This article aims to provide a systemic instrument to evaluate the functioning of higher education systems. Despite systemic instruments have had a strong impact on the management of public policy systems in fields such as health and innovation, higher education has not been widely discussed in applying this type of instrument. Herein lies the…

In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of 'closing the gap' are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of 'science' and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading misinformation and…

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. In response, the authors have developed this shared vision of education system transformation. This…

This report is the 2023 edition of the annual cross-country overview of highlights from evidence that the European Training Foundation (ETF) is collecting on trends and developments in education, training and employment across its partner countries in Central Asia, South Eastern Europe and Türkiye (SEET), the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…

The Sustainable Development Goals highlight the critical importance of pre-primary education and set the broad ambition that by 2030 all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education. Today, the world is facing a learning crisis: While millions of…

The focus of Thematic Working Group 1 at EDUsummIT 2017 centred on the need for alignment in education systems and was driven by two key questions relating to (a) if and how all the parts of an education system work together to support the type of learning envisioned in the twenty-first century, and (b) if there is alignment, what is the…

This report focuses on systems thinking and its place in education transformation. It reflects on key published literature and on specific outputs from the Education Development Trust's own programme of research. The report offers an overview of the evolution of systems thinking and the relevance for policymakers and practitioners as they tackle…

Purpose: Starting from the experience of the University of Bologna, this paper provides an innovative framework to analyse how universities are rethinking courses and curricula, teaching, research programmes, campus operation and partnership to address the Agenda 2030. Design/methodology/approach: The paper proposes a methodological approach to…

Vocational qualifications in England are undergoing another round of reform. This paper starts by reviewing the alleged weaknesses of English vocational qualifications, but argues that these do not necessarily establish a case for radical reform. The issue is not so much whether the system needs to be changed as the nature of the change that is…

As recently as five years ago, educators politely listened to, and largely ignored, suggestions that the world is changing at a dramatic rate and that education must adapt. Today, many educators agree that the traditional Industrial Age model of learning no longer adequately prepares students for their futures. As a result, many schools, and…

A national qualifications framework (NQF) is an instrument used to classify a country's qualifications at different levels. Each level is defined by a set of learning outcomes expected at that level. NQFs can be useful tools in education and training reforms and are vital reference points for lifelong learning and comparing qualifications across…

We examine the distinction between teaching and teachers as it relates to instructional improvement. Drawing from work outside of education on improvement systems and from analyzing the Japanese system of lesson study, we contend that a focus on teaching can shape a coordinated system for improvement whereas a focus on teachers, common in the…

The "Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks," the result of collaborative work between the European Training Foundation (ETF), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] and UIL [UNESCO Institute for…

Traditionally, the Nordic curriculum has been viewed as a document with school subjects in focus. This article reports on how two national curricula function as instruments for governing education and explores the possible differences in how national curricula govern education. This investigation was carried out by researching curricula for…