The launch of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2018 'LEARNING to realize education’s promise’ is very timely during the growing global momentum around education. Being the first World Development Report (WDR) to focus solely on education, it provides an important analysis on how to address the learning crisis and fulfill the promise of education.
It comes at a time when countries and the education community are eager to access better data and examples to move the learning crisis debate forward, as well as to learn how countries can make the shift to a high performing system and achieve learning for all.
According to the report, the learning crisis amplifies inequality, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged students, and 60% of primary school children in developing countries fail to achieve a minimum level of proficiency in learning.
Key strategies to improve learning
The report argues that any country can improve learning by focusing on three interdependent strategies:
- Assess learning: measure and track learning better
This strategy calls for governments to use high quality student assessments to learn about hidden exclusions, help inform policy choices and observe progress in learning overtime.
- Act to make schools work for learners: use evidence to guide innovation and practice
The second recommendation discusses the importance of making use of evidence of what works in learning to promote innovation and set priorities.
- Align actors to make the whole system work for learning
The third strategy highlights that technical and political barriers need to be addressed and innovative educators must be supported.
These important strategies put forward by the WDR make us reflect upon the different pieces of the puzzle that make education systems thrive and create a conducive environment for learning and innovation.
Metrics and coalitions for innovation
The report highlights another fundamental enabling factor for improving learning outcomes and the quality of education: innovation. Generating favorable conditions to promote innovation in learning within education systems is not only desirable, but possible. To achieve this, the report recommends innovations to be aligned with metrics and system-level actors that support learning. A series of recommended steps are shared in the report:
- Set learning as a clearly articulated goal and measure it.
- Build a coalition for learning that gives the political space for innovation and experimentation.
- Innovate and test approaches that seem most promising for the given context, drawing inspiration from the evidence base and focusing on areas that promise the biggest returns from improvements on current practice.
Source: World Development Report 2018
How GPE supports its partners to improve learning
For GPE, it is great to see that many of the key recommendations of the WDR are already part of our operating model. Strengthening systems to improve learning outcomes and fulfill the promise of education is at the core of GPE’s work.
GPE’s systems strengthening approach acts as fundamental catalyst to improve equity and learning, by bringing together actors to help improve children’s learning in GPE partner countries.
GPE is committed to improve learning outcomes for children and youth across the partnership, which is reflected in Goals 1 and 3 of GPE 2020, the partnership’s strategic plan. In addition, GPE funding allocations consider equity, efficiency and learning, and incentivize results in these areas.
The GPE Results Report 2015/2016 notes important progress, with two thirds of countries with available data improving learning outcomes.
But the report also points to some remaining challenges. For example, only 32% of GPE partner countries had learning assessment systems that met quality standards.
Innovation and metrics are equally important aspects to GPE and we are launching a new knowledge and innovation exchange mechanism (KIX) that will help share knowledge and evidence to policy solutions across the partnership, including in the area of assessments for learning. This new funding mechanism will be an important contributor to development of global public goods to support learning and fulfil the education promise.
An example of GPE support for learning: the A4L initiative
Earlier this year, GPE launched the Assessment for Learning (A4L) initiative, which seeks to build capacity for national learning assessment systems to measure and improve learning. A4L will provide technical and financial assistance to support sector planning and analysis, capacity building and knowledge exchange at the regional level, promote comprehensive measurements of learning, and in this way help advance some of the key recommendations of the WDR.
The first phase of A4L is being implemented in close collaboration with key partners, including the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at the Brookings Institution and the Global Alliance for Monitoring Learning (GAML) convened by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). A4L activities target investments in learning assessment systems that are based on a needs analysis, linked to the policy process, and integrated into education sector plans, ensuring sustainability and ownership at the country level.
The WDR is recommended reading for all educators
The WDR provides much needed rich and useful data and policy recommendations that will feed into our work and guide some of our interventions and activities. I highly recommend a read of this excellent research piece, which is relevant to any organization working in the global education space.