ational education systems are no longer enough.
In the historic 2022 UN General Assembly week, Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, concluded the Transforming Education Summit (TES)—the first of its kind—by underlining the urgent seriousness of the world education crisis with a vision statement and commitment to action. Guterres emphasized how we must recognize where we stand today and how education systems are no longer fit for purpose. At its worst, education has become a great divider rather than serving as a great enabler of opportunity and well-being.
In his closing vision statement, Guterres listed four key purposes of education:
- Learning to learn both traditional and contemporary skills;
- Learning to live together recognizing the requirements for sustainability and gender equality;
- Learning to do in the rapidly changing world of work which requires lifelong learning;
- Learning to be by valuing and having the capacity to live a meaningful life, to live fully, and to do no harm.
For these purposes, action was called upon on four fronts: learning environments, teacher profession, digital revolution and efficient investment.
We, three experts from different parts of the globe with long backgrounds in education, have been exchanging our views about the future of education in the aftermath of the pandemic for the past year. We have come in many ways to similar conclusions on the purposes (the “whys”) raised at TES. For the actions (the “hows”), we suggest adding two critically important elements to what was discussed at TES: 1) a concrete global vision for educational content which would include elements of a common curriculum in order to bring global-level solutions to regional, national, local and classroom levels, and 2) a requirement for global leadership in education.
The context for our proposal is the recognition of two developments. First, digital education tools have been used far more extensively since the COVID-19 pandemic, yet around half the world’s population remains without internet access–another example of inequalities that were emphasized by the pandemic. Second, during the pandemic educators around the world began developing a sense of a shared reality for perhaps the first time ever. Most education institutions shared common, often technical, challenges. Educators and policymakers everywhere were suddenly seeking answers to the same problems, creating the potential for a new level and type of sharing in practical education work such as curriculum content fit for the future of our world, as well as in recognizing the need for global leadership in the field of education.
In this three-part series, we will explore both proposals and our vision behind them in detail with references to TES as appropriate, beginning with where we are now and why urgent action is needed.
Education Haunted by its Past
Historically education systems have been developed on a national level to serve the development of nation states. The concept of “education for all” developed in the Western world alongside the rise of nationalism in the late 19th century, and the developing world has since followed a similar path. As a result, education systems are governed and developed entirely on national or state levels with little impact from outside or comparative and shared approaches, and education innovations also do not travel well.
Despite many trans-national structures across the world for various sectors of public life, education has remained nationally governed and organized without shared structures. For example, attaining EU membership requires from the applicant countries a complex legal process and harmonization of various segments of the society. Education is not part of this harmonization process. Similar examples can be found across the globe and shared elements in primary and basic education exist mainly only through assessments, of which the OECD-run PISA and PIAAC tests are probably the most well-known and broadly recognized.
However, in an increasingly globalized world where country borders hopefully continue to blur with the flow of capital, information, jobs and people, there is a need for a global vision and approach to education, as repeatedly made clear during TES and related events. The world today also faces a host of challenges that are global in nature and require a collective response from all humanity. This is the context for which education systems across the globe should prepare our young people.
A Global Education Vision
For both these reasons–common challenges we face and the intensified globalization–national education systems are not enough. We need a massive transformation in our education thinking comparable in nature and impact to the introduction of mass education 150 years ago. We urgently need a global education agenda, platforms, and leadership–all rooted in respective local contexts.
Local agency is key to a sustainable global shared approach in education. We have seen this proved in national contexts, where local participation in national reforms has been key to success. In Finland, for example, the curriculum reform process always involves all stakeholders–state, city, school leadership, and finally parents and students. In Christchurch, New Zealand, local agency is on full display through a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Nōku Te Ao charitable trust, in which the partners co-designed and are building a pā wānanga (learning village) called Te Pā o Rākaihautū. In alignment with the Ministry’s objective of better supporting Māori voice, cultural and educational values, and ways of working, the parties signed a first-of-its-kind agreement governing the working relationship and emphasizing the joint decision making, co-design, and co-construction necessary in meeting the parties’ shared goals. These are:
- Improved learning and well-being for all Māori learners and
- Better ways of working between the government and local communities.
In India, the Delhi government is bringing a massive change in the fractured education system with the leaders from the Ministry, teachers, parents and the entire community taking collective action. Implementing innovative initiatives like the Happiness Curriculum and engaging both the teachers and parents, strengthening the School Management Committees (SMCs) and entrusting accountability to parents, and empowering the teachers and school heads has transformed the schools. People are appreciating the change in the Delhi schools and its success has led to over 250,000 children shifting from private schools to Delhi public schools in the last 5 years.
The pandemic has also accelerated the need for change. As we emerge from one of the worst global pandemics, it is becoming abundantly clear that traditional education models have ill-equipped our children to respond to the current crisis. Some of the structural and systemic challenges that existed in our education systems even before the pandemic have come to the fore with new intensity. The pandemic underlined the lack of preparedness for a future that is already here. The oft-repeated assumption that children would have to face an uncertain job market and a fast-changing world a few years from now is already amidst us, and this uncertain future is changing as we speak. This is a time to self-reflect and critically examine–have we done enough to prepare our children for this unprecedented situation? That is why “learning to do,” one of Guterres’s four guiding purposes of education, is so important.
In practice, (1) we call for the development of concrete common curriculum elements to be adopted globally by 2030. This proposal would help address many issues that are both critical and faced in common across continents, impacting young people from Finland to India to New Zealand. Such an approach requires the implementation of our second suggestion, (2) global leadership, whereby countries could collectively commit to addressing global challenges by enhancing education across local contexts.
In Part 2 of this series, we will explore the elements of these components and their implications for the future of our school systems globally.
Editors’ Note: This is the first of a 3-part series exploring how a new, global vision and curriculum for education systems is key to attaining the UN’s goals for education transformation. You can find Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.
a global affairs media network
Part 1: Adopt a Global Vision, Curriculum to Meet UN Transforming Education Goals
Photo by Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash.
January 27, 2023
National education systems are no longer enough. A new, global vision and curriculum for education systems is key to attaining the UN’s goals for education transformation, write Pilvi Torsti, Vishal Talreja, and Joanne McEachen.
N
ational education systems are no longer enough.
In the historic 2022 UN General Assembly week, Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, concluded the Transforming Education Summit (TES)—the first of its kind—by underlining the urgent seriousness of the world education crisis with a vision statement and commitment to action. Guterres emphasized how we must recognize where we stand today and how education systems are no longer fit for purpose. At its worst, education has become a great divider rather than serving as a great enabler of opportunity and well-being.
In his closing vision statement, Guterres listed four key purposes of education:
- Learning to learn both traditional and contemporary skills;
- Learning to live together recognizing the requirements for sustainability and gender equality;
- Learning to do in the rapidly changing world of work which requires lifelong learning;
- Learning to be by valuing and having the capacity to live a meaningful life, to live fully, and to do no harm.
For these purposes, action was called upon on four fronts: learning environments, teacher profession, digital revolution and efficient investment.
We, three experts from different parts of the globe with long backgrounds in education, have been exchanging our views about the future of education in the aftermath of the pandemic for the past year. We have come in many ways to similar conclusions on the purposes (the “whys”) raised at TES. For the actions (the “hows”), we suggest adding two critically important elements to what was discussed at TES: 1) a concrete global vision for educational content which would include elements of a common curriculum in order to bring global-level solutions to regional, national, local and classroom levels, and 2) a requirement for global leadership in education.
The context for our proposal is the recognition of two developments. First, digital education tools have been used far more extensively since the COVID-19 pandemic, yet around half the world’s population remains without internet access–another example of inequalities that were emphasized by the pandemic. Second, during the pandemic educators around the world began developing a sense of a shared reality for perhaps the first time ever. Most education institutions shared common, often technical, challenges. Educators and policymakers everywhere were suddenly seeking answers to the same problems, creating the potential for a new level and type of sharing in practical education work such as curriculum content fit for the future of our world, as well as in recognizing the need for global leadership in the field of education.
In this three-part series, we will explore both proposals and our vision behind them in detail with references to TES as appropriate, beginning with where we are now and why urgent action is needed.
Education Haunted by its Past
Historically education systems have been developed on a national level to serve the development of nation states. The concept of “education for all” developed in the Western world alongside the rise of nationalism in the late 19th century, and the developing world has since followed a similar path. As a result, education systems are governed and developed entirely on national or state levels with little impact from outside or comparative and shared approaches, and education innovations also do not travel well.
Despite many trans-national structures across the world for various sectors of public life, education has remained nationally governed and organized without shared structures. For example, attaining EU membership requires from the applicant countries a complex legal process and harmonization of various segments of the society. Education is not part of this harmonization process. Similar examples can be found across the globe and shared elements in primary and basic education exist mainly only through assessments, of which the OECD-run PISA and PIAAC tests are probably the most well-known and broadly recognized.
However, in an increasingly globalized world where country borders hopefully continue to blur with the flow of capital, information, jobs and people, there is a need for a global vision and approach to education, as repeatedly made clear during TES and related events. The world today also faces a host of challenges that are global in nature and require a collective response from all humanity. This is the context for which education systems across the globe should prepare our young people.
A Global Education Vision
For both these reasons–common challenges we face and the intensified globalization–national education systems are not enough. We need a massive transformation in our education thinking comparable in nature and impact to the introduction of mass education 150 years ago. We urgently need a global education agenda, platforms, and leadership–all rooted in respective local contexts.
Local agency is key to a sustainable global shared approach in education. We have seen this proved in national contexts, where local participation in national reforms has been key to success. In Finland, for example, the curriculum reform process always involves all stakeholders–state, city, school leadership, and finally parents and students. In Christchurch, New Zealand, local agency is on full display through a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Nōku Te Ao charitable trust, in which the partners co-designed and are building a pā wānanga (learning village) called Te Pā o Rākaihautū. In alignment with the Ministry’s objective of better supporting Māori voice, cultural and educational values, and ways of working, the parties signed a first-of-its-kind agreement governing the working relationship and emphasizing the joint decision making, co-design, and co-construction necessary in meeting the parties’ shared goals. These are:
- Improved learning and well-being for all Māori learners and
- Better ways of working between the government and local communities.
In India, the Delhi government is bringing a massive change in the fractured education system with the leaders from the Ministry, teachers, parents and the entire community taking collective action. Implementing innovative initiatives like the Happiness Curriculum and engaging both the teachers and parents, strengthening the School Management Committees (SMCs) and entrusting accountability to parents, and empowering the teachers and school heads has transformed the schools. People are appreciating the change in the Delhi schools and its success has led to over 250,000 children shifting from private schools to Delhi public schools in the last 5 years.
The pandemic has also accelerated the need for change. As we emerge from one of the worst global pandemics, it is becoming abundantly clear that traditional education models have ill-equipped our children to respond to the current crisis. Some of the structural and systemic challenges that existed in our education systems even before the pandemic have come to the fore with new intensity. The pandemic underlined the lack of preparedness for a future that is already here. The oft-repeated assumption that children would have to face an uncertain job market and a fast-changing world a few years from now is already amidst us, and this uncertain future is changing as we speak. This is a time to self-reflect and critically examine–have we done enough to prepare our children for this unprecedented situation? That is why “learning to do,” one of Guterres’s four guiding purposes of education, is so important.
In practice, (1) we call for the development of concrete common curriculum elements to be adopted globally by 2030. This proposal would help address many issues that are both critical and faced in common across continents, impacting young people from Finland to India to New Zealand. Such an approach requires the implementation of our second suggestion, (2) global leadership, whereby countries could collectively commit to addressing global challenges by enhancing education across local contexts.
In Part 2 of this series, we will explore the elements of these components and their implications for the future of our school systems globally.
Editors’ Note: This is the first of a 3-part series exploring how a new, global vision and curriculum for education systems is key to attaining the UN’s goals for education transformation. You can find Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.
