Introduction to Systems Thinking in International Education and Development

Abstract

Too many education systems around the world are failing. Large investments from low-and middle-income country (L&MIC) governments and high-income country donors have increased the number of children attending school. This is an incredible achievement. Despite decades of investment and initiatives, the children now in school were the easiest to reach; now that they are in school, it is clear that too many are not learning enough, much less learning to love learning (Lewin, 2009;Little & Lewin, 2011;Kaffenberger & Pritchett, 2021). In 2019, 53% of ten-year-olds worldwide were unable to read and understand a short age-appropriate text (World Bank, 2019). Student learning trajectories in some countries have been declining over the past decades, despite significant financial investment and reform efforts Le Nestour et al., 2021). One survey conducted in Uganda in 2013 showed that only one in five teachers understood the content of the curriculum they taught (Wane & Martin, 2013). The existing learning and equity crises have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, causing the most widespread school closures in history. Rhetoric within global education discourse grows ever more frantic, with major efforts in 2022 to build back better, reimagine the futures of education and avoid losing a generation (Steer, 2020; UNESCO, n.d.;Ahlgren et al., 2022). These statistics and reports underline the urgency and scale of what is known in international education circles as the 'learning crisis'. Current so-called common sense or expert solutions have not even led to improved basic literacy rates, much less many of the other education and life outcomes promised in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: to 'ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all' (UNGA, 2015).