G20 Education debates school and community engagement

The G20 Education Working Group’s activities at "Ceará: Global Education Center" commenced on Tuesday, October 29, with debates on school and community engagement. During the meeting, positive experiences from schools around the world were shared. The meeting, led by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC), will continue until Saturday, 2 November. The technical session precedes the G20 Ministerial Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, October 30.

School-community relations constitute the third agenda item of the Working Group’s discussions during this year of Brazil’s G20 presidency. The two other topics — recognition of teachers and digital content — were addressed at G20 meetings held in Brasilia (May) and Rio de Janeiro (July), respectively.

According to Francisco Souza, the Special Advisor for International Affairs at MEC, these three themes align with national policies, such as the School and Community Program (Proec), an initiative by the Brazilian Ministry of Education designed to promote engagement experiences across 22,400 schools in Brazil.

"We have seen, including in material evidence and formal research such as PISA [International Student Assessment Program], as referenced in the meeting, that school-community engagement is not a mere detail, on the contrary, it has proven to be a critical factor for improvement and transformation in educational indicators, including student learning within the school", he explained.

School-community engagement is not a mere detail, on the contrary, it has proven to be a critical factor for improvement and transformation in educational indicators, including student learning within the school." Francisco Souza, Special Advisor for International Affairs at MEC

Souza elaborated that, in Brazil, engagement is understood as a principle that a school is not a public facility isolated from the neighbourhood in which it is located. "The school does not end at its walls. For the teacher-student relationship and the learning process, it is common for teachers to use spaces beyond the classroom. This approach is also embedded in our curriculum: learning must dialogue with specific contexts. There is also an interest among young people and children in connecting education to real-world transformation," he said.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Global Director of Education and Adolescent Development, Pia Rebello Britto, highlighted the potential of school-community engagement practices as catalysts for quality, equitable and inclusive education, as well as for broader social development for all. "School-community engagement can positively influence learning outcomes, provided certain conditions are met, such as a 'win-win' approach, which has the potential to foster a comprehensive and contemporary education, allowing for the promotion of a sense of belonging that includes, recognizes, values and motivates children, adolescents and young people to thrive," she explained.

According to Britto, school-community engagement practices contribute to reducing absenteeism and school dropout rates, improving academic performance, and enhancing safety and social protection. These practices also foster equity and inclusion in schools, strengthen social and sustainable development, and promote greater accountability and empowerment for parents.

Bilateral gatherings – Also on Tuesday (29), the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) engaged in bilateral discussions with representatives from Turkey, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Singapore.

• Turkey: MEC's Deputy Minister of Education, Leonardo Barchini, met with Turkey's Deputy Minister of Education, Muhammed Bilal Maci. The meeting addressed topics such as student exchanges and cooperation with the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Capes) at the postgraduate level. "They expressed interest in our model of technical schools and were impressed by the Federal Network of Professional and Technological Education," noted Barchini. The Secretary for Higher Education, Alexandre Brasil, and the President of Capes, Denise de Carvalho, were also in the meeting.

• OECD: In a separate bilateral meeting, Barchini received the OECD's Director for Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher. "We discussed the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and reviewed Brazilian education data, including improvement in indicators over the past 30 years," he explained. The Special Advisor for International Affairs, Francisco Souza, also participated in the meeting.

Parallel activity – MEC's Deputy Minister of Education also participated in the opening of the International Education Seminar, held in Fortaleza (CE) as a parallel event. With the theme "From Local to Global: Strengthening Public Education and Union Organisation", the seminar brought together 300 educators, researchers and union representatives from Brazil and abroad to discuss educational challenges, funding for public education and the valorisation of education workers, among other topics.

The meeting brought together representatives from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Germany, the United States and South Africa, as well as from Brazil.

Agenda – The activities of the G20 in Ceará: Global Education Center will continue on October 30 and 31. Following this, the Global Education Meeting (GEM), organised in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will take place from October 31 to November 2.

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MEC's Social Communication Department