Education research

Without education, people will not have the skills they need to gain employment, improve their health and manage their future. It is an essential tool for empowering people and breaking the cycle of poverty across generations - it improves health, reduces the spread of diseases and has a positive impact on economic growth. 

Evidence suggests that the children of women who are poor and unable to access even basic educational resources, are likely to be as poor and illiterate as their parents. As women constitute a disproportionate number of the world’s poor, educating girls is vital to improving the lives of communities as a whole. DFID is supporting educational research to break this cycle of poverty.   

DFID champions research which changes the way we think about how to deliver education to people who live in difficult environments. We want to understand what are the broader factors in a society that both help and hinder ordinary people’s access to school and learning.  We generate new knowledge that assists governments in poor countries to improve both the quality of education they provide, and its outcomes.

Over the past decade DFID, has funded over 60 education programmes and three large research programme consortia which have explored how to deliver more and better education for all, including:

• The Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty (RECOUP) conducted a five-year research programme during which more children than ever before - particularly those from poor households - moved through schooling and training to become working youths and adults. Its work on aid allocations led to changes in the criteria used to assess the distribution of DFID educational aid. These and other RECOUP results are having an impact on the ways in which policies are being adjusted to improve the outcomes of education, both in partner countries and internationally.
• The Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE), aimed to generate knowledge and insight for improving access to basic education. CREATE’s work in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, South Africa, and the UK has led to findings on how to improve access to education, including by giving school councils and governance structures a say on the issue of children’s rights; making school opening hours flexible; abolishing corporal punishment; and training teachers about child-centred teaching methods and inclusion.
• Implementing Quality Education in Low Income Countries (EdQual) was a partnership of six academic institutions doing research in sub-Saharan Africa where some of the lowest enrolment ratios and achievement rates are to be found. The collaboration worked closely with teachers to develop strategies that work locally. The programme found that good quality education depends on the interaction between policy, the school and the home and community environment. Crucially, nutrition levels, an enabling home environment, and a relevant and inclusive curriculum that suits levels of understanding in the classroom, all have a bearing on whether children achieve quality education.