UNESCO World Education Forum 2015 Declaration
ICDE is participating in two UNESCO events in Asia this month. The World Education Forum is currently underway in the Republic of Korea on “equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030 - transforming lives through education”. The declaration is analysed in this article.
The WEF will be followed by an International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Post-2015 Education in Qingdao, China.
At the World Education Forum (WEF) UNESCO is leading the way, in collaboration with six co-conveners including the Word Bank Group, to build a powerful new education agenda that will transform lives. The target date for reaching Education for All goals and the Millennium Development Goals is 2015, and governments are now preparing the new agenda.
Live streaming Programme #WorldEducationForum
Declaration
The WEF Declaration, entitled Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all acknowledges the importance of “flexible learning pathways as well as the recognition, validation and accreditation of knowledge, skills and competencies acquired through non-formal and informal education; and the use of information and communication technologies”.
It further emphasizes the importance of adult learning, education and training opportunities.
Conclusions of the NGO Forum
ICDE Executive Committee member, Alan Tait of the Open University, UK, and the ICDE Secretary General participated in the NGO Forum, which preceded the World Education Forum.
The NGO Forum Declaration noted that the goal to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” should stand as our collective vision for the post 2015 agenda.
It also underlined the importance of the right to progressively free and public quality higher education and vocational education and training.
The NGO Forum asked for more attention to be placed on what the commitment to lifelong learning really means, and argues that this is “an approach that is transformative, a commitment to a vision of learning that starts from birth and extends throughout life, and encompasses quality formal, non-formal and informal learning”. Indeed, the recognition of prior informal and formal learning should be a priority, it is argued.
Governments should increase investment in teacher education and the provision of continuous professional development and support, states the NGO Forum Declaration.
Sources: http://en.unesco.org/world-education-forum-2015 and Towards the Right to Inclusive Quality Public Education and Lifelong Learning Beyond 2015
International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Post-2015 Education
ICDE will be represented at this conference to be held 23-25 May 2015 in Qingdao, Chinaby the ICDE Secretary General, as well as ICDE members including The Open University, UK, The Open University of China, the Commonwealth of Learning and Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, UAE.
23 May 2015 - 8:00am to Monday, 25 May 2015 - 7:00pm
Where:
China, Qingdao
- See more at: https://en.unesco.org/events/international-conference-information-and-communication-technologies-and-post-2015-education#sthash.2yl2JNEv.dpuf
Themes include:
ICT enhanced education
Effective use of ICT for quality learning
Transforming teacher education institutions: lessons learned from Africa
Transforming schools
Creating open learning environments
Transforming learning
Mainstream innovative pedagogies
Inclusive and relevant lifelong learning
Advancing equity in education
Building lifelong learning pathways
Empowering women and girls
Universal access to quality content
OER and digital textbooks
MOOCs
Recognition of online learning
Source: https://en.unesco.org/events