Pluralism in Education Within the 21st Century

Theodore Rizos

(University of Patra, Greece)

Abstract: In this text an attempt is being made to provide a brief outline of the key features that the educational policy acquired through its development. At first, its initiation is delineated as an aftermath of the establishment of the Welfare State set up at the end of the Second World War (King A., 1983). Education was protected as a free of charge and inalienable social right for all the citizens without any exception. However, it was centrally directed and bore the characteristics of a corporatist model with only a few organizations being consulted in the educational process. In the 1970’s, along with the collapse of Keynesianism, the previous educational model exhausted its usefulness, as the rapid diffusion of information and the prevalence of knowledge marked the beginning of a new post-industrialist era. Gradually the state lost its earliest vigor and the arrival into the scene of new pressure groups transformed the educational milieu in a radical manner. The spread of technology and the multicultural character of communication enabled the exchange of ideas among diverse interests and therefore necessitated the incorporation of distinct voices into the educational procedure.

Key words: educational policies, educational system, pluralism, information society