July 2015

Dr Irina Bokova

Director General,

UNESCO

With all my respects and considerations,

Education as a fundamental right, and as the guarantee of fair, equitable and inclusive societies, constitutes one of the most beautiful hopes and dreams of the world’s people. Every time a child, an adolescent or an adult becomes engaged in education, we are working for a democratic, just, inclusive, peaceful and ecologically viable world.

The teachers, academics, intellectuals and educational researchers, who write this letter, do so personally from different places and from different nationalities. First of all we want to support and express our engagement with the global aspiration stated at Incheon, Korea, in May of this year, to achieve an Education for All without any type of exclusion by 2030.

Director General, it is well known that during the World Educational Forum at Incheon, a series of very important meetings were held with academic and civil society organizations, and social movements. These discussions produced a relevant declaration, but their protagonism from within the World Educational Forum was overshadowed by global economic organizations. With great concern, in the development of this world meeting we witnessed elements, practices and speeches that conspire against the achievements of the post-2015 goals. This is the basis for this letter.

Director General, we agree that education should be continuously improved, and contribute to building significant learning for life, that in turn will be valuable and useful for citizens and their societies. We further agree that UNESCO is a premier global space for us to discuss and think more deeply about these issues.

Nevertheless, we consider it necessary to point out that the discourse of educational quality has been used by international economic organisms as a “Trojan Horse,” through which they have introduced educational counter-reforms that reduce the role of educational systems to the development of limited sets of learning, and a nonsensical competition for rankings between scholastic institutions. Equally, given the selection criteria for the subjects being evaluated, knowledge is dangerously distributed in a hierarchy that, in practice, privileges what has been called “Back to Basics.”

Certain transnational economists and financial organizations that promote neoliberal politics and economics, have been exerting enormous pressure, which is contributing to a notable abandonment of conceptions of integral and comprehensive education, and the happiness of citizens. These pressures work against an education that promotes scientific, humanistic, social and artistic development, for a free, just and happy life.

Many views about education, distinct from those that seek to establish the hegemony of global economic organisms, were effectively absent at the Incheon meeting. At Incheon, not all those who should have been present were present, ignoring the plural character that events like the World Education Forum should have, given its intention to build an authentic world educational consensus. This shortcoming impacts the role of UNESCO as an international organism intended to build policy and social consensus with respect to education.

We recognize that at Incheon, Korea, government representatives were able to express their voice, as were nominated representatives of civil society and social movements, but their interventions were restricted to no more than 3 minutes. Moreover, we are highly conscious of the scant representation of social movements, due to the innumerable difficulties they confronted to obtain the economic resources needed to travel. In contrast, there were long interventions of representatives and voices reflective of education as a “free market.”  The few alternative voices accepted at Incheon – such as the powerful Educational International and the noble World Campaign for the right to education – hardly had a chance to elaborate their views in defense of teacher´s collectives, student associations, and community and civic organizations, as actors and principle co-authors in any policy to better education.

How beautiful it would have been if the World Educational Forum had included the live and unmediated voices of teachers, intellectuals and researchers of the five continents, representing the diversity of views and experiences of progressive education systems, but that did not happen.

How hopeful for world education it would have been to make visible at Incheon the millions of educational professionals and teachers that all around the world resist the most rampant neoliberal offensive of recent times against education. An offensive that is expressed in tendencies such as: punitive teacher evaluations; mercantile simplification of educational quality, measured quantitatively with standardized tests that are developed by global economic actors; and inappropriate wages and working conditions in many parts of the world. All these make evident the very poor value ascribed to teachers and their critical role in constructing democratic, peaceful, equitable societies, based in solidarity and committed to protecting life on the planet.

We understand that the Forum at Incheon was a space to meet the ministers of education of the world. But it would have been much richer and more positive if other organizations who represent  those who research and work in the classrooms of the world were able to discuss and debate the possibilities and potentialities of education for all towards 2030. Such conversations could have contributed to an examination of education well beyond enrollment percentages, school coverage, GDP figures and government budgets, PIB amounts, and government’s budgets for investments in education.

On the contrary, the market, labor productivity and technological developments arose as the major conditions to reinforce educational systems. Those aspects can only partially guarantee a quality education for all. Concerning this, we believe that teachers, students and family representations, social movements, as well as organizations dedicated to educational research, must be considered as the major partners of these events, with a very active and determined presence that is larger than the international economic organisms.

Dr Irina Bokova, with great concern we clearly saw in the majority of speeches developed in the central panels of the Incheon Forum a pre-eminence of economic and reductionist views of education, to the detriment of the pedagogical view that sees humanity in all of its dimensions, not exclusively those related to the neoliberal economy. Words such as market, economy, and industrial development hide the speeches and the key pedagogies whose arguments promote educational reforms and innovations directed to empower new generations.

Based on these expressed ideas, it is urgent and imperative that UNESCO reclaim the guiding role in education from its own knowledge fields: the sciences of education. Only in that way could talk of a sound association for 2015-2030 agenda, in which organisms such as the World Bank, the OECD, the IMF and the World Bank do not determine the course and development of education systems take place.

Since the financial crisis of UNESCO, due to the United States’ failure to honor its obligations, under the pretext of the supposed inconvenience caused by the inclusion of Palestine as a member State of UNESCO, we worry that the relationship with global economic organisms has jeopardized the emblematic autonomy of UNESCO. This phenomenon is expressed in the lack of institutional spaces of UNESCO itself, or of other similar organizations that considered themselves aligned to the original aims of the organization over which you preside.

Dr Bokova, a World Education forum like the one at Incheon, Korea, ought to be the scene in which diverse and distinct views about the control and evaluation of education systems in general, and of learning in particular, are seen and encountered. We regret that the dominant view of the Forum was that of the OECD and its PISA testing regime. This is a reductionism that goes against qualitative perspectives, and against other experiences such as those developed by the Asia Center, the Independent Measures of Learning (IML/MIA) created by the CIESAS in Mexico, the design of the six boundaries of quality or Cube Model created in Venezuela, to name just a few. The work of the Latin-Americans Laboratory for the Evaluation of Educational Quality (LLECE), for example, had a limited presence in the debates and speeches of the Forum at Incheon, and it was perceived as a subsidiary to PISA’s perspective. No voice was offered to those who express resistance articulated by many educational professionals, teachers and students, who deserve to be valued from the complexity of the educational action and the impact of those evaluative systems.

The valuing of interculturality and the plurality of approaches to education are inherent to the spirit, philosophy and perspective that led to UNESCO’s creation.  Such premises – from our own point of view – were scarcely seen in the World Educational Forum that recently concluded. We do not consider it impertinent, or  even daring, to put forward and aspire to these things which, alongside Andreas Scheleicher, could have been present. For example, the citizen evaluations of Suman Bhattacharkea from India, the popular educational view expressed by Paulo Freire’s international Institute from Brazil, the Latin-American educative thinking expressed by CLACSO, or of the recently created Global/Glocal Network for Educational Quality could have shared their points of view.

Teachers and professors in general, all around the world, see this and are concerned at the deferral of an integrated education perspective by international bodies whose nature and function in the governing of the world is another. We need to promote and support models and educational philosophies from an alternative, holistic understanding of education that assumes the force of the dialectical relationship between the global and the local in education systems, and in the classroom itself.

With enormous concern we see that policies intended to further drive neoliberal economic globalization and market policies of cultural homogenization are being placed like angular stones on educational activity. We can see a dangerous tendency to generate a Global Pedagogical Blackout (GPB) as a result of the fragmentation of pedagogy as the interpretative totality of educational action. This process has been occurring as a result of the imposition of didactic, evaluative and managerial forms, and a very strong and biased control over curricula, aimed at forming a homo economicus and a homo consumerus.

Currently we are witnessing efforts to reduce professional knowledge, the professional capital of teachers, exclusively to a measure of learning. We perceive that the new expert voices are those of the specialists who design and guide positivist evaluation systems whose aims we consider to be far from a truly integral education. There appears to be very little concern that the preparation and workplaces of these new experts are transnational organizations, companies and foundations associated with the financial sector, rather than universities and educational institutions.

In addition to all of this, we point out once again that Spanish and Portuguese languages, that it spoken by approximately 580 million citizens of the world, has been rejected as one of the working languages of events like the World Educational Forum. We think that such circumstances carry us towards a de-territorialization of UNESCO’s organisms, located in countries where primarily Spanish and Portuguese is spoken, and where employees are forced to speak English or French in World Forums, ignoring the identity of such an important region in terms of population, culture and education. Our suggestion is to reverse this situation and to recognize the value of a language with which almost one tenth of the world’s population identifies.

Director General Bokova, we are sure that you will receive these observations of substantive character as an effort to help to realize the convergence of the educational agendas, and as a reaffirmation of our hopes that UNESCO will convert itself into an authentic multicultural, pluri-lingual and essentially educational forum. UNESCO must facilitate the meeting of views of those responsible for the management of education in member countries, but also of millions of teachers and educators of the world who, day after day in their universities, institutes and schools, make possible the advance toward the goal of education for all as a fundamental human right.

In this sense, we consider that the voices of teachers, students and other education specialists all over the world, who resist the marketization and automatization of education, from the education institutions of the vast majority of human beings, are irreplaceable in World Education Forums. We invite you and UNESCO to work together in this regard.

Fraternally,

Aboites, Hugo; Rector de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México.  México.

Abreu, Cesaltina Cadete Bastos de; Professora e Directora do Departamento de Sociologia na Faculdade de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Agostinho Neto. Luanda. Angola

Adell Segura, Jordi; Profesor e investigador en el Departamento de Educación de la Universitat Jaume I (UJI) y Director del Centro de Educación y Nuevas Tecnologías (CENT). Castellón de la Plana. España.

Alba Pastor, Carmen; Profesora e investigadora titular, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Madrid, España.

Álvarez Méndez, Juan Manuel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Madrid, España.

Álvarez, Marco; Coordinador General de las Escuelas libres de Chile. Chile.

Álvarez, Víctor; ExMinistro de Industrias Básicas de Venezuela. Investigador del Centro internacional Miranda (CIM). Venezuela.

Alves, Nilda; Professora da UERJ/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Amiguinho, Abílio José Maroto; Professor Coordenador na Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre. Portalegre. Portugal.

Amorim, Antônio Carlos; Professor da UNICAMP/Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Campinas. Brasil.

Andreotti, Vanessa de Oliveira; Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequality, and Global Change. Department of Educational Studies. The University of British Columbia. Vancouver. Canada.

Anguita Martínez, Rocío; Profesora e investigadora titular de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid. España.

Angulo Rasco, Félix; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Cádiz. Cádiz. España.

Antunes, Ângela; Docente de amplia trayectoria en la educación popular y convencional. Directora Pedagógico del Instituto Paulo Freire. Brasil.

Apple, Michael W.; John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies. University of Wisconsin, Madison. EEUU.

Aquerreta, Esperanza; Profesora de la Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela.        

Area Moreira, Manuel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de La Laguna. La Laguna, Tenerife. España.

Arévalo, Julio; Profesor jubilado de la UNAN, ejerce docencia en universidades privadas. Nicaragua.

Armando Santiago, José; Docente e investigador de la Universidad de los Andes (ULA). Venezuela.

Arnove, Robert F.; Chancellor's Professor Emeritus Indiana University, Bloomington, in EEUU.

Ascorra, Paula; Profesora de Psicología en la Escuela de Psicología. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Valparaíso. Chile.

Au, Wayne; Professor at School of Educational Studies. University of Washington. Bothell, EEUU.

Autio, Tero. Professor of Curriculum Theory. School of Doctoral Studies. Institute of Education. Tallinn University. Tallinn. Estonia.

Ávila Dávila, Marta María; Maestra jubilada e investigadora educativa. Venezuela.

Ayers, William; Profesor jubilado, investigador y teórico sobre la educación, la paz en el mundo y los derechos de los afrodescendientes negros. Promotor de Escuelas Libres. Chicago, EEUU.

Ballarín Domingo, Pilar; Catedrática de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Granada. Granada. España.

Barbeitos, Arlindo do Carmo Pires; Professor do Departamento de Sociologia da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Agostinho Neto. Luanda. Angola.

Bartolomé, Lilia I.; Professor, Applied Linguistics. Director, Massachusetts Language Academy (MLA). College of Liberal Arts. University of Massachusetts, Boston. EEUU.

Bassey, Michael; Emeritus Professor of Education. Nottingham Trent University. Nottingham. United Kingdom.

Beach, Dennis; Professor Department of Education and Special Education University of Gothenburg. Sweden.

Beluche, Olmedo; Sociólogo y educador. Docente de la Universidad de Panamá. Panamá.

Biardeau, Javier; Profesor e Investigador de la Universidad Central de Venezuela. Venezuela.

Bigott, Luis; Docente e investigador, Vicerrector Académico de la Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, Venezuela.

Bolívar Botia, Antonio; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Granada. Granada. España.

Bond, Patrick; University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society Durban, South Africa.

Bonilla-Molina, Luis; Coordinador Internacional de la Red Global/Glocal por la calidad educativa, Coordinador del programa educativo de TV para internet “La otra mirada”. Venezuela.

Borón, Atilio; Profesor de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

Bracho, América; Docente jubilada e investigadora en educación. Luchadora social por la educación pública, gratuita y democrática. Venezuela.

Bracho, Carlos Alberto; Docente universitario e Investigador del Centro de Estudios Sociales y Culturales (CESIC) de la Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (UBV). Venezuela.

Bravo Nico, José Carlos; Professor do Departamento de Pedagogia e Educação. Universidade de Évora. Director da Escola Comunitária de São Miguel de Machede. Évora. Portugal.

Buen Abad, Fernando; Docente e Investigador en la Universidad de Filosofía. México.

Cabero Almenara, Julio; Catedrático de Universidad. Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Sevilla. Sevilla. España.

Canaan, Joyce; Professor of Sociology Birmingham City University Birmingham. United Kingdom.

Cañizales, Keyla; Investigadora y Docente de la Universidad Centroocidental Lisandro Alvarado. Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

Capote, Maritza; Pedagoga jubilada. Miembro de la Sociedad Venezolana de educación Comparada.      Venezuela.

Caraballo, Nelson; Docente e Investigador de la Escuela de Humanidades y Educación en la Universidad De Oriente (UDO). Venezuela.

Carbonell Sebarroja, Jaume; Profesor e investigador de Sociología de la Educación en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Vic. Barcelona. Fundador y exdirector de la revista "Cuadernos de Pedagogía". España.

Carosio, Alba; Investigadora especializada en temas de género. Profesora de la Universidad Central de Venezuela. Venezuela.

Carrano, Paulo; Professor da UFF/Universidade Federal Fluminense. Niterói. Brasil.

Casa-Nova,  Maria José; Professora do Instituto de Educação e coordenadora do Núcleo de Educação para os Direitos Humanos. Universidade do Minho Braga. Portugal.

Casas, Aldo; Antropólogo. Integra el Consejo de redacción de "Herramienta. Revista de debate y crítica”. Argentina.

Castellanos, Maria Egilda; Docente jubilada. Investigadora. Rectora Fundadora de la Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela.

Castillo Silva, Flavio de Jesús; Docente del ITVO y coordinador de AELAC (Asociación de Educadores de América Latina y el Caribe). Oaxaca. México.

Chalmers, Camille; Docente e Investigador. Muy vinculado a la educación para la inclusión social, Haití.

Clemente Linuesa, María; Catedrática de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Salamanca. Salamanca. España.

Coelho, Virgílio, Professor de Antropologia. Departamento de Antropologia da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Agostinho Neto. Luanda. Angola.

Cordova, Marlene Yadira; Docente Universitaria. Ex Ministra de Educación Universitaria de Venezuela. Venezuela.

Cornejo Chávez, Rodrigo; Profesor en la Universidad de Chile. Director del Observatorio Chileno de Políticas Educativas OPECH. Integrante de la Red de Estudios del Trabajo Docente. Miembro del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Políticas Educativas y Derecho a la Educación del Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales CLACSO. Chile.

Darder,  Antonia;  Leavey Presidential Endowed Chair in Ethics and Moral Leadership, School of Education. Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, EEUU.

De Alba, Alicia; Profesora e investigadora titular del Instituto de investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación (IISUE) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). México DF. México.

De Cassia Frangela, Rita; Professora da UERJ/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Delboni, Tania María Delgado; Professora da UFES/Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. Vitória. Brasil.

Devine, Pat; Economista e Investigador Social sobre el Ecosistema, la Geografía Humana y la Psicología Ambiental. Universidad de Manchester. Reino Unido.

Díaz - Barriga, Ángel; Profesor e investigador titular del Instituto de Investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación (IISUE) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). México DF. México.

Díaz Acosta, Leticia; Coordinadora Asociación de Educadores de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (AELAC), Sinaloa, México.

Díaz Piña, Jorge; Profesor e Investigador de la Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez (UNESR) Venezuela.

Díaz Pomar, Pierre Édison; Filósofo y profesor de la FCHA (Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Artes). Universidad del Tolima. Tolima. Colombia.

Diniz Pereira, Júlio Emílio; Professor e investigador da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brasil.

Dohrn, Bernardine; Profesora jubilada. Especialista en derecho penal y justicia de menores, derecho de la mujer, legislación contra la tortura, la pena extrema, el derecho a la educación y sobre exclusión escolar. EEUU.

Duarte, Vera Juíza; Presidente da Comissão Nacional para por Sireitos Humanos e a Cidadania de Cabo Verde. Escritora. Ex-Ministra de Educação e do Ensino Superior. Palmarejo. Praia. Cabo Verde.

Dutt, Chandra; Director of The Centre of Science and Technologiy for Rural Develop (COSTFORD). Kerala. India.

Escudero Muñoz, Juan Manuel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Murcia. Murcia. España.

Estremera, Rubén; Docente e Investigador. Profesor de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, núcleo Río Piedras. Puerto Rico.

Evaristo, Macaé; Secretária de Estado de Educação de Minas Gerais. Brasil.

Fernández Sierra, Juan; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Almería. Almería. España.

Ferrada, Donatila; Profesora e Investigadora de la Facultad de Educación. Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción. Chile.

Ferrando Ruiz, Aleardo; Maestro de Educación Secundaria. Secretario de Organización de ANCIJE. Perú.

Ferreira Peixoto, Leonardo; Professor da UEAm/Universidade do Estado do Amazonas. Tabatinga. Brasil.

Fetzner, Andréa; Professora da UNIRIO/Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Figueroa Agreda, Marianicer; Psicóloga y Docente universitaria. Activista del movimiento por la difusión libre y el acceso abierto al Conocimiento, Venezuela. Investigadora del Centro Internacional Miranda. Venezuela.

Figueroa, Hugo; Investigador educativo y asesor curricular de la Universidad del Salvador, El Salvador.

Fischman, Gustavo E; Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. Tempe. EEUU.

Forero Coronel, Jorge Alexander; Investigador en la Universidad Nacional Experimental de la Seguridad. Venezuela.

Formosinho, João; Professor Catedrático do Instituto de Educação da Universidade do Minho e Presidente do Conselho Científico-Pedagógico da Formação Contínua de Professores. Universidade do Minho. Braga. Portugal.

Frigotto, Gaudêncio; Professor e investigadorda Faculdade de Educação da UERJ (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro), Brasil.

Gadotti, Moacir; Docente e Investigador. Presidente Honorario del Instituto Paulo Freire. Brasil.

Galindez, Omar; Coordinador Académico del Instituto de Altos Estudios Pedro Gual. Venezuela.

Gamboa, Carlos Arturo; Escritor. Profesor del Instituto de Educación a Distancia (IDEAD) de la Universidad del Tolima y Director del Grupo de investigacón Argonautas. Tolima. Colombia.

Gantiva Silva, Jorge Octavio; Docente e investigador de la Universidad de Ibague, Colombia.

García, Angélica; Profesora de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de México. Departamento de Sociología de la Educación. México.

Gaspard, Jean-Luc; Maître de conférences en psychologie. UFR Sciences Humaines et Sociales. Université Rennes II. Rennes. France

Geraldi, Corinta; Professora da UNICAMP/Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Campinas. Brasil.

González, Gustavo; Pedagogo jubilado. Presidente de la Sociedad de Estudios Comparados del ALBA. Venezuela.

González, Oswaldo Antonio; Red de Gestión Comparada con Enfoque Internacional, México.

González, Pedro; Docente e Investigador. Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora. Barinas. Venezuela.

Gouvêa, Guaracira; Professora da UNIRIO/Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Grech, Shaun; Director of The Critical Institute. Malta. Editor-in-chief of the international journal, Disability and the Global South (DGS).

Griffiths, Tom G.; Presidente de la Oceania Comparative and International Education Society (OCIES), Presidente de la National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU, Newcastle Branch) Trabaja en la Escuela de Educación de la University of Newcastle. Australia.

Grosfoguel, Ramon; Professor. University of California at Berkeley. Berkeley. EEUU.

Guimarães Nogueira, Francis Mary; Grupo de pesquisa em políticas sociais- (gpps) - unioeste- universidade estadual do oeste do Paraná. Brasil.

Hamilton, David; Professor of Pedagogik, Department of Education. Umeå University. Umeå. Sweeden.

Harnecker, Marta; Periodista e investigadora de los movimientos sociales y transformaciones de los sistemas políticos. Vancouver, Canadá.

Hermoso, Víctor Manuel; Profesor jubilado de la Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL) de Venezuela.

Hernández Román, Rose Mary; Docente e investigadora en la Universidad Nacional Experimental Rómulo Gallegos (UNERG). Venezuela.

Hill, Dave; Research Professor of Education at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, England. Editor of the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS). United Kingdom.

Hurtado Rayugsen, Omar; Ex Vicerrector Académico de la Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL). Docente universitario jubilado e investigador. Venezuela.

Hurtado, Carlos; Docente y comunicador social. Pertenece al Centro de Educación Popular “Casa Tomada” de Leones, Córdoba. Argentina.

Hypolito, Álvaro Moreira; Professor e investigador, Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFOEL), Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Editor da Revista Currículo sem Fronteiras. Brasil.

Ibaceta, Claudio Muñoz; Coordinador Académica. Especialidad RM. Departamento de Educación Diferencial. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Santiago, Chile.

Iguiñiz Echeverría, Manuel; Docente e investigador. Profesor en la Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. Lima.

Imbernón Muñoz, Francesc; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona. España.

Imen, Pablo; Docente e Investigador de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). Director de IDELCOOP, Sec. de Investigaciones del CCC Floreal Gorini. Asesor de sindicatos docentes. Argentina

Inzunza Higueras, Jorge; Dr. en Educación, Maestro en Turtle Creek Elementary School, Delavan, Wisconsin, EEUU.

Jaramillo, Nathalia¸ Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Kennesaw State University, EEUU.

Jover, Guadalupe; Profesora de Educación Secundaria. Madrid. España.  Cofundadora de la plataforma cívica Yo estudié en la Pública. España.

Kajibanga, Víctor Mário Chicua; Professor e Decano da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Agostinho Neto. Luanda. Angola

Kumar, Ravi; Associate Professor Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi. India.

Kushner, Saville; Professor of Public Evaluation. Faculty of Education. University of Auckland.  New Zealand.

Lacueva, Aurora; Docente e Investigadora. Escuela de Educación, Universidad Central de Venezuela. Venezuela.

Landazábal, Fernando; Pedagogo, Universidad de Cundinamarca. Colombia.

Lebowitz, Mike; Profesor universitario jubilado. Investigador sobre los procesos de gestión democrática del trabajo y otros temas.  Vancouver, Canadá.

Lesnik-Oberstein, Karín; Professor of Critical Theory, University of Reading. Reading. United Kingdom.

Libreros, Daniel; Docente e Investigador. Profesor de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Colombia.

Linaza Iglesias, José Luis; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Madrid. España.

Lingard, Bob; Professor PhD FASSA FAcSS. School of Education. The University of Queensland. Brisbane, Australia.

López Melero, Miguel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Málaga. Málaga. España.

López Sánchez, Roberto; Profesor titular de la Universidad del Zulia. Investigador sobre movimientos sociales y transformaciones políticas. Venezuela.

Lowy, Michel; Investigador del Centro Nacional para la Investigación Científica de Francia. Francia.

Lusk, Mark; Social worker. Professor at the College of Education.  The University of Texas at El Paso. USA.

Macedo, Donaldo; Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at University of Massachusetts, Boston. USA.

Machado, Margarida Maria; Professora da Universidade Federal de Goiás; Goiânia. Presidenta da ANPED (Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Educação). Brasil.

Macrine, Sheila L.; Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning en University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, EEUU.

Maia de Oliveira, Irlane; Professora e investigadora da Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brasil.

Marín, Fernando; Pedagogo, Universidad del Quindío. Colombia.

Márquez, Gustavo; Ex Ministro de Integración y Comercio de Venezuela.  Investigador y Docente Universitario. Venezuela.

Marrero Acosta, Javier; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, España.

Martín Rodríguez, Eustaquio; Catedrático de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia), Madrid, España.

Martínez Bonafé, Jaume; Profesor e investigador en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Valencia. Valencia, España.

Martínez Rivillas, Alexander; Filósofo y Profesor del Departamento de Desarrollo Agrario. Facultad de Ingeniería Agronómica. Universidad del Tolima. Tolima. Colombia.

Martínez Rodríguez, Juan Bautista; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Granada. Granada, España.

Masón, Rosa María; Profesora del Instituto Pedagógico José Varona, Cuba.

Matamoros, Zuleika; Docente de Educación Básica. Luchadora social y del magisterio. Venezuela.

McCarthy, Cameron R.; Professor and Research of  Education and African American Studies. Center for Global Studies. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. EEUU.

Mclaren, Peter; College of Educational Studies, Chapman University, California. EEUU.

Medina Rubio, Arístides; Docente universitario y Director Fundador de la Revista Tierra Firme especializada en Historia con más de 100 números publicados.  Venezuela.

Montero Mesa, Lourdes; Catedrática de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Santiago de Compostela, España.

Moraes de Oliveira, Rosa; Professora e investigadora do departamento de Teorias e Práticas Pedagógicas. Universidade Federal de São Carlos. São Paulo, Brasil.

Moreira, Maria Alfredo Lopes; Professora e investigadora. Instituto de Educação, Universidade do Minho. Braga. Portugal.

Moreno Doña, Alberto; Profesor y Coordinador Bachillerato Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Universidad Austral de Chile. Valdivia. Chile.

Morgade, Graciela; Educadora. Decana de Filosofía y Letras de la UBA. Buenos Aires. Argentina.

Oliveira, Inês Barbosa de; professora e investigadora da Faculdade de Educação da UERJ (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro). Rio de Janeiro, e Presidente da Associação Brasileira de Currículo (ABdC). Brasil.

Oliveira, Lia Raquel Moreira; Professora e Investigadora. Instituto de Educação, Universidade do Minho. Braga. Portugal.

Ortiz Casallas, Elsa;  Profesora de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación. Universidad del Tolima. Tolima. Colombia.

Padilha, Paulo Roberto; Director Pedagógico del Instituto Paulo Freire - Brasil.

Paraskeva, João M.; Professor and Chair of the Department of Education Leadership and Program Director of the EdD PhD in Education Leadership and Policy Studies. University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA.

Parker, Ian; Professor of Management, School of Management. University of Leicester. Leicester. United Kingdom.

Parrilla Latas, Ángeles; Catedrática de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Vigo. Campus de Pontevedra, España.

Pazos Jiménez, José Luis; Presidente de la Federación de la Comunidad de Madrid de Asociaciones de Padres y Madres del Alumnado (FAPA) Francisco Giner de los Ríos; vocal autonómico de Madrid en la Junta Directiva. Consejero del Consejo Escolar del Estado. Madrid. España.

Peñalver, Luis; Pedagogo Jubilado e investigador en formación docente. Venezuela.

Pereira, Fátima; Professora e investigadora de la Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto. Porto. Portugal.

Peres, Américo Nunes; Professor e Investigador na Escola de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD). Vila Real. Portugal.

Peters, Michael A; Professor, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER), Faculty of Education. University of Waikato, New Zealand.

Petrizzo Páez, María Ángela; Investigadora y docente del Colegio Universitario Hotel Escuela de los Andes Venezolanos (CUHELAV). Activista de los movimientos por el Software Libre y por la difusión libre y el acceso abierto al Conocimiento. Mérida. Venezuela.

Pillay, Shervani K.; Professor. Faculty of Education. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Port Elizabeth. South Africa.

Pineau, Pablo; Director del Departamento de Ciencias de la Educación - FIlosofía y Letras- UBA. Argentina.

Pozuelos Estrada, Francisco José; Profesor e investigador en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Huelva. Huelva, España.

Prado Estrada, Miguel; Coordinador AELAC (Asociación de Educadores de América Latina y el Caribe).  Estado de Nayarit. México.

Puelles Benítez, Manuel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia). Madrid, España.

Quiroz Miranda, Sergio; Director General del instituto McLaren de Pedagogía Critica, Ensenada, Baja California, México.

 Raúl Mejía, Marco; Docente, educador popular e Investigador. Consultor de la Presidencia de la República y Ministerio de Educación Nacional para el programa Escuela y Comunidad. Coordinador del Equipo Técnico Nacional del Programa Ondas de Colciencias. Miembro de la Expedición Pedagógica Nacional y del proyecto Planeta Paz, Colombia.

Reay, Diane; Professor of Education. Faculty of Education. University of Cambridge. Cambridge. United Kingdom.

Redón Pantoja, Silvia; Profesora e investigadora de educación en la Faciultad de Filosofía y Educación. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Valparaíso, Chile.

Reinoso Ratjes, Rubén; Docente Universitario, Coordinador Nacional del Centro de Estudios Sociales y Culturales (CESIC) de la Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (UBV). Venezuela.

Reis, Graça; Professora do CAp/UFRJ/Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Rizvi, Fazal; Professor at Melbourne Graduate School of Education. The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Rodríguez Mieres, Erick; Docente universitario en la Universidad Central de Venezuela, comunicador social y conductor de programas de TV. Venezuela.

Romero, Ángel; Estudiante de la carrera de Educación en la Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Venezuela.

Rossatto, Cesar Augusto; Professor at the College of Education.  The University of Texas at El Paso. USA.

Rubiano, Elisabel; Docente e Investigadora del Departamento de Pedagogía Infantil y Diversidad de la Universidad de Carabobo (UC). Venezuela.

Sacavino, Susana; Coordenadora executiva da ONG Novamerica. Directora da revista Novamérica, e membro do grupo de investigación GECEC do Departamento de Educación da Pontificia Universidad Católica de Rio de Janeiro. Río de Janeiro. Brasil.

Sader, Emir; Professor de Politicas Publicas de la Universidad del Estado de Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Brasil.

Salazar, María Isola; Pedagoga, Universidad Distrital. Colombia.

Saltmann, Kenneth J.; Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership. University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA.

San Fabián Maroto, José Luis; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Oviedo. Oviedo, España.

San Martín Alonso, Ángel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Valencia. Valencia, España.

Sanches Sampaio, Carmen; Professora da UNIRIO/Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Sanoja, Mario; Antropólogo e investigador. Profesor jubilado de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Venezuela.

Santos Guerra, Miguel Ángel; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Málaga. Málaga, España.

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa; Centro de Estudos Sociais, Colégio de S. Jerónimo, Portugal. University of Wisconsin-Madison, EEUU.

Saurraute, María Magdalena; Docente e Investigadora del Programa de Estímulo al Investigador y el Innovador (PEII). Coordinadora del Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Educativas (CNIE). Venezuela

Saviani, Dermeval; Professor de História da Educação na Faculdade de Educação da UNICAMP (Universidade Estatal de Campinas). Membro fundador da ANPED (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação). Brasil.

Schostak, John; Professor of Education in the Education and Social Research Institute. Manchester Metropolitan University. Manchester. United Kingdom.

Serpa Granados, Guillermo; Profesor de la Universidad Nacional de Educación, La Cantuta. Lima. Perú.

Skordoulis, Kostas; Professor. Epistemology of Science School of Education University of Athens, Grecia.

Sojo, Mirna; Escuela Social Rodrigueana Latinoamericana y del Caribe. Investigadora. Venezuela.

Subirats Martori, Marina; Catedrática de universidad de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB). Barcelona. España.

Süssekind, Maria Luiza; Professora da UNIRIO/Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro. Brasil.

Thisted, Sofía; Secretaría Académica de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tomé, Amparo; Catedrática de universidad de Sociología de la educación. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Barcelona. España.

Torres Santomé, Jurjo; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de A Coruña. A Coruña. España.

Torres, Rosa María; Activista en defensa de la educación pública, Directiva de la iniciativa La otra mirada educativa, Ecuador.

Toussaint, Eric; Investigador, Coordonne le Comité pour l'Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde, CADTM. Maître de conférence à l'Université de Liège. Bélgica.

Tovar, Ramón; Individuo de Número de la Academia Nacional de la Historia de Venezuela. Promotor del enfoque geohistórico en la enseñanza de la Geografía. Venezuela.

Tünnermann Bernheim, Carlos; Abogado y Educador. Investigador y especialista en Educación Superior. Managua, Nicaragua.

Urbina Benavides, América Ramona; Docente e investigadora en la Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez (UNESR). Venezuela.

Valesan Camba, Salete Sirlei; Directora de FLACSO Brasil, miembro del Consejo Directivo de Aldeas SOS Brasil, miembro del Consejo Internacional do Fórum Mundial da Educación, Miembro del Consejo Internacional del Fórum Social Mundial, Brasil.

Valverde, Llorenç; Catedrático del Departament de Matemàtiques i Informàtica, Universitat de les Illes Balears. Palma de Mallorca, España.

Van de Velde, Herman; Profesor de la UNAN- Managua. Coordinador Internacional de ABACOenRed. Nicaragua.

Vargas, Yraida Profesora jubilada de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Venezuela.

Vasapollo, Luciano; Delegato del Rettore de la Universitá di Roma Sapienza per Rapporti Internazionali e Paesi Caraibici. Professore di Metodi di Analisi Economica. Italia.

Vega León, José Eduardo; Estudiante de la carrera de Sociología de la Educación en la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. México.

Velázquez Licea, Eulalio; Docente Universitario, Coordinador de la Asociación de Educadores de América Latina y el Caribe (AELAC), México.

Vieira, Jarbas Santos; Professor e investigador, Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFOEL), Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

Vila-Viñas, David; Investigador Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. FLOK Society. Ecuador-España.

Villalba, Federico; Docente Universitario en la UPEL e investigador. Venezuela.

Viñao Frago, Antonio; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, España 

Walsh, Catherine; Profesora principal y coordinadora del Doctorado en Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos. Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. Ecuador.

Yapu, Mario; Investigador y Director académico y de investigación de la Universidad para la Investigación Estratégica en Bolivia (U-PIEB), La Paz. Bolivia.

Zeichner, Ken; Boeing Professor of Teacher Education. University of Washington. Seattle. USA.

Zufiaurre Goicoechea, Benjamín; Catedrático de universidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona. España.