Challenges Facing Education in the Twenty-first Century

The inequalities that exist at the beginning of a new century have in effect deepened over the past two decades as a direct consequence of the much talked about ‘global economy’ (Cole, 1998). As we enter the new millennium, the need to respond and to challenge these inequalities becomes even more compelling. In a speech given at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London on the 28 May 1997, the newly elected British Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short, said: The people of Britain have in the election comprehensively rejected the growing inequality of the last 20 years and made clear that they want to see an increase in social justice …. A world that has 1 in 5 of its people living in abject poverty is certainly not just and it is also dangerously unstable … when the poorest fifth of the world’s population have seen their share of the global income fall to less than 2% and the richest fifth, by contrast, have seen their share rise to 85%. The free-market economy and the removal of trade barriers throughout the world have brought about increasing disparities between rich and poor in every society. In our view, the initial optimism that was engendered by a new British government in 1997 has nevertheless been tempered by actions taken and policies practiced which have, arguably, stifled the hopes and aspirations of the poor and the powerless in the UK and elsewhere. According to Toffler (1990) the enormous differentials in wealth could be viewed as only one of the three factors that contribute to the widening chasm in power distribution amongst individuals, communities, and societies in a wider global context. In addition to wealth, he identifies force and, most importantly, ‘knowledge’ as the two other components within this triangulation. Force in his terms can be understood as the capacity for the strong to impose an outcome on the weak and this has historically been through the use of weapons of destruction. ‘Knowledge’ creation in the post-industrial era will accumulate in the hands of those who have access to information and the defining quality between the privileged and the rest in any society will be the difference between the ‘information rich’ and ‘information poor’. The denial of access to information will simply exacerbate this division, resulting in the further accumulation of power amongst ‘information rich’ individuals, communities and societies both nationally and globally. This predominant vision of the new information society that we are busily creating has been criticized by Gill (1996, p. 4) who, whilst recognizing that “the dominant strand focuses on the information and communication structures and the market philosophy” argues instead for “the continuity of technological and social innovation [which builds] upon the symbiosis between the human and the machine”. This second strand sees technology as more than a matter of technical innovation, as neutral, objectified and separated from the social and cultural contexts. Rather it sees technology as an integral part of social and industrial innovations, and thereby as supporting and facilitating the transfer, exchange and sharing of knowledge, cultures, skills and models of experiences between and across cultural, regional and national boundaries. The significant economic and social changes arising out of a rapid shift towards a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy has serious implications for educators (Wragg, 1995; Cooley, 1996). The teaching profession faces within an increasingly centralized but outmoded system huge difficulties in not only reconceptualising but also responding effectively to the social, political, economic and cultural changes that are occurring within the wider society. Studies of school systems within a changing world context (Levin & Riffel, 1997; Maclean, 1998) suggest that they: … do not have in place adequate processes for learning about, understanding and developing responses to changes in the larger society. In terms of understanding, sources of information are limited, learning processes tend to be informal and ad hoc, and opportunities to talk about the meaning of social change are not sufficient. In terms of responding, school systems rely primarily on extensions of existing activities and practices. Even though we believe that many social changes pose fundamental challenges to the current mode of schooling, it appears that school systems are not generally taking a long-term or strategic approach in responding to change, and are not sufficiently engaged in a process of experimentation and learning in order to cope with new challenges and problems.