Policy efforts to meet UNESCO’s Sustainable development Goal 4: A 3-pronged approach

ABSTRACT

Governments around the globe have realised that meeting UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education requires meaningful changes to policy and practice. There are numerous ways localities have attempted to do so: policies aimed at intentional hiring of more diverse teachers, policies requiring professional development for current teachers, and including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as part of pre-service preparation programmes. In this paper we argue that each of these is necessary, but none is sufficient on its own, to move the needle towards SDG4. Policy implementation literature suggests the importance of the social dimension of those tasked with implementing new policies, which guides our argument for how policies can move from aspirational to enacted. We offer examples of policies and practices at each of these three inflexion points for change (pre-service, hiring, and in-service), with implications for teacher education in other contexts working to create truly inclusive, equitable schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy implementation
• DEI
• teacher education
• sustainable development goal4

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.