The third edition of the International Citizen Education Forum focuses the attention of scientific contributors, experts, and citizen actors on The learner at the heart of the education and university system. It offers a moment of pause and reflection to fully grasp the complexity, the paradoxes and the challenges posed by the state of education and the pitfalls that weigh on the basic mission of the school (training, socialization, qualification ) and the university (training, research, services to the community). The dynamic that will be injected by this approach assumes that we are not content to simply grasp the inventory; on the contrary, it calls for projecting multiple and diversified development prospects.

The axes, without being exhaustive, make it possible to address themes of importance, relevance and with decisive impacts. Initially, it is the fundamentals of education (mission, vision, values, orientations and educational strategies) that will be questioned to open the field of reflection on what education can do. The analysis of social, territorial, educational or pedagogical inequalities makes it possible to grasp the factors influencing motivation, perseverance, qualification and educational success. These factors will be examined on the political, economic, social or environmental level. Dropping out of school and failure at the different levels of educational pathways are obstacles and incidents that mortgage the future of a large number of young people and citizens. They will be examined from different angles, in particular by seeking to understand the socio-cultural factors that underlie them and by showing the levers to be activated for remediation, re-schooling or avenues for discovering ways of social integration. The theme of guidance, vocational training, qualification, employability or entrepreneurship offers us the opportunity to reflect on the various perspectives by which decision-makers mark out the flexibility and efficiency of the system, and by which, local education players accompany the pupil or student on an enlightened journey. With the fourth theme, dealing with pedagogical practices and innovations as well as digital integration and collaborative strategies, the way is clear to question our teaching practices and the potential for learning both face-to-face and online. by putting innovative pedagogical approaches and the digitalization of devices into a salutary confrontation. If through five axes the questions around the vision, structures, devices and methods would have made it possible to clear up a good part of our concerns, we should not miss the opportunity to discuss scientific research, training in research, preparing the next generation in the era of the knowledge economy. It is through the development of solid, vast research at the forefront of proven methods that we will be able to straighten out the education system and open navigation channels towards a more peaceful and more promising future. Finally, for all these dimensions to keep their promises, an area is devoted to steering, governance and strategic change management. Without leadership, a shared, distributed or inclusive leadership of personnel whose competent action is a nuclear heart of the whole powerhouse that is education, any system is doomed to spiraling and blockages which, more often than not, leave the aisle of so many young and old whose education would have been the only bulwark against inequalities, injustice and impoverishment.

The proposals of scientific contributors and citizens, necessarily interdisciplinary, are intended to be contextualized to be applied with rigor and flexibility and for the sake of adaptation to territories, to particular conditions, taking into account the needs and opinions of pupils, students , teachers, professionals, parents, socio-economic actors. They will allow us to identify new opportunities for strategic change based on the vitality of scientific research, the advancement of knowledge, knowledge and science. The legitimacy of this approach is based, on the one hand, on the pressing request represented by the concerns and apprehensions of individuals and social groups and, on the other hand, on the presentation of proven research results, valid data and relevant, perspectives and articulated proposals based on the judgment of experts, national or international. The purpose of this experience of exchanges, controversies, debates and proposals has at least three targets: 1- the empowerment (autonomy and power to act) of individual, collective, social and political actors; 2- improving the quality of teaching/learning, the relevance of programs, the implementation of adequate services in education and training establishments (in all their forms); 3- the possibility of providing decision-makers, stakeholders and professionals with “responsibilizing” and accountable strategies.

Houssine Dridi

Chairman of the Scientific Committee