Strong political leaders required to bridge the 100 years gap

Last weekend 2,5 days of intensive talks, eLabs and school visits in Columbia under heading Future of Education hosted by Eisenhower Fellowships. My own participation one plenary panel on the global trends of K12 education, one eLab on HEI Schools & Finnish education and one final plenary in the format of a short “ted talk” on HEI.

The main point I repeated was that the major question of the Future of Education in the coming decades is how do we manage to provide good quality comprehensive education for all. The goal requires long-term visionary political decision-making.

Let me explain. The great achievement in the past 200 years has been that we have brought children to school. 200 years ago 2,3 million children went to school, now 700 million which is over 90% of all.

This is just not enough! We have a so-called 100 years’ gap: According to Brookings study the gap in average levels of education between rich and poor countries remains huge. Without a fundamental rethinking of current approaches to education, it’s going to take another 100 years for children in developing countries to reach the education levels achieved in developed countries.

Therefore the focus should move from education for all to the quality of education we provide. 100-year gap should be closed in much shorter time for the benefit of the entire world.

Generally I stressed the importance to talk about the “how”-question more when discussing education. Namely that often we tend to talk only or more about the “what”-question – what should be done, what are the trends, and what pedagogical approaches should we choose. That is all good but ”the whats” will not turn into reality unless we have strong commitment to “hows” which often requires political decisions.

For that Finland provides a good example: in 1950s ja 1960s a long political debate or even battle took place finally leading to the introduction of the comprehensive 9-year basic school for all. From that on all Finnish children went to same equal school. Now we have seen similar political debate as we are to reform the secondary education by to prolonging the 9-years into 12 years which actually is the more typical global education model (k12).

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Generally extremely fruitful days with great thought-leaders and practioners from the city of Cartagena, state of Columbia and global Eisenhower network. Issues that will stay in the agenda included equality, importance of early education, lifelong learning, digitalization and civil rights.

Get in touch if want to hear more!

School visit to a school in the neighborhood characterised by violent gangs. Pupils sharing meaning of the school in spontaneous speeches: ”This is more. this is like home.”
Global future trends of k12 education -panel.
2018 elected president Ivan Duque Marquez stressed the importance of early preschool education aiming to double its level.
First lady of Columbia is focusing on early education and importance of the nutrition of children in early years.
Over 200 Eisenhower Fellows and Trustees from over 40 countries gathered in the bi-annual global conference.
Finnish Education and HEI Schools model.
Eisenhower Fellows in the HEI Schools world.
eLab finalists.
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Evening venues in Cartagena were almost magical. Light, sound, warm breathe.
Newly elected mayor and his secretary of education in Cartagena. Strong anti-corruption and pro-education agenda.
Sunset after the conference day.

PS. I wrote earlier in FB of some of my impressions in Finnish:

”Vaikuttava Future of Education -konferenssi vaikuttavassa väkivallan vuosikymmenistä toipuvassa Kolumbiassa.

Avauspuheessa presidentti Ivan Duque totesi, kuinka nyky-Kolumbiassa lapset lähtevät A-viivalta ja B-viivalta kouluun. Tämän eron tasoittaminen lisäämällä ymmärrystä varhaisvuosien ravinnon merkityksestä ja varhaiskasvatuksen vaikutuksesta on hänen keskeinen ohjelmansa. Hänen viestinsä oli, että B-viivalla olevien lasten pitää päästä A-viivalle, jotta Kolumbia voi menestyä neljännen teollisen vallankumouksen keskellä. Hän oli toiveikas samoin kuin puolisonsa, jonka kanssa keskustelimme aiheesta pitkään. Toivottavasti löydämme tapoja tukea Suomena tällaisia päättäjiä vaikeissa oloissa.

Narcos-sarjaa katsoneelle oli myös todella koskettavaa kuulla toimittaja Maria Jimena Duzania. Sisarensa kuollut huumesodassa ja oman toimittajahenki ollut jatkuvasti uhattuna. Nyt sanoo, ettei olisi koskaan voinut kuvitella näkevänsä nykytilan, jossa pysyvää rauhaa oikeasti rakennetaan. Rauhansopimus FARC-sissien kanssa solmittiin 2016 ja silloinen presidentti Santos palkittiin Nobelilla.

Itse olin yhdessä paneelikeskustelussa ja pidin kaksi esitystä. Vierailimme myös slummien keskelle rakennetussa koulussa, joka selkeästi muuttaa yhteisön elämää. Eisenhower Fellowships -konferenssin ideointi alkoi jo pari vuotta sitten – saatiin hieno kokonaisuus kasaan.

Kirjoitan kaikesta myöhemmin tarkemmin. Nyt täytyy hieman sulatella. Kiitos isovanhemmille, jotka mahdollistavat pari lomapäivää häkellyttävän kauniissa maisemassa kaiken päätteeksi.
#efjourney #EFcartagena2020 #futureofeducation Eisenhower Fellowships”

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