Over 1500 education experts involved in the Worldwide Innovation Summit on Education (WISE) in November 2015, and delegates at the World Education Forum (WEF) in May 2015, have called for an increased focus on high-quality teaching that helps young people globally to develop creative and analytical thinking, problem-solving, and relationship skills.

 In a pre-conference Gallup survey the WISE participants expressed concern about the teaching of skills they see as essential to the workplace: teamwork, critical thinking, creativity and entrepreneurship. 60% of participants also selected quality of teaching as being the number one educational challenge for their country, and 58% selected the lack of project-based learning. The WEF delegates also picked up on ‘quality education’ because of its role in developing the skills that produce active, informed citizens who can make a difference, pledging a commitment to it worldwide as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for education.

We know from the evaluation of Learning Away that high-quality residentials deliver on all of the skills mentioned above, and lead to sustained increased engagement in learning, and improvement in peer and student-adult relationships. So, the next time you’re planning a residential, it’s official – you aren’t only preparing your young people for their very next challenge, you’re working as part of a worldwide agenda to develop young people as the global citizens of the future.