Page 46 - Education February 2022 final_Neat

Taking education

beyond boundaries

Wendy Kopp - the 2021 WISE Prize for Education Laureate, an accolade awarded by

QF’s global education initiative WISE – speaks about fostering learning through leadership

Wendy Kopp, CEO & Co-founder, Teach For All, was awarded the 2021 WISE Prize for Education at the 2021 WISE Summit held in Qatar.
WISE, which is Qatar Foundation’s global education think tank, recognized Kopp for her work with Teach For All – a locally rooted,
globally informed network that aims to develop leadership in classrooms and communities, and help children all over the world fulfill their potential.

Excerpts: remarkable similarities in the roots of the issues we’re
addressing from place to place. The circumstances of
Q: Where did the idea of Teach For All come from? the most marginalized children in each country are
A: I came to this idea when I was a college student, almost more similar to each other than they are to the
more than 30 years ago. As a public policy major more privileged children in their own countries. And
and a concerned college student and citizen, I had the implication of this is that the solutions are much
become more and more disturbed about the inequities more shareable than we’ve assumed in education. It’s
in our country [the US], and about the fact that the been so powerful to see.
circumstances of a child’s birth really predicted their At the same time, there are so many brilliant people
outcomes. around the world, in such diverse contexts and cultures,
that inspire different ways of thinking. It’s been
incredible to have the chance to learn from the new
adaptations and innovations and spread them across
the network. There are alumni working in government
ministries around the world who are in an education have adapted this approach into similar contexts,
policy community of practice, sharing solutions. There as those local leaders develop the plans and build
are teachers and alumni in an early insights community the government support and private sector support
who are trading solutions about how to strengthen necessary to launch.
early childhood education.
Once we’re confident that they are pursuing the
And this is just the beginning. There are many other unifying purpose of our network, and that they’ve built
ways in which staff members, teachers, alumni are the capacity to do that, then they become a partner
learning from each other, and we’ve seen just how of the network. And we do everything we can to learn
much that can increase progress over time.
from them and contribute to their impact and success.
At the same time, I had this sense that I was one of Q: When you say ‘learning from each other’, how is
thousands of graduating college seniors who was just this facilitated through the organization? Q: What does winning the WISE Prize for Education
searching for a way to make a real difference against A: The purpose of the global organization within mean for you and for the organization?
those inequities. That is what led me to the idea the Teach For All network is essentially to increase A: It’s just been a huge boost for the whole network.
that became Teach For America, and ultimately that progress by helping everyone learn from each other. It’s such a tribute to all the people around the world
inspired the Teach For All network. Our team fosters community and looks to understand who have adapted and innovated on this approach in
I then spent about 15 years with my head down, what accounts for success on different dimensions, in their countries, particularly all the teachers and alumni
who’ve poured so much of themselves into the work of
working to make Teach For America bigger and different contexts, then spreads those insights through ensuring that all students fulfill their potential.
better to address the significant challenges in my learning experiences, through a learning portal which
own country. I started meeting people all around the contains thousands of resources, and through directly And specifically, the prize is going to contribute to
world who were determined that something similar coaching and consulting people across the network. something we recently created called the Future of
needed to happen in their countries. They were looking Education Fund, which is supporting our network
for help, and that’s what inspired the Teach For All Q: How did the pandemic affect Teach For All? partners to sustain and spread the new innovations
network. A: We saw the teachers and alumni across our network and practices and mindsets that have emerged in this
just lean in to keep their own students learning and, pandemic era and that can accelerate progress towards
Q: How are teachers recruited? very quickly, to work with others, including their a stronger and more equitable education system.
A: The Teach For All network consists of 61 government ministries, to keep many other students
independent, locally led organizations that share learning. We saw such tremendously heroic efforts Q: What does the future hold for Teach For All? What
a common purpose around developing collective on the part of our network teachers and educators are you hoping to achieve?
leadership to ensure all children fulfill their potential. to leverage whatever the available technology was - A: We are working to continue to grow our force of
And they also share a common approach for whether it was phones or radio or TV - and we saw diverse and extraordinary leaders, to support them
developing collective leadership, by recruiting them training tens of thousands of other teachers and and orient them toward providing an education that
promising diverse leaders and asking them to commit digital learning strategies. develops students as leaders who can shape a better
at least two years to teaching in under-resourced It affirmed the caliber and character of the leaders future. We are striving to build a deeply interconnected
contexts, while investing in their development as our network partners are developing, and it also really community among all these teachers, alumni
teachers and leaders during the two years and beyond. affirmed the power of a global network to help them educators, and staff members, so that we can speed
Right now, the network partners have about 15,000 learn from each other. We were seeing solutions flying up progress by fostering more cross-border learning in
education.
teachers in the midst of their two-year teaching across borders.
commitment, and about 90,000 alumni who really Courtesy: www.qf.org.qa
never leave the work – about 75 percent of them are Q: How does Teach For All expand into new
working full-time, long-term, to improve education and countries?
the quality of life in low-income communities. A: In some cases, we will build awareness about the
Teach For All approach and the unifying idea and
Q: Is there much collaboration across different purpose. But then we really step back and wait for
countries and networks? local social entrepreneurs to decide that they believe
A: I think our learning curve became so much quicker this needs to happen in their countries. We then
after launching Teach For All. We’ve seen that there are support them and help them learn from others who

46 EDUCATION
DURING THE PANDEMIC