Issue briefs

The SDGs are our collective plan for the future of the world’s people and its planet. There is no other plan. And there’s no spare planet. David Nabarro, Special Adviser on the 2030 Agenda. Two years after Member States of the United Nations agreed upon the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)...

The Education 2030 Framework for Action defines school readiness as ‘the achievement of developmental milestones across a range of domains, including adequate health and nutritional status, and age-appropriate language, cognitive, social and emotional development’ (UNESCO, 2016: 39). SDG Target 4.2...

This brief examines the role of parents in supporting their children’s learning in school and how planners and decision-makers can support this role. A related brief looks at issues of school and learning readiness.

Social and economic inequalities have important and long-lasting effects on children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development as well as on educational outcomes (Grantham-McGregor et al., 2007; Shonkoff and Garner, 2012). Multiple inequities combine, producing a negative impact on the ability of...

The brief explores how physical education facilities – that is, land, buildings, and furniture for education – can affect learning processes and what measures can be undertaken to create the optimal conditions for learners and teachers’ achievement and well-being.

This brief examines the impact of the psychosocial school environment on student learning outcomes. It provides suggestions of how educational planners and decision-makers can ensure a positive learning environment for all.

Inscribed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948), education is a basic right. A range of declarations and conventions highlight the importance of education for people with disabilities: the Salamanca Statement on education and special needs in 1994, as well as article 24 of the United...

There are more than 7,000 known living languages and most children grow up in an environment where more than one is spoken (Wisbey, 2017). However, studies show that almost 40 per cent of children do not have access to an education in a language they understand and this is negatively affecting their...

The central role of textbooks and other learning and teaching materials (LTM) in enhancing the quality of learning and improving student performance is widely recognized (Smart and Jagannathan, 2018; GEM Report, 2016b). In low-income countries, quality LTM can compensate for disabling factors such...

The development, dissemination, and implementation of relevant and effective curriculum and expected learning outcomes can improve teaching and learning.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can impact student learning when teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into curriculum. Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.(6) In some contexts, ICT has...

Quality education depends in part on having sufficient time for teaching and learning. Schools need an adequate number of days and hours for instruction and well-trained teachers to deliver quality lessons, so that student engagement and learning is maximised. Factors that impact instructional time...

Pre-service teacher preparation programmes with strong structure, coursework, and field experiences are crucial to preparing future teachers. Pre-service teacher preparation programmes, also called initial teacher training or initial teacher education, vary greatly across countries. The structure...

Strong in-service support programmes connected to opportunities for continuous professional development can have a large impact on student learning. All teachers need regular opportunities to grow as professionals and improve their work. In-service support programmes that are based on teachers’...

Providing a quality education for all lies at the heart of the Education 2030 Agenda. Achieving this goal will require ‘well-qualified, trained, adequately remunerated, and motivated teachers’ (UNESCO, 2016: 30). However, global trends indicate that teacher motivation has been falling in recent...

Teachers are essential for improving the quality of education. Better teacher recruitment and deployment strategies can contribute directly to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all (UNESCO, 2016). SDG 4 acknowledges the importance of...

Strengthening school leadership to improve teaching and learning is one of the strategies put forward to achieve target 4.c of the Education 2030 Agenda, which addresses the need to increase the supply of qualified teachers (UNESCO, 2016; United Nations, 2015). Studies have shown that school...

School and teacher quality and accountability can be ensured through effective external review systems. All around the world schools are inspected with the rationale that inspection contributes to the quality of schools and education systems. Although different traditions use different terms—such as...