82 Examples of Education Goals

John Spacey, January 24, 2020

Education goals are the aim or purpose of an education system, school, program, teacher or student. These are often set as part of the mission statement of an institution or as part of professional and personal reflection on the part of teachers and students themselves. The following are common examples of education goals.

Abilities	Act Local
Adaptability	Agents of Change
Art for Art's Sake	Attention to Detail
Big Picture Thinking	Challenging Assumptions
Character	Civility
Communication Skills	Community Engagement
Competencies	Composition
Comradery	Connectedness
Craft	Creative Tension
Creativity	Critical Thinking
Cultural Capital	Culture
Debate	Decision Making
Design Thinking	Diversity
Employability	Entrepreneurship
Epic Meaning	Experience
Experimentation	Free Speech
Freedom	Fun
Health & Safety	Imagination
Improvisation	Independent Thinking
Innovation	Integrity
Intellectual Courage	Know-how
Knowledge	Leadership
Learning to Learn	Management Skills
Mastery	Moral Courage
Negotiation Skills	Peak Experiences
Persistence	Personal Presence
Personal Resilience	Physical Fitness
Play	Problem Solving
Professional Certification	Rational Thought
Refinement	Reflective Thinking
Relational Capital	Research
Self-Direction	Self-Esteem
Shared Experiences	Skills
Social Connections	Social Skills
Socialization	Spirituality
Storytelling	Strategic Thinking
Sustainability	Systems Thinking
Talent	Think Global
Time Management	Tolerance for Ambiguity
Tolerance for Disagreement	Tradition
Unlearning	Values

Critical Thinking vs Indoctrination

Schools may either encourage students to bravely challenge ideas or attempt to indoctrinate them with "correct" thinking, behavior and speech.

Tradition vs Revolution

A school may be aligned to continuing or overthrowing traditions. Alternatively, it may be neutral as in the case of schools based on critical thinking.

Safety vs Risk Taking

Schools may seek to heavily protect students or may encourage calculated risk taking that builds personal resilience. For example, many sports have risks but are also viewed as important experiences that can build character, competitive spirit and a sense of teamwork and accomplishment.

Freedom vs Harmony

Schools may embrace freedom such as free speech or may enforce strict rules and controls in the name of group harmony. The later approach may create trained incapacity whereby an individual can't function above the level of groupthink or strict rules & regulations.

Learning vs Politics

Schools may be viewed as places of ideas that are independent from politics. Alternatively, they may be viewed as infrastructure for political change often aligned to a particular agenda. For example, the goals of schools commonly mention "improving" the world.

Cultivation of the Individual vs Human Capital

Schools may aim to cultivate the individual to help them realize and refine talents. Alternatively, they may aim to produce standardized human capital for a particular role in the economy.

Elitist vs Egalitarian

Schools may aim to provide an environment that allows an elite to separate themselves from anyone who lacks their cultural capital. Alternatively, they may aim to serve a need for learning by teaching students regardless of their social status.