INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN ENGINEERING,
MANAGEMENT & APPLIED SCIENCE (IJLTEMAS)
ISSN 2278-2540 | DOI: 10.51583/IJLTEMAS | Volume XIV, Issue XI, November 2025
The Caring Transformation of National Education: Opportunities,
Challenges, and Changes
Dr. Sujan Patel
Associate Professor, Department of Education, Madhav University.
Received: 07 December 2025; Accepted: 14 December 2025; Published: 22 December 2025
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted all aspects of national education. It has not only highlighted
the inadequacies of existing care arrangements but also spurred new care demands. Policymakers and
educational institutions increasingly recognize the need to more effectively understand and support the well-
being of their domestic students and provide them with more comprehensive care. This paper draws on theories
of social material care to explore the possibility of using care as a guiding principle to steer national education
in a more productive direction. The core argument is that a focus on care is crucial for promoting the well-being
of international students and creating a more effective institutional environment for attracting, retaining, and
supporting them. Furthermore, it is essential for redefining and achieving the grand goals of national education
itself. This paper demonstrates these points through three "drafts," illustrating how a focus on care can reshape
international education policy and institutional support and point to new directions for research on international
student mobility.
Keywords: Happiness, overhaul; nationwide, education; national apprentices; higher education
Introduction: The need for greater student care in national education has perhaps never been more urgent.
Researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have demonstrated that students
in these countries are particularly vulnerable in areas such as mental health, racial discrimination, classroom
learning challenges, and finding jobs related to their professions after graduation (Guo & Guo, 2017; Heng,
2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these difficulties and introduced new challenges (Gomes &
Forbes-Mewett, 2021; Mittelmeier & Cockayne, 2022). In particular, the shift to online learning has presented
educators with new challenges, requiring them to implement teaching methods that foster engagement among
students from diverse backgrounds (Aitchison et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2022; Naylor & Nyanjom, 2021). This
has also made it more difficult for educators and educational institutions to understand the care needs of their
students (Gravett et al., 2021). Beyond the operations of educational institutions themselves, the current era of
globalization is accompanied by catastrophic climate change, increasing inequality, war, and authoritarianism
(Ilieva et al., 2014; Silova, 2021). All these processes underscore the urgent need for national education to foster
positive interpersonal relationships and meaningful connections, and to create conditions that foster greater care
for humanity, other species, and the environment.
This paper explores the possibility of promoting well-being and guiding national education in a more productive
direction by using care as a guiding principle. It draws on the sociometrical theory of care, which examines how
interpersonal relationships are interwoven with space, place, and environment, and how these interweaving
interacts with objects, bodies, and materiality. In the educational space, this means paying attention to how the
ever-changing combination of human and non-human actors shapes learning, teaching, and connection both
inside and outside the classroom (Fenwick & Landri, 2012; Gourlay, 2017; Gravet et al., 2021). The central
argument of this paper is that focusing on care is crucial for promoting student well-being and creating an
institutional environment that more effectively attracts, retains, and supports students. Moreover, it is essential
for redefining and achieving the grand goals of national education itself. Therefore, the commitment to valuing
education lies not only in its potential to “revive the industry” but also in its ability to open up new possibilities
and directions for national education.
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