As Christmas is approaching in our hemisphere, we would like to share with you our selection of top reads for this sparkling season. The collection features newly published and influential reports on education, relevant policy declarations, and important articles and blogs. Read until the end for a Christmas Bonus!
INEW Highlights
INEW Strategic Plan 2024-2026
Irish Network for Education Worldwide, October 2024 – Read here | About the Strategy
A milestone publication for INEW, our Strategic Plan 2024-2026 sets out an ambitious roadmap for the three years until 2026. The three strategic goals will guide our efforts with our members and partners to achieve our shared vision.
Strategy
INEW General Election Manifesto
Irish Network for Education Worldwide, November 2024 – Read here | About the Manifesto
In our General Election Manifesto, we called on voters to vote for realising the right to education for all worldwide with a focus on ensuring that the Irish Government’s targets for the Official Development Assistance (ODA) are achieved and support for education projects increased.
Policy Submission
Global Snapshot
Pact for the Future 2024
UN, September 2024 – Read here
The outcome document adopted at the 2024 Summit of the Future has faced significant criticism from the international education community. Described as “side-tracking” education and labelled a “missed opportunity”, education stakeholders had lobbied extensively for months to ensure education was recognised as a cornerstone for achieving all SDGs. This document is worth reviewing to understand the commitments made toward education and to advocate for stronger governmental action.
Declaration
Statement by Laura Frigenti on the Pact for the Future
Laura Frigenti, Global Partnership for Education, September 2024 – Read here
GPE’s CEO, Laura Frigenti, provides a critical analysis of the Pact for the Future, highlighting its shortcomings in relation to education. In this important blog, she emphasizes the need for a stronger integration of education into the international discourse.
Blog
Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/2025 – Leadership in Education: Lead for Education
UNESCO, October 2024 – Read here | INEW Blog about the Global Education Meeting in Fortaleza and the Launch of the GEM Report
The 2024/2025 Global Education Monitoring Report, short GEM Report painfully unveiled that 251 million children and youth remain out of school. It also explores as a focus topic the role of leadership in education. Look out for the Irish Launch in February, co-organised by INEW with more information to follow soon.
Report
Transforming Education Towards SDG 4 – Report of a global survey on country actions to transform education
UNESCO, June 2024 – Read here
Stemming from the UN Transforming Education Summit (TES) held in September 2022, UNESCO invited UN Member States to participate in the Survey on Country Actions to Transform Education, aimed at documenting their commitments and actions. The resulting report, published in 2024, presents the survey’s findings and highlights the measures countries are taking to advance progress toward achieving SDG 4.
Report
Education in Emergencies
Missing Futures – The Urgent Need to Protect Gaza’s Children & Safeguard their Futures
Save the Children, December 2024 – Read here | Blog by Emma Wagner on the impact on education
The report focuses on the systematic undermining of Palestinian children’s fundamental rights as enshrined in international humanitarian and international human rights law with a chapter focusing on the impact on education. Also worth reading the blog collating all evidence from the report to show the many ways in which the undermining of children’s rights is harming the Palestinian children’s learning.
Report
From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Progress in Primary Education for Refugees
R. Naylor, UNHCR, 2024 – Read here
This paper explores how primary education for refugees can be improved: in terms of access, quality, finance, and policy. It explores successes achieved within different policy environments, ranging from contexts where refugee children have no access to national education systems to full inclusion where refugee children attend public schools with the same rights and financing as national children.
Paper
Are Teachers Valued in Education in Emergencies Settings? What We Know and How We Address the Challenges
Chris Henderson, NORRAG, 5th October 2024 – Read here
Chris Henderson provides a critical examination of the position of teachers in emergency settings for this NORRAG blog. He highlights the critical undervaluing of teachers in these extreme contexts. He also sheds light on the challenges faced by refugee teachers, including systemic barriers that prevent them from teaching and contributing to addressing the global teacher crisis, while exploring positive developments and potential solutions.
Blog
Gender Equity
We Stand with the Girls and Women in Afghanistan
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait, 16th September – Read here
ECW’s Executive Director, Yasmine Sherif’s powerful statement on the 3-year anniversary of the ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan ensures that we do not forget the systematic exclusion of girls from education in Afghanistan and its devastating effects. Promoting the #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign, this blog is a must-read.
Blog
Impact of Gender Transformative Dialogue in the Graduation Programme – Findings from Research in Malawi
Concern Worldwide & Trinity College Dublin, October 2024 – Read here | About the Report
The researchers evaluate the impact of the Malawi Graduation Programme, which took place between 2017 and 2021, examining the effects and identifying impacts related to the gender of cash recipients of the programme and the impact of incorporating gender-transformative training into the programme.
Impact Report
Education-Climate Nexus
Baku Guiding Principles on Human Development for Climate Resilience
COP29 Statement, November 2024 – Read here
The document sets out guiding principles across the areas of education, health, jobs and skills, and children and youth, with the aim of enhancing ambition and elevating action of the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience. With education given a prominent role, the document calls for the development of climate-resilient systems, among other priorities.
Policy Declaration
COP29 Report: Harnessing the Education-Climate Nexus for a Resilient Future
Sarah Beardmore, Global Partnership for Education, 28th November – Read here
In her blog for INEW, Sarah Beardmore from GPE explores the outcomes of COP29 for education. The blog offers an overview of achievements and developments, along with an outlook on expectations for 2025.
Blog
Children’s Rights
Organizing for a new treaty on free public education
Bede Shepperd, Human Rights Watch and Education International, 20 November 2024 – Read here
This blog, published by Education International, summarises the updates and next steps in developing a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The protocol would guarantee free pre-primary, primary, and secondary education for all children. As a milestone development, staying informed about its progress in 2025 will be crucial.
Blog
The State of World’s Children 2024 – The Future of Childhood in a Changing World
UNICEF, November 2024 – Read here | INEW Blog by Anam Rashid, UNICEF, “Listen to the Future”
Published on World Children’s Day, UNICEF’s 2024 State of the World’s Children Report sheds a light on the global challenges children face in times of ongoing conflicts and climate crisis, demographic change, and fast-paced technological innovation, asking how a “business-as-usual” scenario will impact a world of 2050. A dedicated chapter on education highlights that with little progress on the horizon we will fall short of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Report
Teachers
Global Report on Teachers – Addressing Teacher Shortages and Transforming the Profession
UNESCO, 2024 – Read here
This first ever edition of the new biennial Teacher Task Force and UNESCO Global Report on Teachers highlights the pressing global shortage of teachers. With 44 million additional teachers needed globally to achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030, this shortage poses a significant challenge to achieving SDG4. The report outlines what actions need to be taken to get back on track.
Report
World Teachers’ Day: A Call for an Enhanced Dialogue and Increased Action
Ponke Danker, INEW, 7th October 2024 – Read here
This blog, published in honour of World Teachers’ Day 2024, critically examines key megatrends affecting teachers and their ability to uphold the right to education. It explores challenges such as the global teacher shortage, the impacts of climate change, and the recognition of refugee teachers and teachers in emergency contexts, while also providing an overview of valuable resources.
Blog
Christmas
Klaus
Sergio Pablos, 2019 – Watch on Netflix / The Secret Hero Scene
This animated movie tells a heart-warming story about a spoiled postmaster’s son who is sent to a remote, cold island town where two warring families dominate the island, locked in a vicious feud. The postmaster’s son meets an old recluse named Klaus. Eventually, together they bring joy to the island’s children – who like their parents are consumed by viciousness – in the form of small presents. A secret hero of this story is a teacher and the impact of education (ignore the trailer who fails to mention her, I said “secret”). Because, without giving away too much, obtaining the presents requires writing of course. The teacher, postmaster, and Klaus ultimately awaken much more than literacy in the children and the community. A tale about the power of kindness and education, this hidden gem of a Christmas movie, easily ranks among the most inspiring Christmas films. The soundtrack’s song “Invincible” captures this message perfectly with its lyrics, “kindness lives in everyone.”
Christmas Movie
