28 June: Global Engagement Day Side Meetings
9:00 - 11:30 Room X
GPE Ministers of Education Meeting
Global Partnership for Education
GPE will convene the Ministers of Education to discuss the TES, issues coming out of the national consultations and the partnership compact dialogues, key elements of transformation, and the financing and partnerships to transform education systems.
The invitees will include the 15 GPE facilitated Ministers and all other partner country ministers part of the GPE partnership who are participating in the Pre-Summit.
In context of the opportunity of the TES this meeting aims to:
- Facilitate a GPE Ministerial dialogue on the collective ambition to drive education system transformation, with GPE support
- Reconfirm GPE Ministerial commitment to equitable and efficient domestic financing, gender equality and leaving no one behind
- Propose how external partners can support country ambition through new investments and partnerships
The discussion will result in a short Ministerial statement to be shared as an input to the TES, as proposed by the TES Advisory Committee co-Chair, Minister Sengeh.
In-person
11:00-13:00 Room X
Deputy Secretary-General meeting with the Action Track Co-Leads
(Closed-door)
In-person
12:30 – 14:00 Room XI
Healthy & Educated – School health and nutrition to transform education and young people’s lives
Sponsored by Finland, Global Partnership for Education, and Namibia, with the support of UNESCO Section of Health and Education, UNICEF and WFP
Healthy learners learn better, while poor health and well-being has a detrimental effect on school attendance, academic performance. Looking after the health and well-being of learners is one of the most transformative ways to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and build more equitable, inclusive and resilient education systems. This event will highlight the diverse actions and partners involved in making every school a health promoting school.
Speakers will explore integrated approaches to school health and nutrition and highlight their positive effects.
Speakers: Maria Nguyen, SDG4 Youth Network member and co-lead of Action Track #1; Honorable Li Andersson, Minister of Education, Finland, co-lead of Action Track #1; Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; Sanet Steenkamp, Executive Director at the Namibian Ministry of Education Arts and Culture, Namibia; Kuanysh Altynbekov, General Director of the National Centre for Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Kazakhstan; Honorable Pr. Ibrahim Natatou, Minister for Education, Niger; Honorable Gaspard Twagirayezu, Minister of State in Charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Rwanda; Honorable Jaime Perczyk, Minister of Education, Argentina; Carmen Burbano, Director of the School-Based Programmes Division, World Food Programme; Charles North, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Global Partnership for Education.
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Hybrid
12:30 – 14:30 Room XII
Open Meeting: Teaching to take care of oneself, others, and the planet: On the road to TES and COP28
Aga Khan Foundation, Global School Leaders, Learning Planet Alliance and Teach for All
This is the first in-person meeting of a community of practice (Circle) that feeds into the Glasgow Work Programme on Action for Climate Empowerment. The meeting will bring together existing members of the Circle, and will open its doors to others attending the Pre-Summit who would like to join the conversation. It will also serve as a preparatory event for the meeting proposed by Earthday and partners on the 30th of June. This Circle exists to grow a great, powerful community for pushing towards real impact across different levels (system level, classroom/capacity level, leadership level), with tangible outputs that transform education towards climate action and leadership, culminating at COP28, for the advancement of climate action and leadership through education.
This Circle itself is a spotlight initiative, bringing together key organisations and individuals around the world who are working in climate and education: two fields which are still too separate to make the rapid, systemic changes that are needed to save the planet.
This meeting will contribute to thematic action tracks 2 and 3, working closely with teachers, the teaching profession and policy makers at a national level to contribute to skills for life and sustainable development. The Circle meeting will create momentum towards a global change in climate education, and is showcasing leaders and champions in this area, while offering a platform for teachers and the teaching profession, alongside climate and other education experts to share their vision and make their voices heard, in particular focusing on the role of and space for climate education at the TES in September, with a view to making sure this is heard clearly and acted upon at COP28.
Hybrid
14:00 – 15:30 Room X
The Time is Now: Addressing the Global Learning Crises with Foundational Skills
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID and World Bank
The world is in the depths of a learning crisis. Without urgent action, this crisis is at risk of becoming a generational catastrophe. The futures of hundreds of millions of children hang in the balance. Building on the latest data on learning poverty and the experiences of countries in learning recovery, the session will explore evidence-based, scalable solutions that will accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Ministers of education from around the world will share the strategies they are implementing to recover and accelerate learning, offering concrete examples of how to address learning poverty.
This meeting is a call to action for countries to make the investment and policy changes needed before the Transforming Education Summit (TES) in order to address the learning crisis in their countries. Specific objectives are to:
- Call attention to the global crisis in foundational learning and the practical solutions to help education systems recover effectively;
- Share leadership and best practice from those leading interventions that are working at scale to improve learning outcomes; and,
- Agree on a set of actions to which governments and the broader education community can commit to pursuing in order to ensure children learn recovery programmes.
Speakers: Amina J Mohammad, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; David Malpass, President, The World Bank (Video Message); Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education; Jaime Saavedra, Global Director of Education, The World Bank; Benjamin Piper, Director, Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Rukmini Banerji, Pratham Education Foundation; Moukadas Aboubakar, Minister of Education, Central African Republic; Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, Nigeria; David Moinina Sengeh, Minister of Education, Sierra Leone; Victor Godoy, Minister of Education, Brazil; Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, Egypt; Enkh-Amgalan Luvsantseren, Minister of Education and Science, Mongolia; Ibrahim Natatou, Minister of Education, Niger; Robert Jenkins, Global Director of Education, UNICEF.
In-person
14:15 - 17:15 Room XI
Media and Information Literacy and Digital Competencies: Networks, Tools, Empowerment for Learning Transformation
UNESCO Communication and Information, and Education Sector
The Transforming Education Summit to be held at the UN General Assembly, for which this pre-Meeting is being organized, aims to forge towards a roadmap for education system to be modernized and connected, making learning more dynamic, inclusive and collaborative.
The objective of this side event on Media and Information Literacy and Digital Competencies: Networks, Tools, Empowerment for Learning Transformation is to advance the dialogue related to digital capacity building – specifically in the areas of media and information literacy and of open content.
The side event will consist of an Opening panel on leveraging networks for education transformation followed by two sessions:
- Multistakeholder dialogue on partnerships to leverage the contributions of media to media and information literacy non-formal and informal learning
- Technical discussion on scaling up open education resources for education transformation
The expected outcome of this side event is a set of recommendations and action-oriented commitments to form the basis for future proposals. They will also be carried forward to the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022 at the United Nation General Assembly.
Hybrid
14:30 – 16:00 Room VI
New Social Contract and Teachers
UNESCO, International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, Education International (EI), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the International Commission on the Futures of Education
To ensure that education best helps us build peaceful, just and sustainable futures, a set of cultural shifts are needed. This panel discussion aims to advance and exchange knowledge on how to create the conditions to support teachers to transform education. It will advance the transformation agenda by highlighting the key elements, within and beyond the formal education system, needed for the transformation of education and for a new social contract for education to be collectively built.
Panelists will discuss topics such as:
- Strengthening of education as a public endeavor and common good, especially in light of the diversification of educational actors and the displacement of education into domestic spaces,
- Prioritizing student and teacher wellbeing, particularly in relation to accountability regimes and high-stakes standardized testing found in many education systems globally,
- Expanding the role of the teacher, who is now often expected to be social worker, climate activist, health provider and more,
- Supporting families in their own effort to ensure educational success, and the ways this crosses with the need for decent work, work/life balance, and equity of access to education,
- Connecting learners to employment and a variety of viable and dignified lifepaths (TVET, apprenticeships, alternative learning paths)
- Advancing relational and human-centered education in a digital world
Speakers: Mr Pasi Sahlberg, Professor of Education (Australia); Ms Elisa Guerra, member of the International Commission on the Futures of Education; Ms Li Andersson, Minister of Education, Finland; Teacher Union Leader; Employer Association representative.
Hybrid
15:00 – 16:30 Room XII
Universal Screening to Address Learning Poverty and SDG4
UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), Kuwait, Saint Lucia
In 2021, the World Bank highlighted that learning poverty among students the world over was at 53% and as high as 80% in poor countries and set to increase by at least 10% post the pandemic. School dropouts, that currently range between 3‐6%, were expected to increase to 5‐8%. Thus, despite increased enrolments in school, global educational goals in terms of quality of learning could be in serious jeopardy. Moreover, learning assessments that are diagnostic in nature could prove to be insufficient as learners do not receive targeted remedial action. However, both learning poverty and school dropout rates can be dramatically reduced if learner needs can be identified and addressed early. The International Science and Evidence based Education Assessment (ISEEA) recommends introduction of early universal screening, intervention, and monitoring through structured protocols in education systems. The ISEE Assessment report was written by a transdisciplinary group of over 300 experts from over 45 countries, UNESCO MGIEP has formulated a set of guidelines to support member states implement universal screening within their education systems.
This meeting is conceived to be interactive and engaging with hands on guidelines that can serve the Member States to understand what universal screening is, its costs and benefits, and how it can practically support learning recovery in the post‐pandemic era.
Speakers: Vera Lacoeuilhe, Deputy Permanent Delegate at Permanent Delegation of St. Lucia; Anantha K. Duraiappah, Director, UNESCO MGIEP; Ammaarah Martinus, Senior Programme Officer UNESCO MGIEP and Nandini Chatterjee, Senior Programme Officer, UNESCO MGIEP; Michel Bonsaint, Quebec Government Representative at Permanent Delegation of Canada.
Read the concept note
In-person
15:30 – 17:00 Room VII
Human Capital Africa-Roundtable
UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and FCDO
To raise awareness about foundational literacy and numeracy, its dire state in Sub-Saharan Africa and what can be done to help improve the situation.
Nine out of ten children in Sub-Saharan Africa are unable to read a simple sentence, by the age of ten. HCA, its partners, and many in the global education community are now laser focused on ensuring this changes. The TES aspires to renew the collective commitment towards ensuring education and life-long learning is a pre-eminent public good.
Activities to:
- Ensure improving learning at the foundation level becomes the key takeaway for decision makers across the world
- Ensure that the meeting leads to actual renewed interest and commitment towards making learning at the foundational level a priority for countries
- Put data, evidence and best practice, at the heart of education reform
- Ensure the world is aware, that Africa’s foremost champions are demanding that we put an end to this injustice that is leaving our children without a promising future.
Speakers: President Joyce Banda; Graça Machel; Education Ministers of Senegal, Sierra Leone and Malawi, Governors of Edo and Anambra states; Dr Oby Ezekwesil.
Hybrid
16:00 – 17:30 Room X
Transformative Emergency Education Response Mechanisms and Financing within the Triple Nexus
Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, UNICEF, Education Cluster, Global Education Cluster, Save the Children, UNESCO, Germany, Norway, UK, Switzerland, South Sudan and Niger
The world is witnessing an alarming increase in the number of people affected by armed conflict, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, and other crises. About 222 million school-aged children and youth are affected by crises globally and are in urgent need of education support. There is therefore a pressing need for increased collaboration among emergency and development partners, including from the private sector and philanthropists, to strengthen the Humanitarian, Development and Peace (HDP) Triple Nexus and harmonize acute emergency education responses with longer-term education system resilience and peacebuilding efforts.
Organized by UNESCO, UNHCR and UNICEF together with key Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (EiEPC) funding mechanisms, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a Pre-Summit Side Meeting, ‘Transformative Emergency Education Response Mechanisms and Financing within the Triple Nexus’ will bring together key stakeholders from the Member States, multilateral organizations, civil society, the teaching profession, and youth organizations. The Side Meeting aims to highlight the importance of transformative education actions in times of emergencies and protracted crises and serves as a call to action for the policy makers, education partners, and donors to protect the right to education and prioritize education with well-coordinated efforts and more and targeted financing to ensure access to education and sustain quality education for crisis-affected children and youth anchored in the Triple Nexus.
In-person