16 October, 2008

what counts as good schooling?

The forces and factors increasingly permeating our schools show that in order to achieve their expressed purposes, it is critical to clarify what counts as ‘good’ schooling.The research literature said that these purposes included:
For individuals:
• developing identity and quality of life
• developing attitudes and skills for handling the speed of change, including change through
digital media which promotes multitasking and simultaneously controlling different
sources of information through ubiquitous and immediate connections
• making wise choices from and judgements about the amount of information available
• being better skilled, flexible and adaptable and to be able to continually learn.
For groups:
• developing identity and quality of interaction
• preventing the fragmentation of community, including through the building of social
capital, families and ensuring equity of access
• being better at understanding, living and working with differences and others
• understanding how to harness the popularity of socially oriented technologies and digitally
networked societies
• countering a move from evidence, the rule of law, justice, and intellectual detachment
• learning to be responsible citizens of the globe, including being sustainable.

Source: Australian Education Review