Transforming education for holistic student development: learning from education system (re)building around the world

In anticipation of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, this report explores the work of building and (re)building education systems to support holistic student development. It focuses specifically on the journeys of seven education systems - situated in high-, middle-, and low-middle-income countries with democratic traditions - as they make the whole child the center of their work. They include national initiatives in Singapore, Ireland, and Chile; provincial, territorial, and local initiatives in Canada, India, and the United States; and a cross-national initiative in the International Baccalaureate. All seven systems operate in policy contexts pressing for measurable gains in students’ academic learning, and none seeks to compromise academic rigor. Yet all seven aim to go further by supporting the intellectual, physical, emotional, social, cultural, and moral development of students.