Too many of our children are not succeeding in our schools around the world. This is an urgent issue that requires a radical rethinking not only of education, but also of social policies. I believe that such changes require nothing less than a revolutionary transformation of education; piecemeal tinkering with parts of it will no longer suffice.
Governments should urgently address the causes of poor outcomes and implement remedies. This is very important, not only for the well-being of vulnerable children, but also for the development of an equitable society.
At least in western countries, populations are becoming increasingly diverse. This trend reflects a range of factors, including the impact of globalisation with the attendant mobility of labour; the upsurge of refugees fleeing conflicts or the consequences of global warming, or seeking better economic futures; changes in peoples’ belief systems with increasing numbers not having a religion; changes in demographic profiles resulting from such factors as different fertility rates among various groups; and independent choices of identity exercised by free citizens. Unfortunately, diversity often creates intolerance and conflict at both societal and individual levels, creating vulnerabilities in children.
Striking a balance between recognising the rights of diverse peoples and the need to establish social cohesion constitutes a major challenge for all countries. Inevitably, this challenge falls to a significant extent upon educators.
When does tolerating or encouraging diversity threaten the fabric of a cohesive society? Conversely, does the aspiration for social cohesion lead to the marginalisation of those who are different? To what extent should educators seek to achieve homogeneity of values, achievement and behaviour among students?
Striking a balance between the rights of diverse peoples and the need to establish social cohesion constitutes a major challenge for all countries
To what extent should they attempt to assimilate those who are perceived to differ from the mainstream of society? What differences should they celebrate and enhance? Which ones should they seek to reduce, even eliminate?
I recognise that the answers to these questions very much depend on the context of particular countries. They are, nevertheless, important questions to consider.
So what are the challenges? Let me briefly focus on four major ones: gender, socio-economic status, ethnic minorities, and disability.
Gender: although the achievement of boys and girls overlaps to a significant degree, in many countries boys trail girls. Also, there is widespread concern that girls do not tend to undertake STEM studies.
Socio-economic status (SES): there is considerable evidence that low-SES backgrounds have negative effects on children’s cognitive development, social behaviours and educational achievement. Research across the world consistently concludes that SES is the strongest predictor of educational achievement.
Ethnic minorities: most, but not all, ethnic minorities in most countries fare poorly on a wide range of educational, economic, social and health indicators. In some situations, too, they are exposed to discrimination, even persecution.
Disabled: although there is surprisingly little information on the achievement of children with disabilities, data are increasingly being disaggregated to enable some conclusions to be drawn. These are not encouraging and point to the need to improve outcomes for such children.
Fortunately, around the world there are many examples of programmes that successfully accommodate to such student diversity. I review many of them in my most recent book. The challenge is twofold – how to bring those programmes to scale and how to dispense with those that are failing. This will require enlightened leadership from governments, educational administrators and school principals to bring about changes.
Five factors in particular should be taken into account: human rights are pre-eminent, inclusive education is critical, reason and evidence should determine educational policies and practices, early prevention and intervention programmes should be developed and teacher education is critical.
I believe that countries have no greater responsibility than to take urgent steps to improve the quality of education received by children who are, for one reason or another, disadvantaged by circumstances over which they have no control.
This is a daunting challenge to governments, as well as to leaders in education – in every country. We know enough about the causes of low achievement and about possible remedies to take effective action. The time for such action is now for, as H.G Wells so succinctly stated: “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”
David Mitchell is an adjunct professor at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. He has over 200 publications, mainly in the fields of special and inclusive education.