Doha: Local and international education leaders discussed how collaboration can be used as a strategy to promote equity in education in a post-COVID-19 era, during a Qatar Foundation forum held yesterday.
The virtual ‘Teaching and Learning Forum 2020’ organised by the Education Development Institute (EDI), part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education, also discussed several issues that will be vital for both safeguarding and disrupting learning into the future.
The event was held under the theme of ‘Education for Resilience’ and it brought together more than 1,600 participants to look at how learning can be made sustainable post-COVID-19.
At different sessions educators and school leaders explored ways to identify how to make learning sustainable amid a global situation that is set to look radically different after COVID-19.
“We shouldn’t assume that collaboration is an easy answer. The challenges we meet while trying to educate every child effectively are complex. Collaboration can help us to think in new ways, to share ideas, to invent new possibilities. But collaboration in itself is time-consuming,” Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, Professor Mel Ainscow, said during the keynote speech.
Speaking about equity, he said that treating everybody as being of equal importance doesn’t necessarily translate into success.
“Change is complex and difficult. And we have to take steps slowly, but we have to make progress. First of all, we have to look within our schools. That’s where professional learning has to take place. Schools have to be a place where it’s not just the children who are learning, but the teachers and other support staff is learning together,” said Professor Ainscow.
According to him, schools that make progress are the schools that are constantly analysing their own context and finding examples of good practice.
Topics including personalising teaching and learning; building inclusive, accessible learning communities; fostering wellbeing and a sense of community within education; and globalising school curricula to blend global issues and local contexts, were highlighted during the ‘Teaching and Learning Forum 2020.’
Director of educational consultancy, Erimus Education, Malcolm Nicolson highlighted the need of ‘glocaliation’ within school education system. He said that ‘glocalization’ is fairly a recent innovation within education.
“We’re talking about learning global themes, talking about big global issues, and then using examples that are local, where students can engage in doing something, and use the skills and knowledge they’ve developed. They will then use in a meaningful action locally that has the relationship with a global issue, and vice-versa,” he said.
