This past October in Cartagena, Colombia, the British Council celebrated the first in a series of three annual policy conferences on the subject of English language education in the Americas. The policy dialogues are meant to stimulate frank discussion of challenges, opportunities and choices faced by policy-makers working with English language teaching and hence were not open to the general public but limited to ministers of education, regional education secretaries and their advisors. Altamente's principal research and policy advisor, Laura Gorbea was invited to the event in the capacity of language policy advisor to the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE). As a public service and at the request of the Puerto Rico Department of Education, Gorbea prepared a summary of key topics, debates and their relevance to the language education debate in Puerto Rico.
Some of the presenters and topics in this policy conference include:
- Greeting and introduction to the new English language education policy in Columbia by María Fernanda Campo Saavedra, Minister of Education
- "Education for the Future: 21st Century Skills" - Charles Fadel
- "Education and English in teh Future" - Charles Graddol
- "English in the Early Years" - Janet Enever
- "English and Teacher Education" - John Knagg
If you would like a copy of the report on the Policy Dialogues (available only in Spanish, at present) please request it through our contact form.