About the World Education Fellowship (WEF)
Founded in 1921 as the New Education Fellowship and renamed the World Education Fellowship in 1966, the WEF is one of the world’s oldest and most respected international educational movements. For more than a century, the Fellowship has brought together educators, researchers, policymakers, and thought leaders committed to advancing education as a force for human flourishing, social progress, international understanding, and peace.
The origins of the Fellowship can be traced to 1915 and the establishment of the Theosophical Fraternity of Education, a pioneering group of educators who believed that education should help individuals better understand human development, relationships, and the wider challenges facing civilisation. From these foundations emerged a global movement centred on the transformative power of education.
Throughout its history, the WEF has embraced a broad range of educational philosophies while remaining united by several enduring principles:
- child-centred education
- democratic learning
- creativity and human development
- global citizenship
- intercultural understanding
- education for peace and social renewal
The Fellowship quickly expanded internationally through conferences, publications, and collaborative educational initiatives. Its influential journal, The New Era, became an important platform for progressive educational thought and international dialogue.
Although the work of the Fellowship was disrupted during the Second World War, many national branches were re-established after 1945. Members of the WEF subsequently played significant roles in the early development of UNESCO and other international educational initiatives dedicated to peace, cooperation, and human development.
Today, the WEF continues its mission as an international educational fellowship and a UNESCO-affiliated non-governmental organisation, headquartered in London, with active sections and networks across the world, including Australia, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, and Botswana.
The Fellowship convenes biennial international conferences, supports scholarly and professional publications, and promotes educational dialogue, innovation, research, and developmental initiatives through its national sections and global partnerships.
Importantly, the WEF does not promote any single ideology or educational dogma. Rather, it provides a global community of practice in which members are free to interpret and apply the Fellowship’s principles in ways that are meaningful within their own cultural, professional, and educational contexts.
At its heart, the World Education Fellowship remains committed to a simple but enduring belief: that education, grounded in human dignity, creativity, understanding, and cooperation, can help shape a more peaceful, just, and flourishing world.