Title: Education as the Basis for Future Growth

Author: Mr. Andreas Schleicher

Abstract

Globalisation and digitalisation have connected people, cities, countries and continents in ways that vastly increase our individual and collective potential. But the same forces have also made the world more volatile, more complex and more uncertain. In this world, education is no longer just about teaching students something, but about helping them develop a reliable compass and the tools to navigate with confidence through an increasingly complex, volatile and uncertain world.

While digital technologies and globalisation have disruptive implications for our economic and social structure, those implications are not predetermined. It is the nature of our collective responses to these disruptions that determines their outcomes – the continuous interplay between the technological frontier and the cultural, social, institutional and economic agents that we mobilise in response.

At work, at home and in the community, people need to engage with different ways of thinking and different ways of working, and they need to understand different cultures. The foundations for this don’t all come naturally, but need to be built. We are all born with “bonding social capital” – a sense of belonging to our family or other people with shared experiences, cultural norms, common purposes or pursuits. But it requires deliberate and continuous efforts to create the kind of “bridging social capital” through which we can share experiences, ideas and innovation, and build a shared understanding among groups with diverse experiences and interests, thus increasing our radius of trust to strangers and institutions.

The findings from the world’s first assessment of global competence, conducted through the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), highlight that public policy can make a real difference: The schools and education systems that are most successful in fostering global knowledge, skills and attitudes among their students are those that offer a curriculum that values openness to the world, provide a positive and inclusive learning environment, offer opportunities to relate to people from other cultures and have teachers who are prepared for teaching global competence.

Getting this right is important. The global competence of our youths today may shape our future as profoundly as their reading, math and science skills. Not least, societies that value bridging social capital and pluralism will be able to draw on the best talent from anywhere, build on multiple perspectives, and best positioned to nurture creativity and innovation.

Key words

Global competencies; Globalisation; Digitalisation; Education; Knowledge; Skills; Attitudes; Values; Social capital; Culture; Tradition; Educational technology; Learning environments; Learner agency, Behaviour; Educational equity; Disparities; Inequalities; Disadvantage; Inclusion; Discrimination; Immigrant background; Teacher; Parent; Communities; Free Global Cities; Free Global City