Education Quality Assurance

The wait is over! ISO 21001:2025 is here-  Management Systems for Educational Organizations – Requirements with Guidance for Use Published in July 2025, this revision is a major step forward in shaping quality education worldwide. As #ProjectLeader, I’m honored to have contributed to this important work. Grateful to ISO - International Organization for Standardization for the guidance and to the Bureau of Indian Standards for their trust and support. What’s new in ISO 21001:2025? 1️⃣ Expanded vocabulary – Includes updated terms like evaluation, formative and summative assessment, and learner with special needs. 2️⃣ Sustainability integration – Climate change considerations embedded in the organizational context. 3️⃣ Clearer framework – Stronger distinction between learning delivery, assessment methods, and evaluation criteria. 4️⃣ Broader stakeholder classification – As detailed in Annex C. 5️⃣ Process mapping – Core education management processes mapped to requirements (Annex E). 6️⃣ Enhanced alignment with other standards– Updated examples of alignment with European standards, especially EQAVET (Annex F). 7️⃣ Digital/hybrid learning recognition - Enhanced guidance for virtual delivery, quality assurance, and data protection. What this means for education? ✅ More inclusive and equitable learning experiences ✅ Stronger sustainability and institutional resilience ✅ Robust digital and hybrid learning models ✅ Better data protection in an AI-enabled education ecosystem A heartfelt thank you to all the members of our dedicated working group WG7, our ISO TC 232 Technical Programme Manager Sally Swingewood, Chair Bill Rivers, and Committee Manager Fei HOU. I’m truly proud of what we’ve achieved together. Looking ahead: Let’s leverage ISO 21001:2025 to inspire learner-centered, future-ready education systems across the globe. #ISO21001 #EducationStandards #QualityEducation #SustainabilityInEducation #AIInEducation #isostandards

📘 Investing in Education 2025 – Why It Matters for Europe’s Skills and Competitiveness 🧠 The new European Commission report highlights why education is not a cost, but an investment — a driver of competitiveness, resilience, and inclusion. It provides evidence and policy directions for smarter spending to prepare Europe for future challenges. 🔑 Key Insights & Messages ✅ Education spending rebounds, but disparities remain ▪️Public investment in education reached €806 billion in 2023, averaging 4.7% of GDP across the EU. ▪️Still below pre-pandemic levels and under pressure from competing priorities (health, energy, defence). ✅ Union of Skills: a game-changer for strategic investment ▪️New EU governance framework offers flexibility to invest in growth-enhancing reforms, including education and training. ▪️EU budget earmarks €148 billion (2021–2027) for skills, infrastructure, and mobility — but national budgets remain decisive. ✅ Education = Competitiveness & Growth ▪️Each extra year of schooling boosts individual income by ≈7% in Europe. ▪️Raising basic skills could add 8–10% to EU GDP by 2030; by 2100, up to 30% higher GDP if skills improve significantly. ▪️Countries with stronger skills recover faster from economic shocks. ✅ Tackling inequalities for fairness & productivity ▪️48% of disadvantaged students underachieve in maths (PISA 2022) vs 11% from advantaged backgrounds. ▪️Breaking the cycle of inequality boosts social mobility and economic growth. ✅ Skills for the future workforce ▪️STEM, digital, and transversal skills are critical to address labour shortages and drive innovation. ▪️Demographic shifts (aging population, shrinking cohorts) increase urgency: quality education and lifelong learning are the best antidotes. ✅ Smart investment matters: quality, efficiency, equity ▪️Beyond spending more, spend better. ▪️The Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education helps Member States evaluate impact and share best practices. 🌍 Why investment matters for VET and skills development ▪️Vocational education and training (VET) must adapt to digital and green transitions, ensuring labour market relevance. ▪️Stronger basic skills, technical competencies, and adaptability are essential for Europe’s future workforce. ▪️Lifelong learning and inclusive access are key to unlocking talent and avoiding skills mismatches. 📌 Bottom line: ▪️Investing in education is a strategic imperative for Europe’s competitiveness, cohesion, and future prosperity. ▪️We need to ensure that every euro counts — for learners, economies, and societies. #Skills #Education #Innovation EU Employment and Skills Cedefop Eurofound European Training Foundation EfVET European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) European Vocational Training Association - EVTA EURASHE eucen CoP CoVEs UNESCO-UNEVOC International Labour Organization OECD Education and Skills IEFP - Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Educação e Formação

The Coaching Tsunami: An Indictment of India’s Failing Education System The growth of coaching institutes and tuition centers across India is not a sign of progress—it is a glaring indictment of our education system. When parents are forced to pay once for schooling and then again for tuitions, it exposes the deep cracks in the very foundation of formal education. Schools and colleges, meant to be the bedrock of learning, have increasingly become places for rote memorization and exam rituals, leaving real learning to the private coaching industry. This parallel system thrives not because it is extraordinary, but because the mainstream has failed to inspire confidence. The explosion of coaching centers is a symptom of a system where teachers are overburdened, curricula are outdated, and classrooms are disengaging. Instead of nurturing curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving, we have reduced education to a brutal race of marks and ranks. The result? Students who survive the system, not ones who thrive through it. Coaching has become a crutch, and its dominance should be seen as a red flag, not a badge of aspiration. If we truly care about the future of education in India, we must stop celebrating the growth of this shadow industry and instead confront the failures of our schools and universities. Teacher training, curriculum reform, accountability, and a cultural shift from rote to real learning are not optional—they are urgent. Until then, every new coaching billboard in our cities is less a promise of opportunity and more a reminder of how our education system is letting students down.

Some people might not agree, but we have teachers, we just don't know how to match them to the right schools. The one-size-fits-all approach is one of the main reasons for the gap in hiring in the education sector because the differences in roles are substantial. Here’s what I found across three growing segments in Indian education: 📍Central Board of Secondary Education schools typically require teachers who are experts in NCERT content and can manage 40+ student classrooms. They should know how to operate composite skill labs, which are now mandated in all new CBSE schools. As of 2025, over 1.5 million CBSE teachers are expected to complete 50+ hours of skill-based training annually. 📍IB schools seek educators trained in inquiry-based, interdisciplinary teaching. IB-certified teachers must go through at least 50 hours of professional development each year and are often expected to have global exposure. With over 200 IB schools now in India, demand has outpaced supply. 📍Coding boot camps are hiring instructors with real-world tech experience. These roles require project-based teaching ability and technical fluency in programming, AI, and robotics, which is completely different from traditional teacher training. These institutions don’t need teachers who fit in every category or role. They need experts in their category. That’s where Jobs in Education comes in. We’ve got 5 lakh+ registered teachers with different skills and specializations that are all easily filterable by subject, grade level, and board. And we’ve added another layer to make hiring decisions easier: Applications on our platform are scored using AI based on job relevance, helping institutions understand fitment before even opening the resume. If you’re looking to hire teachers for your institution, check out our website. (The link is in the featured section) What’s your biggest challenge in hiring teachers?

The highest economic returns come from the earliest investments in children, including early childhood care and education. These investments build the foundational skills that underpin success in school, work and life. UNESCO’s 2025 report, Sustained and Transformative Financing for Early Childhood Care and Education, sets out clear pathways to make financing for ECCE more sustainable, equitable and effective. It calls for ECCE to be fully integrated into national planning and budgeting, with greater support for low-income households, results-based approaches to improve public investment, and innovative financing to mobilise additional resources. The report highlights several global partnerships working to strengthen ECCE financing, including the The Education Outcomes Fund, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the Global Partnership for Education, the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) and the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN). As a senior adviser, it is great to see the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) recognised as a leading global initiative driving results-based financing for ECCE. The organisation is partnering with governments and development partners to enhance the effectiveness of public investment in this vital stage of education. The recently launched outcomes partnership in Rwanda (Nkuza Neza) and upcoming ECCE-focused outcomes partnerships in Sierra Leone and South Africa reflect this commitment in action. For those of us working in early childhood, the message of this report is clear: investing early is one of the smartest, most cost-effective and most transformative investments a country can make. Link in the comments.

Most countries have in place a national ‘Qualifications Framework’ (QF), to provide guidance to the education sector, including at the higher education level, about the expected standard of student learning at different levels of education from Certificate through to doctorate level. Knowing about the QF should be a fundamental part of an academic’s induction into academe. But it’s just as important for higher education institutions to commit to regular communication with all their staff about the national standards because there are implications for all divisions within a higher education institution. The latter includes governing committees responsible for academic quality assurance, to staff appointments meeting qualification and experience expectations, student admission requirements, having suitable facilities and infrastructure in place…just to name a few. The external government agency/authority responsible for managing these national standards also provides occasional additional guidance materials for the sector that institutions are expected to familiarise themselves with. Again, it is important for open, timely and constructive communications to be conducted across the institution about any changes or additions and keep everyone up to date. Lack of such communication is unfortunately sometimes the missing or poorly executed essential step in the process to ensuring the national standards are known to all and are appropriately referenced.   It is essential that all staff are knowledgeable about the national QF. Its key purpose is to guarantee consistency across the sector and to ensure not only national recognition of qualifications, but to also affirm their international recognition.     #nationalstandards #qualificationsframework #highereducation #universities #communication

The comparison below isn't just about buildings — it's about priorities. A single modern school in China costs around ₹130 crore. India has invested nearly ₹15,000 crore on statues in the last decade — an amount that could build 100+ world-class public schools. This isn't about questioning cultural projects, but about recognising a bigger truth: Nations that invest consistently in education build stronger economies, more skilled workforces, and a more competitive future. As India's digital and knowledge sectors grow rapidly, the gap between demand for skilled talent and the supply from our public education system is widening. Reallocating even a small share of non-essential expenditure toward modern classrooms, teacher training, and digital infrastructure could dramatically reshape the next generation. Countries don't become powerful by what they build on the skyline, but by what they build in classrooms.

Proud to share the latest study (link in comments) from our collaboration with the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County, where evidence-driven innovation is transforming early literacy outcomes. What excites me most about these findings is that our students' progress is happening because of the powerful collaboration across an entire ecosystem—from goal setting to execution and the evidence-based results we’re seeing today. This is a clear example of how we can work together to achieve societal goals and optimize human potential through effective investment in early learning. Here’s how it all came together: •   🏆 Florida Chamber of Commerce’s 2030 Blueprint recognizes the importance of early learning and sets the ambitious goal of ensuring 100% kindergarten readiness as part of its vision for prosperity and workforce development. •   🏛️ Legislative action and rulemaking by the Florida Department of Education, has created accountability frameworks to align early learning with these long-term goals. •   💡 The ELC of Palm Beach assesses the needs of its community (providers, educators, parents, and students) and executes toward this goal by choosing to use My Reading Academy, which has a proven track record of improving literacy outcomes for young learners.   Key Outcomes: 📈 45% higher scores on the Star Early Literacy assessment, equivalent to four extra months of learning. 🎯 25% more students meeting Florida’s new kindergarten readiness benchmarks. 🔄 Students are 48% more likely to meet or exceed new monthly learning gain benchmarks. 👨🎓 9 out of 10 educators reported increased student confidence as readers and greater enjoyment in reading. 👩🏫 An overwhelming 97% of educators want to continue using My Reading Academy in their classrooms. This is how meaningful change happens—a demonstration of how setting ambitious goals, aligning legislation and policy, and executing evidence-based programs can transform students' lives, help a state invest in its future, and ultimately optimize human potential. What other examples of an ecosystem approach driving innovation in education are there? How do we replicate successful models like this that align diverse interests to create a broad societal impact? Please share your thoughts on collaborating to drive transformative educational outcomes that help achieve broader societal goals. Let’s invest in approaches that redefine what’s possible for early learning! 🚀 #EdTech #EarlyLearning #Innovation #EducationPolicy #KindergartenReadiness #ECE #WorkforceDevelopment

“Teaching everyone the same” isn’t fairness. It’s erasure. When you plan for an imaginary “neutral” student, you’re really planning for whiteness as the norm—and asking Black and Brown kids to shrink, translate, and assimilate to fit it. That’s why pronunciation gets “simplified,” dialect gets punished as “unprofessional,” history gets flattened into a single story, and “rigor” quietly becomes compliance with white norms. Sameness isn’t equity. Equity is identity-affirming and cognitively demanding at the same time. Say our names correctly. Treat language and dialect as assets. Teach texts where Black children see themselves as thinkers, creators, protagonists. Measure thinking, not proximity to whiteness. Build scaffolds without lowering the bar. And stop calling “neutral” what is actually white by default. If your instruction requires students to disappear parts of themselves to succeed, it’s not excellent—it’s exclusion. Center belonging. Raise the cognitive demand. Let our kids learn as themselves, not in spite of themselves. #WhenBrownGirlsLead #EducationalEquity #LeadershipWhileBlack #CallItWhatItIs #IdentityAffirmingInstruction