Shared priorities to transform education systems: Mapping recovery and transformation agendas

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for years to come. With 1.5 billion students affected and at least 463 million unable to access remote learning, there is little wonder that education inequality is rising and young people around the world are significantly behind academically than where predicted without disrupted schooling. Children's mental and physical health is also suffering because of course schools provide much more than academics: They are places to connect with peers and other adults in the community and for many to receive much needed nutritional support. The good news is that the challenges around education—and especially what to do about them—is on the global agenda, at least for the next several months. The U.N. secretary general has called for 2022 to be the year that the U.N. General Assembly turns its attention to transforming education systems in the wake of the pandemic with the Transforming Education Summit (TES) this September, and the global education community can come together to capitalize on this political moment.However, to keep education on the global agenda after TES, the global education community will need to coalesce around a shared narrative on the importance of education and more importantly how education actors will work synergistically in education jurisdictions around the world to address the challenges at hand. There are many important priorities competing for attention from heads of state and ministers of finance—from the climate crisis to the rise of violence and conflict to increasing economic inequality to the spread of fake news through increasingly sophisticated technology. Education systems that are broadly inclusive and relevant—that help develop academic, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills—are essential for addressing many of the world's crises through, climate change and digital literacy education to preparing those left out of the current pace of economic progress for the world of work, among other things. Ensuring that this message is heard consistently by leaders in countries around the world is an essential part of converting the energy leading up to the TES into sustained change after it.To help catalyze a discussion among the actors in the global education ecosystem to do just this—come together to make the most of this political moment for transformation—we at the Center for Universal Education have mapped the range of agendas and debates put forward by actors at the TES pre-meeting in Paris and beyond. Having different actors working on different agendas is a sign of the richness of the education sector and not in and of itself a problem. The problem comes when education actors compete for attention and resources in countries and jurisdictions around the world and run the risk of diluting a clear sense of urgency to senior leaders and fragmenting the energy and momentum needed to embark on serious education transformation. Sustained education system change requires deep partnership across many levels, including across actors working on complementary agendas

Transforming education systems: Why, what, and how

Today, the topic of education system transformation is front of mind for many leaders. Ministers of education around the world are seeking to build back better as they emerge from COVID-19-school closures to a new normal of living with a pandemic. The U.N. secretary general is convening the Transforming Education Summit (TES) at this year's general assembly meeting (United Nations, n.d.). Students around the world continue to demand transformation on climate and not finding voice to do this through their schools are regularly leaving class to test out their civic action skills.    It is with this moment in mind that we have developed this shared vision of education system transformation. Collectively we offer insights on transformation from the perspective of a global think tank and a national government: the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings brings years of global research on education change and transformation, and the Ministry of Education of Sierra Leone brings on-the-ground lessons from designing and implementing system-wide educational rebuilding.  This brief is for any education leader or stakeholder who is interested in charting a transformation journey in their country or education jurisdiction such as a state or district. It is also for civil society organizations, funders, researchers, and anyone interested in the topic of national development through education

Millions Learning: Scaling Up Quality Education In Developing Countries

An estimated "100-year gap" persists between education levels in developed and developing countries, and if business proceeds as usual in the education sector, this gap is not projected to close. Today, 250 million children around the globe--many of them having spent at least four years of school in a developing country--lack the most basic literacy and numeracy skills. Additionally, countries around the world are struggling to help young people develop 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking and collaborative problem solving, which are increasingly demanded by the labor market. "Millions Learning" tells the story of where and how quality education has scaled in the developing world. The story emerges from wide-ranging research on scaling and learning, including 14 in-depth case studies, from Brazil and Honduras, to Uganda and Zambia, to Jordan and India.What we found is that from the slums of New Delhi to the rainforest in Brazil, transformational change in children's learning is happening at large scale in many places around the world. We found that successful scaling of quality learning often occurs when new approaches and ideas are allowed to develop and grow on the margins and then spread to reach many more children and youth. What constitutes the margins varies on a case-by-case basis. For some, it means a flexible central government giving freedom to its officials within a district to try a new approach. For others, it involves a community movement that develops new ways of reaching marginalized children whose educational options are limited.Scaling from the margins occurs in two main ways: idea adoption, namely the spread of new approaches across an education ecosystem, and delivery innovation, the development of new ways to deliver education to marginalized children and youth. With the former, effective new approaches to improving components of the teaching and learning process--from curriculum, to materials, to teacher development--have spread across education ecosystems and been adopted by different actors. With the latter, new education delivery approaches for the most marginalized communities--such as distance learning models or alternative education programs--have developed and grown within and across countries. We identified 14 core ingredients, in different combinations depending on the context, contribute to scaling quality learning. Each of these ingredients is central for scaling effective approaches that improve learning. Their importance is frequently reinforced from evidence in the broader scaling literature. They include essential elements for designing, delivering, financing, and enabling scaling of quality education

Collaborating to transform and improve education systems: A playbook for family-school engagement

This playbook on family-school collaboration makes the case for why family engagement is essential for education systems transformation and why families and schools must have a shared understanding of what a good quality education looks like. By providing evidence-based strategies from around the world and other hands-on tools that school leaders and partners can adopt and use in their local contexts, it aims to help leapfrog education inequality so that all young people can have a 21st-century education

Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent 2020-2030

The new year 2020 marks the beginning of a promising decade for Africa. Through at least the first half of the decade, economic growth across Africa will continue to outperform that of other regions, with the continent continuing to be home to seven of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. Collective action among African and global policymakers to improve the livelihoods of all under the blueprint of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063 is representative of the shared energy and excitement around Africa's potential. With business environments improving, regional integration centered around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement progressing, and the transformational technologies of Fourth Industrial Revolution spreading, never before has the region been better primed for trade, investment, and mutually beneficial partnerships. The recent, unprecedented interest of an increasingly diversified group of external partners for engagement with Africa highlights this potential. Despite the continent's promise, though, obstacles to success linger, as job creation still has not caught up with the growing youth labor force, gaps in good and inclusive governance remain, and climate change as well as state fragility threaten to reverse the hard-fought-for gains of recent decades.This special edition of Foresight Africa highlights the triumphs of past years as well as strategies from our experts to tackle forthcoming, but surmountable, obstacles to a prosperous continent by 2030

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Education in the developing world: Helping to solve the world’s big problems?

This lecture will provide a broad overview of the state of education in the developing world and the major challenges it faces in over the next decade. It will also discuss the role of education in broader global issues and explore the ways in which education can and cannot help to address things such as climate change, global security, and global health

Teacher development and student well-being

Improved support for teachers’ professional development is vital during emergency, chronic crisis and early reconstruction contexts as teachers can have a significant impact on their students’ well-being

Journal of Education for International Development 2:2 HOME-BASED SCHOOLING: ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR AFGHAN GIRLS

Abstract Girls' education in Afghanistan has begun to recover from the devastating Taliban regime. In March 2003, at the beginning of the school year, over 1,200,000 girls enrolled in primary school. A year later, almost 1,400 000 girls enrolled