Day: 17 November 2009

WISE has begun in earnest and the unprecedented nature of the scale of this education conference was very clear to me. It is a gathering of so many people who could make a difference to world education, it is truly inspiring.

It was a rousing opening speech from Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, who said that world education is almost comatose and that we all need to sound the alarm for change and the right to education. Her Highness challenged the summit to set out an innovative road map that reflects our common convictions.

Dr Irina Bokova the newly appointed Director General of UNESCO explained in her opening that 75 million children worldwide are not in any form of education. This is further compounded by the fact that 800 million adults lack a basic education. She explained that teaching is a top priority for UNESCO and that we must all do our utmost to protect education from the current economic crisis, unfortunately I think that schools in the UK will still feel the financial pinch in the coming months.

The Chairman of the Qatar Foundation, Dr Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani set out further challenges for the summit. That the participants were the driving force for WISE and that we need to turn our words into endurable deeds. He explained that WISE was the beginning of a long term commitment to education innovation on a global scale.

The opening remarks were strong from all of the speakers. As a classroom teacher it helped me remember the very reason why we do our work. Even in the opening session the size of this event is abundantly clear, I hope that the nettle is grasped and as a collective something concrete is achieved in the next few days. How will my class be effected by this summit back home?

As the different speakers took to the stage the colour accent of the room changed, it is not going to be so easy to change global education, to align our common convictions. However the opening remarks helped remind us all why we try and why we need to continue to strive to improve.

As Irina Bokova put it, ” we must build peace in the minds of humans.” I will certainly take that back with me to my school.

I have arrived safely in Doha, Qatar for the inaugural World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). I am excited to be here and really looking forward to how the next 3 days pan out.

One thing that is abundantly clear is the international register of attendees. For example in the car from the aiport to the hotel last night I met a Brazilian journalist who had a 20 hour journey, this is a truly global event.

I am writing this on the coach journey to the Ritz-Carlton Doha which will be the venue for WISE. As Alan Levine explained last night the hospitality and friendliness is in abundance and I also shared his initial scepticism of the invite at first glance. But it isn’t some elaborate ruse and the logisitics team behind WISE have done a great job so far.

Interestingly I have been put in a hotel with all of the media professionals. The invite was as a result of this blog and I suppose I have to accept the fact that it is part of the media fabric – hopefully carving my own niche nonetheless.

Monday sees us take part in the opening of the conference as well as a variety of breakout sessions including:

• Globalisation of education – preparing students for a global economy and society
• Bridging Global Inequalities
• Higher Education for a Sustainable World
• Funding Education in the 21st Century – Who Pays for the Education of our Global Citizens
• Pluralism – Every Child Matters
• Innovation – Technology and E-Learning
• Pluralism – Civil Rights and Minorities in Education
• Sustainability – A Fully Intergrated Education Policy

There is lots to choose from and I am hoping to blog some notes over the next few days, that’s if I have time as the programme is pretty full on. You can always follow what I am up to at the conference by checking out my Twitter stream and the hashtag #WISE09 too.