About Programs Fellowship News Calendar
During the first decade of the 21st century, the global community made substantial progress in providing access to schooling. However, despite SDG4 calling for inclusive, equitable, quality, lifelong learning, improved quality has not accompanied increased access. Many policies, research, and training programs aimed to improve classroom practices have concentrated on visible aspects of pedagogies but failed to address intangible sociocultural factors, such as attitudes, contexts, culture and experiences.
The SPARKS project aims to bridge this gap by focusing on the non-visible aspects of pedagogy and fostering collaboration among policymakers, educators, researchers, and other stakeholders in the context of education transformation and SDG 4. Through inclusive dialogue, the program aims to ignite systemic change, emphasizing adaptable pedagogies that resonate across diverse regional and cultural landscapes.
The SPARKS (Strengthening Pedagogical Approaches for Relevant Knowledge and Skills) project is a collaborative mixed-method research initiative and global network. Its focus is to examine the influence of invisible pedagogical mindsets (IPMs) and their impact on primary and secondary classroom practice and education policies in three purposefully selected locations: Mexico, Egypt and India. Housed within the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at the Brookings Institution, the project aims to investigate and spark a global conversation on how policymakers, educators, researchers, and other stakeholders view the role of pedagogies in their efforts toward educational system transformation.
In a complex and interconnected world, there is growing recognition of the role that research can play in contributing to our understanding and addressing educational challenges. Locally led collaborative research partnerships between policymakers, academics, researchers, educators, and other stakeholders promote dialogue, offer multiple perspectives, promote a systems approach, and, most importantly, lead to relevant research that influences policy and practice.
The inaugural meeting of the three RPCs marks a pivotal step as it sets out to build a strong foundation between all members for future collaboration under the project. To achieve that SPARKS is partnering with the Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation to accelerate collaboration, knowledge exchange, and actionable strategies for global education transformation.
The inaugural meeting of the RPCs aims to achieve the following:
