Difficulty transitioning from school to higher education or work remains one of the key barriers facing girls in disadvantaged contexts, with far-reaching implications for their futures and wellbeing. In this report, the first in a three-year research project on girls' transitions into higher education or work, we seek to understand the challenges…

COVID-19 has caused considerable disruption to education around the world. Disadvantaged and marginalised learners are being particularly hard-hit. Naturally, earlier in the pandemic, the focus of much attention was on how to safely reopen schools, often featuring a preoccupation with hygiene and social distancing considerations. A shift is now…

In Fall 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), the Education Commission, and Education Development Trust came together with the aim of generating new evidence on effective leadership during COVID-19. A learning partnership was developed with the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), which was already…

The health emergency has stress-tested the education systems. What has been learned from the experience? And how can that be applied to lessons while seeking to ensure that 'building back better' is an evidence-informed undertaking? In this report, the authors identify ten lessons from the crisis of 2020-2021 that should be used to inform planning…

As education systems around the world begin to emerge from COVID-19-related lockdown, governments are facing the difficult decision of when and how to reopen schools, balancing the risks of widespread learning loss -- and the impact this will have on a generation of learners -- with the risks of virus transmission, which are more significant in…

Data has played an important role in England's recent school improvement journey. The evolution of the approach has not been perfect but the National Pupil Database has become a vital tool for health checking the education system, driving accountability, directing education policymaking, and tracking the educational attainment of key vulnerable…