Disrupted, ruptured, and in between: ruins of schooling and utopian learning society

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the disrupted school-centered education system and the emerging new normal in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Enforced social distancing and school closures made technology-enhanced education a reality on an unprecedented scale for the first time in history. Various information and communication technologies provide a solution to the global education crisis. The author revisits the landmark 1972 Faure report to remind us that recognizing fast technological development was the background of the learning society proposal. Technology always brings about a profound challenge in education. The concept of a learning society has paved the unavoidable direction of educational change from universal schooling to lifelong learning. While there are different understandings of lifelong learning and learning society, the author points out that we are indeed in the middle of the second educational revolution heading toward the lifelong learning era. The author argues that we need to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to make creative and imaginative policy proposals, which can accelerate the realization of the learning society.