Teaching in the Knowledge Society

Abstract

This paper is abridged and adapted from Prof. Hargreaves ’ soon-to-be released book, Teaching in the Knowledge Society. Details are provided at the end of this paper. WE LIVE in a knowledge economy, a knowledge society. Knowledge economies are stimulated and driven by creativity and ingenuity. Knowledge society schools have to create these qualities, otherwise their people and their nations will be left behind. Like other kinds of capitalism, the knowledge economy is, in Joseph Schumpeter’s terms, a force of creative destruction. It stimulates growth and prosperity, but its relentless pursuit of profit and self-interest also strains and fragments the social order. Along with other public institutions, our schools must therefore also foster the compassion, community and cosmopolitan identity that will offset the knowledge economy’s most destructive effects. The knowledge economy primarily serves the private good. The knowledge society also encompasses the public good. Our schools have to prepare young people for both of them. Schools today serve and shape a world in which there can be great economic opportunity and improvement if people can learn to work more flexibly, invest in their future financial security,