CE International Announces International Refugee Education Pledges
Today at a virtual side event held ahead of the Global Refugee Forum, Childhood Education International announced our international refugee education pledges.
“CE International believes that education is transformational and can create better lives for learners, their families, their communities, and the world,” said Diane Whitehead, President and CEO. “We are committed to the vision of ensuring quality education for refugees and inclusion in national education systems.”
Our pledges will join the pledges of other organizations and governments worldwide as we collectively work to ensure that refugees have access to safe, quality, and relevant education opportunities and are included in national education systems.
Global Refugee Forum
Held every four years, the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is the world’s largest international gathering on refugees. It is designed to support the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees, which calls on committed parties to strengthen cooperation and solidarity to support refugees and host countries.
Education is an essential part of realizing the promise of the Global Compact on Refugees. The GRF Education Alliance, a network of 160 stakeholders working to ensure that refugees have access to education opportunities, envisions a world where all refugee children have access to safe, quality, and relevant education opportunities and are included in national education systems.
Refugee Education Pledges
As part of the GRF, organizations and governments have an opportunity to make commitments that demonstrate how they will meet the goals of the GCR.
Today’s event – Teaching and Learning in Displacement: Hopes for the Global Refugee Forum and Beyond – featured educators from Ukraine, Kenya, and Lebanon who spoke about their teaching experiences and the needs of educators and students in displacement contexts.
CE International then shared our refugee education pledges, which are commitments we make to provide support and resources for refugee education in a variety of displacement, migration, and emergency contexts over the next five years:
Pledge 1:
Childhood Education International is committed to providing access to quality, holistic, continuous professional development for pre-primary through secondary school educators working in contexts of emergency, crisis, displacement, migration, and refugee settings and supporting refugees’ and (im)migrants’ pathways to entering the teaching profession within national education systems.
CE International pledges to support at least 20,000 educators’ learning journeys over the next 5 years through Open Educational Resources, workshops, webinars, communities of practice, and other opportunities created with teachers for teachers in alignment with national education initiatives and in collaboration with other INGOs, university teacher preparation programs, government ministries, and education leadership partners.
Pledge 2:
CE International is committed to advocating for and increasing awareness about the importance of integrating inclusive early childhood development and education and early intervention in inter-sectoral responses to crises and displacement to ensure that the youngest children from refugee, displaced, and host communities have access to national and local systems that support quality, holistic, and inclusive early childhood services that uphold child rights and promote safety and protection.
Through our communications platforms and publications, CE International will reach a global network of at least 15,000 child development leaders, educators, and other education leaders in the next 5 years through the distribution of resources, events, and reports featuring the importance of early childhood development and education and early intervention as it relates to contexts of crises and displacement.
Through our work, we hope to inspire other organizations and governments to pledge commitments to refugee education and to collaborate toward our common goals of ensuring that everyone has access to quality education and pathways to thrive.
Multistakeholder Pledges
As members of GRF Education Alliance working groups, CE International has reviewed pledging guidance and aligned our pledges to the broader hopes of other stakeholders, and we also anticipate aligning with multistakeholder pledges to grow their impact and reach.
Learn more about pledging and view Global Refugee Forum Education Alliance pledging guidance here.
Watch the November 28th event where we announced our pledges:
We are proud to play a role in meeting the needs and supporting the learning and wellbeing of refugees through our work.
Learn more about some of our refugee education projects below.
Pathways to Teaching Project
Our Pathways to Teaching Project is helping diversify the U.S. teacher workforce by providing professional development and career mentorship to refugees and immigrants in the U.S. who want to pursue a teaching career.
Ukrainian-U.S. Education Co-Learning Journey
Our Exploring & Enacting Holistic Language Pedagogies Project will connect U.S. and Ukrainian educators for co-learning about innovative and holistic teaching approaches. We are accepting applications to join this Community of Practice, with a deadline to apply of Nov. 30.
Open Educational Resources for Educators
Our Open Educational Resource Library provides professional learning materials in Arabic, English, French, Kiswahili, and Spanish. The resources are designed for educators by educators working in displacement contexts.
Holistic Learning in Lebanon
CE International’s Center for Professional Learning is collaborating with educators in Lebanon to bolster inclusion, equity, and holistic learning for all children in Lebanon. This work includes supporting educators in providing quality education to the many refugee children and youth in Lebanon.
Professional Development Courses for Early Childhood Educators in Ukraine
CE International’s Center for Professional Learning, in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute of Education Development and working with representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science and Teach for Ukraine, has developed free online professional development resources for early childhood educators, primary school teachers, and practical psychologists in Ukraine.
Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice Courses
CE International’s Center for Professional Learning offers Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice courses for U.S. educators. These facilitated and cohort-based online courses are designed by and for educators using an asset-based orientation to working with culturally and linguistically diverse students of refugee backgrounds. We are currently enrolling for winter/spring courses.