Transforming Education Summit (TES) – finding solutions to the global education crisis and getting SDG4 back on track

The Transforming Education Summit was convened in response to a global crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality, and relevance.

Often slow and unseen, this crisis is having a devastating impact on the futures of children, youth, and adults worldwide. The Summit provided a unique opportunity to elevate education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilise action, ambition, solidarity, and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.

The Transforming Education Summit is a key initiative of Our Common Agenda launched by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in September 2021. The Summit took place during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly and was convened by the Secretary-General with a view to elevating education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilise action, ambition, solidarity, and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow the seeds to transform education and learning in a rapidly changing world.

Education and learning systems need to adapt to the shifting skills needed professionally, making learning more learner-centred, connected, dynamic, inclusive and collaborative, allowing creativity to blossom. Learning resources must evolve to reflect these transformations in how teaching and learning occur.

It is necessary to develop alternatives for those left behind or out of the conventional educational systems, so that they can build essential skills for life and can pursue upskilling and reskilling opportunities for lifelong learning. In the context of a global climate crisis, rapid technological transformation, profound changes in the world of work, lower levels of trust in public institutions, the erosion of democratic values and the rise of disinformation, intolerance and hate speech, current systems of learning are failing learners of all ages.

During the Transforming Education Summit Solutions Day (17 September), ASPBAE Secretary-General, Helen Dabu, spoke on the gaps and opportunities in external financing mechanisms for education in the session entitled, ‘Education Financing Observatory: Setting the Grounds for Sustainable, Fair, and Inclusive Financing’.

The session was organised by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) together with the UNESCO Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education (CCNGO Ed2030), the Government of Malawi, Government of Argentina, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS), ASPBAE, the Arab Campaign for Education (ACEA), CLADE (Latin America), ANCEFA (Africa Network Campaign on Education For All), European and North American Campaign for Education (ENACE), Education International, and ActionAid.

Helen Dabu also emphasised that it is critical for the external financing agenda to support one of the aims of the Transforming Education Summit (TES), which is to revitalise national and global efforts to achieve #SDG4. She called on governments to make a serious commitment to concretise their efforts to meet the SDG4 targets that have received the least attention, such as functional literacy, early childhood care and education (ECCE), disability-inclusive education, women’s and girls’ education, adult learning and education (ALE), support for teachers, Global Citizen Education (GCED), and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)