Resilience and the education knowledge infrastructure

• In Event: Education and Resilience: Building Back Stronger Systems Post-crisis

Proposal

This paper argues that today’s education knowledge infrastructure is neither resilient nor fit for purpose for today’s education challenges. Because of this, it is failing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth. Despite huge progress and many important initiatives, the communities of research, policy, and practice are often independent islands of activity making worthy, but uncoordinated, attempts to bridge the gap between what we are learning and what we are doing. One illustration is how evidence that emerges from civil society organisations—work that is contextually sensitive and focused on applying and refining interventions—is rarely accessible and therefore rarely reflected in policy or implementation choices. The paper interrogates the barriers to a more resilient knowledge infrastructure, and feasible opportunities for improvement. The findings highlight that it is not the lack of new research that is the greatest obstacle to progress, but the failure to access and use existing research and lessons. The author discusses ways to build a knowledge bridge that works better for those who are responsible for education systems. This requires greater attention to accessibility, inclusiveness and use of applied knowledge.

Author

• Suzanne Grant Lewis, Education.org