Focus to Flourish: A Messaging Campaign on Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning
Now that most children are in school, the world’s focus must shift to learning, which requires fundamental changes in our approach to education. RISE has formulated five actions and a set of resources to help put every country’s education system on a path to universal early foundational learning and subsequent educational goals.
Through a seven-week messaging campaign starting on 24 October 2022, this page featured weekly toolkits, each focusing on a different aspect of the five actions to accelerate progress in learning. Watch this short video featuring RISE Research Director Lant Pritchett as he highlights each of the five actions.
(Policy Paper) Focus to Flourish: Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning
The policy paper, Focus to Flourish: Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning, is now available to download!
The policy brochure, Focus to Flourish: Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning, is now available to download!
Despite great efforts worldwide to improve education, and some notable successes, most of the developing world is still experiencing a severe learning crisis in which learning levels are low and, in some cases, worsening. What can we do?
The five actions
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Commit to universal, early foundational learning
A commitment to universal early conceptual and procedural mastery of foundational skills in literacy and numeracy is an ambitious and forward-looking goal: if children do not gain foundational learning in the short term, they cannot attain more complex educational goals in the long term. But learning for all will require all for learning; education systems must fully commit to foundational learning as a central purpose.
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Measure learning reliably, regularly, and relevantly
Education systems collect detailed data on enrolments and inputs, yet many do not use data on student learning to inform policy and improve instruction. It's crucial to measure learning over time starting early in school.
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Align systems around learning commitments
In many contexts, the curriculum is misaligned with children’s learning levels— such that classroom lessons cater to the most advantaged children. Curriculum, exams, and teacher instruction are often poorly aligned. To move beyond these misalignments, there are four principles for Aligning Levels of Instruction with Goals and the Needs of Students (ALIGNS).
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Support teaching
In many education systems, neither teacher training nor teacher compensation structures support teaching that cultivates student learning. It's crucial to reform teacher careers to attract, retain, and motivate quality teaching.
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Adapt what you adopt as you implement
When programmes are implemented without enough adaptation or iteration, even a technically well-designed programme may have no impact. Embrace adaptation and iteration as the key to success.
Weekly social media toolkits
Each week, we shared resources relating to a different aspect of the campaign. Download the weekly toolkits below as .zip files or follow the conversation on Twitter via our hashtag, #FromSchoolingToLearning.
- Week 1 Toolkit - 24 October: Introduction: the learning crisis and the Focus to Flourish campaign
- Week 2 Toolkit - 31 October: Commit to universal, early foundational learning
- Week 3 Toolkit - 7 November: Measure learning regularly, reliably, and relevantly
- Week 4 Toolkit - 14 November: Align systems around learning commitments
- Week 5 Toolkit - 21 November: Support teaching
- Week 6 Toolkit - 28 November: Adapt what you adopt as you implement
- Week 7 Toolkit - 5 December: Introducing the RISE policy paper and five actions recap