District Actors bridging between national education offers, social policy, funding, glocal market demands and school autonomy for democracy in education

Lifelong learning governance and policies can be a road map for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: optimising national economic industrial and small and medium-sized businesses strategies; propelling entrepreneurial economies and democracy with critical skills for the digitised era; optimising healthy ageing for a good life and happy ending; optimising the social and spiritual wealth of citizens. International policy makers do not know all the elements that characterise the educational landscape in each country to deliver such policy. Therefore national actors act as a «bridge» between the national and the international policy levels. National actors need the same kinds of bridge leaders between the national and district level/school levels. This paper reports barriers and opportunities for district leaders bridging between national educational offers, local market demands and efficiently mobilising social policy and district funding. A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) is presented to empower Bridge Leaders with a tool to mobilise instructional leadership for cultural responsive Assessment for Personal and Social Learning (APSL). This empowers school communities to move from cultural dishonour and poverty to cultural honour and school autonomy that propels local entrepreneurial economies for economic and social wellbeing that delivers national strategic plans. The law and the national/federal policy makers must have the backs of these Bridge leaders, or they position them as lone resisters who, without support, fail. Their failure provides proof of concept that democracy in education does not work and is a barrier to democracy.