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Last week, during the Transforming Education Pre-Summit, Global Education Coalition members took the floor to discuss the important role that the private sector can play in transforming education to meet SDG4.

Leaders from Google and Technovation spoke at the session Private Sector Perspective on Transforming Education on 30 June - one of many sessions hosted at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris as part of the three-day Pre-Summit.

The Global Schools Forum, Goodwall, and the International Organisation of Employers also joined the discussion which focused on what areas of education need to be transformed and how the private sector can support this.

The traditional learning process and teaching model - which has for decades been impacted by teacher shortages - were identified as priority areas for transformation. The global skills crisis is also a key concern –the World Economic Forum estimates that meanwhile

Speaking at the session, William Florance, Government Relations Program Lead for EMEA at Google, said that the knowledge and skillsets people will need for economic development in the future will look very different than today. He noted, for example, that the company and sector he now works in did not exist when he graduated. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people got a taste for learning through different modalities, Florance also believes we will continue to see more personal and flexible ways of learning

“We first have to start by recognizing that all these shifts are happening, and they are happening at once, and then look at how we can apply technology to solve some of these issues, including re-skilling for current and future jobs,” Florance said.

Tara Chklovski, CEO and Founder of Technovation, noted that a great deal of learning takes place outside of the formal school system, including through mentorship. She encouraged private sector organizations to invest time and resources into synergistic partnerships which also help employers build talent pipelines.

Beyond simply funding initiatives, the panel highlighted how the private sector can contribute to the transformation of education in several ways, including the implementation of technology for learning, being involved in the design process and the creation of learning content, identifying evidence-based examples of successful policy interventions, and building partnerships with governments and schools at all levels.

While there is much more the sector can do, more than 1 billion learners will be reached by 2030 through private sector contributions. Examples of commitments include:

• IBM’s aim to skill 30 million people by 2030
• Technovation’s efforts to support 25 million young women to become AI ecopreneurs and innovators over the next 15 years
• Verizon’s commitment to train over 10 million young people with digital skills by 2030.

In transforming education, foundational, literacy and numeracy skills should still be prioritized in curriculum. However, panellists also suggested that young people should play a greater role in shaping user-generated content and that creativity, entrepreneurial, critical thinking, leadership and presentation skills should be emphasized. Technovation’s Chklovski pointed to the benefits of project-based learning, adding that there is a “tremendous amount of evidence” that this approach is what most engages students and puts them on a path of lifelong learning.

Technology can play in a role in introducing project-based learning, said Florance, as well as giving teachers the tools to be more productive and become facilitators of learning, rather than instructors. However, the implementation of technology in learning does have to be done in a mindful way that considers different contexts and the support systems available, he added.

Members of the Global Education Coalition are working to address many of the challenges highlighted during the session and contribute to the transformation of education through three missions: the the , and the .

• More on the Transforming Education Pre-Summit
• More on UNESCO’s