Transforming School  & Other Systems: Towards Coherence 
Educator organizations call for  practitioners, officials or experts to prepare brief (3-4 pages) summaries describing how each item in the table below can promote inclusion, equity, whole child development, balance among education goals, broad range of learning opportunities, more pathways to graduation and schoolsas a hub for agency services. These principles have been stated and reiterated in several global statements and reports including:
Towards Coherence: Aligning the Components
​Transforming school and other systems is a complex  and ongoing challenge. The joint statement from several  global educator organizations  suggests that the many different components & apects of school and other systems need to be aligned and coherent if significant reforms are to be implemented and institutionalized. 
The Influences, Actors, Employees, Mediating Factors, Elements & Steps in Rebuilding, Renewing & Transforming Systems
* Adapted from Fullan & Quinn, 2016, USAID-EDC,2024
​See Expanded Version of table
The joint educators statement also suggests that the processes to bring about these changes need to be planned, incremental and engage all stakeholders. These steps and elements are part of a coherence model introduced on pages 7-8 of the discussion paper accompanying the joint statement. A simplified version of the coherence model used for this paper is shown above. The model includes influencers outside of the formal systems, the actors and employees inside the education and other sectors and the contextual and organizational factors that will mediate the nature and impact of policies, programs and practices. 

​Our expanded version provides more detail and the pages linked to this page provide more discussion and drop-down menus of the items in these categories/columns in the table:
  • the influencers, trends and events that shape the direction of education and other systems
  • the key actors (employees, organizations and networks) that operate inside and outside of education & other systems
  • the mediating factors and conditions that determine the direction and evolution of the systems
  • the elements of the education and other systems that interact with each other
  • the small and large steps that can be taken to improve and transform the systems

This page introduces several lists of items that need to be considered when school and other systems are being re-built, renewed or transformed. There are many items on each of these lists which are further described in one brief summaries in the drop-down menus below. Each summary briefly describes the item, its implications for promoting inclusion and equity as articulated in the joint educator statement and some examples of application of that item.  We have created these detailed lists abd summaries because we think it is easier to work on small, specific changes rather than being faced only with broad, general statements about transforming systems.
 
Go to our full lists of transformation steps or system elements which are the pages to which we will link several summaries explaining their importance (and including examples). We invite readers to review, comment on, or prepare these brief summaries in the feedback section below. The educator organizations thank the members of the Global Network of Deans of Education who are facilitating broad participation in this activity.

Our suggested steps  for system transformation are drawn from the UN a Guidance Note for translating the national commitments into action made at the UN Transforming Education Summit (TES) as well as basic steps undertaken by most education reform efforts which were identified in the joint educators’ statement on rebuilding, renewing and transforming school and other systems. These processes include items such as securing commitments from other ministries, integrating the transformation plan into existing national policies & plans, establishing an education reform commission and reviewing data, studies, reports and surveys on on child/youth safety, health & development as well as student retention and academic achievement.

The key elements of school and other system operations that should be modified and aligned coherently to ensure a student centered, whole child approach promoting inclusion and equity include items such as    using a student-centered approach that includes student and teacher agency,  maintaining a balance among the core purposes/functions of schooling (learning to be, to do, to live together, to learn over the life course) and sustaining intersectoral partnerships by selecting, scaling up, & coordinating selected Intersectoral Policy/Program Coordination Frameworks (IPPCFs) such as healthy schools, safe schools and many others. 

Complete the aplication/nomination form below pare one of our brief summaries. Each summary is intended to:
  • describe how the element or process can contribute to the goals of inclusion, equity and other aspects of high qulaity systems listed at the top of this page
  • describe how the process contributes to effective, sustainable change
  • offer practice and evidence-based advice on strategies and pitfalls related to the process
  • present national and sub-national examples of how this process has been used in the real world
  • reflect on how this process affects transformations and/or other sources of information

​See examples of these summaries on these pages:  Government Action Plans (Transformation Element) and on education reform commissions (steps to transformation)
Navigate this mini-web site:
  • Read the Joint Statement
  • Endorse/comment on the Joint Statement
  • Edit or comment on the Position Paper
  • Review the discussion paper and Join in the dialogue on the building coherence among the many items that need to be modified and aligned in  school and other systems Review or prepare one page summaries on the levels and degree of intersectoral coordination required,  the influencers & actors outside of the school system, the many different types of educators and employees within school and other systems, the factors/mediators that facilitate or restrict change, the elements of school and other systems and the small and large steps that can be taken towards transformation.
  • Review the list of organizations and individuals supporting the Joint Statement.

    Please join us in preparing brief summaries on transformation steps or system elements. Tell us what topics you are interested which are listed on the pages on Influencers, Actors/Employees, Contextual Mediators, System Elements and Steps to Improve or Transform Systems
     Use the two drop-down menus on the five sub=pages to select the item that most interests you.
    ​If you are interested in more than one item or would like to post another comment, use the text box below.)