Battle for Education

Introduction

How and what we teach our children and young adults is central to the future of our society - and a perennial battleground in political debate. Schools today are not only institutions for passing knowledge from adults to children, but they also play an important role in children’s socialisation. Should that be a partnership between parents and schools? If not, how should we deal with conflicts between school policies and parental values? Where does the teaching of religion fit into schools today, in a society where strong beliefs are often criticised but diversity is lauded? And how do we teach our children when there is so little agreement about what should be taught, as exemplified in the decline of the textbook and the rise of pupil-centred learning and endless handouts?

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