Building trust through education

Education plays a vital role in fostering trust – both in institutions and among individuals. It does so by developing foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy, nurturing the values and attitudes needed for democratic participation, and ensuring that education institutions themselves earn and sustain learners’ trust. Recent global developments show why this is a pivotal moment for trust. Beyond external pressures, many democracies today are facing internal challenges, such as declining voter turnout, widening inequality, and increasing fragmentation. Ideological divides can fuel both political and affective polarisation, where people begin to strongly distrust, and even dislike, those associated with opposing views. This erosion of trust weakens the threads that bind societies together, slowing innovation and undermining collective problem-solving. Education offers powerful tools to counteract these tendencies and reinforce the common thread of trust.