t wasn’t long ago that education was enjoying a brief moment in the spotlight. In 2022, the UN Secretary–General’s Transforming Education Summit marked a rare moment when education rose to the top of the international agenda. It captured a growing consensus that urgent change was needed—and in many cases agreement about what that change looks like—to address a deepening global crisis.
Sidelined Once Again
Just three years later, education has again been pushed to the margins. As conflict, climate shocks, democratic decline, trade and economic turmoil, and inequality dominate global discourse, education is too often framed as a sector to be managed, rather than a foundational force shaping other systems.
A Foundational System, Not Just Another Issue
This is a mistake. Education is not just one issue among many. It runs through everything: preparing young people not just to take part in the economy, but for society, for citizenship, for climate resilience, for peace and wellbeing.
Yet we continue to invest in systems not designed for the world we live in—let alone the one that’s coming. Too often, these systems are disconnected from the needs, identities, and aspirations of today’s learners. As a result, we are sleepwalking into crisis. If we’re serious about preparing young people for an uncertain, turbulent future, we must prioritize education not just in word but in action.
The Skills Children Need to Thrive
We need to rethink education so children have the skills to thrive today and tomorrow. Skills that start with reading and writing, but go further—to include creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, confidence, resilience, empathy, and the ability to solve real–world problems. These are not luxuries. They are essential.
What Needs to Change
This means three things:
1. Grounding education policy and funding in the lived realities of children and teachers, not distant agendas.
2. Shifting power and resources to those closest to the work—who are leading innovation and change.
3. Making education everyone’s business—from climate to finance, from diplomacy to technology—because without education, none of our global goals are achievable.
Act Before It’s Too Late
This is not a moment to tinker at the edges. It’s a moment to center education in big conversations about our shared future. If we miss it, we risk losing a generation not only to poor learning, but to fractured societies and growing divides.
It’s time to stop asking whether education should be a global priority—and start acting like it already is.
a global affairs media network
Education at the margins of global affairs, again
Image by Ken Haines from Pixabay
May 7, 2025
After a brief moment in the spotlight, education appears to again be relegated to the margins of conversations on global affairs. Yet education is foundational to our individual, social, and economic wellbeing—it’s time to start acting like it, writes Euan Wilmshurst.
I
t wasn’t long ago that education was enjoying a brief moment in the spotlight. In 2022, the UN Secretary–General’s Transforming Education Summit marked a rare moment when education rose to the top of the international agenda. It captured a growing consensus that urgent change was needed—and in many cases agreement about what that change looks like—to address a deepening global crisis.
Sidelined Once Again
Just three years later, education has again been pushed to the margins. As conflict, climate shocks, democratic decline, trade and economic turmoil, and inequality dominate global discourse, education is too often framed as a sector to be managed, rather than a foundational force shaping other systems.
A Foundational System, Not Just Another Issue
This is a mistake. Education is not just one issue among many. It runs through everything: preparing young people not just to take part in the economy, but for society, for citizenship, for climate resilience, for peace and wellbeing.
Yet we continue to invest in systems not designed for the world we live in—let alone the one that’s coming. Too often, these systems are disconnected from the needs, identities, and aspirations of today’s learners. As a result, we are sleepwalking into crisis. If we’re serious about preparing young people for an uncertain, turbulent future, we must prioritize education not just in word but in action.
The Skills Children Need to Thrive
We need to rethink education so children have the skills to thrive today and tomorrow. Skills that start with reading and writing, but go further—to include creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, confidence, resilience, empathy, and the ability to solve real–world problems. These are not luxuries. They are essential.
What Needs to Change
This means three things:
1. Grounding education policy and funding in the lived realities of children and teachers, not distant agendas.
2. Shifting power and resources to those closest to the work—who are leading innovation and change.
3. Making education everyone’s business—from climate to finance, from diplomacy to technology—because without education, none of our global goals are achievable.
Act Before It’s Too Late
This is not a moment to tinker at the edges. It’s a moment to center education in big conversations about our shared future. If we miss it, we risk losing a generation not only to poor learning, but to fractured societies and growing divides.
It’s time to stop asking whether education should be a global priority—and start acting like it already is.
