Network gathers at World Innovation Summit for Education
From November 19-21, 20 representatives of the Teach For All network gathered in Doha, Qatar to attend the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE Summit), a biennial global gathering where more than 3,000 educators, decision-makers, and influential experts from the public and private sectors from over 100 countries share insights and learnings around transforming education through innovation. Network attendees included CEOs, staff, and alumni of Teach For All partner organizations, as well as staff members of Teach For All’s global organization.
Kaya Henderson, Head of Community Impact at Teach For All’s Global Learning Lab, was invited to present the initial findings from the Community Impact Lab’s first year of work. Kaya emphasized that while community impact may look different in different contexts, partners who are most successful recognize that “working with communities is not another part of their work, it is their work.”
Henry May, a Teach First alumnus, was invited to share lessons learned from his experience developing and launching CoSchool, an educational startup in Colombia that today focuses on training teachers to bring about systemic impact through cultivating the social-emotional skills of their students. In his talk, he highlighted the importance of putting humanity, relationships, and self-awareness at the center of education, especially in vulnerable contexts.
Teach For India alumna and Head of Community & Media at HundrED, Pukhraj Ranjan, and Teach First alumna and Director of Programmes at Limited Resource Teacher Training (LRTT), Sarah Grant, also spoke about their education journeys as part of their participation in the WISE Emerging Leaders program.
On the sidelines of the Summit, Teach For All network attendees were invited to visit schools and engage in conversations about Qatar’s educational context facilitated by Teach For Qatar’s CEO, Nasser Al Jaber, and the Teach For Qatar team.
They also took part in an event co-hosted by Teach For Qatar and Teach For All that featured a panel discussion among network alumni, including Teach For Qatar alumna Neima Doualeh (now the organization’s Assistant Program Manager), Teach First alumnus Henry May, Teach For India alumnus and Co-founder of Mantra4Change, Santosh More, and Teach For America alumna Kaya Henderson. The panelists discussed how their experiences as teachers and participants of network partner organizations inspired and prepared them to continue to pursue positive change for children in their current roles, and offered insights for Teach For Qatar fellows and alumni to consider on their own journeys.
