WISE 2021 brought together 300 leaders to hybrid in-person and online summit on the future of education
The devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the lives and wellbeing of children and young adults is undeniable. Around one in five young people reported they often felt depressed or had little interest in doing things, according to a UNICEF and Gallup global survey.
Under the theme "Generation Unmute: Reclaiming Our Future Through Education" WISE 2021 made room for this generation, which had been so badly affected by the global crisis, to speak for themselves and to share what today’s young people want from education and for their future. From December 7 to 9, more than 300 speakers came together in Doha, Qatar and online to present and discuss what education requires to meet the needs of an ever-changing world.
The event was built around five thematic tracks:
In more than 200 sessions along those tracks, local, regional and international experts shared their insights and ideas.
Salzburg Global Seminar was proud to be a knowledge partner for WISE 2021 for the second consecutive summit. Over the past two years, our work with WISE has expanded considerably, and the multiple areas of partnership were reflected in our contributions to the event: the work Salzburg Global is doing together with WISE in our capacity as a strategic partner for the Agile Leaders in Learning Innovation Network (ALL-IN), the efforts undertaken around teacher wellbeing, and the collaboration with WISE through Karanga: The Global Alliance for Social Emotional Learning and Life Skills. Given this long-standing partnership, Salzburg Global Seminar colleagues and Fellows participated in numerous sessions, in person and virtually, throughout the summit.
Faye Hobson, Associate Program Director, got involved virtually by acting as a Judge for two online ‘Pitch-It’ sessions where she gave feedback on pitches by innovative education start up projects and EdTech solutions.
Salzburg Global Fellows Andrea Fahed, project manager at Lebanese Alternative Learning, and Wairimu Mwangi, founder and CEO of the Literature Africa Foundation, were both able to attended the summit in person as members of the WISE Emerging Leaders 2021 cohort.
Salzburg Global Program Director Dominic Regester attended the summit in person and moderated several panel discussions. Following the Leading for the Future track, he facilitated the in-person session New Thinking on Educational Leadership: Presenting the Work of WISE ALL-IN with Salzburg Global Fellow Daniela Labra Cardero, Founder of Attentamente and Deborah Kimathi, CEO of the Kenyan NGO Dignitas. Daniela and Deborah are both chairs of one the 2021 ALL-IN working groups and the discussion focused on new thinking around teacher leadership.
Program Associate Corinna Nawatzky supported WISE remotely by following the same track online and compiling an Insights Report for the ALL-IN community. The report will be shared in the network’s next newsletter in January 2022.
Later on Day 2, Dominic also moderated a hybrid panel discussion on Transforming Schools into Powerful and Equitable Learning Environments with David Sengeh, Minister of Basic and Higher Secondary Education Sierra Leone, Patrick Awuah Founder and President, Ashesi University and Nedgine Deroly Founder and CEO of Anseye Pou Ayiti. The panelists shared key insights into the opportunities and challenges of civic involvement and empowering communities to become change leaders in education.
Over the last two years, Salzburg Global has been part of the reference group for a research project lead by WISE and the Wellbeing Project focused on teacher wellbeing. The first output from this initiative – Teacher Wellbeing: Findings from a Scoping Literature Review and Case Studies in Cambodia, Kenya, and Qatar – was launched during the summit as part of the Learning to be Well track.
Dominic hosted two wellbeing conversations during the summit. The first, was the ‘Fireside Chat’ Learning to Be Well: Prioritizing Well-being of Students, Teachers and School Leaders with Karanga steering committee member Jigyasa Labroo, Founder and CEO of Slam Out Loud, and New York State’s teacher of the year Alhassan Susso. The second was a panel discussion on Fostering Emotional Intelligence in an Era of Educator Burnout with Salzburg Global Fellow Marc Brackett, Director of the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence, and Zarmina Hotaki, the Principal of the Qatar Leadership Academy.
A third strand of work that connects Salzburg Global Seminar and WISE is Karanga: The Global Alliance for Social Emotional Learning and Life Skills. Karanga was again identified as a knowledge partner for the summit and 11 of Karanga’s steering committee were involved in different sessions across WISE 2021. Together with Jigyasa Labroo, Dominic ran a workshop on social and emotional learning and student voice and agency, supporting WISE’s 2021 theme of Generation Unmute.
To learn more about WISE 2021, please visit their website here. You missed a session and would like to rewatch it? Go to WISE’s YouTube channel.