IN THE DYNAMICS OF THE GLOBAL PACT FOR EDUCATION LAUNCHED BY POPE FRANCIS
The International Union of Major Superiors organised an international webinar from 21 to 23 October 2021 on the theme: "The transformation of the school in the framework of the Global Education Pact", following the invitation of Pope Francis, in order to redesign together a school at the service of the new global education pact.
It was with great joy that I was able to participate, along with 480 other people (committed lay people, religious from different congregations) in this international webinar. We were offered a space for reflection, sharing and networking to "discern the needs from attentive listening", "generate the need for systemic transformation for sustainable innovation", and to foster the desire to "network to promote the Global Compact for Education".
Each half-day of the seminar consisted of an input or presentation, group work (by language) with the help of a "working model document" and a general feedback. Each work and synthesis was available the next day on the Seminar website.
The first day was a time for deepening and reflecting together, looking for needs and possible solutions. We were reminded that in October 2020, during the Global Compact on Education, Pope Francis launched an initiative to encourage us to make a renewed investment in education shared by all, through 7 commitments.
Monserrat del Pozo (Superior General of the Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth) proposed that we explore 4 main areas of opportunity:
The second day was dedicated to the elaboration of a roadmap to work on in our respective schools. How do we make the change? How do we transform? It was an invitation to dream the change we want for our schools.
To do this, we had to start from the previous day's summary and choose an idea that we would like to implement in our school. We then had to look ahead three years to imagine the result and present it in the form of a short story in a newspaper. Then we had to braimstorm all the actions that would have been implemented to achieve this. Finally, think about the following question: What impact, what influence has it had in our school, or with families or society?
The third day was the time of the pact: from traditional hierarchy to "redarchy" (new networked organisational model). We discovered the necessary and possible commitments to generate the network that animates the Global Compact for Education.
After the presentation by Núria Miró, General Councillor and Head of Nazaret Global Education, we were invited to experience the "World Café" virtually (a creative process to facilitate constructive dialogue and the sharing of knowledge and ideas, thus creating a network of exchange and action). We had to ask ourselves what we could offer and what we needed at personal, institutional and inter-institutional level, taking into account what other groups had already shared in order to avoid repetition and to go deeper.
A very enriching experience, with the great joy of sharing in an international network of Congregations. This seminar gave me many tools to continue working on this Global Education Pact and to stimulate the referents of the Secretariat for Education to start this same process with their schools and communities.