EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

nities, and not have the public–private, market–non-market polarisation as it currently standsshape our thinking. How ready are we for this?Aspirations and cohesionI was very struck by the trio of attributesoffered by Marquand as fundamental goals foreducation: imagination, empathy and criticalthinking. He was referring to higher education,but there is no reason to restrict these to highereducation. In one sense, admittedly, these arewords which generate warm feelings and noone would disagree with. But they can alsoserve as a platform for thinking about how wecan reconcile people’s individual aspirations forcareers and good personal living standards withthe broader function of education as somethingwhich promotes closer understanding betweenhuman beings, locally and globally.To some extent these goals can be aimedat directly and explicitly. But there is a realchallenge in working out how far this can bedone directly. There is a range of issues here, ofa very political kind: how to reconcile people’ssense of identity with the flux and menace of themodern world; how to build trust in institutionsand other people while encouraging a scepticaldemocracy; and how to maintain some sense ofpublic authority on what counts as truth in theface of the swirling flux of new global communicationpatterns.The challenge here is to maintain public spaceswhich are in a sense authorised as legitimateplaces for the encouragement of good communicationbetween citizens, but maybe to do that inan oblique rather than explicit way. In LearningThrough Life we strongly supported this publicspace idea, especially through experimentationwith what we called local learning exchanges.We also floated the idea of a ‘citizen’s curriculum’,with four key capabilities – digital, health,financial and civic – a national framework to beinterpreted locally in very diverse ways. Thereis no suggestion that this should be a nationalcurriculum such as we have in schools. But,linked with Lifelong Learning Accounts andspecific learning entitlements, it is one way inwhich adult learning might help to promote astronger sense of social cohesion.Future scenariosThese three ‘awkward’ questions concerningjustice, markets and cohesion can be addressedin different ways. Below are the outlines of twopossible profiles of the system in the future:‘Bigger and better’ and ‘Longer and different’.They are extremely sketchy, but designed to focusdebate on alternative ways forward. PersonallyI favour the second scenario, but the first willfind many defenders, and they do not present anobvious ‘winner’ and ‘loser’. Each contains someaspects that will appeal to different people, and sothey are an elementary tool for opening up debate.Scenario 1 ‘Bigger and better’An enlarged post-secondary sector based on:• a more consistent and less diverse and divisiveschool system• more public support for students from poorbackgrounds (e.g. restoration of EMAs)• consolidation of further education progress,with colleges as institutional heart of lifelonglearning• general expansion of numbers of younggraduates, abandoning stem emphasis; focusmaintained on supply side to meet knowledgeeconomy claims• lower higher education fees, restored (in part)teaching funding• some greater success in recruiting poorerstudents to elite universities• stronger professional training and supportfor those teaching adults, in all parts of thesystem• Lifelong Learning Accounts restricted topublic providers.Implications: caters for aspirant younger generationand their parents; builds on current positionof equity-through-expansion, strengthening theparts of the system which favour disadvantagedstudents but sidelines arguments about horizontalequity (within generation); meshes easilywith established view on investing early in life;defers re-examination of efficiency argumentsand misses the demographic window.Scenario 2 ‘Longer and different’This would involve:46 | www.compassonline.org.uk