Identifying and promoting innovations

Education systems worldwide grapple with challenges hindering the provision of quality education for all children. Although ministries are deploying policies and strategies to address these challenges, the desired results have not been achieved. While it is common practice to mobilize external expertise to identify solutions in response to these difficulties, it also seems necessary to pay greater attention to the practices and initiatives of the stakeholders within the system itself.The ROSIE (Research on Scaling the Impact of Innovations in Education) report not only underscores the global trend of transferring educational innovations from one country to another but also highlights a critical oversight – insufficient attention to identifying, developing, or supporting local innovations.Local innovations, rooted in defined needs and assets, hold certain inherent advantages. Per definition, these innovations are adapted to the educational characteristics of a specific context and can benefit from popular support already in place. However, even when innovations show great promise, they face barriers to widespread adoption due to limited research and testing.Through diagnostic work in eight countries, the IIEP-UNESCO Dakar Education Quality Management Support Programme reveals the complex issue of identifying and promoting innovative practices and their promotion within systems.