RTE will take part in and host three events at this year’s Comparative and International Education Society conference (CIES), which will be held between April 25th and May 2nd.
The three events, detailed below, include Early Childhood Care and Education from a Human Rights Perspective; Critical reflections on public private partnerships; and Realising the Abidjan Principles on the right to education.
The theme of this year’s conference - the 65th annual event of its kind - is Social Responsibility within Changing Contexts. Throughout the events of which RTE is part and the conference as a whole, attention will be afforded to the rapidly changing political, economic, environmental, cultural, and social panorama and its relationship to education, and the changing and evolving relationships between different actors present in the field.
Right to Education Initiative events programme at CIES 2021:
Critical Reflections on Public Private partnerships
April 26th, 14:15-15:45 London / 06:15-7:45 Los Angeles / 16:15-17:45 Nairobi / 21:15-22:45 Manila
Chaired by Elaine Unterhalter of the Institute of Education, University College London, this event will discuss the book ‘Critical reflections on Public Private partnerships’. Taking a cross-sectoral comparative approach, the book investigates how PPPs have played out in practice, and what the implications have been for inequalities. Drawing on a range of empirical case studies in education, healthcare, housing and water, the book picks apart the roles of PPPs as financing mechanisms in several international and national contexts and considers the similarities and differences between sectors.
Presentations will be given by Sonia Languille, Open Society Foundations; Delphine Dorsi, Right to Education Initiative; and Maria Ron Balsera, ActionAid. The event’s discussants are Jyotsna Jha, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, and Antoni Verger, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
More information on the event available here.
Early Childhood Education from a Human Rights Perspective
April 27th: 19:45-21:15 London / 11:45-13:15 Los Angeles / 21:45 - 23:15 Nairobi / 02:45-4:15 Manila
This panel will bring together academics, UN representatives and activists to provide an understanding of the international legal framework and an overview of the implementation of early childhood care and education (ECCE), including free and compulsory pre-primary education, at national level. The aim is to reflect on how human rights frameworks and legal research can contribute to advocacy and concrete changes towards the full realisation of the right to early education, including free and compulsory pre-primary education. A particular focus will be given to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on access to early education, particularly for the most disadvantaged, when we know that at this level, education cannot be provided from a distance.
In light of a deep analysis of the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child related to ECCE, Sandra Fredman (Law Professor at University of Oxford) will demonstrate that early education is human right. Rolla Moumné (Responsible of the Right to Education Programme at UNESCO), will present the results of a global study about the adoption of legal provisions for free and/or compulsory pre-primary education at national level, which has generated information that can inform countries’ reforms in pre-primary education in line with SDG 4-Education 2030. Bede Sheppard (Research at Human Rights Watch) will present a global study focusing on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the right to education, particularly at pre-primary level. Giovanna Modé (Political coordinator at Latina American Campaign for the right to education) will present an overview of the development of laws and policies on ECCE in the Latina American Region.
The event will be chaired by RTE’s Director, Delphine Dorsi, and the discussant is Dr Koumba Boly Barry, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education.
More information on the event available here.
Realising the Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education: Human Rights, Public Education, and the role of private actors in education
April 29th: 10 - 10.30 Los Angeles / 18 - 19.30 LONDON / 20 - 21:30 Nairobi / 1 - 2.30 Manila
This panel examines - across four presentations - eight different topics related to key issues raised in the process of developing and producing the Abidjan Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education.
The Abidjan Principles have become a global reference point, recognised by a range of international and regional organisations since their adoption. In the context of new and increasingly complex governance arrangements and processes in education and with the growing involvement of various private actors and interests in the provision, management, and funding of education in particular, the Abidjan Principles offer a much-needed tool to address the organization of education systems.
Presentations will be given by Mireille De Koning, Open Society Foundations; Delphine Dorsi, Right to Education Initiative; and Frank M. Adamson, California State University, Sacramento. The event will be chaired by Gita Steiner-Khamsi of Teachers College, Columbia University & NORRAG, with Manos Antoninis of UNESCO acting as discussant.
More information available here.
For more information on CIES and to register for sessions, please visit www.cies2021.org. Please note that tickets must be purchased for the conference.