Learning to Be Human: Forming and Implementing National Blends of Transformative and Holistic Education to Address 21st Century Challenges and Complement AI

Abstract

The paper introduces ‘transformative’ curriculum initiatives such as education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCED), which address ‘macro’ challenges such as climate change, together with ‘holistic’ approaches to student learning such as ‘social and emotional learning’ (SEL) and education for ‘life skills’, ‘21st century skills’, ‘transversal competencies’, AI-related ethics, and ‘health and well-being.’ These are reflected in Section 6 of the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development. It is suggested that such broad goals put forward at global policy level may serve as inspiration for national context-specific programming, while also needing better integration of national insights and cultural differences into global discourse. The paper aims to provide insights to education policy-makers responsible for national curriculum, textbooks and other learning resources, teacher training and examination processes, helping them to promote the human values, integrity and sense of agency needed by students in a time of multiple global and personal challenges. This requires an innovative approach to curricula for established school subjects and can be included in curricula being developed for AI literacy and related ethics. Research into the integration of transformative and holistic dimensions into curricula, materials, teacher preparation, and assessment is needed, as well as ongoing monitoring and feedback. AI-supported networking and resource sharing at local, national and international level can support implementation of transformative and holistic learning, to maintain and strengthen the human dimensions of learning.

1. Introduction

Our world now faces many challenges—societal polarisation, armed conflict, poverty, global warming, biodiversity loss, and much more, including uncertainties related to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Education is frequently cited as one of the ways to tackle these complex issues. Clearly, a multi-sectoral effort is needed to address major societal and environmental problems, but the education sector should play its part, preparing and inspiring the next generation to find a path forward. This was the theme of the UN General Assembly’s Transforming Education Summit in 2022.1

Specific elements included under the title of ‘transformative’ curriculum include the themes of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.7, adopted in 2015 at the UN General Assembly (Benavot, 2019):

‘By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.’

A restatement of these concerns in the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development further calls for transformative learning to include climate change, conflict resolution, and the disinformation and other challenges related to the digital era.

For the purposes of this paper, such issues are termed ‘macro’ concerns, as they affect society and the planet on a large scale and form the context within which students and their families must live. A ‘transformative’ curriculum must address them.

At the level of individual well-being, there are many challenges to face in modern life. Bullying, harassment and violence are found within families, gangs and workplaces, as well as in schools themselves and in social media. Interpersonal conflict is part of all of our lives. Disrespect across gender and across ethnic, religious, political and socio-economic divides runs deep in our cultures, building a lack of personal empathy for others who are different from oneself. For many young people, anxiety and uncertain self-regard, often exacerbated by social media, spoil their lives. For crisis-affected populations, trauma presents huge additional challenges. For the purposes of this paper, these concerns are presented as requiring a ‘holistic’ dimension to curriculum that addresses students’ development, their coping skills and sense of agency, i.e., requiring broader education objectives for students’ development besides mastery or rote learning of the normal school subjects.

Across multiple settings, policy-makers thus face the challenge of how schooling can move on from a focus on memorisation of knowledge towards helping build human skills and values to meet numerous societal and personal challenges. This paper examines some of the currently prominent education policy thrusts relating to these issues.

Section 2 examines selected topical ‘transformative’ curriculum approaches to societal and planetary ‘macro’ challenges, including education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCED). These draw upon pre-existing fields such as environmental education, peace education, human rights education, education for gender equality and education in humanitarian norms.

Schools have long been expected to build individual character and judgement, and in the age of AI this need is enhanced, so that human values are sustained. Hence, Section 3 examines the increasingly used concept of social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as life skills education, and education for 21st century competencies, student agency and ‘foundational health and well-being’, here termed ‘holistic’ education goals because of their focus on students’ personal lives.2

As discussed in Section 4, it is not easy to find a good ‘umbrella title’ that encapsulates such aspirations. At country level, however, terminology can be chosen which is motivational to students and is also widely acceptable to teachers and other stakeholders, including political actors.

Section 5 addresses the practical need to bring together the curriculum goals relating to macro societal concerns and those at personal level—the transformative and the holistic. Students’ personal empathy and practice in issue-related collaboration and problem-solving can build their desires and abilities to tackle global problems as well as develop their own individual futures. This blending is exemplified in the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, to which all 194 UNESCO Member States are committed.

Section 6 reviews some of the modalities for inclusion of transformational and holistic dimensions in the school curriculum, such as stand-alone sessions and use of carrier subjects, as well as extracurricular activities.

Section 7 reviews major constraints on implementation, including timetable pressures, lack of teacher preparation, lack of materials, and a focus on high stakes examinations. The paper explores approaches that may help transformative and holistic ideals to reach practical implementation in national school systems. Section 7.1 discusses approaches to embedding transformative and holistic learning goals in the curriculum framework, syllabi and textbooks, addressing national priorities and being in line with national culture.

Section 7.2 considers ways to help teachers cope with these broader learning goals, through inclusion of transformative and holistic competencies in pre-service teacher education, and innovative approaches to in-service training and support. Section 7.3 notes the need for writers of examination questions, notably in examination boards, to insert questions that refer to contemporary challenges, providing the incentive for students and teachers to engage with this aspect of the curriculum. Section 7.4 compares implementation approaches which are ‘wide outreach’, such as changes in textbooks, with ‘high intensity’ practices developed in small-scale settings. A caution is offered against transferring practices which work well at a small scale into system-wide reforms without careful adaptation. Section 8 reviews the lessons learned, suggesting actions needed to strengthen the presence of transformative and holistic goals in the national curriculum framework, syllabi, textbooks and other education resources, as well as in teacher training and support and in national examinations.

Section 9 offers a final call for more focus in global and national discourse on how to bridge the gap between these policy aspirations and actual changes in classroom materials and practices and in students’ learning experiences. At national level, these goals require active selection and development of locally prioritised and culturally adapted topics and approaches that can be accommodated within the curriculum. Note is taken of the growing aspiration that education can reinforce human values such that they can guide the development and use of AI in positive directions.

Purpose and Approach

The primary aim of the present paper is to help policy-makers navigate the multiple and complex transformative and holistic themes and learning objectives which they are asked to include in curriculum, additional to or integrated with the current discipline-based school subjects. The danger is that policy-makers will effectively ignore these enrichment objectives (which are often national policy commitments) unless they understand how they fit together.

The paper draws upon and points to recent comprehensive presentations, meta-analyses and systematic reviews of the specific transformative and holistic curriculum themes under discussion here. The scoping and treatment of the themes reflect consultations over the period 2018–2025 with a group of senior academics and practitioners, viz., NISSEM (Networking to Integrate SDG 4.7 and SEL into Educational Materials), of which the author is a founding co-convenor. For illustrative case examples, the reader is often referred to the series of global briefs brought together by this group, aimed especially at readership by education policy-makers.3

2. Learning Goals Relating to Transformative Action on Societal Challenges

At the global policy level there has been much discussion on how the school curriculum might address environmental concerns such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, desertification, and pollution, and on how school studies might help to counter war and insecurity, and pervasive societal structures of poverty, gender inequality, and disrespect across ethnic, political and religious divides. Separate streams of curriculum policy-making and advocacy have sought to ameliorate one or more of these and related macro-level challenges.

Education for sustainable development is a currently prominent example. The environmental crises documented in the Brundtland report (1987) and during the Rio Summit in 1992 led to the movement to promote ‘education for sustainable development’ (ESD), which seeks to protect the environment while addressing human needs, as described, e.g., in the Earth Charter (Bourn et al., 2025). The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014), led to ESD curriculum initiatives in many countries, and was followed by a Global Action Programme (2015–2019) and then ‘ESD for 2030’, with its roadmap for action.4

However, curriculum coverage of ESD themes is variable. In a survey including 85 countries, 69% of science and social science curricula at grade 9 level were found to have no references to climate change and 66% lacked any mention of sustainability (McKenzie & Benavot, 2024; GEM Report, 2024). Increased international focus on global warming and climate change has given this area new emphasis, however, with UNESCO convening a Greening Education Partnership of governmental and civil society organisations (UNESCO, n.d.). With a huge prospective increase in populations vulnerable to climate change, strong action is needed, including by educators—to help lessen global warming, mitigate its effects and build students’ concern for displaced and marginalised populations.

Recent curriculum initiatives relating to globally experienced societal challenges include ‘education for global citizenship’, considered below, and the closely related ‘global education’ and education for ‘global competencies’.5 Growing concern over ‘fragile states’ had emerged in the 2000s, given the large number of countries facing insecurity and internal armed conflict (Miller-Grandvaux, 2009; Mosselson et al., 2009). In 2012, Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, included the goal ‘Foster global citizenship’ in his Education First initiative, alongside improved access to and quality of education. The text made it clear that the aim of what became ‘global citizenship education’ (GCED) was for students to respect and live peacefully alongside other human beings, in their own country or otherwise. UNESCO convened discussions leading to a framework for GCED which set out the importance of human interconnectedness, and spelled out cognitive/thematic, social–emotional and behavioural dimensions to be considered in curriculum development (UNESCO, 2015; Toh et al., 2017). A recent overview suggests specific learning objectives for global citizenship education in a digital age (UNESCO, 2024a). Another recent formulation of GCED cites core competencies supporting interconnectedness, human rights, peace and sustainable development, and notes the importance of context-specific content areas, e.g., regional identity and rising sea levels.6 Giles (2026) illustrates this with a regional view from the Pacific.

Support by the governments of Japan and South Korea, respectively, for ESD and GCED, as well as support from and uptake by other nations, led to their taking root. More recently, ESD and GCED have, to some extent, been combined under the heading of transformative education, notably since the Transformative Education Summit in 2022.7

Further research and advocacy streams relating curriculum to the above-mentioned issues of global concern include, among others, peace education, human rights education, education for gender equality and (the often neglected) education in humanitarian norms required by the Geneva Conventions.8

3. Holistic Focus: Learning Goals for Student Well-Being and Agency

This section considers curriculum aspirations related to students’ personal development, here termed ‘holistic’ learning goals.9 Education programmes have long had the aim of positive influence on students’ personal development, under the headings of character development, values/moral education and many more. Nations have committed themselves to such holistic competency development, notably in Article 29 of the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child, a treaty ratified by all countries other than the US (which signed it):

• States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

  (a)

  The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential;

  (b)

  The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

  (c)

  The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilisations different from his or her own;

  (d)

  The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin;

  (e)

  The development of respect for the natural environment.

While there are many formulations of holistic education, this section addresses particularly the currently prominent curriculum policy streams around concepts of ‘social and emotional learning’ (SEL), ‘life skills’, ‘21st century skills’ and ‘education for health and well-being’ (especially in regard to mental health).10

3.1. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

In recent times, the term ‘social and emotional learning’ (SEL) has come to the fore, especially since the formation in the US in 1994 of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Development (CASEL). The initial CASEL framework used the common-sense five-part framework of social awareness and social relationships, emotional awareness and self-management, and responsible decision-making. The sub-categories suggested by CASEL within these five headings to some extent reflected the circumstances in the US, where initial concerns included youth violence, substance abuse and unwanted teenage pregnancies.11

As an example, the updated ‘social relationships’ skills in the CASEL framework include the following:

• Communicating effectively;
• Developing positive relationships;
• Demonstrating cultural competency;
• Practising teamwork and collaborative problem-solving;
• Resolving conflicts constructively;
• Resisting negative social pressure;
• Showing leadership in groups;
• Seeking or offering support and help when needed;
• Standing up for the rights of others (CASEL, 2020).

In a recent development and responding especially to societal concerns in the US, CASEL has also adopted the concept of ‘transformative SEL’ (tSEL), with more focus on student interactions and agency in the wider community. CASEL states that tSEL is ‘a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.’ The focus of tSEL is on identity, agency, belonging, collaborative problem-solving and curiosity12 (CASEL, n.d.; see also Jagers et al., 2025). Such expansion of person-focused SEL to attend to the greater good is discussed by Chowkase (2023).

A wide range of SEL programmes have been analysed by Harvard’s EASEL Lab,13 using six main domains: cognitive, emotional, social, values, perspective and identity (each with several sub-domains, divided further into benchmark codes, for purposes of analysis) (EASEL Lab, n.d.). The EASEL Taxonomy platform ‘Explore SEL’ facilitates comparison of domains across programmes and finding the programmes which share a particular skill. Comparative analysis of programmes in primary and secondary schools showed a wide diversity of learning objectives. Of particular interest to the present author is that the skill of conflict resolution, which received much attention in US schools in the 1980s and 1990s, is under-represented in some more recent initiatives (Jones et al., 2021, pp. 72–74; Jones et al., 2022, pp. 86–87).

Increased attention is now being given to the differences in social and emotional concepts in different cultural settings (NISSEM, 2023). Matthew Jukes and others have undertaken research in East Africa which shows that SEL priorities in the region differ from those in the CASEL framework, also demonstrating differences between householders and teachers, and between students living in rural areas and those with exposure to city life (Jukes, 2022; Deitz et al., 2021; see also Jukes & Norman, 2024). Deitz (2023, n.d.) notes that SEL evaluation using psychological tools not aligned to local culture may fail to register genuine benefits. Caires et al. (2022) describe a systematic approach to contextualising SEL, based on experience in Lebanon.

Benavot (2020, p. 41) reflects on aspects of Asian culture, such as collectiveness, relationship (guanxi) and social harmony and Confucian traditions that differ from frameworks such as that of CASEL.14 He suggests that this cultural base might lead to a different schema, perhaps with categories of self-society, self-other and self-nature competencies (pp. 74–77). Mao and Zhang (2026) likewise note the dimensions of ‘collective-awareness’ and ‘collective-management’, drawing on Chinese tradition. In their schema, collective-awareness refers to identifying with a sense of collective belonging and honour, while collective-management refers to complying with collective norms, adapting to the relationship between individuals and the collective, and demonstrating pro-social behaviours such as unity, cooperation, and taking responsibility. Suzuki and Kanzaki (2022) note that teachers in Japan may be unfamiliar with the term ‘social and emotional learning’ but often work towards similar learning objectives aligned to national culture.

The India-based MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development), a category 2 UNESCO Institute, has blended Indian traditional and modern concepts in its work, presenting SEL as EMC2 (a riff on e = mc squared), referring to empathy, mindfulness, critical thinking and compassion (Chatterjee Singh & Duraiappah, 2020; see also TTF, 2019; Patel, 2020; SEE Learning, 2019). Chowkase (2023) reviews cross-cultural differences in SEL, noting inter alia that the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the Indian value that the world is one family, appeared to be lacking in the US. He describes an initiative entitled Samvedana (Sanskrit for ‘care and concern for others’), which incorporates compassion and kindness, and draws upon Indian traditions of meditation. The Happiness Curriculum implemented in Delhi schools and its replacement, entitled Science of Living, draw on Indian cultural traditions (Das et al., 2022).15

Likewise, southern African educators may draw upon social and emotional bases such as Ubuntu. Ikpeh and Federico Awi (2025) note that ‘Unlike Western frameworks that emphasise binary oppositions—self vs. other, rational vs. emotional—Ubuntu embraces relationality as the foundation of existence. […] Its ethos, encapsulated in the phrase ‘I am because we are,’ underscores the interconnectedness of individual identity and collective wellbeing.’ The Arigatou Foundation has developed ‘learning to live together’ SEL materials which encourage respect between faiths (Arigatou Foundation et al., 2008; Arigatou Foundation & Global Network of Religions for Children, 2021), with pilot activities in Kenya and elsewhere (Batton et al., 2026).

Education practitioners often suggest that time given to SEL classes and approaches may detract from academic learning. However, this view is oversimplified. In principle, academic learning always happens in a social–emotional context, whether good or unhelpful, and positive attitudes will help students’ academic learning (Jones & Kahn, 2017; Immordino-Yang, 2019; Cipriano et al., 2023). There is much evidence that SEL supports academic achievement as well as longer-term life goals (Durlak et al., 2022; Greenberg et al., 2017; Jones & Kahn, 2017; Ha et al., 2025; Schonert-Reichl, 2020). While much of the evidence to date originated in studies of SEL programmes purchased by US schools as stand-alone packages, similar evidence is emerging elsewhere. Porticus et al. (2023) stress that there is no dichotomy between attending to academic and to social–emotional learning, which can be seen as two sides of the same coin.

Recent discussions on the cognitive/executive function skills for ‘real life’ that humans can bring to the era of AI refer to focused attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reflection and self-control, practised in support of academic subject matter and otherwise (AASA, 2025).

For a comprehensive review of SEL, including some country case studies, see UNESCO’s policy guide entitled Mainstreaming social and emotional learning (SEL) in education systems (UNESCO, 2024c), which brings together conceptual frameworks, implementation modalities, and evidence on longer-term impacts of SEL beneficial to academic achievement, employment prospects and life trajectory. Deitz et al. (2021) offer a systematic review. For a recent country survey by OECD covering many elements of SEL, see OECD (2024a, 2024b). OECD’s work on ‘human flourishing’, to be included in PISA 2029, provides a related conceptual framework for personal development, ‘spanning the academic, the caring and the creative’ (OECD, 2024c).16

3.2. Life Skills

In some countries, social and emotional learning goals bear the title ‘life skills’, a term closer to everyday language (though sometimes confused with ‘livelihood skills’). In the 1990s and 2000s the term ‘life skills’ was often used by international agencies and governments to introduce HIV/AIDS education (including many HIV/AIDS-related vignettes to help learn and practise refusal and negotiation skills) in countries where direct reference to sexual issues might have been sensitive and unpopular (WHO, 2003; WHO & UNESCO, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c). UNICEF, at that time, employed regional and national life skills advisers and presented life skills as a broad learning goal, enabling response to diverse personal challenges and opportunities, but with a strong focus on learning HIV/AIDS prevention behaviours (UNICEF, 2012).

In India, the Life Skills Collaborative has developed a glossary of key concepts within life skills and social and emotional learning, and has worked to find equivalent terms in many of the national languages (TTF, n.d.).17 Likewise, in East Africa, the Regional Educational Learning Initiative (RELI) has worked on assessment of contextualised life skills and values, under the ALiVE (Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa) programme. After preliminary consultations on life skills perceptions of families in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the ALiVE team conducted household assessments of adolescent competencies in the skills of problem-solving, self-awareness, and collaboration together with a key value, respect (RELI, 2022; Care et al., 2024).18

3.3. Twenty-First Century Skills/Competencies

In 2002, a group of US firms and educators formed the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, to identify key learning goals.19 A shortened list of skills was given prominence, notably collaboration (or teamwork), communication, critical thinking and creativity. Groupings of these and similar skills, also found in SEL frameworks, have been taken up in curriculum discourse globally, under the heading of ‘21st century’ skills or competencies.20 The term ‘21st century skills’ has a common-sense meaning which makes it applicable in some form in any setting and appealing across different cultures and contexts. This has led to its wider usage, especially in the effort to move away from rote learning (Care et al., 2017; Cheng, 2026; Nishimura & Williams, 2026; Yusop, 2026). In Singapore, the term has been used to cover broader aspects of curriculum that pertain to modern life and includes ‘emerging 21st century competencies of Critical, Adaptive and Inventive Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Information Skills, and Civic, Global and Cross-Cultural Literacy’ (MOE Singapore, 2024; Koh & Liem, 2026).

3.4. Foundational Learning for Health and Well-Being

While health education has been introduced in many education systems, often beginning with an emphasis on hygiene, it can be neglected in policy discourse, falling between the responsibilities of the health sector and the education sector. The UN SDG3 and SDG4 targets for health and education, respectively, do not elaborate substantively on health education objectives. UNESCO has now strengthened the focus of the education sector on the ways in which curriculum can support mental as well as physical health.21 In 2024, UNESCO and UNICEF issued guidance on ‘foundational learning for health and well-being’, including SEL (UNESCO & UNICEF, 2024).

Careful consideration is needed at national level to select priority health learning objectives to be addressed within schools. One approach is to timetable a stand-alone health education time slot, but teachers may not be well-equipped to teach this topic and may neglect it if health education is not an examination subject. Integration of health issues into human biology, biology or general science may be more appropriate in some settings but limits the topics that can be covered in already overloaded syllabi.

Discussions between the mental health and education communities led to school-based activities intended to help meet mental health and psychosocial (MHPSS) needs of crisis-affected children being given the title of social and emotional learning, albeit with some differences in emphasis where there has been extensive trauma (INEE, 2016, 2018; ECW, 2021; Kim et al., 2025; IASC, 2025). One problem is that teachers may not be trained to deal with disturbing memories that may accompany even simple activities such as drawing (children often depict their recent crisis). However, if the teachers are members of the affected community, they may have culturally appropriate ways of helping.

3.5. Holistic Learning and AI

The advent of Large Learning Models (LLMs) such as ChatGBT is so recent that reactions worldwide are not yet well-documented. In some settings, the use of LLMs for student assignments has taken off and may give rise to situations of distrust between teachers and students and/or approaches whereby students are encouraged to use an LLM but in ways that are jointly developed by teachers and their students. Various cognitive skills may be weakened by use of an LLM and/or strengthened when students analyse the product and their use of prompts. The following is noted in Singapore:

Excessive use of AI may reduce human interaction and lower the need for social connections. Our education system recognises that human interaction is a fundamental part of learning and continues to create social connections through collaborative learning. Ultimately, AI should complement classroom efforts to build social skills and connections, and not seek to replace these human interactions.22

Schemas for the teaching of AI in schools typically provide an entry point for the teaching of ethics, often in relation to the potential misuse of AI’s capacities. It is important that examples are introduced which enhance discernment, such as critical thinking to detect dis/misinformation, with reference to the planetary and societal challenges and individual life concerns addressed in this paper (OECD, 2025a, 2025b; UNESCO, 2025a).

4. Choice of Terminology for Societal and Personal Education Goals

Terminology matters and should be adapted to each national setting. Titles such as ‘peace education’ may be seen negatively by political leaders—as implying that their countries are at risk of conflict (external or internal). And many governments do not want to engage too noticeably with ‘human rights education’, since a major role of human rights agreements is to set a standard to which governments may be held accountable. ‘Global citizenship’ may sound to some as if the nation state is being superceded, although the fuller description of actual GCED initiatives usually includes local, national and global citizenship.23

Some governments have decided to use flexible titles for the transformative and holistic mix under discussion here, such as ‘emerging issues’ (Sierra Leone) or ‘pertinent and contemporary issues’ (Kenya). The umbrella concept of ‘transversal competencies’ has been used extensively in policy discussions, notably in the Asia Pacific region, where it was defined as including 28 elements, categorised under intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, critical and innovative thinking, global citizenship and media and information literacy, together with appreciation of healthy lifestyles and respect for religious values (UNESCO, 2016b; Benavot et al., 2026a).

Some initiatives have instead been given descriptive (but rather long) titles such as ‘life skills and citizenship education’ (UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa Region) or ‘personal, social, health and economic education’ (UK). Finding ‘umbrella titles’ that are concise and inspirational as well as informative and politically acceptable is a challenge (Sinclair, 2013). When titles and sub-titles are chosen in a country, it is desirable to engage with professional educators associated with its main political actors as well as teacher representatives and other stakeholders, in order to lessen the risk of the transformative/holistic area becoming a ‘political football’, redesigned by each new government.

In some countries, the term ‘competency-based curriculum’ (CBC) may serve as an umbrella title including the skills and values under discussion here. The CBC concept has often been seen as a key to reducing rote learning and building cognitive, social and emotional skills and values (Smart, 2024; Gikandi et al., 2025; DeJaeghere et al., 2026; Anderson-Levitt, 2026), including their application by students as responsible citizens (Hughes, 2024). For example, in Kenya, according to the 2017 Basic Education Curriculum Framework, the seven core competencies to be achieved by every learner in basic education include citizenship, which deals with ‘macro’ issues.

There can be no title that effectively and informatively embraces all the transformative/macro and holistic/personal goals. In practice, each global or national thematic policy or advocacy group can usefully retain its own aspirational terms, looking more deeply into its own area of concern. However, at education ministry level, a more integrated approach is needed so that staff are not overwhelmed by a laundry list of holistic and transformative learning objectives. What is needed at national level is to identify and prioritise specific learning goals relating to current national challenges and opportunities, at both macro and personal levels, and to find ways to include them effectively in the school programme.

A baseline study aligned to SDG 4.7 was conducted by the MGIEP, covering 22 countries. Rethinking schooling for the 21st century: education for peace, sustainable development and global citizenship produced heatmaps for the attention paid to both societal goals and personal competencies relating to these broad headings. One conclusion was that governments accepted these global norms in theory but in practice focused more on politically appreciated terms such as ‘patriotism’ and ‘employment’ (UNESCO MGIEP, 2017).24

5. Blending Crisis-Transformative and Person-Centred Learning Goals

For purposes of exposition, this paper initially separated macro (societal) level and personal level aspirations for school curricula to go beyond the content of the traditional school subjects. In principle, however, the goals all aim to bring improvements in people’s lives. The macro goals have roots in our individual empathy (or caring) for the human beings who co-exist with us on Planet Earth, most of whom we do not know. Many personal level goals are likewise empathy-based, given our need to relate well to the persons with whom we are in direct contact, which is important in itself and for our agency in bringing about wider change.

This blending of macro and personal level objectives is reflected in the important Recommendation on Education for Peace and Human Rights, International Understanding, Cooperation, Fundamental Freedoms, Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development,25 adopted by the 194 UNESCO Member States in 2023 (Bernard, 2026; Benavot et al., 2026b). Section 6 of this Recommendation calls for education that is transformative, building a strong foundation of literacy and numeracy and enabling the development of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviours such as those below (as abbreviated and categorised by the author):

Cognitive

(a)

Analytical and critical thinking: Applied to complex issues, at local, national, regional and global levels;

(b)

Anticipatory skills: The ability to act as agents of change and promote a peaceful, just, equal, equitable, inclusive, healthy and sustainable future for all;

Social and Emotional

(c)

Respect for diversity: The ability to understand, value and respect the equal dignity and rights of every person;

(d)

Self-awareness: The ability to reflect on one’s personal values, perceptions and actions, to know, understand and manage emotions, feel and show empathy and respect for others and for one’s role in the local, national, regional and global community;

(e)

Sense of connectedness and belonging to a common and diverse humanity and planet Earth;

(f)

Empowerment, agency and resilience: The motivation, confidence and ability to act and respond effectively to challenges at local, national, regional and global levels;

(g)

Decision-making skills: The ability to evaluate the impact of actions and make decisions using available information from diverse and reliable sources;

(h)

Collaborative skills: The ability to effectively communicate feelings and opinions in a constructive manner and engage in collaborative interactions, participatory planning and shared problem-solving;

Agency (Action)

(i)

Adaptive and creative skills: The capacity to adapt, engage, create, innovate, and thrive in a fast-evolving environment;

(j)

Citizenship skills: The ability to act ethically and responsibly and to fully participate in civic and social life, in a digital era and in a local, national and global context;

(k)

Peaceful conflict resolution and transformation skills: The ability to contribute to the prevention, mediation and resolution of conflicts and end cycles of violence and hostility;

(l)

Media and information literacy, communication and digital skills: The ability to critically evaluate, ethically produce, use and disseminate information and knowledge and to combat disinformation and misinformation, hate speech, harmful content and online abuse and exploitation.

Later in the Recommendation, brief suggestions are offered on how to integrate these student competencies and the transformative learning themes into different curriculum areas. At the country level, the Recommendation can serve as a stimulus to policy and curriculum discussions (UNESCO, 2025c). For a recent example of matrices blending thematic cognitive, social emotional, and behavioural dimensions of proposed learning outcomes, across subject areas, see Greening curriculum guidance (UNESCO, 2024b).

Developing Agency26

Holistic education discourse often refers to the development of ‘agency’, referring to the ability and motivation to act constructively. This is close to the concept of self-efficacy, a capability to apply cognitive, social and behavioural skills to achieve specific personal or collective purposes (Bandura, 1982, 2000). The concept of agency is important in bringing social and emotional learning together with cognitive skills and thematic knowledge as suggested in the Recommendation27. According to OECD,

Future-ready students need to exercise agency, in their own education and throughout life. Agency implies a sense of responsibility to participate in the world and, in so doing, to influence people, events and circumstances for the better. Agency requires the ability to frame a guiding purpose and identify actions to achieve a goal.

(OECD, 2018, p. 4)

OECD (2018, 2023) describes student agency as responding to a moral, social, economic or creative context. Moral agency is defined as recognition of the needs and rights of others, and social agency students’ rights and responsibilities regarding their society. Economic agency here refers to identifying opportunities to contribute to the local, national or global economy, while creative agency is seen as the use of the imagination for artistic, practical or scientific purposes. Clearly, agency in relation to societal and personal concerns is a key goal of transformative and holistic education.

An example of the blending of student competencies and macro topics is shown in an initial plan for assessments of climate literacy tests in PISA 2029. An exemplar test asks students to compare two webpages on climate change, assessing their validity and deciding responsibly which to share on a hypothetical science news website. Social and emotional aspects are further invoked by asking students to comment on whether a ‘doomist’ or optimistic climate perspective is more likely to motivate young readers (OECD, 2025a).28

6. Modalities for Inserting Transformative and Holistic Learning Experiences

A major challenge is how to find time and means to strengthen transformative and holistic dimensions of education when curricula are already overloaded and teachers lack familiarity with these difficult-seeming new issues and approaches.

Focused stand-alone sessions are good, if feasible. In Delhi, for example, the Happiness Curriculum was widely adopted in schools, supported by teacher training and teacher manuals, being scheduled for 30 min at the start of each school day. In the US, many schools buy SEL packages which are often timetabled on a stand-alone basis, to fulfil state requirements and/or meet perceived needs. However, stand-alone subjects, such as SEL, life skills education, citizenship education, health education and such may be shown on the school timetable but not necessarily given priority by teachers if not included in high stakes examinations. The time slot may be used instead for examination subjects, if the teachers feel under pressure (Njeng’ere, 2014).

‘Carrier’ subjects can host transformative and holistic topics. Thus health education units can be included within the carrier subject of science/biology, and environmental education modules can be included within science and geography. An advantage is that the subject teachers may have relevant foundational knowledge, and the numbers of teachers to be given special training are less. And there may be no need for an additional timetable slot (but condensation or replacement of some previous content is then needed to avoid further curriculum overload).

‘Integration’ of transformative and holistic topics/skills often refers to an approach whereby they are not introduced in a separate module or unit, but are included as topics across the body of several or all school subjects. Thus, students would—in principle—encounter important content related to societal and environmental challenges and personal engagement repeatedly across subject areas but from different perspectives. In practice, however, integration may result in dilution of messaging and failure to impinge on student awareness or generate commitment.

Ideally, all these approaches would be used. Students would have explicit stand-alone subjects (or modules within carrier subjects) in which to learn the new competencies and internalise helpful attitudes and values. This learning would be reinforced when encountered in other subjects in a more integrated fashion. The use of clubs is an important complementary option, since students may identify more with an ideal which is presented as an option, and can share their expertise with other students during school exhibitions, etc.29 Service learning can provide the opportunity to test empathy and SEL skills in real-world settings, though the logistics can be difficult for a large school. A ‘whole school’ focus on the most relevant transformative and holistic skills can also be reflected in daily school or class gatherings, as well as peer counselling or peer mediation arrangements.30

7. Implementation

Even when a policy for transformative and holistic education has been adopted by national decision-makers, there is a huge problem of implementation. Syllabi and textbooks are changed only at intervals, and there are many barriers to innovation. The teaching force has a wide age range, with older teachers often less familiar with modern trends, and with younger teachers sometimes obliged to conform; teachers maybe also have to work extra jobs as well as attend to family and household duties. Examination boards may have a major influence on what is taught and may not be attuned to the concerns under discussion here.

A global online teacher survey conducted by UNESCO and Education International (2021) on the implementation of ESD and GCED showed respondents’ lack of confidence in teaching new perspectives, as well as lack of ESD and GCED teaching materials and resources, lack of curriculum requirements for ESD and GCED, overcrowded curriculum, and insufficient teacher training in these areas. Studies by a research network in the Asia Pacific region likewise noted challenges to the teaching of transversal competencies, such as lack of teacher preparation, teachers’ questions on definitional clarity, lack of classroom time for needed in-depth activities, high teacher workload and budgetary limitations (UNESCO, 2016b). Vinh and Hanh (2020) describe constraints in integration of education for global citizenship in Vietnam, including crowded classrooms and teachers’ lack of familiarity with the required topics and pedagogy. Likewise, in Kenya, a study of the introduction of the ‘competency-based curriculum’ found barriers such as lack of resources (textbooks, computers, teachers), lack of training of teachers on the new curriculum, inadequate infrastructure, negative attitudes among teachers and parents to the new curriculum, and confusion and uncertainty about the new curriculum (Materea, 2024). Some approaches to these implementation problems, as regards curriculum, syllabi, teaching/learning resources, teacher training, and assessment, are discussed below.

7.1. Action on Curriculum: Reflection of Transformative and Holistic Learning Goals in the Curriculum Framework, Syllabi and Textbooks

Implementation requires a well-developed process for moving from generalised goals and policies to specifics. Syllabi and textbooks often fail to sufficiently incorporate the personal and societal learning goals discussed here (Greaney, 2006; GEM Report, 2016). In a global study of ‘breadth of skills’, using education ministry websites, only eleven countries’ policy documents indicated how specific skills were expected to develop over time and across different education levels (Care et al., 2016). In a review by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE, 2020) of ‘21st century skills’ in the education sector plans of 15 partner countries, there were multiple policy references to ICT skills, but only a few references to goals such as personal and social responsibility (7), critical thinking/problem-solving/decision-making (5) or citizenship (5); such skills were seldom found in actual grant agreements with country partners. Reviewing the implementation of selected 21st century/transversal skills in the Philippines, Scoular (2020, p. 14) noted that ‘fewer skills were explicitly outlined in the curriculum than would be anticipated based on the primary policy documents of the country.’

When the aim is to address environmental, societal and personal challenges across subject areas, examples of innovative content and key messages from within the country should be assembled before new textbooks are developed (NCERT, 2005). Time and space must be allocated for collaborations to prioritise new content and approaches, subject by subject and according to age groups. Involvement of a wide range of stakeholders enables writers to access perspectives from across the country and across socio-economic and cultural groups (Smith, 2015). Training and support of syllabus and textbook writers are then needed.

Hirsch-Ayari et al. (2019) describe the collaborative development of contextualised early years reading materials in Afghanistan, centred around social and emotional learning. Smart (2019) describes a collaborative process through which a new approach to social studies textbooks was developed in Bangladesh: primary school textbooks were designed in ways that balanced reading load and the practice of higher cognitive and socio-emotional skills. The textbooks explicitly included topics such as tolerance and offered structured support to teachers and students in discussing values and applying relevant skills. Smart likewise describes materials developed through teamwork with national textbook writers in Tonga, where local social and emotional values and content suited to the Pacific region were created for mother tongue learning in lower primary school (Smart et al., 2026).

If writers are not first empowered and given time to consider explicitly the broader curriculum goals and skills under discussion here, gaps may be left even in good quality materials (Dien & Vinh, 2023; Ngoc & Vinh, 2023; Vinh & Lien, 2026). A first step may be for specialists in aspects of transformative and holistic learning to build capacity and interest among colleagues in a national curriculum centre, as with the engagements of the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development with the UNESCO Asia Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) global citizenship education programming and the Arigatou Foundation’s ‘learning to live together’ materials. There may be collaboration with the education ministry itself as, for example, with the Nansen Dialogue Centre initiatives for peace education in Serbia.31

Cross-checking for representation of gender equality (qualitative and quantitative) in textbook graphics and examples is vital (UNESCO, 2009; UNESCO & Viet Nam Ministry of Education and Training, 2010; Vu & Thuy, 2020), both when examining existing textbooks for gaps and when reviewing drafts of new materials. Similar cross-checking is needed for other transformative themes and holistic competencies (as illustrated in RTI International, 2015, for example). A study of environmental content in science and social science curricula found that cognitive learning was much more prevalent than social and emotional or action-oriented learning across environment, sustainability and climate change content in science and social science curricula (McKenzie & Benavot, 2024, pp. 40–42). Likewise, a global study of contemporary biology textbooks indicated that ‘they do not sufficiently emphasise the importance of individual and social behaviour change in addressing environmental challenges’ (Vydra & Kováčik, 2025).

National consultation and collaboration to identify relevant transformative and holistic content will be important as education ministries develop contextualised content for ‘AI literacy’. Evolving curriculum frameworks for media and AI literacy set out stages from introductory to advanced, as in UNESCO’s detailed sets of AI learning objectives for students (UNESCO, 2025a). They include tasks such as distinguishing truth from misrepresentation and addressing ethical issues. As noted in the UNESCO guide, the AI curriculum should support students in their role as citizens:

Citizenship in the AI era:

Students are expected to critically understand the impact of AI on human societies and to promote responsible and inclusive design and use of AI for sustainable development. They should have an awareness of their civic and social responsibility as citizens in the era of AI. Students are also expected to develop a desire to continue learning about, and using, AI throughout their lives to support self-actualisation.

(UNESCO, 2025a, p. 22)

Further, if ‘AI textbooks’ are developed for other subjects, the writers should find ways to help teachers introduce contextualised examples relating to SEL and transformative competencies.32

7.2. Action on Teacher Training, Professional Development and Support for Transformative and Holistic Education

Given the large size of a national teaching force and its wide range of age and professionalisation, the challenges of preparing and supporting teachers in the innovations discussed here are immense (Noe, 2026). One approach is to build support for teachers into the new iterations of teaching and learning resources such as textbooks. Pre-service training provides an opportunity to gradually move forward, although new teachers are often under the supervision of traditionally minded superiors. In-service teacher education is difficult to achieve at scale, although social media and LLMs may make this easier, if ways can be found to engage teachers in this additional workload.

• Teacher support through teaching/learning resources:

Loh (2020) cites the STELLAR programme for English language teaching in Singapore, developed to provide unit-specific guidelines and suggestions for teaching steps and language activities in the classroom: ‘STELLAR incorporated social and emotional learning which, with values, constitutes the core of the national framework for 21st century skills and student competencies’. Smart is a leading advocate of this approach, reflected in his work cited above, as is Ianuzzi (Jeng et al., 2023). They often suggest a fairly standardised sequence of class activities, similar in each chapter of a textbook, to give familiarity. Their textbook model often proposes activities such as discussion in pairs, which are practicable even in overcrowded Global South classrooms.

• Incorporation in pre-service training:

As regards pre-service training, there is a need to clearly show the linkage between SEL and classroom management. When circumstances permit, the trainees may follow a set of holistic course modules throughout their years of study, as happened in Sierra Leone teacher training colleges under an ‘emerging issues’ programme supported by UNICEF and Sierra Leone Ministry of Education (2008), broadened from a life-skills-based peace education programme developed for refugee schools in Kenya (INEE et al., 2005). At the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, ‘student teachers take a mandatory course on classroom management with an emphasis on socio-emotional competencies development. Also, this programme includes the discussion of classroom management issues during the practice supervision, as well as the integration of citizenship and socio-emotional competencies in its curriculum design course’ (Bustamente et al., 2020). Njihia et al. (2025) describe the compulsory inclusion of an ESD and GCED module in pre-service education at Kenyatta University.33

Also relevant is the initiative in Colombia to develop a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) with a blended component on classroom climate and socio-emotional competencies, available for other universities and teacher colleges to integrate into their own curricula (Bustamente et al., 2020).

• In-service teacher support:

In-service teacher training programmes can be expensive to organise at scale, meaning that many existing teachers face educational innovation without sufficient preparation. Yet a teacher who is asked to teach about greenhouse gases or anger management or respect for diversity without sufficient exposure to the underlying ideas and values will perhaps tend to move on quickly rather than explore such unfamiliar concepts and practices in depth. Interestingly, in-service training may lead to a greater awareness by teachers’ of their limited knowledge (Kitamura & Sasaki, 2026; Pangilinan et al., 2026). It is important to study the meanings that teachers associate with new learning content and approaches in this area (DeJaeghere et al., 2026).

In the case with which the author is most familiar, refugee teachers recruited to teach a life-skills-based peace education programme in refugee schools in Kenya were required to attend the adult peace education course (36 h) to learn and identify with the key concepts before receiving in-service training on the specifics of the school peace education curriculum and pedagogy during each school vacation during their first year in post (Baxter, 2013). Such substantial exposure is desirable if a teacher is to provide leadership in transformative and holistic curriculum.34

• Teacher training and support in the digital era:

New possibilities for practising teachers have arisen using social media channels for trainings and teacher mutual support groups, as well as platforms of materials and examples of good practice (see, D’Angelo et al. (2022) for a comprehensive review of tech-supported teacher professional development and support, and Mendenhall et al. (2018) for the use of mobile phones in support of teachers in refugee camps).

Relevant at this time to embedding values and critical thinking in curriculum is a new UNESCO framework for teacher competencies in AI, which sets out matrices which can be helpful in planning future teacher education goals. Teacher competencies include (first) ‘Human-centred agency’ with learning goals such as ‘Foster critical thinking on AI by organising teachers to discuss and take perspectives on the dilemma of benefits offered by AI versus the risks of diminishing human autonomy and human agency.’ The ethical competency is framed as ‘Teachers have a basic understanding of ethical issues surrounding AI and of the principles required for ethical human–AI interactions including protection of human rights, human agency, promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity, inclusion and environmental sustainability.’ Teachers are expected to ‘Adopt an ethical perspective on the use of AI in schools based on an understanding of multiple dilemmas they pose around privacy, human agency, equity, inclusion, local cultures and languages, and climate change’ (UNESCO, 2025b, pp. 28–29).

According to CASEL, ‘by centering professional development on both the human and technical aspects of AI, educators will be better prepared to support students’ holistic development and prepare them for the complex challenges of navigating a future enhanced by AI.’35 For a case study of teachers’ constructive responses to AI in Indonesia and Kazakhstan, and suggested helpful frameworks, see Wray (2026).

7.3. Action for Aligning Assessment and Public Examinations with Transformative and Holistic Goals

As noted above, teachers may neglect new activities that do not contribute to students’ examination results, since they are under pressure from families and students in this regard. However, where an examination board is linked to a national curriculum centre, there may be the possibility of including its specialists in the development of new curricula, syllabi and textbooks/learning resources. Small changes can be made informally: the author recalls an English language examiner in Uganda telling her that she simply ‘let it be known’ that the upcoming English exams would include a question on how to write a letter to a government department, after complaints that this skill was lacking. Methods for integrating 21st century skills into assessment questions in locally appropriate ways were examined in three Asian countries under a Brookings Institute project (Care et al., 2020). In fact, small changes can be made in fairly conventional examination questions, so that wider dimensions of learning can be included.36

Sinclair (2008) suggests that social desirability bias would render direct examination questions about values meaningless, especially in high stakes examinations and also in settings where students would suffer if their teachers saw them express views they disapproved of. In the OECD survey of global competencies in OECD and other countries, students were tested on cognitive skills but were given (unmarked) freedom of expression on a separate attitudinal questionnaire (Schleicher, 2026). Hopefully, if students have mastered the subject matter content of a transformative topic, such as sea level rise or flooding due to global warming, they will also have picked up some element of empathy for those adversely affected, provided that there was a genuine class or pair-work discussion of what these circumstances entail. Teenagers are quite often idealistic and can work out for themselves that it is horrific if one’s home is regularly flooded or there is ethnic conflict. Indeed, they often express a desire to learn more about current events such as conflict or other urgent issues. Group work can help with the values dimensions, including with shared products not assessed individually (Acharya, 2025). For the use of the Delphi method to clarify cognitive and non-cognitive learning objectives for student assessment in the area of peace education in particular, see Bilagher (2019).

7.4. Issues of Scale

It is important to draw upon local knowledge and culture, if the curriculum is to connect with the students. However, much more is possible in small-scale innovations, led by committed and idealistic educators and engaging local stakeholders, than can be replicated in a short time frame at the national level. In an earlier review, the author made the distinction between ‘high intensity’ small-scale innovations and more modest ‘wide outreach’ innovations (Sinclair, 2013). For government systems, long-term improvement requires sustainable modest changes that teachers and families can welcome or at least accommodate. The potential of textbooks as carriers of SDG Target 4.7 themes and SEL reflects this idea of ‘wide outreach’, in that textbooks may be in the hands of most teachers and hopefully students, at least in more centralised systems in which textbooks are still the de facto curriculum.

A ‘high intensity’ initiative can achieve deep learning and commitment that are difficult to replicate at scale, but it may have high intrinsic value to those involved. Small-scale programmes may also constitute a source of content for adding nationally relevant examples to textbooks and for teacher support.37

The advent of low-cost digital communications using digital platforms may offer new opportunities for sharing experiences and materials at scale, while AI tools may reduce the time needed for organising processes and content for distance collaboration and networking.38

8. Discussion: Forming and Implementing National Blends of Transformative and Holistic Education

What can be done to move the needle, to gain traction at the system and school level? The examples presented here suggest that the many skills, themes and values represented in global discourse on holistic and transformative curriculum should be reviewed, contextualised and prioritised in specific exercises at country level, given the widely different contexts across the globe. Some key actions are as follows:

Strengthening, integrating and prioritising transformative and holistic learning goals in the national curriculum framework. The aim is to identify key ‘take-away’ holistic and transformative learnings for national school-leavers and to chart their prior development along the K-12 pathway. This review would take both international and updated national policy commitments under the various transformative and holistic headings discussed above, use these as checklists, and develop an integrated approach aligned with the national context and priorities. National policy statements can provide stimulus and options for both small-scale innovation and system-wide initiatives.

Strengthening the presence of transformative and holistic learning objectives in national syllabi. It is important to develop charts showing national holistic and transformative learning objectives by age groups (K-12) and across subjects, bearing in mind that the time allocation for new content or activities is very limited. These charts or lists can be shared with syllabus writers, textbook writers, teacher trainers and examiners.

Strengthening writers’ capacity and action for integration of transformative and holistic learning objectives in national textbooks and other learning resources. Preparation of new structures and content of textbooks and other teaching/learning resources requires specialist support for writers, and time and space to identify needs and examples of relevant activities across the nation, to embed in special course units or use while reconfiguring existing subject content. Piloting of new types of material is important, as is avoiding curriculum overload. The NISSEM group suggests that training and supporting textbook writers for embedding transformative and holistic elements in school materials is a missing link in implementation of global and national policies (which typically focus on teachers and on assessment). As per the NISSEM Statement,

curriculum developers, textbook writers, and publishers need time and support to research, absorb, contextualise, and integrate SEL content, life skills, and priority SDG 4.7 themes and values, taking note of timetable constraints.39

Major changes to develop syllabi and materials for introducing transformative and holistic topics and skills in a specific country thus require determined leadership, dedicated staff time, and mental as well as physical space, to develop new approaches and content.

There should be timely inclusion of transformative and holistic learning content in AI literacy curricula for schools, currently under development in many settings.

Strengthening the presence of transformative and holistic learning objectives in national teacher training and support. Training of pre-service teachers can induct them into the values and specifics of transformative and holistic learning goals and values relevant to their country, ideally through a mandatory component in their course of studies. SEL skills including conflict management can be integrated with classroom management. In-service training is more difficult, given the resource requirements for reaching the large teaching force, but the use of groups such as WhatsApp and AI-enabled resource platforms with exemplar materials may help.

Strengthening the reflection of transformative and holistic learning objectives in student assessments/national examinations. Examination board staff may ideally participate in curriculum discussions on holistic and transformative learning, and adapt questions in high stakes examinations to reflect ongoing reforms in this area.

9. Reflections and Conclusions

In the past, there has been some reluctance of policy-makers to engage with non-traditional subject content; the focus has been on literacy, numeracy and academic learning. Champions of innovation have faced an uphill battle (Chabbott, 2019; Batton, 2019). In the age of AI, however, there is increasing recognition that human values need active support and that employers value the human skills of leadership, teamwork and ethical perspectives. These qualities are also important in civil society organisations and communities. Beyond this, we need to develop human values led by empathy to guide our personal lives (offline and online) and to help us appreciate the humanity of our neighbours and of the other eight billion people on the planet—as well as our co-existence with other species.

In terms of the contribution of the education sector, we should present education leaders with coherent and integrated approaches which they can act upon (see, for example, Sinclair, 2022, 2025; CUPA, 2025; Williams et al., 2026).

It will not be easy to keep human ideals at the centre of schooling in the coming period. Nevertheless, every effort must be made to ensure that digital resources and AI do not shrink the human dimension but are used to support learning for human flourishing. As one observer commented recently,

Critically, we view AI as a complement to human ingenuity, embedded into how we serve clients and our communities. Younger workers entering financial services or community development need to learn how to leverage these technologies without losing the human element that AI does not replace: collaboration, leadership, empathy, and adaptability. Those who learn to do both today will be best positioned for the opportunities tomorrow.40

Some Suggestions for the Coming Years

• Research into the integration of social and emotional learning, life skills, and values, as well as societal and environmental concerns, into national syllabi, textbooks, teacher training and national examinations for key subjects, including those for AI when taught as a subject.
• Ongoing monitoring of, and action research into, the transformative/holistic aspects of curriculum as evidenced in assessments and as experienced by students. Feedback from school graduates, teachers and families as well as civil society organisations, to help maintain relevance, given the rapid pace of changes in technology, economic forces and society.
• AI-enabled local, national and international networking by education leaders, innovators and researchers, together with processes for sharing teaching and learning resources, to inject dynamism into education for human flourishing and planetary stewardship.