Globalization, which is largely driven by the ICT revolution, is placing an ever higher premium on knowledge as a vector of wealth. The importance of knowledge as the cornerstone of economic progress has led governments into taking greater interest in forming highly skilled workforces. The job market calls for computing, communication, problem solving and entrepreneurial skills. Technology is spurring the emergence of more flexible work organizations, and calling for continuous upgrading of skills to keep pace with the speed of the transformation.

The fast changing patterns of trade, coupled with technical innovations, make it difficult to predict what skills will be needed in the future. Globalization, however, is not only economic; it is also the internationalization of human exchanges and the circulation of ideas, as witnessed for example in the emergence of a global civil society. As such, globalization could well provide a gateway to unprecedented opportunities for learning.

 

These economic and social changes have wide-ranging consequences for education systems. Following the spread of this new economy, based on “intangible” capital, UNESCO has encouraged a profound reflection on the changing role of education and the knowledge, skills and values that are required to participate fully in our societies. The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, headed by Jacques Delors, recognized that our societies must overcome tensions between the global and the local, the universal and the individual, tradition and modernity, and between the extraordinary expansion of knowledge and the capacity of human beings to assimilate it. As a result, the Commission emphasized four pillars that it describes as the foundations of education: learning to live together, learning to know, learning to do and learning to be. The Commission also stressed that learning throughout life is the lifeblood of society, and discussed the need to expand the number of opportunities and entry points for learning. From being rigid and closed, the Commission argued that education systems must become more of a continuum that is adapted to a seamless to-and-fro between continued learning and the world of work. The Commission’s report adds that “traditional responses to the demand for education that are essentially quantitative and knowledge-based are no longer appropriate. Each individual must be equipped to seize learning opportunities throughout life, both to broaden her or his knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to adapt to a changing, complex and interdependent world”^[1].

 

It is hardly surprising that every major education conference in the 1990s has called for a new or renewed vision of education, based on a profound reconsideration of the conventional model. Most experts agree that education in the twenty-first century needs to focus more sharply on the ability to communicate, to work in teams, to think critically, to adapt to change, to be innovative, creative and familiar with new technologies. Alongside these cognitive outcomes, training in life-skills is increasingly viewed as an essential tool for life, enabling young people to tackle a range of issues, from HIV/AIDs prevention and teenage pregnancy to environmental awareness.

 

Ever higher levels of education are needed to enable people to participate effectively in society, making quality secondary-level education and vocational training opportunities more vital than ever for personal and national development. As societies become more complex, more sophisticated skills are required for social integration and economic

participation. It is imperative that all young people, in or out of school, have access to technological tools and knowledge-sharing networks, not only to improve their job opportunities, but for the broader purpose of gaining access to an ever-expanding fount of information concerning health, water, agriculture and other fields of development. In terms of both knowledge acquisition and mastery of information technologies, individuals who have passed the necessary skill threshold are in a position to gain more, while others are left out.

 

 

Of all the sectors of formal schooling, secondary education is the one that is expanding most rapidly today across the world. This trend is bound to continue given the current expansion in primary schooling. The hope is that secondary education will expand to mass provision, and redefine its objectives and functions in the process. As a recent international conference on secondary education stressed^[2], efforts must be made to accommodate all those who are eligible through alternative forms of provision, greater

flexibility and choice for learners, and stronger links to the world of work.

 

In their Revised Recommendations for Technical and Vocational Education and Training for the Twenty-first century, UNESCO and ILO emphasize that “an initiation to technology and the world of work should be an essential component of general education. This initiation should be a major concern in educational reform and democratisation. It should be a required element in the curriculum, beginning in primary education and continuing through the early years of secondary education”^[3].

 

The goal for higher education, meanwhile, is to provide as many young people as possible with relevant, quality training that opens the door to employment and offers the chance to update skills and knowledge throughout life. As the 1998 World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-first Century stated, “without adequate higher education and research institutions providing a critical mass of skilled and educated

people, no country can ensure genuine endogenous and sustainable development.” The Declaration also stressed that “higher education institutions should lead in drawing upon the advantages and potential of new information and communication technologies by creating new learning environments ranging from distance education facilities to complete virtual higher education institutions and systems, capable of bridging distances and developing high-quality systems of education, thus serving social and economic advancement and democratisation as well as other priorities of society.”

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