Global Education Leaders’ Partnership
Global Education Leaders’ Partnership (sometimes referred to as Global Education Leaders Program), or GELP is a group of education reformers operating in and across countries, with a particular focus on pushing the digitisation of learning.
GELP was initiated, funded and managed by the technology giant Cisco until 2011 and since then has been run by the UK-based Innovation Unit.
It says is ‘dedicated to reimagining the future of education at a global scale’.
Contents
A Cisco project
GELP began life as a series of ‘white papers’ for technology multinational Cisco.[1]
According to Cisco, it 'launched the Global Education Leaders Program (GELP) in September 2009 to challenge and support education leaders ready to implement the vision outlined in the white paper Equipping Every Learner for the 21st Century.[2]
The publication, published the previous year, was described by Cisco as 'only one contribution to the flood of new thinking that is coursing through education systems in every part of the world.' Following this, Cisco brought together 'opinion leaders, educators, and politicians from developed and developing nations' to discuss its education reform ideas. 'Our aim is collectively to refine a vision for 21st century learning, and to gather the best and most powerful insights into how that vision can be realized,' it said in 2008. Cisco's thinking was subsequently published at: www.transformglobaleducation.org (no longer live; accessible via Wayback).
In July 2011, Cisco transitioned ownership and management of GELP to the the Innovation Unit.
‘Transforming’ education
GELP describes itself as a ‘community of key education system leaders, policy-makers, thought-leaders and world-class consultants collaborating to transform education at local, national and international levels. The aim of these transformations is to equip every learner with the skills, expertise and knowledge to survive and thrive in the 21st century.’
GELP has worked with policy makers in a number of jurisdictions[3]
- Australia
- Brazil
- British Columbia, Canada
- Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
- England
- Finland
- India
- New York City, USA
- New Zealand
- Ontario, Canada
- South Korea
- USA Innovation Lab Network CCSSO
- Victoria, Australia
Redesigning Education: the book
In 2013 GELP published Redesigning Education, which provides GELP’s blueprint for reforming education systems (summarised above).
Redesigning Education was launched at Royal Society of Arts
Funding
GELP says it is, or has been, supported by the following companies and foundations: *Innovation Unit
GELP also says it ‘draws on specialist contributions from a wide range of partners, including to date [2013]:
People
GELP refers to its people as a 'faculty'.
- David Albury
- Valerie Hannon: Co-Founder of the Innovation Unit UK and founding member and Co-Chair of GELP; senior consultant to the OECD Innovative Learning Environments program; regular contributor to the World Summit on Innovation in Education (WISE).
- Anthony Mackay
- David Istance
- Kathe Kirby
- Albert Bertani
- Keren Caple
- Lynn van der Elst
Steering group
- Lynn Olson, advisor on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation US ‘college ready’ programme.
References
- ↑ What is Education 3.0, archived GELP website from 2013, accessed via Wayback Novemver 2015
- ↑ Equipping Every Learner for the 21st Century, Cisco publication, 2008
- ↑ GELP, Cisco website, accessed November 2015
