LMC Symposium Keynote Day 2

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow at an alarming rate, resulting in numerous infections and fatalities across the globe. As of March 26, 2020, over 1.5 billion students have been affected due to school closures in 165 countries; this is more than 87 percent of all registered students. Over 63 million teachers and large numbers of education support personnel have also been affected by the pandemic.
Dr. Edwards will provide an overview of the state of education in countries across the globe, addressing issues that we are all concerned about as we reopen schools during this pandemic, including: school funding crisis, health and wellbeing, digital and socio-economic inequities, remote learning challenges and political unrest that all impact student learning.
David Edwards, PhD, is General Secretary of Education International (EI) a federation of 32 million teachers and other educators affiliated with unions and associations in 173 countries globally. Prior to joining EI, Dr. Edwards was an Associate Director at the National Education Association of the United States. He has worked as an Education Specialist at the Organization of American States and began his career as a public high school teacher.
A Pennsylvania native, Edwards is fluent in Spanish and German and is conversant in French. His doctorate in Educational Policy and Leadership is from the University of Maryland. Dr. Edwards, his wife and their three children live in Brussels.