Using the Crisis to Reimagine Educational Systems and Practices
The Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman once wrote: “Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically […]
Creating a Better Future Through Equality in Education
‘Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe.’ – H.G. Wells Over 1 billion children are out of school in over 140 countries around the world due to COVID-19. Schools, teachers and governments have responded in creative ways to ensure students continue their education during this difficult time. EdTech companies are offering their products for free to […]
Accelerating Action for System-Change in Education
The apparent pause in the earth’s spinning brought about by the global Coronavirus pandemic, is a time for profound reflection and reappraisal of the most fundamental things we used to take for granted. It is a time to recalibrate our values and the entrenched socio-cultural norms and misguided priorities according to which we have been […]
The New Success for our Learning Future
Crises both disrupt and reveal. Every single human being across our globalized world has been impacted by COVID-19, and this moment has revealed deep structural inequities and outdated principles and priorities across societies. This is particularly true for our understanding of schooling, and how it reflects our emerging learning economies. If this moment offers us […]
Thoughts from the Frontline of COVID-19’s Education Crisis
Rarely in human history does an event help expose the inadequacies of our systems all at once. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed failings across the board. In the words of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, COVID-19 is ‘‘exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: The lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid […]
Developing Student Agency in South Australia Seeing Our Learners Anew—’Don’t Waste A Crisis’
“Don’t waste a crisis”. I’ve heard this statement many times during the COVID-19 months. To me, this means thinking about how we work with new worldviews about teaching and learning, having had the rug pulled out from under us. If deep learning requires an emotional shock/trigger, then having our daily behavioral patterns, habits and routines […]
Youth will Pave the Path to Africa’s Future
Key insights from a JA Africa study which was published in June 2020 show that African youth have a predominantly positive outlook and entrepreneurial disposition despite facing a myriad of challenges in the private sector. According to the survey, eighty-three per cent of youth surveyed expect Africa’s private sector to expand significantly over the next five years. The positive mindsets […]
Building the Future of Education in a Post-Pandemic World
Throughout the ages, WISE men and women from Confucius in the East to Aristotle in the West, have declared that education is central to the human condition. John Dewey went as far as saying that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Yet, despite such lofty proclamations the past 200-odd years, which […]
What if Kindness Is the New Normal? A Call to Re-Imagine the Purpose of Education in the Post-COVID World
The United Nations has described the global scale of education disruption from COVID-19 as “unparalleled.” According to UNESCO monitoring, at the peak in early April, national and local closures have impacted about 91.3 percent of the world’s student population. While students across the board have been impacted, it is important to understand the impact on children […]
All Emotions Are Information
We hear it every day, from every sector of society, and across the world. An engaged, friendly child becomes increasingly hostile. A child who was once bright and bubbly becomes lethargic and barely functional. A child who once had a sense of well-being now suffers crippling anxiety. And in the worst case scenarios, a […]