The people that work in education and that take the responsibility of leading the education system are mainly optimists. If not, you cannot take the job.

In the latest episode of Books Driving Change, Agustín Porres and Matthew Bishop talk about Porres’ new book, Unfinished Business in Education, in which he interviews 31 previous education secretaries from around the globe. Each of them reflects on their time in office -- what they learned, what they achieved, what they failed to do, and what they would advise people going into that role today. They also talk about why the pandemic may be providing the perfect opportunity to enact sweeping education reforms, because of the crisis it has brought on, the innovation it triggered, and the fact that education is now much more visible in many national debates that it has been for many years.

Porres has spent the last couple of decades working on education policy and is currently Latam Regional Director of the

Varkey Foundation

, which works to build the capacity and status of teachers. It is also the sponsor of the

Global Teacher Prize

. Before joining Varkey, Porres worked in various government roles.