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The International Science and Evidence based Education (ISEE) Assessment

The International Science and Evidence based Education (ISEE) Assessment contributes to re-envisioning the future of education and feeds into UNESCO's Futures of Education report.

Read the full report Full report in Dutch

An Introduction

UNESCO MGIEP has embarked on the ISEE Assessment to pool expertise on education in an open and inclusive manner and produce a scientifically robust and evidence-based assessment that can inform education policymaking at all levels and scales. The Assessment is being approached using three Working Groups on (1) Human Flourishing, (2) Context and (3) Learning Experience, and a (4) Data and Evidence Group.

Objective of the ISEE Assessment

The overall goal of the ISEE Assessment is to pool the expertise on educational systems and reforms from a range of stakeholders in an open and inclusive manner and undertake a scientifically robust and evidence-based assessment that can inform education policymaking at all levels and scales.

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Concept Note

Given the accelerating demographic, geopolitical, technological and environmental changes and their associated risks and opportunities, there is an increasing consensus today on the need to reorient and repurpose education and rethink the organization of learning to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The ISEE Assessment contributes to re-envisioning the future of education. Download Concept Note for more information.

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Position Paper

The International Scientific and Evidence-based Education (ISEE) Assessment synthesizes knowledge streams generated by different communities and stakeholders at all levels and scales and will thereby essentially contribute to re-envisioning this future of education.

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Research Brief 1: Meaning(s) of Human Flourishing and Education

This short paper provides a definition of human flourishing, education, learning, teaching and student evaluation, more commonly known as student assessment.

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Research Brief 2: A Curriculum for Education in and for Flourishing

This Research Brief presents the fundamental principles that guided the conceptualization and formation of a framework for an educational curriculum in and for flourishing.

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Research Brief 3: Evidence- Based Education

This Research Brief deals with the central question 'What kind of interventions yield best educational outcomes?' and presents the ‘EBE3’ framework for educational researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

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Latest news from The ISEE Assessment

Helping every child maximise their potential through personalised education

BOLD 22 March 2022: A new report from the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), calls personalised education a human right under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The report, “Reimagining education”, also asks policymakers to be guided by science, and to recognise that learning is about both cognition and emotion. Annie Brookman-Byrne finds out more about the opportunities of personalised learning identified in the report and why it’s important how we talk about a child’s “potential”.

Everyone has a right to personalised education, declares UNESCO MGIEP's report

Markets Insider, RESS RELEASE PR Newswire, Mar. 22, 2022, 03:52 AM. The new global International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment (ISEE) report points towards an education that employs a cognitive-emotional approach to learning, and for education policymaking to be guided by science and evidence in the future.

New global study calls for policy-makers to re-evaluate education systems

Business Today, PARIS, March 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Governments, education policymakers and senior decision makers need to recognize that personalised education is an entitlement and a human right for every learner, states the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in its new report "Reimagining Education", released today.

Some glimpses from ISEE Assessment Report Launch in Paris, 22nd March 2022

First Drafting Committee Meeting

The First Drafting Committee Meeting was held in September 2019, in Montreal, with numerous experts from the world-over spanning various fields.

Working Group 2 Meeting

The Working Group 2 Meeting was held in January 2020, in Fukuoka, with numerous experts from the world-over spanning various fields.

Working Groups 1 & 3 Meeting

The joint meeting of Working Groups 1 and 3 was held virtually from May 11 - 14, 2020.

Advisory Board Meeting

The first Advisory Board Meeting was held virtually on July 17, 2020.

Students – Natural Resources to be Extracted with Care

An interview with Peje Emilsson, Member, Advisory Board, ISEE Assessment

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Report launch

The ISEE Assessment Report will be launched on 22nd March 2022 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Read full report

ISEEA Structure

Advisory Board

View detailed profiles of all members

Mme Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Former Minister of Education, France

Advisory Board Co-Chair

Sir Kevan Collins, Chair, Youth Endowment Fund, UK

Advisory Board Co-Chair

Rémi Quirion, First Chief Scientist of Quebec

Advisory Board Member

Roza Otunbayeva, Former President of Kyrgyzstan

Advisory Board Member

Peje Emilsson, Founder, Kunskapsskolan Education Sweden AB

Advisory Board Member

Nienke van Atteveldt, Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Advisory Board Member (Ex-Officio)

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Associate Professor of Education and Psychology, University of Southern California, USA

Advisory Board Member

Anantha Duraiappah, Director, UNESCO MGIEP

Advisory Board Member (Ex-Officio)

Assessment Co-Chairs

Anantha K. Duraiappah

Director, UNESCO MGIEP

Anantha Duraiappah took the position as inaugural Director of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) based in New Delhi, India in 2014. A science-policy pacesetter, with over 33 years’ experience, he now plays a key role in positioning UNESCO MGIEP as a leading research institute on education for peace, sustainable development and global citizenship.

Nienke van Atteveldt

Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nienke van Atteveldt received her PhD (cum laude) in cognitive neuroscience from Maastricht University in 2006. After diverse postdoctoral research positions, e.g. at Columbia University in New York (2008-2011), she currently works as associate professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam where she leads the Lab of Learning (www.laboflearning.com). Her lab investigates the developmental interplay between students’ academic self‐concept, their functional brain networks (e.g. for error and feedback processing), and their learning trajectories and well‐being in school. Moreover, they investigate how neuroscience interacts with society, and how we can optimize the educational value of developmental cognitive neuroscience research.

Working Group 1 Co-Chairs (Human Flourishing)

Nandini Chatterjee Singh

Senior National Program Officer

Nandini Chatterjee Singh is a cognitive neuroscientist and leads Rethinking Learning at UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development) in New Delhi, India. She seeks to reimagine education for whole brain learning and ensure holistic development. She designs courses that combine social and emotional learning with cognition using interactive pedagogies such as digital games, and digital dialogue. Nandini also conducts cross-cultural research to assess the efficacy of these courses in cultivating emotional resilience.

Oren Ergas

Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Beit Berl College, Israel

Oren Ergas' (Phd) research focuses on philosophical, sociological, and psychological aspects of contemplative practice (focusing on mindfulness) in education. This includes mapping the development of this curricular discourse and its relation to social-emotional learning, exploring its philosophical underpinnings based on West/East philosophy of education, and explaining the pedagogical mechanisms of contemplative practices based on psychology and neuroscience. Dr. Ergas's work has been published widely in various peer-reviewed journals, including Mind, Brain and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Journal of Curriculum Studies, Mindfulness, and Critical Studies in Education. He has recently published a mapping of the 447 peer-reviewed papers published on mindfulness in education from 2002 to 2017 (Review of Education) and his book Reconstructing 'Education' through Mindful Attention: Positioning the Mind at the Center of Curriculum and Pedagogy was published in Palgrave in 2017.

Tal Gilead

Tal Gilead is a senior lecturer at the Seymour Fox School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on philosophical dimensions of educational policy with an emphasis on its relationship to economic thought and complexity theory.

Working Group 2 Co-Chairs (Context)

Edward Vickers

Professor - Comparative Education, Kyushu University, Japan

Edward Vickers is Professor of Comparative Education at Kyushu University, Fukuoka (Japan), where he moved in 2012 after almost a decade at the Institute of Education in London. At Kyushu University, he heads the new Taiwan Studies Program (launched in October 2017), and is involved in coordinating work in interdisciplinary Asian Studies. He is Secretary-General of the Comparative Education Society of Asia.

Kenneth R. Pugh

President and Director of Research, Haskins Laboratories, USA

Dr. Pugh is the President and Director of Research at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale University and University of Connecticut affiliated inter-disciplinary institute, dedicated to the investigation of the biological bases of language.

Find more about Kenneth

Latika Gupta

Assistant Professor, Delhi University's Central Institute of Education

Latika Gupta has been teaching educational theory and pedagogy courses at Delhi University’s Central Institute of Education for the last 18 years. She is a bilingual writer, and has previously worked for the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), contributing to the development of social and political life textbooks for the upper-primary grades. At the NCERT, she also developed a Graded Reading Series for the children of initial primary grades to learn to read Hindi. The series is a collection of 40 originally written stories in a graded format. She was a Fulbright Fellow to University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has served on various committees of the Government of India and state governments to reform school education and teacher education. Her areas of interest are cultural identities and their implications for education and development of pedagogic material for school children.

The International Science and Evidence based Education (ISEE) Assessment

The International Science and Evidence based Education (ISEE) Assessment contributes to re-envisioning the future of education and feeds into UNESCO's Futures of Education report.

Read the full report

Working Group 3 Co-Chairs (Learning Experience)

Stanley T. Asah

Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management, University of Washington, USA

Stanley T. Asah currently works at the School for Resource & Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, USA. He is Editor-In-Chief of Environment and Behavior. Prior to this, he served as Associate Professor, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Here, Stanley did research in Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management and Conservation. He has used various sub disciplines in Psychology such as the Psychology of Persuasion, Cognitive Psychology, Political Psychology, Occupational & Organizational Psychology, and Communication and Media to study conservation problems and support efforts aimed at promoting pro-environmental behaviors and sustainability.

Gregoire Borst

Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education, LaPsyDE, France

Gregoire is a full Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education at the University Paris Descartes. He is the Adjunct Director of the Laboratory for the study of Child Development and Education (CNRS), a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France, the President of the Association of Research on Neuroeducation and a member of the group of experts on the protection of young audiences at the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA). He obtained is PhD in Cognitive Science in 2005 at the University Paris-Sud.

Find more about Gregoire

Stephanie Budgen

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Stephanie Bugden is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Canada. Prior to this, she was a Post-doctoral Fellow, Psychology Department, University of Pennsylvania, USA. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Western University, Canada. Her research integrates behavioural methods and functional neuroimaging to examine basic cognitive and neural mechanisms important for numerical and math learning in typically developing children, and whether they differ in children with mathematical learning disabilities. Her work also involves testing the efficacy of screening tools that can be used to identify children at risk for developing math learning difficulties, as well as how engaging children in math games improves learning.

Data and Evidence Co-Chairs

Stephen Fraser

Deputy Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), UK

Stephen Fraser is Deputy Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), an independent English charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Stephen has spent the majority of his working life in the Australian education system, where he has held a number of senior policy and delivery roles in Victoria. He led the development of the Australian version of the Teaching and Learning Toolkit, and has worked as a senior advisor to the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, as Executive Director of the Department of Education and Training’s Implementation Division and as Regional Director for the South Western Victoria Region.

Julien Mercier

Director of NeuroLab (FCI) at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada

Julien Mercier is the Director of NeuroLab (FCI) at the University of Quebec in Montreal. His career is based on the optimization of human interaction in the service of learning. Specialized in applied cognitive science, he understands the human being as an "architecture" that works through psychophysiological, cognitive and social-cognitive processes that have dynamic links between them. Overall, his research has contributed to the understanding of the opportunities and limits of the learner when he/she is placed, individually or as a team, in learning situations involving complex processes supported by complex knowledge in the areas of statistics, reading and physics. These learning contexts involved, from time to time, the use of educational technologies.

Secretariat

Shailly Gupta

Associate Programme Coordinator, ISEE Assessment

Shailly is widely travelled and has prior professional experience in research and project management roles at international organisations such as the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Brookings India and UNESCAP. Shailly holds a Master of Education in International Education Policy from Harvard University and Master of Public Administration from Cornell University. Her interests include education for sustainable development and resilience, writing fiction, swimming and playing golf.

Kriti Singh

Research Officer

Kriti is a woman of eclectic interests and is a determined champion for gender equality. She actively contributes to research projects, op-eds, and publications of the institute. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Delhi University and a double Master’s degree in Economics from State University of New York at Buffalo and University of Calcutta. She is a budding researcher with interests in gender inequalities in STEM, educational policy, and aims to work across the realms of economics and education to build a more equitable, peaceful and sustainable world.

Partner with US!

If you are an educator, academic or policymaker interested in the ISEE Assessment and would like to collaborate, write to iseea@unesco.org