Bucharest will host Dare to Learn, the largest event in Europe dedicated to teachers

Dare to Learn (D2L) is the largest event in Europe dedicated to teachers and will take place on October 25 and 26. It will bring to the Bucharest stage over 20 international leaders – among the biggest names in world education, experts who will hold masterclasses and debates based on educational models and methods successfully applied in educational institutions and organizations around the world .

“We set out to create, through the newly established Dare to Learn Foundation and through the partnership we presented today, a framework for connecting teachers, researchers and experts from pre-university and university education in Romania with global leaders in education. It will be the first time that many of these world-class speakers will be on the same stage, and this will happen in Bucharest, which makes us happy. The event is, in fact, the cover we open to launch a new movement, dedicated to exploring and promoting innovative approaches in education, connecting the latest developments in pedagogy, research and technology with the need to make learning more relevant and accessible for all. We are all tired of analyzes about what is not working and what we could change here and there. The event and what will follow it mean contexts in which the participants will engage in discussions and collaborative projects, partnerships and pilots that will catalyze an updated learning model”, declares Radu Szekely, president of the Dare to Learn Foundation.

“Among the more than 300 factors that influence learning, the teacher and the quality of teaching are the factors with the greatest impact on learning. This is what the studies tell us, and this is also the experience of most of us – we learned with love in the subjects where we had teachers who taught clearly and rigorously, evaluated objectively and involved us in learning. Discipline and rules were not missing from all this approach. These things are present in classes where visible learning takes place, in high-performing schools, in terms of each student’s learning progress, in educational systems that measure the impact of any improvement effort. This is what we want to bring to schools in our country”, adds Prof. Liliana Romaniuc, founder of the Richard Wrumbrand College and president of the Romanian Literacy Association.

“We really want to turn this event into an annual event, with tradition”, says Elena Lotrean, Director of the Finnish Teacher Training Centre.

“PISA reports, data and our 10-year experience in hundreds of vulnerable schools in Romania clearly show us that teachers are the foundation of a quality education system. Their motivation, training, open attitude to feedback and continuous learning and genuine interest in teaching for the benefit of all students are key ingredients for students’ meaningful hours at school. Moreover, we know that this is the case everywhere in the world, from the communities with the greatest challenges in India, Nigeria, Europe, Australia or America. We are pleased to bring educational leaders from the Teach for All network from all these countries and regions who demonstrate that well-trained teachers and confidence in the success of each child produce results anywhere in the world”, believes Iuliana Pielmuş, Executive Director of Teach for Romania.

Dare to Learn was designed as a training program where more than 4,000 participants are expected. The first edition will take place for two days, on October 25 and 26, at Romexpo, in the Capital, and will be the largest event in Europe dedicated to teachers, but also to experts in pre-university and university education, trainers in the field of continuing education, researchers , to those who work in the field of human resources in corporations or companies, as well as to specialists from local institutions and government actors.

The summit will feature four panels dedicated to education professionals, focused on insights and perspectives on leveraging psychology research, technologies used in emerging economies, and pioneering approaches to create transformative learning experiences.

Dare to Learn will bring together over 20 local and international speakers, who aim to reveal the latest results of studies and research in educational practices. New ideas and technologies will be presented that reshape the way the learning process is carried out today. Participants will be encouraged to adopt new tools and shape lifelong learning ecosystems, adapting to a future marked by the competition between artificial and natural intelligence, as well as democratized access to information. During the two days of the event, 32 masterclasses, organized on various topics, will be held by experts who have left their mark on the way the learning process takes place (in the classroom or in the organizational environment), who have removed barriers to make education fair.

Among the international speakers – considered opinion leaders, academics, researchers in educational leadership, trailblazers in terms of access to education and visionaries in the field of artificial intelligence, pioneers who redefined the field of learning through revolutionary ideas and practices – there are names reference in accelerating learning: John Hattie, Peter Senge, Sugata Mitra, Vicky Colbert, Zack Kass, Graham Brown-Martin, Charles LeadBeater, Niko Herlin, Henri Muurimaa, Diana Laufenberg, Cami Anderson and Ng Aik Yang. The complete list of speakers, as well as more information about them and their performances, will be communicated in the next period.

At the same time, within the event there will be areas dedicated to one-to-one meetings and networking between participants and speakers, as well as a large exhibition area dedicated to the partners of this event (book launch, debates by the authorities, stands with company activities, etc.) .