UNESCO and McKinsey launch toolkit for education institutions

UNESCO has launched a Global Education Coalition launches toolkit for education recovery, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company. The toolkit will help policymakers tackle a range of situations; from ensuring that all children can return to school to setting up digitised learning systems, to planning for the potential second wave of Covid-19.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations aimed at contributing "to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. At the height of the pandemic, more than 1.5 billion learners in 192 countries were affected by school closures – something which required a strong response from the group.

With 91% of the world’s student population is suddenly dependent on digital avenues to receive their lessons, UNESCO forged a new coalition of private, public sector and international organisations. Consultants from KPMG, McKinsey & Company and IBM were among the first cohort of private sector coalition members, with the collaboration seeking to support countries in scaling up their best distance learning practices and reaching children and youth who are most at risk.

Following on from this, UNESCO and McKinsey also launched a new toolkit to guide policymakers in their education responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Named ‘Covid-19 response – remote learning strategy: Remote learning strategy as a key element in ensuring continued learning,’ the online toolkit addresses scenarios that span a range of situations; from ensuring that all children return to school to setting up hybrid learning systems, to planning for the potential resurgence of the pandemic.

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini commented, “In the face of the unprecedented disruption in education, we need more practical knowledge to build back stronger and more resilient education systems. This is why UNESCO and McKinsey & Company have come together to develop a structured framework that can serve policy-makers in drawing on lessons learned from this unprecedented period of educational disruption and planning for the future.”

With the toolkit still being updated regularly to ensure it keeps pace with the fast-changing crisis, it currently examines best practices and examples of digital education techniques, as well as a checklists of concrete measures and actions covering five topics. These consist of remote learning strategy; re-enrolment; re-mediation; hybrid learning; and organising for the response. Each topic follows an instinctual sequence, exposing the problem at hand and provides a response framework, including a tactical checklist of actions and case studies for reference.

“McKinsey is proud to collaborate on the development of the toolkit,” said Li-Kai Chen, McKinsey Senior Partner and Global Leader of the Education Practice. “Our aim is to help education system leaders respond to the overwhelming crisis in education caused by the pandemic and provide a practical resource to help guide them as they try to minimize learning loss and support vulnerable learners, while ensuring that students are safe.”