4th Priority: Improved governance, transparency, and accountability

 



Our 10th Medium-Term Strategy has five pillars that influence all areas of the Institute’s work and serve as guiding principles in implementing our mission. The five thematic areas are social inequalities, learning outcomes, education system resilience, governance and accountability, and education financing. Discover all of them in our strategy!

The chief governance challenges in education may be said to arise from weaknesses in inclusiveness (democratic governance), fairness (equitable governance), and public accountability (transparent governance). Good governance, transparency, and accountability are regarded today as important factors for meeting international education goals.

While recognizing the importance of stronger accountability, the proper balance must be sought between accountability and respect for professional autonomy. In order for governance reforms to succeed, they must address the lack of both professional development and social recognition for education public administrators, including teachers.

IIEP has produced pioneering work on governance, transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures in education. Its publications have addressed a range of related topics, including decentralized governance, quality assurance,
especially at the higher education level, and policies and tools for transparency such as integrity assessments, school report cards, and codes of conduct for teachers. This work has engaged IIEP with non-traditional partners  for  research, 
teaching, and technical assistance, such as the European Union’s Tempus programme, the Council of Europe, and Transparency International. The strong demand for IIEP’s expertise in these areas comes from countries at all levels of development, including large emerging economies. In the 10th MTS, the Institute will promote continued use of its tools, guidelines, and training courses, and initiate new research.

New technologies for information sharing offer governments fresh  ways  to  respond  to  demands  for  greater transparency and accountability, and may also lead to a redrawing of citizen–government boundaries. A new study  will  assess  
open government initiatives (e.g. open budgets, e-service delivery, and social audits), their equity implications, and how to integrate them into the education policy and planning cycle.

In the higher education sub-sector, the next generation of policy research will likely explore the implications of the new emphasis on lifelong learning for the diversification of higher education systems.

Key interventions

  • Conduct research on open government initiatives in the education sector to inform policy design and implementation, with attention to equity.
  • Provide training on decentralization and enhanced governance in basic education, including participatory planning.
  • Support more effective public administration through analysis and capacity development plans.
  • Conduct research on the implications of the lifelong learning context for higher education systems.
  • Promote the use of existing tools and guidelines to support transparency and improved governance.