56
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Inequality
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC04 Sociology of Education (host committee)
Language: Spanish and English
Session Type: Oral
Although understood in various ways, countries are noting and responding to a new dimension in society, which has been termed the “fourth industrial revolution”. Because of developments in technology, especially information technology, it is projected that the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for success under current circumstances are not necessarily the same as those that will be of value in the future.
Education systems are bound to anticipate these changes in society, and many are doing so. The UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) has concluded a meta-study on what these changes may be, and what schools can do to better prepare children. New competencies – both technological and social – will be required to ensure success under changed conditions, and education systems will need to do some things differently in future. The rise in private schooling, home-schooling and un-schooling movements may be an early indicator of what might happen, together with the proliferation of on-line, international school programmes and qualifications (like the US GDE).
However, in most education reforms and transitions, some children, or groups of children, tend to get what is needed, while others are left behind. Will this 21st Century transition be the same, allowing some individuals or groups to emerge at the top of the pile, while the rest remain trapped in a 20th Century paradigm? Or can the creative use of technology erode these divisions, creating greater opportunities for more people and increased social cohesion?