Education

In a time when technology is always one step ahead of society, it’s understandable that this will also affect education, either in how it is incorporated (new educational tools) or in how it is evaluated (means of use). Important issues also arise from calls to connect education with the market; however, such utilitarian approaches to education inflict collateral damage, such as a tendency to undermine classical studies around the world. In any case, education’s calling can only be what it has always been: to create responsible, self-possessed citizens furnished with practical and humanistic knowledge, and capable of participating equally in all societal activities – from the economic to the political.

Is today’s education system capable of meeting contemporary challenges? Is it in a position to make fundamental changes, questioning its own self in the process? Can it redefine online learning materials on the basis of age-old educational values, adapted to meet today’s needs and skills? Can it creatively teach an acceptance of diversity in a world experiencing more migrant movement than ever before? Can it become more practical where necessary, with a focus on professional training needs, but also deliver an even broader general education embracing the arts, which continue to be education’s “poor relation”?

These and other timely questions about the current state of our education system, as well as ideas on the kinds of schools we would like in future, all form part of this special series on education.