Education in a complex world: a political question to be answered

Abstract

Purpose

After insisting on the strong coupling between education and society, this paper aims to detect the symptoms of a crisis in education and present the reasons of pathology that testify to the failure of the actual paradigm of thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

Casting doubt on the economic model approach adopted in recent decades as being inappropriate for the educational field, the author goes from the peripheral question about students' outcomes and schools' effectiveness to the central question of societies' well‐being, arguing that the ultimate goal of education should be to lead individuals to understand how the world functions and help them find new ways to make the world.

Findings

This paper draws on research in literature on school populations (teachers, students). It is suggested that the inappropriateness of the paradigm of thinking adopted has altered education's nature and goals.

Originality/value

Exposing the main misunderstandings and confusions that has led to the above crisis, two epistemic transpositions are proposed as a way towards a new era.

Citation

Konidari, V. (2011), "Education in a complex world: a political question to be answered", On the Horizon, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 75-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748121111138272