Career & Education: LISTENING TO LEARNERS

LISTENING TO LEARNERS

Following the active participation of 30 students in the summit last year, this year, new learners from across the world were part of the WISE delegation to add fresh vigour to the event

    The future of education maybe in the hands of young learners across the world, but how many of them get to decide about policies and resolutions, which shape their future? Are they ever asked for an opinion on environmental issues, the future of the education system or, for that matter, their views on health reforms? It is not unless we listen to learners and collaborate with them that we can create changemakers in education.
    Following the active participation of 30 students in the summit last year, this year, new learners from across the world were part of the WISE delegation to add fresh vigour to the event. Students from Palestine, Egypt, Afghanistan, Canada, Bahrain, Cameroon, Qatar, Syria, Pakistan, Netherlands, US, Tunisia, Haiti, Colombia, Jordan, Poland, Kenya and France, among others, participated as panelists, leading workshops, preparing sessions and conducting interviews with attendees.
    According to Marcos Metry, an UG student at Texas A&M University, learners’ voice brings forth views of students on the issue of thinking education. The programme builds their advocacy skills to ensure that leaders and decision-makers hear their voice and support their growth as change-makers in education.
    For Firyal Al-Balushi, a fresh graduate from Oman Medical College, the basis of learners’ voice is that learning is best effective when it is a collaborative venture between teachers and students. She said, “In fact, learners should be co-creators of their learning environments.”
    Ragda Awad, an UG student from Berzeit University, Palestine, who applied for this year’s summit, attributes her interest in the summit to previous years’ WISE learners and their inspiring work. She pointed out, “The 2011 WISE learners, after the summit, were involved in an intensive year of travelling, thus learning about innovations in education across the world. It was a great exposure and I was eager for a similar experience, which is why I applied for WISE 2012.”
    With last year’s learners sharing their views and observations about innovative approaches and their potential to improve access to quality learning for all, Awad is looking forward to share her experiences of this year with future WISE applicants.
    Also, WISE learners this year provided new research ideas, interviewed attendees of the conference and contributed to blogs, among others. While meeting new people from various backgrounds and getting to work with them under one goal and meeting top ranking people from the education field from across the world, it was an enriching experience for this year’s WISE learners.
    They will now be busy with their research work — quality and relevance in education — for a year.
    As one of the learners confirmed, “For our research, we will now be travelling to various conferences. By the end of the year, in the next year’s WISE, we will present the results of our research and hope to be as effective as last year’s learners.”