UNICEF - Education Strategy - Shaping the Future of Learning

Shaping the Future of Learning EDUCATION STRATEGYShaping the Future of Learning SEPTEMBER 2026Photo credits: Cover: © UNICEF/UNI832918/Ayenson Page vi: © UNICEF/UNI964678/Htet Page 4: © UNICEF/UNI903614/Marin Page 11: © UNICEF/UNI881148/Khayyam Page 16: © UNICEF/UNI784047/Vigné Page 21: © UNICEF/UNI848968/Panjwani This paper complements the existing Education Strategy (2019-2030) by clarifying the priorities, operating model, and partnerships needed to accelerate learning, equity, and skills for all children and adolescents. As such, this strategy presents a roadmap for implementation of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026-2029. Published by UNICEF Global Programme Division Global Practice for Education Centre of Excellence, Amman, Jordan www.unicef.org © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) September 2026Content Boxes and Figures Abbreviations and Acronyms The Unmissable Opportunity

The UNICEF Advantage: Global Influence, Local Delivery,

Measurable Results The Urgency for Change

Proposed Solution: 2 Paradigm Shifts

Advancing Thought Leadership: Generating and Translating

Evidence for Education Reform Conclusion Endnotes iii iv 1 2 5 6 19 21 22

UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGY iiBoxes

Figures Box 1 Box 2 Box 3 Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 2026-2029 Strategic Plan Targets: Education Out-of-school Adolescent Girls

LEARN AI Global Compact: A Flagship Initiative for Aligned Investment in Education Education Architecture: Government Leadership at the Centre Three Interrelated Failures Drive the Learning Crisis Typology of Countries Based on Strategic Plan 2026–2029

Education Results 2 8 14 3 5 15 iii SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNINGAbbreviations and Acronyms ADB AfDB

Education Architecture: Government Leadership at the Centre Three Interrelated Failures Drive the Learning Crisis Typology of Countries Based on Strategic Plan 2026–2029

Education Results 2 8 14 3 5 15 iii SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNINGAbbreviations and Acronyms ADB AfDB AI AISC CO CoE CRPD DIPAS ECCE ECD ECE ECW EdTech EU FCDO GBC GPE IDB ILO INGO JICA MHM MoE NNGO NORAD NRC QFFD RC RO SBC SDG SIDA SP TA TaRL TVET UN UNCT

UNESCO

UNGEI UNHCR

UNICEF

WASH WFP WHO Asian Development Bank African Development Bank Artificial intelligence Inter-Agency Standing Committee Country Office Centre of Excellence Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy Early Childhood Care and Education Early Childhood Development Early Childhood Education Education Cannot Wait Education technology European Union Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Global Business Coalition Global Partnership for Education Inter-American Development Bank International Labour Organization International Non-Governmental Organization Japan International Cooperation Agency Menstrual Hygiene Management Ministry of Education National Non-Governmental Organization Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation Norwegian Refugee Council Qatar Fund for Development Resident Coordinator Regional Office Social and Behavioural Change Sustainable Development Goal Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Strategic Plan Technical assistance Teaching at the Right Level Technical and Vocational Education and Training United Nations United Nations Country Team United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Children’s Fund Water, sanitation and hygiene World Food Programme World Health Organization iv

UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGYv

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNINGThe Unmissable Opportunity With less than five years remaining until the 2030 SDG4 deadline, the global learning crisis

United Nations Children’s Fund Water, sanitation and hygiene World Food Programme World Health Organization iv

UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGYv

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNINGThe Unmissable Opportunity With less than five years remaining until the 2030 SDG4 deadline, the global learning crisis is the defining challenge of this generation. Globally, education systems are not delivering expected learning outcomes for the majority of the world’s children, and the cost of inaction grows every year. A more fundamental question is emerging, as to whether the school itself, designed for a different era, can deliver the learning that today’s children need and deserve. UNICEF’s experience points to the need to rethink how and where children learn. A range of converging advances make this moment decisive. Neuroscience now illuminates with greater definition and clarity how children learn, remember, and develop across the life course, insights unavailable when today’s school systems were designed. The science of teaching has advanced substantially, producing evidence-based pedagogies that reliably improve learning outcomes. Education technology and AI, with solutions that are adapted to context, usable offline or in low-bandwidth environments where needed, can strengthen teaching and support more equitable education systems, helping bridge persistent barriers such as language, accessibility for children with disabilities, geographic isolation, gender inequalities, disruptions to schooling, and the longstanding challenge of meeting children at their actual learning levels. Powerful data and information systems now allow governments to track student progress, identify gaps, and make evidence-informed policy and budget decisions in real time. These modalities, applied at scale, can support governments to create learner-centred learning environments, bridge learning disruptions, and reach every child regardless of circumstance. If UNICEF seizes this window to lay the foundation for systemic reform, the vision is achievable. With 80 years of programming experience, in humanitarian and development contexts, country and global presence, and standardbridge learning disruptions, and reach every child regardless of circumstance. If UNICEF seizes this window to lay the foundation for systemic reform, the vision is achievable. With 80 years of programming experience, in humanitarian and development contexts, country and global presence, and standardsetting authority, UNICEF is positioned to support governments in leading that reform and shaping the future of learning at scale. This paper sets out UNICEF’s vision for addressing both challenges and opportunities in a period of profound change. It complements the existing Education Strategy (2019-2030) by clarifying the priorities, operating model, and partnerships needed to accelerate learning, equity, and skills for all children and adolescents. As such, this paper presents a roadmap for implementation of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026-2029 and the achievement of its education results (see Box 1). It is intended to guide UNICEF’s global, regional, and country-level support to governments, while remaining adaptable to context and aligned with national leadership and broader system actors. 1

UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGYThe UNICEF Advantage:

Global Influence, Local Delivery, Measurable Results Education reform that addresses the learning crisis by leveraging these advances is both strategic and deeply human. UNICEF can accelerate this reform because it has the proven track record of shaping, defining and advancing with governments national and global education agendas anchored in children’s rights, equity, and the transformation of education systems. From declaring education a fundamental right (1989) to the World Conference on Education for All (1990), Child Friendly Schools (2000), championing girls’ education, and co-leading the global education cluster in humanitarian contexts, UNICEF has shaped watershed moments in global education. UNICEF is one of the world’s largest operational actors in education, particularly in humanitarian and crisis contexts, where it is often the provider of learning support and

the global education cluster in humanitarian contexts, UNICEF has shaped watershed moments in global education. UNICEF is one of the world’s largest operational actors in education, particularly in humanitarian and crisis contexts, where it is often the provider of learning support and last resort. This dual role, as a norm setter and frontline implementer, has established UNICEF as a trusted system-wide leader, coordinator, convener, and partner with unmatched reach across both development and humanitarian settings. With its unparalleled presence from global to community levels, UNICEF works across the entire chain of change, generating and applying evidence, shaping policy, convening partners and supporting implementation on the ground to drive sustainable improvements in learning. Further, UNICEF’s multi-sectoral programming 350 million more children and young people learning and skilled Impact Result 2 children and adolescents in school (pre-primary to secondary), of whom 100 million are girls and 15 million are children with disabilities. children, of whom 60 million are girls, achieving minimum learning proficiency levels. young people, of whom 80 million are adolescent girls and young women, acquiring skills for work and life. 200 million more 120 million more 160 million more BOX 1 2026-2029 Strategic Plan Targets: Education UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGY 2across health, nutrition, child protection, social protection, gender, and WASH creates synergies with direct implications for learning outcomes that no other education actor can offer. This multi-sectorality allows UNICEF to approach education reform as a whole-child imperative, not a sector-specific challenge, however it has not yet been consistently leveraged in service of education results. The global education architecture (see Figure 1) is structured around three broad categories of actors: humanitarian responders, longterm development partners, and global public goods providers. While the architecture has matured

however it has not yet been consistently leveraged in service of education results. The global education architecture (see Figure 1) is structured around three broad categories of actors: humanitarian responders, longterm development partners, and global public goods providers. While the architecture has matured considerably in recent years, it has also become increasingly fragmented, with overlapping mandates, duplicative mechanisms and growing coordination burdens at global and country levels. These challenges are compounded by declining aid volumes, a proliferation of emergencies and increasingly complex financing channels. Achieving SDG 4 and advancing a new education paradigm requires the combined strengths of the UN system and a broad coalition of partners. With its unique combination of normative influence, financing leverage, operational presence, technical Figure 1 Education Architecture: Government Leadership at the Centre Normative Role Global Financing & Philanthropies Policy and Programme Delivery Private Sector

UNESCO

SDG 4 World Bank Largest funder Private Partners GBC-Ed skills Coalitions UNHCR Refugee education Lead GPE System Reform EdTech Growing

WHO/ILO/WFP

Sectoral Partners ECW Emergencies

INGOs & NNGOs

Save the Children-Plan International-NRC-Cluster UN Agencies UNCT - IASC Country

AfDB/ADB/IDB

Regional Co-financing Major Foundations Bilateral FCDO-SIDA-JICA-EUQFFD-NORAD Fund Largest UN implementer Normative actor on child’s rights UNICEF 147 Countries1 US$ 1.5 billion annual2 SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNING 3excellence and convening power, UNICEF is well positioned to strengthen coherence across the education ecosystem, working in complementarity with partners at the national and global levels. Critically, UNICEF’s country’s presence is both operational and political. UNICEF

3excellence and convening power, UNICEF is well positioned to strengthen coherence across the education ecosystem, working in complementarity with partners at the national and global levels. Critically, UNICEF’s country’s presence is both operational and political. UNICEF Representatives and staff engage heads of state, ministers and national planners to position education as a national priority, not merely a technical programme. This provides the foundation for UNICEF to exercise system leadership by: i. strengthening its strategic role across the global education ecosystem, working with UNESCO, GPE, ECW, the World Bank, regional organizations such as the African Union and European Union, and civil society to reduce fragmentation and improve coherence; and ii. leveraging its country leadership to translate global commitments into national results, align humanitarian and development financing, and forge strategic partnerships with development banks, the private sector and emerging donors to advance long-term outcomes. In this context, UNICEF’s newly established Centres of Excellence will serve as enabling platforms that connect evidence, innovation, technical assistance, funding, and implementation experience across regions and countries. Rather than establishing parallel technical structures, they will complement and reinforce existing global and regional mechanisms with partners, helping to translate global evidence and policy priorities into action at scale at the country level while promoting greater system coherence. Aligned with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026– 2029 and building on the global Education Strategy3, UNICEF is extending its leadership into a new era defined by urgency, innovation, and transformation. The focus is on three critical system failures: learning denied, learning delayed, and learning disrupted. UNICEF’s vision is to address these challenges through evidence-based, future-ready skills, aligned with today’s learners. From early childhood to adolescence, from crisis response to learning continuity, UNICEF will accelerate scalable, innovative solutions grounded in equity to advance every child’s right to quality

UNICEF’s vision is to address these challenges through evidence-based, future-ready skills, aligned with today’s learners. From early childhood to adolescence, from crisis response to learning continuity, UNICEF will accelerate scalable, innovative solutions grounded in equity to advance every child’s right to quality education. 4 UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGYFigure 2 Three Interrelated Failures Drive the Learning Crisis The Urgency for Change The education system is failing three-quarters of the world’s children. At age 5, close to 75 per cent of children are developmentally on track. By age 18, only 25 per cent have the required skills for life and work. The three interrelated failures drive the global learning crisis (see Figure 2): • Learning Denied: 29 million 5-year-olds are excluded from any organized early learning and over 273 million primary and secondary school-age children are out of school, due to structural issues such as lack of access, poverty, gender norms and sociocultural constraints, ethnolinguistic disadvantages, migration, refugee movements, climate and environmental degradation and humanitarian crises4. • Learning Disrupted: Learning is being interrupted due to conflict, climate, pandemic related and other causes and circumstances, leading to learning loss and dropout. In 2024 alone, nearly a quarter of a billion had their education upended due to climate impacts. Furthermore, 234 million school-aged children and adolescents in crisis settings require urgent education support. Marginalized children, particularly girls, residing in climate hotspots are disproportionately affected by the adverse consequences of erratic weather patterns. These effects extend beyond disruption to education, and jeopardize their mental wellbeing, food security, and livelihoods.

LEARNING

DENIED

LEARNING

DISRUPTED

LEARNING

DELAYED

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CRISIS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNING 5• Learning Delayed: An estimated 70 per

education, and jeopardize their mental wellbeing, food security, and livelihoods.

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DENIED

LEARNING

DISRUPTED

LEARNING

DELAYED

LEARNING

CRISIS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNING 5• Learning Delayed: An estimated 70 per cent of 10-year-olds in lowand middleincome countries cannot read and comprehend a basic sentence. Children and young people are in school but not acquiring relevant knowledge and skills at the expected level. This is primarily due to poor education quality driven by systemic challenges, including limited human and financial resources, inadequate teacher training, inequitable teacher distribution, outdated school models and pedagogies, and insufficient learning resources5. These foundational learning gaps continue into adolescence, limiting young people’s ability to continue secondary education, access skills training, and decent work. Only about half of the world’s children today reach upper-secondary education on time, and the majority of these late-entry and overage adolescents tend to experience higher rates of repetition, disengagement and dropping-out. These failures amplify each other. A girl from a poor household lagging in grade-level skills who experiences climate-related learning disruption is far more likely to drop out and miss the opportunity to acquire relevant skills. She, in turn, may be pushed into negative coping strategies such as early marriage, unsafe migration, child labour or informal work without adequate protection. Children with disabilities and those living in crisis-affected countries are particularly vulnerable to all three failures. External and geopolitical factors continuously intensify these interconnected system failures and present a troubling trend of deprioritization of education on the global agenda. The result is a learning crisis that is not only failing children today, but also weakening the human capital on which future prosperity, resilience, and social cohesion depend. Education is both a fundamental right and one of the most important investments countries

agenda. The result is a learning crisis that is not only failing children today, but also weakening the human capital on which future prosperity, resilience, and social cohesion depend. Education is both a fundamental right and one of the most important investments countries can make in their people. Yet when children do not learn, the returns to years spent in school are diminished, limiting individual opportunities and constraining broader economic and social development. This trajectory can be reversed. By transforming how education systems reach children, support teachers, deliver learning, and build skills, countries can unlock the full potential of every child and strengthen the foundations for sustainable growth and development. Against this background, UNICEF’s goal is that by 2030, more than 350 million children and young people are learning and acquiring skills, with a particular focus on children from the poorest households, adolescent girls, children with disabilities, and those affected by crisis. Achieving this goal will require bold education reforms that tackle the root causes of the learning crisis and deliver better learning outcomes while recognizing education as a critical investment in human capital, economic productivity, and social progress.

Proposed Solution: 2

Paradigm Shifts To address these system failures, UNICEF will leverage the advances of the 21st century, its unique position in the education architecture, and the Future Focus Reform to support governments in achieving the 2030 targets. This requires two paradigm shifts, grounded in the evidence of what works,6 across UNICEF’s programming and coordination experience: Shift 1 focuses on the “what”, and Shift 2 on the “how.”

UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGY

6Shift 1: What UNICEF Delivers - Transforming Learning Through Systemic Enablers For impact, UNICEF’s programmatic focus needs to have a big push on closing results gaps across the critical transitions of the learning cycle, especially for populations

6Shift 1: What UNICEF Delivers - Transforming Learning Through Systemic Enablers For impact, UNICEF’s programmatic focus needs to have a big push on closing results gaps across the critical transitions of the learning cycle, especially for populations who are most at risk of getting left behind. A strategic emphasis will be on putting quality teaching and learning at the center, as well as harnessing AI and education technology responsibly. Elevating Teaching Workforce Development Teachers are the primary agents of educational transformation. Yet the profession is under strain: status has eroded; working conditions have deteriorated; deployment is inequitable; and accountability systems are weak or absent. Too many teachers enter classrooms or learning spaces underprepared or unqualified and remain underserved throughout their careers, not because of individual failure, but because of systemic policies that have never been designed to fully support them. In humanitarian contexts, this gap is most acute. Community and volunteer teachers, who are often the only available educators in crisis settings, operate almost entirely outside formal support structures, without training pathways, professional recognition, or psychosocial support for their own needs. UNICEF will support governments to advance comprehensive reform of the teaching profession across five interconnected dimensions. • First, renewing personal and professional development across pre-service and in-service continuum: moving beyond fragmented training toward holistic, continuous growth that links directly to learning outcomes. • Second, professionalizing teaching: modernizing the profession’s status, pathways, and working conditions so it can attract, retain, and motivate the people children deserve. • Third, strengthening deployment and management: ensuring transparent, equitable, and data-driven systems that put the right teachers where they are needed most. • Fourth, building meaningful accountability: a system of feedback, support, and shared responsibility for children’s learning. • Fifth, supporting teachers in humanitarian

management: ensuring transparent, equitable, and data-driven systems that put the right teachers where they are needed most. • Fourth, building meaningful accountability: a system of feedback, support, and shared responsibility for children’s learning. • Fifth, supporting teachers in humanitarian and crisis contexts: recognizing community and volunteer teachers as essential to the profession, equipping them with adapted training and mental health and psychosocial support, and creating pathways for their integration into formal systems as stability returns. Equitable and Responsible Use of AI and Education Technology Digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are reshaping education at a critical moment with both significant promise and substantial risk. While it could support teachers, personalize learning, monitor student learning and expand access, current models are trained primarily on languages and contexts from a few countries. Without deliberate action, AI and EdTech risk reinforcing existing inequalities, widening digital divides, and further marginalizing learners in low-resource settings characterized by limited connectivity, unreliable electricity, and weak digital infrastructure. UNICEF will prioritize areas where AI and EdTech demonstrably add value to teaching and learning. They are a system-level lever, beyond digital learning per se, that operate across the full continuum from emergency response to recovery, resilience, and proactive system reform. UNICEF will uplift the voice of young people towards future-proofing education with these tools. The current risks of technology need to be managed and mitigated, including that AI models are trained primarily on languages and contexts from a small number of countries, and without deliberate intervention, they risk deepening the very inequities that need to be addressed.

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LEARNING

7UNICEF will enable a coordinated approach to shape AI and EdTech as tools for equity across five interconnected areas. • First, stewarding responsible development: working with governments and the private sector to place children at the centre of national AI strategies, with clear standards

7UNICEF will enable a coordinated approach to shape AI and EdTech as tools for equity across five interconnected areas. • First, stewarding responsible development: working with governments and the private sector to place children at the centre of national AI strategies, with clear standards for equity, transparency, data protection, and learning impact. • Second, ensuring Global South representation: AI tools must be designed for, trained on, and accountable to linguistic diversity, local curricula, cultural relevance, and low-resource realities, including multilingual and offline environments. • Third, keeping teachers at the centre: AI must amplify rather than replace teachers, reducing administrative burden, enabling personalized instruction, and generating actionable insights into learner progress. Teacher recruitment, training, and retention remain foundational. • Fourth, reaching every child across the continuum: from crisis and displacement to stable development contexts, AI and EdTech must be accessible to all children through offline-capable, low-bandwidth solutions in fragile settings and scalable tools where infrastructure allows. • Fifth, preparing adolescents for an AIenabled world: personalized remedial support, AI-enabled tutoring, and transformed secondary learning pathways that build the capacities young people will need for life and work. UNICEF’s approach to leveraging AI and EdTech is in service of better teaching and stronger systems. These two strategic shifts will be applied across the three programme areas and the crosscutting strategies. Programme Areas Early Childhood and Foundational Learning: Building on evidence of rapid brain development in the first and second thousand days7, UNICEF will promote a continuum of learning and development from birth through adolescence, recognizing early childhood development, care and pre-primary education as integral to achieving foundational learning and lifelong outcomes. UNICEF will support governments to demonstrate and act on the evidence that foundational learning begins at pre-primary, elevate parental engagement, and quality childcare and pre-primary education,

development, care and pre-primary education as integral to achieving foundational learning and lifelong outcomes. UNICEF will support governments to demonstrate and act on the evidence that foundational learning begins at pre-primary, elevate parental engagement, and quality childcare and pre-primary education, advocate for the benchmark of 10 per cent of the public education budget for pre-primary8, and strengthen the capacity of caregivers and early childhood education teachers. UNICEF will intensify support to governments on literacy, numeracy, playful learning and socio-emotional skills as the foundation for BOX 2 Out-of-school Adolescent Girls 87.5 million adolescent girls of secondary school age are not in school. They face barriers of poverty, child marriage, and safety concerns. UNICEF will support governments and community to bring these girls back to learning through tailored pathways, including programs leading to employment, and by removing barriers such as school fees. Keeping girls in school requires safe environments, gender-responsive curricula and pedagogies, access to digital devices, and addressing harmful social norms through collective action with communities, local leaders, and influencers. UNICEF EDUCATION STRATEGY 8all future learning and skills development. Through Foundational Learning 2.0, UNICEF will support evidence-based teaching approaches, including structured pedagogy, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), and other proven methodologies, and digital technologies that meet learners where they are, including, education in emergencies, older children and adolescents who have missed foundational skills. This will include practical, age-appropriate catch-up approaches that connect literacy and numeracy to real-life tasks. UNICEF will also promote strategies that prevent dropout, support re-entry to learning, and strengthen successful transitions from preprimary to primary, and primary to secondary. Central to this UNICEF will support strengthening learning assessment and data systems so that countries can track children’s learning, identify gaps, and make evidence-informed decisions at classroom, district and national levels. UNICEF will

primary to primary, and primary to secondary. Central to this UNICEF will support strengthening learning assessment and data systems so that countries can track children’s learning, identify gaps, and make evidence-informed decisions at classroom, district and national levels. UNICEF will support the development of interoperable, real-time platforms that connect learning data across levels of the system and generate the evidence base for pro-equity budget and policy decisions. UNICEF will also support governments to embed proven foundational learning approaches into national curricula, teacher professional development systems, and education sector plans ensuring that effective classroom practice is reflected in system-level policy and financing.

Secondary Education: Reclaiming the Missing Middle. Secondary education has historically occupied the “missing middle” of the global education architecture, often underfunded relative to both primary and tertiary levels. Only one in six countries is on track to achieve universal secondary completion by 2030, with 40 per cent of adolescents still left behind. As the critical bridge between foundational learning and future employment and civic participation, secondary education demands urgent attention. Systems are transforming, with reforms emphasizing competency-based curricula, transfer