Improving education for a more equitable world: Futurist perspectives

Abstract

To many, education remains a dream of equal opportunities for all learners, regardless of their backgrounds and contexts. Confucius advocated 2500 years ago for education without discrimination (有教无类), a dream of education for all. This evolving vision was renewed right after WWII by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stipulating that everyone has the right to education. Although pioneers, like minority woman leader Patsy Mink, have long envisioned equal education with persevering efforts for the United States, the realities in the country and worldwide do not reflect this dream.

Educational reforms abound around the globe, but limited improvements have been made to actualize educational equity, as is reported again and again by the UNESCO in Global Education Monitoring Reports (2021) and more recently in Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education (2022). There are many interrelated factors, often working in tandem, attributing to these limited improvements. These factors include power disparity, income, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, ability, culture, religion, geo-politics, and neocolonialism, among others. It is important to note the context within which these factors exist. We are facing a global emergency of climate change, in an uncertain era post-COVID. However, the people and communities most impacted by these crises are already vulnerable and the situation will only worsen if drastic changes are not made immediately; these factors will only expand existing inequalities, and in particular, further widen the existing gaps of learning access and success. We must then ask ourselves an urgent and crucial question: What responsibilities, agendas, and solutions can properly address these alarming, coalescing challenges?

Educational improvement is not merely a technical term, evidenced by the emerging, fast-growing, and interdisciplinary field of educational improvement studies (Li, 2023). It constitutes a powerful approach and a dynamic process to advance education, through which reality and uncertainty are examined and problems are tackled. It varies across educational levels, forms, and contexts, including but not limited to equity, inclusion, diversity, quality, effectiveness, and sustainability. Each deserves stronger policy actions and more integrated theories and applications, requiring capacity- and community-building, a systemic approach, and multi-perspective inquiries.

Comparative and international perspectives are essential to fulfilling the dream of educational equity. How should we critically look at and meet desired outcomes across time and space? In what ways may micro, meso, and/or macro educational strategies, structures, and processes be improved along with their environments? How do we know through rigorous methods that we ARE making progress responsively? What changes can bring about responsible and sustainable advancement in learning, teaching, and schooling? What implications may these changes have on individual systems, contexts, and the already vulnerable planet? And how may our endeavors help redefine comparative and international education in a way that reconnects it with contextualized educational policy and practice?

The 67th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) was held successfully online and in Washington, DC, on February 14–22, 2023, promoting the CIES 2023 Theme “Improving Education for a More Equitable World” with close to 4000 global participants from various fields of education. To encourage wider CIES 2023 participation, the then-CIES President Elect Jun Li called in April 2022 for Written Responses to the CIES 2023 Theme and the call remained open until the last conference date on February 22, 2023. After the annual gathering, an overwhelming number of submissions of these Written Responses were received from all over the world. Additionally, the UNESCO Video Responses to the CIES 2023 Theme were supported by various UNESCO centers and units, such as UNESCO Futures of Learning and Innovation and by UNESCO Chairs across the globe.

To further disseminate these Written Responses to the CIES 2023 Theme “Improving Education for a More Equitable World,” Beijing International Review of Education (Brill) supported by Beijing Normal University; ECNU Review of Education (Sage) by East China Normal University; Future in Educational Research (Wiley) by Southwest University; and International Journal of Chinese Education (Sage) by Tsinghua University (journals in alphabetical order) agreed to make concerted efforts in publishing them as a special issue or collection, together with four special papers based on the Kneller Lecture and Keynote Speeches delivered at CIES 2023.

This editorial reflects the common introduction in the first half, shared by all four journals with their individual permission, while the second half introduces individual articles published exclusively by Future in Educational Research after its blind review process. The Special Collection presented here to our readers covers the theme “Improving Education for a More Equitable World: Futurist Perspectives.” The Special Issue includes four articles derived from the Written Responses to the CIES 2023 Theme as inspiration for us to explore how education may be improved for a more equitable world.

The articles featured in this Special Issue bring futurist perspectives to address diverse educational issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, under the impacts of technology and in the post-COVID era. The breadth of topics illuminates that equitable education is desirable for individual empowerment and societal progress.

The Special Issue opens with the perspective article “Moving Forward in the World: Outcomes and Communication for Effective Reform” contributed by Leonardo Salvatore, who emphasized the importance of coherent objectives and continuous critical reflection to drive meaningful reform in the realm of education. In this article, Salvatore addresses the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic with inspiring discussions toward the global impact on education systems. In view of the evolving nature of education and the need to adapt to changing frameworks and methodologies, this article delves into the concept of “world” within the context of education and examines the complexities of communication and decision-making processes across different levels of education systems. Meanwhile, Salvatore explores strategies to improve effective collaboration and communication to foster trust between stakeholders, including administrators, educators, parents, and students. He further calls for a more democratic approach to educational improvement that engages ongoing dialog, critical inquiry, and theoretical exploration as essential components to drive meaningful change in education systems worldwide.

Following Salvatore's perspective that highlights issues of inclusion, representation, and decision-making power in education reform, Anna Alejo, Robert Jenkins, and Haogen Yao bring light to issues regarding increased learning disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their review article “Learning Losses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Addressing Increased Learning Disparities” discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the learning losses among marginalized children in particular with an innovative proposal of the RAPID framework to address widening learning disparities. This article outlines six reasons for the widening disparities during the pandemic, including pre-existing inequalities, longer school closures for marginalized children, limited access to remote learning, lack of supervision and support at home, obstacles to returning to school, and inadequacies in school systems. While the impacts of COVID-induced school closures on learning outcomes are evident globally, particularly among vulnerable populations such as girls, socio-economically disadvantaged students, and those in rural areas, the disruptions went beyond education affecting children's health, nutrition, and well-being. To address these problems, this article promotes the RAPID framework to offer a pathway addressing learning losses and narrow disparities. However, the authors also acknowledge that the progress in implementing the RAPID framework effectively requires sustained funding, community engagement, and systemic reforms to ensure all children have access to quality education in the post-COVID era. In this case, they suggest engaging communities, providing continuous professional development for teachers, and strengthening accountability systems are crucial to address all the challenges.

The third article featured in this Special Issus is a research article contributed by Beverly Lindsay, who provides a comprehensive exploration of the intersection between technology, diplomacy, education, and international relations in the context of intellectual migration. In her article, “The Roles of Universities in Virtual Intellectual Migration via Evolving Technologies and STEM,” Lindsay compares the technology available during the times of Kofi Annan and J. William Fulbright, both with atypical educational backgrounds for their times, who emphasized the importance of education and technology in promoting positive relations among countries to the modern innovations of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and highlight the role of education and technology in fostering global connections. One of the primary contributions of this article is to examine the impact of modern innovations, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, on university instruction, research, and professional communications. Lindsay discusses the transforming role of technology in facilitating virtual intellectual migration, as well as the role of universities in preparing graduate students and professionals to engage in virtual intellectual migration through novel technological methods. Moreover, the author also brings light to the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in virtual intellectual migration initiatives. This research article underscores the transformative potential of technology and science diplomacy in fostering international cooperation and promoting equitable global relations. It advocates for the integration of technological advancements into diplomatic initiatives and educational programs to facilitate virtual intellectual migration and addresses pressing global challenges.

Walter Odondi's perspective article, “Empowering Equality: Advancing Quality Education in the Contemporary Global Landscape,” contributes as a good closing remark for this Special Issue that explores the possibilities of advancing quality education for individual empowerment and societal progress in the contemporary global landscape. His study is located in Kenya to examine education, equity, and quality within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and Kenya's national education system. It begins by stressing education's transformative power and introduces the concept of “learning poverty,” which affects numerous children globally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts for equitable education in Kenya include ensuring access to quality secondary education, distributing resources fairly, addressing public–private school disparities, and promoting gender equity. Among these efforts, fairness and inclusion are key principles, with an emphasis on combating social deprivation and ensuring all students receive essential skills. With concerns about the long-term unequal resource distribution, the author advocates the need for innovative strategies to address educational disparities and calls for policies to support disadvantaged schools, recruit competent teachers, and focus on early childhood education. The study raises the awareness as well as the importance of policy-driven transformations, highlighting global challenges in achieving universal access to education and calling for urgent practices to ensure equitable and high-quality education for all to align with the initiatives of Sustainable Development Goals as outlined by the OECD.

The contributors to this Special Issue have tackled educational improvement from diverse angles, employing various methodologies to offer valuable perspectives on the ongoing conversation about improving education for a more equitable world. We acknowledge their contributions and knowledge imparted through their research, motivating us to persist in our efforts to promote policies and practices for developing a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive education system worldwide.