Education policymakers worldwide must re-evaluate education systems to provide a stronger focus on personalised learning, a new global report says.
The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development’s (MGIEP) new report, titled: ‘Reimagining Education’, said governments, education policymakers and senior decision makers need to recognise that personalised education “is an entitlement and a human right for every learner”.
The new global International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment (ISEE) report points towards an education that employs a cognitive-emotional approach to learning, and for education policymaking to be guided by science and evidence in the future.
The Assessment, which commenced in 2019 in Montreal and has been two years in the making, brought together more than 300 experts from 45 countries informed by a global consultation process with scientists and specialists from diverse disciplines such as neuroscience, technology, education, philosophy, data and evidence, and sustainability.
Reimagining education in the aftermath of COVID-19
The report, released at the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, comes as the world grapples with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that has jeopardized the chances of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Decades of progress in education are also constantly threatened by conflicts, such as the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the report finding that more than a third (37%) of primary school-aged refugee children are out of school and only 24% have access to secondary school education. Access to higher education is a dismal 3% among refugee populations.
The Assessment contributes to re-envisioning the future of education to build more resilient and sustainable education systems that can weather the current crisis.
“The ISEE Assessment is a new contribution to our work on how we reimagine education,” Sir Kevan Collins, Chair of the Youth Endowment Fund, UK and Advisory Board Member of the ISEE Assessment Report, said.
“We adopted a multidisciplinary approach to bring together the very best of what we know, ensuring that we work across a range of opportunities for children.”
Collins said that through this work, it became evident that “the future belongs to those who continue to learn and that a whole-brain-centric model is critical to supporting not only education, but a flourishing society.”
“A prosperous, sustainable future for our planet lies so much in the quality of education provided for all our children and we must continue the debate the Assessment has started.”
Personalised education is a human right
The report asks governments to realise that personalised education for continued development is a human right for every learner and calls for increased investment in education, which must be directed to a cognitive-emotional whole brain-approach to education.
The two Co-Chairs of the ISEE Assessment Report, Anantha Duraiappah, Director, UNESCO MGIEP and Nienke van Atteveldt, Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said over 80% of teachers, parents and students “want exactly what personalised education can offer”.
“This is now possible with the support of digital pedagogy and ethical artificial intelligence. We can make sure that each learner gets the quality education they are entitled to, work at their own pace and be their own benchmark to maximize their potentiality for leading a flourishing life,” Duraiappah and van Atteveldt said.
“We must address issues like the fact that 40% of the global population cannot access education in a language they understand and build a resilient education system for the future.”