Building more inclusive education systems through public-private collaboration

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In this session, representatives from IDP Foundation, Global Schools Forum, and Education Finance Network will explore how a mixed economy of education provision plays a vital role in building a more inclusive education system by expanding access to quality education, especially in resource-constrained environments, where public systems may struggle to provide access to universal education. Using both newly released research and an analysis of a program of primary field research conducted over the past three years, discussants will provide evidence for how to improve quality in sole proprietor low-fee private schools (LFPS) through initiatives that integrate and connect them to the public education system. Echoing the call made by UNESCO in its recent Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR) for governments to “see all institutions, students and teachers as part of a single system”, they will outline ways that a recognized, integrated, and supported non-state sector can work with governments – particularly those in low and middle-income countries – to improve both access to education and learning outcomes for marginalized communities.

IDP Foundation will begin the session by deep diving into the educational landscape in Ghana, where the Foundation has been funding and supporting low-fee private schools for more than a decade. They will share a synthesis of a program of primary field research conducted from 2019-2022 on sole proprietor LFPS involved in the Foundation’s Rising Schools Program, and the recommendations for policymakers that have resulted from this research. A core recommendation contained in the literature is the need for a mindset shift around including low-fee private schools in government interventions, particularly in the context of the sector’s resilience following the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece concludes that targeted interventions across all school settings are necessary in order to both recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and address longstanding systemic challenges that exist in both public and private school settings. Because the non-state sector is currently responsible for educating over two million children in Ghana and is forecast to represent almost 30% of total enrollment by 2025, the research argues that a failure to do so would risk leaving a significant number of children behind.

The Education Finance Network will then follow with a discussion on the key findings from the literature regarding the underlying conditions necessary for LFPS to improve learning outcomes for disadvantaged students. They will detail three conditions the research determined were necessary for effective sole proprietorships, providing examples of successful approaches drawn from existing literature and case studies. Finally, they will detail the literature’s conclusions that LFPS that are officially registered with governments see numerous benefits from registration – including opportunities for government subsidies, quality assurance, and more equitable admissions procedures – that result in improved learning outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. As part of this conclusion, they will also detail other factors that can improve learning outcomes, such as commitment from school leaders and investment in teacher quality.

Global Schools Forum will conclude the discussant presentations by exploring research that builds on the insights from the GEMR by outlining ways that governments can use regulation as a tool to interact with non-state actors in a way that furthers equity and learning. This research has been drawn from interviews with non-state actors in eight countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia, where non-state actors make up a significant part of the education landscape. The discussion will touch on several dimensions of regulation, including registration, licensing, quality assurance, financial operations, teaching and learning, student safety, and equitable access and admissions.

The panel will then finish with a conversation about the common threads identified in the research. Although the pieces of research focus on the challenges faced by the non-state sector in several different countries, and the experiences of school leaders in each are unique, they are all centered around the common theme of advancing equity and inclusion through recognition of the varied education landscape that exists today, leading to an intentional integration of non-state actors into a connected education ecosystem. With the significant learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and less than a decade remaining to achieve SDG4, it has never been more important for all actors – both state and non-state – to develop strategies to work together to ensure that every child has access to a quality education.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• Aashti Zaidi, Global Schools Forum

Individual Presentations

• Can improving quality in sole proprietor low-fee private schools be achieved through initiatives that connect them to the public education system? - Corina Gardner, IDP Foundation, Inc

• What conditions are necessary for sole proprietor low-cost private schools to improve learning outcomes for disadvantaged students? - Natalie Davirro, Opportunity EduFinance

• Regulating non-state education for equity and learning – insights from interviews with school leaders across 8 countries - Ross Duncan, Global Schools Forum

Discussant

• Priyadarshani Joshi, UNESCO