Intervention by the  Secretary of Educational Management, Ministry of Education of  Argentina, Oscar Ghillione

 July 15

Can you share what the Argentinian government is doing to foster lifelong learning and skills acquisition for youth?

How can such efforts be equitable and inclusive, so that even the most vulnerable are reached in Argentina?

Do you see “learning to learn” bringing generations closer together in Argentina?

What policies can ensure that our youth today are equipped with the necessary skills to adapt to technological shifts, global integration and climate pressure?

Thank you Tina. It is an honour for us, for the Argentine Government to share our views, our public policies and experiences about lifelong learning and skills acquisition for youth.

Argentina decided to change, decided to take the initiative in what regards to equipping youth with the necessary skill sets to be protagonists of today's and tomorrow's challenges and opportunities.

We shifted from a teaching and learning process that was subject based, that rewarded facts & correct answers approach to a teaching and learning process & curriculum, based on the value of the deductive & inductive analysis, supported by inquiries, project based learning and the development of socio emotional and digital skills.

We called this shift: “Secundaria 2030 - a National Program to improve educational outcomes in high schools all over the country”. This new school model proposes six capacities that are implemented as cross disciplinary contents: learning to learn, problem solving, commitment and responsibility, work with others, critical thinking and communication.

It's needless to say that we still have work to do with the basics: Math, Reading and Science, but setting in place the “Secundaria 2030” framework and agenda provided us with the opportunity to push the system towards a systemic change: pre service and ongoing training for teachers changed, placement of teacher changed, expected learning outcomes changed, assessments changed… the whole paradigm of high school is now changing and we are focused on developing the right strategy to cope with the emergent.

As a result of that, we are stressing our efforts to build socio educational policies that are focused on retention, graduation and bridging the socio economic access gap to university and to technological education.

We know that we need to prioritize the development of skills among the most vulnerable and underrepresented groups.

This can only be done through a real commitment to address inequality through policies that guarantee inclusive and equitable opportunities for all.

Even though we are seeing progress over time, with learning results going up and more children being included in schools, we know that 21st century challenges demand new learning pathways (lifelong learning) that also demands new and renewed efforts to build global citizenship in every student.

Let me share with you one example of how we are making this happen, using technology and gaming to foster youth engagement:

We developed “GLOBAL CHALLENGE”, the Sustainability Game, as the first multiplatform digital game designed with the aim of teaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is an initiative of the Argentine Republic with the objective of promoting an active citizenship, aware of the challenges and opportunities that the world faces.

Global Challenge is available in Spanish, English and French. In future versions, through cooperation with other countries we will incorporate new languages so that more people around the world can access, play and learn.

Finally, I would like to make a point about how we see all this efforts being integrated with every persons trajectory and transitioning into the job market. And how we can make it happen at a global scale.

The Ministries of Education of the G20 have met throughout the past year with the Ministries of Employment and agreed upon the first G20 Joint Education, Labour and Employment Ministers’ Declaration. This commitment highlights the importance of creating coordinated education and employment policies so as to face the challenges posed by the Future of Work, one of the priorities established by Argentina’s G20 Presidency. An agenda supported by UNESCO and ILO.

Furthermore, the Declaration contains an annex with guidelines on skills for an inclusive future, which deals with the promotion of “21st century skills”, including critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, communication, flexibility, collaboration; entrepreneurial skills and digital skills, such as programming, big data analysis, coding and robotics in all levels of education and work environments. All included in our educational reform agenda as I mentioned before.

Being aware about what’s coming ahead for our children’s future is what fuels our vision and the reason why are so actively hearing and committing ourselves to their voices and acting upon the dignity and justice that is expected coming from educational policy workers.