Why systems thinking is important for the education sector
Susy Ndaruhutse
Susy consults on projects and research with Education Development Trust, having previously worked for the organisation as part of her 20 years’ experience of working collaboratively with low- and middle-income governments, multilateral and bilateral donors, and NGOs on policy, strategy, finance and capacity development initiatives. She strongly believes in drawing from the best available global evidence on what works, but consistently highlights the need to take local political, economic and social contexts into account to not only ensure that education systems are responsive to local needs, but that successful interventions leave a lasting legacy for future generations of young people.
Charlotte Jones
Charlotte has 15 years' experience as a change management and organisation design professional, working as a teacher, management consultant, researcher, and architect of a ground-breaking music education programme in the UK. At Education Development Trust Charlotte uses her expertise to advise on education system change and the design of high impact education reform programmes for donors, charities and ministries of education globally. Along with her team, she provides advice on teacher workforce development, inspections and accountability, and school collaboration, and works closely with clients to transfer knowledge and build long-term reform capacity.
Anna Riggall
Dr Anna Riggall leads Education Development Trust's global programme of academic educational research and promotes evidence engagement across the organisation. She has over 20 years’ experience leading international educational research and holds an MA in Education & Development Studies and PhD in Education. She specialises in the areas of education system reform, education for marginalised groups including children with disabilities, girls and refugees, teacher development, leadership, accountability and education in emergencies.
Our new report about systems thinking and its place in education transformation reflects on key published literature and on specific outputs from our own programme of research which has placed emphasis on system reform over the past five years. The work we do at Education Development Trust brings us into direct contact with education systems, and their governments. We are tasked with helping to solve intractable educational challenges. Systems thinking is a vital component part of what we do, how we understand the nature of the issues and how we support change.
Systems thinking has a past that tracks from computer engineering in the 1950s through urban planning, development and health. It has revolutionised the conceptualisation of problems and approaches to solutions in equal measure. In education, since the 1990s the discourse of systems thinking has increasingly permeated the fabric of donor and governmental thinking.
Our analysis of examples from our own research work and the work of others leads us to identify six accelerators for reform at scale:
- Vision and leadership at all levels
- Teacher and school leadership capacity
- Data for accountability and improvement
- Delivery architecture including collaboration
- Evidence-informed policy and learning
- Coalitions for change
Our report concludes with a reflection on five policy tensions that suggest a need for us all to:
- Keep a balanced focus on how to use systems thinking to address simultaneously the two ‘wicked problems’ of equitable access and quality learning.
- To work across organisational boundaries in a joined-up way, reforming education systems to improve outcomes for all children whilst also considering the wider systemic influences so reform is not undermined.
- Balance the desire to be evidence-informed with the reality that operating in a political, economic, social and cultural context will make this hard to do.
- Pay equal attention to a) the change management programme and accompanying capacity development approach needed to implement a reform and b) designing the reform itself.
- Carefully balance what the system can achieve with personal and collective responsibility for decisions that can (negatively or positively) impact the functioning of the system.
The SDGs have set out ambitious targets for education in 2030 looking at equitable access, quality teaching, relevant learning and ensuring children and young people are developing the skills, values and competencies needed to sustain them during adulthood and to provide a sustainable livelihood. The scale of the challenge is significant.
Traditional responses to improve education outcomes that take a piecemeal approach may have some success but are unlikely to solve the ‘wicked problems’ that different education systems around the world face. Systems thinking offers a glimpse of a different future. It can help policymakers achieve faster and more sustained progress in education that results in broad outcomes for the current and future generation of children and young people.