The purpose and future of education in OECD’s and UNESCO’s 2030 educational policies

• Main Author: Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2022
• Subjects: policy analysis; education for the future; international organizations; purpose of education; access; stefnumörkun; framtíð menntunar; alþjóðastofnanir; tilgangur menntunar; aðgengi; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3614

In the everyday discussion on schools and education, where technical and practical issues around systems and organizations are often at the forefront, fundamental questions are often missing regarding the purpose of education in the context of our common future in this world. Some scholars have pointed towards the important role of education in dealing with societal changes in the 21st century, but education systems seem to have been hesitant to deal with fundamental questions around the content and purpose of education in that relation. However, the responsibility of education in dealing with the overarching challenges the world is facing, not least in relation to climate issues, has been pressing lately, both among academics as well as from other directions. In the projects ahead, questions relating to the purpose and future of education are inseparable.Influential international organizations can have a strong impact on discourse and the creation of educational policies, as they invest time and money in developing educational policies, frameworks and indicators that nation states are encouraged to follow. Examples of such organizations are the OECD and UNESCO. These institutions have made an impact on educational policy making for years. Both institutions have recently published reports and policies, where they look towards the future and the challenges ahead.Given this situation, the study explores messages in two key educational policy documents presented by the OECD and UNESCO. The two documents present the organizations’ policy directions towards 2030 and were both published following the launching of the Sustainable Development Goals. The two institutions have for years influenced educational policies, created indicators and frameworks, and used soft governance to influence policy making within nation states, Iceland included. Even though their actual influence on policy making is not always obvious, it is quite clear that they want to have an impact and put immense work and resources into doing so. Two ...