UN & Global Initiatives on Transforming Schools
There are several global initiatives being led by UN agencies and others to to transform school systems for 2050 and beyond. This page maintains an updated list & descriptions of some of these initiatives. The global organizations representing educators working within and with schools have developed a joint statement that provides advice on several principles, processes and other aspects that countries, states and provinces should consider as they chart their course towards inclusive, equitable, and sustainable school systems. The joint statement will be used as a basis for their input into some of the  UN and global initiatives listed below. 
Initiatives & Events
Implications & Potential Actions
UN Transforming Education Summit (TES) & Actions
The TES was held in September 2022 as part of the UN General Assembly in New York. It was positioned as part of the UN goals for "Our Common Agenda" and follow up actions will be discussed at the 2023 UN Summit of the Future.  The report of the UNESCO Commission on the Futures of Education provided a backdrop to TES. A Pre-Summit was organized by UNESCO in Paris in June 2022. The pre-summit was organized around five "action tracks". The September summit agreed on several "calls to action". The summit asked member countries to organize national consultations on transforming schools and most countries made written national statements/ commitments to act on TES deliberations. Several other actions are also  planned by various agencies and organizations.  The report on the TES prepared by the Special Advisor to the Summit described the TES in details. A Follow up Strategy was developed by the UN Sec-Gen and UNESCO which was approved at the  SDG4 High Level Steering Committee (HLSC) at their December 2022 meeting.
  • The overwhelming amount of information on TES is indicated by the many web links listed on the left. We have tried to break this information down into smaller items listed below. However, even the items in that breakdown need to be examined and acted upon in more detail as the events and initiatives unfold.
  • TES Pre-Summit (Paris, June 2022)
    The five "action tracks" were the primary focus of the pre-summit. The final discussion papers were prepared through open consultations (with tight timelines) and submission of "best practices". Each track identified "key issues" but each had numerous specific aspects and challenges reflecting the many demands placed on schools to address the many equity, health and social challenges confronting students and families. The final discussion papers and other items from the online discussions for each track can be found on these pages:
    1. Inclusive, equitable, safe, & healthy schools
    The final version (15 July 2022) of the Track One Discussion Paper listed the many challenges faced by schools. The urgent tone of the document reflects the many needs but the unfair criticism of schools as being responsible for the many ills in societies was removed from earlier versions. The annex to this paper includes four sub-themes on disabilities/inclusion, safety, school health/nutrition & education in emergencies. Many excellent programs are cited. But there is not explicit discussion of the role of other ministries nor coordinated, comprehensive approaches. There is also no mention of health & life skills education curricula to provide instruction in nutrition, safety and social/emotional development.
       
    2. Learning, skills for life, work sustainable development
    The final version (July 15 2022) of the Track Two Discussion Paper proposes to empower individuals as the force for change but does call upon countries to make policy and program changes (without really addressing systems change.) The paper does call for a "whole institution" approach to student learning but does not really address whole of government or intersectoral strategies. Despite its lip service to "life-wide learning" and "skills for life" the paper is really focused on promoting Education for Sustainable Development, literacy & numeracy and job skills. .

    3. Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession

    4. Digital learning and transformation

    5. Financing of education
  • Track One on "inclusive, equitable, safe, & healthy schools focused on the conditions and services needed to support learning. However, Track Two, which was discussed and kept separate from Track One,, focused on "Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development". Consequently, the evidence and long-standing practice of combining policies, instruction, services, physical environment and social support) in  many multi-intervention programs and multi-component approaches (and described in the core indicators of the FRESH Framework) was ignored. And, the bias favouring academics and job skills was continued.
  • ISHN submitted a "best practice" reflecting the FRESH Framework calling for better and more use of "Intersectoral Policy-Program Coordination Frameworks (IPPCFs)" by promoting and monitoring actions such as whole of government approaches, inter-ministry agreements, assignment of coordinators, joint sector reviews and more. The joint educators statement calls for such coordination mechanisms and contributions from other ministries and agencies. The specifics of the ISHN/FRESH submission were largely ignored in TES discussions but the need for a whole of government approaches that engage & commit other ministries in school programs was highlighted in the closing remarks from the UN Assistant Secretary General and in the analysis of the commitments from countries. 
  • The Action Track One Discussion Paper is an acceptable listing of the many barriers to inclusion and equity as well as the many programs and approaches that address those barriers. These include disabilities, basic literacy, hunger, violence, discrimination, the climate crisis, social discord, and many more barriers. Apparently, "reforming" school systems is no longer sufficient, they must be "transformed". (Note: Most educational research shows that incremental "improvements" made by autonomous and accountable professionals at all levels within systems pursuing a shared vision are more effective and sustainable than radical reforms or transformations pushed by external advocates. This incremental approach to creating and maintaining  change is recommended in the joint educators statement)
  • National Consultations and Commitments
  • TES Summit (NYC, September) & Follow-up
The OECD Future of Education & Skills 2030 Initiative aims to help education systems determine the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values students need to thrive in and shape their future. It includes a Learning Compass, a framework (see the Compass concept notes) for helping students navigate towards “well-being” (which is more about doing well than being well).  The initiative builds on earlier OECD (2005) work on student competencies, adding “transformative” competencies to the mix. The project includes the development of research and guidance on student agency and teacher development & wellness, curriculum design & analysis, including a look at Physical Education and ways to address curriculum overload. The initiative holds regular forums on different topics and has focus groups comprised of government representatives, curriculum implementers and students.
This OECD initiative has published four papers on curriculum reform. The latest examines how attitudes and values can be embedded in curricula. The previous papers addressed how curricula can be adapted to bridge equity gaps, presented a 21st century model and discussed ways in which curriculum overload can be addressed.
Teacher competencies are also being described in other OECD work.  
  • One potential objective for influencing the OECD Declaration (see below) as well as the OECD Education 2030 initiative could be to help them to broaden the traditional OECD focus on academic learning, literacy, numeracy and job skills to include the arts, social studies, moral and character education and health & life skills education.
  • A specific OECD curriculum analysis based on 16 countries by PE-focused officials And researchers implies that the curriculum structure most often used in promoting health, personal and social development is a combined Health & PE course. (This will be investigated further in a ISHN-UNICEF-SFU study that works from a previous FRESH Working Group on , Health Literacy, Life Skills & Social Inclusion.
OECD Declaration on Building Equitable Societies Through Education (2022)
Over 40 OECD member countries have recently issued a declaration on building equitable societies through education that includes criteria or elements of school systems that promote equity. These include creating a bolder vision to leverage spaces, time, technology and human resources to provide more inclusive learning opportunities, developing a whole-child/person and whole-of-society approach, analyzing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on learners and how countries are effectively addressing them and exploring approaches to measure the outcomes of education for all subsets of the population.
The declaration was the primary outcome of a education ministers meeting organized by the OECD policy committee.  The opening remarks from the OECD Secretary General, a summary and full text of the paper prepared for the meeting and the various resources listed for the meeting do discuss equity and a whole person approach. However, the traditional OECD emphasis on learning for the world of work still shines through the content.
OECD is organizing a series of webinars in March 2023 on different aspects of the Declaration. Participation is open to all interested. There may be opportunities for organizations to pick up on the sessions and begin a dialogue with OECD about their policy and program implications and the transformation of school systems. This online calendar includes registration links.
  • “Moving from debate to dialogue: philosophy and action from Brazil, India, and Japan” March 3 (13.00-15.00 CET)
  • “Living together with radiation and war: students’ voice from Ukraine and Fukushima/Japan” March 10 (9.30-11.30 CET)
  • “The voices of teachers-to-be: “Be the change you want to see in the world” March 12 (10.00-12.00 CET)
  • “The Use of AI in teaching and learning: opportunities and risks” March 20 (11.00-13.00 CET)
  • “Putting the draft OECD Learning Compass for Mathematics in action” March 22 (14.00-15.30 CET)
  • “Project Infinity: experiences of global co-creation among students and teachers” March 31 (10.00-12.00 CEST)
Information related to the statement includes:
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