Save Our Future .. let us 're-imagine' education
The challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has reportedly brought the largest disruption to education systems and the teaching profession in history.
According to the United Nations, nearly 1.6 billion students, in more than 190 countries across every continent, have been affected; United Nations, Education during COVID-19 and Beyond, August 2020.
Key observations by the United Nations include:
· COVID-19 has caused a significant further reduction to the education opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable children, youth, and adults - those living in poor rural areas, girls, refugees, persons with disabilities, and forcibly displaced persons.
· Such learning losses threaten to extend beyond this generation, erasing decades of progress with key objectives such as supporting girls and young women to access, and remain in, education.
· In 2021, some 24 million additional children and youth, from re-primary to tertiary levels, may either drop out of school or lose access to education altogether.
‘Save Our Future’ campaign
The United Nations has therefore made the urgent call to society to re-imagine education and to accelerate change in teaching in learning, in order prevent “a learning crisis from becoming a generational catastrophe”, citing that we are in “the greatest education emergency of our times”.
Take a moment to view the United Nations’ compelling #SaveOurFuture campaign video: https://saveourfuture.world/
A full background on this important campaign, including a personal message from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, can also be found at https://saveourfuture.world/
Let us re-imagine
The Save Our Future campaign is independent, international, and has the potential for high impact.
The need to re-imagine adult education is real, and urgent. Illiteracy amongst adults remains “stubbornly high” at over 770 million people, with women making up almost two-thirds of this number; UNESCO, Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for all, 2014.
Every day, as we teach, learn from, and mentor colleagues and our children, let us reimagine our daily interactions. Let us revitalise our professional development, and support each other positively, purposefully, and professionally.
To improve literacy levels and enhance opportunity through the sharing of knowledge and skills, adult education is a key driver for change - globally. Teaching professionals must display a combination of agility, patience, versatility, and consistency, as well as both innovation and pastoral care in an unstable world.
To paraphrase President Kennedy’s speech in 1962 about the commitment to land on the moon and to return safely, improving adult learning and literacy is not easy, but is hard. It is a goal which will capture the best of our energies and skills. It is a challenge we should be willing to accept, unwilling to postpone, and committed to winning.
More recently, as cited in the UNESCO Report, “Our responsibility as teachers is enormous, and our commitment to provide quality education must be renewed every day.” (Ana, teacher, Lima, Peru.)
Let us re-imagine and renew our commitment, together.
Join the #SaveOurFuture Movement at: https://saveourfuture.world/
About Dr Nigel Wilson
Dr Nigel Wilson is an Australian teaching professional in Law and practising lawyer, with over 28 years’ experience in legal education, curriculum development and legal practice. He has extensive experience across undergraduate and postgraduate courses, practical legal training, clinical legal practice, corporate professional development, and post-admission barrister education programmes. For over over two decades, he has conducted educational training programmes for Australian legal practices, workplaces, and Australian judicial colleges.
Nigel is currently Director, Market Regulation, Government and Conveyance at Waterfind, Australia’s leading water market specialists, where his responsibilities include leadership of the Australian Water Markets Training Programme.
To find out more, or to contact Nigel, please click here