Launch of the UNESCO Caribbean Futures of Education webinar series

Students from families in the highest 20% of income distribution in the Latin America and Caribbean Region are five times more likely to complete secondary education than those students coming from families earning in the lowest 20%. This systemic inequity has been a critical challenge for Caribbean policymakers as they confront developmental challenges in the region, including poverty, lack of access to quality health care and sluggish job creation. Also, school closures across the Caribbean region in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic has intensified concerns about growing inequities in the education systems across the region.

It is against this background that in collaboration with the Education Sector of UNESCO, the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean launches the UNESCO Caribbean Futures of Education webinar series. This webinar series builds on the framework of UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative, which seeks to reimagine education and its role in sustainable human development.

More specifically, the Caribbean Futures of Education webinar series aims to promote discourse on the strategies Caribbean educational systems utilize to serve their stakeholders in an increasingly complex, diverse, and interconnected global community. The first webinar on December 8, 2020 will focus on Human and Planetary Sustainability and occurs in the context of a global pandemic, an escalating climate crisis and calls for sustainable mining, fishing, and agricultural practices in the Caribbean.

Questions to be discussed: 

• How do Caribbean states address complex issues of human ecology such as climate change, pollution, and conservation in their curricula?

• How does Caribbean culture promote or hinder efforts to produce environmentally aware students? 

• What are the most effective strategies educators can utilize to promote the development of the self-regulation skills students need to be environmentally responsible?

• What roles do education and cultural diversity play in promoting innovation and change in the Caribbean?

• Which areas would have the most significant impact on preparing students to solve complex real-world problems?

Learn more about this webinar series thanks to the Concept Note and don't forget to register to attend the webinar next Tuesday!