随身英语
Megatrends in education 未来各国教育面临的重大挑战
不断变化的教育国际趋势正在影响和改变着各国的教育系统。新趋势给面向国际招生的学校带来了哪些问题？经济合作与发展组织（OECD）经济智库发布的一份研究报告对未来教育发展方向提出了几个重要的问题。本集《随身英语》就此讨论全球教育的发展趋势及其面临的挑战。
Vocabulary: society 词汇: 社会
We all know the importance of education. Everyone aspires to have a good one, but its quality and availability is not the same for all. This situation changes as social, economic and political conditions change and technological development provides new benefits and threats.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world, has been looking at the future of global education. Its head of education, Andreas Schleicher, has been talking to the BBC about some major international trends affecting education systems around the world.
One threat is the widening gap between rich and poor, with more intense pockets of extreme privilege and deprivation. In OECD countries, the richest 10% have incomes 10 times greater than the poorest 10%. This inequality is a challenge for schools who want to offer equal and fair access to education for everyone.
Another trend is the rising affluence in Asia. It's suggested that a large rise in the middle-classes in China and India will increase demand for university places. Andreas Schleicher asks the question "What values will these newly wealthy consumers want from their schools?"
Increasing migration will also have an impact on education systems. Mobility results in more culturally diverse students eager to learn and develop a good life for themselves. But that can be a challenge, too, as Andreas Schleicher asks: "How should schools support pupils arriving from around the world? What questions does it raise about identity and integration? Will schools have a bigger role in teaching about shared values?"
Funding pressure is another issue: as our demand and expectation for education rises and more people go to university, who's going to pay for it all? The rise in dependency on technology is another concern. What should students learn when many of their talents can be replicated by machines? And how reliant should we be on learning from the internet?
These are just some of the issues the OECD is highlighting. But they remain irrelevant for hundreds of millions of the world's poorest children who don't even have access to school places or receive such low-quality education that they leave without the most basic literacy or numeracy.
词汇表
aspire 渴望，向往
social 社会的
well-being 幸福，安康
privilege 特权
deprivation 贫困，匮乏
inequality 不均等
affluence 富裕，富足
values 价值观
consumer 消费者
migration 移居
mobility （社会）流动性
identity 身份
integration （不同群体的）融合
funding 资助
dependency 依赖
literacy 识字能力
numeracy 算数能力
测验与练习
1. 阅读课文并回答问题。
1. What do policies promoted by the OECD hope to improve?
2. True or false? Schools everywhere want to offer fair inequality to all students.
3. Why is there likely to be a rise in demand for university places globally?
4. What will increase the rise in culturally diverse students in a school classroom?
5. Who is going to pay for the rise in demand and expectation for education?
2. 请在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。
1. Jake assumes he's going to Cambridge because he's from a _________ background – I'm not so sure!
deprived privileged affluence literacy
2. Unemployment and poor health are some of the _________ problems that the government are trying to put an end to.
consumer numeracy social identity
3. My elderly mother is very _________ on me – I have to do everything for her.
dependent dependency depending independent
4. To improve my __________, I go for a run on the beach every day.
values mobility well-being identity
5. Since he started at his new school, he's done really well to __________ with the rest of the class.
integration integrating integrated integrate
答案
1. 阅读课文并回答问题。
1. What do policies promoted by the OECD hope to improve?
The OECD promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
2. True or false? Schools everywhere want to offer fair inequality to all students.
False. The inequality in the world is a challenge for schools who want to offer equal and fair access to education for everyone.
3. Why is there likely to be a rise in demand for university places globally?
It's suggested that a large rise in the middle-class in China and India will put an increase in demand for university places.
4. What will increase the rise in culturally diverse students in a school classroom?
Increased migration and mobility results in more culturally diverse students in schools.
5. Who is going to pay for the rise in demand and expectation for education?
The answer is not given but a question is asked: Who's going to pay for it all?
2. 请在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处。
1. Jake assumes he's going to Cambridge because he's from a privileged background – I'm not so sure!
2. Unemployment and poor health are some of the social problems that the government are trying to put an end to.
3. My elderly mother is very dependent on me – I have to do everything for her.
4. To improve my well-being, I go for a run on the beach every day.
5. Since he started at his new school, he's done really well to integrate with the rest of the class.
