UNESCO hosts Stakeholders Consultation in preparation for the Transforming Education Summit
Mission 4.7 congratulates and welcomes the planning process of the UN Secretary-General’s Transforming Education Summit (TES), which will take place in New York during the 77th UN General Assembly in September.
On April 5, Mission 4.7 Secretariat members Dr. Radhika Iyengar (Chair) and Ms. Shannon Kobran joined a Stakeholders Consultation, where NGOs and members of the global education community were invited to learn more about the Summit and give feedback on the preparations.
At the meeting, which was led by UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education and Mission 4.7 Co-chair Stefania Giannini and Leonardo Garnier, Special Adviser for 2022 Transforming Education Summit, Ms. Giannini asserted that the Summit will be a people's summit, and that the approach towards the Summit will be inclusive and transformative in its agenda. The TES will be a culmination of a pathway that UNESCO will lead, taking everyone together.
“The Summit will require a focused, intensive, and inclusive preparatory process that is built from the ground up, responds to member state priorities, is supported by the Summit secretariat and UN system and ensures the meaningful engagement of young people and the full set of education stakeholders. ”
Preparations for the Summit are developing around three work streams: national consultations, thematic action tracks, and public engagement.
National consultations will reference past international declarations such as the 2015 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action on Education 2030, and the UNESCO Global Education Meetings (GEM), COP 26 dialogues, recommendations from the Futures of Education report, as well as outcomes of the upcoming HLPF review of SDG 4.Potential outputs from the Summit’s national consultations could be National Roadmaps for Transforming Education Systems that consolidate commitments and consensus on priority actions.
Five Thematic Action Tracks will spotlight the transformation of the school environment; the advancement of teachers and the teaching profession; building skills for life, work, and sustainable development; the promotion of digital learning resources; and financing for education. All of these will be discussed in the context of COVID-19 pandemic and the related learning loss that have put us even further from achieving the targets of SDG 4.
Finally, the work stream of public engagement will seek to mobilize public support for education, putting pressure on governments and other high-level decision-makers to speed up the rate of transformation. In doing so, the TES will put youth and students at the forefront, ensuring that young people are involved in the preparation and implementation of the Summit, and that their voices are heard throughout.
Details and strategies for the Summit are still being developed; but Mission 4.7 is excited to be part of this important moment in educational transformation. In particular, we look forward to contributing to the Thematic Action Track on “building skills for life, work, and sustainable development,” which directly speaks to SDG Target 4.7 and its goals of preparing learners to be active creators of a sustainable future.
As we await further information about the September Summit and the Pre-Summit in June, Mission 4.7 will continue to work among our partner institutions to convene meetings, fireside chats, and provide a platform for young people to share their thoughts on education for sustainable development. We will continue to push forward discussions about SDG monitoring and address gaps in the education system. Like the TES organizers, Mission 4.7 believes in the power of teachers to transform education and society, and we continue to provide support by sharing global best practices and expanding our resource platform.
In the collaborative spirit of the SDGs, let us all work together make the Summit--and educational transformation--a success, accelerating action towards a more peaceful and sustainable world.