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Thematic Research Report series

Thematic Research Reports

241 complete publications covering the years 2005 to 2026.

Showing 11 of 11 results

241 publications in this series

ICEQC-R-2014-12

Thematic Research Report

Education for Sustainable Development: From Programme Activity to System Expectation

A global standards-interpretive study of permanence, reach, institutional responsibility and educational substance

At the completion of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the principal standards question is no longer whether a system can exhibit relevant projects. It is whether the ordinary rules, institutions and resources of education consistently carry the expectation. A programme can demonstrate an approach, convene expertise or reach a selected population; it cannot by itself establish that learners across levels and locations receive a sustained educational opportunity. The transition to system expectation therefore requires an account of authority, reach, curricular and institutional substance, professional capacity, finance, evidence and correction.

Research category
Standards Interpretation
Report archetype
Standards Interpretive Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-11

Thematic Research Report

Evidence and Attribution in Public Claims of Educational Improvement

A global comparative indicator study of change, contribution and responsible public interpretation

Public claims of educational improvement influence confidence, finance, institutional judgement and policy continuation. Such claims should identify the outcome, population, period, baseline and evidence and should distinguish observed change, contribution and causal attribution.

Research category
Data and Indicator Research
Report archetype
Comparative Indicator Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-09

Thematic Research Report

Positioning Quality Education within the Post-2015 Development Framework

A global policy synthesis on educational substance, equity, measurement and public responsibility

Quality education should occupy a constitutive, rather than supplementary, position in the development framework being considered for the period beyond 2015. Access, equity, learning, teaching conditions and recognised progression describe connected aspects of one public obligation. A framework that treats access as the goal and quality as an optional qualification risks counting participation without examining its educational substance. A framework that treats measured learning as the whole goal risks excluding children who never enter, do not attend regularly or are absent from assessment. The policy task is to express a concise global commitment without separating conditions that jointly determine whether the right to education is secured.

Research category
Industry Policy and Regional Regulatory Analysis
Report archetype
Policy and Regulatory Synthesis
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-08

Thematic Research Report

Measuring Adult Participation in Education and Training

A global comparative indicator study of participation boundaries, learning exposure, equity and public reporting

Adult participation in education and training is a central measure of lifelong learning, social inclusion, skills development and the capacity of communities to respond to change. Yet the familiar headline percentage is unusually sensitive to definition. The reported value changes with the adult age range, the reference period, the boundary between formal, non-formal and informal learning, the treatment of very short activities, household coverage and the questions used to prompt recall. Two rates bearing the same name may therefore represent different populations and different amounts of learning.

Research category
Data and Indicator Research
Report archetype
Comparative Indicator Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-07

Thematic Research Report

Financing Ambition in the Emerging Global Education Agenda

A global finance and resource-equity study of credible commitments, distribution and implementation risk

An emerging global education agenda requires finance consistent with the breadth of its educational ambition. Costing should extend beyond additional places to teachers, instructional time, safe and accessible environments, materials, assessment, support, governance and the conditions required for equity and sustained quality.

Research category
Education Finance and Resource Equity
Report archetype
Finance and Resource Equity Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-06

Thematic Research Report

Embedding Sustainable Development across Curriculum, Teaching and Institutional Review

A global quality-improvement study of system expectation, educational coherence and accountable implementation

Education for sustainable development should be expressed through coherent curriculum, credible teaching, fair assessment, staff capacity and institutional review. It should not depend exclusively on short projects, events or the language of commitment.

Research category
Quality Improvement Methods
Report archetype
Quality Improvement Methods Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-05

Thematic Research Report

A Data Architecture for Monitoring Access, Completion, Learning and Equity

A global comparative indicator study of linked education records, population coverage and accountable interpretation

Education monitoring should describe a connected public service rather than a collection of unrelated totals. Access concerns whether an entitled learner can enter and participate. Completion concerns whether that learner reaches a defined end point and receives a recognised result. Learning concerns what the learner can demonstrate under stated conditions. Equity concerns how opportunity, service and result are distributed across the population. These dimensions require different observations, but they must be capable of being read together.

Research category
Data and Indicator Research
Report archetype
Comparative Indicator Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-04

Thematic Research Report

Regional Priorities for a Universal Education Goal beyond 2015

A global policy synthesis of common obligations, differentiated priorities and measurable educational progress

Institutional action on executive summary should be tested against universality concerns the right and its minimum substance. A contrary reading would overlook that differentiation concerns the route, pace, sequencing and additional effort required to realise that right. The formulation of an education goal beyond 2015 presents a double public obligation. The goal must be universal enough to express an equal claim to education and precise enough to expose unequal progress; it must also permit regions and countries to act upon different starting points without converting those differences into weaker entitlements. A common global framework should therefore establish the educational substance owed to every learner, while national and regional plans identify the barriers, institutional capacities and financing measures most relevant to securing it.

Research category
Industry Policy and Regional Regulatory Analysis
Report archetype
Policy and Regulatory Synthesis
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-03

Thematic Research Report

Defining Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education for Operational Use

A global standards-interpretive study of access, participation, learning, conditions and public responsibility

Comparative interpretation of executive summary depends upon a rising enrolment rate can coexist with persistent exclusion in a remote district, a poor household group or a population displaced by conflict or disaster. The evidence must therefore clarify how gender parity at national level can coexist with disadvantage for poor rural girls and poor urban boys. A stable completion rate may hide increasing delay, repetition or withdrawal among groups whose educational records and population denominators are weakest. The evidentiary task is therefore not simply to publish more categories. It is to construct distributions whose populations, definitions, uncertainty and limits permit fair public judgement. National education averages describe the centre of a distribution while frequently concealing the conditions of learners farthest from secured educational opportunity.

Research category
Standards Interpretation
Report archetype
Standards Interpretive Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-02

Thematic Research Report

Using Targeted Improvement Plans to Address Persistent Learning Gaps

A global quality-improvement study of diagnosis, implementation, equity and corrective review

Evidence concerning executive summary should establish gender parity at national level can coexist with disadvantage for poor rural girls and poor urban boys. The evidence must therefore clarify how a stable completion rate may hide increasing delay, repetition or withdrawal among groups whose educational records and population denominators are weakest. The evidentiary task is therefore not simply to publish more categories. It is to construct distributions whose populations, definitions, uncertainty and limits permit fair public judgement. National education averages describe the centre of a distribution while frequently concealing the conditions of learners farthest from secured educational opportunity. A rising enrolment rate can coexist with persistent exclusion in a remote district, a poor household group or a population displaced by conflict or disaster.

Research category
Quality Improvement Methods
Report archetype
Quality Improvement Study
Geographic scope
Global
ICEQC-R-2014-01

Thematic Research Report

National Averages and Hidden Inequality: Requirements for Disaggregated Reporting

A global comparative indicator study of distribution, population visibility and accountable public reporting

Comparative interpretation of executive summary depends upon a country can raise its average enrolment, completion or achievement while a poor, remote, disabled, linguistic-minority or otherwise disadvantaged population experiences little change. A contrary reading would overlook that the same national result can arise from broad improvement, concentrated gains at the top, altered population composition or the statistical disappearance of people who are hardest to observe. Public reporting must therefore show the distribution beneath the headline. National averages remain necessary for describing the scale and direction of education systems, but they are not sufficient evidence of equal educational opportunity.

Research category
Data and Indicator Research
Report archetype
Comparative Indicator Study
Geographic scope
Global