflecting alternative approaches of government to the economic, political, social and environmental challenges facing the Asia Pacific region. For each scenario (loosely-labelled: conservative-hierarchical, pragmatic-competitive, utopian-co-operative), the goals, structure, policy and practice of education and educational research are outlined, and the implications for the development of educational research and for the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) are explored.