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: