Commentary

The links between education, gender and climate change have been the subject of growing attention in recent months, but must be viewed with attention to nuance. In this commentary, we reflect on these connections and the related discussions from the 2021 WISE Summit, where we hosted a panel session on these important issues.

The need to improve the quality of learning outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged students, is the greatest challenge facing education policymakers around the world – and improved teaching quality is perhaps the biggest driver for improving learning outcomes. In this report, we reflect on the practical steps that have been taken in England to improve teacher professionalism, but we believe that the insights this example provides will have a resonance and relevance for policymakers and education leaders in many other countries across the world.

Our approach to improving outcomes for girls through better quality pedagogy is based on a rigorous and holistic understanding of what it takes to change the behaviour of all actors in schools and across local and national systems. This includes leaders, teachers and learners – we call it ‘Good quality pedagogy for learning and equity.’ In this commentary, we discuss the key aspects of our approach to this critical issue for improving learning for all girls and boys across the world.

Over the last 18 months, Covid-19 has affected education systems around the world, but in refugee settings, the effects of the pandemic on education have been particularly acute. Already in crowded classrooms and often without the necessary educational resources, children and teachers in such settings have generally not had the luxury of turning to online learning. In the calls for teachers to be at the centre of education recovery, it is essential that teachers in refugee settings are not forgotten in plans to ‘build back better’.

Teachers are among the most critical actors in ensuring meaningful change in education systems around the world and ensuring their buy-in to gender-responsive pedagogy and the importance of educating girls will be crucial to achieving gender equity in education. In this commentary, we draw on our recent research project with the British Council to explore teachers’ and school leaders’ attitudes to girls’ education in Nigeria, as well as examples of promising practice.

What have Covid-19 school closures meant for some of the world’s most vulnerable learners, urban slums and arid and semi-arid regions in Kenya? Our recent report for the EdTech Hub highlights how community co-operation – more than technology – can improve educational outcomes for marginalised girls.