A common good is something that benefits all of society. While governments are legally obliged to deliver education to their citizens, a multitude of private actors are doing so as well. Although this helps some countries to provide more educational services, concerns abound regarding the extent to which non-state actors are profit-making enterprises with low regard for quality or support for disadvantaged groups.

National priorities and international guidance have pointed to the need not only for universal elementary education providing basic literacy and numeracy proficiency, but also for education for sustainable development that encourages knowledge-sharing and that fosters relevant skills and values.

Educational initiatives that attempt to nurture insight leading to greater awareness, trust and respect are increasing. These initiatives focus on socioemotional learning that provide much of the motivation for living sustainably.

Education as a global common good

In addition to being seen as a means of achieving personal and national progress, and as a part of the debates in the 1990s about sustainable development, the principle of education as a common good was relaunched as a humanistic vision rather than a utilitarian or economic one. Education was defined as a process to help individuals and communities develop their personal and collective potential for positive, shared growth. Emphasis was placed on the cultivation of knowledge and skills not only for the individual but also for the mutual interests of society. Considering education as a common good meant that it was an essential part of a society's infrastructure and should be offered to all individuals from pre-primary age until old age, whether or not they had special needs.

Diverse providers

SDG4 builds upon the idea of education as a common good and calls for every country to have 12 years of free, public primary and secondary school of which at least nine years are compulsory. Providing and strengthening education is identified as a responsibility primarily of the state but also of private investors and civil society organizations. While 89 per cent of those questioned in global surveys in 2020 responded that the main responsibility for providing education rested with governments, acceptance of the role of non-state actors as providers of educational services has been growing (UNESCO 2021b).