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Five steps to planning for improved learning.
Improving educational quality through education sector plans
The techniques of strategic planning in education are well-developed, but students’ actual learning experiences have not always been the central concern. In the context of the new Education 2030 focus on education quality, what steps can planners go through to ensure that their education sector plans give priority to improving students’ learning outcomes?
Developing an education sector strategic plan can be a complex and iterative process. But in its simplest form, Planning for Learning involves five basic steps, from analysis of the current situation through to the detailed planning needed to accomplish change. Below, we suggest some of the key questions education planners need to ask in order to focus each step of this process on improving learning outcomes.
1. Education sector analysis: Where are we now?
The process of planning for improved learning outcomes starts with a diagnosis of the current situation in the education sector, with a specific focus on learning.
Questions to ask : What information about students’ learning do we have, and what are we missing? What are students learning and how well are they learning it? Does their learning match the needs, aspirations, and plans of their parents, communities, and the nation? What are the major learning successes and weaknesses, and what are the causes behind them?
Tools planners can use: Assessment data , Other monitoring data , SWOT analysis , Problem tree analysis .
2. Policy and strategies: Where do we want to go?
A plan for improving learning outcomes should offer a vision of a desirable situation for the education system in the future, and identify the ways to reach this situation.
Questions to ask : What are our end goals for improving learning? What are our medium-term objectives? Which strategies will be effective in achieving these learning goals and objectives?
Tools planners can use : Explore strategies for improving learning , Convert your problem tree into a solution tree , Complete a strategic planning grid .
3. Programmes: How do we get there?
Once policy priorities and key strategies have been defined, they must be translated into specific actionable programmes.
Questions to ask: What are the immediate results or outputs that must be achieved in order to meet our learning objectives and end goals? Which programmes and activities must be carried out in order to produce those outputs? How will objectives and outputs be measured?
Tools planners can use : Complete a Logical Framework Matrix , Develop indicators and targets .
4. Costing and financing: How much will it cost and who will pay?
To be achievable, policy priorities and strategies have to be consistent with the demographic and economic realities.
Questions to ask : What are the categories of costs involved in each of our activities to improve learning? What are the other recurring costs in the education sector? Do we need to account for growth (population growth, increased attendance, etc.) when calculating our recurring and new programme costs? What are our projected sources of funding and does the total match our projected costs?
Tools planners can use: Simulation models , Budget template for GPE grants .
Once projected costs have been established, policies, strategies, activities and/or targets may have to be revised in an iterative process until the plan is feasible in all respects.
5. Action plan: Who will do what and when?
The action plan is sometimes referred to as an implementation plan or operational plan. It outlines the detailed activities for a specific period of the plan, with information on timing, roles, responsibilities, and costs.
Questions to ask : Which institutions and departments are responsible for each activity to improve learning outcomes? When should each activity be accomplished? Will the financial resources be ready on time?
Tools planners can use : Action plan template , Gantt chart .
The Next Step: Monitoring your plan
Once an action plan has been determined, planners need to ask themselves: How will we monitor whether these activities, outputs, and objectives are accomplished? What kind of data will we collect in order to see whether we are improving our education quality and students’ learning outcomes? and, How and when will this information be collected and analysed? For a more in-depth look at the education sector planning process, two helpful resources are the GPE/IIEP Guidelines for Education Sector Plan Preparation and IIEP’s Strategic Planning: Techniques and Methods .
You can also learn more by reading our Plan for Learning articles and searching for resources in the IIEP Learning Portal Library.
Strategic Planning in Education: A Systematic Review
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What you need to know about education for sustainable development
What is education for sustainable development .
Education for sustainable development (ESD) gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change, loss of biodiversity, unsustainable use of resources, and inequality. It empowers learners of all ages to make informed decisions and take individual and collective action to change society and care for the planet. ESD is a lifelong learning process and an integral part of quality education. It enhances the cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural dimensions of learning and encompasses learning content and outcomes, pedagogy and the learning environment itself.
How does UNESCO work on this theme?
UNESCO is the United Nations leading agency for ESD and is responsible for the implementation of ESD for 2030 , the current global framework for ESD which takes up and continues the work of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) and the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD (2015-2019).
UNESCO’s work on ESD focuses on five main areas:
- Advancing policy
- Transforming learning environments
- Building capacities of educators
- Empowering and mobilizing youth
- Accelerating local level action
UNESCO supports countries to develop and expand educational activities that focus on sustainability issues such as climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, water, the oceans, sustainable urbanisation and sustainable lifestyles through ESD. UNESCO leads and advocates globally on ESD and provides guidance and standards. It also provides data on the status of ESD and monitors progress on SDG Indicator 4.7.1, on the extent to which global citizenship education and ESD are mainstreamed in national education policies, curricula, teacher education and student assessment.
How does UNESCO mobilize education to address climate change?
Climate change education is the main thematic focus of ESD as it helps people understand and address the impacts of the climate crisis, empowering them with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to act as agents of change. The importance of education and training to address climate change is recognized in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change , the Paris Agreement and the associated Action for Climate Empowerment agenda which all call on governments to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders and major groups on policies and actions relating to climate change. Through its ESD programme, UNESCO works to make education a more central and visible part of the international response to climate change. It produces and shares knowledge, provides policy guidance and technical support to countries, and implements projects on the ground.
UNESCO encourages Member States to develop and implement their country initiative to mainstream education for sustainable development.
What is the Greening Education Partnership?
To coordinate actions and efforts in the field of climate change education the Greening Education Partnership was launched in 2022 during the UN Secretary General's Summit on Transforming Education. This partnership, coordinated by a UNESCO Secretariat, is driving a global movement to get every learner climate-ready. The Partnership addresses four key areas of transformative education: greening schools, curricula, teachers training and education system's capacities, and communities.
How can I get involved?
Every single person can take action in many different ways every day to protect the planet. To complement the ESD for 2030 roadmap , UNESCO has developed the ESD for 2030 toolbox to provide an evolving set of selected resources to support Member States, regional and global stakeholders to develop activities in the five priority action areas and activities in support of the six key areas of implementation.
UNESCO also launched the Trash Hack campaign in response to the 2 billion tons of waste that the world produces every year, waste which clog up the oceans, fill the streets and litter huge areas. Trash Hacks are small changes everyone can make every day to reduce waste in their lives, their communities and the world.
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A strategic plan in the education sector is the physical product of the strategic planning process and embodies the guiding orientations on how to run an education system within a larger national development perspective, which is evolving by nature and often involves constraints.4 II. The Strategic Management Cycle II.1.
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Strategic planning guides educational development by giving a common vision and shared priorities. Educational planning is both visionary and pragmatic, engaging a wide range of actors in defining education's future and mobilizing resources to reach its goals. For policy-makers, planning offers the path to: provide quality education for all.
two-month residential training, the Education Sector Planning course provides participants with the fundamentals of educational planning: from education sector diagnosis to the preparation and monitoring of plan implementation. Course work includes educa-tion statistics for planning and management, and positions sector
It uses regular monitoring and evaluation to improve strategic plans: The strength of an education sector analysis, and of the resulting strategic plan, is highly dependent on the quality of the data used. Thus, one key element of strategic planning is improving the monitoring and evaluation system that collects fundamental educational data, as ...
Concept and rationale. About the Working Paper. To make progress in education, countries must have a clear vision of their priorities and how to achieve them. Many ministries therefore prepare strategic plans, which refl ect this vision and help mobiilze people and resources. Planning in most countries is infl uenced by local history ...
The importance of evidence-based policy and practice to promote Sustainable Development Goal 4 Policy-makers use solid and reliable data and evidence to ensure that countries progress towards their education targets and understand policies and programmes that could improve their educational outcomes.
To make progress in education, countries must have a clear vision of their priorities and how to achieve them. Many ministries therefore prepare strategic plans, which reflect this vision and help mobilize people and resources. Planning in most countries is influenced by local history, organization of the state, and available resources, as well as specific challenges such as natural disasters ...
UNESCO and the Education 2030 Agenda Global education challenges 69m 758m US$39bn new teachers are needed worldwide to reach the 2030 education goals adults (15% of adults) lack any literacy skills; two-thirds of whom are women is needed in aid, a six-fold increase, to fill the annual education finance gap 1432_UNESCO_EdSect_170x240_Bro_Insides ...
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To make progress in education, countries must have a clear vision of their priorities and how to achieve them. Many ministries therefore prepare strategic plans, which reflect this vision and help mobilize people and resources. Planning in most countries is influenced by local history, organization of the state, and available resources, as well as specific challenges such as natural disasters ...
Education policies and strategies. Towards future-ready education systems. Education is a complex system with many interconnected subsystems and stakeholders. Any decision taken on one component at one level of education brings change to other components and subsystems. This interconnectedness requires policy and decision-makers to ensure that ...
But in its simplest form, Planning for Learning involves five basic steps, from analysis of the current situation through to the detailed planning needed to accomplish change. Below, we suggest some of the key questions education planners need to ask in order to focus each step of this process on improving learning outcomes.
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UR University of Rwanda ... This Education Sector Strategic Plan (2018/19-2023/24) builds upon the achievements of the previous ESSP (2013/14-2017/18) and accommodates new thinking and policy directions that will ...
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specific plan of action to overc ome organizational issues. Thus, this systematic re view explored the. various literature on s trategic planning in education through th e PRISMA framework ...
A strategic plan in the education sector is the physical product of the strategic planning process and embodies the guiding orientations on how to manage an education system within a larger national development perspective, which is evolving by nature and often involves constraints. 3. Three Stages of Strategic Planning.
Library. The IIEP Library houses a unique collection on educational planning and management. Around 33,000 resources are available: books, journal articles, reports, national documents (policies, statistics, evaluations, strategic documents, etc.). More than half of the collection is available online.
has embarked upon the preparation of the Education Strategic Plan (2018-2022) using a broadly participatory approach. This has ensured the inclusion of significant contributions from the managing directorates, field directorates, various stakeholders and Ministry partners, with ongoing engagement and technical support from UNESCO and UNESCO's
organizational performance. Models for successful strategic planning abound and often present the process as linear and straightforward. In this essay, we examine our own experiences of strategic planning for a new educational development centre situated in a Faculty of a research intensive university.
quality education for our children, we started preparing a strategic plan 2017-2022 that is based on our Education Development Strategic Plan III (2014-2019) with its established work structures and programs that needed to be updated and elaborated. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education formed a team of senior staff to prepare the
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