What is education really for?

Ask what makes a good education and the conversation can quickly turn to results, qualifications, universities, and careers. These things are undeniably important, but they also raise a bigger question: what is education ultimately trying to achieve?

Should schools primarily prepare young people for exams and employment? Or should education also help them become curious, empathetic, and engaged human beings, capable of making sense of the world around them and contributing to it in a positive way?

These are the questions at the heart of the latest episode of The Learning Curve, Nord Anglia Education’s podcast for parents.

Preparing young people for more than the next exam

Joining host Hfu Reisenhofer is Lord David Puttnam, the Oscar-winning film producer, member of the House of Lords, and Chair of the Nord Anglia Education Advisory Board. A longstanding education advocate, his career has taken him from some of cinema’s most celebrated films into education and public life.

Their wide-ranging conversation explores what we should ultimately want young people to take from their years at school.

Academic knowledge and qualifications are an important part of that. They open doors and create opportunities. Yet a child’s education is also helping to shape the person who will eventually walk through those doors.

That means developing qualities that are much harder to capture on an exam paper: curiosity about the world, empathy for other people, confidence to form and challenge ideas, and an understanding of our responsibilities towards the communities and societies around us.

The importance of stories

Lord Puttnam’s background in film also brings an interesting perspective to the conversation: the role of storytelling in education.

Stories allow us to encounter lives and experiences very different from our own. They can challenge assumptions, encourage us to see the world through somebody else’s eyes, and help us understand ideas not simply as facts, but as human experiences.

Education has never been solely about acquiring information, and that’s even more the case in an AI-driven world. It’s also about learning to interpret, question, and understand what the information might mean for us and others.

What do we hope education leaves behind?

Perhaps one way to think about the purpose of education is to imagine the young person at the end of it. Of course, we hope they leave school with strong academic foundations and choices about what comes next. But what else?

Are they curious? Can they listen to somebody with whom they disagree? Can they appreciate another person’s point of view? Do they have the confidence to ask difficult questions? Do they understand that being part of a community comes with responsibilities as well as opportunities?

And, ultimately, are they equipped not simply to build a successful career, but to build a meaningful life?

There may never be one definitive answer to the question of what education is for. Yet it’s nonetheless a question worth asking.

Listen to The Learning Curve on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major podcast platforms, or visit www.nordangliaeducation.com/the-learning-curve.