JOURNAL OF CHRI STIAN ED UCATION, pers 88, April 1987 PERSON-CENTRED EDUCATION: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR AIM S, CURRICULA, AND VAWES* P HI LIP J. H UGHES Researche Christian Research Association, Wangaratta, Victoria A ims of Education One of the major changes in our society, perhaps in Western societies in general, over the last 50 years has been a loosening of structure. The positions people hold in the social structure, the roles which accompany those positions, and the hierarchy of positions within society, have become less important in defining the structure of society. The individual has become more important! In the past, a major source of a person's prestige and identity was the position that person attained. Whether one was a teacher, a nurs a minister of religion, or a wif one was known by one's position. People received some social recognition for their position and were evaluated in terms of how well they performed according to the expectations that accompanied that position. In order to establish an identity in society, one had to establish oneself in a particular position. While people could gain some recognition for fulfill- ing a position's expectations well, there was a certain hierarchy of positions. One climbed the social ladder by attaining a position further up the hierarchy. Today, people are less concerned about positions. They gain less of their social recognition from their performance in a particular social role and more of their social recognition from their individualistic contribution to society. This movement in society is illustrated in the facts that there is less emphasis on uniforms and that less pride is taken in wearing them. Uniformed organizations for youth have virtually disappeared, apart from schools, and even schools have tended to relax their demands about uniform. There is also less use of titles when talking with people or even writing about them; and the habit of including a person's degrees in an address on a letter has virtually vanished. When a speaker is introduced, quite frequently that person will not be introduced by title or by position or occupation. What is important is that person's contribution to the situation as an individual, not as a "headmaster" or as "minister" or whatever position is held. * This paper was first presented as an address to the Wangaratta District Heads of Schools' Association in Wangaratta on 27 June, 1985.