Decisive leadership in education urgently needed

Stalling education progress

The new findings in the 2024/5 Global Education Monitoring Report: Lead for learningjust released show that adolescents are less likely to be able to read with understanding now than a decade ago. The number of children out-of-school has only fallen by 1% since 2015.Today, 251 million children and youth remain out of school worldwide, while 650 million leave school without a secondary school certificate.

A new UNESCO-World Bank 2024 Education Finance Watchalso newly released confirms that education spending per child has largely stayed the same since 2010, while the share of official development assistance going to education has dropped from 9.3% in 2019 to 7.6% in 2022. 

It highlights the widening gaps in education financing and the insufficiency of domestic budgets to address these challenges. At present 4 in 10 low and lower-middle income countriesspend below 15% of their total public expenditure and 4% of GDP on education, the two agreed benchmarks. It warns of the growing weight of debt servicing on governments' ability to prioritise education spending. In Africa, countries spent almost as much on debt servicing in 2022 as they did on education.

Good schools need good school leaders

In order todrive change across the education system, the report calls for policy makers and international organizations not to overlook the importance of school leaders. Empowered, trusted and trained, they are vital for redressing the slide in learning outcomes. The GEM Reportshows that good school leaders are second only to teachers for improving learning. Over a quarter of the variation in student learning levels has been attributed to school leaders.

They bring out the best in students, and in teachers too, making any investment in school leaders also an investment in teacher quality. A study of 32 countries affirmed that strong leadership correlates with improved teaching practices. In the United Kingdom, a study that followed 20,000 principals over 15 years found that strong school leaders reduced staff turnover and absenteeism.

School leaders need time, talent, training and trust to #LeadforLearning

Time: In order tobenefit from the potential of leadership to improve education quality, school leaders need more time to focus on their core roles. The report warns that school administration is occupying too much of their time. A study in 14 low- and middle-income countries shows that two thirds of principals' time is consumed by administration. In high-income countries, principals report spending less time overseeing teaching now than before.

Talent:A review of leader selection processes is also needed to recruit qualified, experienced and diverse leaders to steer decisive action. A new PEER mappingof over 211 education systems' laws and policies showed that less than two thirdsof countries currently employ competitive recruitment practices for primary and secondary school principals, and almost a third of countries still base their hiring and firing decisions for teachers on politics.

Training:Given the hopes that education systems have for school leaders to deliver, it seems right that they should receive training. But half of principals even in the richest countries right now start their role with no leadership training at all. Only 31% of countrieshave policies in place for induction programmes for principals when they start their roles.

Trust:For principals to effectively lead, they need a degree of autonomy to make the changes they feel necessary for their schools. At present, only one quarter of countries allow principals to hire and fire teachers, the very people who could make or break a school's success. Enabling environments are needed to make sure we are putting school leaders' attributes to good use. Currently, 40% of countries do not give autonomy by law to higher education institutions over issues such as staffing or budgets. Without the freedom to make academic, financial or staffing decisions, innovation and adaptation will be far harder.

Political leadership can prioritise education

Education reform can be hard for ministers to achieve given short average tenures worldwide and the political environment they function in. A new global GEM database of education ministers since 2010shows that, within two years of appointment, over half of education ministers will no longer be in office. Strong leadership to address stalling education progress given this challenge will require building coalitions, working on relationship building and setting out a clear vision early.

The 2024/5 Global Education Monitoring Reportcalls for leadership development in four key areas: setting expectations, focusing on learning, fostering collaboration, and developing people. This stands for those in civil service positions, that is people known as system leaders, just as it does for those leading schools. Change cannot happen without decisive leadership, and this is precisely what education needs.