Events
Join us in advancing education across the Commonwealth through our impactful events and initiatives. We connect communities, fostering collaboration and innovation to build a brighter future for all.
Upcoming Events
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Commonwealth Day Lecture 2025
The Council for Education in the Commonwealth are delighted that Joseph Nhan-O'Reilly will deliver its Annual Commonwealth Day Lecture 2025.
Joseph is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) where he works with parliamentarians across the world, including the Commonwealth to grow political leadership for education.
Prior to establishing IPNEd he worked for over a decade at Save the Children leading the design and delivery of education programming and advocacy. He has worked on education in conflict affected and fragile contexts in various capacities for two decades.
He served on the board of the Global Partnership for Education and co-led, with Afghanistan's then Minister for Education, GPE's working group on support to fragile states. He was a member of the design team for Education Cannot Wait - the global fund for education in emergencies - and served on its Executive Committee. He played a leadership role in the education response to the war in Syria and in the development of the Global Compact on Refugees, which included ambitious commitments to education.
In the Commonwealth Day Lecture 2025, chaired by Bambos Charalambous MP, Joseph will reflect on how Commonwealth nations both individually and as collective can build political commitment and support for education in emergencies.
The number of school-age children whose education is affected by crises and require urgent education support has increased significantly in recent years, reaching 234 million by the end of 2024. Nearly half of all refugee children are out of school, and almost a quarter of a billion children’s schooling was disrupted by climate crises alone in 2024.
With the Commonwealth home to not only some of the biggest refugee hosting countries, but also 25 Small Island Developing States which are on the frontline of the climate crisis, there is an urgent need to protect learning for every child, in every corner of the Commonwealth.
We look forward to hearing Joseph's expert reflections on how the Commonwealth work together to ensure that every child has access to quality, climate-resilient learning, including in times of conflict and crisis.
Early booking is essential as the number of places are very limited. To avoid disappointment, please RESERVE your place now on Eventbrite. Confirmation emails will be sent to individuals who have registered their attendance.
CEC AGM - 2024
The AGM will be from 4.00pm to 4.45pm, after which there will be a reception in honour of Lord Sonny Leong.
Annual Conference 2023: Digital Transition and Inclusion in Education: An Agenda for Action
The Council for Education in the Commonwealth (CEC), University of Nicosia, Foundation for the Management of European Lifelong Learning, and UNESCO Chair of the University of Nicosia are jointly organising “Education Conference 2023”, on May 18 – May 21, 2023 at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.
Annual Commonwealth Day Lecture
Commonwealth Africa now reflects the diversity of Africa as a whole. Former Francophonic and Lusophonic colonies are now members alongside the Anglophonic ones. Within these countries are thousands of languages and cultures. But all cohere in a drive for education and an urge to make free choices. These converge.
The Annual Gladwyn Lecture
According to the 2018 World Development Report (WDR), many lower-income countries have made progress in getting children into the classroom, which has led to more children worldwide now being in school.
Annual Conference 2022: The evolving role of universities and role of education in global security
Britain is blessed to have a world-leading higher education sector. Our universities are a great source of strength for the country and their role – in an increasingly knowledge-based economy – is becoming more and more central to our future prosperity. Universities are also becoming increasingly central to our future social prospects.
Commonwealth Day Lecture
Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1974 until 1997. In 1979, he was appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, at first in the Scottish Office and then in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, promoted to Minister of State in 1983.
Annual Conference 2021: Education, the Pandemic and Global Solutions for a Sustainable Future
The CEC Annual Conference 2021 will showcase innovative approaches developed by teachers and educational professionals, in the face of the pandemic, to deliver education to young people, wherever they might be located.
Commonwealth Education partners launch roundtable event in advance of the Global Education Summit 2021
In advance of the Global Education Summit 2021, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and the United Kingdom, Commonwealth Partners for Education* launched a virtual roundtable as an official side-event, which is also available on the GE Summit portal.
Annual Commonwealth Day Lecture
The closure of schools, universities and educational programmes in the wake of the COVID pandemic has led to a disruption in learning of a magnitude never experienced in recent history.