What are the ingredients for a great education system?

There are so many things that contribute to sustainable and positively impactful education including humanitarian, development, and peace agendas.  Children have an undeniable right to access quality education and all actors have an obligation to support the advancement and securing of quality education for children.  In order for our societies and people to flourish, education is required.  So what are the ingredients for great education?

Here are 7 ingredients for a great education:

1. Start early

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) prepares children for learning and provides them with the skills to thrive later in life. What’s more, it’s a smart investment: US$1 invested in early education for the most disadvantaged children can generate up to US$17 in returns.

Recognizing the benefits of ECCE, countries have launched initiatives aiming at improving early learning:

• Cambodia: improved access to early childhood education through the construction of preschools and teacher training. Between 2016 and 2018, the enrollment of five-year-olds in selected districts increased from 56 percent to 68 percent.
• Nicaragua increased access to early childhood education by designing a unified curriculum that covers three levels of preschool education, by training teachers on the new curriculum, and by providing nearly 9,000 preschools with textbooks, school supplies and learning toys. These efforts contributed to an increase in the number of children enrolled in preschool from 40 percent in 2013 to 50 percentin 2017.

2. Train teachers

We all know that teachers play a critical role in improving learning outcomes; but in one third of all countries, less than 75 percent of teachers are trained according to national standards. Supporting teachers and their professional development must be a high priority.

• The Government of Kenya has trained 117,000 teachers and provided them with early grade math teaching guides. Additionally, an online tool for teacher appraisals has raised teaching standards by tracking classroom performance, professional knowledge, and attendance.
• Zimbabwe strengthen teacher performance through the establishment of teacher professional standards, which identify what teachers should know and be able to do in the classroom.  All countries should have an information system database, to help the relevant ministry maintain an accurate picture on the skill gaps in the teaching force and have that drive teacher training and budgets.

3. Make education inclusive

Reaching all children, in particular the most vulnerable and marginalized.

• The Government of Zanzibar made its education system more inclusive by training hundreds of teachers on guidance and counseling, detecting special needs, and developing classroom skills for including children with disabilities. The Government also distributed glasses and hearing aids to vision- and hearing-impaired children; and more than 250,000 learning and teaching materials for inclusive education.

4. Leave no girl behind

Investing in girls’ education has a ripple effect that benefits their families, communities, and countries.

• To enroll more girls in school, the Government of Afghanistan, recruited, trained, and deployed female teachers to community-based schools in some of the country’s poorest districts. Thanks to these efforts, the rate of girls enrolling in primary school rose from 44 percent in 2002 to 84 percent in 2017.
• Balochistan’s province in Pakistan has improved school enrollment and retention, especially for girls. Between 2015 and 2018, student retention in supported schools increased from 70 percent to 89 percent, and the number of girls enrolled in grades 1-5 increased from 7,500 to 35,000.  Support makes a difference!

5. Provide good data

Education data are key to know which children are not in school or not learning. Data collection and evidence is essential!

• Sudan is strengthening its management and monitoring capacity through three systems: a teacher database; national learning assessments; and a rapid education management information system, which provides reliable information on primary and secondary education. These systems help Sudan better collect and analyze data for education planning and management.

6. Focus on learning

Despite the fact that more children than ever are in school, too many still don’t learn the basics: a waste of resources invested in education, and in human potential. Close the learning gap.

• Ethiopia conducted education reforms to improve the quality of teaching and learning in over 40,000 schools. A new curriculum was developed and over 200,000 teachers upgraded their qualifications. As a result, 44 percent of teachers in grades 1-4 were trained in 2013, up from just three percent in 2006.

• Guyana launched an early learning program that helped children in the most disadvantaged areas of the country develop the building blocks of lifelong learning. In 2018, almost 90 percent of children mastered reading and math skills compared to only 37 percent in 2016.

7. Strengthen the education system

Strengthening national education systems should dramatically increase the number of children who are in school and learning. System strengthening will make a long-lasting difference in the lives of millions of children around the world.

• Ghana has provide in-service training for teachers across all grades. It also provided small school grants to allow schools to be more flexible to buy necessary teaching and learning materials or make repairs. As a result, school attendance of students and teachers has improved significantly, enrollment rates shot up and transition rates from primary to lower-secondary school are increasing.

Humanitarian Advisors calls on all donors and education actors to commit to continuing efforts to help ensure that no child is left behind.