Conversations that inspire: Koji Miyamoto

Topic: Education - social-emotional skills

By: Rafael Arias , Education and Employment Manager at the Corona Foundation

Koji Miyamoto, a senior economist at the World Bank and a renowned global expert on social-emotional skills, had a busy schedule in Bogotá between May 20 and 21. Miyamoto met with senior officials from the Ministry of Education, the National Planning Department, and the Bogotá Education Secretariat, among others, and visited several schools to provide feedback on the state of social-emotional learning in Colombia.

I had the opportunity to participate in two key events on that agenda. One was a close meeting at the World Bank, where the Luker Foundation and the Alliance for the Promotion of Social-Emotional Learning in Colombia were also present. The other highlight took place at the Tabora School in the Engativá district of Bogotá.

Through these conversations we explored the concept of the “Socio-emotional learning ecosystem”, which allowed us to renew our approach to socio-emotional skills and helped us to understand the diversity of experiences, roles, relationships and interactions related to socio-emotional learning in Colombia, which range from spontaneous to strategic and organized.

Koji's presentation at Colegio Tabora was comprehensive and thought-provoking for our ecosystem, prompting strategic reflections on how we are addressing the development of social-emotional skills in Colombia. Equally impactful was the meeting where he urged us to improve our initiatives for measuring and promoting these skills in the country. Although social-emotional skills are increasingly valued in Colombia, and significant institutional, political, and regulatory progress has been made, strategic challenges remain, particularly regarding the training required by teachers and the measurement of what we are achieving (or not achieving) through a multitude of educational interventions.

Colombia is a socio-emotional learning ecosystem with great potential compared to other countries. There are numerous proposals here, at least for the school setting. Our challenge, then, is to define a truly strategic agenda to achieve the transformations we have desired, at least, since the beginning of the 21st century.