The PIMA Bulletin Number 25 for July 2019 can now be read in full below.

This month PIMA enters a new phase of activity led by a new Governing Committee, and we review and reflect on progress and future directions. The world which we occupy and try to serve is moving deeper into a set of crises, principally ecological but also social and political. These merit the old term ‘perfect storm’; the new term Extinction; and the renaming of global warming as global heating. 

Old practices, norms and assumptions seem to crumble in the face of an explosion of populist authoritarian and aggressive me-first nationalism. The attempt at global governance, put in place following the Second World War and centred on the United Nations, is being partly dismantled and often ignored. Ethical human rights-based purposes underlying 20^th century democratic arrangements are freely put aside. The dark side of free-trade economics becomes more obvious. The cultural base of traditional values seems to be weakening in many countries; and it is far from clear how civil society and lifelong citizenship education for balanced work and community oriented learning can win the political and popular support needed.

As usual, this issue of the Bulletin looks first and mainly at the world outside formal education. It considers aspects of multi-faceted and deepening crisis, and the place of lifelong and civil society education in acting on it. Arguably, the notes on ‘tertiary education’ could belong in this ‘critical issues’ section.

The theme of anniversaries, which we continue in this number, is not mere nostalgia; rather it invites reflection on steps taken and directions to head in today. We then look inward to PIMA’s own planning and development, including a new Group of the new Committee charged with considering how the Bulletin and other means of dissemination can better enhance the impact of the PIMA Network.

First some words from Norman Longworth that links several of the first articles that follow.

All the articles above are featured in full in the Bulletin below...