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Policy initiatives to improve the sustainability of education systems

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Education is one of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals. So, by 2030, all countries should be providing inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for everyone. But how can this be achieved?

What policies for education systems work and what more needs to be done to improve teaching practices and support higher student achievement?

This blog highlights examples of how policy makers and shapers in different countries are paving the way for better education opportunities for all children and young people.

How do policies and procedures improve quality in education?

Education policies are vital to set education standards at national and local levels to ensure all children have access to education. They also ensure both students and teachers understand what is expected of them, that they remain safe, and that all students can expect to receive a good quality education.

Policies may vary from country to country, depending on resources, cultural norms and education priorities in different contexts.

For example, every child aged 6–14 in 2009 gained the right to free and compulsory education in India.Since then, the Right to Education Act (2009) has provided a springboard for improvements in Indian education systems, with the National Education Policy for India (2020) at the heart of changes that should provide better learning for all.

Education reform in the UK

Educational reform in the UK has a long history. In the 1960s, the comprehensive school system was introduced to remove the barrier of completing an entrance exam to access secondary education.

Government policies underpinned by the Education Reform Act (1988) saw introduction of the National Curriculum to formalise education standards, ensuring all learners were taught the same topics regardless of school or location.

This was closely followed in 1992 by the introduction of school league tables to monitor schools’ performance. In the same year, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, known as OFSTED was established. OFSTED inspects schools to measure good teaching practices, policies and procedures.

Not all education policies are successful and often additional measures are needed to help address inequalities. In the UK one such measure, the SureStart programme, was introduced in 1998 to provide incentives to support children under five years old.

International collaboration that supports best practice in education policy

To support progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal on Education, policy makers in many countries are setting their sights on better education systems.

International collaborative bodies like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes representatives from 37 democratic countries, including France and Germany, are playing an important part.

The OECD Education Equity Dashboard supports five policy aims:

  • Raising educational outcomes through more equitable education opportunities

  • Investing in the early years

  • Empowering teachers and school leaders to support equity in and through education at school level

  • Aligning resources and teacher competencies and pedagogy with the needs of learners

  • Enabling an inclusive school environment.

OCED’s evidence-based approach to advance education aims to ensure all learners can develop the knowledge base, skills and values to thrive in inclusive societies. This will help to ensure education contributes to sustainability through equitable economic and social outcomes.

In addition, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) collaborates with governments worldwide to strengthen policy frameworks that help to improve management efficiency and enhance learning assessment in education systems.

How can education systems become equitable by 2030?

Inequalities in education start at a young age. According to the Sutton Trust the UK’s poorest children are 11 months behind when starting primary school at 4 years old. By the time they sit their GCSEs, the gap in student achievement has widened to 19 months, reports suggest.

Disparities in wealth interacting with other disadvantages, such as gender, where a child lives and whether they have a disability contribute to these inequalities.

Basic skills in numeracy and reading are important elements of a child’s early education and often begin before they start primary school. A report commissioned by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recommends interventions that could address the learning inequality gap and help provide equitable quality education by 2030.

  • Address disadvantages from early childhood

  • Ensure teaching is at the right pace for the weakest learners

  • Provide disadvantaged children with the support of the best teachers

  • Provide learning resources that support children learning at an appropriate pace

  • Empower parents and communities to hold schools and policymakers to account for poor quality education.

Who develops education policy in the UK?

In the UK many different individuals and organisations work to develop policy priorities to improve access to quality education, from primary education and secondary schools to access to educational institutions in the tertiary and higher education sectors.

In the UK, education policy stakeholders include:

  • school leadership including governors and teachers

  • non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and charities, like Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the Sutton Trust

  • central government departments, including the Department for Education

  • Education All Party Parliamentary Group APPG.

The Education Policy Institute published educational research in a benchmarking report at the end of 2023 that includes insights from 75 education experts on the education challenges facing the UK government and possible solutions to improve outcomes. It identified several points of concern that require policy development:

  • Teacher retention – a third of teachers leave the profession within 5 years of obtaining their teacher training qualification and improvements in working conditions are needed

  • Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities have increased by 50% in five years

  • In 2019, only 1 in 20 primary schools in England met the Government’s target of 90% of pupils reaching the expected competencies in reading, writing and numeracy

  • Absence from education is happening on a large-scale with almost a quarter of learners missing more than 10% of sessions. It is now one of the most pressing issues facing the English education system.

The report proposed the following policies:

  • Support the growing number of children with special education needs and disabilities and rebuild parents’ trust in the system

  • Address challenges inside and outside the school gates to improve educational outcomes, including lifting families out of poverty and increasing targeted funding for disadvantaged pupils and young people.

Different approaches to education policy between countries

In the US, most education policy is decided by policy makers at the state and local government levels, rather than at a national level. For example in the state of Texas, Districts of Innovation (DoI) give public school districts flexibility to meet their individual needs, rather than being controlled at a state level by the Texas Education Agency.

In addition, at a national level, the Biden-Harris administration announced its Improving Student Achievement Agenda in January 2024 to drive country-wide adoption of evidence-based strategies to improve students’ levels of education:

For many countries, class sizes in schools are an issue. For example in China, in 2021, there were 21,000 primary school classes with 56 or more students. Measures to increase the size of schools with better facilities and more teachers has meant that the following year, this number had reduced to 13,800.

Improving policy development and implementation

Shaping policies in education is a complex process that requires input from a wid -range of experts including education practitioners, lawyers, researchers and analysts. With the world focussed on the sustainability of education systems that provide equitable and inclusive education systems for all, policy developments that deliver improvements have never been more important.

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