Welcome to Conrad Hughes' website. You will find gathered here writings on challenges facing education in the 21st Century. I write about assessment, critical thinking, passion for learning, empathy, curiosity, international education and other related issues. Running through my books and papers are three core convictions:

1. Humanity, at its most powerful and beautiful instance, cannot be outsourced by algorithms as it is driven by extraordinary forces,  namely conceptual understanding, motivation and passion, compassion for others, wisdom and character. These traits must be enhanced in the education we design as we look for solutions to the planet's demise and pick our way through a turbulent field of waning biocapacity, fast-approaching singularity, social injustice and fragmentation but also unprecedented opportunity.

2. Therefore, education in the 21st Century must go further than subject skills into deep, transferable competences such as critical and philosophical thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship, intercultural competence and collaborative problem solving; attitudes to life such as respecting differences, taking ethical decisions, respecting the planet's natural resources and sustaining a wholesome, positive approach the a future that is in our hands.

3. A sure way that educational institutions can make an impact is by having the courage to re-position assessments away from lower-order technical items towards more meaningful predictors of happiness and planetary restoration such as higher-order thinking, ethical conduct, regenerative economic practice and mindful cooperation between humans.