An analysis in 50 countries shows large gaps between education policy and practice, which contributes to illiteracy among millions of students. Although much attention has been dedicated to policymaking, minimal attention is paid to policy implementation. To improve learning, we should pay as much attention to the latter as the former.
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Acknowledgements
We thank N. Ahuja who provided excellent research assistance, as well as V. Kohli. We thank partners including the Africa Economic Research Consortium (supported through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) as well as the What Works Hub for Global Education (supported by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Source funding covered principal investigator time on the project. The authors appreciate detailed comments by A. Lucas, L. Pritchett and H. Rogers, which informed this work, as well as useful conversations with T. Andrabi, L. Benveniste, S. Blower, C. Cullen, J. Habyarimana, K. Hall, R. Hinton, A. Mangla, M. Kaffenberger, C. Leaver, N. Mohohlwane, M. Matsheng, R. Meager, B. Piper, A. Singh and L. Stuart.
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N.A. is a co-founder of Youth Impact and academic director of the What Works Hub for Global Education. S.D. is a senior advisor at the What Works Hub for Global Education and former Chief Economist of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. Source funders had no role in the decision to publish or the preparation of this manuscript.
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Angrist, N., Dercon, S. Mind the gap between education policy and practice. Nat Hum Behav 8, 2261–2263 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02013-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02013-4
