Review of national policies on learning and teaching

This report provides an overview of how national education policies include learning and teaching. It responds to a set of specific questions which focus on strategies to improve learning, links between teacher quality and learning outcomes and how policy seeks to overcome learning obstacles for the most disadvantaged. It also focuses on how policy addresses mechanisms to support, motivate and monitor teachers. Data was collated from the national education plans of forty countries and in-depth case study reviews carried out on policy from Cambodia, South Africa, Timor Leste and Bangladesh. The report includes a summary of key lessons and observations related to the inclusion of teaching and learning in education policy and a range of strategies that can both directly and indirectly support teaching and learning. The report has been written as a background paper to support UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report 2013 which has Learning and Teaching for Development as its theme.