Latest News

Education leaders panel discuss the moral, structural and human development case for education transformation

The dynamic opening discussion for Education Futures: Shaping a New Education Story saw panellists focusing on the case for transformation. The structure of the session and the questions the panellists addressed had come out of the online preparatory sessions two weeks ago. The discussion was framed as a big picture opening discussion focused on the moral, structural and human development case for education transformation. 

Caireen Goodard, director of impact at Big Change, celebrated poet and spoken-word artist George Mpanga (George the Poet), and UNESCO senior project officer Noah Sobe spoke on a panel moderated by Salzburg Global’s Dominic Regester, dissecting questions related to the discussion topic: the case for transformation.

A broad topic, all the speakers considered different facets of how there is an increasing urgency around the need for education transformation. 

Caireen highlighted the ways in which transformation remains a ‘human endeavour’, emphasizing that thinking about transformation requires a long-term vision. She spoke to examples of other participants’ work in this space, particularly Dream a Dream’s collaboration with the government of Delhi in India around the Happiness Curriculum run by, a program now integrated into the syllabus that emphasizes students’ mental health and holistic well-being. 

This moved the conversation into a discussion about political economy and the kinds of cross sectoral partnerships that are needed. Noah said that “Education is deeply cultural, social, and economic’ – there will be a political economy component involved in education transformation and those advocating for it need to understand this. Thinking more broadly will equip stakeholders in education to come up with ways that work better overall. “To change how we do school and education, we need to change why we do school and education,” he said. Instead of discarding things that may not be working, look at ways to reimagine them. “We are not flipping the dinosaur, but changing the shape of it.” 

George drew on his own experiences to highlight that school needs to reflect the multiple identities and histories of the population. “If you can’t get to the crux of what is not making sense, then it feels like school is distracting you from the real questions,” he said. George suggested that a blend of structured and unstructured learning, which invites students to engage with all parts of their identities and provide feedback based on that, will lead to more engaged students who are able to reconcile all parts of themselves at school, without having to separate who they are from what they do.