Education changes the world

‘A changing world’: how often do we hear these words?! More frequently than not, they are accompanied by a frisson of anxiety, of an age gone by and lost forever, of an attempt in vain to halt the progress of time, in search of a better, more stable past. Undeniably we live in – and, perhaps more crucially, are educating our young people for – a world that is in flux. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – in fact, it is in many ways a good thing, as when we look around us, there are lots of things that need to change. The point is – the world is changing even as I write this blog, and you read it.

There are changes brought about by technology, gender and social changes, climate change, population explosion. We keep finding out new ways of doing things, we keep exploring and stretching the bounds of our knowledge. This is the post-industrial age – arguably even the post-information age – this is Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society in action, where what we are doing all the time is effectively weighing up risks and learning how to make the best judgements we can with what we have to hand.

We often worry about all of this because we can’t easily pin down who we are and where we are. Events come out of the blue, and hit us, and we have to re-evaluate how we view the world around us.

The global financial crisis, for example – where will it take us? What will it mean for us? For our schools? And for our children? And their future?

This is a different world from the world 50 years ago, or even 10 … but actually, of itself, this shouldn’t worry us at all. The world is always changing – always has, always will. Today’s world, compared to yesterday’s world, has different, unique combinations of different, unique human beings, thinking different, unique thoughts. In 50 years time, or even in 10 – or even tomorrow – it will be different again.

Change is inevitable – change is a creative part of our very being – for me, change in itself, the fact that we live in a changing world, isn’t the point. The point is – is it good change? Is it based on solid values rooted in our society and its moral purpose? Is it the change we want and need? And what should schools be doing about it if it isn’t?

Because – and this is one of my key messages to whomever will listen – I firmly believe that schools have a real responsibility, through the work they do with young people, to help shape the changes in our changing world.

This is what education does – it creates change, it provokes it and it thrives on it. Change is good, change is great … We just have to empower our educators to let them do their work.

 

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