With more than 600 events worldwide, the 5th edition of the LearningPlanet Festival brought together nearly 80,000 online participants from almost every country in the world. Thousands also actively participated in growing local events across Bangladesh, France, India, Kenya, Mexico, the United States, and more.
While it’s impossible for us to capture every moment, we are genuinely thrilled about this edition and extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you — participants, speakers, and partners. Your unwavering engagement and active participation turned the Festival into a resounding success, transforming it into a global celebration of educators and education.
This is only the beginning
Let’s keep going! Through its year-round open platform, the LearningPlanet Alliance provides an opportunity for everyone to share their events and actions that contribute to the transformation of education. Let’s join in on this collective journey. In our next newsletter, we will explore ways to move forward together.
Some of the Festival’s key trends
🌱 Youth at the forefront
The Learning Planet Institute launched its Festival on 24 January with the inaugural “Power to Learn, Power to Act” conference. This event aimed to recentre the discourse on learning around young people, highlighting their expectations, capacity for action, and representation in decision-making processes. This central theme was explored across a range of inspiring formats during the week, such as the Big Education Conversation Relay (by Big Change), “Globalising Equality: a Youth Perspective” (by the Future of Internationalism), “Embracing Tomorrow’s Education” with insights from Youth Talks (by the Higher Education for Good Foundation), or the YouthxYouth Learning Festival.
“Youth reminds us that eyes wear out with age. By retaining this ingenuity, we perceive the world as it is, while also possessing the capacity to dream that things could be different.” – Jean-Pierre Goux, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer
🌎 Greening education and teacher agency
From an international conference held within the framework of the Learning Sciences UNESCO Chair to the unveiling of Teachers for the Planet programme – showcasing 100 teacher-led climate education solutions from 60 countries – along with local workshops, we celebrated climate education. Teacher agency was also an important related topic, addressed notably with the Centre for Universal Education at Brookings. We explored alternative education, another kind of teacher and new teachers’ roles in the 21st century together with DNS – The Necessary Teacher Training College, Professors without Borders, and many more organisations.
🕊️ Peaceful futures and education for human flourishing
This year, UNESCO dedicated the International Day of Education to promoting learning for peace and combating hate speech. The Festival featured significant sessions focusing on the role of innovative societal models in resolving violence and moving towards peaceful futures, and some addressing challenges related to accessing education in adverse circumstances. These included a session on education for Afghan girls, one on fostering human flourishing through local learning ecosystems, and a community-based schools roundtable in Kenya (with the Forum for Restoration of National Cohesion and Kangemi Resource Centre).
“To start transitioning to a peaceful future, let’s take control of our internal worlds. Peace begins at home, radiating through our intimate spaces and communities, enveloping us as we nurture and embody it.”
– Candice Mama, Head of Kindness Economics
🖥️ AI and learning
Through discussions on the impact of artificial intelligence on our learning, we gained insights into using AI in an enlightened and ethical manner. A range of partner organisations such as the Learning Planet Institute and the Club of Rome, Alexandria University, Arizona State University and many more explored opportunities in the field – notably for the African continent.
🎨 Artivism
Sessions devoted to poetry and artivism reminded us of the great potential of art as a means of expression to address the major issues of our century such as “Artivism – Arts for the Planet” (by the Community Arts Network (CAN), MasterPeace, Resilient Foundation, and the Learning Planet Institute). We also learned how to tell our projects’ stories through film, thanks to Happiness at School, and how to become climate ARTivists with Climate Creativity. Additionally, we listened to poets, painters, and dancers sharing their experiences.
“When I dance, I’m always performing in front of someone. Within our collective, each of us brings a unique dance style. We seek out the spaces between our stories, discovering more about ourselves through this rich diversity.” – Jade Verda, member of Minuit 12 research and creative collective
Planetizen University Youth Design Challenge
For the very first time, a global challenge brought together more than 200 young people from 30 different countries and gathered 70 proposals to build the university of the future.
Before an international jury of education experts from global education networks, universities, movements and organisations, youth participants contributed to the development of a Planetizen University by pitching their dream learning programmes.
For this challenge, young people focused on flourishing (projects on well-being, thriving, and socio-emotional development), engaging (projects on community engagement and inclusion) and sustainable universities (projects on planetary health and climate). The three laureates presented their projects in front of 250 partners and participants.
– Pearl, from South Africa, aims to interweave global indigenous knowledge
– Georgina, from Kenya, wants to facilitate repairing used machines in African countries
– Jay, from Hong Kong, built a programme on interpersonal conflict management
“We count on the power of your imagination to (…) concretise the idea of the university of the future. University is the place where (…) we can and must reshape (…) the world we need (…) And it’s the right time to mobilise.” – Stefania Giannini, Assistant-Director General for Education, UNESCO
Explore all the inspiring youth projects here!
LP Vision available now
In a series of live exchanges – LP Vision – leading figures from the worlds of business, innovation, politics and civic engagement spoke out on the theme of “Architects for Tomorrow – Building a Learning Planet”.
In three episodes, they shared their views on building a learning planet for living (society, environment, sport, culture, health, well-being), for learning (K-12, higher education, lifelong learning) and for working (business, social enterprise, activism, not-for-profit).
Missed a session?
Numerous events are already available for replay directly on the Alliance website. We invite you to explore exciting new content, rewatch sessions that captured your attention, and share these valuable insights with your network. Let the learning continue!
