In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are faced with the challenge of adapting their plans for achieving changes in policy and practice through new evidence. A webinar hosted by the Impact Initiative set out to explore how researchers may need to think differently about impact for education policy and practice, and what kind of support they might need from funders and policy actors.

Focus groups with academics and practitioners in the KwaZulu Natal province examined how the context in which national policy is implemented and monitored differs for poorer schools versus schools in urban, advantaged areas. Data generated by an ESRC-DFID funded project indicates that the national curriculum alone cannot improve learning outcomes in a highly heterogeneous, unequal system.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Global Education event: ‘Heralding the decade of leaving no girl behind’ (supported by the Global Partnership for Education, the Impact Initiative and RESULTS UK) met in the House of Commons to share progress and discuss what still needs to be done in order to move beyond the numbers of girls in school towards gender equality.

On Monday 9th December, researchers from the ESRC-DFID Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme (RLO) alongside policymakers, development practitioners and civil society, met in Delhi to present evidence & explore pathways to improving learning outcomes in different Indian contexts. In this blog, organisers Anuradha De and Meera Samson of CORD India, present the key takeaways from the event.

On Monday 9th December seven ESRC-DFID funded projects from the Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme will meet alongside policymakers, development practitioners & civil society in Delhi to present evidence & explore pathways to improving learning outcomes in different Indian contexts.