I should have been in Miami last month, attending and presenting at the 2020 CIES conference, themed “Education Beyond the Human". Together with colleagues, UK government representatives and project partners, I was excited about the opportunity to meet with international educationists from a wide range of contexts and with a rich pool of experience, ideas and tools.
Best laid plans
In total, 12 sessions related to the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) had been accepted onto the programme, bringing lessons and challenges from across the portfolio of 41 GEC projects. Alongside three cross-portfolio sessions looking at Enabling environments; Future-proofing learning through positive mental health and Strategies to challenge gender inequalities, our partner NGOs had also been busy preparing: Link Community Development had proactively convened two multi-project sessions; CARE International were due to talk about the impact of climate change on learning outcomes in Somalia; World Education Inc were going to present on socio-cultural determinants of marginalisation in Ghana; and WUSC were offering the perspective from refugee camps in Kenya. Four implementing partners in Afghanistan were going to share information about how they are educating the next generation of Afghan women to be catalysts for change. An added bonus would have been a midweek networking breakfast for all our GEC partners – the café was booked, the flyers prepared, the banner packed.
Changing tack
Instead, as has been the experience of people across the globe reacting to the fast-spreading coronavirus COVID-19, we had to radically change our plans. CIES 2020 had already been envisaged as a hybrid conference, welcoming remote participation and encouraging virtual presentations using pre-recorded material, videos and live multi-location Q&A. So the conveners were able to act quickly and with agility to propose a set of options for everyone to switch from physical to remote participation – we could choose to keep our original slot and present remotely online, we could select a new presentation date over the next two months (linking with other related sessions as appropriate) or we could simply upload slide decks, videos and other materials for delegates to view.
Having originally selected to deliver a hybrid physical/virtual session, my colleagues and I took the first option and started to rethink our four-part presentation on ‘Enabling Environments'. Most importantly we scheduled a technical rehearsal to check we were all familiar with the remote presentation platform and had a back-up plan in case of any glitches. One set of colleagues selected to take a slot during a newly proposed two-day ‘Gender and Education’ online symposium on 22/23 April, and the other decided to turn their planned presentation into a download.
The ‘living calendar’ set up by the conference organisers began to fill up and an inspiring welcome video was shared by conference chair Professor Iveta Silova, urging delegates to connect even more purposefully than we would have done had we been physically present. As the conference began in the midst of worsening news reports about the pandemic, the conference theme seemed especially salient, evoking the fragility of humanity and the importance of collaboration and partnership to enable everyone to face this global challenge as equipped and well-resourced as possible.
Our presentation: Creating an enabling environment
The key message of our presentation was the firm importance of a holistic approach, built on evidence about the factors which enable (or conversely impede) girls who are marginalised to access educational opportunities and learn. We talked about the gateway skills that enable adolescent girls to fulfil their potential, and about mitigating the risk of violence which can block their way; we explored different possibilities for new pathways, and discussed the systems which form the backdrop for girls’ learning and transition, and how they can change.
The session went smoothly, the online audience posed thought-provoking questions, and a number of conversations were initiated which we will happily follow up afterwards.
A new type of conference
I turned to the conference schedule and logged on for a session on teacher training at scale by distance and another on literacy and learning beyond the classroom – it was striking how many of the sessions seemed relevant for the new conditions in which we are living. Keynote talks have been made available as recordings as well as live sessions and have been adapted and tailored to the new global context: UNESCO’s session on the future of international education in the context of an increasingly fragile planet was all the more pertinent.
In addition to formal sessions, there were virtual coffee breaks which somehow felt like chance meetings in a corridor just like at a physical conference, and there was even a virtual Mexican party where people broke into song and exchanged stories. A highlight was the virtual film festival featuring absorbing films about the links between agriculture, education, technology and the global climate. Discussions at all the sessions felt measured, there was an unexpected atmosphere of kindness and looking out for one another, and of acknowledging that none of us has all the answers.
Moving forward
Back ‘home’ to my regular job as GEC Monitoring and Learning Lead, I have been pulled quickly into discussions which reflect the hard reality for project implementers – how to keep girls safe in the fast-changing situations they find themselves in, how to support educators, what part to play in the bigger picture to support the national and international response. It has been enriching to step into the virtual international arena, and having access to more sessions and presentations over the next few weeks will keep the conversations going, and may well lead to permanent new ways of sharing knowledge in our sector.