A future for systems approaches in education? Part 1: Systems approaches in education research

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

“A series of waves of enthusiasm for systems and systems ideas which has happened over my lifetime, and in the period before; these waves of enthusiasm and activity have always attracted an interesting group of people but they’ve come crashing to the ground without much effect, without being institutionalized, and without sustaining themselves over the longer term.” Ray Ison, Interview at Systems Innovation Conference, 15 September 2019.
The current wave of enthusiasm for systems approaches in education is evidenced by a range of programmes, projects, quasi-experiments, and policy papers and tools. We hear many education stakeholders using the word “system” where they used to say “sector”. Yet the meaning of and implications of this change from sector to systems is not yet well characterised. Nor are there clear paths towards institutionalization and sustainability, should that be desirable.
These CIES panels proposes to examine the diversity of systems approaches currently being theorized and applied to education in middle and low income countries. Understanding the variety of meanings associated with the term “education systems” can inform us about how such approaches may contribute to improving learning outcomes, policy and practice effectiveness, and the satisfaction of all education stakeholders. This panel will showcase the range of innovation in the emerging field of education systems in research and policy; collate new frameworks and tools for understanding education systems; and debate why this matters for policy and practice.
Part 1: Systems approaches in education research
This panel brings together theoretical, methodological and contemporary empirical work exploring the use of systems approaches to understand and affect education systems and learning outcomes. We seek to provoke discussion on the utility of systems approaches for understanding and changing education policy, practice and outcomes; the limitations of such approaches; and the likely next steps for collaborative research.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Laura Savage, DFID

Individual Presentations

• Centrality of Unity of Purpose (UoP) in the Effectiveness of an Education System - Belay Hagos Hailu, Addis Ababa University

• Systems and spaces: an empirical analysis of education in International Geneva - Moira Vincenza Faul, NORRAG, Graduate Institute

• A systems approach to enhancing capacity in promoting sustainable development: Development organizations designing their own self-sustainability strategies - Mark Mason, Education University of Hong Kong

• Sociological Systems Theory (Niklas Luhmann) in Comparative Education - Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Teachers College, Columbia University & NORRAG