International Day of Education – Publishers constantly adapting to transform education

The theme for UNESCO’s fourth International Day of Education is Changing course, transforming education and the last two years have shown how educational publishers have been able to pivot quickly, changing course, to keep pupils learning.

Over the last year’s meetings of the Educational Publishers Forum we have heard from so many publishers in a number of countries about how they have responded to the needs of governments to keep pupils learning through the disruption created by the pandemic.

Of course, not all countries have been affected the same way or have the resources to adapt as quickly. In some countries, we know the lack of digital infrastructure meant other means needed to be found.

What these challenges have done is shed a light on the quality materials that educational publishers provide and how they help accompany both the teacher and the pupil in their learning journey. We also know from research that digital should not be the only solution and that paper resources still have a value in securing the best educational outcomes.

I am very much looking forward to moderating a session at the International Publishers Congress later this year on the value of EdTech where we will we be able to look at whether educational technology has the potential to improve education and learning results and how EdTech and BigTech can cooperate in an effective and responsible way with publishers. We’ll also look at what roles government and public institutions play. More details about that will be announced very soon so keep your eyes on www.publisherscongress.com

It is worth consulting the IPA’s Sustainable Development Goals dashboard and looking at the initiatives different publishers, publishers’ associations and others are undertaking to contribute to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education. https://sdg.internationalpublishers.org/quality-education/

Publishers or publishers’ associations who don’t see their initiatives included should get in touch with IPA at info@internationalpublishers.org to find out how you can be featured.

Last year UNESCO published its report: Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education. Educational publishers will, of course, be looking to play their role in this process.