Your Name and Title:

Daphne Magna, Global Thinker, Culture & Communications Specialist

School or Organization Name:

Glendon, York University / Professional Passport / BPTN

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Toronto, Canada

Language in Which You Will Present: English (Spanish, French, Italian if attendees desire)

Target Audience(s): Educators, Administrators, Higher Education instructors, Professional development specialists, International students, Academic advisors

Short Session Description (one line):

A focused discussion on the tough questions we have to answer to make any significant progress in global education.

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

There are some critical questions that need to be addressed first in order to lay the foundation, the priority structure to how we are ACTUALLY going to achieve our global education goals, much less the SDGs.

This focused discussion will be round table style in that the audience will have much room to participate, share views, and possible strategies. By answering these critical questions, we will acknowledge the necessary constraints we are all living and working with in education, and yet create the space needed to clarify how to push forward our global education agenda and goals.

Considering my first had experience working with both sides of the equation, international students and young entrepreneurs who do not feel equipped to adapt well to their new environments, and on the other hand, global companies trying to hire globally ready young professionals without success - the urgency of our job is fast and furious.

We will allot 5-10 minutes to each major topic and discuss whether or not they are crucial to address immediately or solve first in the complex priority of things or if they are stand-alone issues that can be swept aside while we keep doing what we are doing independent of institutional change. 

The questions include but are not limited to:

1. How to break the institutional mold: from within as an educator or from without as an advocate
2. Soft skills: what are they really - Human skills, 21st-century skills? And does language help or hinder? Do we have to be aligned?
3. Human rights education - why is no one talking about the fact that the universal declaration of human rights is not enforceable? Isn't that necessary to achieve the SDGs?
4. When does the curriculum actually get upgraded to not reflect only dominant viewpoints and tell the stories of the abused, the eradicated, the forgotten? Do we wait for the antiquated ministries of Ed to catch up or do we supplement resources?
5. Are we educators ready to unlearn and relearn how to teach for the 21st-century student who needs something different than our 20th-century teacher training? If so, how do we start?

Tough questions need answers. And those answers will make us more aligned, more powerful a force of change, and harder to avoid as the movement builds.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: