Time: Tuesday, May 16, 10:00 am-noon

Place: Room 22, College of Education

Description: We think of progressive education as an early 20th century movement in U.S. schools, or perhaps as what occurs in modern, “progressive” schools, often small, private schools serving more privileged students. But the progressive impulse has been an important factor in many places and many eras. In Nepal today, there is a strong progressive education movement, one that I worked with during Fall 2016. That movement is especially noteworthy given the country’s extremely low resources (it’s a UN Least Developed Country). But many Nepalis see progressive education as aligned with their national education plan, whose goals include education for all, ages 4-12, community learning centers to deliver literacy and lifelong learning, and fully inclusive and equitable access.

Questions: How can Nepal essentially create an education system? How can knowledge, people, tools, and other resources from the West help? What can be learned from the Nepali experience, even though the Nepal situation is quite different from that in the U.S.?