Fifteen years of the Education World Forum
18th July 2017
2018 marks the fifteenth year of the world’s largest gathering of education ministers, the Education World Forum (EWF). With the joint support of the UK’s Department for Education (DfE), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for International Development (DfID), with the British Council and various industry partners, the event takes place in January each year and has become the internationally recognised ministerial forum for debating future practice in education.
Originally named Moving Young Minds, the event was reborn in 2011 as the Education World Forum regularly attracting ministers that represent over three quarters of the world’s population. Since its inception, 89% of countries with populations exceeding 1 million have sent their education ministers and delegations.
The event maintains its close ties with the annual education event, Bett, held in London in the same week, bringing policy makers, practitioners and the industry together over a one-week period to discuss the future of education.
It gives education ministers the opportunity to discuss policy and its effect on a regional, national and global level, with a series of ministerial and expert keynotes and exchanges. The majority of speakers are the education ministers themselves. Global organisations including the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), take part in the event each year to complete the wide scope of the discussions.
The Forum’s programme addresses pressing issues in education each year, with themes ranging from education for economic success, policy making for quantity, quality and impact, new beginnings in learning, education and skills and teaching, engendering talent and the roles of testing and technology. A common thread running through each forum is the need to examine improvements taking place in cities, states and countries across the world to enable ministers to benchmark and share the most effective education policies and strategies.