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This IdeasLAB blog is part of a series leading up to the launch of a publication on the theme of “renewing the social contract for education.” The theme of the series is based on the call from the report . See , and look for the full special issue in to be released in early 2024. 

By Rita Locatelli

In its 2021 report, the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education invited the international community to forge a “new social contract for education”. This new social contract, the International Commission asserted, should involve all education stakeholders and be governed by the principle of education as a common good. However, neither the concept of the new social contract nor the principle of education as a common good are explicitly defined. 

Considering some of the critiques addressed to the Futures of Education report on the lack of critical analysis of the structures of power that may influence the re-visioning of the new social contract,¹ a better understanding of the principle of education as a common good would help clarify the political implications that result from adopting this framework.  

The concept of education as a common good represents a useful frame of reference since, to a more radical extent than the instrumental concept of education as a public good, it questions the utilitarian model that conceives education primarily as an individual socio-economic investment.  Education as a common good, on the other hand, favours a humanistic approach that places the individual and his or her connections with the community at the centre.  

Indeed, in contrast to public goods, which can be enjoyed as individual goods,² common goods are considered to be relational, and thus presuppose forms of shared governance for both their production and enjoyment. Goods of this kind are grounded in a strong sense of community relationships and cannot be reduced to economic resources or to factors of production precisely because of their social and relational nature. Thus, education can be considered a public good in its traditional form of instruction, which is guaranteed publicly but can be enjoyed individually. Extending the notion of education as a common good, therefore, presupposes that all components of society take responsibility for the educational process, the results of which can only be fully achieved and enjoyed together. The aim is to introduce and extend practices capable of generating new scenarios and new forms of social cooperation and coexistence. 

The concept of education as a common good reflects, from the point of view of educational governance, the analyses concerning the relationship between education and democracy elaborated in the field of critical pedagogy. It implies a new social contract for education as a collective responsibility that manifests itself as a clear political perspective grounded in a strong sense of solidarity among the different components of society. This translates into organisational structures which highlight inclusion, horizontal collaboration, cooperation, and solidarity at different levels, giving voice to and acknowledging diverse epistemologies. The involvement of teachers, young people, students, community and civil society organisations, and other non-state actors in the definition and implementation of public policies represents one of the fundamental features of institutional democratisation and quality of decisional processes. 

The concept of education as a common good highlights in the formulation of a new social contract, since it relies on the intrinsic collective and interconnected dimension of society. It is based on the belief that educational change can only be achieved together and that all actors must take responsibility for this change. As the principle of education as a common good suggests, this implies strengthening social dialogue and favouring more horizontal collaboration.  

 The analysis of the National Statements of Commitment submitted by governments at the Transforming Education Summit held in New York in September 2022, however, showed that only a few countries have committed to explicitly include all education stakeholders in decision-making and legislative processes, and that even fewer have explicitly referred to the promotion of more inclusive governance. 

The road is long, but there are good reasons for hope. All over the world, there is an increase in community or territorial education alliances, service-learning initiatives, and open schools movements aimed at renewing the more traditional organisation of education. These changes are all thanks to the active involvement of communities, students, parents, citizens, and third-sector entities. Such examples include, where experiences, commonly referred to as "Community or territorial education pacts” are increasingly widespread and promoted by INDIRE (the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research, the Italian Ministry of Education’s oldest research organization). It is, however, evident that the conditions for the realisation of a new social contract vary considerably from context to context. For a new social contract for education to be truly transformative, a critical analysis of how shared governance can be fulfilled and how responsibilities should be distributed is a prerequisite.