Shared priorities to transform education systems: Mapping recovery and transformation agendas

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for years to come. With 1.5 billion students affected and at least 463 million unable to access remote learning, there is little wonder that education inequality is rising and young people around the world are significantly behind academically than where predicted without disrupted schooling. Children's mental and physical health is also suffering because of course schools provide much more than academics: They are places to connect with peers and other adults in the community and for many to receive much needed nutritional support. The good news is that the challenges around education—and especially what to do about them—is on the global agenda, at least for the next several months. The U.N. secretary general has called for 2022 to be the year that the U.N. General Assembly turns its attention to transforming education systems in the wake of the pandemic with the Transforming Education Summit (TES) this September, and the global education community can come together to capitalize on this political moment.However, to keep education on the global agenda after TES, the global education community will need to coalesce around a shared narrative on the importance of education and more importantly how education actors will work synergistically in education jurisdictions around the world to address the challenges at hand. There are many important priorities competing for attention from heads of state and ministers of finance—from the climate crisis to the rise of violence and conflict to increasing economic inequality to the spread of fake news through increasingly sophisticated technology. Education systems that are broadly inclusive and relevant—that help develop academic, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills—are essential for addressing many of the world's crises through, climate change and digital literacy education to preparing those left out of the current pace of economic progress for the world of work, among other things. Ensuring that this message is heard consistently by leaders in countries around the world is an essential part of converting the energy leading up to the TES into sustained change after it.To help catalyze a discussion among the actors in the global education ecosystem to do just this—come together to make the most of this political moment for transformation—we at the Center for Universal Education have mapped the range of agendas and debates put forward by actors at the TES pre-meeting in Paris and beyond. Having different actors working on different agendas is a sign of the richness of the education sector and not in and of itself a problem. The problem comes when education actors compete for attention and resources in countries and jurisdictions around the world and run the risk of diluting a clear sense of urgency to senior leaders and fragmenting the energy and momentum needed to embark on serious education transformation. Sustained education system change requires deep partnership across many levels, including across actors working on complementary agendas