WISE Emerging Leaders is a nine-month fellowship program for the next generation of leaders in education who wish to embark on a learning journey that cultivates the mindsets, skills, and techniques necessary to thrive, nurture communities, and transform education systems.
In a time when education is disrupted by multiple crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the burnout epidemic, and the ecological collapse, WISE believes it is ever more important to create stimulating and nourishing spaces for education leaders to come together, connect meaningfully, learn with each other, and collaborate for collective impact. Transforming education systems requires change at the structural and systemic levels, but also at the intrapersonal and interpersonal levels. Leaders who lead with self-awareness, compassion, and creativity, who cultivate their own and their team’s wellbeing, and who weave people and projects together are leaders who can spark innovation and systemic change.
Requirements:
- The WEL Fellowship brings together 15–20 carefully selected young leaders in education from around the world in a hybrid format consisting of an in-person residential session, a series of online workshops with education experts, a number of asynchronous reflective blog posts, a concrete project to apply in their organizations, and tailored mentoring support to develop their project.
WISE is seeking to collaborate with high-impact organizations to nominate young education professionals from within their organizations or network to support their personal and professional development. If you would like to nominate promising young leaders from your organization.
Benefits
- WISE will cover the following costs for Fellows joining the residential session: return flights, accommodation, meals, in-country transportation, venue hire, and workshop material.
Components of the WEL Fellowship
1. In-Person Residential Session
The WEL 2022 Fellows will participate in a two-week in-person* residential session on 22 June – 1 July 2022, which will be delivered by experienced facilitators. During this residential session, they will be guided through a series of experiential workshops and activities on topics such as:
- Collaborative and weaving leadership
- Personal sustainability and wellbeing
- Systems change in education
- Peer-learning and peer-coaching
- Collaboration and co-creation
- Project development
- Storytelling for impact
- Personal and group harvesting
2. Online Workshops & Masterclasses
Fellows will integrate their learning journey with 12 online interactive workshops* aimed at deepening their connections, engaging with distinguished education experts, collaborating with each other, and reflecting on their progress in the Fellowship. Workshops generally focus on topics covered during the residential session, but also offer the opportunity to dive deeper into global education content, depending on the Fellows’ interests. Previous masterclasses with education experts have included topics such as:
- Non-traditional approaches to education
- Remote learning during COVID-19 times
- Ecoversities and alternative universities
- Wellbeing for educators and wellbeing in education
- Education policy implementation
- Girls’ education and gender equality in education
- Climate change and education
- Systems change: From theory to action
3. Reflective Blog Posts & Vlogs
Fellows will reflect on their learning journey by submitting 6 blog posts or vlogs during the Fellowship (approximately every 6 weeks). They will receive comprehensive guidelines and reflection prompts and some of the blog posts will be published on the WISE website. Examples of previous published posts by WEL alumni include:
- Education is the Key to Creating the Green Workforce of Tomorrow, Today
- Measuring Success of Systemic Impact: Be Fine with Letting Go
4. Practical Projects
Fellows will apply what they are learning during the Fellowship through the design, development, and implementation of a project in their organizational context.
- Fellows will identify a potential project with their organization at the moment of applying for the fellowship but may change it during the residential session.
- Fellows will have the opportunity to start the design and development of their project during the residential session through a series of dedicated activities and tools.
- Fellows will receive support through tailored 1:1 mentoring. Please note that WISE does not dispense any funds to projects or individuals.
- Fellows will be asked to submit regular updates in the form of blog posts (see previous section) about their project development, including a final project update at the end of the fellowship.
- Fellows will work with their organization to pilot and/or implement the selected project during the Fellowship.
5. Tailored Mentoring
Fellows will be supported in the development of their projects through tailored 1:1 mentoring. WISE will match Fellows with their respective mentors after the first residential session and after having received an updated project description along with clear mentoring needs.
Important note: It is the Fellows’ responsibility to be proactive in their relationship with their mentor and make the most of this. WISE will provide useful tips during one of the online workshops on the mentor and protégé relationship.
6. Post-fellowship engagements
On a voluntary basis, WISE offers regular post-fellowship engagements, which are co-organized with the fellows to connect with alumni from the program. Those engagements can include:
- Check-in calls (to reconnect, foster wellbeing, play games, book club, knowledge sharing, etc.)
- Masterclasses with outside speakers
- Sharing engagement opportunities and participation in events
- Application deadline: Completed forms in English should be submitted through the online portal by 13:00 GMT on March 1st, 2022.
- Interview round:Â 10-27 March 2022.
- Application outcome:Â All applicants will be notified of their application outcome by April 1st, 2022.
Application Deadline: March 1st, 2022
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