18 What is education all about?
What is education all about?
In his paper, “What is education? A definition and discussion”, Mark K Smith (2020) explores the meaning of education and suggests it is a process of inviting truth and possibility. He further defines education as “the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life”.
As every child, in my belief, is expected to be a confident, competent and compassionate individual, life-long learner, future leader and good citizen with high morality, education must be a means or a process and a nurturing journey to bring this child to this far expected end product. To some people, the core of education is to transmit culture (文化的承傳) and develop people (人才的培訓). To others, the core business of school education is the sustainability of the quality of teaching and learning (學與教效能的維繫) and the talent development of students (學生才華的展現). To my interpretation of what education is, my understanding about education is that children are the masters of their destiny and that is why they have their full authority to choose where, when, what and how to learn.
Alexander and Potter (2005), having synthesised the claims on the purposes of education, supposed that education is to raise the dignity of each child, to bring to destination of all children, and indeed all people. Education is part of the driving force of change, giving people skills and knowledge to make things better, faster and more powerful. It also enables people to understand what is happening and learn how to direct change, so that together we create a world that works for all (p. 196).
McGettrick (2005) suggested that all children have the right to learn and education is concerned with the formation of each person. It forms people
In conclusion, if we are asked what education is all about and what its purpose is, we can summarise as follows. Education can enable children to:
And by school education, it is expected to act as a platform providing a safe, comfortable and caring environment with the necessary conditions to support and develop all children into confident, competent and compassionate individuals and future leaders, who are effective contributors to society, successful learners and responsible citizens.
However, as global trends like digitalisation, climate change, and advances in artificial intelligence, etc. have posed fundamental challenges to both the goals and the methods of education, we have to timely review our current education provisions and find answers to two far-reaching questions raised by OECD (2019: 22):
In order to respond to the inquires above, a project called, “the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030”, was developed in 2015 and a learning framework of “The OECD Learning Compass 2030” which offers a broad vision of the types of competencies students need to thrive in 2030 was designed, and which also sets the scene for our reference of what direction of education we should go to in the coming ten or more years! In sum, to support positive change in education systems is the key objective. The notion of societal wellbeing has changed over the years to encompass far more than economic and material prosperity. Although there may be many different visions of the future we want, the wellbeing of society where students can navigate by themselves through unfamiliar contexts is a shared destination.
References
Alexander, T. & Potter, J. (2005). Education for a change: Transforming the way we teach our children. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
OECD (2019). OECD Future of Education and Skills: OECD Learning Compass 2030. (https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/contact/ )
McGettrick, B. (2005). What is education for? In Alexander, T. & Potter, J. (2005)
Education for a change: Transforming the way we teach our children. London: RoutledgeFalmer (pp. 33-37).
Smith, M. K. (2020). What is education? A definition and discussion. (https://infed.org/mobi/what-is-education-a-definition-and-discussion/)