The COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide educational disruption. This paper addresses a gap in the literature relating to the impact of the pandemic on learning experiences of children in rural communities in the Global South, particularly in earlier years of schooling. Children in these communities are at considerable disadvantage in comparison to…

Background: UK government policy views collaboration with outstanding schools as a way of helping apparently less successful schools to close the attainment gap. However, there has been little debate about criteria for defining a school's success or failure. Moreover it is unclear which aspects of outstanding schools could readily transfer to…

In 2015, one in every two primary aged refugee child was missing out on primary education, and three in every four had no access to secondary education. The five least developed countries in the list of top 10 refugee hosting countries in the world in 2016 were all Global Partnership for Education (GPE) partners: Democratic Republic of Congo…

An estimated 274 million primary school children in low and middle income countries are not learning the basic foundational skills necessary to lead productive and healthy lives. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is committed to improved and more equitable student outcomes, and has framed this as goal 1 of its strategic plan for…

The purpose of this paper is to review current issues in pre- and primary school reform and to pose questions on the long-term implications of present day solutions. Such an exercise will open up discussion on the probable effects of educational policy decisions with a view to minimize negative effects brought on by new policies. Because data…