As governments implement plans for post-pandemic recovery, the emphasis on getting children back to school risks further marginalizing adult learning and education. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we preserve a comprehensive understanding of the right to education, argues Daniel Baril
As we try, slowly
and uncertainly, to emerge from the pandemic, governments are defining the
framework for socio-economic recovery. The deconfinement of society, the reopening
of businesses, jump-starting economic growth, mass-producing a vaccine and
preparing for a possible second wave of infection are all priorities.
Education is
on the agenda too, as governments revise and resume school protocols. Restarting
formal schooling for children and young people is, without any doubt, urgent. Last
month, 275 former
world leaders, economists and business leaders
stressed the potentially catastrophic consequences of locking children and
youth out of learning for any longer, particularly for the most vulnerable among
them. Moreover, as economic recovery action plans are implemented, protecting
and increasing funding for education will be fundamental in the months and
years ahead. Continue reading →
In the post-pandemic world, institutions of higher education must find holistic approaches to re-connect with society around them, integrating a lifelong learning approach into their core missions of teaching, research and service, argue Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon
The disruption caused by COVID-19 to the everyday life of citizens around the world over the past six months has made it clear that that the future will entail new definitions of normal life. Most dramatically affected is the formal education system, from primary and secondary to tertiary.
What also became
obvious is that local leaders, supported by local communities, found local
solutions to deal with the virus, solutions that relied on local experiences,
local knowledge and local resources. As schools shut down, and with digital
access in many communities weak, mobile smartphones, small study circles and
‘travelling’ tutors were appropriately galvanized to support the learning of
young and old alike, outside classrooms and campuses. Suddenly, the
compartments of life, study, work and leisure became meaningless divisions, and
learning, studying, cooking, caring and chatting were inter-mingled, almost
seamlessly and effortlessly. Continue reading →
The Arab region, in common with many other
parts of the world,
faces significant challenges in achieving lifelong learning, notably high
levels of illiteracy and education systems damaged by poverty and conflict. The toppling of governments during the ‘Arab Spring’
and conflict between and within
countries have destroyed
education systems in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, while seriously damaging
opportunities for learning
in other Arab countries. The COVID-19 pandemic is now undermining the economic
activity on which individuals, families
and communities depend.
While people are struggling to earn, they cannot use their resources to learn. And, without learning, they are condemned to a life focused on subsistence only, with young people
increasingly exposed to the
temptations of criminal behaviour and terrorism.
Communities and governments seek to provide social
support in the form of health and education, as well as routes
to gainful employment or entrepreneurship
for youths and young adults. Even in wealthy countries, there are challenges in providing sufficient resources for health,
education and employment. The pandemic
is placing yet more strain on budgets
and institutions, and creating additional challenges and demands. Continue reading →
While the long-term impact of COVID-19 on education will be dramatic, the future will be much more precarious if we do not focus on building systems for lifelong learning that safeguard quality and inclusiveness, writes Per Magnusson
The COVID-19 pandemic
has unleashed an unprecedented global crisis affecting societies and
communities in a multitude of ways for which few of us were prepared.
Closing
schools has been part of the strategy to mitigate the spread of the novel
coronavirus in almost all countries around the world. With a peak of 1.5
billion children out of school in April, the number is still estimated to be
around 1.2 billion, or 70 per cent of total enrolled learners (13
May). Even if many countries have simultaneously introduced
programmes to allow for continuity of learning and distance learning, in varying
levels of digitalisation, we can be certain this will not compensate for the
learning lost when schools and education institutions are up and running in
‘normal’ times.
The school
closures will undoubtedly have long-term effects for both individuals and
societies. We also know that school closures will have an even more intense
impact for girls, especially from the poorest and most vulnerable groups
because they are the ones most exposed to domestic violence and sexual
harassment, including pregnancies and early marriages. Continue reading →
Lifelong learning has an essential part to
play in shaping the future of our societies. This ambition is reflected in the
African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision of ‘an integrated, prosperous and peaceful
Africa driven by competent citizens able to play in the global arena’. One of the aspirations of Agenda 2063 is to catalyze an education and skills revolution and actively
promote science, technology, research and innovation, with the ultimate aim of
building knowledge, human resources, capabilities and skills for Africa’s
future. By making universal, lifelong access to quality education a reality, it
aims to drive Africa’s economic and technological transformation.
The spread of
COVID-19 across Africa has prompted countries to introduce mitigation measures
such as border closures and social distancing. These interventions are having a
negative impact on already-weak health and education systems, not to mention supply
chains, markets and food systems. The
lockdown has also affected day-to-day social life in African, particularly in rural
areas where means of online communication is limited. Continue reading →
The COVID-19 crisis has made online distance learning the new norm for many. It has also prompted stakeholders to be more creative and agile, in ways that could make open and online learning better and more inclusive, writes Jonghwi Park
Few areas of human life are
untouched by the crisis. From techniques to prevent back pain when working from
home to the
challenges of home schooling, the demand for new knowledge has created an urgent
need for learning, unlearning and relearning to deal with new normalcies. For those
at risk of losing their jobs, reskilling or upskilling is not a choice but a necessity.
Many of us face a steep learning curve in adapting to these new circumstances.
This new learning, while undoubtedly challenging, is, however, critical if we
are to emerge from this crisis into a better future. Continue reading →
As the world marks the defeat of Nazism and the end of the Second World War, Paul Stanistreet asks what lessons we can learn in our current crisis from the mass programmes of social reconstruction that followed the war
The end of
the Second World War was marked around Europe by national programmes of social
and economic reconstruction, as nation states sought both to rebuild and to address
long-standing inequalities.
In France, the
De Gaulle government put in place a massive programme of nationalization and social
reform, granting women the right to vote and laying the foundations of the modern
French welfare state. In the UK, fees for state secondary education were
scrapped (through the 1944 Education Act) and a progressive Labour government
was elected with ambitious plans to transform social security, including
universal free healthcare for all (the National Health Service). Moreover, in the
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), following the period of occupation,
a programme of economic reconstruction ensued, followed by the creation of the
German ‘social state’.
The
solidarity and sense of shared responsibility and sacrifice engendered in the war
appears to have spurred the people who survived these cataclysmic events to reject
the way things had been done before and to demand a world that was better – not
just for a few but for everyone. There was a desire to recognize sacrifice by humanizing
social policy, including in education, and extending people’s rights. Furthermore,
there was a new appreciation of the power of the state to act for the common
good. What is remarkable about this is that it was achieved at a moment when
most of the countries of Europe were in economic disarray, poverty was rife and
food rationing common, and governments were loaded with huge amounts of debt. Continue reading →
The current crisis need not result in a further erosion of social and economic rights and the widening of inequalities – it also represents an opportunity to appeal to global solidarity and rehumanize lifelong learning, writes Maren Elfert
Educators around
the world are alarmed about the consequences of the COVIID-19 crisis. A lively
debate has emerged on what the world might look like in the aftermath of the
crisis in relation to education and more broadly. I would like to add my voice
to those who emphasize that our perspective must be bigger than COVID-19 and
that we should take the crisis as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes
and rethink our approach to education. As a recent article argued in relation
to schools, ‘When the Covid crisis finally ends, schools must never return to
normal’ (Sweeney, 2020), referring to the need to abandon harmful practices such
as deprofessionalizing teachers, excessive testing and the culture of rankings.
This discussion, of course, is related to how we organize our society and how
we deal with the larger environmental, economic, social and political crisis of
which COVID-19 is a symptom.
To paraphrase
Charles Dickens, there is potential in this crisis for the best of times or the
worst of times. The crisis could offer us an opportunity to rethink and
innovate our societies or to move further down the path of dehumanization of
education in terms of ‘one size fits all teaching’ in schools and lifelong
learning as a market commodity. Among the questions and issues that are raised
in the current debates are: In light of the public health and ensuing economic
crisis, will global inequalities in access to
education widen, disrupting progress towards
Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) (UNESCO/IIEP, 2020)? Distance education is being pushed by
corporate interests (Williamson,
2020), but it bears
the risk of further marginalizing disadvantaged students who do not have access
to technology and who depend on teacher-student relationships (Srivastava, 2020; Parramore, 2020). For many students, school represents a place to
socialize and often get the only meal of the day (UNICEF, 2020). Higher education institutions around the world are
preparing for significant drops of international students, and quite a number
of them will probably not survive. Will this lead to a reconsideration of
education as a market model, or just to even more tightened competition? Some
thinkers, such as the Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben (2020a; 2020b), are concerned about the de-humanization of human
beings as a consequence of ‘social distancing’. Arjun Appadurai, in a recent
keynote panel of UNESCO’s ‘Futures of Education’ initiative, warned of the risk
that education might be considered unimportant in these times of crisis (UNESCO, 2020). This might translate into cuts to education. Continue reading →
Educational interventions to address the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic need to acknowledge the realities of life in the most disadvantaged communities if they are not to exacerbate existing inequalities, argues Rakhat Zholdoshalieva
The magnitude of the global health
crisis, and the long-term impact it is likely to have on the economy, society
and education, was unimaginable just a few weeks ago. Such crises spark
understandable fear and anxiety, as we come to terms with the impact both on our
physical and psychological health and on our economic, financial, environmental
and social life in the months and years to come.
As someone who works in adult learning,
with a focus on youth and adult literacy and people who experience multiple
forms of discrimination and disadvantage, I observe that many of our evolving solutions,
advice, lessons and reflections ignore the reality of life for many children,
youth, adults, families, communities and regions around the world. In times of massive
disruption, disorientation and anxiety at global level, it is more important than
ever that we do not lose sight of those who historically have been out of sight
and out of mind when it comes to policies and actions. Continue reading →
Global citizenship education has an important role to play in ensuring that the world that emerges from the COVID-19 crisis is safe, fair and inclusive, argues Christiana Nikolitsa-Winter
The spread of
COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge for humanity. As well as taking
a huge toll on healthcare systems around the world, it is also having a major
negative impact on labour markets and economies. People get ill, many will die,
but very many will also lose their jobs, and a large number of small and
medium-sized enterprises will close.
The heaviest
price will be paid by those who are already worst off, whose jobs are the most
precarious and least well paid. While the virus does not discriminate, there is
a danger that it will impact disproportionately on poorer people and poorer communities,
thus exacerbating existing inequalities. Continue reading →
