Session Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

What can we learn from applying an education system diagnostic?

Sun, March 25, 3:00 to 6:00pm, Hilton Reforma, Floor: 4th Floor, Don Alberto 4

Group Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Description of Session

A growing field of researchers are taking a systems approach to education. System diagnostics can be considered a first, tangible entry point to systems thinking: through the process and product of a system diagnostic, a group of people define the system they are looking at and seek to understand the dynamics, complexities and bottlenecks therein. Participants map the system, develop shared understanding of the boundaries of that system, and identify ways to navigate through the system to find the most effective route to their goals. In this workshop you will learn about some of the cutting edge ongoing work to understand how education systems work, including a report that the UK’s DFID and GPE commissioned on education system analytical tools and from Lant Pritchett on what the RISE programme has learned from their own diagnostic exercise. You will have a chance to apply two of these tools to your real world examples of education reform.

Proposal

Name of organiser: Laura Savage, Department for International Development, UK

• Workshop Rationale:
How can we achieve an improvement in learning outcomes at the scale and pace required to reach SDG4? Why are our interventions not sustainable? Why does a proven intervention work at small scale, but not when tried by a national education system? A growing field of research is addressing these questions by taking a systems approach to education. This has yielded increased interest in education system diagnostics, as a tool to help us – researchers, policymakers, decision makers, parents, teachers, students and other education stakeholders – understand education systems better.

Diagnostic tools can help to assess the performance of an education system. Learning outcomes are often used as an indicator of performance, but as an emergent property of the system these numbers can only be a proxy indicator of whether the education system is working (for some), or not. An education system diagnostic can build deeper understanding of the system and why learning outcomes are or are not improving. An education system diagnostic might otherwise be understood as a map. It can be used to frame an education system: to set the boundaries of analysis and reform efforts. It can be used to visually present the ‘lay of the land’: the actors, institutions and key issues. It can help those who use it to plot a course through the relationships, institutional arrangements and political dynamics of an education system.

Several international actors are interested in supporting this effort and various tools and indicators already exist. The World Bank’s Systems Approach to Better Education Results (SABER) and Service Delivery Indicators (SDI), UNESCO’s General Education Quality Assurance Framework, and the UNICEF/UNESCO Education Sector Analysis guidelines include indicators and questions to guide governments towards in-depth understanding of the dynamics, bottlenecks and potential in their education system. Other more specific tools are being developed to understand particular problems, such as teacher motivation. The RISE programme (Research on Improving Systems of Education) has piloted a system diagnostic in four countries (India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Tanzania) and will be doing so this year in Indonesia and Ethiopia. This session will give an introduction to the diagnostic tools that we know of: to their purpose, process and findings.

Lant Pritchett will reflect on the experience and findings across the RISE teams of what has been learned through undertaking the RISE diagnostic exercise in the four countries. Moira Faul will give an overview of other major tools and signpost what these are useful for. Rob Ricigliano will introduce systems mapping tools that hold potential to be applied in education settings. The Director from the Ministry of Education in Lebanon will explain why he wanted a system diagnostic in Lebanon, and what he and his colleagues learned from the process.

We will then workshop these tools in breakout groups. You will work with one of the speakers to work through one of the tools in application to a practical example that one of you, the participants, bring to the session. You will have a chance to work on two tables, thus trying two approaches to diagnostics. You will learn about these cutting edge methodologies but we also ask that you bring examples of similar exercises that you have developed and applied to local education problems. We aim to generate discussion about the purpose, potential and ownership of diagnostic tools to better understand education systems.

• Duration and Size:
40 persons expected.

• Special Requests:
Audiovisual may be needed. Room set up in tables for group work (6-8 per table).

Sub Unit

Workshop Organizers