As efforts to realize the Sustainable Development Goals accelerate, UNICEF is expanding education systems to capture the children most at risk. We forge partnerships with key development organizations, like the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Education Cluster and the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, to advance our strategic plan and create a world where every child learns.
In collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF launched the Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI) in 2012, aiming to make a substantial and sustainable reduction in the number of out-of-school children worldwide by providing partner Governments with actionable data. OOSCI identifies barriers that lead to exclusion and develops proposals for policies and programmes that put more children in school, on track to complete their education. Over 90 countries have joined the initiative since its launch, many of whom rely on OOSCI data to forge education sector plans.
Abstract
Education systems in South Asia are complex and fragmented. Despite high engagement and involvement of Non-State Actors (NSA) in education, there is a lack of comprehensive policy to govern them. Achieving better learning outcomes for children in South Asia requires understanding the wide variety of NSA providers and unpacking how these different actors engage with and influence education provision. Through a meta-analysis of existing evidence, this report presents findings on learning outcomes in public and non-state schools and the implications on quality, equity and safety of education delivery in the region. It also uncovers critical gaps in evidence that need to be addressed to show what is really working, for whom, where and at what cost.
UNICEF Innocenti’s education research looks to address the learning crisis to ensure that every child learns. By co-creating the research with Governments, implementing partners, and communities, evidence is embedded within programmes for maximizing its use. Innocenti’s education research focuses on three areas: i) what works at school level (service delivery); ii) what works at policy level (system strengthening); and iii) how to scale up what works and address the “know-do” gaps between policies and their implementation (scaling and implementation science).
A global learning crisis is undermining children’s education and their futures. Pre-COVID, more than half of children in low- and middle-income countries could not read and understand a simple text by age 10. In poor countries, this “learning poverty” rate was as high as 80 percent. Due to COVID-19, an additional 10 percent of children globally will fall into learning poverty.
COVID-19 and education
COVID-19 school closures have laid bare how unprepared education systems are to deal with crises and has uncovered the uneven distribution of the technology needed for remote learning. We are investigating impacts of school closures on children and how to design and deliver effective remote learning for more resilient education systems. To deliver high quality rapid and useful research on COVID-19 and education, this research agenda is done close collaboration with the education section and Data and Analytics team in UNICEF, regional offices, and partners such as the World Bank, UNESCO and WFP.
Data Must Speak
Despite the global learning crisis, even in the most difficult contexts, there are some “positive deviant” schools that outperform others in terms of learning, gender equality, and retention. Since 2019, in line with UNICEF's Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Programme, Data Must Speak (DMS) identifies these positive deviant schools, explores which practices make them outperform others, and investigates how these could be implemented in lower performing schools in similar contexts. DMS uses a participatory, mixed-methods approach to improve uptake, replicability, and sustainability. The research is being undertaken in ten countries across two continents.
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