Webinars on the Futures of Humanity and the Planet: Learning to Become
The current global pandemic has changed anticipated futures across the globe. The COVID-19 crisis is both world-shattering and world-making—there is a widely shared sense that humanity is at a defining moment for rethinking the future.
Reflection on probable/anticipated and possible/alternative futures is well underway within UNESCO’s Futures of Education: Learning to Become initiative and this series of webinars further explores the possible deep and fundamental transformations in how societies, politics, economies and even cultures may be organized in the future.
to reimagine development, knowledge and learning
in a world of profound transformations.
Upcoming webinars
New dates for webinars are coming soon.
In case you would like to be informed about the next webinar, send us an email to be included in our mailing list: futuresofeducation@unesco.org
Past webinars
16 June 2020, 12pm - 2pm (Beirut time), 1pm - 3pm (UAE time)
UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States (UNESCO Beirut), in partnership with UNESCO HQ and the Regional Center for Educational Planning (RCEP), organized on 16 June 2020 an Arab Region Dialogue on the Future of Education after COVID-19. The webinar aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on educational continuity in the Arab region, to reflect on the lessons learnt from the challenges faced during the COVID-19 crisis as we look to the futures of education, as well as to explore plans and strategies proposed to frame the vision of education after COVID-19.
The event was attended by high-level personalities including H.E. Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, UAE Minister of Education, UNESCO Beirut Director Dr Hamed al Hammami, RCEP Director Dr Mahra AlMutawiei, and Dr Sobhi Tawil, Chief of Section for Education Research and Foresight at UNESCO HQ; it has been followed by 500 participants online.
20 May 2020, 15h00-16h00 (Paris time)
What deep and fundamental transformations are possible for the future organization of societies, politics, economies, and even cultures? What role can education play to facilitate these transformations? The current global pandemic has changed anticipated futures around the world. With the COVID-19 crisis there is a widely shared feeling that humanity is at a decisive moment and can rethink the future. This 20 May 2020 Francophone webinar centered around the possible fundamental societal, political, economic and cultural transformations and their impact on education.
Panelists were UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Education, Stefania Giannini and three members of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the president of the Arab Institute for Human Rights Abdelbasset Ben Hassen and António Nóvoa, current ambassador of Portugal to UNESCO.
Click here to view the full recording of the webinar (in French)
20 April 2020, 11h00-12h30 (Santiago time)
The repercussions and consequences produced by the global pandemic have highlighted the increasingly pressing need to rethink the probable, possible and alternative futures that humanity could face, including the futures of education.
This webinar, co-organized with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean and Fundación Santillana, addressed issues related to the importance and relevance of formal education that is taught in the traditional school environment, the participation of fathers, mothers and communities, and its change during the health pandemic, the future of distance learning and its role in the transformation of education and in the fight against growing inequalities in educational opportunities.
Three members of the International Commission on the Futures of Education sparked the conversation with over 800 attendees: Elisa Guerra, founder of Colegio Valle from Philadelphia in Mexico; Tarcila Rivera, Executive Director of the Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru; and. Antonio Nóvoa, current ambassador of Portugal to UNESCO.
24 March 2020 15h00-16h30 (Paris time)
The fact that we live in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity has become undeniably evident because of the COVID-19 crisis. Events around the globe are being shifted online, including a 24 March keynote panel that was to be held at the Comparative and International Education Society’s (CIES) annual conference in Miami.
Four members of the International Commission on the Futures of Education took part in the discussion with the audience: Arjun Appadurai, Professor, New York University, and Hertie School (Germany); Fernando M. Reimers, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education (USA); Karen Mundy, Professor, Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (Canada) and António Nóvoa, Ambassador of Portugal to UNESCO.
Though all four panelists spoke at length about the dangers and uncertainties that the current global health crisis presents, there was also firm agreement that this is a potent moment of great opportunity as well.