Why Re-visioning Education ?

Summarized by Yogendra Chapagain 

'Our current education has been implementing based on the integrated vision having two concepts 'learning throughout life' and the four pillars of learning, to know, to do, to live together and to be'. It was not in itself a blueprint for educational reform, but rather a basis for reflection and debate about what choices should be made in formulating policies. This vision that choices about education were determined by choices about what kind of society we wished to live in. Beyond education’s immediate functionality, it considered the formation of the whole person to be an essential part of education’s purpose. It was aligned closely with the moral and intellectual principles that underpin UNESCO, and therefore its analysis and recommendations were more humanistic and less instrumental and market-driven than other education reform studies of the time.

The vision has
undoubtedly inspired education policy worldwide, but now we must recognize that the global context has undergone significant transformation in its intellectual and material landscape since the 1970s and again since the 1990s. This second decade of the twenty-first century marks a new historical juncture, bringing with it different challenges and fresh opportunities for human learning and development. We are entering a new historical phase characterized by the interconnectedness and interdependency of societies and by new levels of complexity, uncertainty and tensions.' Rethinking Education, 2015 UNESCO

Here, rethinking perspectives with different arguments based on 'Rethinking Education, 2015, UNESCO' has been presented as precise way,

1.   Education should have the goal of sustainable development of both human and social. In order to justify the point, followings statements have been presented. 

•      There is a high trend of unsustainable pattern of economic production and                consumptions for development but it is creating global warming and environmental     degradation.
•     Poverty rate has declined due to the greater wealth but it is rising vulnerability and  growing inequalities.    
•      Interconnectedness has increased for exchange, collaboration and solidarity due to the modern technologies but it is raising intolerance and violence.
•   Human rights framework has been seen as strengthen but there is no strong  implementation and protection of those norms.
•    Emergence and expanding a cyber world, stimulated by the spectacular growth in connectivity and mobile penetration, is a feature of development but we see the limited access and that hampers access to knowledge, participation in society and economic growth. Thus, the educator needs to better prepare new generation of digital natives deal with the ethical and social dimensions of not only existing technologies but also yet to be invented.  
•     Due to the advances in neuroscience that helps to understand the relationship between the biological process and learning, education needs to be redesigned based on the findings. For examples, sensitive period of learning, plasticity of brain and its capacity or neurosciences support to fine tune the education program.
•      Climate change is one of the defining challenges of this century, in terms of both the responses required to address it, and the means necessary to face its adverse impacts.
•    Education plays a paramount role in raising awareness and promoting behavioural change for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. 
•    At the same time, education represents a key component of adaptive capacity, as the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary to adapt lives and livelihoods to the ecological, social and economic realities of a changing environment must be transmitted to the present and next generations.
•     Cultural diversities that have been shared by youth who give maximum time in social media are the means source of invention and innovation. And it is a valuable resource for sustainable human development. 
•      Can our learning both transformative and adaptive? Does our education focus on right to meaningful and relevant learning? Of course not. 

Thus, purpose of education should be revisited in the light a renewed vision of sustainable human and social development in both equitable and viable.

2.      Humanistic Approach should be adopted in Education.  

•     It can be argued that sustaining and enhancing the dignity, capacity and welfare of the human person in relation to others, and to nature rather than scientific humanism. The purpose of education includes: respect for life and human dignity, equal rights and social justice, cultural and social diversity, and a sense of human solidarity and shared responsibility for our common future. A dialogical approach to learning is required.  
•      Learning to learn and develop competencies that refer to the ability to use knowledge or understood broadly as encompassing information, understanding, skills, values, and attitudes in specific contexts and to meet demands, should be focused rather than learning to be. Moreover competencies enhance the ability to use the appropriate knowledge (information, understanding, skills and values) creatively and responsibly in given situations to find solutions and establish new ties with others. So that, learning to develop competency is highly essential in a 21^st century.  
•     Humanistic curriculum can respect for diversity and rejection of all forms of (cultural) hegemony, stereotypes and biases. It is a curriculum based on intercultural education that allows for the plurality of society while ensuring balance between pluralism and universal values. 
•       Inclusive education should be focused as a humanistic vision to education. 
•       In order to ensure inclusiveness, an open and flexible approach rather than rigid to learning that is both lifelong and life-wide. It refers to an approach that provides the opportunity for all to realize their potential for a sustainable future and a life of dignity. 
•     The teacher should now be a guide who enables learners to develop and advance through the constantly expanding maze of knowledge. 
•    Content and objectives of the teacher training should be rethink because teachers are unaccountable to their children' learning. To address this, We have to offer teachers more attractive, motivating and stable living and working conditions, including salaries and career prospects beyond continuous learning environment. This is essential if we are to avoid a dangerous loss of interest that weakens what we consider the world’s most important foundational profession. 
•    Educator should play the vital role beyond the formal education system for ensuring throughout the learning.

Therefore, humanistic approach should be implemented in the areas of education for sustainable world.

3.      Gap between education and social development should be reconsidered.

•      Social and economical complexities have been seen as curial issues for making policy in globalization.  
•    There is high trend of producing patterns of low-employment growth, rising youth unemployment, growing frustration among youth and vulnerable employment. Moreover, there is also high pattern of disconnection between education and fast-changing world of work.  
•    In the another angle, mobility of learners and workers across national borders and the new patterns of knowledge and skills transfer are also increasing and it requires new ways of recognizing, validating and assessing learning. 
•    Education system has to shape identities, and to promote awareness of and a sense of responsibility for others. 

Therefore, there is a growing need to reconcile the contributions and demands of the three regulators of social behaviour: society, state and market while making a education policy in a complex world.

4.      Education and knowledge should be re-contextualized as common goods

•      There should be both education and knowledge common good that implies the creation of knowledge, as well as its acquisition, validation and use, are common to all people as part of a collective societal endeavour rather than individualistic socioeconomic theory inherent to the notion of ‘public good.
•      In the present context, education and knowledge have not been taken as common goods expect basic education. It should be extended to post basic education as well.   

5.     Future discussing agendas on education should be focused on new approaches to education policy and provision rather than 4 pillars of learning i.e.  Learning to do, learning to be, learning to live together, and learning to know, with the aim of sustaining humanity and common well being. The discussing agendas are,

1.      How can they be strengthened and renewed?   
2.   How can education respond to the challenges of achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability? 
3.    How can a plurality of worldviews be reconciled through a humanistic approach to education?  
4.    How can such a humanistic approach be realized through educational policies and practices ?  
5.      What are the implications of globalization for national policies and decision making in education? 
6.            How should education be financed? 
7.    What are the specific implications for teacher education, training, development and support? 
8.     What are the implications for education of the distinction between the concepts of the private good, the public good, and the common good?

Based on the above mentioned arguments, rethinking the purpose of education and the organization of learning has never been more urgent. For that, diverse stakeholders with their multiple perspectives should be brought together to share research findings and to articulate normative principles in the guidance of policy. Source: UNESCO 'Rethinking Education' 2015