Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- One An unfolding story
- Two Expanding the possible: people and technologies
- Three Knowledge worlds: boundaries and barriers
- Four Ways of knowing: everyday and academic knowledge
- Five Schools as spaces for creating knowledge
- Six A ssessment and the curriculum in a digital age
- Seven Education in the 21st century
- Eight The idea of justice in education
- References
- Index
Seven - Education in the 21st century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- One An unfolding story
- Two Expanding the possible: people and technologies
- Three Knowledge worlds: boundaries and barriers
- Four Ways of knowing: everyday and academic knowledge
- Five Schools as spaces for creating knowledge
- Six A ssessment and the curriculum in a digital age
- Seven Education in the 21st century
- Eight The idea of justice in education
- References
- Index
Summary
The purpose of education
I have argued throughout this book that education should be about developing the capabilities that enable young people both to flourish as human beings and to participate in society. I have also claimed that one aspect of this development relates to entering new knowledge worlds, worlds that provide access to ‘powerful knowledge’. However, being educated is not only about oneself, it is also about recognising others as ‘persons worthy of respect’. This perspective on the purpose of education is much wider than the perspective that has been dominant since the end of the 20th century, namely, a view that education is about developing the skills that will enhance economic growth.
Education, then, is about more than gaining qualifications, although these are also important and, from a social justice perspective, all young people should have the opportunities to gain the qualifications that a society values. When the school leaving age in England becomes 18, the qualifications that a young person achieves within the 16–18 phase of education will be crucial in terms of opening up a lifetime of opportunities. Such qualifications should enable a young person to progress into the world of work, into an apprenticeship or into higher education. The possibility that many young people may not be aware of what post-16 qualifications offer was brought home to me recently when I interviewed 13-year-old Sarah as part of the evaluation of the Future Brunels programme, designed to encourage young people to become scientists and engineers. Sarah is a confident young girl who is doing very well at school and has embraced the opportunities being offered by the project. She is clearly someone who could go to university, if this is what she chooses. Her parents left school at 16, and she lives in a community where the majority of people also left school at 16. When I asked her a question about whether she wanted to study A levels she replied:
“Yeah. If it gets me like better in life, then I’ll do it … like if it gives me more of a chance to get like a better job or something. I don't really understand what are A levels. I know what they are, but I don't know like what they give you.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Education and Social Justice in a Digital Age , pp. 109 - 126Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2013