Every generation faces challenges, but never before have young people been so aware of theirs. Whether due to school strikes for climate change, civil war, or pandemic lockdowns, almost every child in the world has experienced the interruption of their schooling by outside forces. When the world we have taken for granted proves so unstable, it gives rise to the question: what is schooling for? Thrive advocates a new purpose for education, in a rapidly changing world, and analyses the reasons why change is urgently needed in our education systems. The book identifies four levels of thriving: global – our place in the planet; societal – localities, communities, economies; interpersonal – our relationships; intrapersonal – the self. Chapters provide research-based theoretical evidence for each area, followed by practical international case studies showing how individual schools are addressing these considerable challenges. Humanity's challenges are shifting fast: schools need to be a part of the response.

'Drawing on careful scholarship as well as vivid examples of practice, Thrive is an impressive reflection on education in our time.'

Howard Gardner - Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

'Valerie Hannon and Amelia Peterson paint an unsettling picture of the growing gap between the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that tomorrow’s world will require and what our current school systems provide. But the most compelling part of the book lies in the scenarios and answers it provides to close this gap, and to do so not by replacing schools but by reimagining and transforming them.'

Andreas Schleicher - Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development