By Tevin Shepherd Programme Officer, Education Development Management Unit, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, OECS

Monday, May 18, 2020 — The OECS, through the Education Management Development Unit (EDMU), and the University of Cambridge partnered to host one of the largest free virtual events dedicated to Educators of the Eastern Caribbean on May 21st, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Education professionals along with the general public are invited to register in advance and to join the online discussions.

The webinar, which focuses on the theme “Evidence Informed Policy and Practice: Some Reflections and International Experiences”, will gather together educators, scholars, researchers and development partners from across the Eastern Caribbean along with the general public.

In outlining the objective of the webinar, Sisera Simon, Head of EDMU, OECS Commission, commented:

“We are thrilled about this partnership with Professor Vignoles and Professor Hayward, two world renowned educators of the University of Cambridge, to deliver this webinar on evidenced-based decision making. As we continue to promote the use of data to inform education policy and programmes in the OECS region, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic,  this webinar is timely as it will expose practitioners both at national and regional levels to some of the best international practices in the use of data to inform education interventions.”

EDMU Programme Officer Tevin Shepherd mentioned that the webinar will also serve to launch the 7th Edition of the OECS Regional Education Statistical Digestwhich features critical data aiming to support OECS Member States in making evidenced-informed decision:

“The 7th Regional Education Statistical Digest is a compilation of key data sets on the status of education in the OECS. This is developed by Statisticians and Education Planners across the region and is published yearly.”

Panelists of the webinar include Professor Geoff Hayward and Professor Anna Vignoles of the University of Cambridge. The OECS Commission expresses its gratitude to the University of Cambridge for this partnership and looks forward to the OECS Member States benefiting from this webinar.  

The general public is invited to register in advance and to join the online discussions.  

About Professor Geoff Hayward

Professor Geoff Hayward is Professor of Education and Head of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. He started his academic career as a research biologist at the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool. He taught in the Further Education sector for five years and has been involved in the training and education of teachers across both Primary and Secondary phases. He has served as one of the directors of the Nuffield 14-19 Review of Education and Training, and Associate Director of the ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organizational Performance (SKOPE). 

About Professor Anna Vignoles, FBA CBE

Anna Vignoles is a Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation. She undertakes research on the improvement of students’ academic achievement and help them develop the required skills to enter the labour market. She has a particular interest in researching the inequalities in access to education (globally) and, in the UK content, the lower levels of educational success of children from the most vulnerable families. She also studies the economic and social outcomes of education. She has been advisor to Dame Shirley Pearce’s Teaching Excellence Framework review, is on The Sutton Trust Advisory Board, and has advised numerous government departments, including the Department of Education, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and Her Majesty’s Treasury (the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the UK Government).