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Perhaps we should start with what we mean by “schooling”. Does the term restrict us to the school/learning institution or are we referring to the holistic life long process of learning and development? To a great extent, “schooling” is/should be the product of our own expectations of the type of society that we want for our children now and for future generations. As someone said in an earlier posting, we get what we demand, and so perhaps it is our own role within civil society that demands critical reflection. From my own experience, parents, guardians and community members, globally, tend to take on the role of passive observers of State education systems. This is for a range of different socio-economic, cultural and political reasons, including apathy. The absence of articulated expectations of what type of ‘schooling’ we expect/want for our children allows the State to take on the unquestioned lead in moulding the recipients of ‘schooling’ into passive citizens who tend only to question and make demands when the impact of actions have a direct negative impact at the individual and family level. As part of my own personal research, the questions and answers that I am exploring in the context of Iceland are around what constitutes/creates engagement of civil society to critically reflect on critical national level issues and develops collective and active responses? Many argue that an individualistic response is just human nature but is it? Or is it a result of conditioning from a ‘schooling’ experience that has somehow become equated with achievement of economic wealth and productivity, which reproduce social inequalities rather than a rich and creative process for “promoting a culture of peace, respect and understanding”(Maria Ron Balsera 12/11/2009). One of my key questions then is how civil society can become engaged in influencing/developing education processes that can facilitate social transformation leading to a more equitable distribution of resources, both nationally and globally; and what key components/standards would this education process be comprised of/guided by? I have already started to gather data to inform my response from the wealth of experiences and knowledge from these posts, so thank you. I really do believe that this type of forum can become part of the solution in regards to it acting as an excellent example of constructive and collective dialogue that can be used to engage; to develop; and to influence our own actions – the capacity to generate change is within us all and this capacity will continue once this forum comes to an end.