As you may have noticed, while many parts of the RISE Programme wrapped up earlier this year, some parts are still going strong. As such, I thought an update to share the latest on the Programme would be helpful.

RISE has always been a multi-faceted programme, ultimately including seven country research teams, two political economy teams, a team at the directorate conducting both original research and research synthesis and translation, an active community of practice, and many other moving parts. While the end of March saw the close out of our country research teams and political economy teams, a generous grant from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) enables us to continue dissemination and engagement activities.

In particular, the extension enables us to host the next RISE Conference, which will be held in September of this year. The call for papers recently closed, and we’ll be announcing the programme for the conference in the coming weeks. Do save the date and plan to join us from 21-22 September 2023, in Oxford, UK.

We’re also thrilled to be able to provide ongoing support to the RISE Community of Practice (CoP). Earlier this year we announced the inaugural members of the Community of Practice Steering Committee—Central Square Foundation, Funda Wande, and the PAL Network. These organisations are now providing leadership to the CoP’s activities, strategy, and future directions. The RISE directorate team will continue to support the Steering Committee, including for events, workshops, hosting the CoP webpage, and more.

We also continue work on the tools for education system analysis developed by the Programme, including the RISE Systems Diagnostic, the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum, the Education Systems Course, and the Learning Trajectories tools. And, the RISE blog and podcast remain live—stay tuned to both for quick takes on education systems research and practice.

Do stay in touch, and if you want to join the CoP or have an idea for a blog, reach out! We hope you’ll continue on this journey with us—endeavouring to align education systems to improve learning outcomes so that every child can experience a quality education.