what are some of the substantive educational policy problems as shaped by moral and social and political philosophy and educational theory 

 

Answer:

In the last decades of this century, we have witnessed a series of processes that shape what can undoubtedly be recognized as a change of era. The industrial era born in the light of the French Revolution, the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution, is giving way to another era that many theorists call post-modern and others post-industrial. 

Today, some of the substantive problems of education policy is recognizing how to construct an option that is superior, even how to construct a new democracy. What new form should be adopted today? What human conditions should be developed by those who will be citizens of this new society?

Thus, a new citizenship arises. And it will be the schools that exercise a new education policy, as and from the public education system, that will have to take on this task.

A substantial problem of education policy is that we are imminently facing a new era in which the acquisition of scientific and technological knowledge is of unprecedented importance. In fact, there are clear trends that indicate that society in general has already entered the "age of knowledge". As the Tofflers say: "All economic systems rest on a 'knowledge base'. All companies depend on the previous existence of this resource, of social construction. Unlike capital, labour and land, it is often neglected by economists and executives when determining the precise inputs for production. And yet this resource is the most important of all." (Toffler, 1995)

It's the most important because it's the most humane. Because only the human being knows (learns), but also because "knowledge has intrinsically democratic virtues. Unlike traditional sources of power (force, money, land) knowledge is infinitely expandable. Its use does not wear it down but, on the contrary, can produce more knowledge. The same knowledge can be used by many people and its production requires creativity, freedom of movement, exchanges, constructive criticism, dialogue. All of these are conditions for a democratic society" (Tedesco, 1995)

A "knowledge society" is therefore emerging as a social form that surpasses the current ones, provided that knowledge - which is the basis - is a good that is available to all. This is the new society. Much knowledge is available to all, distributed in such a way as to guarantee equal opportunities.

How is this to be achieved? This is the challenge that is presented as one of the substantive problems of current education policy, since an education system is needed that is responsible for guaranteeing it, to which all of society gives not only the mandate to do so, but also the resources to achieve it.

The ethics of solidarity as a substantial problem to be solved through education.

Since it is not a question of knowledge as the ultimate value, since this type of practice is rapidly revealing its shortcomings in such current issues as cloning. Knowledge within an ethical society, with high values that build the 'public' as a space where the common good and the dignity of every human being are truly safeguarded.

An ethical and supportive society, since solidarity is the same as responsibility, and this translates into an ethical commitment to history. An ethical society is a society governed by solidarity. Solidarity expresses the ethical condition of human life. The golden rule that constitutes the basic moral norm is nothing more than the enunciative development of solidarity: "Do for others what you would like them to do for you".

Throughout the development of humanity, the most powerful peaceful instrument for achieving this has been education. Education breaks the vicious circle of poverty, since it is the fundamental determinant of employment and, from there, of access to all the material and cultural goods that society offers.

A new education policy 

Two of the substantive problems of education policy are basic conditions that seem important for the future: knowledge and values, which are distributed from the education system, from the different educational fields.

Thus, "the depth of the process of social change that is currently taking place forces us to reformulate the basic questions about the purposes of education, about who assumes responsibility for training new generations and about what cultural legacy, what values, what conception of man and society we wish to transmit" (Tedesco, 1995).

This is what makes democratic schools today. A school that makes available to all inhabitants of the country, without distinction of wealth, race, or religion, the knowledge and values necessary to participate in a competitive and united society.

Education makes a difference today because its double function supports the two important requirements of the future society: knowledge safeguards competitiveness; equity safeguards integration.

More education therefore means greater competitiveness and greater social integration.

In the case of education, the problems that it faces are due to the fact that responses tend to sustain a retrospective view rather than to invent a prospective proposal. And this is serious because, in spite of the fact that these prospective responses exist in other areas, in education it seems that a response is preferred that is closer to more of the same. The education system is limited to expanding and replicating the classic model of the school of the last century (more so of the pre-past century, of the 18th century, which by now is almost of the pre-past century), modernizing it with didactic materials and, above all, including as many computers as possible. This solution is very naive and shows very little capacity for looking ahead.

A new educational paradigm is required that involves a new educational theory that can accompany the new paradigms that are emerging in other areas of society. Another paradigm that, overcoming the restrictions of the current one, is capable of both paying off the debts of the past and providing more adequate responses to the needs of the future.

This is what is happening in the field of educational policies. The images appear clear to us because they express a typical view from the past. But this view does not respond to current needs -and even less to future needs- for education. Faced with a world in which the problem is the change of paradigm in all aspects of society, educational reforms are trying to respect the classic school model by introducing new elements which, since they are not part of the original model, are not strong enough to transform it.

What has usually been done, and is being done, is to try to bring the educational policy known in the West from the beginning of the modern era to its maximum performance, without trying to find a proposal that will surpass it.

For this reason, the educational policies that are being carried out are not being sufficient to provide different answers for a society that is profiled as different, since they bet on improving this educational system, born from the needs of the French revolution and the industrial revolution, which have now been overcome.

It is necessary to place oneself outside of these educational theories, in order to consider a new educational system. A change of paradigm is needed.

An educational theory that resolves the problems of current educational policies must involve a basic change in the knowledge equation of the teacher to the student, moving from knowledge to competencies. This will only be possible if we become aware of, re-discuss and redefine the basic axes underlying the current education model. 

Currently, the classic education policy of education is in crisis, that is, the basic social agreements accepted in society in relation to the definitions involved in these three levels.

Although there are elements that allow us to glimpse some redefinitions, these have not yet grown sufficiently, nor are they sufficiently systematized and organized, to result in decisions that affect education systems in their core. Decisions are still made from the perspective of the future. In the face of the crisis of the classical paradigm, no alternative responses are in sight. They are proposals for "reform" and not for structural transformation.

Education policy exists within a specific society which, of course, is also a 'complex system'. Education as such is one of the multiple, strongly connected subsystems of the social whole. This first level of analysis refers to what are the definitions exogenous to the education system itself that express the requirements that the other different subsystems of society make of education. These are normally expressed as 'ends and objectives of education'.

The starting point is the recognition that the fundamental contribution of education systems (as school systems) to society as a whole is the broad distribution of socially valid competencies for participating in society, including in the idea of competence not only its cognitive dimension, but also mental procedures, values, attitudes, norms, and behavioral elements that affect reality. It involves a general or basic demand that the education system should distribute knowledge, values, and attitudes that are appropriate for sustaining a given society, and individual competencies so that each individual can find his or her own place within the social context.

Reference:

Juan C. Tedesco: Development and Education Strategies: The Challenge of Public Management (Madrid, 1991) / Alvin Toffler co-written with his wife, Heidi: The Creation of a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave (1996)/ Toffler, Alvin, "The Future as a Way of Life", Horizon magazine, Summer 1965, Vol VII, Num 3