The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, recently joined a one-day, high-level stakeholders’ action programme at the United Nations in New York, focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for education.
The sessions included panel discussions to consider the challenges and opportunities for advancing universal access to primary and secondary education, as well as to life-long learning.
The gathering was designed to raise awareness of the UN’s new development agenda, fostering a better understanding of the SDGs and their role in promoting global citizenship.
Dr Asmaa Alfadala, WISE director of research who took part in a panel on innovation in education, introduced the work of WISE, particularly research on leadership in learning and the need for “more agile” schools.
She was joined on the panel by Leslee Udwin, founder and CEO of Think Equal; Shai Reshef, president of UoPeople, an online university; and Maggie MacDonnell, winner of the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize. The panel was moderated by Vikas Pota, CEO of Varkey Foundation.
In describing her research work at WISE, Dr Alfadala noted the importance of “linking policy and practice, and to connecting thinkers and doers”.
She said WISE is assisting schools in Qatar to build their leadership teams through WISE’s ‘Empowering Leaders of Learning’ programme in which “leaders are encouraged to adopt an agile mind-set as an innovative tool in responding to the complexity of improving teaching and learning”.
Other panels included a youth round-table discussion, Education in Vulnerable and Humanitarian Situations, and Sustainable Development for Global Citizenship.