The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for many years.
With 1.5 billion students affected and at least 463 million unable to access distance education, it is no surprise that education inequality is growing and youth around the world are evident. is learning more slowly than expected without interrupting learning.
Children’s mental and physical health is also affected because the tuition of schools offers more than academics; they are a place to connect with peers and other adults in the community, and many people get the nutritional support they need.
The good news is that educational challenges – and specifically what to do about them – are on the global agenda, at least for the next few months.
The United Nations Secretary-General has called for 2022 as the year the United Nations General Assembly pays attention to the transformation of the post-pandemic education system with the Transformational Education Summit (TES) in September, and the global education community can come together to capitalise on this political moment.
However, to keep education on the global agenda after TES, the global education community will need to coalesce around a shared narrative on the importance of education and, more importantly, how education actors will work synergistically in education jurisdictions around the world to address the challenges at hand.
There are many important priorities competing for attention from heads of state and ministers of finance—from the climate crisis to the rise of violence and conflict, increasing economic inequality, and the spread of fake news through increasingly sophisticated technology.
Education systems that are broadly inclusive and relevant—that help develop academic, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills—are essential for addressing many of the world’s crises through climate change and digital literacy education, preparing those left out of the current pace of economic progress for the world of work, among other things.
Ensuring that this message is heard consistently by leaders in countries around the world is an essential part of converting the energy leading up to the TES into sustained change after it.
To help catalyze a discussion among the actors in the global education ecosystem to do just this—come together to make the most of this political moment for transformation—The Center for Universal Education have mapped the range of agendas and debates put forward by actors at the TES pre-meeting in Paris and beyond.
The fact that different actors carry out different agendas is an indication of the richness of the education sector, not a problem. The problem arises when educational actors compete for attention and resources in countries and jurisdictions around the world and threatens to dilute the leaders’ apparent sense of urgency, high level and disperse the energy and motivation needed to make a serious transformation in education.
Long-term change in the education system requires deep cooperation at many levels, including between parties working on complementary programs.
In the map, we see a distinction between those working on post-pandemic recovery as the most pressing priority and those working on broader transformational programs. While both are obviously necessary, it makes no sense to place one vision above the other.
The first section covers how, over a decade ago, the global education community developed a shared story of “access plus learning” to connect those most interested in the business yet to come. completion of improving access to education and those most concerned about fighting the poor. learning outcomes of those who have attended school.
The second section moves on to discuss some of the widely discussed agendas surrounding the TES process. While there are many important agendas and we cannot cover them all in this summary.
Finally, in the hope of helping to weave the debates between recovery and transformation, the final section offers three key lessons for actors in the global education ecosystem to ponder and consider for discussion. It is important to bring diverse educational components together around common priorities to ensure that this moment is not wasted and is instead used for transformational work. The real work of the education system will be supported in the years to come.
Read full report here.
