At the same time that information related technology is transforming how we relate to the world, the increasing inter-connectedness of global financial markets and national economies also signifies a radical break with the past. To survive and prosper, countries have to open themselves to outside forces and compete in an intensely competitive and hostile international environment.

What is the impact of such forces on education and what will schools look like in the 21st Century?

A matter of control

Since federation, state paternalism has been one of the defining characteristics of what Paul Kelly (The End of Certainty) terms the Australian Settlement. In education, in particular, the state and its bureaucratic arm have controlled the work of schools. Notwithstanding a non-government sector that has proven itself both resilient and popular, the majority of Australia's young have experienced a state system characterised by what Ken Gannicott (Taking Education Seriously) terms provider capture.

Extending the work of Victoria' s Schools of the Future and Self-Governing Schools initiative, in the 21st Century education will no longer be controlled by the state. The system will be characterised by diversity and choice and vouchers will ensure that parents and students determine what types of schools survive and which educational experiences are considered of most worth. Not only will funding follow the student, thus strengthening the power of parents and local communities, but vouchers will be valid for either government, non-government schools and private providers.

The question of the curriculum

Traditionally, the state has sought to control curriculum. Governments of all political persuasions, to a greater or lessor extent, have attempted to influence students and to engineer a system that delivers their vision of what it means to be educated. Whether it be the left's focus on equity, social justice or equality of outcomes or the right's commitment to individual excellence, meritocracy and accountability, schools have continually had to re-engineer themselves to suit the fashion of the day.

In the 21st Century, what students learn and how they are assessed will no longer be controlled by the state. While the government will set minimum standards, schools and students will be free to choose. In part, due to the Internet, students, both at home and at school, will be able to access curriculum from around the world. Countries like Singapore and Japan, that perform best in international tests in mathematics and science, will make their curriculum and assessment regimes available on-line. The government's curriculum will be one among many and students and schools will be free to benchmark curriculum and to choose which ever is the best. In essential areas like literacy, numeracy and civics and citizenship, the government will enforce a strict accountability system to monitor standards.

The impact of technology

Schools and classrooms, in a physical sense, have changed little since the Industrial Revolution. Buildings with long corridors, rooms with blackboards and teachers at the front of the room with students seated at desks. Pencil and paper have been the main tools of learning and students have had to walk to the library and borrow books to do their research.

Schools of the 21st Century will be very different places. While students, for some of the time, will still gather together physically to socialise and to learn from teachers, much of their time will be spent on-line and using computers. Virtual libraries, electronic tutors and educational software packages will enable students to work from home or at school. Education will no longer be restricted to what happens between 9 to 4 on the school day and students will enrol across a range of providers - both local and international.

What it means to be educated

For much of the last 20 to 30 years a number of competing paradigms have contested the question of what it means to be educated. Some have argued for work-based competencies and transferable skills, others have argued for a social-critical curriculum that deconstructs prevailing orthodoxies and others have argued that to be educated involves being initiated into the liberal-humanist tradition. At different times each of these paradigms has gained ascendancy.

Dr Kevin Donnelly

Internet : <kevind@netspace.net.au)