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Botswana will need to invest in human capital and strengthen its skills base to transition into a knowledge-based economy. However, low foundational learning levels remain a key challenge for the education sector. While Botswana has invested heavily in teacher supply, teacher deployment has not always reflected school-level teacher needs. The uneven distribution of teachers -- both across and within schools -- contributes to disparities in class sizes and learning conditions. Moreover, female teachers are particularly underrepresented in the sciences despite comprising much of the teaching force. This report aims to provide policymakers with a granular overview of teacher distribution in the country and inform ongoing efforts to improve teacher allocation. [This research project was made possible by the Botswana Ministry of Education and Skills Development.]

Early childhood education (ECE) is becoming a global policy priority, especially in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) where there is commitment to invest in the youngest learners. Building on system-level mappings in 2015 and 2017, this report delves into the status of ECE systems in the Pacific region as of 2022. Based on a comprehensive desk review and primary data collection involving ECE focal points from the ministries of education across the 15 PICTs, this research report highlights key strengths, gaps, and opportunities for enhancing ECE service delivery. Explore the findings and recommendations to see how these insights can inform advancements in early childhood education systems in the region.

Transforming education systems to be fit for the 21st century is the common thread for creating inclusive and equitable societies resilient to conflict, climate change and economic crises. Now is the time for increased investment in African education systems. This paper describes: (1) the state of Africa's educational landscape; (2) innovative approaches to increase education financing; and (3) what can be done to put education back at the forefront of Africa's policy agenda while sparking improved outcomes across the entire education spectrum. [Additional collaborators for this paper include the African Development Bank and the African Union.]

Education plays a pivotal role in Zambia's vision of achieving prosperity as a middle-income nation by 2030. The Government is committed to delivering high-quality, relevant education and lifelong skills for all children. Despite progress in reading and mathematics scores, learning outcomes in Zambia remain low. Regional disparities within the country persist in primary school completion rates, with girls facing a higher likelihood of dropping out before reaching senior secondary levels. The 2017-2021 Education and Skills Sector Plan underscores the Government's focus on enhancing learning outcomes by addressing gaps in education quality, accessibility, equity and efficiency. In this context, the Ministry of Education (MoE) is leveraging an innovative research partnership with UNICEF to identify and scale local solutions already improving learning in Zambian primary schools. This report presents the local behaviours and practices found in positive deviant schools in Zambia, with the aim of helping to inform future education policy. This mixed-methods research has been co-created and co-implemented with MoE since 2021. [The Ministry of Education Zambia and UNICEF Zambia collaborated with this report.]

This policy analysis examines regional and national policy and normative documents, and existing literature related to digital learning in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The report captures the state of the education recovery after the COVID-19 school closures and explores trends, promising practices, challenges, and gaps in digital learning systems and policies. The purpose of the report is to support government partners in the development of national digital learning policies, plans and roadmaps. The preliminary findings from this research have been instrumental in shaping the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Digital Learning Strategy for 2022-2025.

In Mauritania, many learners struggle with French, one of the official languages of instruction at school. This language barrier hinders student progress with the curriculum, increasing the chances of leaving school. This risk disproportionately affects adolescent girls due to discriminatory social norms undermining their continued education, even in urban areas of the capital, Nouakchott. To address these challenges, UNICEF Mauritania, in collaboration with the Akelius Foundation and national partners, has initiated a blended course to improve French proficiency for girls in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Nouakchott. The blended course, which takes place at a community-based facility during afternoons, integrates regular teaching with the offline use of the Akelius Digital Learning app. This research brief presents evidence on how the blended course supported vulnerable girls' learning and other socio-emotional skills. It highlights lessons learnt for practitioners in implementing digital learning in resource-constrained environments, including the reliance on offline solutions and the co-design of digital content with the teachers.

In 2021, Mexico introduced "Pasaporte al Aprendizaje," a localized version of the Learning Passport digital learning platform, to mitigate learning loss after widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between October 2021 and February 2023, almost 100,000 students utilized it for upper-secondary courses. The research explores the key design and implementation steps undertaken for the successful deployment and use of the "Pasaporte al Aprendizaje." In addition, analysis of data from the digital learning platform shows that students assessment scores improved as they progressed through courses, in subjects such as mathematics, Spanish, chemistry and physics. The overall goal of this research is to inform improvements in the "Pasaporte al Aprendizaje" and provide key lessons learned for other countries implementing national digital learning programmes.

Transforming education starts with ensuring all children attain foundational learning--literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills which provide the building blocks for all other learning. To this end, a global coalition has been established, inviting governments and stakeholders to endorse the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning as a first step to accelerate the agenda on foundational learning. Organized around the RAPID Framework, this report presents insights on the progress countries have made towards securing foundational learning, using data based on survey responses from 94 low- and middle-income countries and UNICEF's yearly monitoring exercise with its programme country offices. Complementing the Foundational Learning Action Tracker, an initiative by UNICEF and the Hempel Foundation, this report presents findings on the extent to which RAPID policy actions are being implemented and enabling systems are in place to support them, towards the goal of achieving foundational learning for all. [The Hempel Foundation provided support for this initiative.]

Technology presents incredible new potential in opening 'learning to earning' pathways for traditionally marginalised groups, such as displaced young people, adolescent girls and young women. Developing and scaling digitally powered learning for displaced populations can provide alternative opportunities to those who have lost access public schooling, with information and communication technology (ICT) holding great promise to leverage innovative online, offline and blended learning in settings providing formal, non-formal and informal education. However, a persistent gender digital divide results in unequal access to and use of ICT. This report aims to connect policymakers and practitioners with research and evidence on policy and programme solutions to support the inclusion, self-reliance and protection of displaced children and families. It synthesizes evidence on how digitally powered learning to earning for displaced young people, adolescent girls and young women can be further developed and scaled. It was produced to inform the learning agenda of PROSPECTS, a multi-year (2019-2023), multi-stakeholder partnership funded by the Government of the Netherlands, working together with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank.

The UNICEF Vision for Early Childhood Development is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It outlines UNICEF's intent to support an organization-wide approach to child development in the early years of life, drawing on its mandate for child rights, multisectoral expertise, wide on-the-ground presence, and long-standing role as a trusted adviser to governments and partners at national, regional and global levels.

In Mozambique, the COVID-19 pandemic led to schools closing for 80 percent of the 2020 academic year, affecting 8.5 million students and nearly 15,000 schools across the country (United Nations, 2020). This brief seeks to address two crucial questions regarding Mozambique's Grade 3 and 4 students. First, what is the current state of reading outcomes of these students, and how have they been affected by the prolonged school closures? Second, how do children's individual, household and school characteristics relate to literacy outcomes? An analysis of pre- and post-pandemic reading skills, using data from the Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE, Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout) reveals significant learning losses in basic literacy skills. Across the country, children in Grades 3-4 showed reduced proficiency in identifying letters in 2021, compared to students in the same grades in 2019.

Instruction time is a crucial component of student learning and is closely associated with attendance rates for students, teachers and directors. This report examines teacher and director absenteeism in Mozambique's schools, using data from surveys conducted in 2018, 2019, and 2021 as part of the Longitudinal Assessment of School Dropout or Avaliação Longitudinal da Desistência Escolar (ALDE). The main objective of this research is to: (1) provide an overview of teacher and director absenteeism prior to and after the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) compare teacher and director absenteeism rates based on factors such as individual teacher attributes and school-related variables; and (3) investigate the factors at both individual and school levels that influence teacher absenteeism. It seeks to inform policies and practices to strengthen the primary education system in Mozambique.

Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in the host-community. These briefs offer recommendations for policymakers on ways to expand services, and how to facilitate the integration of refugee children and their families. Strategies include limiting the barriers that may hinder refugee children's access to ECEC settings, capitalizing existing physical and human resources to address gaps in service delivery, in addition to the inclusion of refugees in national and sub-national plans, data systems and financing, adapting policies and programmes to ensure considerations are made for refugee children. This second brief focuses on expanding early childhood education and care for Ukrainian refugee children and caregivers. [For the first brief in the series, see ED627656.]

Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in the host-community. These briefs offer recommendations for policymakers on ways to expand services, and how to facilitate the integration of refugee children and their families. Strategies include limiting the barriers that may hinder refugee children's access to ECEC settings, capitalizing existing physical and human resources to address gaps in service delivery, in addition to the inclusion of refugees in national and sub-national plans, data systems and financing, adapting policies and programmes to ensure considerations are made for refugee children. This first brief focuses on the integration of young refugee children through early childhood education and care. [For the second brief in this series, see ED627655.]

The equitable and effective deployment of teachers is critical to achieving quality education for all. However, the uneven distribution of teachers -- both across and within schools -- contributes to significant disparities in class sizes and learning conditions. Recognizing the critical role that teachers play in learning, the Government of Zambia has committed to addressing teacher allocation through large-scale teacher recruitments. This report aims to provide policymakers an overview of the magnitude and distribution of teacher shortages, and inform ongoing efforts to address teacher shortages and improve teacher allocation. [Michelle Mills and Ivan Mahardika contributed to this report.]

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, resulting in disruptions to education at an unprecedented scale. In response to the urgent need to recover learning losses, countries worldwide have taken RAPID actions to: Reach every child and keep them in school; Assess learning levels regularly; Prioritize teaching the fundamentals; Increase the efficiency of instruction; and Develop psychosocial health and wellbeing. Marking three years since the onset of the pandemic, this report looks back at policy measures taken during school closures and reopening based on country survey data, initiatives implemented by countries and regions to recover and accelerate learning, and their emerging lessons within each RAPID action. With schools now reopened worldwide, this report also looks ahead to longer-term education transformation, offering policy recommendations to build more resilient, effective and equitable education systems.

In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22 school year. This research presents findings from the first year of implementation of the Akelius digital learning application in Italy. Results show the use of the application supported self-paced learning, boosted students' motivation and confidence and the use of the tool was especially beneficial for newly arrived children and children with disabilities. The report also explores challenges and good practices to inform improvements in the use of digital learning in classrooms.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country has increased from just a few dozen arrivals annually prior to 2017 to 95,000 between 2018 and 2022. This increase has put incredible strain on the country's education systems. This research presents critical findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Akelius digital learning application in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was introduced as a tool to support refugee and migrant children's English and German language learning. The findings demonstrate that using the digital application in a blended learning approach in classrooms was especially useful for personalizing learning and supporting children with diverse learning levels and needs. The report also explores the challenges faced, and good practices to tangibly improve the implementation of digital learning in classrooms.

The burden of mental health conditions and poor psychosocial wellbeing among children and adolescents is associated with significant lifetime costs, as mental health conditions is associated with learning lower educational attainment and impeding the development of socioemotional skills which translates into reduced earning potential and labor productivity in later life. The humanitarian emergencies further exacerbate these impacts. A critical point, however, is that these costs to individuals, communities and countries can be mitigated through mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions that aim to promote mental health and wellbeing and/or prevent and respond to mental health conditions, thereby promoting learning and educational outcomes. This global cost-benefit analysis (global CBA) firstly estimates the global economic costs of mental health conditions through the effect on school completion, and poor social and emotional wellbeing among children and adolescents aged 10-17 years affected by humanitarian emergencies. It then models the economic benefits of addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents through mental health and psychosocial support interventions. [This report was written by Angie Jackson-Morris, Michael Onah, Christina L. Meyer, Lily Morrell, and Rachel Nugent.]

In 2019, the President of the European Commission announced the creation of the European Child Guarantee, an initiative that aimed to combat child poverty by making sure that every child who lives in poverty has access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition. With "Delivering the EU Child Guarantee: Practical lessons for effective interventions," UNICEF Innocenti provides a synthesis of findings of operational research on 15 pilot models of intervention for children and families in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy. The goal of the report is to learn from the experiences in these four countries to inform the rollout of the Child Guarantee programme throughout Europe. The study provides lessons learned in three themes: laying the foundations for the Child Guarantee work at the national level; developing interventions at the local level; supporting the Child Guarantee at the EU level.

The Kosovo Education Strategy (2022-2026) recognizes the need to scale up digital learning solutions to support individualized learning for children. Shkollat.org, Kosovo's version of the Learning Passport, combines the largest repository of curriculum-aligned video learning content in Kosovo with communication tools to engage students inside or outside the classroom. This research presents findings from the implementation of Shkollat.org in Kosovo, providing policy takeaways for the scale-up of digital learning solutions for education policymakers in the Western Balkans and beyond. Research findings are organized around six pillars of digital learning embedded within the Kosovo Education Strategy (2022-2026): digital learning platforms, content, teacher upskilling and support, connectivity, devices, and institutional support.

Recognizing that children's learning outcomes generally remain low, in its recent 2017--2021 Education and Skills Sector Plan (ESSP) the Government of Zambia prioritized improving learning outcomes through strategies that addressed gaps in education system quality, access, equity and efficiency. What resources and contextual factors are associated with school performance in Zambia? By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Zambia, this report helps to identify positive deviant schools -- those that outperform other schools despite sharing similar contexts and resources. Data Must Speak -- a global initiative implemented since 2014 -- aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about 'what works', 'why' and 'how' to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders. DMS research is currently implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia. [The Data Must Speak (DMS) positive deviance research in Zambia is a collaborative effort made possible by the commitment of the Ministry of Education (MoE) Zambia, UNICEF Zambia, UNICEF Innocenti -- Global Office of Research and Foresight, and key partners from the Zambian education sector.]

Access to early childhood education has increased over the last two decades, with global enrolment rates showing gender parity in access among boys and girls. Despite this gender parity in access, the pre-primary education system does not always deliver on its potential to tackle gender inequities and address harmful gender stereotypes while they are being absorbed by the youngest learners. As such, this research explores the ways in which pre-primary education can become more gender-transformative at a system level and presents 11 key strategies to support this goal. The strategies are organized around five interconnected action areas: planning and budgeting; curriculum; workforce development; family and community engagement; and quality assurance. These strategies can help governments and policymakers to proactively incorporate gender-responsiveness into the design and implementation of their pre-primary education policy and programming, following a system-wide perspective. [For the research briefs in the "Gender-Transformative Pre-Primary Education" series, see: "Addressing Gender Inequalities from the Early Years of Education," ED627662; "Supporting Gender-Transformative Parenting through Pre-Primary Education Systems," ED627664; "Integrating Gender into Pre-Primary Education Systems: Tools for Gender-Transformative Policy and Programming," ED627666; "A System-Wide Approach to Tackling Inequalities from the Early Years," ED627669; and "Investing in Pre-Primary Education Workforce Development for Gender Equality," ED627670.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with this brief mapping the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence that may inform responses to the COVID-19 pandemic or that furthers the understanding of its impact on child well-being outcomes. This evidence may be directly related to policies to reduce COVID-19 transmission, such as closure of schools and colleges, personal protective equipment, movement restriction between borders and social distancing, or studies of interventions responding to the immediate socio-economic impacts, such as social protection measures, educational programmes and tele-health. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to interventions to ensure that every child has an equitable chance in life. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

The European Training Foundation (ETF) and the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) conducted polls and focus groups to better understand the needs, views, sentiments, and experiences of young people, mainly between the ages of 14 and 34, in relation to career guidance. The geographical focus of the research was on select countries in the Europe and Central Asia region, specifically covering Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The research was co-designed and conducted in close collaboration, and with the full participation, of young people. The initiative's main objective has been to generate new evidence on career guidance demand and expectations among the young generations in these 11 countries and beyond. Fit-for-purpose career guidance should ideally be: a systematic combination of structured career education programs (as part of curricula throughout formal education, to be able to reach whole generations), quality online self-learning and self-help opportunities; and person-centered career guidance service offered outside of school, both face-to-face and online.

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move (COM), in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This third brief in the series presents vulnerability, discrimination and xenophobia. [For Brief 1, see ED620508. For Brief 2, see ED620510.]

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt1 (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move (COM), in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This second brief presents access to basic services. [For Brief 1, see ED620508. For Brief 3, see ED620509.]

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt1 (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move (COM), in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This first brief in the series presents strengthening child protection systems and ending child immigration detention. [For Brief 2, see ED620510. For Brief 3, see ED620509.]

In Afghanistan, 93% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. Education is not available to everyone, especially for girls and children in remote areas. A form of community-based education, called Accelerated Learning Centers (ALCs), can help close the distance barrier and meet the needs of out-of-school children and girls. In May 2021, an assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills of ALC students and nearby government school students was conducted. Results show that children at ALCs are learning at similar levels or better compared with children who attend government schools. This report provides insight into practices to improve education in rural areas in Afghanistan.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for governments across Southeast Asia to reshape their approach to education so that children and adolescents are equipped with the necessary academic and socioemotional skills to live a rewarding life. By providing deeper insight into children's attitudes and values in well-being domains, this report reveals the relationship between children's well-being and academic learning in the region. What can policymakers and practitioners do to support children and adolescents to excel now and in the future? Through quantitative analysis of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019 database, along with an investigation of policy implications and promising practices, this report advocates for increased coordination across cross-sectoral government institutions; increased school, parental and community support for children's development; and providing a platform for children's voices to understand their perspectives and needs.

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to interventions to ensure that every child lives in a safe and clean environment. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to ensuring that every child is protected from violence and exploitation. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness; and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

Teachers are the most important drivers of students' academic achievement and they are at the heart of learning recovery efforts. Finding out the bottlenecks and necessary conditions for ensuring teachers' presence at school and in the classroom is essential. Time to Teach is a mixed methods research initiative that aims to find out the contextual, working conditions and policy factors impeding primary school teacher attendance in 11 West and Central African countries: Co^te d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, The Gambia, and Togo. The study considers teacher attendance as multi-dimensional, in four distinct forms. Teachers were asked to about their attendance in relation to: (1) being school; (2) being punctual (arriving and leaving on time); (3) being the classroom; and (4) spending sufficient time on task. Evidence is drawn from national, system-wide qualitative data collection and school observations, and a quantitative survey of 1,673 teachers working in 234 purposively selected primary schools. While primary data were collected prior to the COVID-19 school closures (in the 2018/2019 school year), the study provides important insights on how the pandemic has exacerbated chronic challenges of education systems that impact teacher attendance and is therefore informative for policy, both in the current COVID-19 era and beyond.

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's Strategic Plan 2018-2021, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space. The sixth brief maps the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence related to education. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents; (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness;and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

UNICEF Innocenti's Report Card 17 explores how the 43 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and/or the European Union (EU) countries are faring in providing healthy environments for children. Do children have clean water to drink? Do they have good-quality air to breathe? Are their homes free of lead and mould? How many children live in overcrowded homes? How many have access to green play spaces, safe from road traffic? Data show that a nation's wealth does not guarantee a healthy environment. Far too many children are deprived of a healthy home, irreversibly damaging their current and future well-being. Beyond children's immediate environments, over-consumption in some of the world's richest countries is destroying children's environments globally. This threatens both children worldwide and future generations. To provide all children with safe and healthy environments, governments, policymakers, businesses and all stakeholders are called to act on a set of policy recommendations. The report focuses on the following questions: (1) How do environmental factors affect children's well-being? (2) How are many of the world's richest countries faring in terms of providing a healthy environment in which children can live, develop and thrive? and (3) What actions can these countries take to improve the environments in which children live? [This report was written with contributions from Dominic Richardson, Gunilla Olsson, Celine Little, Dagna Rams, Gro Dehli Villanger, Nicole Quattrini, Tim Huijts, Mirza Balaj and Terje Eikemo.]

Learning remains largely out of reach for many of the most vulnerable children around the world. In low- and middle-income countries, an estimated 56% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. This share is projected to rise to 70% after the pandemic. The school closures imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, coupled with an enduring tendency in low-income countries to allocate a limited share of the national education budget to the most vulnerable, are further widening inequalities in the global learning crisis landscape. The Let Us Learn (LUL) initiative implements innovative education programmes to improve learning for the most vulnerable children in five countries with high levels of out-of-school children: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Madagascar and Nepal. This report documents the outcomes, lessons learned and recommendations based on the experience of the initiative across four types of learning programmes spanning the education lifecycle: (1) pre-primary education; (2) accelerated learning pathways; (3) programmes to reduce barriers to access and stay in formal school; and (4) vocational training.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one in four children in the East Asia and Pacific region was failing to master basic literacy and numeracy skills in primary school. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation of learning for millions of children whose education has been interrupted by school closures. Children who were struggling to learn before the pandemic and those from disadvantaged communities are at the core of the learning challenge in East Asia and Pacific. This technical report aims at helping countries reflect on and draw from successful experiences in the region when designing their responses to the learning crisis. And it explains the urgent need to support learning recovery for those children whose schools closed at any time during the pandemic. This literature review highlights recent evidence that points to effective strategies for improving learning outcomes among the most vulnerable and marginalized children in primary school in the East Asia and Pacific region. Generally, the review: (1) Presents an overview of the learning crisis in the East Asia and Pacific region, with emphasis on primary education and the most marginalized children; (2) Identifies, compiles and assesses qualitative and quantitative evidence on the topic of learning outcomes around five common intervention areas; and (3) Synthesizes the findings of the reviewed studies on promising approaches to improve learning outcomes within each of the selected topics.