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UNESCO Beirut contributes to the “Futures of Education” initiative
In September 2019, in the context of the UN General Assembly in New York, UNESCO officially launched the “” initiative aiming at producing a global report on education to be shared during the UNESCO General Conference of 2021.
The “Futures of Education - Learning to Become” Report will revisit previous similar reports such as the Faure Report of 1972 (Learning to be…) and the Delors Report of 1996 (Education: The Treasure Within) with a view of pointing to new opportunities and challenges that learners will face considering the 2050 horizon.
In order to support the work on the Report, UNESCO established so-called “agile teams” comprising of staff from HQ and different offices over the world, Dr. Dakmara Georgescu, UNESCO Beirut’s Programme Specialist for Teachers and Curriculum Development, was selected to be part of, and represent UNESCO Beirut, in the “Futures of Education” thematic group, subgroup on Stakeholder consultations.
The work of the thematic group on “Futures of Education” will inform the first meeting of the High-level Commission on “Futures of Education” to be held in January 2020 in view of coordinating the development of the “Futures of Education” Report to be submitted for approval to the UNESCO General Conference in fall 2021.
Following the agile group members commitment to conduct at least two “Futures of Education” consultations with stakeholders by the end of 2019, UNESCO Beirut organized public consultations as follows:
- On 29 November 2019, with Lebanese Youth (students and NGOS workers) involved in Citizenship, Peace and Inter-cultural programmes in Lebanon (Lebanese University - LU);
- On 5 December 2019, with staff of the UNESCO Office in Beirut representing different UNESCO Sectors; and
- On 9 November 2019, with long-term UNESCO educational consultants and UNESCO Education staff in the context of a side-meeting hosted by the TTF Policy Forum in Dubai, U.A.E.
As Isaak Asimov put it: “While the future cannot be predicted, it is important to look closely to what happens in the present - that will enable us to detect future trends, issues, challenges and opportunities”.
Participants in the consultations (focus groups) shared their hopes and fears with regard to the future in general, which was then followed by more in-depth explorations of how learning will look like in the future; and what education systems need to do in order to prepare learners for future challenges and opportunities. While looking into the future, such consultations are equally important in addressing current issues, shortcoming and challenges with a view of improving quality education and learning opportunities for all at different levels.
