ABSTRACT
Education has a crucial contribution to make as late-twentieth-century society enters a period of historic transformation. Rationality presupposes public dispositions of co-operation and interdependence which follow from qualities of relationship and shared understanding in society and the polity. The relations between central and local government should be guided by the principle of progressive decentralization in order to allow people to participate more fully in the government of their society. Integration of service disciplines rather than specialization should inform the structuring of government of education at all levels. The prime responsibility of institutions as always is to encourage and enable personal development. The need for strong local government, however, derives from an understanding of the task of educating in the modern world as well as the demands of democratic accountability for a learning society. The distribution of powers and responsibilities to each tier of government provides the conditions both for individual progress and learning in the community.
