Education and Employers
Research Digest - October 2022

Publications

Social norms and girls’ education: A study of eight sub-Saharan African countries 

Gloria Diamond 

This desk study on social norms and girls’ education in eight countries in West and Central Africa reviews existing literature on gendered social norms, the underlying values that keep them in place, and how they affect access, participation and achievement in quality education for girls. Identified as being among the major barriers to gender equality and girls’ education in the eight GCI partner countries, the desk study focused on social norms relating to: (1) child marriage; (2) perceived low economic relevance of girls’ education; (3) school-related gender-based violence; and (4) domestic and child labour.

Career-related learning in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire primary schools

Dr Deirdre Hughes and Robert Hughes 

New evaluation shows the impact of role models on primary-aged children. 

The report shows how meeting a diverse range of role models from the world of work has helped to raise children’s aspirations, broaden their horizons, increase their motivation and helped foster a more positive attitude towards learning. It evaluates the impact of the ‘Our Future’ project in its third year, where over 9,000 children from 52 primary schools in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have benefitted from 131 supported career-related learning activities. The project was funded by Derby Opportunity Area and run by the Education and Employers charity in partnership with Learn by Design and dmh associates. Our Future supported teachers to connect with volunteers, including those from the Primary Futures online platform, who helped bring curriculum learning to life and show children that what they are learning now is relevant in the future

Unleashing the power of educational technology in TVET systems 

The World Bank

This report explores the opportunities presented by Educational Technology (EdTech) for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems worldwide, with particular emphasis on developing countries. The report discusses how digitization is transforming the role of EdTech in TVET and skills development, though a discussion of specific digital technologies is outside of the report’s scope.

The power of education to end child marriage 

UNICEF

This publication uses data to illustrate how child marriage and schooling are related, showing the likelihood of child marriage among populations with different
levels of education and the educational status of girls who are child brides today.

Unlocking talent: Ensuring T Levels deliver the workforce of the future 

EngineeringUK and Make UK

This report highlights some of the opportunities and challenges facing employers offering T Level industry placements. The report makes a number of policy recommendations, designed to help increase the supply of engineering and manufacturing T Level industry placements. 

The Skills imperative 2035: Occupational outlook – long-run employment prospects for the UK

Rob Wilson, Derek Bosworth, Luke Bosworth, Jeisson Cardenas-Rubio, 
Rosie Day, Shyamoli Patel, Ha Bui, Xinru Lin, Daniel Seymour, & Chris Thoung

The report presents research that explores the implications of megatrends and other structural changes, such as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic that are taking place in the UK economy, will have on the labour market and employment over the period to 2035. 

Spotlight on basic education completion and foundational learning in Africa, 2022: Born to learn

Global Education Monitoring Report Team, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, African Union  

This report aims to inspire national and continental dialogue on foundational learning and support countries as they follow up on their national SDG 4 benchmarks. Three cycles are envisaged between 2022 and 2025, each covering some 12 countries. Five will be examined in depth, resulting in a country report prepared in dialogue with national stakeholders and education ministries. The focus countries for the 2022 Spotlight Report were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.

Who cares about using education research in policy and practice? Strengthening research engagement 

OECD

This report t represents the first step in addressing the knowledge gap on what and how initiatives to increase research use work. It does this by bringing together leading experts who provide insights into recent research in the field and international experience gathered from policy and practice, including from sectors other than education. In addition, the volume provides the first set of analyses of data collected from over 30 systems through an OECD policy survey. The analysis describes the mechanisms used to strengthen the impact of education research in policy and practice and the levels of engagement of various – individual and institutional – actors in these processes. 

Comments

Assuring and improving quality public digital learning for all

United Nations

Learning and resources on gender in education

UNGEI  

From learning recovery to education transformation

    Stefania Giannini, Robert Jenkins, Jaime Saavedra, & Andreas Schleicher 

School exclusions: What does research tell us about the scale of the problem and challenges? 

Feyisa Demie 

Achieving education for all through standards, not standardisation 

Maria Ron Balsera 

The Digital Bazaar: How schools can help students handle understanding and ambiguity in the information age 

Andreas Schleicher 

Two years on and no let-up for children’s education in Tigray  

GEM Report

Events