BE² Quarterly July 2025 Newsletter

Upcoming Events

• FLN Academy 3.0 Webinar on EdTech Webinar. The webinar series will be held online on 6^th August 2025 at 8:00am – 9:15am (New York Time). The fifth session of UNICEF’s FLN Academy 3.0 Webinar Series will focus on the role of Education Technology (EdTech) in advancing foundational learning in low- and middle-income countries. Experts will explore what makes EdTech interventions effective, scalable, and sustainable. The session will be held in English with live French interpretation. To register click here.
• From Chalkboards to Chatbots: Educating Adults in the AI Era Webinar – UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL). On 3^rd September 2025, from 13:00 to 14:30 (CET), the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) will host a virtual webinar exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming adult learning. Titled ‘From Chalkboards to Chatbots: Educating Adults in the AI Era’, the session will bring together global experts to examine how emerging technologies can support inclusive, equitable, and sustainable lifelong learning. To register click here.
• UKFIET Conference 2025, 16 – 18 September 2025, Oxford: The 2025 UKFIET Conference will be held at the University of Oxford Examination Schools under the theme “Mobilising knowledge, partnerships, and innovations for sustainable development through education and training.” The conference will bring together global researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how education can be a driver of sustainable development, with an emphasis on inclusive, context-responsive approaches across all levels of learning. The program is now published. For more information, access this link.
• You may be particularly interested in these two sessions at UKFIET: The BE²-led session: How can evidence use be strengthened by applying a systems approach – different initiatives and approaches, including education evidence labs, Thursday 18^th September 2025, 1:30 – 3:00pm (GMT+1). And the GEEAP-led session, which is based on a forthcoming GEEAP presentation: Achieving reading skills that prepare children for sustainable futures – what does evidence-aligned reading instruction tell us? Tuesday 16^th September 2025, 4:00 – 5:30pm (GMT+1).

Useful Resources

• Digital Pathways for Education: Enabling Greater Impact for All – The World Bank Group
• Early childhood education – J-PAL under the FLN Initiative
• Education for climate action: Integrating education into nationally determined contributions – Global Partnership for Education and Save the Children
• Empowering the Workforce in the Context of a Skills-First Approach – OECD
• Fabio Segura in conversation: rethinking how we fund education – Jacobs Foundation
• Learning interrupted – UNICEF
• Refugee education: Five years on from the launch of the 2030 refugee education strategy – UNHCR
• UNESCO sites as partners for Education for Sustainable Development: An implementation guide – UNESCO

Past Events (Note: for some past events, the recording is still forthcoming)

• Leveraging the Potential of the Middle Tier to Improve Education Outcomes – IIEP-UNESCO and Learning Generation Initiative – On 10th July 2025, the IIEP-UNESCO and the Learning Generation Initiative co-hosted a webinar to launch their latest publication, Leveraging the Potential of the Middle Tier to Improve Education Outcomes: The Role of a Capacity Assessment Framework. The session gathered education stakeholders from around the world to examine how the often-overlooked middle tier—district and regional education officers—can drive classroom-level change. Watch the recording here.
• Exploring the Cognitive Impact of AI in Education – MIT Media Lab – On 30th July 2025, the MIT Media Lab hosted an online session examining the cognitive effects of using large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, in educational settings. The session shed light on both the potential and the limitations of AI tools in education, emphasizing the need for thoughtful integration to avoid unintended cognitive costs.

Costas Meghir and Amer Hasan on Early Childhood Development

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the evidence base for early childhood development (ECD), Yale Inclusion Economics (YIE) and the World Bank are spotlighting innovative interventions and insights from global experts. Robust evidence shows that quality ECD investments can significantly improve children’s cognitive, language, and socioemotional development—laying the foundation for long-term gains in education, health, and employment.

In a recent conversation held alongside the “Designing Quality Care: Insights on Advancing Child Development and Women’s Empowerment” conference in New Haven, Costas Meghir (Yale) and Amer Hasan (World Bank) shared key lessons from ECD programs across Kenya and Asia. They emphasized the importance of scaling evidence-based interventions and bridging the gap between research and implementation.

To read more click here.

UNICEF e-course: Introduction to Evidence Co-Creation

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen how evidence informs education policy and practice, UNICEF has launched a new short e-course: Introduction to Evidence Co-Creation. This self-paced course is designed to equip researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with the skills to co-create evidence that is ethical, inclusive, and impactful.

Through practical strategies and real-life case studies, the course explores how to build trust with stakeholders, integrate research into policy processes, and drive sustainable development outcomes. The course is available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, and can be accessed online or via the Agora Offline Player.

Introduction to Evidence Co-Creation is now available on Agora. We encourage BE² members to explore this new resource and apply its tools to their own work. For more information click here