Education Partnerships Archives - Education Parterships (Schools) Pty Ltd

Creating opportunities for students near and far with the World Food Forum

In October this year, Education Partnerships is attending the international youth-led movement – the World Food Forum. This year, the theme is AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION ACCELERATES CLIMATE ACTION.

The World Food Forum is an initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). It is a dynamic global platform that transcends boundaries, generations and sectors to transform the future of our agrifood systems. On 16–20 October 2023, both at the Headquarters of the FOA in Rome, Italy, and on the interactive virtual platform, the 2023 event will bring together world experts, impassioned changemakers and visionary leaders of all ages to unpack the theme.

Education Partnerships will actively participate in the 2023 forum through workshops for students and educators. “We are super excited about working with the World Food Forum team to create unique ‘money can’t buy’ experiences for students and educators internationally.”, says Heather MacDonald, Founding Director of Education Partnerships. “It is critical that if we are going to transform how we feed the world in the future, youth ‘voices’ must be heard. They think differently, access information differently and have valuable, insightful and innovative ideas if given the chance to speak and be heard.”

In 2022, Education Partnerships presented student work from PNG and Australian Students at the Global Education Fair. Their work was profiled in the end-of-year WFF report.

We look forward to reporting on developments leading up to the World Food Forum and reporting on the outcomes and opportunities for Australia and Asia Pacific regions.

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Entrepreneurship shaping student learning in Papua New Guinea

Education Partnerships has recently been working in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) with Entropolis and UNICEF Australia to upskill primary school educators to embed entrepreneurship in their schools.

Starting with seven pilot schools, we trained 35 primary school educators on the Teen Entrepreneur program materials. Additionally, 25 Head Teachers and the PNG Department of Education participated in our Train the Trainer program to support the ongoing implementation of the program throughout PNG. The long-term aim of the program is to expand Teen Entrepreneur to all provinces in PNG. Through this expansion, students will learn to cultivate their entrepreneurial mindset and skillset.

Why is the PNG Department of Education committed to entrepreneurial education?

The PNG Department of Education cited that to succeed in the workforce in the future, they need to build capacity and capabilities in students to be agile thinkers, critical and creative thinkers to define problems and ideate solutions, self-directed learners, and thoughtful of how they can be productive citizens with the resources readily available to them.

It has been such a powerful experience to work within a different culture to create tailored program materials for their schools and to build confidence in their educators in delivering a style of education that gives such agency to students.

Key takeaways

The best way to embed programs into different communities is to work collaboratively to design the program.
To listen to their needs, their strengths and the opportunities that may be very different to what is familiar to us.
To ask lots of questions and actively listen to responses.
To employ an entrepreneurial mindset – no idea is a bad idea until we have explored all the options. One ‘different’ idea can form the basis of a brilliant new idea!

We look forward to watching Teen Entrepreneur empower students to be active learners and innovators in PNG and also see how entrepreneurship transforms education in Australia as well as other countries. It is truly an exciting space to be working in!

Image: Students growing crops as part of the Teen Entrepreneur Program.