Thinking Education in Times of Transition

Abstract

We are living times of transition, including in the educational field. The school model we inherited from the 19^th and 20^th centuries has been under question in many ways. Societies have changed a lot and so have educational contexts. Access to education has become universal and school publics have become much more diverse, both socially and culturally. Digital technology has brought new ways of accessing knowledge and new challenges. But these are also paradoxical times. Criticism of school organization and trends towards descolarization or privatization run parallel to the demand for a quality public school, regarded as a space of socialization and construction of a democratic, universal but simultaneously plural citizenship. Investing in an increasingly inclusive education goes hand in hand with the awareness of inequalities which are becoming more pronounced, for instance, with respect to accessing the digital world. The cult of individualism and commercialization arises alongside militancy for civic, social or environmental causes. Thus, in these times of transition, it is important to think the future(s) of Education. This is what we seek to do in the monographic component of this issue, through a diversified set of perspectives we can organize according to two major thematic axes: 1) Education, diversity and new learning environments, with emphasis on inclusion practices in formal and non-formal educational contexts and on learning in technologically advanced societies; 2) Education and change, with emphasis, on the one hand, on the relation between regulation, autonomy and accountability and, on the other, on new models of teachers’ professional development.