Transforming education towards SDG4

UNESCO has just done a stock take on countries’ progress towards their 2022 commitments to transform education. Here’s what stood out, that we’ve seen reflected around the world:

Context matters

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for effective education transformation – and we’re seeing a welcome slow-down in blunt policy-borrowing. More countries are adapting strategies to their unique contexts, considering political, institutional, and socio-cultural factors. This is key to successful implementation and sustainable progress, but it relies on non-local partners in reform being led by and not leading the agenda. Clear national ownership, underpinned by long-term commitment from international partners, is a powerful blend.

I’ve recently returned from Bhutan. One of the most remarkable moments (as well as the hike to Tiger’s Nest!) was a screening of ‘The Monk and the Gun’. Watching this film with our Bhutanese hosts was transformative for understanding the highly specific national context, the values and principles and cultural underpinnings (and I highly recommend the film). It felt fundamental to deepening our work with the Ministry of Education & Skills Development in a country with so much precious cultural heritage and character to both preserve and build upon.

Implementation is the key

Translating national commitments into context-specific action is certainly challenging – but this doesn’t mean it is impossible. It’s time to take proper education transformation out of ‘The Too Difficult Box’! In fact, this is the title of a book by former UK Secretary of State for Education Charles Clarke, and it’s a staple in thinking differently for me.

So long as the gulf between policy and implementation remains yawning, we risk losing precious funds, time and children’s futures. We know how to bridge the two, but we need to work harder to make the connections stronger, and lean into the challenge with eyes wide open, armed with data as well as commitment.

Other recommended reads: ‘A Cambridge Approach to Improving Education’ consists of evidence-backed insights into embracing local context and effective implementation.

Critical moment for investment in teachers

One of the biggest problems it might be all too easy to put in the ‘too difficult’ box is the global teacher shortage. This spans all levels of education, and schools of all kinds.

We all know that teachers are central to transforming education, and school leaders play a key role as part of this. Yet, we face a potential global shortage of 44 million teachers by 2030, and the problem with recruitment and retention is multi-faceted. We’re determined to double-down the ways in which we work with partners to address this, and have some exciting irons in the fire… There’s lots more to come from Cambridge on this crucial area soon – watch this space!

Recommended reads: UNESCO’s ‘Global report on teachers: addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession’ is an invaluable tool for investing in teachers.

Dollars and sense: Education financing remains a challenge

The financing gap to achieve national SDG 4 targets in low- and lower-middle-income countries is estimated at $97 billion per year until 2030. Say that out loud. As Laura Frigenti has stressed – in this strained environment, we need to be disruptive. Disruptive in how we scale financing and, hand-in-hand with this, innovative in making sure money goes further. Realistic monitoring, within realistic timeframes is so important.

This needs to be wrenched out of the ‘Too Difficult’ box. One of the most memorable bits of the UN General Assembly last year was Jeff Sachs’ palpable frustration on education financing. His vehement call to: “Get real.” To ask for more, much more and “don’t even consider something less.”

“I want to say something very direct to the education community: We’re failing. We are not going to [transform education] without a massive increase of financing… The return on education takes 40 years to realise. But, economically, this is the highest return you can find.” Jeff Sachs

Recommended reads: Our new book (free to access) on Reimagining Philanthropy in the Global South is full of case studies on how philanthropy can provide risk capital to free up other funding.

Progress in inclusion, equity, and gender equality

It was great to see all 91 countries that UNESCO consulted reporting actions in these vital areas. Inspiring examples like Estonia integrating nearly 80,000 Ukrainian refugees into its education system. Despite these efforts, significant gaps remain, particularly in supporting refugees and displaced children. We need targeted strategies to address the specific needs of marginalised groups. It's great to see NGO Alsama innovating in this area.

Other notable mentions

• Embracing digital transformation: All countries UNESCO spoke to reported a commitment to digital learning. However, the digital divide, content quality, and teacher training remain challenges. Research continues on the role of AI within this, with a study on ‘Child Safe AI’ and a new book on ‘global, internet-mediated learning’ providing useful perspective this month.
  
• Adopting a holistic, lifelong learning approach: It’s exciting to see examples of so many countries updating curricula to include life-long learning, sustainable development and critical skills. As I keep being reminded by my colleague Dr Jim Gazzard (Director of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education) – learning should be ‘life-wide’, but the foundations of this definitely lie in schools, and learning how to learn.
  
• Increased commitment to early childhood care and education: 92% of responding countries have taken action on early childhood care and education, recognising its importance in achieving SDG 4. We’ve seen real appetite for this in our own work around the world, having launched our first dedicated programme for 3 – 6-year-olds last year. Nonetheless, the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre and Theirworld recently revealed despite record aid spending on pre-primary education, millions of the world’s poorest children are still missing out.
  
• Youth engagement is on the rise: Three-quarters of countries reported actions to engage youth in education. Spain, Sierra Leone, and Belgium have integrated youth engagement into their legal frameworks to ensure stability and sustainability. Last summer, we were part of putting together the ‘Uniting Generations and Sharing Power to Transform Education’ guide with Salzburg Global Seminar and partners – I’d recommend this as a starting point to better intergenerational collaboration and leadership, it’s what we’ve been referring to ever since.

Under this all, we’ve also seen more emphasis on the often-forgotten SDG 17 (my favourite of the Goals) – the power of partnerships. Education took up more space at COP, the African Union Summit, the World Economic Forum.

I always feel a bit itchy ahead of the UN General Assembly – will we simply return and talk about the same things again? Refreshingly, progress suggests otherwise. Opportunities to pick up the mantle across the year remain essential to this - like ICESCO’s summit in October to drive forward the transforming education agenda with its members, and I’m looking forward to being back in Muscat for that dialogue.

Join the conversation

So, that’s it for our first ‘ConnectEd’. You can follow the link below to sign up to receive our newsletter, including future updates.

I’d also love to hear from you on what we should be focusing on. Send a message to partnership@cambridge.org with your thoughts with the subject line “ConnectEd”.