From Achievement to Purpose: Educating Beyond Academic Success

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Knowledge Network, Teacher Agency, and Systemic Changes

Abstract

Purpose research in education foregrounds the human dimensions of teaching and learning important to the future of education (UNESCO, 2021). This paper examines if students find purpose and meaning in their school learning beyond the prevailing focus on academic success in education systems worldwide. Secondly, what does teaching with purpose look like in the classroom? Individual interviews with twenty-eight upper-secondary Singapore students show that students’ lack of personal purpose and meaning far outweigh the academic stresses that students face. Teachers acknowledge the long-term impact of learning to teach with and for purpose. The global uncertainties in the age of AI demand that educators reimagine teaching and learning. Educating for purpose is the moral compass and the existential dimension of education.

Author

• Mary Anne Heng, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University