Project overview
To meet the fourth sustainable development goal (SDG4) on quality and inclusive education for all, education systems around the world have increasingly focused on the improvement of governance, a task that is more challenging than expanding inputs and infrastructure as a means to universalise school access and student enrolment decades earlier. This has understandably stimulated a growing interest, from scholars and policymakers alike, in scouting for lessons from high-performing education systems (HPESs): systems whose students have consistently achieved excellent results in internationally comparable tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Nevertheless, usable knowledge that can offer clear and more pertinent guidance to administrative and governance practices remains largely wanting from this emerging literature.
This research proposes to close these gaps by bringing together more closely the literature on policy design and especially policy instruments and that of comparative education. Scrutinising Estonia as a puzzling example of HPES given its modest resource levels and political leadership, factors that are identified by the existing literature as conducive to HPESs’ success, the project seeks to shed light on what drives the system’s high performance through the analytical lens of policy instruments. More specifically, it aims to fulfil three interrelated objectives:
• To generate a comprehensive picture of the informational, regulatory, financial and organisational policy instruments deployed in Estonia’s education system, and how they are integrated into an effective policy mix.
• To theorise how different categories of policy tools (substantive versus procedural, primary versus secondary) interact with one another and work together in shaping policy effectiveness for educational governance.
• To provide policy recommendations that can help initiate and sustain good performance of education systems through the design and synergised use of appropriate policy instruments.
This research proposes to close these gaps by bringing together more closely the literature on policy design and especially policy instruments and that of comparative education. Scrutinising Estonia as a puzzling example of HPES given its modest resource levels and political leadership, factors that are identified by the existing literature as conducive to HPESs’ success, the project seeks to shed light on what drives the system’s high performance through the analytical lens of policy instruments. More specifically, it aims to fulfil three interrelated objectives:
• To generate a comprehensive picture of the informational, regulatory, financial and organisational policy instruments deployed in Estonia’s education system, and how they are integrated into an effective policy mix.
• To theorise how different categories of policy tools (substantive versus procedural, primary versus secondary) interact with one another and work together in shaping policy effectiveness for educational governance.
• To provide policy recommendations that can help initiate and sustain good performance of education systems through the design and synergised use of appropriate policy instruments.
