Bridging Research and Policy on Education and its Enabling Environment

For 25 years within the World Bank, and increasingly within other multilateral and bilateral agencies, and international NGOs, education - and particularly primary education - have been held to have a powerful relationship with many other development outcomes, and, through these, with the reduction of poverty more generally. The positive developmental outcomes of basic education (e.g. agricultural productivity, healthier and smaller families, and decent work) are sometimes cited as self-evident, with the research underpinning these arguments being influential in both the recent EFA Global Monitoring Reports, and, arguably, the two Education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This workshop proposes to debate the way in which such research on the links between education, poverty reduction and growth has been transformed into policy; and to question some of the processes of research presentation which have been perpetuated over time within policies such as those aimed at achieving the MDGs. What is selected from the research findings, as well as what is omitted, may be crucially important.

A 20-minute presentation by researchers from the University of Edinburgh (Kenneth King and Rachel Hayman) will be followed by 15-minute reactions from:

• Desmond Bermingham of DFID
• Kevin Watkins (formerly of Oxfam)

Then the floor will be opened for 25 minutes of discussion, questions
and answers. The panel will be chaired by Kenneth King.

A briefing paper of the presentation will be available to all panellists and possible participants by mid-October (available here on the website).

Documents to be downloaded:

Bridging Research and Policy on Education and its Enabling Environments, Kenneth King, Rob Palmer and Rachel Hayman

Page last updated: 1 November 2004