Overview and Framing of the Educator Workforce Report

• In Event: Redesigning the education workforce: findings from the education commission's educator workforce report

Proposal

The focus of the EWR is was on understanding the processes which have accompanied implementation of innovations, policy or program changes; moving beyond the knowledge that something works to knowledge on how to make ideas work reliably in different contexts and with different groups of practitioners and diverse groups of students. In order to design an education workforce to enable the achievement of the SDG4 targets and global goals, the EWR was commissioned to provide clarity on what education outcomes we are designing it for. A few overarching questions guided this work:

What are the global drivers of change and their impact on education? How do these intersect with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education?
Demographic and migration trends, advances in science, innovations in technology and growing inequality are rapidly shifting how we work and live. They are re-shaping our understanding of what individuals will need to do and be to thrive in this century and amplify the importance of education. It is clear that current education systems must adapt and innovate to keep pace.

Given these changes and SDG4, what are the key objectives to ensure that education can support students and communities to thrive in this century?
There is broad agreement that many aspects of current education systems are not well situated to support individuals to access a quality education. Enabling possibilities for inclusive and equitable education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all is the core objective to ensure students can lead healthy and fulfilled lives, make informed decisions and respond to local and global challenges.

What is currently being tried to facilitate these objectives and what kinds of scenarios on the future of education are most useful when considering how schooling can be re-imagined to reach these goals?
Responses to these outcomes include the development of 21st century frameworks aimed at broadening curriculums to encompass new core competencies, such as creative thinking and digital literacy. The education community has responded by undertaking innovative experiments in how schooling is delivered, including using teams of educators as opposed to one teacher siloed in a classroom. Predictions on the future of education focus on collaboration, high-touch and high-tech models, all of which should support current considerations of how school systems can be re-imagined to reach the education goals.

What implications do these objectives and scenarios have for the education workforce and its ability to shift and better adapt now and in the future?
The need for a more diverse, flexible workforce that better represents the communities it serves and is better trained and supported throughout to deliver inclusive, holistic, quality education, efficiently and effectively.

What is our vision for the education workforce of 2040?
A high quality, diverse team of professionals working collaboratively and effectively to ensure improved learning outcomes, social and mental development and physical well-being of every student – a quality education for the whole child; motivated to professionally develop, and leverage innovation for better learning and to meet the changing needs of this century.

Authors

• Amy Bellinger, Education Commission

• Katie Godwin, Education Commission