or generations, education has served as a passport—a means of unlocking personal opportunity and driving societal progress. From classrooms to campuses, education has been the vehicle through which knowledge has transformed the world.
Yet education systems everywhere are under pressure, and not only from the lingering effects of a generational pandemic. Those pressures also come from teacher shortages, financial challenges, geopolitical unrest, and the digital divide to name a few. More profoundly, education faces a reckoning of purpose. As technology rapidly reshapes every aspect of our lives, we must now ask: what should education truly prepare young people for? The traditional goals of citizenship and employability, while still important, are no longer enough to make our children ready for their future.
With more than a century of experience delivering international education, Cambridge is watching these pressures play out in real time across our community of 10,000 schools in 160 countries. School leaders, teachers, students and families are grappling with questions around the value of education. Those questions are intensified by new study visa policies, AI–morphed job markets, and the aspirations of today’s young people who place a premium on their social media presence, mental health, and work–leisure balance. Students are asking not only what they are learning, but why, where, and how?
Cambridge has undertaken a large–scale survey of its international students and teachers to understand what shape of education they see as being best suited to make them ready for the future.
That research highlights a striking paradox: while teachers believe students are gaining the skills they need to be ready for the future, students themselves are far less sure. This is not a skills gap—it is a visibility gap. Young people want more intentional development of leadership, communication and self–management skills, and greater relational intelligence.
This is a heartening revelation because these competencies are not just complementary to academic achievement but are critical for success in a changing world. Foundational literacies—numeracy, reading, writing, digital, and civic—need to be paired equally with critical thinking, communication skills, resilience, adaptability, and the ability to connect and engage across cultures and perspectives. Of course, emerging technology will be the new, key driver of any educational transformation. Despite that, it cannot replace the humanity at the heart of learning because such skills are best developed through human interactions, teacher–to–student and student–to–student.
Ultimately, in the midst of our changing world, classrooms, whether physical or virtual, must remain spaces where students not only build knowledge and understanding, but also find purpose, agency and community to a larger degree than ever before. This will be the real passport to opportunity.
a global affairs media network
Reimagining education for a complex global future
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
September 8, 2025
Our education systems are facing a reckoning of purpose. For education to remain our “passport to opportunity” we must ensure classrooms not only help students build knowledge and understanding, but also find purpose, agency, and community, writes Rod Smith.
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or generations, education has served as a passport—a means of unlocking personal opportunity and driving societal progress. From classrooms to campuses, education has been the vehicle through which knowledge has transformed the world.
Yet education systems everywhere are under pressure, and not only from the lingering effects of a generational pandemic. Those pressures also come from teacher shortages, financial challenges, geopolitical unrest, and the digital divide to name a few. More profoundly, education faces a reckoning of purpose. As technology rapidly reshapes every aspect of our lives, we must now ask: what should education truly prepare young people for? The traditional goals of citizenship and employability, while still important, are no longer enough to make our children ready for their future.
With more than a century of experience delivering international education, Cambridge is watching these pressures play out in real time across our community of 10,000 schools in 160 countries. School leaders, teachers, students and families are grappling with questions around the value of education. Those questions are intensified by new study visa policies, AI–morphed job markets, and the aspirations of today’s young people who place a premium on their social media presence, mental health, and work–leisure balance. Students are asking not only what they are learning, but why, where, and how?
Cambridge has undertaken a large–scale survey of its international students and teachers to understand what shape of education they see as being best suited to make them ready for the future.
That research highlights a striking paradox: while teachers believe students are gaining the skills they need to be ready for the future, students themselves are far less sure. This is not a skills gap—it is a visibility gap. Young people want more intentional development of leadership, communication and self–management skills, and greater relational intelligence.
This is a heartening revelation because these competencies are not just complementary to academic achievement but are critical for success in a changing world. Foundational literacies—numeracy, reading, writing, digital, and civic—need to be paired equally with critical thinking, communication skills, resilience, adaptability, and the ability to connect and engage across cultures and perspectives. Of course, emerging technology will be the new, key driver of any educational transformation. Despite that, it cannot replace the humanity at the heart of learning because such skills are best developed through human interactions, teacher–to–student and student–to–student.
Ultimately, in the midst of our changing world, classrooms, whether physical or virtual, must remain spaces where students not only build knowledge and understanding, but also find purpose, agency and community to a larger degree than ever before. This will be the real passport to opportunity.
