The mandate of the International Commission on the Futures of Education is to collectively reflect on how education might need to be re-thought in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity. The commission will present analysis and recommendations in the form of a report which will serve as an agenda for policy dialogue and action at multiple levels. Looking at the year 2050 and beyond, the report will suggest visions and strategies for both education policy and education practice to adopt. The Commission is to take into consideration recent geopolitical shifts, accelerated environmental degradation and climate change, changing patterns of human mobility, and the exponential pace of scientific and technological innovation. At the same time, the report should envisage and analyse the multiple possible futures of technological, social, economic, and environmental disruption and how education might both affect and be affected by these futures. The Commission will include in its report a consideration of the longstanding UNESCO commitment to an integrated and humanistic approach to education and knowledge as public goods. The Commission is invited to challenge and re-evaluate the foundational principles laid out in previous UNESCO global reports about education. In sum, the Commission will focus on rethinking the role of education, learning and knowledge in light of the tremendous challenges and opportunities of predicted, possible, and preferred futures. Detailed agenda to be confirmed.

Mobile Learning Week (MLW) is the United Nations’ flagship event on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, and has been organized by UNESCO and its partners for eight years consecutively. The 2020 edition of MLW will be held from 2 to 6 March 2020 in Paris under the theme Artificial Intelligence and Inclusion. It is designed to steer the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) towards the direction of inclusion and equity in education – core values underpinning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and digital opportunities for all.

The workshop will focus on adult education, technical and vocational education and training and the recognition of qualifications. .

The global launch of the Report will bring together ministers of education and ministers of social protection, alongside representatives from regional organizations, international donors, parents, teachers and civil society. The global launch of the Report will take place on 24 March 2020. The event will bring together ministers of education and ministers of social protection, alongside representatives from regional organizations, international donors, parents, teachers and civil society. With the help of the GEM Report recommendations and policy examples, as well as its new inclusive education profiles web platform, the event aims to be an informative occasion, enabling peer learning and collaboration to tackle one of the most persistent challenges to achieving SDG 4: inclusion.

UNESCO in partnership with Education Cannot Wait and NORCAP, with support from SIDA, will host the second international conference on Education Management Information Systems (EMIS). This second edition focuses on the role of EMIS within the Education in Emergencies (EiE) data landscape. It aims to address the humanitarian and development coherence through better alignment of EMIS and humanitarian data systems.

UNESCO is kicking off its new framework: ‘Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ – ESD for 2030 and its roadmap for implementation during the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in Berlin, Germany. 800 participants from around the world will gather for the occasion: policy-makers working in education and sustainable development, education practitioners, civil society, development community and private sector experts.

This Central Asia Symposium on ICT in Education (CASIE) workshop will focus on UNESCO ICT Competency Standards for Teachers, education content and Open education resources (OER) and flexible learning. .

September 8th was proclaimed as International Literacy Day (ILD) at the 14th session of UNESCO’s General Conference on 26 October 1966. Since 1967, International Literacy Day (ILD) celebrations have taken place annually around the world to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights, and to advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society. More information on 2020 Literacy Day coming soon.