The Knowledge Society

Earlier this month I attended an inspiring presentation entitled The Knowledge Society, Schools and Knowledge made by Jane Gilbert of NZCER (which was based on a presentation made at the PPTA's Charting the Future Conference).

In recent years there has been a wealth of knowledge society rhetoric in New Zealand as in other developed nations. While there is general agreement that education is a key to entry into such a society, Jane pointed out the irony in these talkfests excluding discussion of the nature of knowledge or curriculum.

Jane posited that the meaning of knowledge is changing and that this has implications for education. She explored the industrial age model of education and noted the divisions caused by its application in a post-industrial society. What is needed is an educationally relevant theory of knowledge and pedagogies that are consistent with that theory. Reassuringly Jane believes the answers are already out there—but where?

Charting the future delegates would not have had to look far. Steven Arnold showed that at least some of the answers may lie outside of mainstream education, at schools like Athena Montessori College. Like Jane, he stresses none of this is new.

What is new is the integration of these ideas within a sympathetic environment. What is exciting is that online learning provides another such sympathetic environment. One in which we can demonstrate a significant difference if we can break free from the shackles of an irrelevant theory of knowledge and outdated pedagogies.