On April 20, 2017, Teach For All and the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution co-hosted a roundtable following the recommendation included in the Education Commission’s Learning Generation report, which calls for more concerted support and investment in a global education ecosystem. The roundtable gathered over 40 experts from global civil society organizations, social enterprises, bilateral and multilateral organizations, corporations, global philanthropies, research organizations, and think tanks, including Daniel Stoner, Co-Chair of the Basic Education Coalition and Associate Vice President for Education and Child Protection, Save the Children and Suezan Lee, Education Finance Specialist, USAID, in Washington D.C..

During the discussion, participants explored how a global ecosystem has led change in the health sector, discussed key opportunities and challenges for global education, and collectively identified actions to move the Learning Generation report recommendation forward. Participants agreed to:

Create a shared understanding of what we mean by a global education ecosystem—what its characteristics are and why is it important;
Discuss what is needed to help strengthen it—where are the gaps and opportunities, and in particular, what key global public goods help to facilitate cross-border learning and capacity building of local stakeholders; and
Identify initial next steps that we might take collectively to help increase support for and investments in the development of global public goods, including an infrastructure for fostering local capacity to adapt, learn, and share.

Experts are hoping to convene again in September around the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and in November at the The WISE Summit in Doha.

Teach For All alongside many other global education stakeholders looks forward to continuing to collaborate on these actions as the global education sector works toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all by 2030. With this strengthened foundation, we hope that collectively we can advocate for increased investment in education, allocate funding more efficiently, and create an environment that encourages sharing best practices across borders.

Teach For All is a global network of 45 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations and a global organization that works to accelerate the progress of the network. Each network partner recruits and develops promising future leaders to teach in their nations’ high-need schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children are able to fulfill their potential.

Teach For All network partners currently have over 14,000 placed teachers in low-income communities across 45 countries, and 65% of its more than 55,000 alumni are working in education or with disadvantaged communities.