Over the last few years the OSI education network has extended, transformed, and adapted to different environments and changes. A number of Soros foundations have spun off their education programs, an Education Policy Center network has emerged, and links have been forged with a wider circle of educators and education institutions. To respond to these developments and to suggestions made at the OSI Network Education Program Coordinators Meeting 2004, ESP designed its 2005 education conference to be more outward-looking and to involve a wider range of participants.
Attending the conference were 99 participants from 37 countries in South Eastern, Central, and Eastern Europe; Mongolia; the Caucasus; Central Asia; and countries where OSI has been developing partnerships, including Turkey and Pakistan.
Objectives and Outcomes
The goal of the conference was to improve cooperation among OSI and partner education networks.
Participants' activities included the following:
- discussing education from a number of perspectives, including international trends, the role of civil society, human rights, diversity, the value of social responsibility, and regional perceptions of democracy;
- considering the implications for the work of OSI and partner education networks, NGOs, and civil society in the region;
- exchanging new ideas within OSI and partner education networks and open new perspectives; and
- building on the existing capabilities and expertise of these education networks and generating additional momentum.
One of the main objectives of the conference was to help identify the focus of OSI and its partner networks over the next few years. Possible priorities mentioned include:
- strengthening local capacity for assessment and critique of policy ideas brought in from other contexts;
- promoting a more vocal critique of mainstream assumptions and ideas;
- developing authentic local examples and expressions for human rights and open society values, particularly in countries where "Western" ideas find no echo;
- collaborating in projects on program content and delivery in certain areas such as civics education, minority education, human rights and education; and
- promoting the monitoring and measuring of open society values in education.
Conference Presenters
Key speakers of the conference included:
- Martin Carnoy, Professor, Stanford University, USA
- Barry McGaw, Director for Education, OECD, Paris, France
- Abbas Rashid, Society for the Advancement of Education, Pakistan
- John Abbot, President, The 21st Century Learning Initiative, UK and USA
- Vita Terauda, Director, Center for Public Policy, PROVIDUS, Latvia
- Iveta Silova, Education Adviser and Researcher, Center for Educational Innovations, Baku, Azerbaijan