On 11 May 2026, the NIE hosted Prof Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University, and the NIE’s 11th C J Koh Professor, for his talk, “Educating Students to Improve the World”.
Prof Reimers shared that preparing students for the twenty-first century requires more than adding AI literacy or climate education to already crowded curricula. Instead, education systems need coherent, system-wide alignment across curriculum, assessment, teacher preparation, resources, governance, and community partnerships.
Key takeaways from his talk included:
💡 AI literacy is now a core educational priority
Students need to understand, use, and critically evaluate AI, including its ethical, social, environmental, and democratic implications.
💡 Technology alone will not guarantee equity
Without teacher preparation, infrastructure, governance, and access, AI may deepen existing inequalities.
💡 Climate change is an education issue
Students need climate knowledge, systems thinking, ethical reasoning, civic agency, and the capacity for action.
💡 AI-ready and climate-ready systems require shared competencies
Both call for evidence evaluation, long-term reasoning, ethical judgment, and responsible action under uncertainty.
Prof Reimers’ lecture was a timely reminder that education systems must move beyond isolated reforms towards coherent, justice-oriented transformation that prepares students to thrive in and improve a changing world.
#NIEsg #EducationLeadership #FutureOfEducation #AIinEducation #ClimateEducation #SystemsThinking #EducationalTransformation
