Best to snub leader with lively goal for education (8)
I believe the answer is:
literacy
'for education' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for literacy that I've seen before include "Learning" , "The 3 Rs" , "Ability to read and write" , "Writer's skill" , "Ability to use language proficiently" .)