不斷變化的教育國際趨勢正在影響和改變著各國的教育系統。新趨勢給面向國際招生的學校帶來了哪些問題？經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）經濟智庫發布的一份研究報告對未來教育發展方向提出了幾個重要的問題。本集《隨身英語》就此討論全球教育的發展趨勢及其面臨的挑戰。

Vocabulary: society 詞匯: 社會

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.

詞匯表

aspire 渴望，向往
social 社會的
well-being 幸福，安康
privilege 特權
deprivation 貧困，匱乏
inequality 不均等
affluence 富裕，富足
values 價值觀
consumer 消費者
migration 移居
mobility （社會）流動性
identity 身份
integration （不同群體的）融合
funding 資助
dependency 依賴
literacy 識字能力
numeracy 算數能力

測驗與練習

1.  閱讀課文并回答問題。

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.  請在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

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.  閱讀課文并回答問題。

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.  請在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

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.