Disruptions to Educational Opportunity in Latin America: Primary and Secondary Education During Covid-19

Date: 

Tuesday, October 5, 2021, 9:00am to 10:15am


For a recording of this event, please click here.

Speakers: Cristián Bellei, Associate Researcher, Center for Advanced Research in Education, and Professor of Sociology, University of Chile; Sergio Cárdenas, Professor of Public Administration, CIDE; Antonio Madero-Fundación México en Harvard Visiting Scholar, DRCLAS, Harvard University; Claudia Costin, Founder and Director, Center for Excellence and Innovation in Education Policy, Getulio Vargas Foundation
Chair: Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

As part of Harvard Worldwide Week 2021, four scholars of education in Latin America will discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on educational opportunity and education policy responses in the region. This panel is based on the recently published book Primary and Secondary Education During Covid-19: Disruptions to Educational Opportunity During a Pandemic, the first global comparative study of the pandemic’s impact on education, edited by Fernando Reimers and available as an open access publication.

Cristián Bellei is Associate Researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Education, and Professor of Sociology, both at the University of Chile. His research focuses on education policy, educational inequality, school improvement, and the factors associated with educational achievement. He has previously worked for UNICEF and the Chilean Ministry of Education. He holds a BA degree in Sociology from the University of Chile, and EdM and EdD degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Sergio Cárdenas is Professor of Public Administration at the Center for Economics Research and Teaching (CIDE) and Antonio Madero Visiting Scholar at DRCLAS. A lawyer by training, he holds and Ed.D. from Harvard University. A former Director-General of CREFAL, Center for Regional Cooperation for Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, he has been a lead researcher in several projects, including the design and evaluation of technology-based interventions, a national study on distance education initiatives in Mexico, as well as evaluations of early childhood care and education programs for rural population. He is also part of the Harvard Global Education Innovation Initiative, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture.

Claudia Costin is the Founder-Director of the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Education Policies, a think-and-do tank within Getulio Vargas Foundation, where she is also a Professor. She is a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was the Senior Director for Global Education in the World Bank. Claudia has served as Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro and Federal Minister for Public Administration and State Reform of Brazil. In 2018 she joined the Global Commission for the Future of Work at the International Labor Organization (ILO) and most recently she joined the Board of UNESCO UIL (Institute for Lifelong Learning). 

Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative and of the International Education Policy Master’s Program at Harvard University. An expert in the field of global education, his research and teaching focus on understanding how to educate children and youth so they can thrive in the 21st century. He has written or edited thirty-seven books, including Primary and Secondary Education During Covid-19 Disruptions to Educational Opportunity During a Pandemic, the first comparative study of the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Education. He is a member of UNESCO’s High Level Commission on the Futures of Education.