Education Futures: Shaping a New Education Story at Salzburg Global Seminar

By Caireen Goddard, Senior Director - Impact and Eva Keiffenheim, Big Change Associate - A New Education Story

How can education systems transform so that all children can thrive throughout life?

Big Change, ETS, LEGO Foundation, Microsoft, and Qatar Foundation International partnered with Salzburg Global Seminar for the Education Futures: Shaping A New Education Story programme. Fifty education leaders from six continents collaborated in virtual meetings in April and convened from May 01 - May 05, 2022, at Schloss Leopoldskron in Austria to identify actions that can be taken now to drive the transformation of education systems over the long term.

The programme built upon A New Education Story - Three Drivers to Transform Education Systems, global research published by Big Change working with RewirED, Teach for All, HundrED, and others. The publication combines the wisdom of diverse contributors to identify three drivers to transform education systems - purpose, power, and practice - along with nine actions and case studies that show how transformation can work.

Using this global research as a starting point, Salzburg Global Seminar participants asked big questions and thought differently about what we aim for in education and learning, and how to get there. The three drivers shaped the programme, including panel discussions such as “Power: Nothing About Us Without Us: Voice and Agency” and “What Works and Why? Ingredients of Successful System Transformation.”  

Transformation starts with redefining the purpose of learning

“To change how we do school and education, we need to change why we do school and education,” Noah Sobe, UNESCO, said. While reform improves the system, transformation changes the purpose of the system. Caireen Goddard, Big Change, shared how deep change requires shifting mindsets and supporting open and inclusive dialogue between stakeholders that centre on surfacing shared values and visions. George Mpanga, a.k.a George the Poet, reflected on his personal history and highlighted how education systems need to reflect the multiple identities and histories of the people within the system.

What if a key question shaping a young person's learning journey was: "Who am I?". - George the Poet

A central idea included education systems evolving into learning systems; shifting purpose can be seen as being less about education (done to and passive) and more about learning (expansive, lifelong). 

“We can achieve new goals within existing structures.” - Andreas Schleicher, OECD

And yet, the drivers’ purpose and power are intertwined - Who is deciding the why will make all the difference. A person who hasn’t lived in a community shouldn't decide what's fundamental and relevant for them. When redefining a purpose for education, it’s important to hear all voices and be fully aware of context. Which perspectives do we not hold? Which voices do we not hear? Who is here? And who is not here? How can we listen and step aside? 

Power implies giving agency to young people and educators 

“While we talk about the systems outside, I’d like for us to explore the impact it’s had on us on the inside. How much power do I have and where does it reside?” - Romana Shaikh, Kizazi

Any transfer or re-imagination of power needs to come from first examining who holds how much power. We can start answering those questions in our individual contexts. Transformation starts within every one of us. Are we able to transform ourselves enough to transform the system? If we want different solutions, we first need to change ourselves.

The panellists also looked at systemic barriers that prevent young people from thriving and from exercising agency. They explored the role of privilege within education systems and beyond. 

A new purpose of education should be rooted in equity. Hard work alone isn’t enough to overcome economic, social, and cultural hurdles: the future of education requires that everyone is on a level playing field and has the same access and proximity to resources and opportunities. 

The conversations at Schloss Leopoldskron revealed how space for inclusive, open, and intergenerational dialogue can change mindsets.

Shifting purpose and power results in a transformation of practice

During the programme, participants shared best practices on social-emotional learning and powerful examples of how learning, teaching, and assessment can be transformed.

“I believe the biggest barrier is the way we have defined success today. The success of the education system is defined by very narrow parameters that work for very few kids and doesn’t include and encompass the breadth and depth of the challenges that our young people are facing and the potential they have across the world. If we were to only reimagine the purpose of education to thriving which includes all children, we could remove the barriers of what stops education systems transforming.” - Suchetha Bhat, Dream a Dream

Panellists demonstrated how to create more learner-centric classrooms, and Catherine Millett from ETS stated, “If we are going to transform education, then we are going to transform assessment. For assessment to serve personalised learning, it needs to recognise that learners learn and express their knowledge and skills differently and in their own time.”   

In a panel about barriers and enablers to transformation, Andreas Schleicher, OECD, shared: “Where teachers are not genuinely involved in the design of reforms, they are unlikely to help with their implementation.”

But implementation programmes are not enough. The system consists of humans; we all are the system. 

“Running programmes won’t transform systems; developing relationships will,” Franco Mosso, Enseña Perú, said when explaining how a shared purpose and strengthening local leaders transformed education in the Ancash region. 

Building on the shared insights on education transformation, the last 1.5 days were spent putting conversations into action. Six working groups tackled questions such as “How can we shift power to increase student and educator agency and co-agency?” 

The programme in Salzburg was only a starting point, and participants will take the insights back to their context and continue to collaborate beyond so that all children can thrive throughout life. 

Big Change continues to work with diverse partners, in the UK and globally, to shape dialogue, action and resources in pursuit of transformation.

All photo credits: Salzburg Global Seminar/Katrin Kerschbaumer