Investing in education 2024 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Education,Youth,Sport and Culture Directorate A Policy Strategy and Evaluation Unit A.4 Evidence-Based Policy and Evaluation Contact:Marco Montanari E-mail:eac-unite-a4ec.europa.euEuropean Commission B-1049 BrusselsEUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Education,Youth,Sport and Culture 2024 EN Investing in education 2024 Manuscript completed in June 2024 Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union,2024 European Union,2024 The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented by the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents(OJ L 330,14.12.2011,p.39).Unless otherwise noted,the reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International(CC-BY 4.0)licence(https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated.For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the European Union,permission may need to be sought directly from the respective rightholders.CREDITS:Images:European Union,2024 Artwork source:I Print ISBN 978-92-68-15414-4 doi 10.2766/948688 NC-09-24-266-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-68-15415-1 doi 10.2766/969920 NC-09-24-266-EN-N 5 Foreword Investment in education has not recovered since the Covid-19 pandemic.According to the latest data from 2022,presented in this report,the average share of public expenditure invested in education across the EU has declined steeply compared to the pre-pandemic period.Addressing the current range of economic and social challenges facing the EU-including the digital and green transitions and the geopolitical issues-requires major public investment across various sectors while at the same time keeping public finances under control.This leads to increasing competition for public funding among the various policy areas,with the potential risk of lower funding for education in future years.The European Commissions European Semester Spring Package 2024 highlights the importance of human capital in enhancing productivity and growth.The Commission has issued recommendations for 18 EU Member States,that emphasise the need to boost basic skills,to strengthen the teaching profession and to improve the performance and fairness of education systems.Given the EUs reliance on highly skilled young people to bolster its future innovation potential,competitiveness and social cohesion,maintaining adequate investment in education is imperative.This report aims to draw policymakers attention to the importance of education,as they prepare annual national budgets.Making an effective case for investing in education also entails improving the overall quality of public spending in this sector.To this end,the Commission is collaborating with EU countries through the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training to better understand“what works”.Innovative research funded by the EU research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe is exploring the effectiveness,efficiency and equity of education systems,providing valuable insights for policymakers to help refine their investment strategies.As part of the EUs response to the pandemic,the Recovery and Resilience Facility has made available 75 billion for investment in education and skills for the period 2021-26.The full impact of these investments will be evaluated in future editions of this report.These investments are at the same time expected to support major reforms in several Member States.They are complemented by substantial contributions from EU cohesion policy funding.While the design and governance of education systems remain a national competence,the European Commission is committed to supporting EU countries in their reform and investment efforts.By working together with the Member States under the European Education Area framework,we intend to make the most of all funding opportunities in the coming years.Only through this collective effort can we ensure that the resources invested in education create new opportunities and maximise learning outcomes and inclusion for all young Europeans.Iliana Ivanova European Commissioner for Innovation,Research,Culture,Education and Youth7 Executive summary The most recent data(2022)confirms that investment in education seems to face a stronger competition from other public functions after the pandemic and consequently gets a lower share of total public expenditure than in the 2010s.In 2022,the EU-average public expenditure on education reached 4.7%of GDP and 9.5%of total public expenditure.Public expenditure on education seems to have broadly stabilised in the EU,both as a share of GDP and of total public expenditure.The former spiked in 2020 due to a strong GDP contraction,then it reverted to its pre-pandemic trend.The latter had declined from 10.1%in 2019 to 9.4%in 2020 during the Covid-induced recession and remained roughly constant in 2021 and 2022,albeit at historically low levels.Overall,investment in education experienced one of the largest drops as a share of total public expenditure between 2019 and 2022 among the various public policy sectors(-0.6 percentage points).Although part of the social and economic measures taken in 2020-2021 to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic were discontinued or gradually phased out in 2022,new measures were introduced to face the energy crisis and support Ukraine in the wake of Russias invasion.The Recovery and Resilience Facility,Cohesion Policy funding and the new EU economic governance framework offer opportunities for quality investment in education.Member States are using EU funds to support comprehensive curricular reforms,develop students digital competences,reinforce education in science,technology,engineering and mathematics,enhance educational infrastructure and strengthen teachers professional development.The reform of the EU economic governance framework provides for a more gradual fiscal adjustment for a Member State in case of specific growth-enhancing reform and investment commitments.Moreover,the European Commission is supporting Member States through the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training,by providing knowledge and resources to identify how to make education systems more effective and efficient.See also the online annex with the most comprehensive review about the use of counterfactual methods in educational research in Europe so far(bibliographical list of the 984 studies with their details See Part 2 for more information)Part 1 Investment in education faces increased competition for public funding Investing in Education 2024 10 Part 1:Investment in education faces increased competition for public funding The first part of this report analyses the most recent data1 on investment in education(2022),2 together with long-term trends.2022 marked the exit from the Covid-19-related measures for EU education systems.No EU country experienced full or partial physical school closures anymore(UNESCO,2022).3 At the same time,both research at national level(De Witte and Franois,2023;Di Pietro,2023;Maldonado et al.,2024)and the results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA)2022(OECD,2023;European Commission,2024e)have shown that learning outcomes remained below pre-pandemic levels in most countries.Public expenditure on education in the EU amounted to 9.5%of total public expenditure and 4.7%of GDP in 2022.At country level,the former varies from 14.6%in Estonia to 7.2%in Italy;the latter ranges from 6.3%in Belgium and Sweden to 2.7%in Ireland(Figure 1).4 The correlation between these two indicators is positive,but not perfect.5 This depends on the different size of total public expenditure in each economy,6 reflecting the variety of long-term approaches to welfare in EU countries.In 2022 it was still too early for any visible impact of the Recovery and Resilience Facility(RRF)or the 2021-2027 EU Cohesion funds on actual investment in education.The RRF has allocated around 75 billion between 2021 and 2026 to reforms and investment in education and skills in Member States(European Commission,2023b).The EU Cohesion Policy has allocated 33 billion to education between 2021 and 2027(European Commission,2024e).7 Figure 1.Public expenditure on education(2022)Notes:Provisional data for BE,DE,ES,FR,PT.See footnote 4 for IE.Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.1Eurostat releases data on government expenditure by function(COFOG)for year t in late February/early March of year t 2.The most recent data available in 2024 refers to 2022.2This report will use investment in education interchangeably with public expenditure on education.3Except for the first week of January in Poland(UNESCO,2022).4The low value of this indicator for Ireland(2.7%)is explained by the specific structure of the Irish economy.In most countries,GDP and Gross National Product(GNP)are very close in value,but in Ireland GDP is larger than GNP because of negative net factor income:income outflows are much larger than income inflows due to the presence of many foreign-owned multinational firms,which pay their profits back to their owners abroad(Central Statistics Office,2024).Consequently,public expenditure on education as a share of GNP would be higher than as a share of GDP.5The Pearson correlation coefficient r equals 0.53.6The mathematical relationship between the two indicators is expressed as:(expenditure on education/GDP)=(expenditure on education/total expenditure)*(total expenditure/GDP).7Member States are using EU funds to support comprehensive curricular reforms,develop students digital competences,reinforce education in science,technology,engineering and mathematics,enhance educational infrastructure and strengthen teachers professional development(European Commission,2024e).0246810121416EE LT SE CY LV MT IE SI BE DK NL CZ HR LU SK PL HU FI PT EU BG ES DE FR AT RO EL IT%of total public expenditure%of GDP11 Public expenditure on education seems to have broadly stabilised in the EU,both as a share of total public expenditure and of GDP.The former had declined from 10.1%in 2019 to 9.4%in 2020 during the Covid-induced recession and remained roughly constant in 2021 and 2022,albeit at historically low levels.The latter spiked in 2020 due to a strong GDP contraction(European Commission,2022),then it reverted to its pre-pandemic trend(Figure 2).Figure 2.Public expenditure on education as a share of total public expenditure and of GDP in the EU-27(2007-2022)Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.Education represents a smaller share of total public expenditure than before the Covid-19 pandemic.Figure 3 explains how the structure of total public expenditure changed between 2019 and 2022.Economic affairs jumped by 2.3 percentage points.The government measures to mitigate the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic(e.g.subsidies to support the various productive sectors affected by Covid-related restrictions)caused the strong increases observed in 2020 and 2021.In 2022,the financial impact of those measures was significantly reduced,but new measures to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices on productive sectors partly compensated that decrease(European Commission,2024a).Among other larger expenditure functions,8 only Health increased its share,because of the response to new public health needs during and after the pandemic(European Commission,2024b).Thus,most other expenditure functions saw their share declining,and education experienced one of the largest drops(-0.6 percentage points).8The increase in Housing and community amenities from 1.2%of total public expenditure in 2019 to 2.0%in 2022 mostly depends on investment grants to households classified as payable tax credits in Italy(European Commission,2024c).4,04,55,05,56,06,58,08,59,09,510,010,52007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022%of total public expenditure(left-hand scale)%of GDP(right-hand scale)Investing in Education 2024 12 Part 1:Investment in education faces increased competition for public funding Figure 3.Public expenditure by function(2019-2022)Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.In 2022,public expenditure on education increased considerably in most EU countries in nominal terms,but not after accounting for increases in price levels.The variation at current prices(i.e.in nominal terms)reached 6.1%at EU level,with peaks above 10%in Lithuania,Hungary,Romania,Slovakia,Estonia and Belgium.However,due to the sharp price increases recorded in 2022,the EU average at constant prices(i.e.in real terms)decreased by 0.7%,with 10 Member States experiencing a decline in this indicator(Figure 4).9 Taking a long-term perspective,Figure 5 shows that between 2007(the last year before the Great Recession)and 2022,nominal public expenditure on education in the EU rose by almost 50%,recording an increase in all years but 2012.Real expenditure grew by around 10%over the same period,although with year-on-year declines in 2011,2012,2020 and 2022.Figure 4.Year-on-year change in public expenditure on education(2022)Notes:Provisional data for BE,DE,ES,FR,PT.Real values are expressed at 2015 constant prices in national currencies by using the price deflator for collective consumption expenditure of general government.Source:European Commission services calculations based on Eurostat COFOG data and AMECO data.9This report uses the price deflator for collective consumption expenditure of general government to convert public expenditure on education from current prices to 2015 constant prices.At EU level,this price deflator increased by 6.8%in 2022 compared with 2.5%in 2021 and 2.2%in 2020.20192020202120222019-2022%of total%of total%of total%of totalpercentage point changeEconomic affairs9.511.512.211.82.3Housing and community amenities1.21.21.72.00.8Health15.015.115.715.50.5Defence2.62.52.52.60.0Environmental protection1.71.61.61.6-0.1Public order and safety3.63.43.43.4-0.2Recreation,culture and religion2.52.32.32.3-0.2General public services12.411.511.612.1-0.3Education10.19.49.49.5-0.6Social protection41.441.439.739.2-2.2-50510152025LT HU RO SK EE BE NL PL BG HR CZ IE LV CY IT LU AT EU SI MT DE ES EL FR FI SE PT DK%NominalReal13 Figure 5.Evolution of nominal and real public expenditure on education in the EU-27(index 2007=100)Notes:Real values are expressed at 2015 constant prices by using the price deflator for collective consumption expenditure of general government.Source:European Commission services calculations based on Eurostat COFOG data and AMECO data.The bulk of public expenditure goes to school education.In 2022,school education received more than 70%of public expenditure on education at EU level.This is roughly equal split between,on the one hand,pre-primary and primary levels(34%)and,on the other hand,secondary level(37%),while tertiary education accounted for 17%of public expenditure.Those shares remained largely stable between 2019 and 2022(European Commission,2022;European Commission,2023c).The EU averages mask large differences among Member States(Figure 6).Those differences can be explained by many factors:level of involvement of the general government in the education system;enrolment;the duration of compulsory education;relative wages in the education sector;class size and student teacher ratios;instruction time;and the cost of teaching materials and facilities.At tertiary level,tuition fees and support for students are also determining factors.Figure 6.Distribution of public expenditure on education by educational level(2022)Notes:Provisional data for BE,DE,ES,FR,PT.Secondary education also includes expenditure on post-secondary non-tertiary education.Other is the sum of the following items:education not definable by level,subsidiary services to education,R&D education and education not elsewhere classified.Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.1001101201301401502007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022NominalReal0 0Pp0%EU BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR HR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SEPre-primary and primary educationSecondary educationTertiary educationOtherInvesting in Education 2024 14 Part 1:Investment in education faces increased competition for public funding Staff costs account for almost two-thirds of public expenditure.64%of public expenditure on education at EU level went to compensation of employees(i.e.wages and non-wage costs such as employers social contributions).Intermediate consumption(i.e.purchases of non-durable goods,such as teaching materials,and services needed to provide education,such as heating,electricity,cleaning and maintenance services)received 13%of expenditure.Gross capital formation(i.e.investment in acquiring fixed assets and durable goods,such as computers and buildings,and also including the depreciation of fixed assets)accounted for 8%of expenditure(Figure 7).Those shares remained largely stable between 2019 and 2022(European Commission,2022;European Commission,2023c).Figure 7.Distribution of public expenditure on education by category(2022)Notes:Provisional data for BE,DE,ES,FR,PT.Other is the sum of the following items:subsidies,other taxes on production,property income,social benefits,other current transfers,capital transfers.Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.A new pattern in investment in education is emerging against the backdrop of increased competition for public funding.2022 data on investment in education confirm the early signs of an emerging pattern that had appeared in 2021(European Commission,2023c).While the share of GDP invested in education reverted to its pre-Covid trend,the share of public expenditure invested in education remained almost as low as in 2020 and 2021.In other words,expenditure on education is following GDP developments but seems to face a stronger competition from other public functions,and consequently gets a lower share of total public expenditure than in the 2010s.Although part of the measures taken in 2020-2021 to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in the areas of economic affairs and health were discontinued or gradually phased out in 2022,new measures were introduced to face the energy crisis and support Ukraine in the wake of Russias invasion.Probably only in 2026,when expenditure data up to 2024 will be available,it will be possible to fully assess if a new composition of public expenditure in the EU has emerged out of the recent crises and what effects this may have on investment in education.Looking ahead,the new EU economic governance framework offers an opportunity for quality investment in education.In 2020-2023,Member States benefitted from a more flexible application of the EU fiscal rules,because the Commission had activated the so-called general escape clause of the Stability and 0 0Pp0%EU BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR HR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SECompensation of employeesIntermediate consumptionGross capital formationOther15 Growth Pact.10 This has given EU countries more room for using public expenditure,including on education,to tackle the economic effects of the pandemic.The Commission deactivated the clause at the end of 2023 because the EU economy was back to normal conditions(European Commission,2023a).The reform of the EU economic governance framework adopted by the Council and European Parliament in April 2024(European Parliament and Council of the European Union,2024,Articles 13-14)provides for a more gradual fiscal adjustment for a Member State in case of specific reform and investment commitments.11 The set of reforms and investments should fulfil several criteria,including:being growth-and resilience-enhancing;supporting fiscal sustainability;addressing common EU priorities(the most relevant for education being“social and economicresilience,including the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights”and“digital transition”)and relevant European Semester country-specific recommendations.The research literature linking education and economic growth shows that skill formation is among the key drivers of sustainable economic growth and resilience,because it enhances the stock and quality of human capital(Valero,2021;European Commission,2024e).12 While it is still too early to provide a full assessment of what the new rules will imply,they clearly set quality standards for national public expenditure to qualify for a more gradual fiscal adjustment.Ensuring effectiveness and efficiency13 will be the best way for investment in education to meet those criteria and seize the opportunity offered by the new EU framework.10The Stability and Growth Pact is a set of rules designed to ensure that EU countries pursue sound public finances and coordinate their fiscal policies.The general escape clause implies that,in a period of severe economic downturn for the whole EU,Member States can temporarily deviate from their medium-term budgetary objectives(European Commission 2020).11i.e.up to 7 years instead of 4 years to fulfil fiscal criteria in exchange for specific set of reform and investmentcommitments.12 For instance,Hanushek and Woessmann(2015)develop an aggregate measure of basic skills for 50 countries from various international tests of mathematics and science between 1964 and 2003.They call this measure the“knowledge capital of nations”.It relies on the average standardised test scores from each countrys historical participation in the tests,interpreted as a proxy for the average skills of the whole labour force.The growth model combines these skill measures with the average years of school attainment and the initial level of GDP in each country to explain the average annual growth rate in real per-capita GDP between 1960-2000.The authors find a strong relationship between basic skills and economic growth:a one-standard-deviation rise in student attainment is associated with a 1.7-2 percentage point increase in annual GDP growth rates.13Effectiveness refers to the ability to provide good educational outcomes,by making the most of the available human and physical resources.Efficiency adds a financial dimension to the analysis of effectiveness and refers to the ability to provide the desired educational outcomes at the lowest possible cost.See European Commission(2023c)for a methodological discussion about effectiveness and efficiency of investment in education.Part 2 Counterfactual education policy evaluation in Europe:the state of play Investing in Education 2024 18 Part 2:Counterfactual education policy evaluation in Europe:the state of play The case for counterfactual impact evaluation is based on the need to collect evidence and determine whether policy measures have been effective and financial resources have been used efficiently.The relationship between investment in education and learning outcomes is complex and there is no optimal level of investment in education.An increase in expenditure is associated with better scores in international tests,but the relationship is not linear and becomes weaker at higher levels of expenditure(European Commission,2023c).As there is no guarantee that increasing public spending automatically yields better results,identifying the causal effect of policy measures is key for assessing their effectiveness and efficiency.Counterfactual policy evaluation involves comparing the outcomes of interest of those having benefitted from a policy or programme(the“treated group”)with those of a group similar in all respects to the treatment group(the“control group”),the only difference being that the control group has not been exposed to the policy or programme.The control group provides information on the counterfactual case,i.e.what would have happened to the members subject to the intervention had they not been exposed to it.Counterfactual methods allow researchers to provide a causal interpretation of their findings.Part 2 of this report will look at the state of play with the use of this evaluation approach in education in Europe,14 by presenting indicators based on a novel dataset with information on the studies published in recent years.The dataset only includes studies meeting five specific criteria:1)They assess the impact of an education policy measure,an educational programme or a structural aspectof an education systems;2)They apply a methodology able to identify the causal effects,i.e.they must either present the results of arandomised experiment15 or apply one of the following quasi-experimental counterfactual approaches16:difference-in-differences,regression discontinuity design,matching methods,instrumental variables17;3)They cover at least one European Economic Area country,i.e.EU Member States plus Norway,Iceland andLiechtenstein;4)They are fairly recent to make sure their findings are still relevant,i.e.only studies published between 2010and 2023 were selected.5)They have been published in a peer-reviewed journal,or in a working paper series,or in a book/report.Thisexcludes unpublished manuscripts,draft studies and papers presented at a conference.14In this report,the term Europe refers to the European Economic Area,i.e.EU Member States plus Norway,Iceland and Liechtenstein.15Randomised experiments are a type of study design used in research,particularly in the fields of medicine,social sciences,and economics,to assess the causal effects of interventions or treatments.In a randomised experiment,participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group.Random assignment ensures that each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to either group,minimizing the risk of systematic differences between the groups at baseline.The treatment group receives the intervention or treatment being studied,while the control group does not.Both groups are then monitored to measure the outcomes of interest.By comparing the outcomes between the treatment and control groups,researchers can assess the causal effect of the intervention or treatment.Any differences observed between the groups are attributed to the treatment,assuming that random assignment has effectively controlled for confounding variables.This makes randomized experiments a powerful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions.16Unlike true experiments,where participants are randomly assigned to different groups,quasi-experiments involve the observation of naturally occurring groups or conditions.This means that the researcher does not have control over the assignment of participants.In the context of quasi-experimental methods,a counterfactual refers to the unobserved outcome that would have occurred in the absence of the intervention or treatment being studied.17Difference-in-Differences:This method compares the changes in outcomes over time between a treatment group and a control group.By examining the differences in trends,researchers try to isolate the effect of the treatment from other factors.Regression Discontinuity Design(RDD):RDD is used when participants are assigned to treatment or control groups based on a cutoff score or threshold.The assumption is that those just above or below the threshold are similar in all relevant respects,except for their assignment to treatment.Matching methods:they involve identifying a comparison group that is similar to the treatment group in terms of observable characteristics.This method helps reduce selection bias.Instrumental Variables(IV):IV involves finding a variable(the instrument)that is correlated with the treatment but not directly related to the outcome.This allows researchers to isolate the causal effect of the treatment.19 Although the dataset cannot claim to include all possibly existing studies,it is the most comprehensive review about the use of counterfactual methods in educational research in Europe so far.The search procedure identified 984 studies meeting all the five criteria.18 Then the studies were coded according to a series of features(year of publication,method,geographical coverage,educational level,policy area)and constituted the final dataset.The bibliographical list of the 984 studies with their details are available as an online Annex.CLOSE-UP The 17 policy areas identified in this report Policy area Description Assessment methods All kinds of student assessment and teaching staff assessment Career guidance All kinds of support provided to students when choosing their educational trajectory Competences and skills All kinds of measures to improve competences and skills of students and teaching staff Digital tools All uses of digital tools in education Disadvantaged students All kinds of measures focusing on:students from a low socio-economic background,students with special educational needs,disadvantaged minorities Education drop-out/completion/participation All kinds of measures to reduce early leaving from education and training,increase completion and participation at all levels of education,from early childhood education and care to tertiary education Educational infrastructure All kinds of measures to improve the quality and quantity of educational infrastructure Education-to-work transition All kinds of measures to promote a smooth transition from education and training to the labour market Institutional aspects of education system The effects of the institutional characteristics of an education system,e.g.class and school size,length of compulsory education,curricula,instruction time International mobility All kinds of measures to promote student and teaching staff mobility Long-term effects of education The social and economic effects of the quantity and quality of education in the long term(e.g.on health,crime,labour market outcomes,economic growth)Migrant students All kinds of measures focusing on students with a migrant background Private education The effects of private provision of education,at all educational levels Teaching profession All kinds of measures concerning initial teacher education and continuing professional development Tracking The effects of student tracking in secondary and tertiary general education and vocational education and training Tuition fees/Financial support All kinds of financial measures related to student fee and support systems Well-being All kind of measures to promote the well-being of students and teaching staff 18The search was carried out through the Google Scholar electronic database and employed keywords based on the following structure:“method AND education AND(student OR teacher)AND(school*OR universit*)AND country list”,where method is one of the methods listed in criterion 2,and country list is a string including all countries listed in criterion 3 interacted with the OR operator.The search delivered thousands of results.Subsequently,the titles and abstracts(and,when necessary,the full texts)of the studies were screened to exclude those results not meeting all five criteria,and duplicates were removed.An additional screening of the major academic journals and working paper series dealing with educational topics complemented the search.Investing in Education 2024 20 Part 2:Counterfactual education policy evaluation in Europe:the state of play The number of studies in Europe has been rising over the past decade.The use of counterfactual methods in education policy evaluation is still rather limited in Europe compared with the United States,where the bulk of counterfactual evidence in advanced countries comes from(Fack et al.,2022).However,the number of published studies has increased from an average of around 40 per year in 2010-2012 to an average of almost 100 per year in 2021-2023(Figure 8).This shows that both researchers and policymakers are more frequently designing rigorous evaluation approaches and collecting suitable quantitative data at individual level.Figure 8.Number of publications per year(2010-2023)Source:European Commission services calculations.Most studies apply quasi-experimental counterfactual methods,focus on a single country and cover secondary education.Only one in five publications originate from randomised experiments,while four in five publications use one of the quasi-experimental methods listed above(or sometimes a combination of them).Nine in ten publications are single-country studies(Figure 9).Multicountry studies often use data from large-scale international assessments,such as the Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA),the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS),or the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study(PIRLS).Figure 10 shows that more than 500 publications cover the secondary educational level and more than 200 the primary or tertiary levels,while less than 100 involve early childhood education and care(ECEC).Competences and skills are the most frequent subject.They are covered by 432 studies and are followed by institutional aspects of the education system(242 studies)and long-term effects of education(199 studies).More than 100 publications also address education drop-out/completion/participation,disadvantaged students or the teaching profession.By contrast,educational infrastructure is an almost unexplored subject(Figure 11).21 Figure 9.Distribution of publications by methodology and geographical scope(2010-2023)Source:European Commission services calculations.Figure 10.Number of publications by educational level(2010-2023)Notes:The sum of the four categories exceeds the total number of publications,because a single publication may cover more than one educational level.Source:European Commission services calculations.The dataset presented in this report is a first step towards an analysis of the findings from the literature on causal effects of education policies in the EU through the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training.EU Member States and the Commission are working together to make education systems more effective and efficient.Designing the right policies,programmes or reforms,and putting in place proper implementation strategies are key to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of investment in education.Improving educational outcomes is one of the main conditions to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the EU economies(European Commission,2024e).As requested by the May 2024 Council conclusions on promoting evidence-informed policy and practice in education and training to achieve the European Education Area,the Commission will work to“establish an information repository equipped with tools facilitating access to evidence-informed policy and practice insights”,as well as to“make existing evidence more accessible to EU education and training policy-makers”(Council of the European Union,2024,p.4)e.g.through in-depth analyses of the research literature.These activities are part of the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training,which will support Member States in further developing an evidence-informed approach to policy design and implementation(European Commission 2024d).This includes strengthening the expertise on rigorous evaluation methods among policymakers and sharing knowledge about properly evaluated policies(European Commission,2024e).Investing in Education 2024 22 Part 2:Counterfactual education policy evaluation in Europe:the state of play Figure 11.Number of publications by policy area(2010-2023)Notes:The sum of the 17 categories exceeds the total number of publications,because a single publication may cover more than one policy area.Source:European Commission services calculations.CLOSE-UP The Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training Launched in November 2022,the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training aims to promote a culture of evaluation in education policy and provide knowledge and resources to identify how to make EU education systems more effective,efficient and equitable.Its activities cover three main areas:Capacity building on evaluation methodologies:the Learning Lab proposes training courses oneducation policy evaluation methodologies to policymakers at all levels(national,regional,and local)and education practitioners.So far,two general events took place,as well as four more specifictrainings tailored to the education systems needs in Latvia,the French Community of Belgium,Ireland and Portugal.Collaborative work among Member States:the Learning Lab has created a Community ofPractice,where representatives of Member States and international organisations can discuss theirexperiences with impact evaluation in education and share good practices.Analysis and evaluation of education policies:the Learning Lab carries out analytical work oneducation policies,from impact evaluations to analyses of microdata from large-scale internationalstudent assessments(Karpiski,2023)and in-depth analyses of existing research findings(Di Pietro,2023).Specific calls under the 2023-2024 Horizon Europe work programme of cluster 2(Culture,Creativity and Inclusive society)support research projects on education policy evaluation.The topicsare:Efficiency and effectiveness of investment in high-quality education and training,Mapping oflongitudinal data and assessment of inequalities in education,training and learning achievementsand Effective education and labour market transitions of young people.Annex and references Investing in Education 2024 24 Annex and references Annex.Additional tables Figure A.1.Evolution of public expenditure on education(2019-2022)Share of total public expenditure(%)Share of GDP(%)2019 2020 2021 2022 2019 2020 2021 2022 EU 10.1 9.4 9.4 9.5 4.7 5.0 4.8 4.7 BE 11.8 11.2 11.3 11.8 6.1 6.6 6.2 6.3 BG 10.5 9.5 10.4 9.4 3.8 3.9 4.3 3.9 CZ 11.8 10.7 10.9 11.0 4.9 5.1 5.1 4.9 DK 12.7 11.7 11.8 11.8 6.3 6.3 5.9 5.3 DE 9.7 9.2 8.9 9.1 4.4 4.6 4.5 4.5 EE 15.5 14.3 14.2 14.6 6.1 6.4 5.9 5.8 IE 13.2 11.8 11.8 12.5 3.2 3.2 2.9 2.7 EL 8.3 7.5 7.1 7.2 4.0 4.5 4.1 3.8 ES 9.5 9.0 9.1 9.2 4.0 4.6 4.6 4.4 FR 9.5 8.8 8.9 9.0 5.2 5.4 5.3 5.2 HR 10.6 10.2 10.6 10.7 4.9 5.5 5.2 4.8 IT 8.0 7.5 7.2 7.2 3.9 4.3 4.0 4.1 CY 13.4 12.9 12.7 13.2 5.1 5.7 5.3 5.1 LV 15.0 13.7 12.9 13.1 5.7 5.8 5.7 5.3 LT 13.2 12.1 12.7 13.5 4.6 5.2 4.7 4.9 LU 11.2 10.6 11.0 10.7 4.8 5.0 4.7 4.7 HU 10.2 9.3 10.3 10.4 4.7 4.8 5.0 5.1 MT 14.0 12.5 12.5 12.7 5.0 5.6 5.4 5.0 NL 11.8 10.9 11.0 11.6 5.0 5.2 5.1 5.1 AT 9.9 8.9 8.8 9.0 4.8 5.1 4.9 4.8 PL 12.0 10.6 11.2 10.5 5.0 5.1 4.9 4.6 PT 10.5 9.6 9.9 9.8 4.5 4.7 4.7 4.3 RO 10.0 8.7 8.1 8.0 3.6 3.7 3.2 3.2 SI 12.4 10.9 11.7 12.0 5.4 5.6 5.8 5.6 SK 10.5 9.9 9.4 10.7 4.2 4.4 4.3 4.5 FI 10.5 10.2 10.2 10.4 5.6 5.9 5.7 5.5 SE 14.1 13.4 13.5 13.3 6.9 7.0 6.6 6.3 Source:Eurostat COFOG data.Online data code:gov_10a_exp.25 Figure A.2.Year-on-year change in public expenditure on education(%)Year-on-year nominal change(%)Year-on-year real change(%)2019 2020 2021 2022 2019 2020 2021 2022 EU 4.1 1.7 5.1 6.1 2.0-0.62.5-0.7BE 2.7 3.0 4.0 10.4 1.3 2.32.0 2.3BG 18.2 3.3 26.8 8.7 7.8-3.813.6-4.6CZ 13.8 2.8 6.7 8.3 9.0-0.94.0 2.7DK 1.5-0.73.5 0.1-0.4-1.91.4-4.6DE 5.8 4.1 4.0 5.9 4.21.7 0.6-2.0EE 5.6 3.6 5.1 13.3-0.12.2-0.1-1.6IE 9.8 5.1 4.1 8.1 6.73.8 1.62.0EL-0.51.8 0.4 4.8-2.21.8-1.92.2ES 4.83.9 7.5 4.8 2.52.6 5.4-0.9FR 1.7-2.15.1 4.7 1.2-4.85.00.2HR 11.13.4 8.3 8.4 8.11.3 2.74.6IT 0.81.0 4.2 7.1 0.3-1.32.41.6CY 9.65.8 4.8 7.2 3.92.2 2.01.6LV 3.4-0.49.6 7.6-1.1-0.62.05.0LT 9.414.6 3.9 23.1-0.95.2 3.36.1LU 8.77.4 5.6 7.1 4.94.0 4.40.1HU 2.93.2 19.4 21.4-3.60.6 10.90.1MT 10.95.8 9.3 5.9 8.02.6 6.41.7NL 3.62.9 6.0 9.6 1.31.4 3.33.8AT 3.71.4 3.6 6.4 1.00.1 0.90.4PL 8.44.1 8.3 9.5 5.01.1 2.5-3.3PT 5.2-1.06.9 3.7 2.0-2.94.2-0.6RO 28.21.0-1.417.8 20.5-5.0-5.89.6SI 5.71.3 15.0 6.0 0.7-1.99.40.4SK 13.73.7 2.7 16.3 4.1-5.8-2.5-1.0FI 3.93.6 2.6 4.1 2.03.4-0.7-1.9SE 5.01.0 3.4 3.8 1.50.1-0.3-4.4Source:European Commission services calculations based on Eurostat COFOG data and AMECO data.Investing in Education 2024 26 Annex and references References Central Statistics Office Ireland(2024).Net Factor Income and Primary Income(accessed on 18 March 2024).Council of the European Union(2024).Council conclusions on promoting evidence-informed policy and practice in education and training to achieve the European Education Area,C/2024/3642.De Witte F.and Franois M.(2023).Covid-19 learning deficits in Europe:analysis and practical recommendations,EENEE Analytical Report 04/2022.Di Pietro G.(2023).The impact of Covid-19 physical school closure on student performance in OECD countries:a meta-analysis.JRC Technical Report,Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.European Commission(2020).Communication from the Commission to the Council on the activation of the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact,COM(2020)123 final.European Commission(2022).Investing in education in a post-Covid EU.Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.European Commission(2023a).Communication from the Commission to the Council.Fiscal Policy guidance for 2024,COM(2023)141 final.European Commission(2023b).Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,the European Council,the Council,the European Central Bank,the European Economic and Social Committee,the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank.Annual Sustainable Growth Survey 2024,COM(2023)901 final.European Commission(2023c).Investing in education 2023.Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.European Commission(2024a).Government expenditure on economic affairs,Eurostat Statistics Explained(accessed on 18 March 2024).European Commission(2024b).Government expenditure on health,Eurostat Statistics Explained(accessed on 18 March 2024).European Commission(2024c).Government expenditure on housing and community amenities,Eurostat Statistics Explained(accessed on 18 March 2024).European Commission(2024d).Learning Lab on Investing in Quality Education and Training(accessed on 18 March 2024).European Commission(2024e).The twin challenge of equity and excellence in basic skills in the EU.Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.European Parliament and Council of the European Union(2024).Regulation(EU)2024/1263 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2024 on the effective coordination of economic policies and on multilateral budgetary surveillance and repealing Council Regulation(EC)No 1466/97,2024/1263.Fack G.,Agasisti T.,Bonal X.,De Witte K.,Dohmen D.,Haase S.,Hylen J.,McCoy S.,Neycheva M.,Pantea M.C.,Pastore F.,Pausits A.,Poder K.,Puukka J.and Velissaratou J.(2022).Investing in our future:quality investment in education and training,Final report of the Commission expert group on quality investment in education and training.Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.Hanushek E.A.and Woessmann L.(2015).The Knowledge Capital of Nations:Education and the Economics of Growth.Cambridge,MA:MIT Press.Karpiski Z.(2023).The experience of being bullied at school and its effect on reading proficiency in grade 4.JRC Technical Report,Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union.Maldonado J.E.,Vandeplaas A.,Vogel L.(2024).The Economic impact of COVID-19 Learning Deficits:A Survey of the Literature.European Economy Economic Briefs 78.European Commission,Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs.27 OECD(2023).PISA 2022 Results(Volume I).The State of Learning and Equity in Education.Paris:OECD Publishing.UNESCO(2022).Dashboards on the Global Monitoring of School Closures Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic(accessed on 12 March 2024).Valero A.(2021).Education and economic growth.CEP Discussion Papers 1764.Centre for Economic Performance,LSE.GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU In person All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct centres.You can find the address of the centre nearest you online(european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en).On the phone or in writing Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union.You can contact this service:by freephone:00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11(certain operators may charge for these calls),at the following standard number: 32 22999696,via the following form:european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en.FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU Online Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa website(european-union.europa.eu).EU publications You can view or order EU publications at op.europa.eu/en/publications.Multiple copies of free publications can be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local documentation centre(european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en).EU law and related documents For access to legal information from the EU,including all EU law since 1951 in all the official language versions,go to EUR-Lex(eur-lex.europa.eu).EU open data The portal data.europa.eu provides access to open datasets from the EU institutions,bodies and agencies.These can be downloaded and reused for free,for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.The portal also provides access to a wealth of datasets from European countries.
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2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|A 2024NRPA AGENCYPERFORMANCEREVIEWCover image:A community concert takes place in Wichita,Kansas.Photo courtesy of Wichita(Kansas)Park and Recreation Department2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|1 TABLE OF CONTENTS2 Executive Summary4 Infographic:2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review Key Findings5 Index of Figures8 Park Facilities14 Programming16 Responsibilities of Park and Recreation Agencies18 Staffing20 Budget23 Agency Funding26 Policies27 Conclusions28 Acknowledgements28 About NRPAA young girl handles a monarch butterfly in Plymouth,Minnesota.PHOTO COURTESY OF THREE RIVERS PARK DISTRICT(MINNESOTA)2|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationEXECUTIVE SUMMARYParks and recreation provides essential public ser-vices to communities all across the United States.Not only do park and recreation professionals and their agencies act as environmental stewards of the natural resources in their areas,but also by managing park and recreation facilities they increase economic value,promote socialization,and implement programming that improves the physical and mental well-being of individuals in their communities.From offering after-school programs to providing safe and inclusive spaces for community members to congregate,agencies directly impact the quality of life in their areas.The National Recreation and Park Association(NRPA)gathers data annually from park and recreation agencies nationwide to assemble a clear overview of park and recreation agencies performance.The purpose of this 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review is to allow agencies to compare their own performance metrics with those of other U.S.agencies to identify areas of excellence and areas for potential improvement.As agencies preview the data presented in this report,it is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for maintaining and improving a park and recreation agency.The 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review does not provide“standards”which all agencies must strive to deliver,but rather serves as an informative evidence-based guideline.Factors such as jurisdiction population,the unique needs of each community and funding all play a major role in how an agency oper-ates.In this report,we compare data grouped by agency size,funding,population served and other factors in order to provide agency professionals with more peer-based results.To operate successfully,an agency must customize its offerings to the unique needs of its community members.Identifying characteristics of members in an agencys community based on age,economic means,interests and other backgrounds is vital for creating rel-evant programming and offerings.A successful agency will know its communitys characteristics and operate accordingly to better serve its residents.We recommend that park and recreation agencies and professionals use the 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review in conjunction with other internal and external resources to gather a clearer understanding of needs and resources specific to their agency.How to Use the 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review and NRPA Park MetricsTo begin using the 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review,first look at the available data.Throughout this report,tables,graphs and other data-based visuals are provided based on a“typical”agency within a given jurisdiction population or population.The“typical”agency represents the median of data collected for a metric.Information also includes upper and lower quartiles for further insight.To further benefit from the information provided in this report,examine the com-prehensive cross-tabulations and interactive charts found at nrpa.org/APR.Park and recreation agencies across the country used the NRPA Park Metrics survey tool to self-report all data that were used in this report.Visit the Park Metrics website(nrpa.org/ParkMetrics)to learn more about this suite of tools and create a Park Metrics account or log in to an existing account to build a more custom-ized benchmark report based on agency type,size and geographic region.Use this tool to generate reports that will further assist in analyzing your agencys data needs,as well as identify peer agencies with similar characteristics to your own.The 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review presents data from nearly 1,000 park and recreation agencies across the country from 2021 to 2023.Note:Not all agencies answered every survey question.2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|3 PHOTO COURTESY OF DURANGO(COLORADO)PARKS AND RECREATION Young adults participate in a work day in Durango,Colorado.4|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationINFOGRAPHIC2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review Key FindingsResidents per park:2,386Acres of parkland per 1,000 residents:10.6Percent of agencies offering summer camp:83%Full-time equivalent(FTE)employees per 10,000 residents:8.9Percentage of full-time staff dedicated to operations/maintenance:46%Operating expendituresper capita:$99.47Revenue to operating expenditures(cost recovery):25.2 24 NRPA Agency Performance Review|5 INDEX OF FIGURESFIGURETOP-LINE FINDINGPAGE NO.PARK FACILITIESFigure 1:Number of Residents per Park The typical park and recreation agency has one park for every 2,386 residents.8Figure 2:Acres of Parkland per 1,000 Residents The typical park and recreation agency has 10.6 acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents.9Figure 3:Outdoor Park and Recreation Facilities Nine in 10(93 percent)agencies have playgrounds.At least eight in 10 agencies have diamond fields,basketball courts and/or rectangular fields.10Figure 4:Indoor Park and Recreation Facilities Competitive and leisure swimming pools are the most common indoor facilities provided by park and recreation agencies.11Figure 5:Types of Indoor Park and Recreation Facilities and Amenities More than half of agencies have recreation centers(62 percent)and/or community centers(59 percent)in their indoor facility asset portfolios.12Figure 6:Miles of Trails Trail mileage increases with population.Agencies serving more than 250,000 residents typically have 97 miles of trail compared to 16 miles across all agencies.13Golfers participate in a camp in Colorado.PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF AURORA(COLORADO)PARKS,RECREATION AND OPEN SPACE6|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationFIGURETOP-LINE FINDINGPAGE NO.PROGRAMMINGFigure 7:Programming Offered by Park and Recreation Agencies The three most popular program offerings across agencies are themed special events(89 percent),social recreation events (88 percent)and team sports(86 percent).15Figure 8:Targeted Programs for Children,Older Adults and People With Disabilities Eighty-three percent of agencies offer summer camps,78 percent offer specific older adult programs,and two-thirds offer specific teen programs and programs for people with disabilities.15RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIESFigure 9:Key Responsibilities of Park and Recreation Agencies Nearly all park and recreation agencies are responsible for operating and maintaining park sites.17Figure 10:Other Responsibilities of Park and Recreation Agencies Additional responsibilities of select park and recreation agencies are to operate,maintain or contract tourism attractions(40 percent),manage large outdoor amphitheaters(36 percent),and operate,maintain or contract golf courses(36 percent).17STAFFINGFigure 11:Park and Recreation Agency Staffing:Full-Time Equivalent(FTE)EmployeesThe number of FTEs at an agency increases as jurisdiction population increases.The typical number of FTEs at an agency is 57.6.18Figure 12:Park and Recreation Full-Time Equivalent(FTE)Employees per 10,000 Residents The median FTEs per 10,000 residents is 8.9.The number of FTEs per 10,000 residents decreases as jurisdiction population increases.19Figure 13:Responsibilities of Park and Recreation Workers The primary responsibility of FTEs is related to operations and maintenance(46 percent),followed by programming(31 percent).19BUDGETFigure 14:Annual Operating Expenditures The typical park and recreation agency annual operating budget is$6.45 million.20Figure 15:Operating Expenditures per Capita The typical park and recreation agency has annual operating expenses of$99.47 per capita.21Figure 16:Operating Expenditures per Acre of Park and Non-Park Sites The typical park and recreation agencys operating expenditures per acre of park and non-park sites is$8,260.21Figure 17:Operating Expenditures per Full-Time Equivalent(FTE)Employee The typical agency spends$110,912 in annual operating expenditures per FTE.22Figure 18:Distribution of Operating Expenditures More than half(54 percent)of the typical agencys distribution of operating expenditures goes toward personnel services.22Figure 19:Operating Expenditures Dedicated to Parks or Recreation Thirty-nine percent of operating expenditures at an agency are dedicated to parks,39 percent to recreation and 17 percent to administration.222024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|7 FIGURETOP-LINE FINDINGPAGE NO.AGENCY FUNDINGFigure 20:Sources of Operating Expenditures General fund/appropriations are the most common source of operating expenditures.23Figure 21:Park and Recreation Revenue per Capita The typical park and recreation agency generates$22.58 in revenue annually per resident in its jurisdiction.23Figure 22:Revenue as a Percentage of Operating Expenditures(Cost Recovery)The typical agency recovers a quarter of its operating expenditures from non-tax revenue.24Figure 23:Five-Year Capital Budget Spending The five-year capital spending budget at an agency greatly increases as population increases.Agencies with more than 250,000 people have a median five-year capital budget spending of$49.1 million.24Figure 24:Targets for Capital Expenditures Percentage of Agencys Capital Budget Designated for ImprovementsThe primary target for capital expenditures is improvements (88 percent).24Figure 25:Improvement Dollars Split Between Renovation vs.New DevelopmentImprovement dollars are split between renovation(67 percent)and new development(33 percent).25Figure 26:Improvement Dollars Split Between Buildings vs.Parks Improvement dollars are split between improving parks (70 percent)and buildings(30 percent).25Figure 27:Value of Deferred Maintenance Projects per Agency The typical agency has$698,000 in deferred maintenance projects,but at agencies with more than 250,000,this number jumps to$17.3 million.25POLICIESFigure 28:Agencies With an Expressed Commitment to Diversity,Equity and Inclusion(DEI)in Their Foundational Documents Seventy-nine percent of park and recreation agencies have an expressed commitment to diversity,equity and inclusion(DEI)in their foundational documents(e.g.,vision,mission and strategic plan).26Figure 29:Agencies With Hiring Practices and Policies That Promote a Diverse Workforce Nine in 10 park and recreation agencies(91 percent)have hiring practices and policies promoting a diverse agency workforce.268|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationPARK FACILITIESTo support the various needs,interests and lifestyles of community members,park and recreation agencies must offer a wide range of outdoor and indoor facilities.These facilities provide for programming,activities and other recreational events and serve as vital hubs for health and wellness.The typical park and recreation agency has one park for every 2,386 residents.In heavily populated juris-dictions,a single park may serve many thousands of residents.For jurisdictions with populations fewer than 20,000 people,1,172 people are served per park.This number increases for populations of 50,000 to 99,000 people,with one park for every 2,346 people.For those jurisdictions with populations of more than 250,000 people,there are 6,120 people for every park.The typical park and recreation agency manages 10.6 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents in its area.“Park-Children and families play outside during a community event in Asheville,North Carolina.PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE(NORTH CAROLINA)PARKS AND RECREATIONFIGURE 1:NUMBER OF RESIDENTS PER PARK(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median2,3861,1722,0622,3463,3446,120Lower Quartile1,3336591,2331,4892,1733,274Upper Quartile5,0001,9443,0004,0487,03918,58670006000500040003000200010000RESIDENTS PER PARK2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|9 land”refers to both maintained parks and accessible open space areas such as green spaces and courtyards.This amount of parkland per 1,000 residents is largest for those agencies serving a population of fewer than 20,000 people:12.6 acres of parkland per 1,000 resi-dents.The number of acres per 1,000 residents decreases slightly for parks serving a population of 20,000 to 49,999 people:an average of 11.2 acres of managed parkland per 1,000 residents.For agencies serving between 50,000 and 99,000 people and more than 250,000 people,there are 10.2 acres per 1,000 resi-dents.The smallest number of acres of parkland per 1,000 residents is found in jurisdictions with populations of 100,000 to 250,000 people with seven acres for every 1,000 residents.Outdoor park and recreation facilities allow commu-nity members to assemble,socialize and exercise in a safe and inclusive space.Ninety-three percent of agencies have playgrounds or play structures as their most common type of outdoor facility.Eighty-five percent of agencies have diamond fields(e.g.,base-ball,softball),84 percent have standalone basketball courts and 83 percent have rectangular fields(e.g.,soccer,field hockey,lacrosse).Other common facilities include tennis courts(72 percent)and dog parks(68 percent).The breakdown of the most common types of outdoor facilities includes:One playground/play structure for every 3,750 residents One diamond field for every 4,063 residents One basketball court for every 8,000 residents One rectangular field for every 5,000 residents One tennis court for every 6,003 residents One dog park for every 46,917 residentsPHOTO COURTESY OF EUGENE(OREGON)RECREATIONFIGURE 2:ACRES OF PARKLAND PER 1,000 RESIDENTS(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000ACRES OF PARKLAND PER 1,000 RESIDENTS All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median10.612.611.210.27.010.2Lower Quartile5.16.06.24.84.45.0Upper Quartile18.020.918.017.415.516.714121086420A group of pickleball players touch paddles in Eugene,Oregon.10|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationFIGURE 3:OUTDOOR PARK AND RECREATION FACILITIES (BY PREVALENCE AND POPULATION PER FACILITY)Types of Facilities Median Number of Residents per FacilityPopulation of Jurisdiction Percent of Agencies All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Playgrounds or play structures93%3,7501,9903,1053,7075,0169,591Diamond fields854,0631,8333,0073,6756,82111,129Basketball courts,standalone848,0004,3667,5018,3639,64315,136Rectangular fields835,0002,4933,3334,0707,37514,238Tennis courts726,0033,0745,4615,8658,73110,524Dog parks6846,91710,32727,50855,13574,504128,906Tot lots 5312,4345,32312,74412,44320,18033,913Community gardens5234,1058,80027,26256,15055,326125,935Swimming pools4945,9199,50027,08146,35365,697113,219Skateboard parks4654,75011,28433,16760,904105,567239,177Multiuse courts basketball,volleyball,etc.4219,5715,24815,53124,95547,67671,750Pickleball4212,5973,3907,73710,50020,24442,495Multiuse courts tennis,pickleball3715,6744,63413,00012,97234,50061,21318-hole golf courses 2996,3919,62632,81268,208112,641251,483Driving range stations2824,3602,12212,7004,91435,710172,403Synthetic rectangular fields2543,64311,28423,18936,00054,254127,714Volleyball courts,standalone2327,6409,25014,28026,61246,51757,456Splash pads,spray grounds or spray showers2354,01012,75630,62954,10067,685199,437Fitness zones/Exercise stations2239,1888,23327,26235,00043,611111,111Disc golf courses2076,78011,07929,44558,603118,723278,884Ice rinks1919,6678,01519,77029,378102,891532,258Walking loops/Running tracks1920,0175,45918,58520,52737,16968,811Nine-hole golf courses14121,82517,75038,33361,757126,621428,359Overlay fields1018,09710,58410,0009,37522,95136,070Racquetball/Handball/Squash courts947,79213,35021,79143,85742,484137,076Waterparks782,25017,81332,81276,780149,008332,3962024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|11 Indoor facilities are also critical to the programming and other offerings provided by park and recreation agencies.Twenty-two percent of agencies have in-door competitive swimming pools,19 percent have in-door leisure pools(i.e.,noncompetitive)and pickleball courts,16 percent have multiuse courts,and 12 percent have standalone basketball courts and multiuse courts(e.g.,tennis,pickleball).The breakdown of the ratio of population per type of indoor facility includes:One indoor competitive swimming pool for every 66,88 people One indoor leisure pool for every 71,046 people One indoor pickleball court for every 17,033 people One indoor multiuse court for every 23,755 peopleFIGURE 4:INDOOR PARK AND RECREATION FACILITIES (BY PREVALENCE AND POPULATION PER FACILITY)Types of Facilities Median Number of Residents per FacilityPopulation of Jurisdiction Percent of Agencies All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Competitive swimming pools22f,8808,22431,00064,150110,270260,000Pools designated exclusively for leisure(i.e.,noncompetitive)1971,04612,20332,81263,688111,385281,151Pickleball1917,0334,92910,46317,24029,47079,795Multiuse courts basketball,volleyball,etc.1623,7555,90714,57723,75572,60464,451Basketball courts,standalone1226,9375,90719,17326,61277,09966,002Multiuse courts tennis,pickleball1217,0445,80014,95015,18238,75789,639Therapeutic pools1194,45610,81433,30663,001121,465521,114Walking loops/Running tracks1059,6309,87532,61963,336111,508301,916Racquetball/Handball/Squash courts939,7447,03616,82538,32658,942118,342Tennis courts519,286ISD6,60010,60527,99560,913*ISD=Insufficient Data12|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationPHOTO COURTESY OF ST.PETERSBURG(FLORIDA)PARKS AND RECREATIONSixty-two percent of park and recreation agencies have recreation centers(including gyms),making it the most common type of indoor facility.Other common indoor facilities include community centers(59 percent),senior centers(40 percent)and performance amphi-theaters(40 percent).The ratios for population per each of the most common indoor facilities include:One recreation center(or gym)for every 32,786 residents One community center for every 31,569 residents One senior center for every 62,201 residents One performance amphitheater for every 69,604 residentsFIGURE 5:TYPES OF INDOOR PARK AND RECREATION FACILITIES AND AMENITIES (BY PREVALENCE AND POPULATION PER FACILITY)Types of Facilities Median Number of Residents per FacilityPopulation of Jurisdiction Percent of Agencies All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Recreation centers(including gyms)622,7869,68524,48639,88657,75067,213Community centers5931,5698,90827,85852,00055,13593,758Senior centers4062,20114,28631,98567,190125,817311,014Performance amphitheaters4069,60412,76932,25559,000116,135374,718Nature centers34133,7739,43033,66971,360139,248378,408Aquatics centers3058,49612,61831,00060,824110,629248,646Permanent and semi-permanent restrooms285,5802,5794,9055,5206,85011,925Stadiums19103,22210,63332,29964,150154,198425,884Teen centers 1258,71214,79731,78558,712124,264360,153Indoor ice rinks1259,2778,00423,51253,224108,508500,000Arenas995,6967,05724,83868,104118,500716,862Young adults take a break from a game of basketball in St.Petersburg,Florida.2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|13 In addition to various outdoor and indoor facilities,many agencies provide trails,greenways and other outdoor walking areas for community members.The typical park and recreation agency is responsible for managing 16 miles of trails.This figure increases as the jurisdiction population an agency serves increases.Agencies serving populations of more than 250,000 people typically manage 97 miles of trails.FIGURE 6:MILES OF TRAIL(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median16.04.510.018.127.097.0Lower Quartile6.02.05.08.01840.8Upper Quartile46.09.219.637.052.0180.3 All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000120100806040200MILES OF TRAILSA group of young adults set up their tent in San Diego.PHOTO COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION Adults participate in a guided river tour in Plymouth,Minnesota.PHOTO COURTESY OF THREE RIVERS PARK DISTRICT(MINNESOTA)14|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationPROGRAMMINGPark and recreation agencies offer a wide breadth of activities and programming to their community members.These offerings strive to promote better physical and emotional health and well-being.Much of this programming follows NRPAs Three Pillars:Health and Wellness,Equity and Conservation.While some programs are targeted to certain age groups(i.e.,children or older adults),the goal of parks and recreation is to have inclusive and safe spaces for all community members.By providing affordable programming and safe spaces to gather,park and recreation agencies enable their community members to interact with others,encouraging socialization and connection.To meet the diverse needs and desires of community members,park and recreation agencies must provide a wide array of accessible and affordable programming.Programming can be activities,events,clubs or other types of group activities.Most agencies offer themed special events(89 per-cent),social recreation events(88 percent)and team sports(86 percent).More than three-quarters of agen-cies also offer other programming,such as fitness enhancement classes,health and wellness education and individual sports.Other key programming activities offered by at least half of agencies include:Racquet sports(73 percent of agencies)Safety training(70 percent)Aquatics(68 percent)Natural and cultural history activities(66 percent)Cultural crafts(63 percent)Visual arts(63 percent)Trips and tours(62 percent)Performing arts(62 percent)Martial arts(56 percent)Running/Cycling races(53 percent)A new playground is installed in Lorain,Ohio.PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF LORAIN(OHIO)PARKS AND RECREATION2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|15 From children to older adults,programs are designed to accommodate the diverse groups of community members regardless of age,socioeconomic status,ability,race or background.Many agencies offer spe-cific programming based on age and abilities to better support all community members.Eighty-three percent of agencies offer summer camps and 78 percent offer programs specifically targeted to older adults.About two-thirds of agencies offer teen-focused programs and programs for people with disabilities,while at least half of agencies offer STEM(science,technology,engineering and math)programs and after-school programs.Agencies serving populations of more than 250,000 residents are more likely to offer programs for older adults,children and people with disabilities than are those agencies serving populations of fewer than 20,000 residents.However,the number of targeted programs offered varies for those agencies serving populations of 20,000 to 49,999 people,50,000 to 99,999 people and 100,000 to 250,000 people.FIGURE 7:PROGRAMMING OFFERED BY PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIES(PERCENT OF AGENCIES)Themed special eventsSocial recreation eventsTeam sportsFitness enhancement classesHealth and wellness educationIndividual sportsSafety trainingRacquet sportsSafety trainingAquaticsNatural and cultural history activitiesCultural craftsVisual artsTrips and toursPerforming artsMartial artsRunning/Cycling racesGolfEsports/Egaming89vsphfccbbVSI&%FIGURE 8:TARGETED PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN,OLDER ADULTS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (PERCENT OF AGENCIES BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)Percent of AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Summer camps83e%Specific senior programs786379888282Specific teen programs675064776978Programs for people with disabilities663762787586STEM(science,technology,engineering and math)programs574149665974After-school programs524441515871Preschool342634463236Before-school programs191717231522Full-day care772861216|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationRESPONSIBILITIES OF PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIES Park and recreation agencies are responsible for ensuring that their facilities,programming and offerings are at the highest level possible.Nearly all agencies operate and maintain park sites(98 percent),and the vast majority provide recreation and program-ming(93 percent),as well as operate and maintain indoor facilities(93 percent).Other key responsibilities that at least 70 percent of agencies mention include:Have budgetary responsibility for its administra-tive staff(91 percent of agencies)Operate,maintain or manage trails,greenways and/or blueways(87 percent)Conduct jurisdiction-wide special events(83 percent)Operate,maintain or contract racquet sport activities/courts/facilities(77 percent)Include in its operating budget the funding for planning and development functions(76 percent)Operate,maintain or manage special purpose parks and open spaces(75 percent)Volunteers tidy Burnside Park in Maryland.PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNAPOLIS(MARYLAND)RECREATION AND PARKS2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|17 FIGURE 10:OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIES(PERCENT OF AGENCIES)Operate,maintain or contract tourism attractions40%Manage large performance outdoor amphitheaters36Operate,maintain or contract golf courses36Operate,maintain or contract indoor swim facilities/waterparks31Maintain or manage beaches(inclusive of all waterbody types)26Administer or manage farmers markets22Operate,maintain or contract campgrounds20Administer or manage tournament-or event-quality indoor sports complexes20Maintain,manage or lease indoor performing arts centers19Operate,maintain or contract marinas13Administer or manage professional or college-type stadiums/arenas/racetracks9Manage or maintain fairgrounds798wvuigWH%FIGURE 9:KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIES(PERCENT OF AGENCIES)Operate and maintain park sitesProvide recreation programming and servicesOperate and maintain indoor facilitiesHave budgetary responsibility for its administrative staffOperate,maintain or manage trails,greenways and/or bluewaysConduct jurisdiction-wide special eventsOperate,maintain or contract racquet sport activities/courts/facilitiesInclude in its operating budget the funding for planning and development functionsOperate,maintain or manage special purpose parks and open spacesOperate and maintain non-park sitesOperate,maintain or contract outdoor swim facilities/waterparksAdminister or manage tournament-or event-quality outdoor sports complexesAdminister community gardensOther responsibilities of many park and recreation agencies include operating,maintaining or contract-ing tourism attractions(40 percent);managing large performance outdoor amphitheaters(36 percent);and operating,maintaining or contracting golf courses(36 percent).18|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationSTAFFINGSupporting programming,facilities and other offerings of park and recreation agencies requires adequate staffing.Park and recreation staff are essential to ensuring the success of each agency and creating safe,inclusive spaces for all community members.Full-time employees are vital to the operations,man-agement and overall success of a park and recreation agency.Understaffed agencies may result in fewer program and activity offerings,poor facility maintenance and decreased community involvement overall.The typical agency employs 57.6 full-time equivalent(FTE)employees.It is important to note that because the size of park and recreation agency jurisdictions var-ies,so too will the number of staff members.The larger the population served by an agency,the larger number of FTE staff required.Agencies that serve fewer than 20,000 people typically have 14 FTE employees,agencies in jurisdictions of 50,000 to 99,999 people have 70.3 FTE staff and larger agencies serving more than 250,000 people have a staff of 263 FTEs.Two swimmers float in a pool.FIGURE 11:PARK AND RECREATION AGENCY STAFFING:FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS(FTEs)(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000300250200150100500NUMBER OF FTE STAFF All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median57.6 14.034.270.3120.0263.0Lower Quartile20.46.119.946.561.3123.0Upper Quartile143.730.066.9121.0181.2471.5PHOTO COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|19 While the number of staff increases as population increases,the same is not true for the ratio of FTEs to residents.For agencies serving a population of fewer than 20,000 people,there are 13.7 FTEs for every 10,000 residents.This ratio decreases as population increases.At agencies serving 50,000 to 99,999 people,there are 10.5 FTEs for every 10,000 residents.At agencies in jurisdictions of more than 250,000 residents,the ratio declines to an average of 4.7 FTEs per 10,000 residents.Overall,the ratio of FTEs across jurisdiction populations is 8.9 FTEs per 10,000 residents.Among the various responsibilities of park and recre-ation staff,almost half of FTEs are responsible for operations and maintenance.About 30 percent of FTEs are responsible for programming,and 16 percent are responsible for administration.Operations/Maintenance Programmers Administration Other Capital development16F1%3%4%FIGURE 13:RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARK AND RECREATION STAFF(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF AGENCY FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT(FTE)EMPLOYEES)Volunteers plant trees in Miami,Florida.PHOTO COURTESY OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PARKS,RECREATION AND OPEN SPACESFIGURE 12:PARK AND RECREATION AGENCY STAFFING:FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT(FTE)EMPLOYEES PER 10,000 RESIDENTS(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)1614121086420FTE STAFF PER 10,000 RESIDENTS All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median8.913.711.210.57.94.7Lower Quartile4.96.95.86.53.82.1Upper Quartile16.625.320.317.112.27.820|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationBUDGETThe typical goal of annual operating expenditures,such as personnel services,contracts,commodities and supplies,and capital outlay,is to balance the needs of the community with the fiscal capabilities of the governing body(i.e.,city,county).Each park and recreation agency must be aware of its annual oper-ating expenditures in order to continue to provide the vital programs and services expected of parks and rec-reation in its community.To offer a better understanding of annual operating expenditures and,in turn,a clearer view of budgeting and spending across agencies the data are presented by jurisdiction population,as well as per capita,per acre of park and non-park sites,and per full-time equivalent(FTE)employee and by other operation expenditure distributions.The median annual operating expenditure for park and recreation agencies is nearly$6.5 million.That amount increases as population increases.Smaller agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people have median operating expenditures of about$1.5 million,while agencies in jurisdictions of more than 250,000 people have annual operating expenditures of$32.7 million.Agencies serving populations between these two groups have operating expenditures that range from$3.5 million annually(20,000 to 49,999 people)and$7.7 million annually(50,000 to 99,999 people)to$13.5 million annually(100,000 to 250,000 people).FIGURE 14:ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$6,453,357$1,451,763$3,462,654$7,710,075$13,552,112$32,700,000Lower Quartile$2,295,873$707,145$2,003,128$5,348,266$6,800,000$15,091,825Upper Quartile$16,247,943$3,004,473$7,853,006$13,394,323$23,399,020$59,286,392 All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000$35,000,000$30,000,000$25,000,000$20,000,000$15,000,000$10,000,000$5,000,000$0ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENDITURESPeople participate in a game of ice hockey in Illinois.PHOTO COURTESY OF PEKIN(ILLINOIS)PARK DISTRICT2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|21 The median operating expenditures decrease as pop-ulation increases.The typical agency has operating expenditures of$99.47 per capita.For agencies serving populations of fewer than 20,000 people,the median is$135.53 per capita.This figure declines to$120.72 per capita for agencies serving populations of 50,000 to 99,999 people,and declines further to$57.61 per capita for those agencies serving more than 250,000 people.To further quantify the annual operating expenditures of park and recreation agencies,one can examine operating expenditures per acre of park and non-park sites.It is important to note that non-park sites refer to public areas and facilities,such as city halls and lawns,that are not considered parks but are maintained by agencies using a percentage of their annual operating budget.The typical park and recreation agency spends$8,260 of its annual operating budget per acre of park and non-park sites.The larger the population served,the lower operating expenditures are per acre.Park and recreation agencies serving populations of fewer than 250,000 residents have similar per-acre operating expenditures ranging between$8,000 to$9,800 per acre of park and non-park sites.This figure declines to a median of$4,421 per acre for those agencies in jurisdictions of more than a quarter of a million people.Full-time equivalent(FTE)employees are critical to daily park operations,and therefore must be factored into the annual operating budget of each agency.The median operating expenditure per FTE employee is$110,912.At agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people,the operating budget per FTE employee is$101,304.At agencies serving 20,000 to 49,999 people,this amount increases to$112,366 per FTE employee.At agencies serving 50,000 to 99,999 people,the amount decreases to$106,642 per FTE employee.For agencies serving larger pop-ulations of 100,000 to 250,000 people,the median operating expenditure per FTE employee is$119,116,and for agencies serving more than 250,000 people in their jurisdiction,the median operating expenditure per FTE employee is$116,836.$160$140$120$100$80$60$40$20$0OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER CAPITAFIGURE 15:OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$99.47$135.53$114.81$120.72$87.10$57.61Lower Quartile$53.44$74.22$62.32$74.14$39.69$24.47Upper Quartile$183.96$263.21$226.13$196.53$160.76$97.91$12,000$10,000$8,000$6,000$4,000$2,0000OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER ACRE OF PARK AND NON-PARK SITESFIGURE 16:OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER ACRE OF PARK AND NON-PARK SITES(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$8,260$9,777$9,013$9,176$8,002$4,421Lower Quartile$3,564$3,856$4,383$5,633$3,066$2,046Upper Quartile$18,491$27,711$20,346$18,636$15,009$10,60922|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationThe distribution of operating expenditures varies.Agencies dedicate an average 54 percent of their annual budgets to personnel services.Operating ex-penses account for 38 percent of the typical agencys annual budget and capital expenses not in a capital improvement plan(CIP)account for 6 percent of an agencys annual budget.The remaining 2 percent is allocated to other expenses.One also can measure park and recreation agencies median operating expenditures dedicated to parks,recreation and staff serving in all/both capacities.Thirty-nine percent of operating expenditures at an agency are dedicated to parks,35 percent to recreation,17 percent to administration and the remaining 9 percent to other related endeavors.Personnel services Operating expenses Capital expense not in capital improvement plan(CIP)Other548%2%6%FIGURE 18:DISTRIBUTION OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$110,912$101,304$112,366$106,642$119,166$116,836Lower Quartile$82,569$73,418$79,713$83,421$84,296$93,944Upper Quartile$146,913$146,913$144,907$140,613$147,964$155,431FIGURE 17:OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT(FTE)EMPLOYEE(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)$140,000$120,000$100,000$80,000$60,000$40,000$20,0000OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER FTE EMPLOYEE Parks Recreation Administration Other395%9%FIGURE 19:DEDICATED OPERATINGEXPENDITURES(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES)Two people flex their muscles after a game in Virginia.PHOTO COURTESY OF PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY(VIRGINIA)DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|23 AGENCY FUNDINGThe amount of funding varies by agency,and so do funding sources.However,general fund tax support is the most common source of available funding for agencies,accounting for 62 percent.Earned revenue is the second most common source of funding(21 per-cent),and special taxes/levies that are voter-approved account for 8 percent.Other less common sources of operating expenditures for agencies are operating grants from a public agency and sponsorships,in-kind donations or private operating grants/donations.One way to look at revenue is by analyzing park and recreation revenue per capita.The typical park and recreation agency generates$22.58 of revenue per jurisdiction resident.Park and recreation revenue per capita tends to decrease the larger the population.At FIGURE 20:SOURCES OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES)General fund/Appropriations Earned revenue Special taxes/Levies(voter approved)Special taxes/Levies(non-voter approved)Other Operating grants from public agency Sponsorships,in-kind donations or private operating grants/donations 62!%8%3%2%2%1%FIGURE 21:PARK AND RECREATION REVENUE PER CAPITA(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)$60$50$40$30$20$100PARK AND RECREATIONREVENUE PER CAPITA All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$22.58$47.71$25.84$33.17$18.01$9.70Lower Quartile$7.57$13.22$11.72$12.34$6.67$2.75Upper Quartile$63.07$109.72$85.29$80.43$47.19$23.09A group of swimmers participate in water aerobics.PHOTO COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK24|2024 National Recreation and Park Associationagencies serving a population of fewer than 20,000 people,park and recreation revenue per capita is$47.71;at agencies serving 50,000 to 99,999 people it is$33.17 per capita;and at agencies in jurisdictions of more than 250,000 people it is$9.70 per capita.Another way to examine revenue is through cost recovery revenue as a percentage of operating expenditures.The typical agency recovers a quarter of its operating expenditures from non-tax revenue.Median cost recovery varies with population size;agen-cies serving a population of fewer than 20,000 people recover 29.5 percent of their operating expenditures,but this figure is lower for agencies serving populations of more than 250,000 people for which recovering 17.9 percent of operating expenditures is typical.The median five-year capital budget spending across agencies of all sizes is$12 million.But the median amount depends on population size:the larger the population,the larger the five-year capital spending budget.For agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people,the median five-year capital budget spending is$1.81 million.This figure is 8 times higher for those agencies serving between 50,000 and 99,999 resi-dents at a median of$15 million,and then reaches a median of$49 million for agencies serving more than 250,000 residents.The goal of park and recreation agencies is not only to maintain their facilities,programming and other FIGURE 22:REVENUE AS A PERCENTAGE OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES(COST RECOVERY)(PERCENTAGE OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)350% %5%0REVENUE AS A PERCENTAGE OF OPERATING EXPENDITURES All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median25.2).5%.9(.8.0.9%Lower Quartile12.813.515.413.712.29.7Upper Quartile47.056.051.853.438.136.2$60,000,000$50,000,000$40,000,000$30,000,000$20,000,000$10,000,000$0FIVE-YEAR CAPITAL BUDGET SPENDING All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$12,000,000$1,814,200$6,500,000$15,000,000$24,284,312$49,097,334Lower Quartile$2,456,700$509,192$1,582,756$5,355,630$9,912,750$18,345,000Upper Quartile$36,058,000$5,611,874$15,733,740$28,785,600$58,187,649$147,718,705FIGURE 23:FIVE-YEAR CAPITAL BUDGET SPENDING(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 Improvements Acquisition OtherFIGURE 24:TARGETS FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURES(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURES)88%7%5 24 NRPA Agency Performance Review|25 offerings,but also to continue growing and improving to better serve their communities.The typical agency designates 88 percent of its capital budget to improve-ments,7 percent to acquisition and the remaining 5 percent to other endeavors.Capital expenditures designated to improvements typically fall under renovations and/or new develop-ment.Two-thirds of the improvement expenditures are designated to renovation(67 percent)while a third is new development(33 percent).Further,the average percentage of improvement dollars split be-tween buildings and parks is 30 percent(buildings)and 70 percent(parks).Jurisdiction population size influences the value of deferred maintenance projects per agency.The typical agency has nearly$700,000 in deferred maintenance projects.This overall figure drops for smaller agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people and increases to a median more than$17 million for agencies in jurisdic-tions of more than 250,000 people.Deferred mainte-nance balances rise at agencies that:Serve larger populations Have a higher operating budget Have more full-time equivalent employees Maintain more acres of parkland Have more parksFIGURE 25:IMPROVEMENT DOLLARS SPLIT BETWEEN RENOVATION AND NEW DEVELOPMENT(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF IMPROVEMENT DOLLARS)Renovation New development673%FIGURE 26:IMPROVEMENT DOLLARS SPLIT BETWEEN BUILDINGS AND PARKS(AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF IMPROVEMENT DOLLARS)Parks Buildings700%$20,000,000$18,000,000$16,000,000$14,000,000$12,000,000$10,000,000$8,000,000$6,000,000$4,000,000$2,000,000$0VALUE OF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE PROJECTS PER AGENCYFIGURE 27:VALUE OF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE PROJECTS PER AGENCY(BY JURISDICTION POPULATION)All AgenciesLess Than 20,00020,000 to 49,99950,000 to 99,999100,000 to 250,000More Than 250,000Median$698,000$80,000$500,000$813,561$3,688,462$17,337,000Lower Quartile$0$0$0$0$0$0Upper Quartile$10,000,000$1,000,000$5,000,000$8,448,908$14,301,710$70,414,250 All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,00026|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationPOLICIESIt is the responsibility of park and recreation agencies to create safe and inclusive spaces for all community members.Collecting data about agencies commit-ments to diversity,equity and inclusion(DEI)is critical to understanding the policies and efforts underway to make park and recreation spaces available for all and identifying areas that would benefit from further DEI implementation.One of the primary policies that park and recreation agencies implement is including a written commit-ment to DEI in their foundational documents.More than three-quarters(77 percent)of agencies express commitment to DEI at all locations;21 percent of agencies do not have an expressed commitment to DEI;and two percent have an expressed commitment to DEI at least some of their locations.Parks and recreation continue to be leaders in diversity,equity and inclusion when it comes to hiring staff.Nine in 10(91 percent)agencies have hiring practices in place that promote a diverse agency workforce at all locations.Agency has an expressed commitment to DEI at all locations Agency does not have an expressed commitment to DEI Agency has an expressed commitment to DEI at select locationsFIGURE 28:PERCENT OF AGENCIES WITH AN EXPRESSED COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY,EQUITY AND INCLUSION(DEI)IN THEIR FOUNDATIONAL DOCUMENTS(PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION)77!%2%Agency has hiring practices and policies promoting a diverse agency workforce at all locations Agency does not have hiring practices and policies promoting a diverse agency workforceFIGURE 29:PERCENT OF AGENCIES WITH HIRING PRACTICES AND POLICIES THAT PROMOTE A DIVERSE WORKFORCE(PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION)91%9%A group of soccer players celebrate with their coach.PHOTO COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review|27 CONCLUSIONSPark and recreation agencies are integral to the quality of life in communities.To sustain and continuously improve this beneficial relationship between parks and recreation and the public it serves,NRPA encourages park and recreational professionals to remain up to date on how their agencies compare to peer agencies.The 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review provides the opportunity to analyze agency performance in relation to other agencies of similar size across the United States.The resources provided in this report give park and recreation professionals,stakeholders and others who are interested in the success of parks and recreation further insight into agency operations across the country by providing:1.Up-to-date data to compare agency performance With relevant data and metrics,park and recreation professionals can see where their agencies stand regarding funding,programming,budgeting and other key areas compared to agencies with similar population sizes.These data allow agencies to make informed decisions about their future operations that influence overall performance.2.Resource and operation guidance To encourage optimal operations across park and recreation agencies,the data and metrics offered give agency leaders a better understanding of how to successfully run their agencies and manage their operations.3.Comprehensive data to better understand operations and responsibilities The comprehensive data and information provided in this report further demonstrate the importance of offering adequate pro-gramming,facilities and other resources in communities.The responsibilities of park and recreation professionals vary by agency,but the 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Report provides an in-depth understanding of these responsibilities,highlighting the important role agencies play in communities across the United States.NRPA encourages park and recreation professionals to use the 2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review in con-junction with other internal and external tools and resources including those found on the NRPA website(nrpa.org/APR and nrpa.org/ParkMetrics)to better understand how their agencies can provide their communities with the best amenities and services possible,and make the case for increased personnel and funding.28|2024 National Recreation and Park AssociationACKNOWLEDGEMENTSA HUGE thank you to the thousands of park and recreation professionals who participated in the annual NRPA Park Metrics campaign and completed their Agency Performance Survey.Thank you to Melissa May,Dianne Palladino,Danielle Doll,Lindsay Collins,Alexandra Reynolds,Vitisia Paynich,Kim Mabon and Kate Anderson for making this report possible.ABOUT NRPAThe National Recreation and Park Association(NRPA)is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong,vibrant and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation.With more than 60,000 members,NRPA advances this vision by investing in and championing the work of park and recreation professionals and advocates the catalysts for positive change in service of equity,climate-readiness,and overall health and well-being.NRPA brings strength to our message by partnering with like-minded organizations,including those in the federal government,nonprofits and commercial enterprises.Funded through dues,grants,registrations and charitable contributions,NRPA produces research,education and policy initiatives for our members that ultimately enrich the communities they serve.NRPA places immense importance on research and data to raise the status of parks and recreation and conducts research with two goals.First,NRPA creates and analyzes data to help park and recreation agencies make optimal decisions on operations,programming and spending.Second,NRPA develops data and insights that support park and recreation professionals making the case for greater and more stable funding to policymakers,key stake-holders,the media and the general public.The NRPA Research team works closely with internal subject matter experts,respected industry consultants and the academic community to develop its reports and data resources.Learn more at nrpa.org/Research.22377 Belmont Ridge Road,Ashburn,VA 20148800.626.NRPA(6772)|nrpa.org
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1 Jon Andrews,Shruti Khandekar,and Robbie Cruikshanks June 2024 General Election 2024 An analysis of manifesto plans for education 2 About the Education Policy Institute The Education Policy Institute is an independent,impartial,and evidence-based research institute that promotes high quality education outcomes,regardless of social background.We achieve this through data-led analysis,innovative research and high-profile events.Acknowledgements This report has been produced as part of a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation.The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social wellbeing.It funds research that informs social policy,primarily in Education,Welfare,and Justice.It also funds student programmes that provide opportunities for young people to develop skills in quantitative and scientific methods.The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Ada Lovelace Institute.The Foundation has funded this project,but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation.Visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org About the authors Jon Andrews is Head of Analysis and Director for School System and Performance at EPI.He has published a wide range of studies including:The performance of multi-academy trusts and local authorities,Access to special schools in England,and Grammar schools and social mobility.He worked in the Department for Education from 2003 to 2016 as a statistician.Robbie Cruikshanks joined the Education Policy Institute in March 2022.He has published work on the features of effective school groups and the impact of falling rolls on school funding.Prior to this,he worked as a sports data analyst covering professional rugby,and spent two years as a research consultant in the financial reporting sector,specialising in corporate governance and sustainability.Robbie graduated with an MEng in Computer Science and Philosophy from the University of York in 2019.Shruti Khandekar is a Senior Researcher focusing on Higher Education.Prior to joining EPI,Shruti examined relationships between student participation in dual enrolment and secondary and post-secondary outcomes in the United States.Similarly,she worked on the role of counselling and advising topics and educational outcomes.3 Contents Foreword.4 Executive summary.6 To what extent do the parties deliver against the challenges facing the system?.6 What is being proposed in each policy area and how does this stack up against our challenges and the research evidence?.8 Early years.16 The current landscape.16 What should a new government do?.18 What are the parties proposing?.19 Overall assessment.24 School organisation and outcomes.27 The current landscape.27 What should a new government do?.29 What are the parties proposing?.29 Overall assessment.37 Post-16 and higher education.40 The current landscape.40 What should a new government do?.43 What are the parties proposing?.43 Overall assessment.49 School and college funding.53 The current landscape.53 What should a new government do?.55 What are the parties proposing?.55 Overall assessment.59 The education workforce.63 The current landscape.63 What should a new government do?.65 What are the parties proposing?.65 Overall assessment.67 Annex:New analysis in this report.70 4 Foreword Natalie Perera,Chief Executive,Education Policy Institute Following the pandemics disruption and over a decade of austerity,the education system in England faces a number of challenges in the years ahead.Last summer we published the first part of our general election work in which we set out the challenges facing the education system in England and what we believed any incoming government should do to help address those challenges across the early years,school organisation and outcomes,post-16 and higher education,school and college funding,and the education workforce.International comparisons show that Englands high attaining pupils are on a par with some of the highest performing countries in the world.But our biggest challenge is a long tail of low attainment that is correlated with economic disadvantage,special educational needs,and particular ethnic groups.Our annual report,published in October,highlighted just how far we are from an equitable education system.By the time they complete secondary school,pupils from low-income backgrounds are 19 months behind their more affluent peers.Around forty per cent of this gap is evident before children even start school.The pandemic made the situation more challenging,and its affects were felt more acutely by pupils from low-income backgrounds,but progress had stalled before then.The pandemic simply wiped out what little progress had been made.In our first report we identified a range of challenges,including recruitment and retention in the early years and in schools,high levels of pupil absence,increasing prevalence of mental health issues amongst children and young people,and the financial sustainability of HE institutions.Despite these challenges,there remains a genuine risk that education will not secure the profile it requires given wider economic issues and demands on public services.Heading into the election period,the publics key issues were the economy,the NHS,inflation,and immigration.Education was in eighth,perhaps reflecting the resilience of the system to keep going in the face of multiple challenges.1 In this second report we provide an independent,evidence-based assessment of the extent to which each of the main parties have committed to meeting the challenges in the system in the run up to the July 4 general election.Whilst our focus is on education,any government that is serious about addressing educational inequalities must also tackle the social determinants of educational outcomes.Research published during this election period has highlighted the strain that hardship is putting not only 1 Ipsos,The future of public services:navigating the storm,(May 2024)5 on the individuals concerned,but also the services,including schools,they access.2 We call again for an incoming government to put in place a credible cross-government child poverty strategy.2 Katie Schmuecker and Morgan Bestwick,The impact of hardship on primary schools and primary and community healthcare,(June 2024)6 Executive summary The report is structured around five priority areas for education in England:The early years School organisation and outcomes Post-16 and higher education School and college funding Education workforce Each priority area includes a summary of the challenges from our first report,including the actions we think are needed.We then go on to assess party proposals against these objectives and the extent to which they are likely to meet them.As education is a devolved issue,and the UK Parliament only has control over education in England,this project considers policy implications for England only.As such we have restricted our analysis to parties seeking election for constituencies in England.General elections attract candidates from parties large and small as well as number of independent candidates.Therefore,we have had to set conditions for which parties are included.We have worked to the principle of including any party that might reasonably have a direct influence,either as a governing party or as part of an alliance,over government policy in the next parliament.We include any party which:was polling at least 10 per cent at the point of dissolution;3 or had at least one seat(in England)in Parliament at the point of dissolution,and was polling at least 5 per cent at the point of dissolution.The parties included are therefore:Conservative,Labour,Liberal Democrats,Green,and Reform.We assess policies where the party has made a clear public statement either through a manifesto or through its official website or social media accounts.In the absence of a clear policy statement,we have assumed a continuation of existing policy.To what extent do the parties deliver against the challenges facing the system?Conservatives Pledges to provide bonus payments to early career STEM teachers,along with the opening of new special free schools will go some way to helping to tackle capacity issues in the school workforce and special educational needs system though the time taken to open new special free schools mean that this approach will not provide a quick fix.The partys commitment to reinstate plans to create a register for children not in school and to expand coverage of mental health support teams are also welcome policies in supporting vulnerable children and young people.The 3 We have used the average of polls as at the 30 May 2024 on the BBC News website https:/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 7 introduction of the Advanced British Standard also has the potential to provide young people with a broader post-16 offer,realigning us with other nations.However,other policies such as a statutory banning of mobile phones in schools,lifting the cap on faith school admissions and scrapping 1 in 8 degree courses are largely unnecessary distractions and would not address the most pressing challenges facing education today.Furthermore,in a period of falling pupil rolls,the Conservatives plans to protect per-pupil funding in real terms would lead to cut in the overall schools budget.Disappointingly,there are no commitments to target funding towards disadvantaged pupils in the early years or post-16 phases and no commitment to increase the Pupil Premium rates.Overall,the Conservative manifesto falls considerably short of a suite of evidence-based policies that are likely to improve outcomes and narrow the disadvantage gap.Labour Labours plans to reform accountability could be one of the most transformative commitments in its manifesto as it reflects a wealth of evidence that the current system is flawed and leading to unintended consequences.Pledges to recruit 6,500 new teachers are welcome,but there is little detail on where these teachers will come from and how they will be incentivised to join and stay in the profession.The co-location of over 3,000 new nurseries in school sites could also be a powerful lever in improving accessibility and quality of early years provision,particularly for disadvantaged children,but this policy needs to be properly funded,implemented and evaluated in order to have maximum impact.Labours commitment to adopt a child poverty strategy is also welcome and reflects EPIs long-standing recommendation.Funded breakfast clubs in primary schools and Young Futures Hubs are likely to be helpful strands in such a strategy.The glaring omission in the Labour party manifesto is a commitment to protect school funding.Similarly,there is no commitment to uprate the Pupil Premium or to better target funding in the early years and post-16 phases.Overall,the Labour party has pledged to tackle more of the key challenges in a seemingly evidence-based way.But the manifesto is thin on detail and much of the funding relies on a transfer of subsidy from the private to state sector,which inevitably entails some risk.Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrat manifesto contains the largest number of education commitments,many of which are well-aligned with the evidence.Proposals to increase the Early Years Pupil Premium,extend the Pupil Premium to 16-19 year-olds and to target early years entitlements to disadvantaged children are all welcome interventions that reflect EPI recommendations.The Liberal Democrats also make important pledges to increase mental health support for young people and to introduce a register of children not in school.However,while the manifesto does include many seemingly evidence-based commitments,it is unclear whether these are deliverable,particularly within a single Parliament,given the lack of detail.8 Greens The Green Party has proposed some of the most significant changes to the education system.This includes a substantial pledge to increase school spending,with 8bn added to school budgets and a further 2.5bn in capital expenditure to improve the school estate.In higher education,they propose scrapping university tuition fees,this would come at a cost of over 10bn and mean a system where funding was less targeted at those that need it most.They also propose the ending of“high stakes”tests in primary and secondary schools which would mean the end of comparable school performance tables and also the abolition of Ofsted.This runs against evidence of the role of public accountability in raising standards.So,this could lead to a fall in standards overall and a widening of the disadvantage gap.Overall,the proposals in the Green Party manifesto are the most radical,but the costs involved are very significant,and some features run counter to research evidence.Reform The education related commitments from Reform are somewhat limited in nature.Their proposals to restrict childrens use of smartphones and social media reflect the relationship seen with issues with young peoples mental health.Substantial changes to student finance to extend the repayment period for student loans and eliminate interest would be both regressive and come at a greater cost to the exchequer.Overall,the Reform manifesto does not address the challenges in the education system today in any substantial way.What is being proposed in each policy area and how does this stack up against our challenges and the research evidence?The early years Across all manifestos,there is a concerning lack of engagement with some of the key issues relating to early childhood education and care.While the Conservative Party has continued with its pledge to extend funded childcare entitlements to 30 hours per week,it has not provided any detail on how it will ensure providers will be able to deliver the capacity for this extension,nor how it will improve accessibility for disadvantaged families.The Labour Party has also committed to this level of entitlement,as well as identifying the challenges of capacity and availability but,beyond its key proposal of opening 3,000 nurseries in schools,has offered little detail on how to address them.The Green Party has committed to extending funded childcare entitlements to 35 hours per week,but has not directly addressed issues of capacity and availability.Similarly,the Liberal Democrats proposed review of rates paid to providers is an acknowledgement of the tension between funded entitlements and financial pressures on providers but does not represent clear policy at this stage.No party has made commitments relating to addressing the levels of funding for SEND pupils.However,the Liberal Democrat proposal to increase the early years pupil premium,reflecting our 9 recommendation to weight additional funding towards disadvantaged pupils,is a positive step towards creating a more equitable early years funding system.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have adopted approaches in line with our call for an early years strategy,but there has been little reflection from the parties on the issues of recruitment and retention.Despite this absence of detail however,both parties have acknowledged the need for a high-quality workforce and have made this central to the future development of their early years career strategies.The Conservative Party has pledged to continue rolling out Family Hubs across England,in line with our earlier recommendation,but the party has not been clear on how it will ensure these additional hubs receive sufficient funding to realise the benefits that such services can provide to children and families.The Green Party has committed to a more ambitious plan,in line with our recommendation to strengthen the Family Hub model to a level of service and investment as seen during the Sure Start programme,pledging 1.4bn a year for local authorities to invest in Sure Start centres.No other parties have addressed integrated family services in any detail.Significant issues in the sector have been scarcely discussed and,in some cases,neglected entirely.This is particularly disappointing given the protective effect high-quality early years education can provide to disadvantaged children,and the real opportunity to address the inequalities we see in later education by sustained and targeted investment in the early years.School organisation and outcomes There are many components of party proposals that align with the approaches we identified to tackle some of the key challenges in our education system though no party alone appears to be addressing them all.Reforming the accountability system,and in particular Ofsted,is a key component of both the Labour and the Liberal Democrat manifestos.The move away from single word judgements to report card style approaches is consistent with EPI recommendations for the government to introduce new performance measures that mitigate some of the perverse incentives in the current system.Similarly,Labours proposal to bring multi-academy trusts into the remit of inspection reflects the structure of the school system in 2024 and the role that trusts play in school finance,curriculum,and workforce.There has also been a welcome focus on supporting children and young people with their mental health,with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats pledging to introduce a mental health professional into every school.What is less clear is the exact form that this will take,and how it interacts with mental health support team provision currently being rolled out.There are also very welcome commitments from the Conservatives,Labour,and the Liberal Democrats for various forms of a register of pupils not being educated in schools.This was a key recommendation from our first report.10 Curriculum reform did not feature as part of our immediate priorities for an incoming government.Firstly,because we considered that there were already more pressing concerns,and secondly that there had been a number of changes in recent years that schools had only just adapted to.However,we recognise that by the end of the next parliament it would have been fifteen years since the last review and therefore the proposals from both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are understandable.Beyond the Liberal Democrats Tuition Guarantee,the manifestos offered little that was particularly targeted at tackling the disadvantage gap but reforms to the curriculum may be one way in which we see a move to a system that works better for all pupils.Furthermore,the Conservatives,Labour,and the Liberal Democrats all make pledges to varying degrees to improve access to extra-curricular activities such as sports and music opportunities that young people from low-income backgrounds are currently less likely to take up.Unlike previous elections,there appears to be little appetite from the main parties for fast paced structural reform in terms of rapid expansion of the academies programme or a return to local authority-maintained schools,this is welcome and supported by evidence that structural reform has little or no effect on pupil outcomes.The Conservatives maintain a desire for schools to be in strong academy trusts though set no timescale by which this should be achieved.As we set out previously,it is important that the sector continues to build its understanding of what effective school groups do.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats appear to have no plans to row back the academised system but do commit to a stronger role for local authorities in admissions,place planning,and special educational needs.This is something we called for in our first report and will be particularly important during a period of falling pupil rolls.The Green Party is alone in wanting to move academies back under local authority control.Of pressing concern is the lack of urgency and detail about how the parties would support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.While there are some commitments across Labour,the Liberal Democrats,and the Conservative party including the establishment of a SEND body,greater support and expertise in mainstream schools,and new specialist provision,no single party addresses the challenges of the SEND system holistically,and all would require significantly more detail.Post-16 and higher education There has been a significant focus on increasing participation in technical and vocational education,falling apprenticeship starts,and employer investment in training.Policies on skills have emphasised the importance of lifelong learning and harnessing higher level technical education in order to up-and re-skill the economy.There has been little attention paid by parties to the disadvantage gap amongst 16-19 year olds,with the exception of the Liberal Democrats who have proposed a Young Peoples premium.This reflects one of EPIs key recommendations.The Conservatives plans to implement the Advanced British Standard(ABS)is a welcome strategy in broadening the 16-19 curriculum and increasing the offering of maths and English until age 18.11 Given the demonstrated benefits of a wider curriculum,this policy will benefit disadvantaged students who are more likely to narrow their choices after GCSEs.Extending maths and English will align the UK with other leading global economies and address the falling literacy and numeracy rates amongst 18-year-olds.To guarantee the success of the ABS,there will need to be significant changes to the workforce and more detail on whether students will have flexibility to study at different levels.The Liberal Democrats have also offered a review of the post-16 qualifications.Labour has offered to conduct a curriculum review but did not specifically address the narrowing of post-16 choices nor how to improve basic skills amongst young people.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have proposed strengthening careers advice to address the increasing NEET rates amongst 1624-year-olds.The Conservatives have not offered new plans on careers advice.Parties have offered various plans to reform apprenticeships.The Conservatives have proposed to increasing apprenticeship starts and to fund this by cutting higher education courses,while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have proposed increasing the flexibility of the apprenticeship levy so it can be used more widely for skills and training.Increasing flexibility however is unlikely to reverse the trend of falling starts.Labour and the Conservatives have committed relatively little to addressing issues in higher education.The Conservatives plan to reduce the provision of higher education by cutting poorly performing courses.With respect to tuition fees,the Conservatives plan to continue the 2022-23 student finance regime,despite the increased burden on lower-and middle-income graduates,while Labour has committed to making the system more progressive it has not offered any further details as to how this would be achieved.Neither party has addressed the instability of higher education budgets nor the overreliance on international students as a funding source.The Liberal Democrats have proposed removing international students from long-term migration numbers.While the Green Party have proposed abolishing student fees and reintroducing maintenance grants,the substantial price tag of the policies means that it is unlikely to be a priority for the next government with other areas of the economy requiring significant investment.Beyond potential changes to student finance,neither Labour nor the Conservatives have offered detailed plans on widening participation despite the fact that the gap in progression rate to higher education has widened to the highest recorded level.4 While the Green Party would reintroduce maintenance grants and the Liberal Democrats will work to widen participation,partly through greater transparency in selection criteria,the lack of plans from Labour and the Conservatives to support disadvantaged students amidst a cost-of-living crisis is a notable omission.Additionally,4 Department for Education,Widening participation in higher education,(July 2023)12 little had been said about contextual admissions despite evidence that they widen participation without adversely affecting attainment or dropout.5 Parties have increasingly focused on technical and vocational education in efforts to up-and re-skill the economy.The Conservatives and Labour have indicated that they will continue with the Lifelong Learning Entitlement if elected,while the Liberal Democrats have said they would provide every adult with 5,000 for lifelong education and training.Labour would also establish Skills England and introduce a set of coordinated policies that will support local skills development.Assuming successful implementation,these policies are likely to increase take up of higher technical qualifications.Comparatively little has been said on increasing the take up of level 2 and level 3 qualifications amongst adults.School and college funding The wider situation of government finances,and a position from the main parties not to increase some of the main tax rates has resulted in an offering that is exceedingly limited and does not address the challenges that schools and colleges are facing.While the education budget has been protected in recent years,relative to other areas of government expenditure,per pupil funding for schools is still 4 per cent lower than it was in 2010 if we account for the inflationary pressures in schools.The situation in further education colleges has been significantly worse.Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have commitments that are based on per pupil funding to schools(to protect in the case of the Conservatives and to increase above inflation for the Liberal Democrats).Given the expected fall in pupil rolls over the course of the next parliament,these commitments are at best modest.Simply holding total school funding flat in real terms would deliver a pledge to increase per pupil funding,and cutting it by over 3bn could still deliver a promise to protect per pupil funding.Labour has made no commitment at all on school funding,either per pupil or overall,beyond specific policy linked commitments such teacher training and development and teacher recruitment.In all cases it makes the overall funding package for schools very unclear.The commitments to funding for sixth forms and further education colleges(as opposed to specific policy interventions in the phase)are even more limited,with no commitment from the Conservative Party or Labour.The Liberal Democrats pledge to increase per student funding in real terms,but there is nothing to suggest that this will be of the scale needed to reverse long-term cuts.However,the Liberal Democrat proposal to introduce a post-16 student premium is very welcome and consistent with what we said was needed to help address both participating and attainment gaps in this phase.Beyond this pledge none of the parties have made specific commitments to changes to how revenue funding is allocated,or to the value of the pupil premium.If,as expected,the funding settlement for schools and colleges remains tight,then any government should seriously consider 5 Vikki Boliver,Claire Crawford,Mandy Powell,and Will Craige,Admissions in Context,(Sutton Trust,October 2017)13 how revenue funding is better targeted to ensure it reaches the pupils and students that need it most.These are difficult trade-offs but necessary in the current spending climate.Within this context,there are clear arguments that funding breakfast clubs and the expansion of free school meals to those just above existing eligibility thresholds is likely to lead to improvements in attendance and wellbeing.However,further expansion of free school meals to other pupils,at a time of limited funding,would be misguided and could be better targeted at where it is needed most.Commitments to capital expenditure to address the condition of the school and college estate are also limited.The Department for Education has consistently spent less than it had deemed was necessary to address the most urgent of building repairs.Only the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have made any commitment to address this need,though these would still appear to fall short of the levels that are really required.The final,but most pressing concern,is that of high needs funding,for pupils with acute special educational needs.Commitments from the main parties are again limited,or do not set out what they will achieve and how they will do it.Whoever forms the next government must review funding for special educational need including how funding is allocated.The high needs budget should be grounded in the level of need across the population and the true cost of provision to address those needs.The current system does neither and therefore creates substantial financial instability.In addition,the government must take action to increase capacity within state-funded special schools and address the high cost associated with private provision to reduce the cost of providing places.Schools,local authorities,and some of our most vulnerable children are at risk if the current situation is not addressed.Education workforce Despite issues of teacher pay,recruitment,and teacher-pupil ratios all appearing in headlines over the past two years,this election has not seen the scale of these challenges meaningfully addressed in party manifestos.The most notable omission across the manifestos are significant commitments on teacher pay.No party has pledged to improve pay rates for teachers or support staff and address the real terms pay cut that the profession has seen over the last decade,particularly for senior staff and further education teachers.Stronger commitments on pay are required to ensure teaching remains competitive in both schools and colleges.With teacher recruitment consistently lagging behind government targets,it is also disappointing to see little detail on how new staff will be recruited into the profession.The Labour manifesto is the only manifesto to contain a concrete figure on teacher recruitment,although partys target of 6,500 remains well short of both the recent targets and the number of staff required to ensure all pupils are taught by qualified teachers,let alone specialist subject teachers.The Conservative Party,while not committing to a figure,has pledged to attract more teachers by offering 30,000 in tax-free bonuses over a five year period for new teachers in key subjects.This is a welcome commitment,as these incentives are likely to bring about short-term gains in early career teacher 14 recruitment and make teaching a more attractive profession for younger workers and new entrants.However,it does not address the range of issues around longer-term retention beyond the five-year bonus period,nor the retention of older,more experienced staff currently in the profession.Another issue of key importance to the health and sustainability of the workforce is addressing teacher wellbeing.Teachers frequently cite workload and working conditions as major concerns,but no party has made clear commitments on how these issues will be alleviated for staff.No party has touched upon bolstering mental health support for school staff.A package of policies to ease the working lives of teachers in this way would not only make the profession more attractive to new entrants and graduates but assist with retention in the longer term.On a positive note,both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have identified the requirement for high-quality continuing professional development to increase the quality of the workforce and the level of qualification of teachers,both of which have knock-on effects on pupil outcomes.Labours offering of 270m for CPD for teachers and headteachers through a Teacher Training Entitlement is a good step towards creating more meaningful improvements in teacher quality.The additional focus on headteachers is particularly notable,as recent EPI research has found that effective headteachers can reduce teacher turnover and staff absenteeism in secondary schools,as well as providing benefits up to three months of learning for pupils under effective leadership.6 The Liberal Democrats,while less clear on their commitment,have also recognised the value of high-quality CPD and pledged to introduce a funded CPD programme,including training on parental engagement.While these CPD policies are ultimately positive,more ambitious strategies from the parties could have further benefits,namely the addressing the shortage of specialist staff.Well-funded,high-quality CPD can effectively retrain and upskill staff to fill shortages as a complement to graduate recruitment.6 James Zuccollo,Joana Cardi Dias,Eva Jimnez,and Nils Braakmann,The influence of headteachers on their schools,(Education Policy Institute,October 2023)15 Early years 16 Early years The current landscape High quality early childhood education and care(ECEC)has the potential to improve childrens educational and wider outcomes in the short and longer-term,7 including educational attainment,wellbeing,and socio-emotional skills8 and help close the disadvantage gap around 40 per cent of which is already evident by age 5.The funding system for the early years is both complex and insufficient and offers little support to families with the youngest children.The 2023 Spring Budget announced an extension of 30 hours of funded childcare,for 38 weeks of the year,to working parents of children aged 9 months to 2 years,but this will not address the issue of lack of accessibility of ECEC for the poorest children whose parents are not in work and may even reduce accessibility if disadvantaged children are crowded-out or providers are forced out of business.Childcare can be a significant proportion of family budgets,particularly for those with the youngest children.For a couple with two children aged 2 and 3,net costs represent 25 per cent of their average wage,almost double that of the OECD average,as seen in Figure 1.1.9 Figure 1.1:The cost of childcare in the UK compared with other OECD countries 7 Elizabeth Cascio,The promises and pitfalls of universal early education,IZA World of Labor(January 2015)8 Edward Melhuish and Julian Gardiner,Study of Early Education and Development(SEED):Impact Study on Early Education Use and Child Outcomes up to age seven years,(November 2021);Patricia Eadie,Jane Page,Penny Levickis,Catriona Elek,Lisa Murray,Lucas Wang and Catherine Lloyd-Johnsen.Domains of quality in early childhood education and care:A scoping review of the extent and consistency of the literature,Educational Review(June 2022)9 OECD,OECD.Stat:Benefits,Taxes and Wages Net childcare costs for parents using childcare facilities,(2022)17 Ultimately,these funding pressures risk squeezing out disadvantaged children from ECEC and potentially disincentivising work for middle-income families.There has been a sizeable shift in early years spending away from the tax and welfare system towards the funded entitlement.This growth in funded hours has been popular with some parents but has put pressure on providers,while disproportionately benefiting those higher up the income distribution.10 Whilst early education has the potential to benefit those from disadvantaged backgrounds the most,existing use is highest amongst better off families.11,12 Funding pressures on providers have knock-on implications for access,with low-income children and those with additional needs most at risk of being crowded-out.Children with special educational needs and disabilities(SEND)are markedly underserved,with many failing to be provided with a place.13 Only 18 per cent of local authorities in England have sufficient pre-school provision for disabled children.14 The early years workforce faces issues with recruitment and retention.While research suggests early years education needs to be of high quality to have a strong impact on longer-term outcomes,challenges with recruitment and retention of staff risk this quality being compromised,particularly in more disadvantaged areas.Just 8.6 per cent of the early years workforce have accredited graduate status(early years teacher status or qualified teacher status),despite evidence that direct contact with graduate staff has a positive impact on young childrens outcomes.15 Meanwhile,expansions of early years entitlements have placed further demand on an already over-extended workforce,with estimates that around 27,500 further early years professionals will need to be recruited by 2028 to meet demand.This represents an 8 per cent expansion of the workforce in a sector that has lost 3 per cent of the total workforce since 2019,with over 70 per cent of local authorities reporting that ECEC settings are finding it very difficult to recruit qualified and experienced staff.16 These challenges seem to be more acute in private,voluntary and independent(PVI)settings than in school-based settings,with reasons for high turnover including low pay,unfavourable working conditions and unrealistic staff expectations of the role.17 High turnover is undesirable because it impacts stability and quality of relationships between educators/carers and children,and adds to pressures within settings(for example,because new staff have to recruited and trained).The 2023 Spring Budget recognised the problem of declining childminder numbers,announcing financial incentives aimed at reversing this trend,though the extent to which these incentives are sufficient to improve recruitment to the sector has been questioned,and they do little to address retention.While higher pay is likely to help improve workforce sustainability,it will not address 10 Christine Farquharson,Robert Joyce and Tom Waters,Early years and childcare in England:Public spending,private costs,and the challenges ahead,(March 2023)11 Family and Childcare Trust,Tackling barriers to access in early education,(December 2023)12 Department for Education,Written evidence submitted by the Department for Education CEY1714(to the Education Committee inquiry on Support for Childcare and the Early Years),(March 2023)13 Kitty Stewart and Mary Reader,The Conservatives record on early childhood:policies,spending and outcomes from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020,(December 2020);Childrens Commissioner,Vision for childcare,(October 2022)14 Megan Jarvie,Lisa Kunwar Deer,Sam Shorto and Emma Goddard,Childcare Survey 2023(March 2023)15 Sara Bonetti and Jo Blanden,Early years workforce qualifications and childrens outcomes,(December 2020)16 Jones et al.,How many early years professionals do we need?Estimating the requirement by 2028,(September 2023)17 Department for Education,The early years workforce:recruitment,retention,and business planning,(April 2022)18 challenges around continuing professional development and career progression.And despite the vital importance of early educators in mitigating the disadvantage gap that emerges even before children start school,many do not have the same status as other workforces,including teachers.18 Amidst all these challenges,the benefits of ECEC are not being realised.In England,the roll-out of the original 15-hour universal entitlement led to only small improvements in recorded development at age 5,with no apparent benefits by age 11.19 It has also had a relatively small impact on parents working decisions,unlike the point at which children start school which does significantly increase labour force participation.20 This limited impact on either child development or parental employment might seem disappointing,but evidence suggests early and sustained targeted funding yields larger positive effects on educational and later-life outcomes,strengthening the case for a more comprehensive package of targeted funding at the early years.21 Given that the current roll-out to 30 hours and roll-down to 9 months is also predicated to serve largely as a subsidy for those who would already have used childcare to support work,this situation seems likely to continue.22 At a time when child poverty remains high and families are struggling with the cost of living,this direct support for families may still be a worthwhile policy objective in its own right.However,it does not directly address the unmet need of children with SEND,nor the childcare deserts experienced in some areas,nor the tendency of families in more deprived areas and with lower incomes to be less likely to be aware of and to access their entitlements.Crucially,it does not concentrate on ensuring quality provision focused on childrens experiences and development.Without a clear strategy for the early years,there is a lack of clarity as to the purpose of early education and care,the relative priorities of different policies stretching across children and parents and any trade-offs between them.What should a new government do?Simplify early years funding so it is easier for parents and carers to navigate,lessening bureaucratic barriers and the administrative burden for families.An incoming government should work towards providing a single point of access for parents and carers to be able to ascertain all their entitlements to funding for early education and care.Development of this policy should be based on user-journey informed research to ensure accessibility for all parents and carers,particularly those with lower participation such as disadvantaged families.18 Jo Hutchinson,John Dunford and Mike Treadaway,Divergent pathways:the disadvantage gap,accountability and the pupil premium,(July 2016)19 Jo Blanden,Emilia Del Bono,Sandra McNally and Birgitta Rabe,Universal Preschool Education:The Case of Public Funding with Private Provision,The Economic Journal,Volume 126,Issue 592,(May 2016)20 Mike Brewer,Sarah Cattan,Claire Crawford and Birgitta Rabe,Does more free childcare help parents work more?,Labour Economics,Volume 74,(January 2022)21 Jackson,C.K.,&Mackevicius,C.The Distribution of School Spending Impacts.NBER Working Paper No.28517.National Bureau of Economic Research.(February 2021)22 Christine Farquharson,What you need to know about the new childcare entitlements,Institute for Fiscal Studies,(March 2024)19 Weight early years funding much more heavily towards children from low-income families and children with SEND by increasing the early years pupil premium to be commensurate with the pupil premium in later school years,increasing the disability access fund(DAF)to reflect the costs of quality education and care for children with disabilities,and simplifying access to the DAF.Entitlement to the DAF should not be restricted(as it is presently)to only children in receipt of disability living allowance(DLA),as not all children with disabilities in the early years are in receipt of DLA.23,24 The Family Hub model should be strengthened or returned to the original Sure Start model to ensure a family-focussed and integrated system of care,education and wider holistic support for young children and their parents/carers.Recent research has suggested the original Sure Start model produced positive effects on educational outcomes,particularly for disadvantaged children,for modest returns on cost.25 Research also indicated improved health outcomes for children as a result of Sure Start,and that inequality in early education and care attendance was reduced in areas with more Sure Start provision.26,27 Roll-out should be rigorously evaluated to ensure government continues to learn about what does and does not work,with an eye both to immediate and longer-term learnings,and to accumulating lessons on past good practice and long-term impacts,which continue to emerge.28 A new government should publish an early years strategy which should set out plans to:improve accessibility for disadvantaged children in particular;create a sustainable model for providers while also affordable for families;and provide a clear strategy for ensuring a high-quality workforce.What are the parties proposing?Funding for the early years The Conservative Party has maintained its commitment announced in the 2023 Spring Budget to extend the current eligibility of funded childcare from 15 hours to 30 hours per week for working parents with children between 9 months and two years old.The Green Party has committed to a further extension up to 35 hours per week.While these extensions are welcome news to many parents,they provide no benefit to many of the poorest children whose parents are less likely to be in work.Additionally,without plans to increase the capacity of providers and the recruitment and retention of the early years workforce,the policy risks crowding out disadvantaged families and placing further financial pressures on providers.23 Department for Education,Sources of income for early years providers,(September 2018)24 Contact,Its time to bust some myths about DLA!,(February 2023)25 Carneiro,Cattan,and Ridpath,The short-and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on educational outcomes,Institute for Fiscal Studies,(April 2024)26 Sarah Cattan Gabriella Conti Christine Farquharson Rita Ginja Maud Pecher,The health impacts of Sure Start,(Institute for Fiscal Studies,August 2021)27 Tammy Campbell,Ludovica Gambaro,and Kitty Stewart,Universal early education:Who benefits?Patterns in take-up of the entitlement to free early education among three-year-olds in England,British Educational Research Journal,(June 2018)28 The Health Foundation,Sure Start:a model for long-term policymaking?-with Naomi Eisenstadt and Donna Molloy,(May 2024)20 The Liberal Democrats have pledged to increase the early years pupil premium to almost triple its current level,raising it from 353 to 1,000 per year.This increase would cost approximately an additional 74.3m beyond existing spend on the early years pupil premium,based on the current number of eligible children.However,the early years pupil premium is likely underclaimed in comparison to the pupil premium in primary and secondary schools,making this figure a possible underestimate.Any expansion should also come with a focus on increasing enrolment,either through auto-enrolment at the family level or directly funding settings based on the number of eligible pupils.Alongside this funding increase,disadvantaged children aged three and four will also be entitled an additional five free hours of childcare a week under Liberal Democrat plans.Taken together,this would benefit the most disadvantaged families in accessing early years education and more effectively weight early years funding towards children in poverty.This change would assist with progress to close the early years disadvantage gap by increasing funding for disadvantaged children in the early years to a level more comparable with the pupil premium in primary and secondary schools.However,without also increasing the capacity of providers and the recruitment and retention of the workforce,these additional entitlements may struggle to be realised in practice.The Liberal Democrats also state their ambition,when the public finances allow,to extend the additional five free hours of childcare to disadvantaged two-year-olds as a step towards universal entitlements for all two-to four-year-olds.The Liberal Democrats have also committed to launch a review into the rates paid to providers of funded childcare hours to ensure costs are fully covered by entitlement payments.This kind of review could have a positive impact by identifying disparities in access and provision across the country and addressing the sustainability of the entitlement model,but without a focus on the barriers facing disadvantaged families it may not provide clear insight into how the model can be improved to help close the early years disadvantage gap.The Party has also committed to introducing a toddler top-up,an enhanced rate of child benefit for one-year-olds,but has not provided any further detail on how much this rate will be enhanced.Early years workforce The Labour Party has committed to honouring the current government policy to expand the funded childcare entitlement from 15 to 30 hours per week but acknowledge that doing so will require greater workforce capacity.They propose to work with the sector to ensure professionals are provided with opportunities for high-quality training and recognised for their work,but there is currently limited detail of how this would be achieved.The Liberal Democrats have proposed to simplify the registration process for childminders to remove barriers to joining the profession.The current registration requirements mean most childminders and out-of-school provisions are required to register on both the Early Years Register(EYR)and Compulsory Childcare Register(CCR),while other specific providers may choose to register on the Voluntary Childcare Register(VCR).The party has pledged to replace this fragmented landscape with a single childcare register,alongside commissioning a practitioner-led review into simplifying administrative burdens on providers and attracting new,high-quality childminders.This acknowledgement of childminding as a complement to PVI-sector and school-21 based provision is welcome,but there is little evidence to suggest how effective reducing registration requirements would be in attracting additional childminders.While the proposed review may not immediately address issues with workforce supply and retention,it can contribute to the evidence base of how childcare professionals can be attracted and supported to work.The Liberal Democrats have also committed to developing a career strategy for early years staff,including a training programme with the majority of those working with children aged two to four to have a relevant early years qualification or be working towards one.The acknowledgement of the need for a qualified workforce is positive given evidence on the link between direct contact with graduate staff and positive outcomes for young children,29 but no further detail is provided on how this strategy will be developed in practice.The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to include a specific emphasis on identifying and supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities in training for early years staff.The importance of early identification of SEND in children has long been recognised,as noted in the SEND Code of Practice;30 and delaying identification at the early years can compound challenges for children through escalation of unmet needs.On the other hand,misidentification of SEND also presents similar risks,with the added consequence of putting further strain of the level of provision available to children requiring additional support.While a greater focus on early SEND identification is welcome,we begin from a low baseline in terms of staff qualifications,and already struggling with recruitment and retention,so this is a large undertaking especially given the mixed market of providers.Without a clear strategy to bolster the workforce and address the issues leading many to leave the profession,this policy may not be achievable.Quality of provision The Conservative Party has said it plans to expand its Family Hub programme to deliver a hub in every local authority,aimed at providing a one-stop shop of joined-up family support including health services,parenting support,and childcare.The continued roll-out of the Family Hub model was a recommendation we put forward in our first report.Since the announcement of the policy in the 2021 Spring Budget,75 of the 152 local authorities in England have seen a Family Hub set up,albeit in some cases these hubs are not physical locations.Research has shown that integrating family services in deprived areas in this way can make a material difference to childrens outcomes,but the impact of those services is highly dependent on receiving adequate funding.31 Currently the Family Hub system receives just 100m a year compared with the 300m a year in the first year,the Sure Start programme,which had positive effects on educational outcomes,29 Sara Bonetti and Jo Blanden,Early years workforce qualifications and childrens outcomes,(December 2020)30 Department for Education and Department of Health,Special educational needs and disability code of practice:0 to 25 years,(January 2015)31 Pedro Carneiro,Sarah Cattan,and Nick Ridpath,The short-and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on educational outcomes,(Institute for Fiscal,April 2024)22 particularly for disadvantaged children.32 Furthermore,Family Hubs have a much wider age remit than Sure Start,which focused on children under five.While the expansion of Family Hubs is a positive step towards providing integrated family support services across the whole of England,the model must be funded with further investment to fully realise the potential improvements to educational outcomes that these services can provide,with this investment targeted first in the most disadvantaged areas.Additionally,the size of some local authorities combined with poor public transport,especially in rural areas,means even if a Family Hub is established in every local authority,many families may still have difficulties in accessing services.The Conservative Party has made no pledges on what the level of investment in Family Hubs will be under their proposed expansion,or on further plans to improve the accessibility of the model.The Green Party has proposed to invest 1.4bn per year for local authorities to spend on Sure Start centres.This mirrors our recommendation to strengthen integrated parent services(through strengthening the Family Hub model or restoring the Sure Start system).The level of investment proposed by the party would be over half of the spending on Sure Start at its peak(2.5bn per year)and would likely be sufficient to realise similar positive effects on outcomes.32 However,the Green Party has provided no further detail on the practicalities of this policy,such as how the transition back to Sure Start from existing Family Hubs would be implemented,or if any changes from the original Sure Start model would be implemented given the materially different ECEC landscape in 2024.The Labour Party has pledged to create over 3,000 new school-based nursery classrooms based in primary schools,aiming to utilise spare capacity in primary schools due to falling pupil numbers.The party claims this will create 100,000 new childcare places,funded by its policy to levy VAT on independent schools.This policy is a positive move towards tackling the shortage of affordable high-quality ECEC,in areas currently underserved by provision,while having the additional benefit of capitalising on the opportunity presented by the decline in primary school pupils.However,it is not clear how the party will ensure these new provisions are staffed by high-quality early years professionals given the declining size of the early years workforce.Labour has made no specific commitments on building the capacity of the early years workforce.Other policies In the 2024 Spring Budget,the Conservative Party announced changes to the high-income child benefit charge,a tapered tax on child benefit claimed if a parent earns over a certain income.Previously,this income threshold was set at 50,000,tapering up to a 100 per cent charge on child benefit claimed for incomes over 60,000.As of April 2024,the threshold was raised to 60,000,tapering up to the 100 per cent charge over 80,000,and the rate at which the charge was applied was halved.While this change was a positive step towards making the ECEC fairer and more accessible to medium-and high-income families,it provided no support to the most disadvantaged families and remains unnecessarily favourable towards families with more evenly 32 Pedro Carneiro,Sarah Cattan,and Nick Ridpath,The short-and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on educational outcomes,(Institute for Fiscal,April 2024)23 split incomes rather than single-earner households.The Conservatives have said they would move to a household based system so that families do not lose child benefit until their combined income reaches 120,000.The Labour Party has committed to a pilot expansion of a childrens number a digital identification number that links a childs record across education,the health service,social care and wider services to reduce barriers that families face when accessing services and prevent children from falling through the gaps.This is a welcome step towards a centralised data service that allows for the better monitoring and oversight of managed moves between schools,moves into home schooling,and the phenomenon of unexplained exits,where children become unaccounted for in the education system.It may also help make more visible the experiences of hidden children,including those in care and insecure living situations,and enable better child protection.However,is it not yet clear which individuals and institutions would be responsible for the data and provided access to it,and for what purposes.The Liberal Democrats have committed to a range of reforms to parental leave entitlements with the aim of assisting working parents in managing the crucial early stages of their childs development.This includes making all parental pay and leave day-one rights(currently workers are entitled to 18 weeks of parental leave after a year at their workplace),extending this right to self-employed workers,doubling the Statutory Maternity and Shared Parental Pay entitlements to 350 per week,and introducing an additional use-it-or-lose-it month of parental leave for fathers and partners,paid at 90 per cent of earnings.The Liberal Democrats state their ambition-when the public finances allow-is to give all families six weeks of use-it-or-lose-it leave paid at 90 per cent of earnings,and 46 weeks of parental leave to share between partners as they wish,paid at double the current statutory rate.Extending parental leave to six weeks has been recommended by the Chartered Institute of Professional Development33 and is linked with smaller gender wage gaps and smaller labour force participation gaps.34 The party has also pledged to require large employers to publish their parental leave and pay policies.The Labour Party has also said it will review the parental leave system so that it better supports working families,but provide no further detail on what this review will entail.The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to review and reform the Child Maintenance Service,an entitlement paid to cover a childs living costs when one of the parents does not live with the child.This is an important piece of a future strategy to tackle child poverty across England,and the findings of such a review should be seriously considered by any incoming government.The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to elevate the Minister for Children to being a cabinet position.This represents a signalling of the importance of children and families in cross-government policymaking and would be a welcome machinery of government change.33 CIPD,Employer Focus on Working Parents,(August 2022)34 Rosie Fogden,Tanya Singh,Taisiya Merkulova,Joeli Brearley,Lauren Fabianski and Ben Franklin,Leave in the lurch:Paternity leave,gender equality and the UK economy,(Centre for Progressive Policy,June 2023)24 The Liberal Democrats have also committed to providing free access to sign language lessons for the parents and guardians of deaf children.Deaf children were on average 8.8 months of learning behind their classmates who did not have any special needs,by age seven in 2019.35 This policy does represent a major step forward in making education more accessible for deaf children,as early access to sign language plays a major role in developing language skills and preventing language deprivation.36,37 While this further support is welcome,a future government should look to develop a holistic strategy to meet the full range of needs of deaf children,and the scope of additional funding and services required to tackle the deaf attainment gap,which has remained largely static since 2015.Overall assessment Across all manifestos,there is a concerning lack of engagement with some of the key issues relating to early childhood education and care.While the Conservative Party has continued with its pledge to extend funded childcare entitlements to 30 hours per week,it has not provided any detail on how it will ensure providers will be able to deliver the capacity for this extension,nor how it will improve accessibility for disadvantaged families.The Labour Party has also committed to this level of entitlement,as well as identifying the challenges of capacity and availability but,beyond its key proposal of opening 3,000 nurseries in schools,has offered little detail on how to address them.The Green Party has committed to extending funded childcare entitlements to 35 hours per week,but has not directly addressed issues of capacity and availability.Similarly,the Liberal Democrats proposed review of rates paid to providers is an acknowledgement of the tension between funded entitlements and financial pressures on providers but does not represent clear policy at this stage.No party has made commitments relating to addressing the levels of funding for SEND pupils.However,the Liberal Democrat proposal to increase the early years pupil premium,reflecting our recommendation to weight additional funding towards disadvantaged pupils,is a positive step towards creating a more equitable early years funding system.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have adopted approaches in line with our call for an early years strategy,but there has been little reflection from the parties on the issues of recruitment and retention.Despite this absence of detail however,both parties have acknowledged the need for a high-quality workforce and have made this central to the future development of their early years career strategies.The Conservative Party has pledged to continue rolling out Family Hubs across England,in line with our earlier recommendation,but the party has not been clear on how it will ensure these 35 Jo Hutchinson,The educational outcomes of deaf children in England,(Education Policy Institute and NCDS,March 2023)36 Kate Rowley and Dani Sive,Preventing language deprivation,(BATOD,November 2021)37 Annalene Van Staden,Gerhard Badenhorst,and Elaine Ridge.The Benefits of Sign Language for Deaf Learners with Language Challenges,Per Linguam,(2011)25 additional hubs receive sufficient funding to realise the benefits that such services can provide to children and families.The Green Party has committed to a more ambitious plan,in line with our recommendation to strengthen the Family Hub model to a level of service and investment as seen during the Sure Start programme,pledging 1.4bn a year for local authorities to invest in Sure Start centres.No other parties have addressed integrated family services in any detail.Significant issues in the sector have been scarcely discussed and,in some cases,neglected entirely.This is particularly disappointing given the protective effect high-quality early years education can provide to disadvantaged children,and the real opportunity to address the inequalities we see in later education by sustained and targeted investment in the early years.26 School organisation and outcomes 27 School organisation and outcomes The current landscape Pupils in England perform well across all the major international benchmarking assessments that measure performance in years 5,9 and 11.In the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study(PIRLS)for year 5 pupils,England was placed fourth overall,behind only Russia,Hong Kong and Singapore(though comparisons with other countries were complicated by the pandemic which affected the point at which countries took the test.)38 But there are wide disparities in pupil outcomes that worsened over the course of the pandemic.The difference in outcomes between pupils from low-income backgrounds and their peers is currently equivalent to around 19 months of learning by the time they sit their GCSEs,although progress in closing the gap had already stalled before the pandemic hit.39 The effects of the pandemic continue to be felt in pupil outcomes.The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading,writing and mathematics at the end of primary school in 2023 was 60 per cent,still 5 percentage points from the last pre-pandemic assessments in 2019.40 There are also disparities in provision for those with special educational needs and disabilities,the most significant factor in whether a given child is recorded as having SEND is the primary school they attend.41 Two thirds of the total variation is accounted for not by any individual facts about a child but by which school they attend.Individual child-level factors that influence SEND identification include deprivation and there is some evidence of the rationing of SEND support to relatively less deprived children living within more deprived areas.Children who are more absent from school or have moved schools are less likely to be identified with SEND than otherwise similar children.Mental health issues amongst children and young people had been gradually increasing over the two decades leading up to the pandemic.42 In 2017,around 1 in 8 children aged 8-16 had a probable mental health disorder,this increased to 1 in 5 by 2023.43 Referrals to NHS mental health services for young people increased by 80 per cent through the pandemic.44 Amongst young people,gender is the key axis of inequality:around a third of females aged 17 to 19 have a probable conditions,compared with a sixth of males.42Error!Bookmark not defined.The pandemic was also associated with a large increase in pupil absence.In the autumn term of 2022/23,the overall absence rate was 7.5 per cent.45 While this fell to 6.7 per cent the following year,it remained well above the 4.9 per cent in autumn 2019/20.Persistent absence-defined as 38 Ariel Lindorff,Jamie Stiff,and Heather Kayton,PIRLS 2021:National Report for England,(May 2023)39 Emily Hunt et al,EPI Annual Report 2023,(October 2023)40 Department for Education,Key stage 2 attainment:academic year 2022/23,(December 2023)41 Jo Hutchinson,Identifying pupils with special educational needs and disabilities,(March 2021)42 NHS Digital,Mental health of children and young people in England,2017,(November 2018)43 NHS England,Mental health of children and young people in England,2023 wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey,(November 2023)44 Hannah Chu-Han Huang and Dennis Ougrin,Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health services,(September 2021)45 Department for Education,Pupil absence in schools in England:autumn term 2023/24,(May 2024)28 when a pupil misses at least 10 per cent of possible sessions increased from 13.1 per cent of all pupils to 24.2 per cent before falling to 19.4 per cent over the same period.There is also no consistent data on children who are home educated and government plans to introduce a statutory register have been postponed.It is now 14 years since the start of the rapid expansion of the academies programme.Over half of state-funded schools are academies or free schools with the majority in multi-academy trusts.46 Though academisation is changing how schools are operating,multiple studies have found either limited or no effects of academisation on pupil attainment at a system level.47 Academisation is also strongly associated with lower chances of being identified with SEND during primary school,all else being equal.48 The next parliament will cover a period of falling rolls in Englands schools.The Department for Education estimates that the pupil population will fall by 626,000 by the end of the decade,returning pupil numbers to a similar level to that seen prior to the post-millennium population bulge.49 The number of primary aged pupils is already in decline and the number of pupils in secondary schools is expected to peak this year.As school funding is largely driven by pupil numbers,a fall in a schools roll is typically associated with a fall in its funding while its costs do not necessarily fall in the same way.Substantial falls in pupil intakes can result in a school no longer being financially viable.These population effects are not consistent,with one in seven local authorities expecting increases in the primary aged population by 2027/28.50 Around one fifth of schools in England are currently operating at or over capacity.Pupil place planning remains the responsibility of local authorities,but they have no statutory levers to direct academies to adjust admissions numbers.51 The school system in England is underpinned by a system of accountability using Ofsted inspections and the publication of performance data for individual schools.International evidence suggests that school accountability which allows the direct comparison of schools has a positive impact on pupil outcomes,with standardised testing achieving better results than localised or subjective information.52 But current performance measures and inspection outcomes are closely linked with pupil demographics.Schools with low levels of disadvantage and high prior attainment are more likely to receive positive judgements from Ofsted or have high Progress 8 scores.53,54 Accountability also risks creating perverse incentives,including narrowing curriculum 46 Department for Education,Open academies,free schools,studio schools and UTCs,(May 2024)47 Jon Andrews and Natalie Perera,The Impact of Academies on Educational Outcomes,(July 2017)48 Jo Hutchinson,Identifying pupils with special educational needs and disabilities,Education Policy Institute,(March 2021)49 Department for Education,National pupil projections:reporting year 2023,(October 2023)50 Department for Education,School capacity:academic year 2022/23,(March 2024)51 London Councils,Managing surplus school places,(January 2023)52 Annika B.Bergbauer,Eric Hanushek,Ludger Woessmann,Testing with accountability improves student achievement,(September 2018)53 Jo Hutchinson,School inspection in England:is there room to improve?,(November 2017)54 Kate Beynon and Dave Thomson,Contextualising Progress 8,(May 2024)29 choices,55 reducing the inclusiveness of admissions practices,and removing pupils from school rolls.56 The death of headteacher Ruth Perry in January last year also brought into sharp focus the impact that the current inspection system can have on teacher wellbeing and workload.57 What should a new government do?Tackle the widening gap in pupil outcomes,particularly amongst those from vulnerable groups,through a renewed focus on the disadvantage gap;addressing absence in a way that reflects its range of causes,providing greater support to children with additional needs;and reinstating the commitment to a register of home educated pupils.Set clear expectations and resourcing of local authorities including in pupil place planning,SEND provision,and managed moves,giving them powers where necessary.Recognise that wholesale structural reform is likely to have limited impact on outcomes in and of itself but there is an ongoing need to understand the evidence on what makes an effective school group and how best practice can be spread across the system.Establish and address drivers of mental ill health amongst children and young people.Continue the focus on providing mental health support through schools and ensuring there is access to provision across the country.Evaluate the impact of mental health support teams and explore a consistent approach to measuring wellbeing across schools.This could be used to identify groups of pupils who need additional support and to measure the impact of interventions but should not be part of the school accountability framework.Reform the current accountability framework including the role of Ofsted and its gradings,to ensure that it is not delivering perverse incentives such as curriculum narrowing or unnecessary workload and operates in a way that supports school improvement and inclusion across all types of school.What are the parties proposing?Accountability Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats would replace single word Ofsted judgements with report cards underpinned by a suite of metrics.The Conservative commitment for Ofsted to provide“clear judgements to parents”is taken to mean that the current grading system would remain.Attempts have been made in the past to provide a broader picture of school performance.Firstly the school profile was introduced by the Education Act 2005.58 Subsequently the then Labour government developed and consulted on the introduction of a school report card which would include measures of pupil progress,attainment,wellbeing,attainment gaps,and pupil and parent 55 National Foundation for Educational Research,What impact does accountability have on curriculum,standards and engagement in education?A literature review,(September 2018)56 Whitney Crenna-Jennings and Jo Hutchinson,Unexplained school transfers and managed moves,(March 2024)57 Ofsted,Ofsted responds to prevention of future deaths report,(January 2024)58 Education Act 2005,Part 4,Maintained Schools,Section 104 30 perceptions.59 This was proposed to be introduced from 2011 but was not implemented by the Coalition Government of 2010-2015.EPI has advocated for a broader set of measures in a report card style approach as it should mitigate against some of the perverse incentives that currently exist in the system.EPI has already published measures at school group level,which could serve as a blueprint for any government seeking to broaden performance measures.60 Where schools are underperforming,Labour propose regional improvement teams,to work as partners with schools in responding to areas of weakness identified in the new report cards.Both the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party propose reforming the current central measures of school performance by including additional subjects to broaden the curriculum offer to secondary aged pupils.For the Liberal Democrats this means changing the EBacc measure to include an arts subject.Under the current definition,the EBacc comprises English(literature and language),mathematics,the sciences(combined or triple),a humanities subject,and an ancient or modern foreign language,therefore not incentivising schools to enter pupils in arts subjects.The percentage of pupils entered for all EBacc subjects has been around 40 per cent for several years having initially increased rapidly.61 The current limiting factor is entries to modern foreign languages,the vast majority of pupils who have entered four of the five EBacc subjects are missing this pillar.Schools that already perform poorly on the language pillar may therefore not be incentivised by the addition of an arts subject.Labour would instead change Attainment 8 and Progress 8 to include at least one creative or vocational subject.Unlike the EBacc,both Attainment 8 and Progress 8 already allow for the inclusion of a broader range of subjects if schools offer them.62 The effect of this change would be to penalise schools that do not offer these subjects(and hence encourage them to broaden provision)but it would also reduce the flexibility that schools and pupils have in choosing subjects studied.The Labour Party would also bring multi-academy trusts into the remit of inspection.Ofsted can currently only inspect individual schools,though they are also able to carry out“summary evaluations”of trusts where they collect evidence about the trusts work through inspecting a sample of their academies with a further site visit to the trust central team.63 However,this does not result in an inspection grade for the trust as a whole.Moving towards inspections of trusts reflects their increasing importance in the running of schools.Decisions around financial management,workforce deployment,and curriculum choices are now often taken at trust level.64 No other parties are taking this approach.59 Department for Children Schools and Families and Ofsted,A school report card:prospectus,(June 2009)60 Louis Hodge,Robbie Cruikshanks,Jon Andrews,and Oana Gavriloiu,The features of effective school groups,(April 2024)61 Department for Education,Key Stage 4 performance 2023(revised),(February 2024)62 The eight components of Attainment 8 and Progress 8 comprise:English,mathematics,three highest scoring other EBacc subjects,and then three further subjects(including remaining EBacc subjects if they are the highest scoring).63 Ofsted,Summary evaluations of multi-academy trusts,(March 2023)64 Louis Hodge,Robbie Cruikshanks,Jon Andrews,and Oana Gavriloiu,The Features of Effective School Groups,(April 2024)31 The Liberal Democrats propose a new parental engagement strategy which would include requiring schools to provide accessible information to parents on what their children are learning.Schools are already required to report a range of information to parents65,and increased parental engagement has the potential to increase attainment.66 However,particular attention needs to be given to children from low-income backgrounds as differential rates of parental engagement would risk further widening existing disadvantage gaps.Parents of children with SEND also face greater barriers to engagement.67 As part of their review of the curriculum,the Labour Party would consider assessment methods,though say that they would continue to recognise the role of examinations.The Green party would end formal testing in both primary and secondary schools.The removal of formalised testing would risk introducing biased assessments by gender,ethnicity,special educational needs,and socio-economic factors.68 It would also mean the end of primary school performance tables in their current form.International evidence suggests that school accountability which allows for the direct comparisons of schools has a positive impact on pupil outcomes,with standardised testing achieving better results than localised or subjective information.69 In Wales,the abolition of performance tables led to a reduction in school effectiveness which was particularly marked at the lower end of the performance distribution.70 Curriculum and qualifications Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have committed to a review of the curriculum.Labour would aim to achieve a broader curriculum with access to sport and the arts,a focus on oracy and digital skills alongside a core of numeracy and literacy in addition to a focus on early numeracy and language development in primary schools.The Liberal Democrats would initiate a commission to“build a long-term consensus on the curriculum”.The Green Party would review assessment targets to give parity to the arts and vocational subjects.They would also promote a greater understanding of the natural world.The Reform Party want to make the curriculum“more patriotic”with regular audits of content in social history to“ensure balance”,though it is unclear who would be responsible for such audits.While commitments remain fairly high level,this is not unreasonable in the case of Labour and the Liberal Democrats as these relate to medium to long-term reviews.Similarly,a review of the curriculum was not one of our own immediate priorities but by the end of the next parliament it will have been fifteen years since the last review.A review of the curriculum and assessment must include how it works for all children and in particular those with special educational needs and 65 Department for Education and Standards and Testing Agency,School reports on pupil performance:guide for headteachers,(March 2014)66 Education Endowment Foundation,Teaching and learning toolkit parental engagement,(July 2021)67 Parentkind,Parent voice report 2022,(December 2022)68 Tammy Campbell,Stereotyped at Seven?Biases in Teacher Judgement of Pupils Ability and Attainment,(July 2015)69 Annika B.Bergbauer,Eric Hanushek,Ludger Woessmann,Testing with accountability improves student achievement,(September 2018)70 Simon Burgess et al,A natural experiment in school accountability:the impact of school performance information on pupil progress and sorting,(October 2013)32 disabilities.It must be informed by evidence,experts,and practitioners and not framed so as to prioritise one approach over another.The Conservative Party would continue with“tried and tested techniques”including phonics and their preferred approach to maths.The Conservatives identify the benefits of enrichment beyond school through the continuation of music hubs and the Liberal Democrats would also expand extracurricular activities including a new entitlement for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.Labour plan to launch a new National Music Education network with information on courses and classes.Pupils from low-income backgrounds are currently less likely to attend sports club or use sport facilities outside of lesson time,and are similarly less likely to attend clubs and societies for hobbies,arts,or music.71 Attending such clubs is associated with positive later outcomes in education and employment.Pupil and student outcomes The Liberal Democrats have proposed a Tutoring Guarantee for disadvantaged pupils who need further support.One-to-one and small group tuition can be highly effective in supporting learning and targeting support towards disadvantaged pupils in particular may help close attainment gaps.72 However,there is no detail in the Liberal Democrat manifesto about the form that the guarantee will take in terms of number or type of sessions,which subjects will be available,whether they will be delivered by existing teachers in the school or bought in services,and whether it comes with additional funding or a need to be met from existing school budgets.The Conservative Party would mandate for two hours of PE every week in primary and secondary schools.Ofsted report that most primary schools are already delivering this and,half of secondary schools offer two hours of PE in both key stage 3 and key stage 4.73 Though the amount of timetabled time allocated to PE reduces significantly in key stage 4.The Conservative Party would support this through an extension of the PE and sport premium to secondary schools,which is currently funded at a rate of 16,000 per school with an additional payment of 10 per pupil.If the premium was funded on the same basis for secondary schools it would cost 86m.If instead it was funded at a similar per pupil rate(around 82 per eligible pupil)this would cost 260m.74 The Conservative Party has costed this,and funding school games organisers,at 125m.We assume that the Conservative Party are assuming funding secondary schools on the same basis as in primary schools,with a much lower per pupil allocation.Pupil absence Labour,the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are proposing that breakfast clubs should be offered in all primary schools as a mechanism to tackle the effects of the cost of living and improve 71 David Robinson,Access to Extra-Curricular Provision and the Association with Outcomes,(Education Policy Institute,February 2024)72 Education Endowment Foundation,Teaching and learning toolkit 73 Ofsted,Levelling the playing field:the physical education subject report,(September 2023)74 See Annex for details of this estimate.33 attendance.Labour would also aim to bring down the cost of school uniform and equipment by limiting the number of branded items a school can require.Over two thirds of primary schools currently offer subsidised breakfasts.75 An evaluation of breakfast club provision in 2019 found positive effects on attendance and behaviour amongst primary aged children,though the effects on attainment were more mixed with no effect for older pupils in the study(year 6).76 Given the high proportion of schools that are already offering provision of some kind,the effects of universal roll out may be limited.The Liberal Democrats also say that they will tackle the issue of persistent absence by setting up a register of those not in school and tackling the underlying barriers to attendance.The Conservative Party have also said that they will legislate to create a register of children not in school.The register was part of the Schools Bill which was abandoned by government in 2022 and the draft legislation was not brought before parliament again.The Labour Party has committed to a pilot expansion of a childrens number;a digital identification number that links a childs record across education,the health service,social care and wider services to reduce barriers that families face when accessing services and prevent children from falling through the gaps.SEND and pupil wellbeing The Conservatives say they would deliver 60,000 more school places and 15 new free schools for children with special educational needs,while the Green Party focus on provision in mainstream schools with 5bn of investment in special educational needs.Offering additional provision via new schools is likely to mean considerable time before those places are available,often taking many years between application and opening.7778 Labour would take a“community wide approach”by supporting provision in both special and mainstream schools though no further detail is given beyond improving expertise in mainstream schools.EPI has previously proposed a national framework of support for pupils with SEND in mainstream schools.79 The Liberal Democrats commit to provide additional funding to local authorities to pay towards the cost of each pupils EHCP,but the amount offered or how that is determined is not clear.They also propose a national body for SEND to fund support,but again the level of funding or the role of the body,such as whether it is a central procurement function,is not set out.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats would offer a mental health worker in every school alongside wider community support,while the Green Party would give pupils at state-funded schools access to a qualified counsellor and an on-site medical professional.None of the parties are currently clear on the exact type of the professional they are proposing.75 Megan Lucas and Jenna Julius,The ongoing impact of cost-of-living crisis on schools,(National Foundation for Educational Research,June 2024)76 Claire Crawford,Amy Edwards,Christine Farquharson,Ellen Greaves,Grace Trevelyan,Emma Wallace,and Clarissa White,Magic Breakfast,(November 2016)77 Samantha Booth,Promised special free schools fail to open,Schools Week,26September,2022.78 The Observer,“Its an absolute mess”:building work seriously delayed on 33 new special schools in England,(March 2024)79 Jo Hutchinson,Identifying pupils with special educational needs and disabilities,(March 2021)34 Mental Health Support Teams(MHSTs)currently cover a third of schools(40 per cent of pupils),and are expected to reach half of all pupils by 2025.Evaluation of the programme is ongoing and so its impact is as yet unclear.The policy has though been criticised throughout the sector for its slow rollout.The proposal of a mental health professional in every school could possibly be rolled into this existing policy,but questions remain about the roles of each and how they would work together.One professional per school likely means more individual focus on the children who need it,but a team of different professionals fulfils multiple necessary roles.There are also questions also about how quickly the new policy could be rolled out given workforce constraints.Regardless of how interventions are rolled out,there must be a focus on the drivers of worsening mental health.This means looking beyond the healthcare system,and healthcare interventions delivered in and out of schools,at what the education system and wider factors such as child poverty are contributing to young peoples worsening mental health.As part of their reforms to accountability,the Labour Party is proposing annual checks on safeguarding,attendance and off-rolling though they need to set out how this will operate in practice and how it relates and interacts with other aspects of the accountability system.The current high-stakes nature of inspection can have the unintended consequence of incentivising people to hide issues rather than acknowledge them and seek help.The nature of safeguarding risks is constantly evolving,and all schools require regular training and feedback.Reform UK say that there should be child friendly app restricted smart phones for pupils under the age of 16 and the Conservative Party say that they will require schools to follow current guidance and ban use during the school day.Current government guidance is for school leaders to“develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use of mobile phones and other similar devices which reflects their schools individual contexts and needs.”Survey data suggests that nearly two thirds of secondary schools have rules meaning that teachers should never see phones,and less than 1 per cent of schools would allow pupils to use phones whenever they liked.80 Reform UK would also launch an inquiry into social media harms.Heavy use of social media is shown to negatively affect girls wellbeing and self-esteem at ages 14 and 17,regardless of pre-existing levels.It also negatively affects boys wellbeing at age 14,also regardless of their previous state of mental health.81 Whilst relationship and sex education is not an issue that we have identified as one of the major challenges facing the school system ahead of the election,it is one that has nevertheless featured across party manifestos,stemming from the Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges.82 The Liberal Democrats say that they would tackle bullying in schools by promoting pastoral leadership in schools and delivering high-quality relationships and sex education and the 80 Teacher Tapp,Phone policies,side hustles,rote learning and pride,(February 2024)81 Whitney Crenna-Jennings,Young peoples mental and emotional health,(Education Policy Institute,January 2021)82 Ofsted,Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges,(June 2021)35 Green Party commit to an age-appropriate programme of relationships,sex,and health education.The Conservative Party would legislate so that parents had a right to see what was being taught in schools as well as going further on previously published Sex Health Education Guidance.Reform would also inform parents of under 16s about their childrens life decisions,insist on single sex facilities,and ban social transitioning.While it is important that young people have access to high quality pastoral care and relationships and sex education,there are difficult issues around the content and age at which such issues should be taught.These sensitive matters should be informed by the expertise of the medical profession and safeguarding experts to best support the short and long-term outcomes of young people.36 Structural reform Both the Labour Party and the Green Party have committed to ending the VAT exemption on independent school fees.Analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates such a change would raise around 1.3-1.5bn each year after accounting for changes in demand and public spending need.83 The same analysis suggests that the effect of imposing VAT on independent school fees would be for between 3 and 7 per cent of independent school pupils to move into the state sector,equivalent to between 20,000 and 40,000 pupils.It is difficult to model the exact effects of such movements on school admissions and ultimately class sizes,but at a system level these moves in isolation would represent a very small increase in the state-school population of between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent.Furthermore,as shown in Figure 1.2,fluctuations of this scale are not unusual in the state-sector.Taken with the expected fall in pupil numbers over the coming parliament,the move of pupils into the state-sector is unlikely to represent a significant challenge to the system as a whole,though local challenges are possible.Figure 1.2:Year on year changes in the total number of pupils in the state-funded school system actual(solid line)and projected(dotted line).84 The Liberal Democrats directly address the functions and funding of local authorities in education with a commitment to give them both the resources(though not clear what this means in practice)and powers for local authorities to manage place planning,in year admissions,and provision for special educational needs for all schools within the local authority.Labour make a similar pledge 83 Luke Sibieta,Tax,private school fees and state school spending,(Institute for Fiscal Studies,July 2023)84 Authors calculations based on Department for Education,National pupil projections:reporting year 2023,(October 2023).See Annex for further details of this calculation.Primary pupilsSecondary pupils-120,000-100,000-80,000-60,000-40,000-20,0000 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 37 requiring all schools to co-operate with the local authority on admissions,special educational needs and place planning.The Green Party would move academies into local authority control but,beyond this,no other party is committing to substantial changes to school organisation either reversing academisation,or accelerating it further.The Conservative Party will expand strong academy trusts which is a continuation of current government policy of expecting schools to join academy trusts but not mandating them to do so,other than in the case of an inadequate Ofsted rating.85 Avoiding wholesale reform to school structures either with further rapid expansion of academies or reverting all schools back to local authorities is consistent with evidence that finds no relationship between such changes and improved pupil outcomes.86 In May 2024,the government launched a consultation to make two changes to faith school provision in England.87 The first was to remove the 50 per cent cap on faith admissions that applies to faith free schools as they claimed this acted as a barrier to some faith groups opening schools,this has been included in the Conservative manifesto.The second was to allow new special academies and existing special academies to be designated as having a religious character.Faith schools tend to be less representative of their local area in terms of the proportion of disadvantaged pupils,88 and the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities than other schools,89 while their attainment outcomes are on average no different from other schools once you take pupil demographics into account.90 Therefore,an expansion in the number of faith schools is unlikely to raise attainment overall,but may increase social segregation.The Conservative Party say they will“preserve the rights of independent and grammar schools”.The intent here is not clear,but any expansion in the number of grammar school places either through the opening of new selective schools,or the expansion of existing schools is likely to have negative effects on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.91 Overall assessment There are many components of party proposals that align with the approaches we identified to tackle some of the key challenges in our education system though no party alone appears to be addressing them all.Reforming the accountability system,and in particular Ofsted,is a key component of both the Labour and the Liberal Democrat manifestos.The move away from single word judgements to report card style approaches is consistent with EPI recommendations for the government to 85 Department for Education,What are academy schools and what is“forced academisation”?,(May 2023)86 Jon Andrews and Natalie Perera,The Impact of Academies on Educational Outcomes,(Education Policy Institute,July 2017)87 Department for Education,Faith school designation reforms,(May 2024)88 National Foundation for Educational Research,Selective comprehensives 2024,(January 2024)89 Tammy Campbell,Serving their communities?The under-admission of children with disabilities and special educational needs to faith primary schools in England,Oxford Review of Education,(October 2023)90 Jon Andrews and Rebecca Johnes,Faith schools,pupil performance,and social selection,(Education Policy Institute,December 2016)91 Jon Andrews et al,Grammar schools and social mobility,(Education Policy Institute,September 2016)38 introduce new performance measures that mitigate some of the perverse incentives in the current system.Similarly,Labours proposal to bring multi-academy trusts into the remit of inspection reflects the structure of the school system in 2024 and the role that trusts play in school finance,curriculum,and workforce.There has also been a welcome focus on supporting children and young people with their mental health,with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats pledging to introduce a mental health professional into every school.What is less clear is the exact form that this will take,and how it interacts with mental health support team provision currently being rolled out.There are also very welcome commitments from the Conservatives,Labour,and the Liberal Democrats for various forms of a register of pupils not being educated in schools.This was a key recommendation from our first report.Curriculum reform did not feature as part of our immediate priorities for an incoming government.Firstly,because we considered that there were already more pressing concerns,and secondly that there had been a number of changes in recent years that schools had only just adapted to.However,we recognise that by the end of the next parliament it would have been fifteen years since the last review and therefore the proposals from both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are understandable.Beyond the Liberal Democrats Tuition Guarantee,the manifestos offered little that was particularly targeted at tackling the disadvantage gap but reforms to the curriculum may be one way in which we see a move to a system that works better for all pupils.Furthermore,the Conservatives,Labour,and the Liberal Democrats all make pledges to varying degrees to improve access to extra-curricular activities such as sports and music opportunities that young people from low-income backgrounds are currently less likely to take up.Unlike previous elections,there appears to be little appetite from the main parties for fast paced structural reform in terms of rapid expansion of the academies programme or a return to local authority-maintained schools,this is welcome and supported by evidence that structural reform has little or no effect on pupil outcomes.The Conservatives maintain a desire for schools to be in strong academy trusts though set no timescale by which this should be achieved.As we set out previously,it is important that the sector continues to build its understanding of what effective school groups do.Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats appear to have no plans to row back the academised system but do commit to a stronger role for local authorities in admissions,place planning,and special educational needs.This is something we called for in our first report and will be particularly important during a period of falling pupil rolls.The Green Party is alone in wanting to move academies back under local authority control.Of pressing concern is the lack of urgency and detail about how the parties would support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.While there are some commitments across Labour,the Liberal Democrats,and the Conservative party including the establishment of a SEND body,greater support and expertise in mainstream schools,and new specialist provision,no single party addresses the challenges of the SEND system holistically,and all would require significantly more detail.39 Post-16 and higher education 40 Post-16 and higher education The current landsc
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Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence:An Essential Guide for Developers July 2024 Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence:An Essential Guide for Developers Miguel A.Cardona,Ed.D.Secretary,U.S.Department of Education Roberto J.Rodriguez Assistant Secretary,Office of Planning,Evaluation and Policy Development July 2024 Examples Are Not Endorsements This document contains examples and resource materials that are provided for the users convenience.The inclusion of any material is not intended to reflect its importance,nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered.These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as contact addresses,websites,and hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations.The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S.Department of Education.The U.S.Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy,relevance,timeliness,or completeness of any information from other sources that are included in these materials.Other than statutory and regulatory requirements included in the document,the contents of this guide do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public.Contracts and Procurement This document is not intended to provide legal advice or approval of any potential federal contractors business decision or strategy in relation to any current or future federal procurement and/or contract.Further,this document is not an invitation for bid,request for proposal,or other solicitation.Licensing and Availability This guide is in the public domain and available on a U.S.Department of Education website at https:/tech.ed.gov.Requests for alternate format documents such as Braille or large print should be submitted to the Alternate Format Center by calling 1-202-260-0852 or by contacting the 504 coordinator via email at om_eeosed.gov.Notice to Persons with Limited English Proficiency If you have difficulty understanding English,you may request language assistance services for U.S.Department of Education information that is available to the public.These language assistance services are available free of charge.If you need more information about interpretation or translation services,please call 1-800-USA-LEARN(1-800-872-5327)(TTY:1-800-437-0833);email us at Ed.Language.Assistanceed.gov;or write to U.S.Department of Education,Information Resource Center,LBJ Education Building,400 Maryland Ave.SW,Washington,DC 20202.How to Cite While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary,the suggested citation is as follows:U.S.Department of Education,Office of Educational Technology,Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence:An Essential Guide for Developers,Washington,D.C.,2024.Acknowledgements Project Team Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence:An Essential Guide for Developers was developed under the leadership and guidance of Roberto J.Rodrguez,Assistant Secretary for the Office of Planning,Evaluation and Policy Development,Anil Hurkadli,Interim Deputy Director for the Office of Educational Technology,Bernadette Adams,Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Educational Technology,and Kevin Johnstun,Education Program Specialist for the Office of Educational Technology.This work was developed with support from Digital Promise under contract(91990019C0076)and led by Jeremy Roschelle with Anthony Baker,Pati Ruiz,Eric Nentrup,Gabrielle Lue and Sarah Martin.Contributing Members of the Developer Community Kristen DiCerbo,Khan Academy Teddy Hartman,GoGuardian Neil Heffernan,Worcester Polytechnic Institute Karl Rectanus,EDSAFE AI Alliance Steve Ritter,Carnegie Learning Sharad Sundararajan,Merlyn Mind Alyssa Van Camp,TeachFx Julia Winter,Alchemie Solutions,Inc.We also thank the many developers,industry associations,and nonprofit organizations that attended our listening sessions and contributed their ideas for translating the Departments recommendations for Artificial Intelligence in education into practical guidelines.Table of Contents Introduction.1 Responding to the October 2023 Executive Order.2 Defining“Artificial Intelligence”and“EdTech”Broadly.3 Key Message:Shared Responsibility for Building Trust.4 A Pathway from Designing for Education to Earning Trust.10 Recommendation 1:Designing for Teaching and Learning.12 What to Know.12 Questions to Ask.16 Directions to Pursue.16 Resources.17 Recommendation 2:Providing Evidence for Rationale and Impact.18 What to Know.19 Questions To Ask.23 Directions to Pursue.23 Resources.24 Recommendation 3:Advancing Equity and Protecting Civil Rights.26 What to Know.27 Questions To Ask.31 Directions to Pursue.32 Resources.32 Recommendation 4:Ensuring Safety and Security.33 What to Know.33 Questions to Ask.38 Directions to Pursue.38 Resources.39 Recommendation 5:Promoting Transparency and Earning Trust.40 What to Know.40 Questions To Ask.44 Directions to Pursue.44 Resources.44 Conclusion.45 1 Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence:An Essential Guide for Developers Introduction Today and in the future,a growing array of Artificial Intelligence(AI)models and capabilities will be incorporated into the products that specifically serve educational settings.The U.S.Department of Education(Department)is committed to encouraging innovative advances in educational technology(edtech)to improve teaching and learning across the nations education systems and to supporting developers as they create products and services using AI for the educational market.Building on the Departments prior report,Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning:Insights and Recommendations(2023 AI Report),this guide seeks to inform product leads and their teams of innovators,designers,developers,customer-facing staff,and legal teams as they work toward safety,security,and trust while creating AI products and services for use in education.This landscape is broader than those building large language models(LLMs)or deploying chatbots;it includes all the ways existing and emerging AI capabilities can be used to further shared educational goals.Our insights here are intended to support people who are managing teams in the design and development of products that leverage AI to improve teaching and learning.We have attempted to address topics that will be relevant across the continuum of edtech developers,which includes established firms and newcomers,as well as developers across research,nonprofit,and for-profit organizations.We address not only developers of products for formal education settingsincluding elementary and secondary schools,colleges,and universitiesbut also for educational uses at home,community,and other informal settings.To this end,each section of this document is built around a core recommendation and includes a set of discussion questions that leaders in organizations can use to foster conversation,next steps to promote robust development processes,and resources that can provide additional support.Please note that the Department and other federal agencies are actively considering next steps to promote the safe and responsible use of AI.Thus,this document suggests“questions to ask”and“directions to pursue”to developers that are deliberately open-ended.This guide provides non-regulatory,education-specific guidance that is aligned with federal guidelines and guardrails.This guides coverage of existing federal guidelines and guardrails is not comprehensive or exhaustive.It is not intended to and does not enable a developer to establish its compliance with regulations.Also,it is not intended to and does not introduce any new requirements.Where examples are given,including links to non-U.S.Government websites,they are intended to be illustrative and not to restrict the application of this guide to additional forms of AI as they become available for use in education.We are providing these external links because they contain additional information relevant to the topic(s)discussed in this document or that 2 otherwise may be useful to the reader.We cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided on the cited third-party websites or any other linked third-party site.We are providing these links for reference only;linking to external resources does not constitute an endorsement by the Department.Developers can use this guide to increase their understanding of essential federal guidelines and guardrails to guide their work as they create AI applications for educational settings.Responding to the October 2023 Executive Order This guide is responsive to President Joe Bidens October 30,2023,Executive Order on the Safe,Secure,and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence(Executive Order on AI),which states the following:To help ensure the responsible development and deployment of AI in the education sector,the Secretary of Education shall,within 365 days of the date of this order,develop resources,policies,and guidance regarding AI.These resources shall address safe,responsible,and nondiscriminatory uses of AI in education,including the impact AI systems have on vulnerable and underserved communities,and shall be developed in consultation with stakeholders as appropriate.This guide is informed by an extensive series of public listening sessions with students,parents,and educators along with developers,industry associations,and nonprofit organizations.This included a cross section of developers representing a variety of company sizes,funding models,and organization types(for-profit/nonprofit).Session participants shared their current approaches to safety and security,the risks they and their users face,suggestions on supports and resources,and thoughts about opportunities to build trust in the future.Several additional listening sessions occurred with a smaller set of developers(listed in the contributing members section above)drawn from those who participated initially.Where this guide refers to listening sessions,it includes all these opportunities to hear from constituents.This guide draws on a growing series of federal publications on AI,which includes these examples:Office of Science and Technology Policy Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights:The 2022 White House white paper that broadly shapes a strategy informing and protecting citizens from AI and related technologies National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST)AI Risk Management Framework:A seven-step framework to protect developer and end user interests alike,particularly relevant to edtech companies using AI components and forthcoming emerging technologies FACT SHEET:Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Eight Additional Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI|The White House:The White Houses engagement with technology companies highlights shared responsibility among the federal government,developer organizations,and other constituents.3 Defining“Artificial Intelligence”and“EdTech”Broadly The Department takes a broad view of the terms“AI”and“edtech.”This documents guidance applies broadly across the many types of AI that developers may integrate and the many ways their products may be used in educational settings.Box A:Artificial Intelligence as defined in the Executive Order on AI.The term“artificial intelligence”means a machine-based system that can,for a given set of human-defined objectives,make predictions,recommendations,or decisions influencing real or virtual environments.Artificial intelligence systems use machine and human-based inputs to perform the following:Perceive real and virtual environments Abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner Use model inference to formulate options for information or action As a starting point for defining“AI,”we note the statutory definition of AI(see Box A above),which also appears in the Executive Order on AI.As we noted in the Departments 2023 AI Report,AI is an umbrella term for many subfields of research and innovation.Following the 2023 AI Index Report,from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force,we continue to observe the extremely rapid evolution of AI capabilities in many domains,such as speech,vision,robotics,and text.Box B:Defining Educational Technology(edtech)As defined in the Departments 2023 AI Report,edtech includes the following:A.Technologies specifically designed for educational use B.General technologies that are widely used within educational settings Likewise,we define“edtech”broadly(Box B).In an independent market research firms report,the global edtech market for both K-12 and higher education is valued at$123 billion as of 2022.This market includes startups,small businesses,nonprofit organizations,and larger corporationscompanies with a mission specific to education and others with products that are used in education and other sectors.There is a broad spectrum of products ranging from infrastructure to student information systems to learning management systems to specific end-user applications and more.Whereas a market is defined by buyers and sellers,we define the edtech“ecosystem”broadly to include the many different people and organizations working together to design and refine new products and services.Within this ecosystem,discussions of the Executive Order concepts of“safety,security,and trust”will be infused with concepts more specific to education(e.g.,evidence,fairness,data privacy)as elaborated below.Ecosystem participants include 4 educational procurement departments,additional educational decision makers,educators,parents and guardians,students,nonprofits,postsecondary education institutions,and broader community members.The ecosystem includes people who directly create or use AI products and people involved in educational systems who are affected by AI products.Shared responsibility for building trust goes well beyond buying and selling;it thrives on open and engaged communication across the ecosystem.Key Message:Shared Responsibility for Building Trust Through listening sessions,the Department learned that one key recommendation in the 2023 AI Report,“Prioritize Strengthening Trust,”resonated with developers as a call to action.Developers recognize the fundamental importance of“trust”in the edtech ecosystem in which they participate.Trust improves the co-design process between developers and educators so that together they can create and scale innovative products.Consequently,developers can benefit greatly from understanding how they can work with others in the ecosystem to strengthen trust.Specific key messages follow:1.Trust is a shared responsibility.The Presidents Executive Order on AI makes clear beginning with its title that the federal government has a responsibility to promote“safe,secure,and trustworthy development”and articulates a stance of shared responsibility(see quote below).Consequently,developers will find information within this document on where to locate federal laws and other federal resources that are directly applicable to their work in education.Because the technology is evolving rapidly,developers may find it valuable to go beyond attending to and complying with todays federal guidelines and guardrails to earn trust.One important example is the Software and Information Industry Associations Principles for the Future of AI in Education,which articulates seven principles(e.g.,their evaluation principle calls for continually assessing the impact of AI).TeachAI has also developed Principles for AI in Education as part of its AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit to guide the effective development and application of AI in teaching and learning.As a third example,many developers have participated in the EDSAFE AI Alliance,which has produced a common framework,the SAFE Benchmarks.“Harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks.This endeavor demands a society-wide effort that includes government,the private sector,academia,and civil society.”Executive Order on AI Other members of the edtech ecosystem also are accepting responsibility and developing conditions for trust.Educational leaders at all levels,including state,district,and building-level leaders,are writing their own guidance(Box C).Developers can look to these resources to understand the steps that educators are taking to build understanding and capacity;to strengthen procurement processes;to protect privacy,security,and fairness;and to manage other forms of risk.Further,in a forthcoming Toolkit for Educational Leaders developed 5 pursuant to the Executive Order on AI,the Department will be shaping the shared responsibility conversation among educators.Many nonprofits are also developing helpful toolkits and resources(see Box D).As key participants in the edtech ecosystem,developers are encouraged to interact responsibly with the ecosystem to develop trust.Box C:State guidance resources about AI in education,as of June 2024 Arizona California Connecticut Hawaii Indiana Kentucky Mississippi North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Utah Virginia Washington State West Virginia Box D:Partial listing of nonprofits offering guidance resources about AI in education The Consortium for School Networking(CoSN)Gen AI Maturity Tool EDSAFE AI Alliance SAFE Benchmarks Framework International Society for Technology and Education s Artificial Intelligence in Education Resource List Software&Information Industry Associations Principles for AI in Education TeachAIs AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit All4Eds Future Ready Schools Emerging Practices Guide 2.Trust requires actively managing AI risks so that we can seize its benefits.Through its conversations with developers,the Department observed an important shift in how developers are engaging with others around their work.Whereas it has been common to present“solutionshow technologies can improve teaching,learning,and other educational processesdevelopers are now also openly discussing how they are managing risks.Some developers have publicly shared details on the process they went through to identify,prioritize,and manage risks.As developers openly discuss risk management,the Department suggests attending to two kinds of processes:(a)technical development processes that result in trustworthy systems and(b)engagement strategies that build trusting relationships among developers and other ecosystem members.6 Thus,the Department understands the importance of discussing both opportunities and risks in a responsible manner.Box E lists examples of salient categories of risk.1,2,3 Both risks and opportunities will be discussed in more depth later in this guide.Box E:Types of risks of AI,ordered alphabetically,not by priority AI“Race-to-Release”Risks Bias and Fairness Risks Data Privacy and Security Risks Harmful Content Risks Ineffective System Risks Malicious Use Risks Misinformation Management Risks(including“hallucinations”)Transparency and Explainability Risks Underprepared User Risks In considering risks,it is important to note that AI is evolving rapidly.For example,just as educators are gaining familiarity with text-oriented chatbots,industry is advancing and releasing multimodal capabilities that add new layers to the potential risks.Hence,this guide outlines risks broadly and asks developers to adopt risk mitigation processes that address both the risks that are foreseeable today and those that will newly emerge.Risks are not only intrinsic to the technology;risks also emerge at the interface of technology and human activity.As people use AI,both foreseeable and unforeseen risks will arise.In its 2023 AI Report,the Department recommended“humans in the loop”and yet,asking an educator to review every use of AI or every AI-based output is neither practical nor fair.Developers share responsibility to be“in the loop”to review uses and outputs of AI,both during the development process and as a product is used in the field.Building on Box E,we illustrate challenging scenarios where both developers and educators will likely need to attend to emergent risks,with a division of responsibility that is yet to be determined:1 Potential Risks of Artificial Intelligence Integration into School Education:A Systematic Review.2 Getting To Knowand ManageYour Biggest AI Risks.3 The Promises and Perils of Generative AI in Education:TFAs Evolving Perspective.7 As teachers generate personalized lesson plans with AI services,who will review and revise the outputs to eliminate false information generated by large language models and confirm the content is accurate and aligned to educational objectives?As curriculum coordinators engage AI to support their work in curating instructional resources and formative assessments for use in their schools,who will weigh evidence for the efficacy of the resources and the validity of the assessments?Who will verify that resources address the needs of underserved and vulnerable populations?As guidance counselors use AI-assisted tools to recommend college and career pathways,who will detect and counter unfairness in the recommendations due to biases in historical data sets that were used to develop the AI model and which could harm vulnerable populations?As educators use AI to simplify their work of writing emails or other correspondence about their students work,who is responsible for safeguards against disclosing a students private information to unintended recipients,including the developer of the AI model?As administrators and school leaders procure early warning systems to identify students who may be“at risk,”who has sufficient knowledge and time to evaluate whether the AI developer adhered to scientific,legal,and privacy standards necessary to safeguard students civil rights?As educators deploy anti-plagiarism detectors to identify a students inappropriate use of edtech,who has responsibility for recognizing weaknesses and biases in AI-based detectors that could lead to disciplining students unfairly or unequally?Who ensures that underserved and vulnerable populations are not unfairly targeted?In each challenging case above,the Department respects the role of educators in overseeing educational decisions.However,AI developers should assume significant responsibility because it is unreasonable to ask educators to be primary reviewers of the data and methods used to develop AI models and related software.Building on an important emphasis of the Executive Order on AI,the Department calls on developers to pay special attention to identifying and mitigating potential harms to underserved and vulnerable populations from AI.3.Coordinating Innovation and Responsibility Throughout Development:A“Dual Stack”Developers use the visual metaphor of a stack to describe how products are built from layered or connected components.A development stack is a powerful way to coordinate the work of many innovators in a complex organization;it coordinates how the overall product or service will be produced and delivered to market.The Department strongly encourages development organizations to now define a parallel strength via a coordinated“responsibility”stack.This stack would establish how people in a complex edtech development organization work together to earn the trust of educational users of their products.See Figure 1.8 Figure 1:Developers should integrate a Responsibility Stack with their Innovation Stack.The specific elements of each stack are illustrative,not comprehensive.Each developer organization should elaborate the stacks to fit the specifics of their efforts.Indeed,whereas developers may have previously emphasized one particular risk management office or role in their organization,such as a data privacy role,a single person who attends to safety will not be enough in an age of AI.While these existing risk management roles should continue,additional roles that address representation in training data,measure and mitigate algorithmic bias,rectify errors and misinformation in outputs,and tackle other concerns are also needed.Specific risks will emerge in particular components(such as a Large Language Model component vs.a Computer Vision component),in interactions between components,and through the different stages that take place while building and integrating AI systems(such as in collecting data sets for training,building AI models based on the data,and designing user interaction based on those models).Educational developers can examine how their internal roles and processes are organized to achieve consistent attention to responsible AI,and many are already doing this(Box F).9 Box F:Examples of Developers Public Documents about Responsibility DuoLingo released its Responsible AI Standards for its English Language Test,covering its approach to validity and reliability,fairness,privacy and security,and accountability and transparency.DuoLingo invited public comment on its document.In a document titled“What is Khan Academys approach to responsible AI development?,”the developer of the Khanmigo tutor discussed how it discloses risks,evaluates and mitigates risks,limits access to its software,and educates its developers about ethics.Instructure released an AI Governance Policy that discussed responsible AI use,transparency and accountability,bias and fairness,human-AI collaboration,training and education,and privacy.Grammarly has shared its Commitment to Responsible Innovation and Development of AI,which describes how it acts on commitments,e.g.,“All models undergo bias and fairness evaluations.Our team of analytical linguists apply research and expertise to minimize bias and apply user feedback.”Through work with many developer organizations,the Software and Information Industry Association produced seven Principles for AI in Education.Many other development organizations have produced their own documents about their responsibility approach.In addition,as previously mentioned,eight major developers of AI models made voluntary commitments to manage risks(see White House Fact Sheet).The Department observes that many educational and general AI developers are producing their own responsible AI principles(see Box F and the quote below).The public will benefit both from public commitment to responsibility and from accountability to such pledges.The Department therefore strongly urges developers to address how their“innovation stack”(components that work together to deliver new capabilities)can be integrated with a parallel“responsibility stack”(roles that work together to mitigate risks in every component and stage of development).“Driven by a strong belief in purpose-built,beneficial AI,we prioritized domain specificity and safety from the outset.Through our Responsible AI initiative,we invite a diversity of voices to co-create solutions with us.”Sharad Sundararajan,Co-founder CDO/CIO,Merlyn Mind 10 A Pathway from Designing for Education to Earning Trust Through the listening sessions,the Department heard a wide range of specific concerns from developers and educators about AI in education.Figure 2:A Development Process that Leads Toward Earning Trust We categorized these concerns and organized this guide around five key overarching areas of shared responsibility,as follows(see also Figure 2):1.Designing for Education recognizes that developers should begin by understanding values specific to education.Across many examples,the Department sees educators stepping up to articulate values such as centering humans in the loop and attending to priority educational challenges like reading,science,math,and computer science education.In addition,educator and student feedback should be incorporated into all aspects of product development,testing,and refinement to ensure student needs are fully addressed.2.Providing Evidence of Rationale and Impact is important to making decisions about which edtech products to adopt or procure,especially where the goal of the product is to improve student outcomes.Both the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965(ESEA)and educational decision makers call for developers to provide evidence that products or services improve student outcomes.In procurement,for example,educational institutions are making clear demands for the evidence they require.3.Advancing Equity and Protecting Civil Rights is an essential commitment of the Department and the Administration and a centrally important concern of constituents in the public listening sessions,both among developers and educators.Developers should be vigilant,for example,about issues of representation and bias in data sets,algorithmic discrimination in systems,and ensuring accessibility for individuals with disabilities.11 4.Ensuring Safety and Security are emphasized in the Executive Order on AI and related Administration guidance.Educational decision makers are articulating their data privacy and security requirements with clarity and elaborating additional requirementssuch as civil libertiesin an age of AI.To participate responsibly in the ecosystem,developers will need to detail the actions they will take to ensure the safety and security of users of AI.5.Promoting Transparency and Earning Trust is an important overarching goal.Earning trust requires attending to all the values above and,in addition,has an important communication dimension that goes beyond output.For example,trust requires transparency and other public commitments to building mutual confidence among technology suppliers and users.Mutual engagement in defining and acting collaboratively among developers,educators,and other constituents builds trust.12 Recommendation 1.Designing for Teaching and Learning Developers of AI-enabled products and services should start with strong attention to education-specific values and visions,which are articulated in a mix of federal,state,and local resources,along with resources to support the use of AI in education produced by nonprofits and industry associations.Attending to ethics is an essential area of shared responsibility.Key Ideas Resources developed by governments(federal,state,and local),nonprofits,and industry associations can provide developers with a good starting point for anchoring their work in educational values and visions and avoiding negative outcomes.Human-centered and humans-in-the-loop approaches that proactively include educators are emerging as key values that educational decision makers are demanding,and educator and student feedback should be incorporated throughout the development and testing process.Developers should attend to key ethical concepts such as transparency,justice and fairness,non-discrimination,non-maleficence/beneficence,privacy,pedagogical appropriateness,students and teachers rights,and well-being.Human factors,and human-centered design,and longstanding software development practices can provide a starting point for developers.What to Know The 2024 National Educational Technology Plan(NETP)presents a forward-thinking approach to reframing and realizing the potential of edtech to enhance the instructional core,reduce achievement gaps,and improve student learning in our schools.These are three critical national priorities.During an event to release the plan,U.S.Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated,“As we work to Raise the Bar in education,its essential we focus on empowering teachers to become designers of active learning,using technology in effective ways to engage and inspire students.”Inside the 2024 NETP,developers will find a wealth of information regarding educational visions,goals,and values related to the use of technology.Notably,the 2024 NETP is not directly about AI.That is because a valid educational purpose and important unmet need should be the starting point for development,not excitement about what a particular technology can do.At the federal level,the Departments 2023 AI Report provides additional guidance on aligning generative AI to what educators care about and need.The report has sections about student learning,supporting teachers,and improvement assessments,with many examples regarding 13 how AI could lead to advances in these areas.The Department has observed that the following two recommendations in the Report resonate consistently with educators in state,local,and international forums:(a)emphasize humans in the loop,and(b)align AI models to a shared vision for education.These provide important shared touchstones with educators as developers begin their design process with AI-enabled technologies.State(Box C)and local resources provide additional guidance about AI in education.These resources partially anchor visions for AI in education on changing expectations regarding career readiness preparation for students future employment.They highlight that developing teacher and student AI literacy is essential to responsible use of AI.Many of the resources provide advice on improving equity and inclusion.Data privacy,security,and safety are key risk areas that are important for developers to address and school leaders to manage.Overall,the resources provide developers with a better understanding of how educators are conceptualizing opportunities.In Box G,we list some opportunities that are frequently featured across these resources.Box G:Opportunities for using AI in education The Department sees many opportunities for improving academic outcomes,as well as accessibility and inclusion of students in academic programs.Here are some examples:Improving academic outcomes,accessibility,and inclusion for children and students with disabilities Providing students with more and better feedback and guidance as they learn curricular subject matter Addressing learner variability(including both access and inclusion)in all its aspects by better matching learning resources to each individual students strengths and needs,as well as addressing the needs of historically underserved student populations Saving administrative time for teachers and enabling teachers to focus on their students Enabling teachers to incorporate research-based pedagogical principles,like those found in the What Works Clearinghouse practice guides,into their instructional plans Improving teacher professional learning by including opportunities to practice specific pedagogical strategies with simulated classrooms and students Reducing the cost to customize learning resources to build on strengths and interests of students in the locale of various educational communities Achieving efficiencies in school operations,such as school bus schedules Of course,developers may surface equally important opportunities through their own engagements with educators.In the case of generative AI,the capabilities are still too new to be certain about where the best opportunities lie.Developers can strengthen alignment and validation of purpose by establishing strong feedback loops with educational communities at 14 every stage of product design,development,deployment,and refinement.When seeking feedback,it is important not only to include those in the most influential roles(e.g.,superintendent,technology director,and/or other decision-maker),but also those who will be most affected by the educational product or service(e.g.,classroom teacher,special education teacher,student,and family).Hearing diverse input is one way for developers to keep humans in the loop.Co-design with educators,a recommendation in the Departments 2023 AI Report,is a strong way to enact shared responsibility.However,as previously noted,involving educators in both designing and monitoring the use of AI is not a panacea and can impose responsibilities on educators that developers should rightfully own.Developers frequently raised ethics as an important area of focus during the Departments listening sessions.Researchers and educators have been working together to develop ethical guidelines,and the Department expects this work to continue.(See the“Resources”section of this recommendation,for example.)A review of major ethics frameworks for AI in education found that the following general ethics concepts were applicable to education:transparency,justice and fairness,non-maleficence,responsibility,privacy,beneficence,freedom,and autonomy.In addition to adapting these principles to more closely fit education settings,the review identified four additional principles specific to education:pedagogical appropriateness,childrens rights,AI literacy,and educator well-being.These ethical principles are core components of designing AI systems that interact with children.For example,is it ethical to present an animated coach in a product as a humanoid persona,blurring the line between people and algorithms?Or,if AI is included in a system to support an aspect of teachers well-being,what is the standard of care,and when should human caregivers be involved?Additional examples of ethical considerations in the design and implementation of AI-enabled tools will become clear as the use of these tools in education expands.(Figure 3).Regarding AI Literacy,the review states,“AI literacy underlines the educational importance of children and youth learning about AI so that they may become critically informed,as well as the need to build teachers professional knowledge and parent awareness of AI.”Figure 3:A Synthesis of Ethics Themes SAMPLE OF VALUE-CENTERED DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR ETHICS IN EDUCATION General Ethics Themes Education Ethics Themes Transparency Justice and Fairness Non-maleficence Responsibility Privacy Beneficence Freedom and Autonomy Pedagogical Appropriateness Childrens Rights AI Literacy Teacher Well-Being Responsiveness to Student Needs 15 In February 2024,researchers at NIST suggested that building on long-standing concepts in the 1979 Belmont Report(which established principles for the protection of human subjects in research)beneficence,respect for persons,and justicecan organize how developers address ethics in the age of AI.For example,beneficence can be established by collecting and sharing evidence that a product delivers expected benefits and by mitigating any situations in which individual users might experience harm(even though effects on average are positive).This applies across the life cycle of a solution,from prototyping to productizing.Additional ethics concepts can likewise be translated into practical steps that developers could take(and build on with measures many educational developers already routinely practice).Likewise,developers should attend to a foundation of rights and respect for human dignity as they create new AI-enabled applications.This is consistent with language found in the Administrations Executive Order on AI:“The interests of Americans who increasingly use,interact with,or purchase AI and AI-enabled products in their daily lives must be protected.which requires appropriate safeguards against fraud,unintended bias,discrimination,infringements on privacy,and other harms from AI.”Executive Order on AI International resources such as The European Commissions Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council:Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence put human dignity at the foreground of ethical considerations.Product leads and their teams should not only be aware of ethical concerns but should also find ways in which ethics can be interwoven throughout the life cycle of product development.This applies from the initial ideation and prototyping stages and product deployment and continues in perpetuity as the solution improvesboth autonomously and with human interventionacross the products life cycle.Value-centered design is one approach that weaves people,purpose,and ethics together(see Resources).Also,the Association of Computing Machinery has useful guidance on ethics for developers(also in Resources).Many organizations are already paying attention to human factors in their development approaches.AI may be relatively new to education,but simple to sophisticated examples have been prevalent for decades in other fields such as manufacturing,aviation,and retail.Further,the concept of human-centered design has a long history in computer science(see Resources section below)and is something educational developers already incorporate into their processes to varying degrees.In listening sessions,educators strongly advocated for their involvement not only in initial design but also in the development process,both to improve the system and to participate in explaining the use of AI in the system to other educators.Similarly,educational researchers have been cultivating space for youth voices throughout the development process.Most generally,it is important to include not only the users who are powerful but also those who will be most affected by an application of AI in education.16 “As a LatinX and neurodiverse student,I think its especially important to mitigate the systemic biases that are entrenched within AI models.Assembling a diverse team of people who specifically work to tackle this issue is essential to building safe AI.”Nicholas Gertler,student and chair of AI Issue Advisory Council and AI&Education Advisor,Encode Justice However,in some cases,human-centered design may only receive attention in the user experience(UX)layer of development or in the work of one specific team or department in an edtech company.For example,giving feedback to a student might be considered to be a UX feature.However,giving appropriate feedback to a student may depend on the quality of the products records of a students past learning,earlier pedagogical interventions,and what kinds of feedback work well for that student.Thus,the database aspects of giving high quality feedback are equally important to the UX aspects of giving high quality feedback.For an AI product or service to be human-centered,developers will likely need to incorporate human-centered methods throughout the layers of system design and deployment.Human-centered development of AI for education should occur throughout a developers responsibility stack.Questions to Ask 1.What can we learn from how written educational strategies(such as the NETP)and our educational customers describe the most important and equitable purposes for using AI?2.How can our work align to the“humans-in-the-loop”recommendation in the Departments 2023 AI Report?3.Through what feedback loops are we continually learning more from our users about how to align to educational purposes to meet the needs of diverse students and to respect the role of educators?4.How does our team understand ethical considerations for AI in education,and what steps can we take to integrate ethics into our work?5.How have children and youth,families,and educators from underserved settings been consulted and involved in design decisions?6.How can we continually strengthen development disciplines(such as human factors and human-centered design)to address emerging AI-related features and risks?Directions to Pursue Developers should familiarize themselves with relevant resources that express educational visions and strategies,including resources that are available at the national,state,and local levels as well as internationally.17 Developers should deepen their understanding of historical discrepancies in opportunity to learn and in learning outcomes for diverse student populations and how their products could contribute to equity for all students.Developers should be intentional about strengthening their feedback loops with educational user communities throughout the product life cycle,from defining the products purpose to refining how it operates.Developers should engage ethics experts to guide their work and build their teams understanding of ethical issues in the day-to-day work of developing,deploying,and continually improving a product.Developers should involve educators and youth throughout the product development process,seeking to include not only those with power but also those who will be most affected by design choices in a product or service.Developers should explore obstacles to human judgment(e.g.,a tendency to defer to the suggestions coming from a technology),to misunderstand limitations of AI-based inferences,or to underappreciate the potential for more risks to emerge once AI is deployed in educational settings and expand their understanding of human factors to encompass all the ways an AI-enabled system may enable or impede sound instructional and educational decisions.Resources Batya Friedman&David G.Hendrys Value Sensitive Design:Shaping Technology with Moral Imagination Center for Humane Technologys Potential Policy Reforms Toolkit Center for Democracy&Technologys AI Policy Tracker NISTs Human-Centered Design Principles Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)&Education Internationals Opportunities,guidelines and guardrails for effective and equitable use of AI in education United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organizations(UNESCOs)Artificial Intelligence and the Futures of Learning project U.S.General Services Administrations Human-Centered Design Guide Series 18 Recommendation 2.Providing Evidence for Rationale and Impact By clearly articulating how they have incorporated evidence-based practices into their products and how they intend to build new evidence about a products usability and efficacy,developers and deployers of AI systems in education can work together toward responsible use.Developers of AI-enabled products and services share responsibility to explain how research informs the rationale(or logic)of their offering,to document and analyze data to make improvements and address risks,and to evaluate the impact on educators and students,especially those in historically underserved groups or settings.Key Ideas The ESEA specifies four tiers of evidence(see ESEA section 8101(21)that characterize the quality of research evidence that establishes whether an educational product or service has been shown to improve student outcomes.(See also the Departments September 2023 non-regulatory guidance.)Educational leaders increasingly demand such evidence when making adoption and procurement decisions.Developers should clearly articulate how existing evidence-based practices inform the design of their product or service.When specific evidence is not yet available for potentially innovative features,developers should be clear about the more general scientific rationale that justifies including the features in a products design.Developers should be clear about the student outcomes their product or service is meant to improve.When the product or service provider seeks to measure those outcomes,the measure used should be high-quality(i.e.,demonstrate acceptable levels of validity and reliability for the students and settings in which the product or service will be used).Developers should seek to build evidence about the risks and outcomes associated with,and impacts of,the use of their product and services.The evaluation process should be framed to measure to type of outcome the product targets and should take into account the importance of identifying and mitigating potential risks,especially risks that might differentially impact vulnerable and underserved populations.Undertaking the most rigorous study(e.g.,a randomized controlled trial)may at first seem daunting.If this is the case,developers may first use less rigorous forms of evidence building(e.g.,correlational studies)to describe how student demographic information and product use is associated with observed student outcomes.Over time,developers may proceed to more rigorous evaluations that support statements about a products causal impact on student outcomes,such as by using randomized controlled trials or other rigorous approaches to evidence building.When making adoption decisions,states,districts,and schools typically consider the extent to which the evidence supporting a given product or service meaningfully includes the students and settings they seek to serve.As such,when building evidence about a program or services relationship to,or impact on,student outcomes,developers should disaggregate their findings to be clear about“what works,for whom,and under what conditions.”Considerations of“for whom”should address vulnerable and historically underserved student populations;for example,an AI-enabled product for mathematics teaching and learning should address the types of disparities in mathematics achievement documented via the National Assessment for Educational Progress via policy-relevant demographic variables.19 What to Know In 2015,the Every Student Succeeds Act reauthorized the ESEA.The ESEA encourages school and district decision makers to choose educational products,services,and interventions that have been shown to improve student outcomes through high-quality research and evaluation or that at least demonstrate a rationale that they will be effective.The Department also provides a document titled Non-Regulatory Guidance:Using Evidence to Strengthen Education Investments,which includes the evidence framework and definitions in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations.In addition,the Office of Educational Technology offers an Edtech Evidence Toolkit with resources including one-pagers,case studies,and examples.Developers of AI-enabled tools and platforms should know that required characteristics of educational evidence are specified in law and used in practice when educational leaders make adoption and procurement decisions and,with this knowledge,specifically define the outcomes their solutions can provide and how to measure them as evidence.The ESEA defines four tiers of evidence,which are summarized in the Departments What Works Clearinghouse as shown below in Figure 4.Figure 4:Tiers of Evidence 20 Early-stage developers may start by using evidence,including scientific theories,to develop the rationale for how their product or service is intended to strengthen student learning.The National Academies of Sciences,Engineering,and Medicine 2018 report“How People Learn II:Learners,Contexts,and Cultures”recommends assessing the degree to which learning environments are learner-centered,knowledge-centered,assessment-centered,and community-centered.Here are some examples of how to do this:Learner-Centered:How can an AI-enabled product support learners to be more active and collaborative as they strive to make sense of new information?Knowledge-Centered:How can an AI-enabled product activate a learners prior knowledge and engage them in processes that actively strengthen understanding like elaborating,explaining,or critiquing?Assessment-Centered:How can an AI-enabled product provide students with more timely,relevant,and useful guidance and feedback when they encounter a difficulty?Community-Centered:How can an AI-enabled product support social interactions in which a students peers,teachers,and other community members actively support an individuals strengths and needs?“How People Learn II”also provides a list of five effective strategies to support learning:Retrieval practice Spaced practice Interleaved and varied practice Summarizing and drawing Explanations:elaborative interrogation,self-explanation,and teaching There are many additional principles specific to age levels or subject domains,such as the science of reading,learning mathematics,or pursuing science and engineering.The Departments Institute of Education Sciences(IES),through its What Works Clearinghouse,provides general as well as domain-specific recommendations for evidence-based practices through its series of Practice Guides.Working with a teacher professional association dedicated to target school content is also often a good way to uncover learning principles specific to a domain.Another way is to contact scholarly societies or associations seeking a connection to a researcher active in the area the developer will pursue.To hone their own rationale,which might be based on the above or additional modern learning principles,developers may seek feedback from pilot group users to inform design and development adjustments to the solution to improve efficacy.Evidence should inform both how a narrow product component has been designed(e.g.,the ways in which mathematics is represented in symbols and graphics)and provide a scientific rationale for the foundational logic of their approach to improving learning.Foundational logic is sometimes called the 21 “theory of action”and is understood to be the integrated set of mechanisms that together lead to improvements to student outcomes(see Resources for more information).Researchers and developers often follow the best practice of documenting their theory of action through a logic model.A logic model traces the connections from inputs(e.g.,that a product or service provides)to teaching and learning processes(e.g.,that teachers and students enact with support from the product)to outcomes(e.g.,increased student achievement in a particular subject).Within a logic model,a major point of focus for developers,as they begin a journey toward strong evidence,should be defining a clear problem that is informed by robust root cause analysis,identifying an appropriate set of target outcomes,designing products or features that are likely to achieve those outcomes,and designing processes to measure those outcomes.After establishing that their product or service“demonstrates a rationale”for use,developers may wish to consider how they can build evidence that it is effective.The strength of evidence supporting claims about a product or services effectiveness can vary from relatively lower(Tier 3 or Promising Evidence)to relatively higher(Tier 1 or Strong Evidence).Lower-quality evidence(e.g.,Tier 3)offers less confidence about effectiveness and speaks only to an association or relationship between a product or service and student outcomes.Higher-quality evidence(e.g.,Tier 1)offers more confidence about effectiveness,leading to conclusions that a product or service caused a student outcome.As shown in Figure 4,the primary factor that distinguishes lower-quality evidence from higher-quality evidence is the type of research that is used to evaluate a product or services effectiveness.Not all developers will have experience in designing and conducting high-quality research and,as such,will seek out the assistance of outside experts.Notably,even developers with research capacity may elect to partner with an independent evaluator to lend additional credence to their effectiveness findings.Successful evidence-building at any tier depends on both robust forethought and adequate resources.It is almost always easier to design a program or service from the beginning with the goal of high-quality evidence building in mind than to add that goal when a program or service is nearing completion or final.As such,developers should consult experts in evaluation early in the design(or improvement)process.Although evidence-building can occur with lower costs when thoughtfully incorporated into a new or redesigned program,additional financial resources supporting evaluationparticularly an external evaluatormay be needed.Grant funding for research is available in multiple federal programs(see Resources)and through some philanthropic foundations.Measurement of educational outcomes is always imperfect and always a focus of improvement for the field.The Departments 2023 AI Report includes a section on formative assessment which emphasizes measuring what matters;specifically,that educators call for broader ways of capturing what students know and can do(compared to traditional multiple-choice assessments,for example).Evidence from standardized end-of-course measures(culminating or summative assessment)will continue to play an important role in assessing the efficacy of policies,systems,22 and practices that support student learning.However,formative and diagnostic evidence collected using additional relevant measures(continuous or formative assessment)also provides valuable information for educators,parents,and students about learning and academic performance.This sort of evidence also provides faster feedback cycles for all engaged parties.Developers may wish to engage with outside experts to learn more about how to connect their vision to measurable outcomes and how to identify measures with strong psychometric qualities(e.g.,high levels of validity and reliability).The tiers of evidence describe rationale and impact but leave an additional area of evidence open:how developers document risks and safeguards in their products by collecting data,analyzing what is working and what needs change,and guiding improvements.It is a common practice for many educational developers to provide case studies of how they worked with schools or districts to field pilot and test their product.They may use A/B testing to identify the features of their product that support needs across a variety of educational settings.In terms of shared responsibility,educational decision-makers also value transparency for the means employed by the solution developer to field test and improve their product,as well as what product certifications have been secured through evaluations by trusted third-party learning organizations working in edtech.With regard to continuous improvement,some developers are exploring how to streamline the process of engaging with external researchers who could test improvements to their platform(see the Institute of Education Sciences funded SEERNet,for example),while safeguarding privacy and other considerations.For example,developers are working with researchers to validate in-platform measures that can be used to study learning outcomes while reducing data collection costs.Developers can also incorporate interfaces into their platform that enable researchers to specify how to deliver variable resources to students while automatically collecting datawithout requiring researchers to know the details of the developers platform code.Developers can also standardize mechanisms for protecting the privacy of student data to enable researchers to perform analyses without enabling researchers to identify specific students.Finally,evaluations are typically more valuable to decision makers when they address“for whom and under what conditions”because schools and districts want to know if the results are likely to generalize to their population and setting.With such a dynamic range of diversity in our nations schools and districts,an approach that is only tested with students in a large metropolitan school district in one state may not work optimally for staff and students in a small rural school or a district in another state.Likewise,other questions arise,such as whether children and students with disabilities were included in the study population,and were there any noteworthy differential impacts for these students?Was the product effective for both students with low and high prior performance or only for students with average performance?Does the product work well for multilingual learners?There are many other relevant questions about“for whom and under what conditions.”Developers can purposely vary the populations and settings in which they evaluate their offering to accumulate evidence that respects variability among learners and across settings.23 This approach to addressing variability between context and learners has significant relevance for products that use AI to adapt to students strengths and needs,as products may seek to strongly serve a greater diversity of students or function in a wider range of conditions.That AI technologies avoid harm and produce“the greatest good for the most people”cannot be taken for granted and must be specifically investigated.(An important and related concept appears in the equity-centered section;developers should seek to demonstrate their process for developing AI algorithms and models to minimize unfair bias.)The Department acknowledges it is expensive and time-consuming to study all possible variables.Developers should weigh the potential for harm and the level of confidence that a risk has been mitigated.Schools should protect students from harm,for example,regarding infringing students civil rightsand thus algorithms that unfairly impact students broad opportunities to learn and advance could be high risk and high priority for strong evidence.An example of a lower risk application might be a productivity tool that helps teachers do routine aspects of their work,such as configuring classroom edtech for a particular activity that the teacher has planned,and which can easily be supervised and corrected by the teacher.High-quality evaluation studies,similarly,can detect not only whether an educational resource benefits students on average but also whether it is ineffective for groups of students.Questions To Ask 1.How could our team fulfill the evidence-based rationale or Tier 4 level and continue to expand the evidence base for diverse populations?2.How could our product rationale build on or align with existing bodies of evidence or theory about how people learn or teach effectively,especially including students in historically underserved populations?3.How(including with what partners)can we begin collecting evidence to demonstrate the potential for positive impacts for a diversity of students related to our use of AI in education?4.How can we ensure that educational decision makers have access to the evidence and other information to make responsible choices about using AI applications?5.What is our long-term plan to generate rigorous evidence,including for whom and under what conditions our application works and for expanding the populations for whom the application is effective?Directions to Pursue Developers should ask potential customers how they use specific kinds of evidence in their decision-making process and“what success would look like,”which would go beyond asking potential customers to list relevant local,state,or other procurement requirements.24 Developers should seek to form partnerships with researchers early in their design work so that modern learning principles can be employed to maximum advantage.Developers should seek to form partnerships with educators and users to conduct field tests throughout the life cycle of their product.Developers should involve those who will be most affected by a product in collecting and interpreting evidence.Developers should collect evidence not only on efficacy,but also related to safety,security,trust,and other issues.Developers should collate the workstreams from above into cogent and living documentation that is regularly updated and housed publicly online for the sake of transparency.Resources Relevant funding sources IES Small Business Innovation Research Program IES Education Research and Special Education Research Grant Programs The Departments Education and Innovation Research Program The National Science Foundations Division of Research of Learning Many philanthropies also provide funds for educators,researchers,and developers to work together,with shared responsibility for evidence.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations AIMS Collaboratory is one example.Resources on methods for building evidence The Institute of Education Science Resources The Logic Model Workshop Toolkit IES Standards for Excellence in Education Research IES/National Science Foundation Common Guidelines Companion Guidelines on Replication&Reproducibility in Education Research What Works Clearinghouse Find What Works Guides and Practice Guides The Office of Educational Technologys EdTech Evidence Toolkit 25 The U.S.Department of Health and Human Services Rapid Cycle Evaluations Organizations that provide information about evidence building LearnPlatform LeanLab Common Sense International Society for Technology in Education(ISTE)Digital Promise EdTech Evidence Exchange International Certification of Evidence of Impact in Education 26 Recommendation 3.Advancing Equity and Protecting Civil Rights Developers and educators share responsibility for advancing equity and protecting students civil rights.Developers who are equity-centered will better address the potential for algorithmic discrimination,guard against civil rights violations,advance accessibility for all users,especially children and students with disabilities,and move to close overall gaps in design,use,and access of edtech.Key Ideas Algorithmic discrimination could result in unfair distribution of opportunities to learn,resources and supports for learning,or outcomes of learning.NIST has identified three major categories of AI bias to be considered and managed:systemic,computational,and human,all of which can occur in the absence of prejudice,partiality,or discriminatory intent.Civil rights in educational settings are established in law and enforced by the Departments Office for Civil Rights.Developers should be well-informed about existing civil rights laws that apply to educational settings and design to comply with these laws.Existing civil rights laws apply no matter to what degree AI is implicated in the violation.Pre-existing and forthcoming AI training data sets should seek to reduce bias and represent educational user diversity.Educators are already expressing high awareness of these potential issues.Inclusion and accessibility are areas in which the capabilities of AI to support multiple forms of human interaction and augment human strengths and needs may be particularly beneficial.Digital equity encompasses attention to gaps in design,use,and access.27 What to Know Advancing equity is a broad concept but also points to a set of more specific considerations that developers should center in their work.This guide names civil rights4,algorithmic discrimination,and accessibility as specific equity-related topics and uses the term“digital equity5”to point to additional issues(i.e.,fairness in the affordability of technologies)that are important yet may not rise to the level of violations of laws.Existing laws(including civil rights laws)are paramount and apply to situations where any variation of AI leads to any discrimination across the continuum of a childs learning experience.Civil rights laws protect students against discrimination based on protected characteristics6 and apply to learning experiences inside and outside the classroom during the school day.The Executive Order on AI directs many federal agencies with advancing the connection of AI equity and civil rights,both separately and in coordination across agencies.Developers should monitor agency websites to seek to stay abreast of policy guidance and other resources advanced by the Department and by other agencies,such as NIST and the U.S.Department of Justice,related to advancing equity and protecting civil rights.Further,the Executive Order on AI directs the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division to meet with all federal civil rights offices“to discuss comprehensive use of their respective authorities and offices to prevent and address discrimination in the use of automated systems.”This meeting occurred on January 10,2024(see Readout).The Departments Office for Civil Rights may evaluate and/or investigate allegations of civil rights violations stemming from the use of AI-enabled systems in educational settings.Algorithmic Discrimination Likewise,the Biden-Harris Administration made its position on the potential for algorithmic discrimination abundantly clear in the Executive Order on AI:“My Administration cannotand will nottolerate the use of AI to disadvantage those who are already too often denied equal opportunity and justice.”The Office of Science and Technologys Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights defines“algorithmic discrimination”and outlines what developers should do as follows:4 As appropriate,developers should consider the civil rights of educators,organizational employees,or other end users.Developers may find this overview of the Department of Justices Civil Rights Divisions work on AI and civil rights of interest in making such determinations.Importantly,this guide does not attempt to discuss all of the civil rights provisions that could potentially apply to AI use in education settings.5 Section 60302(10)of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act defines“digital equity”as“the condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.”6 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,as amended,42 U.S.C.2000d,34 C.F.R.Part 100;Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,as amended,20 U.S.C.1681,et seq.,34 C.F.R.Part 106;Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,as amended,29 U.S.C.794,34 C.F.R.Part 104;The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,as amended,42 U.S.C.12131,et seq.,28 C.F.R.Parts 35 and 36;The Age Discrimination Act of 1975,as amended,42 U.S.C.6101,et seq.,34 C.F.R.Part 110.28 Algorithmic discrimination occurs when automated systems contribute to unjustified different treatment or impacts disfavoring people based on their race,color,ethnicity,sex(including pregnancy,childbirth,and related medical conditions,gender identity,intersex status,and sexual orientation),religion,age,national origin,disability,veteran status,genetic information,or any other classification protected by law.Depending on the specific circumstances,such algorithmic discrimination may violate legal protections.Designers,developers,and deployers of automated systems should take proactive and continuous measures to protect individuals and communities from algorithmic discrimination and to use and design systems in an equitable way.Developers should proactively and continuously test AI products or services in education to mitigate the risk of algorithmic discrimination.In addition,training educators on both proper and inappropriate use of their solutions may mitigate issues of algorithmic discrimination in specific educational applications of AI(or prior uses of machine learning)according to researchers.Outcomes of algorithmic use of such data in education could deny students in a protected class from equitable opportunities in learning and achievement.What is important is that the overall impact should not be inequitable.This applies to the use of AI enabled solutions in curriculum,as well as any technology or solution that can be used for monitoring behavior,classroom management,or discipline.Educators have many specific bias concerns related to computer vision algorithms and yet recognize that other forms of input such as speech recognition could also prove problematic.The Department notes that the potential for algorithmic discrimination will not be limited to an application that makes obviously big decisions such as guiding student course or career selection but could also occur in a series of smaller decisions(for example,in the pacing or content of technology-based lessons),which in aggregate effect of the smaller decisions leads to an inequitable learning opportunity for students.Developers can address such concerns early in the process of building and training an AI,including by collecting representative data,exercising care in how data are curated and how algorithms are selected,testing for bias,and more.Regarding shared responsibility,throughout the Departments listening sessions,educators consistently expressed strong concerns about bias in the data sets that are used to train AI models,both in foundation models and in tuning models to educational applications.Bias in the models performance may occur because existing data sets inherently include historical biases and omissionsdata sets may not be representative of the educational population who will participate as users.Developers should likewise build in opportunities for human review and strengthen features in products that increase transparency about the outputs that AI generates or the reasoning behind AI-based recommendations.They should also proactively design their products for learner variability,as will be discussed below.29 “To simultaneously keep students safe and secure and train AI for equitable solutions with broad and diverse data is a defining challenge for this space.Simply saying no data use will not keep all students safe or equip the equitable access we know all students deserve.As this field is rapidly evolving,thoughtful solutions must be identified to ensure safety,accountability,fairness,and effectiveness.”Karl Rectanus,edtech entrepreneur While risks exist,early research suggests7,8 that AI could be useful in helping better support children and students with disabilities,multilingual learners,and other populations that have long encountered barriers to learning with resources designed with less accommodation to their needs.The Departments 2023 AI Report outlines additional key areas of equity in the design,development,and deployment of AI-enabled systems in education with these examples:The report observes that adaptive algorithms in past edtech products often were more focused on deficits,weaknesses,mistakes,or gaps.Although addressing mistakes and errors is important in the development of AI-enabled tools,developers should consider balancing this approach in the development of such tools with a more asset-based design that deploys additional AI capabilities focused on assets to build on students strengths and interests,also aligned with available community resources and assets.The capabilities of AI to support a wider range of inputs(e.g.,speech,gesture,drawing)and outputs(e.g.,translations among languages,annotations of images with language,automated production of American Sign Language)can provide additional supports to children and students with disabilities and can do so more evenly across varied learning activities and instructional resources as well as assessments.Similarly,the newer capabilities of AI can be aligned to achieve advances in equitable support for multilingual learners via translation support and identification of culturally responsive resources to accompany instruction.“We are excited about the potential of AI to allow us to adapt content more easily to students linguistic needs and personal interests.For example,we have been field testing an AI-based system that prompts students for their interests and writes a word problem that fits their interests as well as the mathematics topic they are learning.”Dr.Steve Ritter,Founder and Chief Scientist at Carnegie Learning More generally,the 2023 AI Report highlights how AI could be used to adapt instructional resources to all aspects of learner variability;whereas prior edtech services may have been most effective for students most similar to a developers intended target population,developers could seek to use AI to serve a“long tail”(wider distribution)of student strengths and needs.7 https:/ 8 https:/library.iated.org/view/MEHIGAN2024CON 30 Accessibility As they seek to support learner variability,developers should be aware of and follow requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA,as amended in 2004).Also developers should review Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973(Section 504).IDEA highlights the importance of educational resources that leverage students strengths and not only resources that address their challenges or needs.Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal financial assistance.Digital accessibility is a component of accessibility for students with disabilities.Developers should look both broadly and narrowly for support toward incorporating digital accessibility into their solutions.The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG),developed and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C),is an approved ISO standard and is recognized by developers as the benchmark for creating content that is accessible without limitations to all users.AI can enable edtech developers to support interactions with people using a broader range of modalities(e.g.,speech,gesture,American Sign Language,etc.).Incorporation of such capabilities could help not only specific learner populations but all learners as well.More focused on education solution design,Universal Design for Learning(UDL)is one well-established framework for guiding design of tools that“improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.”Developers may find UDLs three broad guidelines to be a good starting point for conceptualizing how AI could improve learning via their product or service:1.Engagement.Presenting educational content in new interactive formats can increase student engagement.As an example,with appropriate guardrails,AI can support U.S.or World History courses by enabling students to interact with historical interviews of real people.2.Representation.Presenting educational content options via multiple entry points of representations(e.g.,text,audio,graphics,animation)benefits learners;in a simple example,AI may support generating more useful“alt text”to accompany images accessed by screen readers,even if humans remain in the loop to verify AI generated alt text.3.Action and Expression.Giving students enhanced opportunities to act and express themselves improves learning;in one research-based example,students can learn science by engaging in an animated,interactive narrative where AI makes the plot,characters,and dialogue adaptive.Digital Equity More broadly,the Office of Educational Technologys 2022 report,Advancing Digital Equity for All,describes ongoing gaps in access to devices and broadband connectivity that impact educational opportunity but goes beyond access to also include affordability and unequal adoption as concerns,as well.We provide examples of potential pitfalls that developers should be aware of in developing and deploying AI systems:31 Access:AI-enabled applications may first appear in districts of more wealthy communities,or conversely,under-resourced schools may rely upon more affordable AI resources instead of human resources.Affordability:In more affluent households,guardians may be able to afford premium subscriptions for the most powerful versionsespecially if students are expected to use AI-enabled tools at home.Adoption:Lack of community buy-in for valuable AI-enabled educational products may occur when communities are less informed or less involved in the design and marketing of those products or when other necessary resources(such as teacher professional learning and development and accessibility of tools)are differentially available.Developers serving edtech interests have equity-related considerations other sectors may not;they should be aware of the potential pitfalls and the steps they can take toward equitable access,affordability,and adoption.The 2024 NETP has additional recommendations regarding equity that may provide useful guidance to developers.Specifically,it discusses three types of gaps:1.Digital Use Divide:addressing opportunities to improve how students use technology to enhance their learning,including dynamic applications of technology to explore,create,and engage in critical analysis of academic content and knowledge;and ensuring that students have equitable opportunities to use technology for learning.2.Digital Design Divide:addressing opportunities for educators to expand their professional learning and build the capacities necessary to design learning experiences enabled by technology that serve the diversity of their students.3.Digital Access Divide:addressing opportunities for students and educators to gain equitable access to educational technology,including connectivity,devices,and digital content.This also includes accessibility and digital health,safety,and citizenship as key elements of digital access.Questions To Ask 1.How can we connect civil rights and digital equity to specific ideas that inform our work as developers and ensure we are following applicable federal laws?2.How does the role of the education leaders in protecting civil rights relate to our product or service?3.What steps can we take to audit and remove the potential bias or algorithmic discrimination in our product,with special attention to mitigating any impacts for vulnerable or underserved populations?4.How could we leverage AI in our product specifically to enhance accessibility and inclusion?32 5.What is our long-term strategy to be a positive force for digital equity in all its dimensions,from design all the way through distribution and use?Directions to Pursue Developers can infuse their organizational culture with equity and civil rights priorities from underlying data sets used for training algorithms to UI/UX choices.Developers may establish or improve a review process/checklist for new platforms,enhancements,and/or extensions to ensure broad representation in solution performance.Developers may build feedback loop mechanisms with organizations and relationships with expert practitioners for equitable learning experience design.Developers can work to stay current with both mainstream and edtech standards bodies and their pending work to address racism and other forms of algorithmic discrimination in AI-enabled products and services.Developers may participate in regular third-party review processes for eliminating bias from underlying databases,algorithms,and even UI/UX design elements that exclude certain cohorts from equitable user experiences.Resources NIST is working on a standard for identifying bias in AI,with three main ways in which bias occurs(systemic,statistical/computational,and human),which intersect with different foci for mitigating bias(in datasets and models,during development of applications,and as applications of AI are used in the field).CASTs Universal Design for Learning is a research-based framework that can be used to guide applications of AI to build on students strengths.The Center for Democracy and Technology provides extensive resources and guidance on equity,civil rights,and AI.Culturally Responsive Teaching and other design guidelines of processes are available to do equity-relevant design.The Leadership Conference works to ensure that new technologies further civil rights protections,and also works on related Digital Equity issues.The Learner Variability Navigator is a tool to find research-based strategies to support whole-child learning.Several nonprofits have design frameworks and services aimed at addressing equity.Two examples are the National Equity Project and Center for Inclusive Innovation.33 Recommendation 4.Ensuring Safety and Security Educational leaders and decision makers are looking to developers for partnership in strong plans to both address well-known risks and manage the broader range of potential risks so that AI technologies that improve teaching and learning can be implemented safely for students,staff,and communities.Developers who are safety-and security-centered will prioritize protecting students and teachers data security and privacy;developers will also acknowledge that risks now go beyond these broadly known,longstanding edtech risks and therefore conduct risk identification,prioritization,and management throughout their development and deployment processes.Key Ideas Developers must be aware of the federal laws and related guidance regarding privacy and data security,such as these:Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA)Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment(PPRA)Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA)Childrens Internet Protection Act(CIPA)Protecting privacy and enhancing cybersecurity are key issues that school technology leaders manage as they procure,implement,and monitor technology in their educational institutions.Developers of AI applications for education must identify and mitigate risks that go beyond privacy and cybersecurity(see Box E).NIST has produced an AI Risk Management Framework that can guide a comprehensive and continuous process for identifying,prioritizing,and addressing risks.What to Know Privacy and data security are the aspects of edtech where the strongest guidelines and guardrails already exist.Most participants in the edtech marketplace have been actively addressing privacy and cybersecurity for many years before generative AI became widely available and will continue to require strong safeguards.The Center for Democracy and Technology reports privacy as a chief concern among parents and students using edtech while learning at schoolespecially for students with individualized education plans or 504 plans.34 Educational leaders are committed to procuring tools that protect their students,staff,and communities.The Department provides support around federal requirements and best practices for protecting student privacy.For example,the Departments Student Privacy Policy Office(SPPO)offers extensive information on protecting student privacy in accordance with applicable federal laws and regulations.SPPO resources include information on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA)and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment(PPRA),which apply to educational agencies and institutions receiving Department funds.The Departments Office of Educational Technology and the Privacy Technical Assistance Center(PTAC)host content and events to support developers in safeguarding student data.In addition,the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA)adds protections for students younger than 13 years old,and the Childrens Internet Protection Act(CIPA)addresses risks related to harmful content in schools and libraries.Developers must know these laws.Developers should be aware that both states and associations provide leadership and direction to the work of leaders in local educational agencies(LEAs)as they tackle these issues.As one example,the Utah State Board of Education has a Student Data Privacy Team focused on supporting LEA efforts to protect student data.Most states have similar initiatives.The Consortium for School Networking(CoSN),an organization that supports school information technology professionals,has produced a parallel NIST cybersecurity framework for education to assist with classifying and understanding resources.Their membership and resources reflect strength in both cybersecurity and its extension to AI-enabled products and services,including a readiness checklist developed in conjunction with other learning organizations.The Data Quality Campaign provides extensive coverage of student data privacy and security policies,including information on how state and local jurisdictions go beyond federal protections.Additional resources are offered by the Student Data Privacy Consortium,which brings together constituent groups in the edtech marketplace to set expectations about student data privacy.“AI isnt a monolith.When developers think about responsible design and use of AI tools in education,its important to consider the range of AI applications and align their risk mitigation strategies to the relative risk of each tool.One strategy is to keep humans in the loopfor example,involving educators at optimal moments that help minimize the risks and maximize the value of these new technologies.”Teddy Hartman,Head of Privacy and Trust,Pear Deck Learning Risks of AI in educational settings extend beyond the well-known challenges of data security and privacy.The Department urges developers to rapidly begin to identify,prioritize,and manage additional risks.Consider the following examples,which use the categories in Box E and are based on publicly reported incidents:In an example of a race to release risk,generative AI chatbots became widely available to schools before any guidance was available to teachers and students on acceptable use,distracting educators from managing the core functions of teaching and learning.35 In an example of a Bias and Fairness risk,test proctoring systems that rely on facial recognition algorithms were suspected of unfairly and disproportionately disciplining non-white students.In an example of Harmful Content risks,students often use tools to create images for use in their school projects,and generative AI has been found to offer negative and hurtful stereotypes when given queries to construct an image for“black girls.”In an example of a Malicious Use Risk,students have been found to use generative AI in cyberbullying,for example,constructing false and negative narratives about fellow students or false images about fellow students.In an example of Hallucination Risk and Wrong Information Risk,generative AI has been found to produce output that describes historical figures who never existed and to give wrong answers to math problems.In an example of Transparency Risks,educational procurement officers face pressure to allow various AI-enabled technology into schools,well before adequate information is available that would allow them to apply good judgment and ask hard questions about data sources,algorithms,risk mitigation,and other requirements.In an example of Underprepared User Risks,human decision makers sometimes defer to algorithms,which weakens the important role of educator judgment in how to support students and undermines the human in the loop recommendation from the Departments 2023 AI Report.Likewise,human decision makers sometimes absorb biases from the output of AI,interfering with their own better judgement.An important starting point for mitigating AI-related risks is NISTs AI risk management framework.Although this framework is applicable to sectors broader than education,it can offer valuable guidance as developers identify and implement specific risk mitigation approaches that are more uniquely tailored to the education sector and encompass all identifiable risks.See Figure 6 and Figure 7.Regarding risk identification,risks can occur at multiple scales,from harming individual people to harming an ecosystem.In addition,per the earlier discussion,AI-enabled systems for education will be developed with components from organizations outside the primary developer,and thus risks may emerge along a supply chain of components that are utilized in an overall product or service.Supply chain vulnerabilities can occur when a component is judged to be“safe”at an earlier time but then changes its behavior without notice to the component user;for example,foundational models have been observed to degrade at times for unknown reasons or to suddenly begin making errors as developers tweak their algorithms.Regarding risk prioritization,the European Union AI Act defines levels of risk.Currently,there is no similar official definition of levels of educational risks in the United States;however,developers are beginning to index specific risks in their applications and develop targeted 36 mitigation strategies.The Department urges developers,working in their own organizations and in shared responsibility with educators,to consider how to identify and prioritize risks.“Our team developed a detailed list of potential risks as we designed our AI-enabled math tutoring product.Then we prioritized the risks and developed our responses.Wed love for educators to ask us about these specific risks,and wed welcome feedback on how weve addressed them.”Kristen DiCerbo,Chief Learning Officer,Khan Academy Figure 6:Categories of Harm Described in NISTs AI Risk Management Framework The Department,following the lead of NIST,suggests developers take a lifecycle approach to managing these and other risks that must be identified(Figure 7).The four aspects of a lifecycle risk management framework are:1.Govern:Cultivating a culture of risk management within every edtech developer organization,for example,ensuring that developers in every phase or component of product development are aware of potential risks,their responsibilities to identify product-specific risks,and how to engage with product managers to mitigate risks.2.Map:Recognizing the special features and challenges of school contexts and identifying specific risks that arise in those contexts.Developers can look throughout this document for examples of the specific kinds of risks that arise in school contexts as well as their special responsibilities and obligations under law when working with minors and students.3.Measure:Documenting,analyzing,and tracking risks not only as the product is developed,but also as it is field tested in classrooms or other educational settings and more widely distributed and used.For example,developers can apply research-based methods to measure bias;the Departments 2023 AI Report included an extensive 37 discussion on how techniques from educational psychometrics could be helpful in ensuring fairness of AI-enabled educational resources or assessments.4.Manage:Prioritizing risks and acting to protect students,teachers,and educational communities.Throughout listening sessions,the Department learned about development organizations that are prioritizing risks early in their development process,during the process of building each product feature or component,and after the product is launched.Figure 7:Overview of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework Educators look to developers to share responsibility for managing risks.On the one hand,state guidance resources(such as those mentioned above in Box C)instruct school districts to govern,map,measure,and manage risks.On the other hand,risk management capacity for AI in schools is likely limited and,thus,assumptions that risks known to a developer or known to the public can be managed by those closest to teaching and learning are unlikely to be borne out.Educational institutions will need partnerships with developers to help them manage risks.Shared risk management measures,implemented in customer service agreements between solution providers and end users in schools,can provide an added value that is not only ethical but also fosters trust through deliberate attention and thorough,regularly updated documentation to mitigate any potential risks,known or unknown.For example,PTAC offers a resource on developing a model terms of service.38 Questions to Ask 1.What are we hearing as top safety and security concerns from educators regarding our product or similar products?2.How do applicable federal,state,and local laws and guidance,such as the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,apply to our product or service?3.What specific privacy,security,or other safety risks are most relevant to our product and to vulnerable groups,and how can we mitigate them?4.How can our organization systematically govern,map,measure,and manage AI risks beyond privacy and security?5.What overall risk management strategy throughout our organization would lead to growing our positive reputation for delivering AI-enabled edtech with the strongest protections for privacy,security,and safety?Directions to Pursue Developers should draft clear and plain language disclosures about how an organization protects student data security and privacy.Developers should bolster accountability efforts via audits or other procedures for inspecting and testing protections,as well as obtaining feedback on risks from end users,with special attention to vulnerable and underserved populations.Developers should collaborate across product lines or with other companies to articulate shared standards or approaches for addressing risks in educational products and services that incorporate AI,creating approaches to address issues of risk not only within an organization but also with upstream suppliers and downstream consumers.Developers should cultivate awareness of how the public,users,and regulators perceive levels of risks related to AI educational products and services and should respond if noteworthy risks emerge in an offering.Developers should prioritize staying abreast of rapidly evolving legislation and other governance activities related to AI in the federal government,in states,and locally.Developers should be thoughtful about addressing the interplay between state and federal policies.At the time of publication,more states are developing and releasing AI policies.39 Resources The National Science and Technology Councils National Strategy to Advance Privacy-Preserving Data Sharing and Analytics.Cyber and Information Security Agencys Secure by Design Framework Software and Information Industry Association principles on developing AI-enabled edtech products Data Quality Campaign resources on protecting student privacy CoSNs NIST Cybersecurity Alignment for K-12.Additional resources at the Center for Democracy and Technology.Developers who are working internationally may also wish to consider the European Union AI Acts levels of consequentiality of educational risks;more generally,staying abreast of developments worldwide may be important.One useful example is the Canton of Zurichs Legal Best Practices regarding AI in education.40 Recommendation 5.Promoting Transparency and Earning Trust As a sound business approach to the education market,developers engage in two-way communications with educators,students,and others in the ecosystem about AI,including promoting transparency for how AI has been implemented in an educational application,addressing concerns,and working together to expand the strength of shared responsibility.Key Ideas Transparency contributes to trust.“Trustworthy systems”is an important technical area of research and development(e.g.,the NIST AI Risk Management Framework),and trust is a relationship of mutual confidence among those who create AI-enabled educational systems and those who use them.Developers can grow trust by contributing to AI literacy among educators,parents and caregivers,students,and other constituents;conversely,without strong AI literacy,assurances by developers may fail to earn trust.To sustain trust,developers should tend to the level of ethics training among their teams.What to Know Developers who attended the Departments listening sessions viewed all four recommendations previously addressed in this guide(i.e.,designing for education,evidence,equity and civil rights,and safety and security)as essential to developing trust in their education markets and communities they serve.Another way of representing this multifactor approach to earning trust is NISTs analysis of the characteristics of trustworthy AI systems.See Figure 8.“Schools deserve AI solutions that are purpose-built for learning.That means solutions must adhere to the highest levels of safety,privacy,and security with models that are hallucination resistant and trained on vetted education-specific content.Thats why were building AI models specifically for education.”Latha Ramanan,Head of Responsible AI,Merlyn Mind 41 Figure 8:Characteristics of Trustworthy AI Systems The Department encourages developers to attend both to trust as the mutual confidence of two parties(e.g.,relationships among developers and adopters of edtech)and trustworthiness as ascertainable properties of a technical system(as indicated in the image above).An example based on the potential for AI to support stealth assessment may clarify the importance of transparency and relationships to trust.In its original meaning,stealth was a synonym for“unobtrusive”and was intended to provide authentic and supportive feedback to students while maintaining high student engagement in learning9.However,stealth can also imply surveillancethat students may be measured invisibly,without their knowledge,and with no direct and obvious benefit to their learnin
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SPRING 2024ART&SCIENCEThis fall will mark the start of Art&Science Collide,the third iteration of Gettys PST ART series(previously called Pacific Standard Time).This PST ART will feature fifty exhibitions in Southern Californiainclud-ing several organized by the GCIthat will delve into the intersections of art and science.In conjunction with this regional exhibition series,were devoting this Conservation Perspectives to exploring the connections between art and scienceand conservation.As noted within these pages,particularly in this editions roundtable,art and science are in many respects two sides of the same coin.Both grow out of curiosity,and both are driven by a desire to know and to understand our world through a creative process.When they join in this pursuit of knowledge,interesting and insightful things can happen.Which is what Art&Science Collide is all about.Our feature article is authored by two professors at the University of California,San DiegoLisa Cartwright,an art and science historian,and Isabel Rivera-Collazo,a marine archaeologistwho examine the entanglements of ecological change with cultural sites,particularly those of Indigenous maritime peoples.They argue that the accelerating disappearance of coastal cultural heritage sites around the world has made collaboration among environmental and heritage conservators,archaeologists,historians,and Indigenous communities more urgent in the preser-vation of the art and artifacts within those sites.In the first of our shorter articles,Annette S.Ortiz Miranda,a conservation scientist at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore,emphasizes the need for a more diverse conservation science field,because backgrounds and identities shape the questions asked by scientists.Conservation science,she notes,is enriched by introduc-ing a broad spectrum of methodologies and approaches essential for comprehensive problem-solving.In their article,Susanne Gnsicke,a senior conservator at the Getty Museum,and Monica Ganio,a GCI chemist and scientist,present technical studies done on two objects from the ancient worldstudies that demonstrate how interdisciplinary research involving scientists,conservators,archaeologists,and curators can result in a more holistic understanding of an object beyond its curatorial interpretation.In our final article,Katrien Keune,head of science at the Rijksmuseum,and Irma de Vries,a Rijksmuseum senior educator,describe two exhibitions at their institution that have brought science into the galleries to enhance the visitor experience and increase public engagement.For this editions roundtable,we invited three artists whose work will appear in Art&Science Collide exhibitions to share their thoughts on the connections between the making of art and the undertakings of science.Maru Garcia,Lia Halloran,and Sarah Rosalena all incorporate science and technology into their work and embrace the notion that both art and science grow out of the innate human desire to engage in discovery and in problem-solving.In developing this edition,Conservation Perspectives editor Jeffrey Levin was aided by Tom Learner,head of GCI Science,as well as three other GCI scientistsKaren Trentelman,Vincent Beltran,and Joy Mazurek.This is Jeffs final edition as Conservation Perspectives editor,after more than three decades in that position.The eighty-two editions he produced,and the many other communications endeavors he undertook on behalf of the GCI,have admirably served the Institute,Getty,and the conservation field.He is being succeeded by Patrick Pardo,who assisted with this edition and whose experience in publications management and familiarity with the field of art fully equip him to take up this publications editorship.We will,nevertheless,very much miss Jeffs regular presence at the Institute both as a colleague and as a friend.Timothy P.WhalenJohn E.and Louise Bryson DirectorA Note from the DirectorPhoto:Anna Flavin,GCI.ART&SCIENCE4 FEATURE ARTICLEBENEATH THE WATERSResurfacing Submerged Landscapes and Indigenous History By Lisa Cartwright and Isabel Rivera-Collazo 10 FORGING PATHSThe Essential Role of Latinas in Shaping Conservation Science Perspectives By Annette S.Ortiz Miranda 13 ANCIENT METALS The Art of Unraveling Early Technologies By Susanne Gnsicke and Monica Ganio 16 UNLOCKING ARTS WONDERS Science as a Bridge to Public Engagement By Katrien Keune and Irma de Vries 18 CREATIVITY AND CURIOSITY A Conversation about the Connections between Art and Science 24 RESOURCESA list of resources related to art and science 25 GCI NEWSProjects,events,and publicationsRead this issue and more online at getty.edu/conservation.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVESContentsTHE GCI NEWSLETTERVOLUME 39 NUMBER 1 SPRING 2024ON THE COVER Untitled(cylindrical lens)(2022),by Fred Eversley.Cast poly-urethane,108 x 30 x 141/2 in.(274.3 x 76.2 x 36.8 cm).Eversleys Cylindrical Lens series draws on the artists earliest body of work,the Cylindrical Cut series from the late 1960s,when he started exploring kinetic effects driven by light,energy,and physics.Before becoming an artist,Eversley worked for Wyle Laboratories as an electrical engineer on NASAs human spaceflight programs in the 1960s,among other aerospace contracts.Eversleys work will be included in the upcoming PST ART exhibitions Lumen:The Art&Science of Light at the J.Paul Getty Museum and Particles and Waves:Southern California Abstraction and Science,19451990 at the Palm Springs Art Museum.Artwork Frederick Eversley,courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.Photo:Tom Powel Imaging.4 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEBY LISA CARTWRIGHT AND ISABEL RIVERA-COLLAZOResurfacing Submerged Landscapes and Indigenous HistoryThe ocean and coasts that inspire art and science are also the stage for maritime cultures.Those who live on islands and in maritime settings recognize that our world does not end where the land meets the water.Territories,with their rich resources,continue in three dimensions:across the waters surface,down and across the water column,and into the ground below.Living close to the water provides access to food and inspires the design and fabrication of nautical technologies and other creative forms that are woven into maritime cultures.Snapshot of the digital twin for the archaeology project led by Rivera-Collazo in Puerto Rico.The image shows multiple layers of data,including topography,vegetation cover,and the excavations of 2019.Image:Courtesy of Isabel Rivera-Collazo.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 51.Quoted in https:/ zones,however,are dynamic.They change with the sway of the waves and the oceans.When the sea level drops,the sea bottom becomes coastal land.When the sea level rises,ocean water drowns the land,submerging the structures and objects of coastal maritime cultures,both designed and natural.Human territories become undersea landscapes.Conservation of art,artifacts,and the natural and built envi-ronment on land is subject to established protocols and practices among art historians,archaeologists,and environmental scientists.In this decade of ocean science,attention is increasingly turning to issues that come to the surface when cultural heritage sites and their art and artifacts are identified in or below the sea.Marine archaeology and ocean art history emerge as important areas in the work of conservation and for dialogue and collaboration among archaeologists,conservationists,historians,and descendant communities.This articlecoauthored by an art and science his-torian(Lisa Cartwright)who researches ocean imaging and cultural meaning,and a marine archaeologist(Isabel Rivera-Collazo)who is Borikua(native to Puerto Rico)and who researches climate change,coastal geomorphology,and the relationship between people and the sea through time in island and marine ecosystemsseeks to contribute to this dialogue.changing coastal landscapes Our joint thinking about the practice of making meaning from the impact of climate change on maritime culture and heritage starts with Rivera-Collazos experiences with research and land-scapes.As a native Puerto Rican,Rivera-Collazo has witnessed change.As an archaeologist,she has measured it with the help of engineers and other archaeologists.Her work shows that some areas are undergoing change at a pace that outstrips predictive models.In a project she is overseeing on Puerto Ricos north coast that includes a late pre-Columbian Indigenous(Taino)ceremo-nial center,serious loss has occurred.“Pieces of land where I had stooddidnt exist anymore,”said project engineer Eric Lo on his return to Puerto Rico just a few months after Hurricane Maria in 2017.“They were underwater.”1 The process of change is not lim-ited to major events such as Category 5 hurricanes;it is constant and ongoing.The drafting of this essay in 2024 was interrupted by emergency travel by Rivera-Collazo to that ceremonial center she has been working on,to assess a particularly devastating amount of damage.The urgency and severity of changes bring conservators of art and the environment together not just to measure and explain change,but also to imagine and reimagine what has been,what is,and what could be.The accelerating disappearance of coastal heritage sites around the world has made the dialogue among environmental and heri-tage archaeologists,conservationists,and historians more urgent.The pace of change challenges us to record data quickly and efficiently,seeing through the medium of water,and accounting for changes in the landscapes due to erosion of the shoreline and the undersea landscape.While most of this work traditionally has been performed with divers in the water or people on the ground,the pressing need for just-in-time documentation of sites has led to the use of remote sensing instruments,such as flyover and undersea equipment outfitted with cameras,lasers,acoustic instruments,or microphonesdevices engineered to work with precision to image land,water,the water column,or the sediments beneath.How to calibrate and validate the findings of these instruments and their various forms of data has emerged as a major project not Hurricane Maria triggered severe damage to Puerto Ricos coastline.These photos register the damage to the north coast of Puerto Rico.Left:A photomosaic of drone photographs taken in August 2017.Right:An aerial photograph taken in September 2017 after Hurricane Maria.The letters“a”and“b”indicate culturally sensitive areas.The numbers 1,2,and 3 mark areas with severe damage due to coastal erosion and flooding.Images:Isabel Rivera-Collazo.6 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEonly for environmental scientists but also for archaeologists and historians.Historians and conservators of art and architecture are now confronted with relatively new domains of research:the his-tory of the advancement of sensing technologies devoted to docu-menting submerged objects;the relocation of tools of forensic inquiry to the conservation laboratory devoted to understanding provenance through genealogy,documentation,attribution,and the perplexing problem of identifying unfamiliar marks caused by immersion;2 and the history of the science of discerning the effects of water on objects and structures long submerged.Ocean media is the term used by historian Melody Jue,who has written about the changes in our field orientation and experience intro-duced when we are compelled to engage in“seeing through seawater”to understand our past through encounters with sub-merged objects and landscapes.3 indigenous interpretation and stewardship The engagement of Indigenous peoples in the approach to dis-appearing coastal and underwater cultural heritage sites is an es-pecially important matter for this dialogue among art and ocean archaeologists,historians,and conservationists.The maritime cultural landscapes that now lie submerged are part of the history and cultural heritage of Indigenous peoplefrom places that record migrations to Australia forty-five thousand years ago,to the landscapes of Doggerland,4 to the submerged insular shelves of the Caribbean,and to the Paleolithic sites covering the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico.The descendants of those ancient commu-nities still value the land of their ancestors,now beneath the sea.In the documentation and conservation process,Indigenous authority over interpretation and stewardship is increasingly recognized as essential.Cultural traditions often mandate leaving sites deemed sacred under land and sea undisturbed by excavation and on-site exploration.This raises the question of whether remote sensing may provide culturally appropriate,noninvasive tools and approaches to study and preserve art,places,and sites at risk.Yield-ing detailed documentation,remote sensing systems are touted for their potential to offer“digital twins”of sites and objects that are off-limits to physical exploration,whether because of submer-gence or erosion,or because they are protected from disturbance.Either through direct or indirect exploration,through images and measurements taken on dives,or by noninvasive remote sensing,the decision to extract data from submerged sites must include Indigenous involvement,authorization,and advisement.This is no less true in environmental and marine archaeology than it is in the art conservation laboratory.4.https:/education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/doggerland/Rivera-Collazo and her postdoctoral research assistant,Andrs Garzn-Oechsle,accompanied by a group of community members(in the distance),work to rescue an archaeological deposit impacted by coastal erosion in spring 2024.Photo:Jenniffer Santos-Hernndez.2.See,for example,documentation of the exhibition“Provenance:A Forensic History of Art,”on view at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign,Illinois,in 2017.https:/kam.illinois.edu/exhibition/provenance-forensic-history-art3.Melody Jue,Wild Blue Media:Thinking Through Seawater(Durham,NC:Duke University Press,2020).CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 7The existence of undersea remains of Early Holocene villages off the coast of California is well known to the descendants of the first inhabitants of the region,as well as to marine archaeologists and historians.Indigenous communities practicing the management of coastal resources and coastal botanyand using watercraft technolo-gieslived along the Pacific coastline for millennia.The Kumeyaay (Ipai or Tipai,also known as the Diegueo),the tribal group that now has jurisdiction over thirteen inland reservations in the United States and six ranchos in Mexico,are among the tribal peoples who occupied the coastal land from northern Baja California into what today is San Diego County,including the city of San Diego.The Kumeyaay,who have called this area their home for the last twelve thousand years or more,were mariners who challenged European and Mexican occupation and control of coastal and island territories and the ocean between.They were pushed inland to foothill and mountain territories by European settler colonial expansion in waves of forced displacement and genocide autho-rized by missionary,military,and government forces.Colonial dispossession intensified in the nineteenth century,resulting in the loss of land and partial loss of language,art,and tangible re-mains of material culture,along with massive population declines due to imposed starvation,hardship,killings,and massa-cres.Evidence of the Kumeyaay presence on their ancient ter-ritory survives on this land in the form of archaeological re-mains,cultural memory,tradi-tional knowledge,and other less evident markers.Too often the tangible portion of that heritage has been disturbed by new inhab-itants through the extraction of artifacts.Our place of work,the University of California,San Diego(UCSD),including the renowned Scripps Insti-tution of Oceanography,sits on unceded territory of the Kumeyaay people.A founder of Scripps can be seen in an early-twentieth-century photograph holding a metate,a stone used for grinding acorns and grains.For decades,marine scientists removed Native artifacts on their dives and excavations on shore,sometimes displaying them alongside marine specimens.In recent years,institutions have begun to repa-triate these artifacts,and there is growing acknowledgment of the need to establish ethical means of restitution and reparative justice.5 In 2023 those engaged in Californias conservation of inter-linked Indigenous art,artifacts,heritage sites,and ecosystems were confronted with state audit findings that the University of California was failing to return hundreds of thousands of Native American remains and artifacts to their tribes of origin,despite decades-long federal and state legal mandates to do so.6 The man-date for repatriation from the collections of the states museums and archives becomes a question of pressing concern for art histo-rians and archivists regarding not only those artifacts and remains in collections but also those in locations contiguous or overlap-ping with scientific research sites.Photographs,digital data,and other forms of documentation are now,too,an important sub-ject of consideration among ocean and art conservators insofar as representation and simulation techniques hold an important place in documenting the remains of environmental and cul-tural history without physically disturbing them.How to handle the historical records obtained through underwater photography and remote sensing technologies such as acoustic and laser imaging is a matter for art and cultural heritage conservators to resolve with tribal authorities.This points to the need for advanc-ing the inclusion of tribal members in the newly interdisciplin-ary field of ocean science and art conservation.bridging environmental and cultural conservation In Embodied Pacific,a Getty PST ART Art&Science Collide collaboration between UCSD Visual Arts and the UCSD Scripps Institution of Ocean-ography,Indigenous ocean science,technology,art,and craft are at the center of two of the eighteen projects to be featured in a group of exhibi-tions at sites that include the Birch Aquarium at Scripps,the Qualcomm Institute,the Uni-versity of California Kendall-Frost Reserve at Mission Bay,and Kosay Kumeyaay Market in Old Town,San Diego.These projects highlight Indigenous ocean art and science,with two projects fea-turing the making of canoes,baskets,and nets as aspects of a living culture that finds its history not only in collections but also in the ecosystems of the ocean and shore.Art and artifact conservation is a practice typically conducted in laboratories or in makeshift In the Eye of the Storm by Simona Clausnitzer.The artist describes this 2020 linocut print as illustrating“the lived experiences of hurricanes,specifically Hurricane Maria.As the climate continues to change,catastrophic storms are expected to become more severe in the Caribbean region The piece isdepicting the storm itself,the infrastructural impacts,and the human impacts.”The work was awarded second place in the Art Climate art gallery featured in the US governments Fifth National Climate Assessment.Image:Courtesy of the artist.5.Patty Gerstenblith,“Historical Appropriations:Of Time and Reparative Justice,”in Cultural Objects and Reparative Justice:A Legal and Historical Analysis(Oxford,UK:Oxford University Press,2023;online edition,Oxford Academic,October 19,2023).https:/doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192872104.003.0007,accessed April 2,2024.6.The 1990 Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act(NAGPRA)and the 2001 California Native American Graves Protection and Repa-triation Act(CalNAGPRA).8 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCElabs set up during excavations.In the work of Dr.Stan Rodriguez (Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation),cultural conservation is conducted through hands-on workshops in the making of ha kwaiyo,traditional Kumeyaay boats assembled from tule reeds gathered along the shores of Southern Californias inland lakes,and in row-outs that immerse participants in the coastal water-ways that hold the heritage of the Kumeyaay.Among the newer technologies of art and science in cultural conservation,“digital twins”stand out because of the potential they offer to gather data from submerged sites and artifacts and to model their past,pres-ent,and future conditions without physical trespass.The interface of ocean science and cultural heritage conser-vation is a focus of work for coauthor Rivera-Collazo,a marine archaeologist studying the past of her own people.Her practice has helped raise questions about how we uncover,observe,and study data derived from landscapes that bear sacred and protect-ed legacies of the Borikuas.Although she is now based in Kumey-aay land,she has concentrated her studies and research on the territory of her ancestors(also subjected to violent displacement and subjugation)and the region where she has the strongest ties to the land and sea:the Caribbean.Her work seeks to illuminate the bridge from environmental conservation issues,such as cli-mate change,sea level rise,and erosion,to cultural conservation and meaningful participation of descendant communitiesa matter of primary concern for art conservators and art historians alike.A close relationship can and does exist between marine archaeology,art,and art history in its social dimensions,and be-tween conservation specialists and local elder and community leaders who are experts in Indigenous histories and traditions.While it is possible to recover a history lost through coloniza-tion,genocide,and systematic erasure,the evidence of that past is also disappearing fast,and therefore digital recording and re-mote sensing data are important tools.However,producing digi-tal data is not the sole considerationwe also must consider data literacy,where the information will live,and who can access it.By digital literacy,we mean not simply the ability to“read images”but also the ability to know and understand the history from the perspective of the culture it memorializes.Digital data storage is an issue of major concern,as are the related issues of data access,privacy,and sovereignty.Top:Photogrammetry of a Kumeyaay tule boat made by a team headed by Stan Rodriguez,a PhD social scientist and Kumeyaay elder.Rodriguez organizes workshops on making ha kwaiyo,traditional Kumeyaay boats assembled from tule reeds gathered along the shores of Southern Californias inland lakes.Photogrammetry:Scott McAvoy and Jessica Ashook,2022.Above:Historic row-out of 24 Kumeyaay ha kwaiyo led by Rodriguez at the UC Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve at Mission Bay,San Diego,September 2021.Photo:Lisa Cartwright.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 9Rivera-Collazo illustrates this point in her 2015 essay“Por el camino verde,”7 named after a song with a verse that describes walking down a path covered in green foliage and aromatic flow-ers leading to an ancient hermitage.The verses visual and sensory imagery combines the green lushness and scents of a tropical island with the ancient ruins that mark human presence on the land,inspiring us to think about how those rich and productive tropical ecosystems grow over and hide the evidence of the past,leading those unfamiliar with local history to think of tropical islands as pristine.This observation reminds us of the existing contradictions between conservation and human activity.On one hand,the idea of island vulnerability identifies a delicate balance of biodiversity that can be easily disrupted by human presence.On the other,modern ecosystems and ecological communities on inhabited islands,often classified as biodiversity hot spots deserv-ing conservation,are the product of long-term interventions and actions by human societies.Conservation efforts often fail both to acknowledge the engagement of people within their ecosystems and to recognize how those interactions influenced the same ele-ments that make islands as we see them today,the places rich in biodiversity that we strive to protect.This historical knowledge,often held within the culture and not within the archive,is the literacy to which we refer.Like the landscapes of the Caribbean,the land and sea of Southern California are not an empty canvas.For thousands of years,Indigenous communities and the many historical processes and events affecting them have shaped,curated,and maintained the world in which we live today;the marine,coastal,and sub-merged territories of Southern Californias tribal communities are part of their past,present,and future.They hold the tangible remains of a peoples history,they remind us of the natural and social processes that shape their realities,and they hold the promise of recovering a partially forgotten history,enlarging our under-standing of the past.They are pages of books that are not yet written or read,and they should be researched and written by the regions Indigenous authors.shaping the story told When we art and ocean science historians and archaeologists connect to consider the prospect of further uncovering and telling that history submerged off Californias coast,we must recognize and engage with the people who hold ancestral territorial rights over these sites,and whose story it is to tell.Submerged landscapes and villages,and the history of Indigenous people,are obscured not simply by sea level rise,but by forced migration,gentrification,and continued abuse brought on by European and Western co-lonialism.The survivors,who have inherited the effects of that history,must be part of the process and leaders in the recovery of the stories of their past,on their own terms.In our effort to document through technologies and the col-lection of data in the service of building digital models,we may learn a lesson from the photographic archives that are the territory of the art historian.We return to the photograph of William Ritter holding a metate,an image embodying a fantasy about his inclu-sion in an Indigenous ritual of pounding acorns.This photograph can help us recognize that the very process and labor of extraction,even remotely and noninvasively carried out through image-and data-twins,shape the story that is told.It is the work of the art his-torian to insist we remember that our methods of documentation and conservation,as well as the matter of authorship,structure the relationship of power,knowledge,and sovereignty concerning the culture unearthed,whether physically or virtually.This holds true for environmental conservation,for marine archaeology,and for the conservation of art and cultural artifacts.Lisa Cartwright is Professor of Visual Arts and Science Studies at UC San Diego,where she is also on the faculty of the Program in Environ-mental Research at Scripps and the Design Lab,and PI of the Getty PST ART“Art&Science Collide”Embodied Pacific Project.Isabel Rivera-Collazo is Professor of Ecological,Biological,and Human Responses to Climate Change at the Department of Anthropology and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego,where she is Director of the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology and PI of the SIO Human Ecology Laboratory.Scripps Institution of Oceanography cofounder William Ritter with a metatean Indigenous grinding stonein 1918.For decades,marine scien-tists removed Indigenous artifacts on their dives and excavations onshore,sometimes displaying them alongside marine specimens.In recent years,institutions have begun to repatriate these artifacts.Source:Bennett Family Papers.SMC 48.Special Collections&Archives,UC San Diego.7.https:/escholarship.org/uc/item/6jg1r08410 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEWHEN FIRST INVITED TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS ON Latinas in conservation science,I experienced a complex array of emotions,ranging from happiness to bitterness.For a moment,my dormant impostor syndrome resurfaced,compelling me to grapple with the feeling of having to justify my presenceor the validity of Latinas generallyin the field,alongside our well-represented white colleagues.If I was supposed to be where I am,why would I need to write an article about it being extraordinary?My upbringing and education in Puerto Rico shielded me from the sense of being part of a minority group.However,this perspective shifted upon relocating to Europe to pursue a career in conservation science.I then found myself consistently defending my place in the field,burdened by the minority label imposed on me.On my first day of class in Spain,when I shared my aspirations for a PhD,I received a skeptical response from a professor“Ya veremos”(“We shall see”).It was notable that among the students in the room who shared similar ambitions,I was the only Latina and the only one who did not receive moti-vational acknowledgment.Despite past experiences of feeling like I did not belong,I came to see this article as an opportunity to connect with other Latinas who are passionate aboutor who want to enterconservation and conservation science.Our presence is not only valid but crucial for the field,serving to broaden perspectives and approaches to conservation itself.diversity in conservation science To delve into the issue of the lack of Latina conservation scientists requires acknowledging the decline in interest in careers in science,technology,engineering,and mathematics(STEM)globally,includ-ing in the United States.This disinterest translates into a continuing shortage of conservation scientists and personnel qualified to teach science in conservation programs worldwide.In recent years,scientific organizations have urged that STEM career education be strengthened globally,emphasizing underrepresented groups such as minorities and women.For example,despite Latinos/as consti-tuting approximately 18 percent of the total US workforce,their presence in STEM careers remains notably low,with only 8 percent pursuing such paths.This concerning trend is further accentuated when examining Latinas in the workforce,where,as of 2018,they represented a mere 7 percent,with less than 2 percent occupying STEM jobs,as reported by the Pew Research Center.1 In the context of conservation-related disciplines,the AIC 2022 report2 revealed that Latino/a individuals constituted only 5 percent of the positions in the US and its territories,with only a fraction dedicated to conservation science.In addition,the lack of both conservation scienceoriented graduate programs and general awareness in the United States and its territories limits its potential as a career choice.The paucity of Latino/a conservation professionals is a problem,considering the vast amount of cultural BY ANNETTE S.ORTIZ MIRANDAThe Essential Role of Latinas in Shaping Conservation Science PerspectivesFORGING PATHS1.https:/www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/01/09/women-and-men-in-stem-often-at-odds-over-workplace-equity/2.https:/www.culturalheritage.org/docs/default-source/publications/reports/survey-reports/2022-faic-compensation-survey.pdf?sfvrsn=75c01720_5Conservation scientist Annette S.Ortiz Miranda with the painting Alice by Amedeo Modigliani,in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst/National Gallery of Denmark(SMK).Ortiz worked at SMK prior to her appointment to the Walters Art Museum.Photo:SMK Photo/Niels Mortensen.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 11heritage housed in many US museums from our Latino/a Indigenous ancestors.Urgent and concerted efforts are imperative to rectify this disparity and to cultivate a more inclusive and representative conservation science community.It is crucial to push for a more diverse conservation science field because our backgrounds and identities shape the questions we ask as scientists.Involving diverse scientists is not just a matter of representation;it enriches the essence of conservation science,introducing a broad spectrum of methodologies and approaches essential for comprehensive problem-solving and for fostering collaborative environments.The call to increase diversity among scientists transcends ethical considerations;it is an instrumental step towards advancing the field and ensuring its resilience in the face of evolving global conservation needs.Cultural perspectives have a profound effect on how scientists formulate research inqui-ries,interpret data,and communicate their findings to others.A well-documented example is the tendency of Latino/a researchers to investigate disparities3 more frequently than their white counter-parts,who often focus on white populations and neglect disparities.Many museums and collections are filled with objects from all sorts of cultures;engaging individuals from diverse backgrounds in preservation and research is essential to correctly interpret and frame the objects from their own cultural perspective.There is a general perception that science helps us make sense of the world around us and uncover new knowledge.However,in conservation science,when research is focused exclusively on the materiality of a collection or an object,the definition of“new knowledge”becomes subjective.Because much of the worlds cultural heritage is extracted from its original context and transformed into decorative objects,recognizing the historical background of objects is as important as their materiality in scientific research investigations.Research on collections and objects must include the traditional knowledge passed down through generations of families and communities.So-called“new knowledge”to some may be community knowledge to others.The Latin American culture is deeply rooted in oral traditions,which may be inter-preted as“new knowledge”by outsiders.Such sociocultural and environmental knowledge can provide valuable insights in contrast to the Western-centric views that strongly influence the conservation science training programs that may not incorporate Latin-American perspectives.The answers to inquiries concerning objects from the ancient Americas within collections may be discovered through an explora-tion of oral traditions.Latinos/as possess the capacity not only to shape the trajectory of research inquiries but also to influence the ethical considerations underpinning the investigation of objects and collections.Additionally,their contribution extends to advocat-ing for examination of collections and objects that may otherwise remain in storage because of a lack of interest from other popula-tions or individuals.The field of conservation science stands to gain significantly from the distinctive perspectives of Latinas,which are informed by their diverse backgrounds,experiences,cultures,and concerns.Drawing from their personal histories equips them with nuanced perspectives that can be applied to contemporary issues or challenges in the future.Latinas have a vital role to play in preserving and researching cultural heritage,contributing their unique insights and enriching the field.a people-centered approach For many years I concealed my Latina heritage as a way to navigate the conservation field successfully.Being the only person of color in the room became my norm,and it took some time before I found the courage to make my voice heard.Observing my surround-ings and the dynamics in those rooms heightened my awareness of the unique nuances embedded in my perspective.Today Im more conscious of my heritage and of what I can contribute to the conservation science field as a Latina.Recognizing this,I have shifted from the fully focused material-based research method in which I was trained to a more people-centered approach with space for oral tradition.Embracing this hybrid thinking allows me to combine scientific rigor with insights from culturally meaningful social and community knowledge.This gives me the ability to integrate different ways of thinking,jump between them,and align them to work toward a team goal of advancing our understanding of our cultural heritage.For instance,when preparing mock-ups,recollections of my grandmother engaged in her craft inevitably resurface.I am reminded of her explaining the differences in 3.In this context,disparities encompass imbalances affecting racial and ethnic minorities,individuals with low socioeconomic status,those residing in rural areas,and populations identifying as sexual and gender minorities within the United States.Ortiz with students from the Escuela Central de Artes Visuales in San Juan,Puerto Rico,visiting the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.Ortiz is explaining the scientific examination of paintings from Puerto Rican artists.Photo:Courtesy of Annette S.Ortiz Miranda.12 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEmaterials when collecting pigments from nature to paint Vejigante4 masks or ceramics.The transfer of this ancestral wisdom from her to me and its subsequent manifestation in a museum lab is an example of the cultural continuum.Similarly,I remember collecting an array of seashells at the beach for her work,which prompted her to share her knowledge about the properties and applications of these marine organisms.This knowledge traces its origins to the Tainos,5 who utilized seashells such as the queen conch and Atlantic triton in crafting objects like spoons,plates,tools,ornaments,and religious artifacts.I find myself naturally incorporating this intrinsic knowledge into the way I understand my role as a conservation scientist,weaving a tapestry that con-nects the wisdom of the past with the pursuit of understanding and preserving our cultural heritage in the present.By engaging in a people-centered approach(as I have done)and recognizing the value of diverse perspectives,we can ensure a more inclusive and innovative future for conservation science.Breaking barriers in conservation science requires promoting diversity and integrating traditional knowledge,while acknowledg-ing the decline in STEM interest.A potential pathway to reversing this trend involves addressing the root causes by equipping the right individuals with essential tools.Career development studies highlight various factors influencing professional career choices,including those that relate to an individuals personality and to the environmental context in which they develop.Research indicates that positive perceptions of the educational environment correlate with favorable attitudes toward learning,science,academic achieve-ment,and academic self-efficacy.In the intersection of history,art,and archaeology,conservation science emerges as a captivating mix of disciplines capable of unraveling ancient questions about heritage.The fusion of STEM and art renders the conservation science field appealing to a new generation of Latino/a scientists,with room for innovation.I am passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM,which are key to innovation and promoting creativity in addressing the needs of a broad population.Conservation science,for me,is not just a profession but also a powerful tool and ally enabling me to impact young Latinas through mentorship and STEM-oriented programs.Common deterrents for Latino/a students considering STEM careers include the perception of difficulty,the lack of mentoring,and limited access to quality education.As a Latina and Puerto Rican,I am committed to giving back and uplifting others,inspired by my own experience of lacking mentorship in my career.Now I cultivate mentoring relationships,believing in the power of the collective knowledge within the Latina community.Collaborating with Ciencia Puerto Rico and its program,Cientficos al Servicio,has allowed me to engage with students K12 and with educators.Additionally,participating as a mentor in the Semillas de Triunfo(Seeds of Success)6 program,guiding middle school girls in developing projects in any STEM field,has been particularly rewarding.Notably,involving the parents in the entire process is a vital aspect,as it helps them understand the significance of STEM and provides participants with strong home support to pursue their aspirations.Finally,as a member of the worlds largest virtual collection of profiles featuring Latina scientists,an open-access online resource created by IF/THEN,7 I contribute to motivating young women by addressing the lack of visibility and access to role models in the field.diverse perspectives The integration of diverse voices and perspectives is indispensable in fostering a thriving and innovative STEM community.By actively engaging in mentorship,educational programs,and advocacy,we can collectively strive to establish an inclusive environment that empowers Latino/a scientists and engenders a brighter future for individuals,the scientific community,and the conservation field as a whole.As we work toward breaking down minority barriers,we need to aspire to the goal of creating a future where there are no distinctions,only scientists.Once achieved,conservation will be richer for it.Annette S.Ortiz Miranda is a conservation scientist at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.5.The Tainos were the culturally advanced descendants of the Arawak-speaking peoples of the Caribbean who arrived in the Antilles from South America.The Tainos spoke Taino,a language of the Arawak family that was spoken only in the Greater Antilles at the time of the Spanish conquest.6.https:/www.cienciapr.org/es/seeds-success/semillas-de-triunfo-programa-de-chicas-embajadoras-stem7.https:/www.ifthenshecan.org/about/Ortiz and Daniela Gonzlez-Pruitt,a paintings intern,at the Walters Art Museum,examining a 19th-century painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe.Photo:Pamela Betts.4.The Puerto Rican Vejigante is a folkloric character and at the same time a cultural display representing the convergence of cultures that shaped Puerto Rican identity,including Spanish religion,African drum music in the form of bombas and plenas,and the Tainos impact on the essential component of the costumethe mask,also known as the careta.The selection of materials crafting the mask,including papier-mch,ditas sourced from the higuera tree,and dried coconut shells,varies by region.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 13COLLABORATION AND CROSS-DISCIPLINARY WORK are essential aspects of any successful research endeavor.In the study of art and archaeology,the collaborative efforts of scientists,conserva-tors,and curators have created a rich body of knowledge about the materials and methods used to create works of art,which has pro-vided valuable insight into artists creative processes,as well as how the objects were used and valued by the cultures that created them.For many periods in history this information is available,at least to some degree,through artists notes,diaries,archives,and oral traditions.This is not the case,however,for most ancient works of art.Even though some Greek and Roman texts contain treatises on materials and working techniques of ancient craftspeoplesuch as Pliny the Elders Natural History,with a plethora of information on the industries of his timethe recipes can be difficult to interpret or may not be accurate representations of actual processes.Looking to the objects themselves for information similarly presents challenges.Archaeological materials degrade over time in response to exposure to light and humidity,atmospheric pollutants,and burial environment.As a result,painted surface layers can change or lose color,as with polychrome marble sculptures,now appearing mostly white.Metal surfaces can become structurally or chemically unstable,with advanced corrosion and mineralization modifying their shape and appearance.Two technical studies undertaken by Getty staff on archaeological metalsincluding bronze,silver,and goldhighlight the benefit of interdisciplinary research involving scientists,conservators,archaeolo-gists,and curators.The studies also demonstrate how the inclusion of living artists in efforts to reverse-engineer past technologies(with their tactile,practical craftspersons knowledge)has resulted in a more holistic understanding of an object beyond its curatorial interpretation.the parthian rhyta Horn-shaped luxury drinking vessels,or rhyta,from the ancient Parthian Empire(247 bce224 ce)in Central Asia have intrigued generations of researchers.Expanding on older traditions with inventive new shapes,in particular animal-shaped protomes(the decorative element in the front sections),rhyta were created over centuries in the fluid,international world that thrived along the ancient Silk Road.A special exhibition on ancient Persia in 2022 at the Getty Villa,Persia:Ancient Iran and the Classical World,provided an opportunity to look deeper into how these complex and luxurious objects may have been created.BY SUSANNE GNSICKE AND MONICA GANIOThe Cultural Foundation Building in Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates.The rehabilitation of the Cultural Foundation followed a values-based approach,prioritizing the social value it held for the Abu Dhabi community,which chose to rehabilitate and enhance its function as a community facility while preserving its architectural and urban values.Photo:DCT Abu Dhabi.The Art of Unraveling Early TechnologiesThe Stag Rhyton(left),and its X-radiograph(right)showing the presence of lead in the head.Parthian.1001 BCE.Gilded silver,glass;25.6 x 33.3 x 12.5 cm(10 x 131/8 x 5 in.).J.Paul Getty Museum.86.AM.753.Images:Courtesy of the J.Paul Getty Museum.ANCIENT METALS14 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEThe Getty collection includes four Parthian rhyta with differ-ent animal protomes:a stag,a lion,and two lynx.All four vessels were created using a relatively pure silver alloyed with minor amounts of gold and copper,and seemingly free of lead,1 with gilded decorations added by fusing gold leaf(or thin sheet)onto the silver substrate.The animal shapes of the front sections all were mechanically raised from the silver sheet,but differences in the manufacturing approach emerged in the details:the antlers and front legs of the stag and lynx were cast solid(added by soldering),while the lion(the largest of the group),has hollow legs entirely worked in repouss!Also,curiously,a lump of lead was detected inside the stags head.Why?Did it have a physical function,such as to balance the vessel while drinking,or was it meant to inflate the weight,and therefore its value?2To help understand some of these observations,we sought input from a contemporary,practicing silversmith,Adam Whitney.Whitney previously worked on the re-creation of a rhyton protome in the shape of a deer at the Harvard Art Museums,3 which inspired him to create a modern rhyton with an astronaut as the protome!4 During a scholarly study day,held in conjunction with the Getty exhibition on ancient Iran,his hands-on experience in creating a rhyton provided valuable insights into the challenges of raising complicated shapes from a single sheet of thin silver.Our new observations,together with studies of rhyta in other collections,will potentially reveal regional differences and characteristics of artists workshops that will significantly expand our understanding of how these remarkable vessels were created.the mensa isiaca Some rare and exceptional objects have fascinated scholars over centuries while evading our grasp of their narra-tive.The Mensa Isiaca,a bronze table decorated with elaborate polychrome metal inlays of Egyptian-style figures and dated to the first century ce,is one of those pieces:it is unique and without context.It belongs to the Roman period yet draws on ancient Egyptian traditions.When was it made,where,and by whomand what did it originally look like?A major technical study by the Getty Museum,the GCI,and the Museo Egizio in Turin aimed at understanding the Mensas materials and manufacturing processes used noninvasive and non-destructive examination methods,including optical microscopy,X-ray fluorescence(XRF)spectroscopy,macro XRF(MA-XRF)scan-ning,and X-radiography.Results revealed that the base and inlaid figures were created utilizing at least seven distinct alloys:multiple copper/zinc alloys,silver,and a copper/gold alloy that appears black.5 Of particular interest were the data provided by the MA-XRF elemental maps.The map of silver provided,for the first time,a clear and accurate image of the iconography and pseudo-hieroglyphs,which will en-able scholars to better study the decora-tive scheme,identify new patterns within the pseudo-hieroglyphs,and potentially explain their selection and origin.The maps of copper and zinc unexpectedly revealed that the alloys chosen for cloth-ing and skin tones were always applied in complementary pairs.This obviously deliberate choice of contrasting alloys would have resulted in a visually vibrant composition.Unfortunately,over the centuries much of the original appearance of the Mensa has been lost.However,the new technical information allowed the teamin collaboration with Johana Herrera,lead imaging technician at the Getty6to create a digital visualization of the original experience of the Mensa,offering a sense of what surely was a masterpiece of its time.This new information about the Mensa provided fodder for in-depth discussions at a symposium held in Turin in July 2023,bringing together art historians,archaeometallurgists,scientists,conservators,and metal artist Ford Hallam.Once again,the inclusion of a contemporary artist added a unique and valuable dimen-sion to the discussions.Hallam works in the historical Japanese tradition of irogane,using alloys of gold,silver,and copper,assembled and often inlaid into a base metal to produce multicolored images,enhanced by patination.While the Mensa is from a much older time and a different culture and location,it 1.The absence of lead has been previously reported.See Pieter Meyers,Technical Examination of Silver Objects in This Catalogue,in Martha L.Carter,Prudence O.Harper,and Pieter Meyers,Arts of the Hellenized East:Precious Metalwork and Gems of the Pre-Islamic Era(London:Thames&Hudson Ltd.,2015),37791;Angela Chang and Katherine Eremin,Ancient Silverworking:A Technical Case Study,in Susanne Ebbinghaus,editor,Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World:Feasting with Gods,Heroes,and Kings(New Haven,CT:Yale University Press,2018),16669;Jerry Podany and David A.Scott,Analytical and Technical Studies of a Collection of Silver Bowls and Silver Rhyton in the J.Paul Getty Museum,unpub-lished manuscript in the Getty Museum Antiquities Conservation archives.2.https:/asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/search/event:166293864/3.Angela Chang and Katherine Eremin,“Ancient Silverworking:A Technical Case Study,”in Susanne Ebbinghaus,editor,Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World:Feasting with Gods,Heroes,and Kings(New Haven,CT:Yale University Press,2018),16669.4.https:/aw- to this copper/gold alloy are found in the Japanese tradition,where a similar alloy is known as shakudo.Black-colored bronzes with small amounts of copper have increasingly been identified from the ancient Egyptian,Greek,and Roman world and have led to in-depth manufacturing studies.A modern rhyton with an astronaut as the protome(an adornment in the form of a head and upper body of an animal or human).Created by Adam Whitney,a contemporary American silversmith.Image:Loam.Courtesy of Adam Whitney.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 15similarly was created by bringing together different alloys that may have been at least partially patinated.Hallams experiences provided a more tangible understanding of the challenges faced by ancient artisans in producing the colorful and contrasting images on the Mensa,and sparked interest in further replication experiments,get-ting us a step closer to understanding the ancient work processes.art and science intersect The intersection of art and science is not new,and assembling a multidisciplinary team,including contemporary artists,to under-stand ancient technologies is of course not unique to Getty.Sanchita Balachandran7 at Johns Hopkins University has led workshops exploring ancient Greek pottery and has conducted experimental archaeological work to re-create ancient Attic pottery.Stefan Hagel8 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences has worked for decades with musicians and instrument builders to explore the musical potential of auloi,ancient wind instruments used widely in the ancient world from the Mediterranean region to Africa and Central Asia.Contemporary artists are also influenced and inspired by the study of ancient or historic technologies.For example,Makoto Fujimura utilized traditional methods of manuscript illumination to create modern illuminations to commemorate the four-hundred-year anniversary of the King James Bible.9 The artist Charlotte Caspers,based in the Netherlands,collaborated with several museums in the Netherlands and abroad(including the Van Gogh Museum and Tate Britain),focusing on understanding old master paintings and then using many of the techniques in her own works.10 Bringing together the different viewpointsscientific,historic,technological,and creativeenables us to appreciate such ancient and historic objects(including the metal objects described here)beyond their material value as works created by extraordinary skill and,sometimes,by means that remain beyond our comprehension.Future researchers may have tools and equipment that will allow them to go boldly where we could not.Susanne Gnsicke is the senior conservator in the Antiquities Conservation department of the J.Paul Getty Museum.Monica Ganio is an associate scientist in the GCI Science department.Left:The Mensa Isiaca,a bronze table decorated with elaborate polychrome metal inlays of Egyptian-style figures and dated to around the first century CE.In the collection of the Museo Egizio,Turin;Cat.7155.Photo:Courtesy of Museo Egizio.Right:RGB false color overlay of MA-XRF distribution maps of copper(red channel),tin(blue channel),and zinc(green channel).Where more than one element is present in a single pixel,the resulting color reflects the relative proportion of each element present.Inset figures highlight the use of specific alloys to achieve different skin colors.Image produced by the authors.6.Susanne Gnsicke,Monica Ganio,Arlen Heginbotham,Douglas MacLennan,Jeff Maish,Johana Herrera,and Karen Trentelman,“Mensa Isiaca:New Findings on Its Composition,Construction,and History,”Rivista del Museo Egizio 7(June 2023).7.Sanchita Balachandran,director of the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum and associate teaching professor,Department of Near Eastern Studies,Johns Hopkins University.8.Stefan Hagel,senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.9.https:/ 10.https:/ Digital color reconstruction with proposed original appearance.Note:Missing,damaged,or corroded areas were not reconstructed;this reconstruction focused only on providing an indication of how the original colors and textures may have appeared.Digital reconstruc-tion by Johana Herrera;J.Paul Getty Trust.16 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCESCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TRADITIONALLY HAS BEEN conducted behind the scenes at museums.However,since World War II it has occasionally found its way into museum galleries.In 1961,for instance,the Prado Museum exhibited large-format X-radiographs showcasing Velazquezs paintings.More recently,scientific research now occurs in the presence of the public.For example,in 2018 the Mauritshuis in The Hague publicly conducted an in-depth scientific examination of Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring.More and more museums are exploring ways to make science accessible to their audience.The Rijksmuseum recently mounted two exhibitions where science was openly shared with the public in the museum.What did we learn?What is the added value of incorporating science in art museums?And how do you communicate science in a meaningful way to your audience?The presentation of scientific research in art museums seeks to enhance understanding of the art-making process and the conservation of art in museum collections,with the intention of engaging the public on a different level.Visitors in museums often perceive only the“finished product”the object or artwork.By providing the public with a behind-the-scenes look at research being performed,visitors gain greater understanding of the sci-entific process,of how artists create,and of how museums care for their collections.This idea has been confirmed by public surveys the Rijksmuseum has conducted.two case studies from the rijksmuseum Bringing science into the museum gallery requires careful thought and alignment with both the museum and the public.With the two instances of bringing science into the museum galleries at the RijksmuseumOperation Night Watch and the temporary family exhibition Mission Masterpieceimportant insights were gained.In the summer of 2019 the Rijksmuseum embarked on a multiyear project with the goal of thoroughly studying the con-dition and painting technique of Rembrandts masterpiece,The Night Watch(1642),in order to develop the best treatment plan.This is being done in situ,in the gallery inside a glass enclosure in full view of the public.The painting has been investigated using the most advanced and innovative research methods,including imaging,computational,and visualization technologies.BY KATRIEN KEUNE AND IRMA DE VRIESUNLOCKING ARTS WONDERS Science as a Bridge to Public EngagementRembrandts The Night Watch(1642)at the Rijksmuseum.Since 2019 the museum has been engaged in a multiyear project studying the condition and painting technique of the work,in order to develop the best treatment plan.This is being done in situ inside a glass enclosure in full view of the public.Photo:Rijksmuseum/Reinier Gerritsen.CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 17The second case,Mission Masterpiece,was a temporary exhi-bition presented in summer 2023 for children and their caretakers,focusing on conservation and science.The entirely interactive exhibition aimed to immerse children in the role of scientists,encouraging them to investigate various objects and use the same methods and techniques employed by museum experts.Operation Night Watch To inform our audience about the research on Operation Night Watch,1 we utilize not only gallery texts and online information,but also an Ask-Me guide stationed by the glass enclosure,who interacts directly with the public.Certain questions are asked con-sistently,such as why research is necessary,why this painting has significance,and what the ultimate objective of the research is.As a result of the interaction with the public,the Ask-Me guide provides valuable insights for museum education staff on ways to enhance communication of vital research techniques,leading to better audience engagement.Furthermore,scientific research in museums not only directly impacts museum visitors,but also reaches a wider audience through online channels and publications.For example,the ultrahigh-resolution photo of The Night Watch on the Rijksmuseum website got half a million views within the first few days,and our publication on the discovery of a lead-based impregnation layer using high-tech synchrotron-based techniques reached over half a billion people worldwide.This confirms a strong public interest in the intersection of art and science.And what we have learned from getting in touch with our audience directly is helping us improve communication both inside and outside the museum.For example,we make adjustments in the gallery texts and the audio tour stop at the Night Watch,as well as in the information provided for our project Night Watch on Tour,where a life-size replica of the Night Watch is being taken to nursing homes and senior complexes.Mission Masterpiece In contrast to Operation Night Watch,for Mission Masterpiece2 it was imperative to actively involve the target audience(families with children from ages eight to twelve)in the development phase,given that the exhibition,once opened,could not be modified.Through collaboration with hundreds of children,we learned that it was crucial to get to the core of all activities and not to convey too much information.This posed a challenge when working with scientists accustomed to delivering nuanced and well-founded narratives,and(for the audience)in complex termi-nology.Above all,we had to prioritize simplicity in all activities,as well as in the exhibition.In the audience research conducted prior to Mission Master-piece,we discovered that this exhibition indeed had the potential to“unlock”the museum in a different way.While families initially associated the Rijksmuseum with terms like“paintings,”“old masters,”“traditional,”and“boring,”their perception changed after visiting the Mission Masterpiece exhibition.They described the museum as“modern,”“playful,”“innovative,”and“child-friendly.”The exhibition received an overall rating of 9.1(out of 10)after-ward,with nearly 80 percent expressing an intention to return for similar offerings.Moreover,almost 60 percent had never visited the Rijksmuseum before,indicating that the subject and approach genuinely appealed to a new audience.enhancing public understanding and engagement through science Integrating science into art museums provides an enhanced expe-rience and stronger engagement for the public.Projects and exhibitions like Operation Night Watch and Mission Masterpiece that reveal behind-the-scenes processes bridge the gap between visitors and scientific research of the collection.The innovative research of Operation Night Watch draws global attention,while Mission Masterpiece is expanding its reach to new audiences,reshaping perceptions of the museum.For both projects,consistently com-municating the essence of the information has proven to be im-portant.These initiatives highlight sciences potential to enhance public understanding and engagement with art.Katrien Keune is head of the Science Department at the Rijksmuseum and professor of molecular spectroscopy at the University of Amsterdam.Irma de Vries is a senior educator at the Rijksmuseum.1.https:/www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/operation-night-watch2.https:/www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/past/mission-masterpieceMission Masterpiece,a temporary Rijksmuseum exhibition presented in 2023 focusing on conservation and science.The interactive exhibition aimed to immerse children in the role of scientists,encouraging them to investigate various objects and use the same methods and techniques employed by museum experts.Photo:Rijksmuseum/Olivier Middendorp.18 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEMARU GARCIA is a Mexican artist based in Los Angeles.Her work explores biosystems,multispecies relationships,and the capacity of living organisms(including humans)to act as remediators in contaminated sites.She holds an MFA in design and media arts from UCLA,as well as an MS in biotechnology and a BS in chemistry,both from Tecnolgico de Monterrey,Mxico.Her work is included in the PST ART exhibition Sinks:Places We Call Home,to be held at Self Help Graphics&Art,presented at Luckman Gallery at Cal State LA.LIA HALLORAN grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Pacifica.She received her BFA from UCLA and her MFA in printmaking from Yale University.Hallorans work investigates how perception,time,and scale inform the desire for humans to understand the world around them.At Chapman University in Orange,California,she is chair of the art department and associate professor of art.Her work will be shown in the PST ART exhibi-tion Crossing Over:Art and Science at Caltech,19202020 at Caltech and in a solo exhibit at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles,included in the Participating Gallery Program.SARAH ROSALENA is a Los Angelesbased interdisciplinary artist working between handicraft traditions and emerging technologies in media such as textiles,beadwork,and clay.She is assistant professor of art in computational craft and haptic media at UC Santa Barbara.Her work is included in the PST ART exhibitions From the Ground Up:Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments at the Armory Center for the Arts;Breath(e):Toward Climate and Social Justice at the Hammer Museum;Invisibility:Powers and Perils at Oxy Arts;and Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara.They spoke with TOM LEARNER,head of GCI Science,and JEFFREY LEVIN,editor of Conservation Perspectives,The GCI Newsletter.JEFFREY LEVIN All three of you have works in upcoming exhibitions that are part of PST ART:Art&Science Collide.Could you each talk briefly about those shows and how science relates to the work?SARAH ROSALENA These exhibitions are important not only for the history of Los Angeles,but because theyre reexamining sci-ence and knowledge beyond Western ideologies.My work mate-rializes digital simulationa computers imitative representation based on the real world.I use digital tools to make textiles,ceram-ics,and basketry based on Indigenous and Wixrika forms to suggest new possibilities as we attempt to define ourselves with respect to innovation and technology.The exhibitions Im involved in reflect on geopolitical effects of climate change and extractive industries to imagine futures beyond these logics.They also involve the rise of artificial intelligence,the unknowingness of whats real and unreal,and the things that are blurring those distinctions and loosening the boundaries and the binaries defined by imperial science and empiri-cal knowledge.Im interested in new,hybrid ways of making objects in order to generate new forms that reveal new knowledges and new cosmologiesas well as in uplifting Indigenous technology.LIA HALLORAN As part of an exhibition at Caltech,Im mak-ing a large-scale piece on the notion of scale in the section of the exhibition thats inspired by the Charles and Ray Eames film Powers of Ten.The piece is called You,Me and Infinity,and itll be a ten-foot-by-twenty-five-foot cyanotype.Its going to involve dif-ferent symbols of the sun and different relationships of the body.I love this notionjust like the Eames filmthat the way that you understand these really large and small scales is through the body.Ive also been very interested in the history of Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL and the notion of accessibility.As part of that,Ive been looking at the different ways in which women were included or excluded from the history of the Mount Wilson Observatory.Theres a fascinating moment that happens at the turn of the twentieth century where women are given great accessibility when solar eclipses occurred.Because solar eclipses happen in various locations on Earth,you dont need access to observatories or scientific equipment to see one.MARU GARCIA Im participating in two exhibitions,and the main one is an opportunity to work with the Latino com-munity on research currently happening in East Los Angeles.Its CREATIVITY AND CURIOSITY A Conversation about the Connections between Art and ScienceCONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 19an art piece and scientific research at the same time.Working with community scientists,Self Help Graphics,and the Natural History Museum,were trying to develop an alternative method for reducing lead exposure in peoples backyards.Weve worked with families implementing the use of naturally occurring miner-als called zeolites that have the capacity to encapsulate lead.People have dispersed these zeolites in their backyards with mulch and compost,and throughout this past year weve taken samples to ana-lyze how the lead behaves.We developed a method at the Natural History Museum that basically pulverizes the soil,then passes it through a pressing machine that creates these pellets,which we use for analysis.But were also using the pellets for the exhibition,making some mosaic pieces out of them,as well using the same zeolite material to create what I call“remediating sculptures.”TOM LEARNER The subtitle for PST ART is Art&Science Collide.How do you each see that intersection?Do art and science actually collide?Or do you see it in a different way?ROSALENA Whats at the root of both is essentially episte-mology.Its how we know things.When you think of science,its very quantitative.Its numbers.Its names.Its classifications.And then you have art,which is much more qualitative.Its cultural.Its storytelling.When you combine them,you can get a sharper vision into things that we dont necessarily understand.And thats where we are at this moment.We have climate change happening simultaneously with all these new ways that were learning based on the rapid rise of technology.Were evaluating multiple things on the table because humanity is,in many ways,potentially at stake.I think by letting things fall apart,and by letting things be in juxtaposition,we can build new ways of making and new ways of knowing.Theres so much space to think about hybrids because they can cross boundaries.They can change.They can evolve.What happens when you hold these binaries togetherart,science,past,and futureor when you tear them apart,you create something new.Thats where interesting things can happen.HALLORAN Theres an increasing interest in understanding the experience of science.As we go further into technical develop-ment,its so important to also think about how to connect those developments to our communities.Therere so many exciting things that are happening.People want to be included and taken along on this journey.But those technical aspects may be outside the realm of accessibility for many people.This is where art does an incredible job of creating experience and the invitation to par-ticipate and to get curiosity ignitedand to have a dialogue with scientific communities.One thing that continually interests me is the undeniable connection of science to nature.Theres no doubt that all of us feel that nature is ours.Like going on a hike,watching a sunset,or looking at a river.These all feel like theyre ours.But somehow when we get to science,suddenly theres a kind of shut-down,and we dont feel that its ours.Art can create an inclusive experience that sometimes science doesnt do as well.LEVIN So,what youre providing with some of your work is a portal into,say,astrophysics.HALLORAN Right.LEVIN And,Maru,is your work trying to make accessible biol-ogy and chemistry,in part through the projects that have remedia-tion of toxic soil?GARCIA Yes,definitely.Accessibility is a very important part of this commission dealing with lead exposure.I see this happening in the project,collaborating with community scientists.Its giving Prospering backyards(2024)is a collaborative research project founded by Garcia that uses the power of art,science,and community to address the severe lead contamination in the soil in areas of East Los Angeles.In the photo at left,Christine Eyer,a project volunteer,samples a backyard for lead;in the photo at right,Lupe Valdovinos,a community scientist and neighbor affected by lead in her back-yard,tests the application of the projects remediation methods.Photos:Courtesy of Maru Garcia.Maru Garcia.Photo:Yogan Muller.20 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEpeople the ability to better understand what is happening in their own backyards.A lot of feelings come through that,and we have the capacity to work with those emotions.In this case,there are some feelings of regretlike,“I allowed my child to play in this backyard.”And even feelings of anger against who has been complicit in this hazardous lead pollution caused primarily by the former Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon.For me,art and science are combined.Thats been a personal journey for me.Im trained as a scientist,with a background in chemistry and biotechnology,so I value the scientific method.But at the same time,Ive always felt a bit constrained.Now,bringing in art is allowing me to integrate my interests as a whole person.When I was in the lab,I had to suppress my emotions and put myself outside of the experiment,because thats what you must do to be objective.The Western way of looking at things is very com-partmentalized,and I feel we need to go beyond that.If we want to study something,we tend to isolate it without considering that everything is in relationship to everything else.I no longer feel that I can just observe things within those parameters.My work has become more fulfilling for myself,and I feel its an opportunity for integration of art and science for others too.LEARNER Do you see advances being made in education,where schools are breaking down these boundaries and recognizing the benefits of better integration?GARCIA Were definitely seeing advances.I studied science years ago,and that didnt happen for me.But now the approach to education is more problem based instead of just saying in an explanatory way,“This is chemistry,”or“This is mathematics.”HALLORAN When I think of the education that would have been particularly impactful,it wouldve been courses that were more interdisciplinary.Today were consumers of an interdisci-plinary culture.As chair of the art department at Chapman Uni-versity,Ive developed several courses that cross the traditional boundaries,such as The Intersection of Art and Science,where we pair with JPL for visits to fuel student subject matter,and my students spend a night at Mount Wilson Observatory look-ing through the historic sixty-inch telescope.They make work while interacting with scientists.When they first visit JPL,its exciting and awe-inspiring,but there is a subtle sense of“Im not worthy.”By the end of the semester,they recognize this concept of problem-solving.Yes,the outcomes of science and art are ex-tremely different,but if youre a young sculpture student,youre problem-solving with new materials or new ways of working.How is that so much different conceptually than trying to put a robot on a place weve never gone to with an atmosphere weve never encountered?They share the common language of creativity and problem-solving.For me this integration is whats most excit-ing.So why cant we create either communication or experiences through art and projects that invite a wider audience to that dis-cussion for meaningful contributions?ROSALENA I teach a course on art and science technology thats highly conceptual because their essence is really about concepts.It is very creative,and it makes tools from different perspectives.Tools can be very manipulative and shape us because they are performa-tive.Science can also be very performative.Im interested in how the arts bring people together to create new things.Im drawn to innovation in this way.Our current problems are very complex and require us,for example,to decenter the human and focus on non-human species,nonhuman intelligence,and the environment.Its not only important to look toward the future,but also to reflect on the past and the oppressive technologies that have shaped the way we understand things,and to create beyond these logics.LEVIN Weve used the word integration,but isnt it really reintegration?Go back a couple hundred years,and there werent these kinds of separations.What is paint,but chemistry?What is clay,but materials science?Would you say that in your work youre trying to reintegrate as opposed to integrate?GARCIA I would say yes.HALLORAN Each of our personal histories probably leads us to understand that were bringing together something that was always integrated.My first job when I was fifteen years old was at a science museum,the Exploratorium,doing cow-eye dissections and laser demonstrations.I ended up working in the machine shop where the attitude was,“Lets make an exhibit and explore something.”You felt like you were in a laboratory.That set my trajectory as an artistbeing insatiably curious,trying to challenge the notion of materiality,and wanting to deeply engage in some sort of discovery or understanding of nature.It really comes from a joy of curiosity.What youre talking about is going back to the Renaissance.I think we can all go back to our childhoods.When youre five years old,are you a scientist or are you an artist?My six-year-old will tell you shes a physicist and an artist.And shes not wrong,right?Its just tapping back into how we explore and understand the natural world.GARCIA Yes,there is that connection.For me,science and art share the idea of processthey both must go through a process.Sometimes theres an objective.Theyre pursuing something.But I love when there is this openness of,“What can we find?”Both can have the same capability of just exploring because exploring is fun.ROSALENA Well,it is critical.Conceptualization is problem-solving.For example,I see craft as problem-solving.You have tra-ditions of generative processes done by hand,and now you can collaborate with machines.But what does it mean to use both hands and machines?Its breaking these binaries,human and non-human,for problem-solving.Its very abstract,and there is play and research in the abstraction.LEARNER Youve all touched on this already,but could you expand on what art can do that science struggles with?CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 21 GARCIA I think theres this openness in art.Im not saying that scientists are close-minded.But there is an openness in terms of the ideas that you can explore in art that dont have to be com-partmentalized.And there is the possibility of bringing yourself into the exploration.Thats what happened to me.Art allows you to make things accessible to a broader public on a shared human level.I also think that art is posing new questions that may expand science,like,“I need to do thisfor example,a sculpture that has the capacity to remediate soil.Can you design the technology?Or can you develop the science to make it work at scale?”HALLORAN Theres this notion that science has all the an-swers,whether were looking outward to the universe or at our own bodies.You go to the doctor,and you want them to explain to you,definitively,what is happening.One of the things about science is its ability to say,“We know this far but we dont know further than that.”This is especially true with new discoveries of the very small and the very large parts of the universe.Theres so much that art can do to ask questions that science cant answer.Art does something impactful by offering questions about the unseen or the unknowable.It engages more of our senses and more of our bodies and more of our personal narratives.Its much more inclusive and diverse.Once we understand that science isnt totally objective and doesnt have all the answers,art can contribute by having a dialogue with that.Thats where things get really exciting.LEVIN I also think that art is more comfortable with the unknown.HALLORAN Yes.GARCIA Exactly.ROSALENA Yes.And art is what makes us human.Its the fun-damental thing that defines us.It drives us to change things and to innovate.Its the embodied heritage we have from our ancestors and that we all share.Its constantly challenging the way that we perceive the world.So much of how we change the way that we see is through art making.It challenges the realities that surround us.LEARNER Considering one of the most pressing issues of the dayhow we are dealing with climate changescience has pro-duced so much evidence of it,and yet the world remains divided on whether its real or not.I dont think gathering even more scientific data is going to change many opinions now.But do you think that art or some other approach can help advance an understanding of the reality?HALLORAN Theres a Neil deGrasse Tyson quote that I love.He says,“The good thing about science is that its true whether or not you believe in it.”Were at a weird moment where were politi-cizing science.With climate change,were looking at things that have been proven by multiple people around the globe.Im highly concerned,as we all are,that science is being used as a divisive tool,and that theres this notion that science doesnt help push our society forward.I absolutely agree that the more we know,the more overwhelming it can sometimes get.What art can offer to the human experience is a way to cope with information and to cope with our part in what is happening around us.ROSALENA Yes,art can open people up to different perspec-tives.Climate change is geopolitical and is affecting certain people more than others.I feel that it creates this space for,and pressure for,social change and social justice.Parts of climate change are visible,and parts are invisible.Machines can render data and sea levels visible.But whats invisible are the people being displaced and the animals that are going extinctwhich is happening every minute.Art can really bring in a perspective on that.LEARNER Let me ask about conservation.How do each of you navigate the concept of preserving the art youre creating,for the future?Lia Halloran.Photo:Adam Ottke.The Sun Burns My Eyes Like Moons(2021),by Lia Halloran.Cyanotype on paper from painted negative with acrylic and ink;9 ft.11 in.x 25 ft.(3 x 7.6 m).Photo:Paul Salveson.22 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCE ROSALENA I work with a variety of materials,from research I did with NASA JPL,to foraged native plants for weaving,to Indig-enous materials such as cochineal.A lot of these are temporal and have evolved over time.I love seeing them as living entitieslike how a cochineal insect can create colors that shift from intense deep reds,purples,and orange to pink.Its me collaborating with other species and working with the earth.I was taught that when you weave a textile and you cut it off,its the umbilical cord.Its an extension of you.And theres a lot of superstition around,for ex-ample,pottery.If you were to break a pot,you would bury it back in the earth because thats where it comes from.Yes,its an object,but its also of the earth.Of course,preservation of the work is very important,but so is the process of making it and the knowledge building that comes from these interactions.GARCIA When I think about conservation and preservation,I think about the things that I was avoiding when I was in the lab.Namely,bacterial contamination.We had to clean everything be-cause you had to avoid every single contaminant.Now its the oppo-site.I collaborate with those microorganisms,for example,with my kombucha pieces.I make pieces that make peace with the bacteria and their natural degradation process.So,yes,some of my work is not meant to be preserved because it decomposes.Its meant to continue its time in nature and just be.Even the remediating sculp-tures that Im working on for PST ART have an objective of reduc-ing lead through disintegration in the soil.They must be exposed to the environment,so that remediation may happen.I embrace the idea that we are in this planet and that there is a time for everything.Things eventually have to decay and come to an end.HALLORAN When I wanted to create work about stars and the sun,it was a conceptual decision to start making cyanotypes.I had no background working with cyanotypes,but I loved the notion of making work about the sun that would use the sun in the pro-cess of creating the work.After a cyanotype is exposed,the print is a vibrant blue,but if you leave it in the sun,the color will fade away.I like that my work is in this precarious moment of time.Ive tried to understand how to make my work as stable as possible.But for me,more than the final product,is the concept and the process of what Im making that links it to the subject matter.LEARNER Do each of you consciously try to make your intent known to those charged with preserving your workand if so,how?HALLORAN I hope that someone has a moment where they feel excited about what theyre seeing,and that it is perceived as an invitation for them to know more.But that is not the point of the piece.All of my work is materially decided by the concept itself.Its not my point to be didactic or teach you anything,but that you look at,say,a large-scale cyanotype,and you have a feeling like,“What is this?”I love the feeling of standing in front of a large-scale cyanotype because it simultaneously has this luminosity but also offers a sense of the vastness of the universe.Instead of telling you something,Im inviting you to ask a question.And go from there.LEVIN But the question isdo you want someone to be invited to ask those questions fifty years from now with your work?Or doesnt that matter?HALLORAN It absolutely matters in terms of conservation.With Marus piece,its meant to disintegrate.That to me is so excit-ing.Its part of the process.So,whether you encounter it now or in fifty years,youre actually a participant in a time frame.That is the concept.With my work,say the cyanotype pieces,Ive done enough research to understand what the stable chemicals are and how to preserve the pieces to a certain point.But I also love the idea that youre experiencing it as a moment in time.ROSALENA Well,the process and the conservation of the ma-terial are very important in my practice.Materials science makes the work visible,but the work also speaks to time and history.To go back to simulation,what Im doing is reimagining things on a computer based at the smallest scale,the pixelthe smallest physi-cal point that you can manipulate something in the physical world.The single pixel or 3D point opens us up to thinking beyond ren-der or resolution.It allows space for things to come through.Or when you 3D-scan an object,a point becomes a material,tangible thingwhich then can be shared in an archive or put in virtual reality or augmented reality.Therere so many ways to think about conservation now.Im really interested in how conservations going to expand with the advancement of digital technology.LEARNER Sarah,you come from a long line of women en-gaged in the tradition of weaving.Now youre taking it into the AI/digital world,and yet you still manage to keep the traditional aspects going.How do you balance that,and how might that look in the future?ROSALENA I have very traditional looms,some I inherited from my grandmother and my mother.But I predominantly weave on a digital Jacquard.For me,its about reexamining and breaking apart digital imaging,like AI.I started working with AI around 2017,which was very different than today.It required cod-ing experience to build a model and dataset,which takes a tre-mendous amount of time and skill.Now AI is very accessible,but operates very differently.Prior to ChatGPT and Midjourney,you needed to make a dataset from many images.At the time,I was using satellite images from NASA,such as the Mars Reconnais-sance Orbiter that has been documenting Mars since 2006.I was interested how AI could create worlds,much of it being trained from Earth images,and how I could use it to render anticolonial landscapes“alien”to scientific visualizations.For me,AI created this planetary glitch through weaving as resistance.Many people dont know that the origin of computers comes from the Jacquard loom,textile production,and punch cards,which also have stories of resistance.I love the story of the word sabotage.When Jacquard looms came out in the nineteenth century,textile workers were scared that they were going to lose their jobs,so they would grab their wooden clogs,sabots,and throw them into the looms to jam CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 23Sarah Rosalena.Photo:Alan Mendez.Spiral Arm Red(2023),by Sarah Rosalena.Hand-dyed cochineal wool yarn,cotton yarn;33 x 41 in.(83.8 x 104.1 cm).Photo:Ruben Diaz.them.Hence,“sabotage.”Its,“How can I throw my wooden shoe,and rage against the machine?”LEARNER A big issue the conservation field faceswith contemporary art in particularis how far to go in protecting an artwork from aging.In extreme cases,it can feel like an obses-sion to not accept any blemish or alteration with time.But often a pieces relevance is so strongly linked to the specific moment it was created,that it doesnt make sense to put the effort into keeping it pristine.Allowing natural degradation to occur might be more appropriate.But then again,certain pieces might have a renewed relevance in the future.It happens all the time,and you often cant predict it.What do you consider an appropriate way to balance the materials and concept in your work?HALLORAN Not to be dismissive of conservation efforts,but for me the paramount goal of my work is to have a dialogue be-tween the material and the concept.What happens to that in the future is predetermined by these two things that are already in dialogue.Its more important to me to be making something.I love this notion that this piece that Im making now on the sun,I cant make in winter because of the Earths location around the sun.Im dependent on astronomy to make a piece about astrono-my.Ive gone as far as I can to try to make my work stable,but its secondary to the marriage of concept and materials.GARCIA I feel I collaborate with time,too.Thats another of my collaborators.Part of my process is that I sometimes test something as an experiment and then I come back three hours later and think,“Oh,maybe I should develop this idea.”And then I come back one week later and say,“Oh,Ill develop that instead.”Thats what I want to happen in my pieces.I want evolution to unfold.I dont want them to be static.And even the most con-served art piece is not static.Everything is changing.They have microbes living in them.There is something happening even if you cannot see it.LEARNER Another discussion in the field is who decides what conservation approach is appropriate,and who carries it out?The conservator?The artist?The owner?The relevant community?The traditional notion of relying almost solely on the conservator is being challenged,and theres broad acceptance now that most decisions about conserving artworks benefit from engaging a broad group of stakeholders,and considering material and intan-gible aspects,as well as utilizing a range of documentation.What are your views on that?ROSALENA Its a testament to how rapidly art,media,and technology are evolving.Its much more complex every day.Its the inclusion of digital archives.Digital conservation is another way we can talk about repatriationhaving the ability to 3D-scan and archive a 3D model of a collected object,and letting the physi-cal objects go back to their communities.Its about rematriation.Institutions can support works made from biodegradable materials.Its important for artists to continue to make work that challenges materials beyond its lifespan.Thats what I do with my studentschallenge them to make work from discarded or found natural materials versus going to an art store.Theres a rise in people want-ing to use found materials.Its a reflection of our time that were just bombarded with an excess of materials.If we can reimagine using stuff thats been discarded,we create a space for artists.A space for making new things.But as a reflection of us.24 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEONLINE RESOURCES Heritage Sciencehttps:/ open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed researchLeonardohttps:/leonardo.info/An online and print journal that fosters transformation at the nexus of art,science,and technologyThe National Gallery Technical Bulletin https:/www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/research-resources/technical-bulletinAn annual publication focused on the study of the materials and techniques of painting,and the scientific examination of paintingsPST ART:Art&Science Collidehttps:/pst.art/A Getty initiative involving exhibitions throughout Southern California in 2024 that explore the intersections of art and scienceSciArt Initiative www.sciartinitiative.org/An initiative that encourages and supports science-art interactions globally via a variety of programsBOOKS Color Science and the Visual Arts:A Guide for Conservators,Curators,and the Curious by Roy S.Berns(2016).Los Angeles:Getty Conservation Institute.Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes:Tactile Mathematics,Art and Craft for All to Explore by Daina Taimana(2018).Boca Raton,FL:CRC Press.Cultural Heritage Science.An“interdisciplinary book series covering all aspects of conservation,analysis,and interpretation of artworks,objects,and materials from our collective cultural heritage.”Switzerland:Springer.https:/ Science of Art:Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat by Martin Kemp(1990).New Haven,CT:Yale University Press.Seen|Unseen:Art,Science,and Intuition from Leonardo to the Hubble Telescope by Martin Kemp(2006).Oxford,UK:Oxford University Press.ARTICLES“Artists on Science:Scientists on Art”by Alison Abbott and Adam Rutherford,in Nature 434(March 17,2005),293.“The Art of Science and the Science of Art”by Ken Shulman,in MIT News(October 5,2023).https:/news.mit.edu/2023/art-science-and-science-art-1005“Eyewitness to Space:The NASA Art Program”by Marta Wiktoria Bryll,in Daily Art Magazine(March 14,2024).https:/ the Plasticity of the Subject:The Ontogenetic Shock of the Bioart Encounter”by Andrew Lapworth,in Cultural Geographies 22,no.1(2015),85102.“Mathematics Is Art”by Erik D.Demaine and Martin L.Demaine,in Proceedings of 12th Annual Conference of BRIDGES:Mathematics,Music,Art,Architecture,Culture(BRIDGES 2009)(2009).Banff,Alberta,Canada:BRIDGES,110.“Meeting the Mona Lisa for an Intimate(Virtual)Rendezvous”by Doreen Carvajal,in The New York Times(October 16,2019).https:/ VRRecreating an Experience”by Malys Jusseaux,Piers Bishop,and Chu-Yin Chen,in International Journal of Virtual Reality(2020).“Terra Incognita:Exhibiting Ice in the Anthropocene”by Julie H.Reiss,in Art,Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene,edited by Julie H.Reiss(2019).Delaware:Vernon Press,7786.“Womens Agency in Art and Science”by Dalila Honorato and Claudia Westermann,in Technoetic Arts:A Journal of Speculative Research 21,no.2(2023),15156.RESOURCES|ART&SCIENCEA cross section photomicrograph of paint layers from a graffiti-covered wall in Venice Beach,California.The full cross section includes over 300 individual paint layers.Image:Arlen Heginbotham,J.Paul Getty Museum.For more information on issues related to art&science,search AATA Online at aata.getty.edu CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVES,THE GCI NEWSLETTER 25Project Updatesguidelines for grotto sites in gansu provinceFor thirty-five years the Getty Conservation Institute has been productively engaged in collab-orative work in China,ranging from national-level undertakings,such as development of guidelines for conservation and management of heritage sites(the China Principles),to site-specific projects with wide application,such as wall painting conservation and visitor capacity methodologies,among many other projects and endeavors.These undertakings have largely focused on the ancient Buddhist site the Mogao Grottoes,in partnership with the Dunhuang Academy(DA).An outgrowth of this long partnership was the award-winning 2016 Getty Center exhibition Cave Temples of Dunhuang:Buddhist Art on Chinas Silk Road.In 2016,because of the DAs leadership in conservation and management,three large grotto sites in Gansu Province were placed under the academys management,two of whichMaijishan and Binglingsihave World Heritage status as part of the transnational World Heritage nomination Silk Roads:the Routes Network of Changan-Tianshan Corridor,necessitating a more regional conservation and management approach.To help meet this need,the GCI and DA organized a training course on the China Principles for managers of national-level protected sites in Gansu,out of which grew the idea to address holistically the many ancient Buddhist grotto sites in the province.With the support of the Gansu Provincial Cul-tural Heritage Bureau,and after research and study trips to the sites,the partners developed a set of operational guidelines for conservation and management of grotto sites,an adaptation of the China Principles to a specific heritage type prevalent on the Silk Road.These grotto sites128 of which are protected at national,provincial,or county levelhave faced many of the same challenges as the Mogao Grottoes.Yet it has been easy to overlook the less significant sites,which are nevertheless the more numerous and have close relationship with their nearby communities.Most grotto sites are in places of natural beauty in environments that,while harsh,are represen-tative of the deep past of the Silk Road.They exemplify the full range of grotto types con-structed over the thousand years that Buddhism flourished in China.From this perspective,their neglect following the decline of the Silk Road during the Ming Dynastywhen many sites fell into disuse and suffered deterioration and exploitation from various natural and human causesrepresents a significant loss to the historical record.Despite a three-year hiatus(202022)during COVID that prevented travel,collabora-tion continued;the guidelines were completed in 2023 and given a final review in a colloquium for Chinese professionals hosted by the DA in September 2023.They will undergo a final text and design edit,and then will be printed in China by the DA later in 2024.We are confident that with diligent application,the Guidelines will contribute to preserving the artistic,historic,scientific,and social values of Gansus grotto sites and may serve as a model in other provinces.climate management strategies workshop Prompted by an interest in the behavior of museum collections in spaces with broad environmental parameters and seeking to understand acclimatization and the concept of“proofed fluctuation,”the GCIs Managing Collection Environments Initiative(MCE),the Victoria and Albert Museum(V&A)in London,and the Jerzy Haber Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences initiated a collaborative project to assess climatic impact on a collec-tion of wooden furniture in V&A galleries.A yearlong monitoring program is employing acoustic emission to track microcracking in a GCI NewsScientists and conservators from the GCI,the Jerzy Haber Institute,and the Victoria and Albert Museum(V&A)discuss the placement of acoustic emission sensors in a V&A gallery.Photo:Ashley Freeman,GCI.26 SPRING 2024|ART&SCIENCEselected piece of furniture,and digital speckle pattern interferometry is used to characterize possible surface damage in selected objects.Both conserved and nonconserved furniture long displayed in museum galleries will be analyzed.The aim is to provide insights into object sensitivity to broader temperature and relative humidity variations,ultimately helping to shape more sustainable operational and environmental management strategies.As part of this projectand to underscore the commitment to advancing sustainable conservation practicesMCE and the V&A organized the Changing Climate Management Strategies:Sustainable Collection Environments and Monitoring Object Response workshop.Held February 59,2024,the workshop con-vened leading experts and professionals in the field.The heritage field has recently shifted away from prescriptive narrow ranges of temperature and relative humidity and toward adoption of broader environmental parameters suitable for numerous classes of objects.However,many institutions are reluctant to adopt these wider parameters because of a lack of evidence-based risk analysis for climate-induced damage and limited expertise on the sustainable manage-ment of the collection environment.The workshop sought to foster dialogue about sustainable collection environments.The thirty-eight participants represented heri-tage institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina,Cameroon,Denmark,Egypt,France,Germany,Greece,Jordan,Lebanon,the Netherlands,Norway,Poland,Qatar,Scotland,Spain,Sweden,Tanzania,the United Arab Emirates,the United Kingdom,and the United States.The diverse array of participants(nearly half of them emerging professionals)included conserva-tors,facilities managers,registrars,scientists,curators,and architects,thus ensuring a rich exchange of knowledge and perspectives.The workshop initially focused on the changing environmental and political contexts in which museums operate,including sessions on environmental guidance and government regulation and a discussion on decision-making under uncertainty,followed by considerations of object damage,change,and value during walk-throughs of the V&A galleries.Subsequent days examined life cycle assessments,risk assessments,environmental
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Student Academic Experience Survey 2024Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny SotiropoulouStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 2 Contents Foreword 6 Executive summary 8 1 Methodology 10 1.1 Approach 10 1.2 Sample size 10 1.3 Weighting 11 1.4 Base sizes 11 1.5 Data tables 11 1.6 Qualifications 11 1.7 Ethnicity 12 1.8 Sexual orientation 12 2 Sample profile 13 3 Value for money 14 3.1 Trends over time 14 3.2 Value by domicile 15 3.3 Factors influencing perceptions of poor value 17 4 Meeting expectations 21 4.1 Experience versus expectations 21 4.2 Why expectations are not met 22 4.3 Why expectations are exceeded 25 5 The choice to go to university 26 5.1 Whether students would make same choice again 26 5.2 Whether considered leaving 28 6 Improvements to the student academic experience 30 6.1 Quality and quantity of academic support 30 Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 3 6.2 Employability 31 6.3 Delivery modes and practices 32 6.4 Cost of living considerations 34 6.5 Course organisation and administration 35 6.6 Infrastructures access to study spaces and resources 36 6.7 Mental health support 37 7Paid employment 387.1 Paid employment and the Minimum Income Standard(MIS)40 8Student priorities 428.1 Caring responsibilities 42 8.2 Freedom of speech on campus 43 8.3 The use of artificial intelligence 47 9Spotlight on selected groups of students 499.1 Ethnicity(UK domicile)49 9.2 Care-experienced and estranged students 51 10Teaching intensity 5310.1 Workload trends 53 10.2 Online learning 54 10.3 Satisfaction with scheduled contact hours 55 10.4 Workload by HECoS subject 57 10.5 Number of hours in study and employment 58 11Quality of teaching and assessment 6111.1 Perceptions of the quality of teaching staff 61 11.2 Rating of assessment 63 11.3 Volume of assignments 65 11.4 Timeliness of feedback 66 12Wellbeing 68Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 4 13 Finances and the future 72 13.1 How students living costs are funded 72 13.2 The impact of the cost-of-living crisis 74 14 Voting intentions 77 15 Conclusions and policy recommendations 80 Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 6 Foreword The most notable trend this year is a positive one.Some student surveys are useful because they provide a snapshot.Other student surveys are useful because they provide a longitudinal set of information that enables deep and meaningful comparisons over time.This Survey is different because,over the 18 years since it began,the HEPI/Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey(SAES)has fulfilled both these roles simultaneously. Some questions have been asked year after year,whether about value-for-money perceptions,contact hours or student workload.Such questions came into their own during the pandemic,and in the years since,by allowing us to track some extreme swings.This year,the number of students saying they have had poor or very poor value for money is the lowest it has been since the full rollout of 9,000 fees in England,while the proportion saying they are receiving good or very good value is back to pre-Covid norms. Other questions have come and gone from the Survey as policy and sector priorities have changed.This year,for example,we have added some new questions on students likelihood to vote,given the impending general election,and asked more about tolerating other views as well as about edtech and artificial intelligence.The areas focused on in the reports analysis also evolve.This year,for example,we have focused more than usual on the number of hours of paid employment undertaken by students.The main challenge for Advance HE and HEPI is how to keep the Survey fresh and relevant each year while continuing to build up an unrivalled source of information tracking how the sector is changing over time.In short,we have to make a judgement on what to keep in and what to change.We believe the pages that follow prove the lead author,Advance HEs Jonathan Neves,and the other authors,HEPIs Josh Freeman and Rose Stephenson,and Advance HEs Dr Peny Sotiropoulou,have succeeded admirably in this task and have produced a report that will be valued by the sector and policymakers for months to come.The data produced by the SAES is increasingly used by other organisations,which we strongly welcome and encourage.For example,in the past 12 months,London Higher has produced Living and learning in London in 2023 and TASO and the Policy Unit at Kings College London have published Student mental health in 2023,both of which are built on last years SAES results.Meanwhile,Professor Nicola Dandridges team at the University of Bristol has begun a ground-breaking project based on the SAES questions on whether students would make a different choice if applying to higher education again today.We strongly welcome other organisations using the Survey results in these ways,discovering facts we may not have had the resources to dive into ourselves and bringing their own expertise to specific areas to reveal new findings.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 7 Higher education institutions have had a torrid time recently,with some well-publicised financial problems and softening student demand from home and abroad as well as being on the receiving end of geopolitical and domestic upheavals.Yet,as this years SAES results attest,managers,academics and students are generally remarkably resilient,trying to make the best of what they have.That explains why the most notable trend this year is a positive one,with many of the numbers now back very close to where they were pre-Covid.But the results also reflect new challenges,such as the growth in the number of hours worked by students,which can disrupt academic work as well as beneficial extra-curricular activities.The Surveys results have a long history of helping the higher education sector in its process of continuous improvement by showing changing student expectations.But it is not possible to do more for less forever.So,the challenge for policymakers now is deciding how much further we wish to go to protect the current high standing of the UKs world-beating and open higher education system.One option is to accept managed decline,especially when compared to other countries.But another,more constructive and positive option,is to start now easing the pressures on students and institutions in line with the policy recommendations provided at the end of this report.Alison Johns Chief Executive of Advance HE Nick Hillman Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute(HEPI)Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 8 Executive summary Looking across this years results,2024 represents a positive story for many aspects of the full-time undergraduate student experience.Perceptions of value for money have improved,particularly among international students and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.There has also been a positive shift in the student experience,matching or exceeding expectations.Students propensity to consider leaving their course has also seen a marked decline,adding to this positive picture.Contact hours and overall workload appear to have stabilised at high levels,and it is striking that satisfaction with contact hours is at its highest ever level,implying that many students appreciate relatively demanding workloads from a perception of value.Some of the most positive results this year are around teaching and assessment,providing evidence of a strong focus on this across the sector.Ratings of teaching have improved across the board,to some of their highest levels,as have ratings of assessment,which do not appear to have been negatively impacted by the 2023 marking and assessment boycott.As we also found in 2023,the cost-of-living crisis permeates much of the student experience.Although there has been no further material increase in the proportion of students who work,the average number of hours has increased significantly,to 14.5 hours per week among students who work,representing a significant volume in addition to study time.More general financial concerns are the main reason driving perceptions of poor value for money and are increasing in significance as a reason for students considering leaving their course.Concerningly,there remain around three-quarters of students who feel their studies are significantly affected by cost-of-living concerns.In a potentially related aspect,there has been an increase in the proportion who spend time caring for others,and data also identifies that this cohort are having to manage very long hours of study and paid employment,pointing towards a clear need for specific support for students who are managing a wide range of demands alongside their studies.One available area of support is to ensure that a flexible range of timetabling is offered alongside a choice of online and in-person teaching,and it is significant that this years Survey results tell us that a sizeable level of online teaching continues to be provided.Considering some of the new questions this year,results tell us that one in three students use artificial intelligence(AI)to help with their studies at least once a week,which is higher among males,international students and older demographics.A relatively high proportion 72%agree that their institution promotes good relations on campus.This is particularly high among international students,but lower among UK domiciled students from ethnic minority backgrounds.Looking ahead to the forthcoming general election,four out of five(UK-domiciled)full-time undergraduate students say they are registered to vote(principally at their main home address),but only two out of three say they intend to vote data which,when compared to a Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 9 similar HEPI study in 2023,implies reduced levels of student engagement with national politics.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 10 1 Methodology 1.1 Approach The Survey content was designed and developed in partnership between Advance HE and the Higher Education Policy Institute(HEPI),with online panel interviews independently led by Savanta.1 Savantas student panel includes more than 48,000 undergraduate students in the UK.These students are primarily recruited through a partnership with the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service(UCAS),which invites a large number of new first-year students to join the panel each year.To maximise the overall sample size,further responses were sourced from Torfac and Orchidea.Between 10 January 2024 and 18 March 2024,members of Savantas student panel,as well as respondents from other panels including Torfac and Orchidea,were invited to complete the Survey.In total,10,319 responses were received and analysed,with 8,394 responses sourced from the Savanta panels,and 1,925 in total sourced from Torfac and Orchidea.The median completion time was 14 minutes and 15 seconds.This years Survey includes several areas of direct comparison to previous years,but also incorporates some new areas of coverage,such as a question on the use of artificial intelligence in academic work,a question about tolerance on campus,some deeper probing on student finances and,in reference to the upcoming general election,we have included some questions on students intention to vote,including a follow-up on whether,and where,they are registered to do so.2 1.2 Sample size This year our Survey captured the views of 10,319 full-time undergraduate students studying in the UK.Unless stated otherwise,all figures and tables relate to weighted data from the 2024 Survey.The total sample size of 10,319,based on a full-time undergraduate population of 1,728,210(2021-22 data),provides a margin of error of /-1%.3 This is calculated at the 95%confidence level and based on a result of 50%,where the margin of error is at its maximum.1 For specific queries about the base sizes and populations in this report,or for more general information about the contents,please contact surveysadvance-he.ac.uk or adminhepi.ac.uk.2 At the time of writing(spring 2024)a general election has been announced for 4 July 2024.3 HESA(2023)Whos studying in HE?Cheltenham:HESA.Available at:www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/whos-in-he accessed 3 April 2024.This is the most recently available data.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 11 This means that,for a result of 50%,we can be confident that the true result is between 49%and 51%in 95 out of 100 cases.4 We have highlighted statistically significant differences between 2023 and 2024(or in some cases,between sample groups from 2024)in bold text on each chart or table where such differences apply.These differences are calculated at the 95%level,which indicates a 95%chance that a difference between two figures is a true difference beyond any margin for error.1.3 Weighting A comprehensive weighting process was carried out,in partnership with Savanta,using the most recently available Higher Education Statistics Agency(HESA)statistics,to maximise representation while maintaining integrity of the unweighted data.5 A full range of factors were taken into account,including ethnicity,year of study,domicile and type of school attended.1.4 Base sizes To reduce the amount of text,we have not generally included base size descriptions under each chart.Unless specified otherwise,most charts are based on 2024 data comprising the total weighted population of 10,319.Most of the other charts are based either on time-series data or on one of the specific sub-samples identified in Section 2 below.1.5 Data tables The full Excel data tables,showing the percentage answers to every question,at total level and across a range of sample groups,are freely accessible from the Advance HE and HEPI websites.1.6 Qualifications Students responding to the Survey are all full-time undergraduates,studying across a range of qualifications including bachelors degrees,foundation degrees and degree apprenticeships.This is consistent with previous years,but the report and data tables now contain some further information on specific qualifications being studied for.4 For a guide to margin of error see 5 HESA(2024)Higher education student data.Cheltenham:HESA.Available at:www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/studentshttps:/www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students accessed 3 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 12 1.7 Ethnicity For ethnicity analysis,the sample profile and main data in this report are once again based on UK-domiciled students.6 This is a standard approach and has been done to remove the impact of international students on ethnic groups.The ethnic groups analysed are mutually exclusive,hence the Asian category does not include Chinese students,an approach that we have adopted to provide consistency of analysis with previous years.7 1.8 Sexual orientation Some analysis has been conducted,using the term LGB ,based on students who identify as lesbian,gay,bisexual,asexual or who use a different term,such as pansexual or queer,to describe their sexual orientation.This data is fully available in the data tables.Advance HE and HEPI recognise the limits of this classification.6 For some analyses,groups have been further aggregated into a single Black,Asian and minority ethnic group.This definition is widely recognised and used to identify patterns of marginalisation and segregation caused by attitudes towards an individuals ethnicity.Advance HE and HEPI recognise the limitations of this definition,particularly the false assumption that minority ethnic students are a homogenous group.7 In the 2011 census,Chinese students were counted under the Asian ethnic group.However,this Survey has been running since before this date and has historically analysed Asian students separately,as sample sizes enabled this,and to highlight areas where the experience is different.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 13 2 Sample profileOur sample has been weighted to reflect the UK full time undergraduate population and provide consistency with previous waves.The report refers to weighted data throughout.Weighted data Categories 2022(10,142)2023(10,163)2024(10,319)2024 Weighted base size Domicile England 68ip%7,192 Northern Ireland 3%3%313 Scotland 7%7%6b5 Wales 4%4%4A7 EU 10%9%1,006 Rest of the World8 6%8%7v6 Institutions Russell Group 28(%2,879 Pre-92(excl.Russell Group)21 %1,911 Post-92 45CB%4,295 Specialist 2%4%5Q2 Other 3%6%7r3 Ethnicity(%among UK-domiciled students providing an answer)Asian(excluding Chinese)14%1,089 Chinese 1%1%1v Black 4%5%6Q5 Mixed 5%5%6E8 Other 1%1%1 White 75rr%5,712 8 There is an ongoing focus on increasing the number of students from outside the UK in the unweighted and weighted sample,to match official statistics from HESA more closely.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 14 3 Value for money 3.1 Trends over time Delivering good value for money is,and has been,a challenging concept for higher education institutions(HEIs)across the UK to convey.Although there are a range of fees and funding regimes in place across the different parts of the UK,and the static undergraduate fee has caused a decline in income to HEIs in real terms,going to university remains an expensive undertaking for many students.This in turn generates high expectations for their experience,which can be challenging to deliver for HEIs managing finite resources.9 Further pressure on perceptions of value has been generated in recent years by major external factors,including the Covid-19 pandemic and,specifically in the past couple of years,the squeeze on the cost of living,which has impacted student finances and changed the way some students find the money to pay for their university experience.As measured through this Survey,perceptions of value for money fell sharply during the pandemic but have risen steadily since then.We identified in 2023 that the cost-of-living squeeze was potentially slowing the recovery in perceptions of value post-pandemic,as the annual changes in that particular year were relatively small.2024 is more encouraging,with 39%overall feeling their experience had delivered good or very good value a statistically significant increase compared with 37%in 2023.There has also been a strong,statistically significant fall in the proportion who perceived poor or very poor value from 31%to 26%,the net effect being that we now have the largest(positive)gap between the green and the red lines on the graph below 13 percentage points since 2014.9 Foster,P,Gross,A,Borrett,A(2023)The looming financial crisis at UK universities.Financial Times,18 July.Available at: accessed 30 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 15 Note that students could also choose an option“neither good nor poor”(chosen by 35%of students in 2024),which is why these yearly figures do not add up to 100%.3.2 Value by domicile The perception of value is potentially strongly influenced by the fees and funding policies that vary depending on where a student is from(home region/domicile).10 The chart and table below compare value ratings by domicile in detail.10 Fees in different parts of the UK relate to where a student is studying and where they are from.Recognising that not all students choose to study in the part of the UK where they are from,there is an additional breakdown of domicile combined with university region in the data tables.50D758A9579!&)242)1D21&%0 0Pp 1320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024Value for money of your present course Good/Very GoodPoor/Very PoorStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 16 Home region/domicile Scotland Wales EU Rest of World England NI 2020 57AFC77 21 50)03$ 22 48664( 23 5175851 24 48IE6A%When we break down the sample to this level,significant year-on-year differences for this particular measure have tended to be infrequent,as base sizes are smaller,particularly for Wales and Northern Ireland.What stands out from this breakdown is that the overall increase in value for money in 2024 appears to be driven strongly by international students,with cohorts from the EU and the rest of the world showing a significant improvement in perceptions of value.This is encouraging for the sector given the importance of international students,at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels,in contributing to HEI income through the higher fees charged.11 We will see later in the report that a number of international students are aware of the higher fees they are paying compared to those from 11 Garca,C A,Weale,S,Swan,L and Symons,H(2023)Fifth of UK universities income comes from overseas students,figures show.The Guardian,14 July.Available at: accessed 1 May 2024.49E6A 0Pp 1320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024Value for money by home region(good or very good value)ScotlandWalesEURest of WorldEnglandNorthern IrelandStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 17 the UK,and while not all are happy with this,there is strong evidence here that value for money is being delivered more frequently.It is also encouraging to see the significant increase among students from Northern Ireland,but perceptions of value among students from England remain low and have not particularly moved over the past couple of years.It is also clear that ratings among students from Scotland where home students do not pay tuition fees if they choose to study in Scotland remain at levels that are some way below what they were before the onset of the pandemic.3.3 Factors influencing perceptions of poor value To provide further nuance to the key question on value,we asked students what they were thinking about when they gave their answer.This is split into two parts factors linked to perceptions of poor value,and factors linked to perceptions of good value.The table below ranks the main factors which influenced the 26%of students who felt they received poor or very poor value.Results ranked in order of 2024s top 11 answers shown.Respondents were asked to select all that apply.17 !#)35D# $#1A&3! ()9V50G(%6Y2%Industrial actionOne-to-one tuition timeVolume of in-person contact hoursCourse facilities/resourcesQuality of feedbackCareer prospectsCourse organisationCourse contentTeaching qualityTuition feesThe cost of livingWhen saying you received poor value/very poor value,what were you thinking about?2021202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 18 Going back as recently as 2022,tuition fees were the main driver of poor value perceptions.Since then,cost-of-living concerns have come to prominence as the most significant factor,being cited by 44%of students who said they received poor value some 11 percentage points above all other aspects.Whereas the question is phrased to ask specifically about their course,this is clear evidence of how the cost-of-living,as a wider economic factor,is affecting students studies,and impacting on their views of the value they receive on their course.The other aspects mentioned are relatively consistent,with a few fluctuations.The content of the course is cited as more of a concern this year,while future career prospects have also seen an uplift.By contrast,the volume of contact hours and tuition time continue to be less of a concern,having peaked as an influencing factor at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.In previous years,through the free text comments,and in 2023 when included as a specific option on the Survey,we have seen industrial action have a clear impact on how students view the quality of their experience.In 2024,however,in the absence of major sector-wide disputes,this has declined in prominence,even though some students who mentioned industrial action may be referring to the marking and assessment boycott from 2023.Beyond the pre-defined answers listed in the Survey,students also had the opportunity to provide their own comments on any other issues impacting their views.These comments represented a small proportion of respondents,but there were a number of references to the price differential for international students,as well as the price of travel an aspect that might be becoming more of an issue as commuting from home becomes a greater consideration as a more cost-effective option.12 12 Maslin,E(2023)I spent the last six months travelling alongside commuter students.Heres what I learned.Wonkhe blog,1 September.Available at: 5 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 19 Other reasons received for poor value selected open comments13 “International fees are triple the amount.Makes it feel like were overpaying.”“University spends so much on useless thingsThey charge international students a high amount but dont really provide enough support.”“Education is not a consumable,it should not be for profit.”“Cost of travel to and from placement every day,can be around 30 a week before parking.”“I dont pay for my coursehowever transport to the University is around 120 a month and takes an hour and a half one way.”“No uni course is ever worth 9,000 per year,its a ridiculous price which the experience is just not worth.”“No change in cost during the Covid pandemic,despite certainly less course expense due to the lack of in-person teaching and otherwise expensive practical/laboratory sessions.”We also asked respondents who said they received good value what their key drivers for that response were.In general,many of the same aspects were mentioned as for the equivalent question on poor value but in a positive light around aspects such as teaching quality,course content and course facilities.There is also positive feedback around the quality of university campuses,which implies that investment in a modern and welcoming campus infrastructure is a good way for HEIs to demonstrate value.13 All open comments have been included verbatim,without adjustments to spelling or grammar except where this impacted understanding.304CHQ25ARTGSV8FVareer prospectsQuality of university buildings and campusCourse facilities/resourcesCourse contentTeaching qualityWhen saying you received good value/very good value,what were you thinking about?2021202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 20 There was also a selection of free text comments which shed more light on the positive experience that many students did experience,a cross-section of which we have listed below.Other reasons received for good value selected open comments“Access to summer schools and study abroad programmes.”“I receive a funded bursary from the Department of Health which is 430/month so over 5,000/year.It is not excellent,but it helps greatly towards my rent and other bills.I do not have student loans or fees to pay back which I am very grateful for.”“Lots of practicals with high quality equipment.”“Fees are less than other university and quality is often beyond what others offer.”“I do feel like I have had value for money.The lectures are good and give good feedback.Course organisation is good.Very helpful and good information.”“The amount of new skills I have learned.”Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 21 4 Meeting expectations 4.1 Experience versus expectations Students arrive at higher education with a wide variety of expectations,some of them realistic,some less so.Nevertheless,by asking a large sample of undergraduates to rate their experience compared to their expectations and comparing this over time,we can gain a view as to the quality of their experience and,by extension,whether their expectations were set realistically.The most common response to this question remains that the experience is in some ways better and in some ways worse than expectations,which has remained on or around 48%for some time.This intuitively makes sense as going to university is such a fundamental life event that it is difficult to fully prepare for and may reasonably lead to satisfaction in some aspects and disappointment in others.However,there is evidence of more students having their expectations met or exceeded over the past year or two.Having an experience exactly as expected is relatively rare,but at 16%this is at the joint-highest level it has been over the past 11 years.This implies that students can obtain from social media,word of mouth and other information sources a more realistic view of what university life is really like,something which might have been particularly difficult during the pandemic.45PIIQSRHHQHH2(%#&%8%9%9%9%9%8%0 0Pp 1320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024Experience compared to expectationsBetter in some ways and worse in othersIts been betterIts been worseIts been exactly what I expectedStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 22 We have also seen a statistically significant increase in students saying their experience is better than expected(from 19%to 22%),contrasted by a significant decline in those saying their experience has been worse(15%to 13%).The net result of this is that there is now a net positive view compared to expectations,on par with pre-pandemic levels.Total sample Home region/domicile Northern Ireland Home region/domicile Wales Better than expected 22)%Worse than expected 13%Geographically,the most positive findings are from students from Wales(whether they were studying in Wales or elsewhere),with a significantly higher proportion who felt their expectations were exceeded.By contrast,students from Northern Ireland were more likely to find their experience worse than expected,despite their being a positive increase in value for money perceptions among this cohort this year(see previous section).This is a similar picture to that identified in 2023,which underlines this as a notable finding despite the relatively small base sizes for Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.The maximum Government maintenance support available to students varies significantly by domicile.Within the four parts of the UK,maintenance levels are highest among students from Wales and lowest among students from Northern Ireland.14 This might reasonably be contributing at some level to how students feel their experience has played out compared to what they expected although,as we shall see later,many students across all parts of the UK supplement their income by spending significant time in paid employment.4.2 Why expectations are not met There has been little material change in why expectations are not met,with responses focusing on teaching quality,course organisation and student support.Despite the relatively recent marking and assessment boycott,students are not any more likely this year to mention issues with feedback impacting on their experience which fits with positive ratings of feedback we will go on to see later in the report.14 Hill,K,Padley,M and Freeman,J(2024)A minimum income standard for students.Oxford:HEPI and London:TechnologyOne,p 55.Available at:www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/A-Minimum-Income-Standard-for-Students-1.pdf accessed 16 May 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 23 Over the past two years,and continuing into 2024,there have been fewer concerns around in-person interaction with staff and/or students,which makes intuitive sense as these issues were at their most prevalent during the pandemic.17 $()37#%#12067939BQTR%)B07%Industrial actionToo little in-person interaction with staffToo little in-person interaction with other studentsFewer in-person contact hours than I was expectingNot put in enough effort myselfFeedback was poorDid not feel supported in independent studyCourse was poorly organisedTeaching quality worse than expectedWhy was experience worse than expected?2021202220232024Chart displays top 10 mentions.Ranked in order of 2024 results.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 24 There were also a sizeable number of“other”comments this year 7%of responses.These covered a range of issues and help bring some of the challenges to life.Expectations not met selected open comments“I struggled more than I thought I would.”“The course isnt exactly what I was expecting and its hard to talk to anyone to make friends.”“Very hard to make friends and find time to socialise as a commuter,many if not all societies are only accessible to people who live on campus as they are held late at night and transport is not available.”“The cost of living away from home causes a lot of stress.”“Lecture hours are way too late and seem catered only to campus students-4pm to 6pm daily is ridiculous.”“Hard to participate in social aspects of university given accommodation is far away.”“Money is the main cause of my worries.”“Im having to work more and more to cover my living costs and I think my learning and grades are being affected.”“Travelling has been worse than I imagined and the timetable is not ideal for those living off campus.”In particular,there were a number of mentions which all spoke to the theme of cost-of-living challenges,in some cases these also illustrated how commuting can impact on attendance,with other comments describing the difficulties in balancing work and study.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 25 4.3 Why expectations are exceeded This year it is encouraging to see significantly more students(22%)say their experience is better than expectations compared to the proportion(13%)who feel it has been worse.Chart displays top 10 mentions.Ranked in order of 2024 results.There is general consistency in the reasons behind this,with respondents citing good organisation,good quality teaching and good quality feedback which has increased since last year.There is also evidence of the importance of students feeling challenged by their course and recognising when they have put in a good amount of effort.32345778ABC653346888A78599EGEPR76(&3DFGEH9BIE7GPFQP%Supported in independent studyGood size teaching groupsGood level of in-person interaction with studentsGood level of in-person interaction with staffQuality of feedbackTeaching qualityPut in a good amount of effort myselfTeaching staff accessibleCourse has right level of challengeCourse well organisedWhy was experience better than expected?20202021202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 26 5 The choice to go to university 5.1 Whether students would make same choice again One of the regular key measures of the overall experience is represented by a question on whether students are happy with their choice given their experience to date,or,given what they now know,whether they would have made a different decision.15 While keeping the core options the same,we tweaked the question slightly this year to provide more clarity on the level of apprenticeship that might be selected,splitting into degree apprenticeship or non-degree apprenticeship.Hence this aspect of the question is not directly comparable to previous years,but the other aspects are.16 Where there is no data in a particular year this denotes a new option introduced later on.The option“degree apprenticeship”was hidden in the Survey for respondents who were already enrolled on one,but for consistency they have been included in the base for all options charted.15 Advance HE and HEPI are currently supporting a team led by Professor Nicola Dandridge at the University of Bristol to conduct dedicated research into what lies behind students perceptions of their choice of course and institution and what information they may have required if they wished they had made a different decision.16 For completeness,we have included the previous years figures in the graph for the option“do an apprenticeship”,which was changed in 2024.2%2%3%4%6%7%7%8%2%3%6%6%7%7%9X%2%3%7%5%8%6Y%1%2%5%7%5%9X%2%3%6%8%4d%Do something else outside HEDo a non-degree apprenticeshipGet a jobDefer study to a year laterDifferent course and universityDifferent courseDo a degree apprenticeshipDo an apprenticeship(level not specified)Different universityNo change-happy with choiceWhether students would make the same choice again 20202021202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 27 Overall,six out of ten full-time undergraduates are happy with their choice of course and institution,a small but statistically significant improvement from last year.However,this overall level does not yet match that achieved in 2020,before the most significant impact of the pandemic on university life.Balancing this small increase,there are fewer students who would have taken a gap year an aspect that has been declining since the end of the pandemic,and also fewer respondents who would choose a different university.The proportion who would have chosen a degree apprenticeship is relatively strong,with indications that this is a key consideration among bachelors degree students in particular(by some distance the largest cohort),while a non-degree apprenticeship is a clear consideration for some students currently enrolled on HE certificates or diplomas.Currently studying Foundation certificate or degree Degree apprenticeship Cert.or Dip.HE HNC or HND Bachelors degree Integrated Masters 2024 would do a degree apprenticeship 6%N/A 7%7%8%4 24 would do a non-degree apprenticeship 2%7%6%6%1%1%Statistically significant differences between columns in bold.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 28 5.2 Whether considered leaving To complement the above question assessing the decision to choose to go to university,we added a question a few years ago asking students whether they had considered leaving their course,with a further question enquiring as to the reasons behind this.17 Statistically significant differences between 2023 and 2024 in bold.In another positive movement this year,the propensity to have considered leaving has declined significantly,by three percentage points to 25%.This represents a clear change from the end of the pandemic when this was around 30%.Balancing this,it is striking to see that most of the other responses are students saying they have not considered leaving,rather than choosing not to give an answer.Accordingly,these results represent a clear positive shift over the past few years.Although this is an encouraging story,there remains around one in four who has considered leaving,and the relative fluctuations in the reasons driving this enable us to highlight some of the main issues of concern to these students.Looking at these reasons,mental health issues continue to dominate,but at a slightly lower level.Against this,there has been a further rise in the significance of cost-of-living(ie financial)challenges,which have increased significantly again and are now a direct factor in considering leaving 11%of the time.This provides further evidence of financial concerns having a key influence on university life and creating pressure that is having a material impact on students studies,although it should be 17 Hillman,N(2024)Dropouts or stopouts or comebackers or potential completers?:non-continuation of students in the UK.Oxford:HEPI.Available at:www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Dropouts-or-stopouts-or-comebackers-or-potential-completers-Non-continuation-of-students-in-the-UK.pdf accessed 16 May 2024.290(%eehr%5%5%5%4%0 0Pp 21202220232024%considered withdrawing from or leaving university YesNoPrefer not to sayStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 29 considered that,when considering leaving,financial pressures and mental health concerns may be related to each other.5%6%6(%6%5%5%8)%4%4%7%64%3%3%8%44%Difficulty balancing study and other commitmentsFamily or personal problemsCourse deliveryFinancial difficultiesMy mental/emotional healthReasons considered leaving2021202220232024Chart displays top five mentions.Ranked in order of 2024 results.Chart based on all students who had considered leaving.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 30 6 Improvements to the student academic experience This section provides additional,qualitative analysis of the large number of open free-text comments received in relation to the question“What is the one thing your institution could do to improve the quality of your academic experience?”.The analysis was carried out and written up by Dr Panagiota(Peny)Sotiropoulou,Mixed-Methods Researcher at Advance HE,with the aim of identifying the topics raised most frequently by those students who responded.The 4,317 valid responses were analysed thematically using Atlas.ti software,following an inductive approach.18 Identified themes were then ranked according to the number of quotations associated with each one of them,that is,the number of times students raised each topic.The resulting themes identified in rank order were:quantity and quality of academic support;employability;delivery modes and practices;cost-of-living considerations;course organisation and administration;infrastructures;and mental health support.6.1 Quality and quantity of academic support In general,students want more and better-quality academic support.This is most often related to access to academic staff(specifically,tutors)and feedback provisions.In terms of access,students ask for more contact hours and meaningful encounters with academic staff who are supportive and responsive to their needs,echoing themes highlighted in a recent Wonkhe article.19 “More time with lecturers for adding questions and discussing progression/improvements relating to my work.”“Teachers are a key element of a students academic experience.Educational institutions should promote interaction between teachers and students,including regular academic counselling,seminars,and online discussions.This helps students get more in-depth academic guidance and support.”“Meet with students to discuss their work at length and do regular check-ups with them to make sure they are coping.”When it comes to feedback,students want timelier,more personalised and standardised provisions across modules although it should be noted that feedback in general rates strongly this year in terms of rating scales,as covered later in this report.They highlight the 18 https:/ Maxwell,R and McVitty,D(2024)Five aspirations for effective academic support systems.Wonkhe blog,11 March.Available at: 15 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 31 importance of feedback that is constructive and looks forward,indicating clear actions that they can take to improve.“Offer more opportunities for feedback and ensure content of feedback is consistent across modules.More often than not,some tutors will provide little to no feedback while others in the same module will give more detailed feedback.”“Release the assignment feedback earlier so there is time for students to have office hours with lecturers to discuss about how to improve for the next coming assessment.”“Deliver feedback more regularly and more promptly and be more proactive about explaining what we need to do to improve.”6.2 Employability The title of a recent academic journal article perfectly summarises the comments raised by students regarding what institutions could do to engage them more and thus improve their academic experience:offering a“relevant,practical and connected to the real world”curriculum.20 First,students crave more practical and context-specific learning,which will enable them to understand the application of their studies through real-world examples.In other words,students call for more authentic methods of teaching and learning,and assessment,that will make their studies more engaging while enhancing their employability.“More engaging seminars,more real-life tasks to prepare us for the working world.”“Increased access to real world application of the course work.”“Allow more field trips so that students can have practical experience of what they are being taught.”Moreover,students highlight work-integrated learning opportunities as another aspect they want,such as placements,internships and opportunities for industry collaborations.As previous research shows,embedding such work experience elements in degree programmes are some of the most effective employability enhancing practices.21 20 ONeil,G and Short,A(2023)Relevant,practical and connected to the real world:what higher education students say engages them in the curriculum,Irish Education Studies:1-18.Available at:doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2023.2221663 21 Inceoglu,I,Selenko,E,McDowall,A and Schlachter,S(2019)(How)do work placements work?Scrutinizing the quantitative evidence for a theory-driven future research agenda,Journal of Vocational Behavior,110:317-337.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 32“It could help me to better gain work experience while I am studying.”“I feel that having placement hours alongside teaching could be useful as it would help consolidate what we are learning in a more productive way.”“Develop partnerships with industry leaders to provide students with real-world exposure and opportunities for practical application of their knowledge.”Last but not least,students bring up the need for relevant career advice and planning to be available to them and embedded throughout their curricula.“Provide greater support and transparency regarding whats required to get employment.”“Develop robust career development services,providing students with guidance on internships,job placements,and skill-building opportunities to better prepare them for the transition to the professional world.”“Provide career development guidance and resources,including internship placements,career counselling and information on employment opportunities.This allows students to understand the needs and trends in the professional field while studying.”6.3 Delivery modes and practices Alongside requesting more,and more meaningful,contact with staff,as outlined earlier in this section,students also raise their preference for this to happen face-to-face.Students mention in-person teaching and learning provisions as more enriching,not only in terms of academic merit,but also because of the opportunities they provide for increased interactions and community-building with staff and peers.As Hodgson aptly puts it,“the essence of community building lies in the human encounter empathetic,understanding,and supportive academic staff,and a community of peers who might also become friends”.22 For this to materialise,students want in-person contact.“Less online lessons and more lectures.I believe in-person learning is always better and gets you out of the house.”“Slightly less online lectures and more in person as I believe it is more beneficial as people tend to contribute less online than in person.”“Have more time face to face with staff and students rather than spending most of it doing independent learning.”22 Hodgson,R(2024)Time to go back to basics on belonging,Wonkhe blog,22 March.Available at: 15 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 33 Students comments about smaller-group teaching and learning provisions,and increased opportunities for group-based work,also seem to relate to this overall idea of more close-knitted environments that nurture in-depth discussions and fruitful experiences to develop.“More in-person contact sessions with smaller groups to have better discussions.”“I feel like there could be more in-person sessions with teaching staff.Im not against online lectures,but I feel like there are more opportunities to ask questions and get feedback in face-to-face sessions,which also allow students to work with(and get to know)their peers.”“Smaller groups/sessions I know this may be difficult as some courses such as mine have a large amount of people.However,smaller study focused sessions could help engage students and allow us to feel that classroom environment many of us are used to from secondary school.Furthermore,it creates a sense of community and belonging.”“They could help to arrange smaller groups of students to work together on assignments and topics.This would help as we would be gaining experience and knowledge from others,but also building friendships which is very important.”However,it should not be omitted that the flexibility provided by online options and provisions was also highlighted in students comments,mostly as an enabling factor for access and participation as well as a supplementary means to delve deeper or catch up on module aspects.For this reason,blended learning and hybrid modes of delivery seem to remain the best option to accommodate all students.“More flexibility-eg the option for online seminars-especially as in London there is constant strikes in the transport sector and they refuse to accommodate this.”“I personally think hybrid/remote study works for me better as I can manage and dedicate my time between work and study more efficiently,and self-independent study works better,when you study at your pace,in the right environment,especially for students who live far from campus.Thus,it would be great if flexible options can be offered to students.”“Be more flexible with attending lectures online.During the period of Covid-19,most lectures were performed online.This supports students who live in excess of 60 miles from university and also disabled students who may be well enough to listen to the lecture but not physically attend in person.This would support students with their attendance.”Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 34 6.4 Cost of living considerations Multiple publications within the last year or so have described the financial pressures current university students face(for example,the 2023 House of Commons briefing paper on students and rising cost of living;23 Student Money Survey 2023;24 the report published in March 2023 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Students;25 the Office for National Statistics February 2023 Student Cost of Living Insights Study;26 HEPI and TechnologyOnes May 2024 paper27).This is further testament to how much of an urgent topic this is for students and their academic experience.For this reason,it should come as no surprise that,once again,cost-of-living considerations clearly emerge from students open-ended comments.Most frequently mentioned are requests around reduction and/or provision of more flexible payment plans for accommodation and tuition fees in combination with more financial support opportunities,such as bursaries or providing paid jobs for students.“Financial advice on how to spend and save money.Help students who commute to university.”“Minimise fees/costs so that students feel less pressure in their day-to-day lives.It significantly increases our stress,even if we arent below the poverty line.Token gestures are worthless and frankly insulting.We are aware that we need to save and wear an extra jumper.What would be particularly helpful would be access to financial management support not just reminders to stay on top of it,but support to help us set up a bank account and a savings account.Related to this is increasing the amount of(reasonably priced)accommodation,because the housing shortage is severe.”“I would like to be given more of a chance to apply for sponsorship or bursaries as the financial strain is having an impact on my studies.”23 Lewis,J(2023)Students and the rising cost of living(HC briefing paper 9886).London:House of Commons Library.Available at:researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9886/CBP-9886.pdf 24 Brown,L(2023)Student Money Survey 2023 results.London:Save the Student.Available at:www.savethestudent.org/money/surveys/student-money-survey-2023-results.html accessed 15 April 2024.25 All Party Parliamentary Group for Students(2023)Report of the inquiry into the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students.London:APPG for Students.Available at:appg-students.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/APPG-Students-Report-Cost-of-Living-Inquiry-220323.pdf accessed 15 April 2024.26 Office for National Statistics(2023)Cost of living and higher education students,England:30 January to 13 February 2023.ONS statistical bulletin,24 February.Available at:www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/educationandchildcare/bulletins/costoflivingandhighereducationstudentsengland/30januaryto13february2023 accessed 15 April 2024.27 Freeman,J(2024)A minimum income standard for students.Oxford:HEPI and London:TechnologyOne.Available at:www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/05/09/a-minimum-income-standard-for-students accessed 21 May 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 35 6.5 Course organisation and administration According to Horrod,students use course organisation and administration as a benchmark on which to base their academic experience.28 This is reflected in the current student comments,with mentions of improved timetabling and workload as well as assessment volume and distribution management.Timetabling comments highlight the need for better facilities management as well as timely and clear communications,which enable students to attend their sessions and plan their work and other commitments accordingly,mirroring relevant points raised in the literature.29“The timetable could be better constructed I find that sometimes the schedules for lectures or workshops are quite far apart,so it is difficult to utilise our time well during the time in between,or that we have an online lesson right after the in-person workshop,so that we need to leave early.”“Organisation of our course we get our timetables extremely late(a weekend before the semesters start)making it very hard to balance outside life for example finding a part time job many opportunities were missed and also other things like booking healthcare appointments etc.”“Timetabling and cancelling sessions/seminars and lectures are the greatest challenges in my institution.”“My institution could provide better organised timetables/schedules that are not as strenuous and do not stretch into inconvenient times in order to make room for students to seek part time employment and rest.”However,distributing the required workload and assessments across modules and terms as evenly as possible is the theme raised most frequently.Ensuring that module workload and assessments are proportionately spread out and appropriately scheduled promotes a conducive learning environment.Learners are not able to produce their best work if they have multiple assignments to complete within a short timeframe and,similarly,staff have fewer chances to be able to mark and feed back in a timely manner.30 For this reason,students think that a more collaborative approach to assessment and feedback planning,capitalising on course-level oversights,would improve their academic experience.28 Horrod,S(2019)The recontextualisation of higher education policy in learning and teaching practices:the discursive construction of community,in Montessori,N M,Farrelly,M and Mulderrig,J(eds)Critical policy discourse analysis.Cheltenham,UK:Edward Elgar,pp 73-96.29 Kaur,M and Saini,S(2021)A review of metaheuristic techniques for solving university course timetabling problem,in Goar,V,Kuri,M,Kumar,R and Senjyu,T(eds)Advances in information communication technology and computing.Singapore:Springer Nature,pp 19-25.30 Knight,S and Ferrell,G(2022)Principles of good assessment and feedback.Bristol:Jisc.Available at:www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/principles-of-good-assessment-and-feedback accessed 15 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 36“More well-thought deadlines.Often all of the deadlines are bunched together in one week and then we have weeks of no deadlines at all.”“Communicate with each other to spread out our deadlines rather than have them all due at once.”“Dont stuff so much work that requires time to be done well into such a short timeframe.”6.6 Infrastructures access to study spaces and resources Campus learning and living spaces,whether formal(such as classrooms)or informal(libraries),can impact student outcomes.31 Moving towards the standardisation of hybrid learning modes,quality and ease of access of online resources also significantly influences the student academic experience.32 Along these lines,student comments reveal their desire for better built and online infrastructure,allowing them to easily access spaces and resources that are appropriate and necessary for their studies.Students talk about the need for more and better study spaces as well as educational materials that are accessible to and adequate for all students.This consists,for example,of more spaces for group study or better equipped labs as well as improved online learning platforms and educational materials.“One thing my institution could do to improve the quality of the academic experience for students is to provide learning facilities and good lecture hall for students.”“Enhance technological infrastructure to facilitate seamless online learning experiences,incorporating advanced e-learning platforms,virtual labs,and interactive multimedia resources to complement traditional teaching methods.”“Give more in-campus group study spaces to book.There is barely any group study space availability for booking even though some assignments need group work”“Equipment is an enormous part of our course as a lot of our work and time is spent editing and producing content on computers.The computers provided in editing locations are completely unfit for purpose they do not have the specs needed to edit properly.They constantly freeze,corrupt,and lose work that has taken hours.”31 Oliveira,S,Tahsiri,M and Everett,G(2022)Campus spaces and places:impact on student outcomes.Review of evidence.UK:AUDE/HEDQF/Willmott Dixon.32 Brassington,L(2022)The future of digital learning resources:students expectations versus reality.Oxford:HEPI.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 37 6.7 Mental health support The most recent available data shows that 30.4%of the total first-degree undergraduate student population in 2021-22 disclosed a mental health condition.33 This number is probably higher in reality,as it is based on students self-assessment,and underreporting of mental health issues is a widely acknowledged challenge facing higher education.In recent years,the coronavirus pandemic and rises in the cost of living have been added stressors for students wellbeing,with additional evidence showing that universities are seeing an increase in the severity and complexity of mental health issues reported by students.34 35 36 The Office for Students clearly states that it is important that all students can access the mental health support and information they need while at university,as poor mental health can have a negative impact on students ability to participate in and complete higher education courses.37 Following the above pattern,student comments highlight the need for appropriate mental health support to enable them to thrive academically and address adversities they might be facing.“More mental health support,not having to wait months for counselling etc.”“Increase support services for mental health and well-being to ensure students have resources for a balanced academic and personal life.”“Expand mental health support services,including counselling and well-being programs,to address the mental health challenges that students may face during their academic journey.”“Improve mental health services for the students who are studying there.Mental health assistance is inaccessible for many students within the university,and the course is extremely mentally overwhelming and so this help should be readily available.”33 Advance HE(2023)Equality in higher education:student statistical report 2023.York:Advance HE.34 Office for National Statistics(2022)Coronavirus and higher education students:25 February to 7 March 2022 ONS statistical bulletin,21 March.Available at:www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandhighereducationstudents/25februaryto7march2022 accessed 15 April 2024.35 Office for Students(2023)Studying during rises in the cost of living.Bristol and London:Office for Students.36 IFF Research(2023)HE providers policies and practices to support student mental health.London:Department for Education.37 Office for Students(2023)Meeting the mental health needs of students.Bristol and London:Office for Students.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 38 7 Paid employment A proportion of students have aways needed to and/or chosen to spend time working for pay.Going back just a few years,this represented a significant minority,between 35%and 40%.In 2022 and 2023 we saw a step change to a clear majority in 2023 who said they were in paid employment during term time.Considering this Survey comprises full-time undergraduates only,this was a major finding and clear evidence of financial pressures impacting on student life.In 2024 the situation appears to have stabilised with little evidence of further change in the proportion of students in employment there was a non-significant increase of one percentage point.That said,although there has not been a material change in the proportion of students who are in paid employment,there is clear evidence of a major increase in the number of hours being worked by those students.65ddcaXfUED56679B4EUV%0 0Pp 15201620172018201920202021202220232024Students in paid employment in term timeNo paid employmentAny paid employmentStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 39 Across all students in the Survey,there is now an average of 8.2 hours spent in employment a significant increase.This rises to 14.5 hours if we calculate this based only on studentswho work,which represents a sizeable number of hours,potentially the equivalent of thetime some students spend in timetabled classes or independent study.5.04.65.57.58.211.913.712.313.514.50.02.04.06.08.010.012.014.016.020202021202220232024Paid employment mean hours per week term time All studentsStudents in paid employment80rgqeecVufqpcU%0 0Ppre experiencedCaring for othersCommmute 10 miles or moreAged 26 Studying in Northern IrelandStudying in Greater LondonScheduled contact hours 20 All respondentsSpecific subgroups with a high propensity to be in paid employment 20232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 40 In the context of these extended working hours,the data tells a clear story around the extent to which students are having to balance paid employment with other pressures.Employed students are more likely to have high volumes of contact hours,as well as needing to spend time commuting and/or caring for others.This range of demands potentially requires specific support mechanisms to enable students to organise their time and ensure their studies are prioritised.The above chart also highlights the very high proportion of students studying in Northern Ireland and London who work,as well as those from care-experienced backgrounds,all of which potentially relate to a greater financial need due to location and/or background.38 In the case of students in London,a more buoyant job market is also likely to be a factor in more students being able to work to help counteract the greater expenses of living and studying in London.39 7.1 Paid employment and the Minimum Income Standard(MIS)In May 2024,HEPI and TechnologyOne published a detailed report into how much income students need if they are to have an acceptable minimum standard of living(MIS).40 Among the new areas of analysis in the report,there is an assessment of how the proposed annual MIS of 18,632 outside London and 21,774 within London would only likely be partially covered by Government maintenance support set at different levels across the four parts of the UK.41 Accordingly,paid employment is one of the ways in which this shortfall could be made up,with the report identifying how many hours of paid work per week,at the minimum wage,would need to be worked on average in order to fill the gap.42 Due to the size of the shortfall being based on the different levels of maintenance support available by domicile,this analysis was conducted separately for each of the four parts of the UK.Given we have robust data from our Survey for how many hours per week students are working(during term term)we have taken the opportunity to compare this broadly with the analysis in the HEPI and TechnologyOne report.As seen in the chart below,this high-level comparison shows that,for England,Scotland and Wales,students who work are doing so at levels not far removed from the levels required to make up the average maintenance shortfall,and in the case of Wales,this is 38 Allen,B(2023)More Northern Ireland students taking on part-time work.BBC News,28 August.Available at:www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66597965 accessed 16 May 2024.39 For a more in-depth analysis of results from students based in London across previous years of the Survey,see londonhigher.ac.uk/london-students-most-satisfied-with-student-experience-out-of-all-english-regions/40 Freeman,J(2024)A minimum income standard for students.Oxford:HEPI and London:TechnologyOne.Available at:www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/05/09/a-minimum-income-standard-for-students accessed 21 May 2024.41 The report features analysis by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.42 This assumes no parental support or other income source.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 41 slightly above the shortfall.However,for students from Northern Ireland,such is the size of the MIS shortfall that,even with high volumes of working hours(close to the Survey average),the data implies that there is still a substantial shortfall in income that would need to be made up elsewhere or else have a major impact on the quality of student life.Note:this is not a direct comparison as MIS report data is based on figures for students outside London.SAES data is based on students from each domicile studying anywhere.However,for Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales in particular,the proportion studying in London is very small hence the“outside London”data has been chosen for the best comparison.We should also note that SAES data is based on term-time employment.One potential implication from this comparison is that volumes of working hours may be unlikely to rise much higher for England,Wales and Scotland,but if economic conditions allow,they have clear potential to do so for Northern Irish students.18.723.416.114.57.97.79.77.41413.91515.70510152025EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandWalesHours per week-comparison by domicile Hours needed to work to cover MIS shortfall(MIS report)Hours worked(SAES-all students)Hours worked(SAES-students who work)Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 42 8 Student priorities 8.1 Caring responsibilities In 2023 we included a question on whether students had caring responsibilities(for children and/or other adults),and we are now able to make a comparison to 2024.We can see there has been a statistically significant increase over the past year.This may potentially be related to the cost-of-living crisis,which could be impacting on the ability of some households to access professional care.This data also brings to light the importance of considering the needs of students with caring responsibilities,as they are a sizeable and growing cohort.If we look at the profile of some selected demographic groups where caring responsibilities are particularly prevalent,we can see that significant numbers of students are having to balance a range of pressures alongside caring responsibilities.11%0%5 %05%Do you have any caring responsibilities?20232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 43 In particular,there is a clear link between spending time working,commuting and caring.We also see how disabled students are more likely(than the total population)to be carers,while nearly half of care leavers are in a caring role.8.2 Freedom of speech on campus Promoting freedom of speech and demonstrating an inclusive environment continues to be one of the major challenges facing HEIs in the UK.43 We first introduced a series of questions to consider this in 2022,which we have compared over time,and for 2024 we introduced a new question on good relations on campus,which we have charted separately.Since we introduced the questions shown in the charts below on freedom of expression,results have shown that students have,in general,been relatively satisfied on this issue.Over two thirds of our sample agree that they are comfortable expressing their views and they hear a wide variety of opinions,both of which have increased gradually over the past couple of years.Disagreement levels are relatively low 13%for the first statement and just 7%for the second statement.43 Cooper,B(2023)Whats really happening with free speech at universities?London:Universities UK.Available at:www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/insights-and-analysis/whats-really-happening-free-speech accessed 16 April 2024.17!9IU%0 0P%DisabledCommmute 10 miles or morePaid employment 10 hoursAge 26 Care experiencedAll respondentsSpecific subgroups with a high propensity to be carers 20232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 44 At a total sample level,therefore,a combination of the 2024 results and the findings from the last two years,particularly the low levels of disagreement with the statement,appear to point towards freedom of expression on campus not being one of the major issues of concern.0 0Pp 2220232024I feel comfortable expressing my views even if others disagreeAgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagree69qs%9%8%7%0 0Pp 2220232024I hear a wide variety of opinions on campus,incuding those different from my ownAgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagreeStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 45 In the wake of a range of work being done across the sector to promote good relations on campus,we added a new question referring to this issue.44 45 As with the other questions on freedom of expression,our respondents in general did not identify major concerns on this point,with three out of four agreeing or agreeing strongly that their institution does promote good relations on campus.As with the other questions,disagreement levels were relatively low.While this is generally a positive story,it is important to consider the extent to which these general levels of agreement might not be matched across a range of different student cohorts,particularly among minority groups.44 Advance HE/ECU(2013)Promoting good relations on campus:a guide for higher and further education.York:Advance HE.Available at:www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/promoting-good-relations-campus-guide-higher-and-further-education accessed 16 April 2024.45 The question in full was“My institution promotes good relations between different groups on campus(for example,by tackling intolerance and promoting understanding of diversity and respect for all)”.22P%5%2%3%My institution promotes good relations on campusAgree stronglyAgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagreeDisagree stronglyDont knowStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 46 Ethnicity(UK domicile)Sexual orientation Domicile%agreement with the following statements:Black,Asian and minority ethnic White LGB Heterosexual UK EU/Rest of the World I feel comfortable expressing my viewpoint 61fifet%I hear a wide variety of opinions expressed on campus 66ttsrv%My institution promotes good relations on campus 68rsqqy%Significant differences between cohorts within each category marked in bold.The results in the table above highlight that minority ethnic groups are less comfortable when it comes to expressing their views,and do not feel they hear as wide a variety of opinions,with agreement levels for Black,Asian and minority ethnic students being significantly lower than for White students.It is important to clarify that levels of disagreement with these statements(between 8%and 14%,not charted)are still relatively low among minority ethnic groups,which indicates that these figures should perhaps not be a major cause of concern.However,it is important to consider how students of all ethnic backgrounds can be made to feel equally comfortable when navigating sensitive topics in the public sphere.A notable finding from the above table is that on two out of three statements there appears to be no major difference in perceptions by sexual orientation,with LGB students just as likely as heterosexual students to look positively on their institutional environment when it comes to free speech.However,there is significant higher agreement among LGB students with the statement on feeling comfortable expressing a viewpoint.We have also compared perceptions of students domiciled in the UK to those of international students.What is noticeable is that although the views of UK students are relatively positive,they are a lot more positive among international students,for whom around three out of four(or higher)say they agree with the statements.International Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 47 students will comprise people from a range of different societal and political environments,in some cases being particularly sensitive to the high-level debates being played out on UK campuses and beyond.It is therefore striking to see evidence that international students,as a whole,have a positive view of how UK campus environments support these kinds of debates and the different viewpoints they entail.8.3 The use of artificial intelligence This year,in light of the growing interest in artificial intelligence(AI)tools,we asked students how often they use AI tools in a way allowed by their institution.Previous research by HEPI has suggested a large proportion of students are now familiar with AI tools and are using them often.46 In some ways,our findings here,covering many more students,confirm those results.Some 62%of students use AI at least a little and nearly a third of students(31%)do so at least once a week.When looking at the use of AI by some demographics,there is some evidence of a digital divide in use between different groups.Men are more likely to use AI tools at least once a month(57%)than women(41%)or non-binary students(32%).However,in contrast with HEPIs previous findings,which were based on a smaller sample size,older students appear more likely and not less likely to use AI tools.International students also use them more frequently than home students.46 Freeman,J(2024)Provide or punish?Students views on generative AI in higher education.Oxford:HEPI.Available at:www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/02/01/provide-or-punish-students-views-on-generative-ai-in-higher-education 8#8%0%5 %05%Every dayAt least once a weekAt least once amonthLess than once amonthNeverHow often do you use artificial intelligence(AI)tools in a way that is allowed by your institution?Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 48 A further 45%of those from the lowest social grades D and E do not use AI tools at all,compared with 32%from the highest social grades A and B.Why are students using AI?The data shows that students who have more contact hours,students who do more intensive courses like medicine,those who do more hours of paid employment and those who commute a longer distance are all more likely to use AI tools daily.This suggests AI tools are being used by at least some students to save time in busy schedules.Some students may also be using AI while doing paid work.57A2DSQDPY%0 0Pp%Students who use AI tools at least once a month by demographicStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 49 9 Spotlight on selected groups of students 9.1 Ethnicity(UK domicile)Across past iterations of this Survey,and in accordance with wider data across the sector,students from Black,Asian and minority ethnicities have tended to report a less positive experience compared to White students.This is despite spending more time engaging in their learning.47 In our Survey this gap has been closing on several measures and it is encouraging to see that this has continued in 2024.There is still a sizeable gap in terms of being likely to make the same choice of course and university again,but this is smaller than in recent years.Value for money has a relatively small gap of four percentage points,while the results for the experience being better than expectations are now at the same level for both minority ethnic and White cohorts.On these measures the results are the closest we have come to being able to evidence a parity of the experience by ethnicity.47 Neves,J(2019)UK Engagement Survey 2019.York:Advance HE,p 12.Available at:s3.eu-west- accessed 16 May 2024.22HP0Q4!T(b8b8b8!c%0 0Pp%Value for moneyExperience better thanexpectationsWould choose same course&university againKey measures over timeBlack,Asian,Minority Ethnic 2021Black,Asian,Minority Ethnic 2022Black,Asian,Minority Ethnic 2023Black,Asian,Minority Ethnic 2024White 2021White 2022White 2023White 2024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 50 Looking at value for money specifically,it is the experiences of UK domiciled minority ethnic groups,together with those of international students,that have driven the positive uplift at an overall level with the experiences of UK domiciled White students showing no overall change.When we break down the experience by specific ethnic groups,we see some fluctuations,but also some evidence of how the experience of UK-domiciled Black students,in particular,is generally positive in terms of value for money and meeting expectations.The table below highlights in detail the extent to which the scores on these measures have increased for Black students across the past year.The scale of some of these changes is strong,which is a very positive story for a minoritised group that had often reported a less positive experience and associated outcomes.Value for money Experience better than expectations Would make same choice again 2023 2024 2023 2024 2023 2024 Black ethnicity 29%EU2R%UW4!V41T8!c%0 0Pp%Perceived good value for moneyExperience better thanexpectationsWould choose same course&university againKey measures 2024 by different ethnic groups AsianBlackChineseMixedOtherWhiteStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 51 9.2 Care-experienced and estranged students In 2023 we included a new question on whether a student is,or has ever been,in local authority care the wording of which has been updated this year.For 2024 we have also introduced a supplementary question on whether the respondent is estranged from their parents.48 This is in response to wider debate in the sector around the need for more extensive data collection on this group of students.49 Across the total sample,6%are care experienced,and 8%are estranged(note that the two categories are not mutually exclusive).However,there are some demographic groups where the propensity to be care experienced and/or estranged is a lot higher.Among trans students this is extremely high just under one in three while it is also very high among mature students and students who currently care for others.There is also evidence that students from care experienced or estranged backgrounds spend more time commuting.We saw earlier in the report that students who work or care for others often face a range of other 48 We worked with the Unite Foundation(www.thisisusatuni.org/unite-foundation/)to include the questions:“Have you been in care?Select yes if youve ever lived in public care or as a looked-after child”and“Would you consider yourself estranged from your parents(i.e.youre not in contact with and supported by your parents)?”(Full wording available on request).49 Office for Students(2022)Care experienced students and looked after children.Bristol and London:Office for Students.Available at:www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/promoting-equal-opportunities/effective-practice/care-experienced/advice/accessed 11 May 2023.6) %8%8%6%0%5 %05%All studentsAge 26 Black ethnicityTransCaring for othersCommute 10miles Profile student cohorts most likely to be care experienced/estranged Care experiencedEstrangedStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 52 pressures on their time(for example,commuting),and we can see here that a potentially vulnerable group of students faces a range of challenges including an overlap with other vulnerable groups and living far away from campus.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 53 10 Teaching intensity 10.1 Workload trends Total hours(attended in average week)Timetabled contact hours Independent study hours*Contact hours attended*Placements or fieldwork*201930.8 13.9 13.8 12.0 4.9 202031.6 14.6 14.1 12.6 4.9 202129.9 12.4 15.7 10.7 3.6 202230.7 13.4 14.8 11.3 4.6 202333.4 16.0 14.5 13.4 5.6 202433.5 16.1 13.6 13.3 6.6*These measures contribute to the total figuresHigh levels of working hours are,in general,appreciated by students who want to be tested and to receive what many perceive as“value”for their tuition fees.However,a high overall average can mask some extremely high workloads in particular subjects,which in some cases needs to be incorporated alongside paid employment and caring responsibilities.Hence,there is potentially a natural ceiling to the volumes of workload hours that are sustainable.In 2024,working hours have remained consistent overall,which suggests that they might have just about peaked following a post-pandemic increase.However,within this there are some key fluctuations in how the overall workload volumes are comprised.33.516.113.613.36.60.05.010.015.020.025.030.035.040.02015201620172018201920202021202220232024Workload hours in average weekTotal hours(attended)Timetabled contact hoursIndependent study hoursTimetabled contact hours attendedPlacements or fieldworkStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 54 Timetabled hours have increased marginally and are at the highest levels we have seen.Against this,the number of contact hours attended has fallen slightly,but is still at a high level.The main changes have been in the volume of independent study,which has fallen significantly from 14.5 to 13.6 hours per week.Counteracting this there has been an equal(and proportionately greater)increase in time spent in placements and fieldwork,which at 6.6 hours is the highest level we have seen.During the pandemic we did see several comments around the(understandable)absence of field trips and in-person placements and how this was impacting the quality of the experience.It therefore appears that this is an aspect being prioritised by HEIs across the sector and is playing an increasing role in the workload mix.10.2 Online learning Since the pandemic,when a high proportion of lectures took place online,we have seen a gradual return to face-to-face interactions,but it is striking that a significant proportion of online delivery remains.In 2022,nearly 90%of students had at least some of their lectures online,and while this has reduced gradually,to 69%in 2024,it does appear that a significant proportion of online delivery is set to stay in place.It is likely that a proportion of this online delivery was already in situ before the pandemic,but potential changes in students preferences,and advances in the ability to use technology to maximise flexibility and inclusiveness,are likely to have played a role to help shape the level of hybrid delivery that is established across multiple courses in many institutions.11%9%7%6%7%5%7%7%4%3%4%2%41!%7%5%3%2%2%2%4%0%5 %05%0%1-10-20!-301-40A-50Q-60a-70q-80-90-100%Proportion of lectures held online 202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 55 Some of the main drivers of student preference are likely to be represented by extra-curricular demands on their time,such as paid employment,caring and commuting.We can see the impact of this in the table below,which infers that students with extra-curricular demands seek out or take up the opportunity to carry out a higher proportion of their learning online.Paid employment Commuting Caring None 10 hrs None 10 miles No Yes Any lectures online 59yXwg.3 Satisfaction with scheduled contact hours Satisfaction with contact hours has been a very consistent measure across several years with the only material fluctuation in 2021 during the pandemic.Although this year has seen a relatively small change in absolute terms,it does signify a statistically significant increase in students being satisfied with their contact hours,with 68%representing the highest figure we have yet seen on this measure.65dfdebPcfh!0%0 0Pp 15201620172018201920202021202220232024I am satisfied with my timetabled contact hours AgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagreeStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 56 Reinforcing this,the proportion who disagree with this statement is at its lowest level,hence providing a clear picture that current volumes of contact hours are at the right level for many.Total contact hours Paid employment Caring 0-910-1920-2930 None 10 hours No Yes Agree they are satisfied with contact hours 61rqhihig%Looking at how this differs(or not)by curricular and extra-curricular workload,we can see clearly that students in general are happy with relatively high volumes of contact hours.Although the nature of individual course delivery and expectations around this does vary,some students are less satisfied when they are assigned fewer than 10 timetabled hours.However,it is notable that satisfaction levels increase significantly between 10-19 hours and remain high even up to 30 hours plus.We may reasonably have speculated that students with working or caring responsibilities would be less satisfied with the number of timetabled contact hours.However,it is evident from the above table that relatively high levels of paid employment,or caring for others,do not appear to impact on how contact hours are perceived.Students with these additional responsibilities are still likely to require support regarding flexible times and ways of accessing their classes,but this data provides evidence that,irrespective of how wider demands are being managed,sufficient contact hours remain a key barometer of a positive student experience.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 57 10.4 Workload by HECoS subject Subjects ranked in order of overall workload.50 Some individual subjects have relatively low base sizes and hence are sensitive to annual fluctuations.When ranking the HECoS subject by workload,there are some quite major differences in terms of contact hours(for example between Veterinary Sciences and Historical Studies),while volumes of independent study are a lot more consistent between the different subjects.51 Where volumes vary the most,however,is in terms of fieldwork and placements,which is the element with the largest influence on where different subjects are ranked in terms of overall workload.Many subjects(often in Arts and Humanities)have very low volumes but in some areas,such as subjects allied to Medicine and Education and Teaching,the time 50 Humanities and Liberal Arts,and Others in Science were not included in the table this year due to small base sizes.51 For information on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects(HECoS),see www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos accessed 9 April 2024.10.710.310.011.59.212.311.014.911.914.213.215.114.515.015.012.713.714.418.714.616.012.413.915.313.917.012.415.312.711.312.413.513.713.415.414.313.312.815.713.412.114.13.22.72.93.42.85.03.82.77.44.24.83.85.03.44.79.09.37.26.620.119.90102030405060PsychologyGeographical and Environmental StudiesLanguage and Area StudiesSocial SciencesHistorical,Philosophical and Religious StudiesBusiness and ManagementLawCreative Arts and DesignCombined and General StudiesCommunications and MediaBiological and Sport SciencesPhysical SciencesComputingMathematical SciencesEngineering and TechnologyAgriculture,Food and related studiesMedicine and DentistryArchitecture,Building and PlanningVeterinary SciencesEducation and TeachingSubjects allied to MedicineWorkload hours by HECoS subject categoriesContact hours attendedIndependent studyWork outside of courseStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 58 spent in external work for their course is very significant and leads to the highest overall workloads.When we look at these individual subjects,some of the base sizes are relatively small,hence we do get some year-on-year fluctuation in these results which impacts the relative ranking.Comparing to 2023,we again see medical subjects towards the top and subjects such as Psychology,Languages and History towards the bottom.By contrast,the amount of time spent externally has fluctuated for Education and Teaching increasing significantly this year so it is now once again one of the subjects with highest workload.At the lower end of the scale last year was Communications and Media,but students this year report higher volumes of all types of workload,resulting in a mid-range position this year.52 10.5 Number of hours in study and employment Given the increases in the last few years(less so this year)in workload hours,as well as the acceleration in time spent in paid employment,in the chart below we have combined these two key measures of time spent to provide an overall picture of the number of hours per week that students are having to devote to study and paid working.The figures represent the mean averages across all students including those who do not spend any time in a particular activity.52 For comparative results,see SAES 2023 at https:/advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/student-academic-experience-survey-2023 10.711.313.413.319.319.420.120.24.65.57.58.20510152025303540452021202220232024Average number of hours spent studying or in employmentTimetabled hours attendedIndependent study or fieldworkPaid employment outside studiesStudent Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 59 At a total sample level,students spend an average of 42 hours per week in paid work and study,and this has been rising steadily.This level is clearly above the UK average number of paid working hours for the full-time working population,which currently stands at 36.9 hours,providing strong evidence that the undergraduate student population has to manage a substantial combination of study workload and extra-curricular responsibilities.53 These figures are based on our sample as a whole,but when we look into the data in more detail we can identify particular cohorts whose responsibilities in terms of classes,wider study and/or employment are much higher,equating to high numbers of hours per week.Students studying health subjects(for example,Medicine,Dentistry,Veterinary Studies)have been regularly identified in this Survey as working long hours as part of their course,but rather than compensating for this by spending relatively few hours in paid employment,we can see from this data that the volumes of paid work are in fact just above the average,providing a net combined workload of over 55 hours per week,which is a significant volume.Aged 26 University region Northern Ireland Caring responsibilities Health subjects Contact hours or other study(average=33.5)38.6 40.9 37.5 47.3 Paid employment(average=8.2)12.6 9.8 12.7 8.6 Total(average=41.7)51.2 50.7 50.2 55.9 53 Office for National Statistics(2024)Average actual weekly hours of work for full-time workers(seasonally adjusted).Newport:ONS.Available at:www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/ybuy/lms accessed 03 May 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 60 There are also high combined workloads for mature students,those with caring responsibilities,and those studying at HEIs in Northern Ireland.For these groups we saw earlier that their propensity to be in paid employment was high,but this is put into a specific context when we see that their study workload is also above average,potentially compounding the pressures these groups,and others,are facing.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 61 11 Quality of teaching and assessment 11.1 Perceptions of the quality of teaching staff Our Survey contains a set of consistent measures that have been designed to assess overall teaching quality and have been running for a number of years.Chart shows the proportion who agree or agree strongly with each statement.The results in 2024 represent a clear good news story.For every one of the seven aspects,agreement ratings have increased significantly which is the first time we have seen such consistent and marked improvements across the board.In particular,there have been sizeable improvements for staff motivating students to do their best work,and helping to explore their own areas of interest both of which achieved the highest scores seen since they have been included in the Survey.It is potentially significant that these strong and consistent improvements in ratings of teaching quality among full-time undergraduates have come relatively soon after the 48GYXdevABRTacp79PSbcv49GVacu9Tgew56SYfgy%Teaching staff helped you to explore your ownareas of interestTeaching staff regularly initiated debates anddiscussionTeaching staff motivated you to do your best workTeaching staff used contact hours to guideindependent studyTeaching staff were helpful and supportiveTeaching staff clearly explained course goals andrequirementsTeaching staff encouraged you to takeresponsibility for your own learningTeaching staff characteristics 201920202021202220232024Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson and Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 62 publication of the Teaching Excellence Framework(TEF)ratings in 2023,which represented the first time HEIs had been officially rated on their teaching quality since 2019.54 This greater focus on teaching across the sector may have played a positive role in driving quality and making more students aware of where resources and efforts are being focused within the teaching space.Russell Group Pre-92 Post-92 Specialist Encouraged your responsibility for own learning 78xtt%Clearly explained goals and requirements 63hei%Were helpful and supportive 61dep%Used contact hours to guide independent study 58XYV%Motivated you to do your best work 54Tad%Regularly initiated debates and discussions 42EIR%Helped you explore your own areas of interest 41DQW%Significant differences between cohorts in bold.Comparing the results on teaching quality across a range of types of institution,we can see some statements show a clear contrast between Russell Group and other pre-92 HEIs on the one side,against post-92 and specialist providers on the other side.Russell Group and 54 McCabe,G and Bhardwa,S(2023)What is the TEF?Results of the Teaching Excellence Framework 2023.The Student,Times Higher Education,18 December.Available at: accessed 16 April 2024.Student Academic Experience Survey 2024 Jonathan Neves,Josh Freeman,Rose Stephenson&Dr Peny Sotiropoulou 63 pre-92 are str
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Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework Draft for Consultation The Australian Government acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land,water and community.Australias First Nations peoples are the custodians of the worlds oldest continuous cultures of learning and the passing down of knowledge.We pay our respects to them,their Elders past and present,and the continuation of cultural,spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms,the Departments logo,any material protected by a trade mark and where otherwise noted all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International(https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)licence.The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website(accessible using the links provided)as is the full legal code for the CC BY 4.0 International(https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode)The document must be attributed as Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework:Draft for Consultation.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|3 ContentsContents A Future Direction.4 Changes and Challenges.5 Charting a Way Forward.6 Objective 1:A Sector Built on Quality and Integrity.8 Implementing integrity reforms.9 Integrity measures timeline.11 A sustainable and diverse sector.12 Experienced and ethical providers.12 Best interests of the student.13 Enhanced monitoring.13 Questions for sector consultation.14 Objective 2:A Managed System to Deliver Sustainable Growth Over Time.15 Implementing a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time.15 Stewardship of the sector.17 Diversification.18 Student experience.19 Graduates ready for work.20 Promoting regional Australia.21 Meeting Australias skills needs.22 Alumni engagement and researcher networks.23 Working with our region.25 Domestic success and global influence.26 Questions for sector consultation.27 Objective 3:Taking Australian Education and Training to the World.28 Transnational Education.28 New and strengthened transnational education partnerships.31 Government encouragement of innovation.31 Expanding recognition of Australian qualifications internationally.32 Spotlight:Australia-India International Education Relationship.33 Questions for sector consultation.36 Next Steps.37 Appendix A:Recent reviews and reforms with strategic implications for the international education and training sector.38 Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|4 A A F Future uture D Directionirection International education in Australia is a valuable asset that has delivered significant economic and social benefits for our community.It can boost our future prosperity,help meet current and future skills needs,and strengthen our relationships across the world.Aligning international education with these objectives will build community support for this important sector and reinforce benefits for Australia over the long term.A range of pressures on this sector have emerged in recent years:serious integrity and quality challenges have been identified as students have returned to Australia unpredictable international student numbers onshore have the potential to undermine the sectors social licence,and in the context of new directions in migration policy,there is renewed pressure for international education to contribute to Australias skills needs.Alongside these challenges,there are significant opportunities for the sector to thrive,including through innovative approaches to delivery.To support its quality,integrity and long-term sustainability,the Australian Government is taking an active and engaged approach to the management of the sector.Embracing these opportunities and responding to these challenges will require government,providers and business to work together so that international education and training can continue to generate economic productivity and social vibrancy,with the support of the Australian community.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework(Strategic Framework)sets out a future direction for the international education and training sectorone that is sustainable,high-quality,diverse and founded on integrity.This vision can be achieved through clear actions aligned to our national objectives.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|5 Changes and ChallengesChanges and Challenges In 2021 the sector came together to develop the Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030.It was a starting point for post-pandemic recovery for the sector.While much of this work remains relevant,Australias national and global environment has fundamentally changed since then and further work is needed to position the international education and training sector for the future.This new Strategic Framework sets clear expectations for a high quality and high integrity system.Unmanaged growth in international education has seen a rise in integrity issues,compounded infrastructure pressures with insufficient purpose-built student accommodation for international students,and threatened the sectors social licence and Australias reputation.Recent reviews have identified integrity issues within Australias international education sector including the Review of the Migration System Final Report 2022(Migration Review),The Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australias Visa System(Nixon Review)and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,Defence and Trade Inquiry into Australias tourism and international education sectors Quality and Integritythe Quest for Sustainable Growth:Interim Report into International Education.International students have been exposed to a range of exploitative practices,and our education and migration systems have been subverted by unscrupulous actors to the detriment of student experience,graduate employability,and meaningful progress towards meeting skills needs.These reviews identified unscrupulous education agents,education providers and students exploiting the migration and education systems for profit.The Government has zero tolerance for the manipulation of the international education and migration systems to exploit vulnerable international students.All international students deserve a safe and high-quality education.This intention is reflected throughout this Strategic Framework.Australia cannot accept poor practices and unscrupulous providers that exploit students and undermine Australias reputation.The Government has taken early action to protect students and ensure such providers have no place in our education and training systems.There is more to be done over the coming years.The Government will carefully manage onshore student numbers and maintain a balanced system underpinned by strong and effective compliance action.The Migration Strategy sets a direction for managed growth through policy changes that support quality and integrity in the international education sector.These include increased English language levels and financial requirements for student visa applicants and improved ability for the Immigration Minister to suspend international recruitment by unscrupulous providers.The Government is also ensuring the quality and integrity of Australias education system by supporting the sector to mitigate the risk of foreign interference.Through mechanisms including the University Foreign Interference Taskforce,the Government is continuing to support the sectorwho work at the leading edge of policy,research and scientific developmentto ensure it continues to build awareness and resilience to foreign interference risk.Over-reliance at a sector level,or provider level,on international students from one country or a small number of countries is an unacceptable risk in this environment,making diversification a key objective.The Government,the community,and the international education and skills sector need these challenges to be navigated well.Balancing community sentiment,student expectations of a quality education,increasing international competition for skills,meeting infrastructure pressures and anticipated technological shifts,all require careful calibration.The positives if we do this well are immensefor individuals,communities,partner countries and regions,and for Australia.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|6 Charting a Way ForwardCharting a Way Forward There are significant opportunities for the international education sector now and into the future in Australia in providing high quality onshore and offshore education and training.This Strategic Framework reflects the shared commitment of the sector and Government to embracing these opportunities,and maintaining high standards and integrity.To chart a way forward and build on its strengths,Australias international education and training sector needs to continue addressing challenges to its reputation and operations as they arise.The Strategic Framework is focused on maximising opportunities for the sector.It sets overarching priorities for international education in Australia,highlighting our focuses on responsibly managing growth to support a thriving education sector,supporting Australia to meet its skills needs,and strengthening and deepening our international relationships.Managing the system to deliver sustainable growth over timeManaging the system to deliver sustainable growth over time To ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector,the Government is committed to implementing a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time for onshore international education.This builds on measures already underway,including through the Migration Strategy,to improve the quality and integrity of the sector.Australia has one of the highest per-capita rates of international students.The Government and sector need to work together with creative solutions and innovative approaches to address integrity and infrastructure pressures,and ensure international and domestic students have access to an education system that delivers high-quality learning experiences.Supporting Australia to meet its skills needsSupporting Australia to meet its skills needs Over 3 million international students have gained an Australian education or training qualification,supporting economic growth for Australia and our key partner countries,as well as building lasting ties between Australia and countries in the region.Like other countries,Australia faces challenges in meeting current skills shortages and those of the future.International students often contribute to Australias labour market while they study,and some go on to contribute to Australia permanently by building our skills base.A longer-term approach that better aligns Australias onshore education and training offerings with our skills needs will deliver benefits to Australia and to graduates alike.It will provide clearer opportunities for graduates with the skills we need to help meet Australias future workforce requirements.Strengthening and deepening our international relationshipsStrengthening and deepening our international relationships The Government embraces the important role education plays in advancing Australias global interests beyond our borders.By strengthening people-to-people links and increasing access to Australias education systems,we are contributing to a more informed,peaceful,prosperous,and resilient region.Australia is a global leader in the delivery of transnational education;there are more than 10 Australian universities operating International Branch Campuses across 10 countries,with 3 further branch campuses expected to be opened by late 2024.Australian providers are supporting a range of innovative transnational education pilots across key regions,assisted by Government efforts working closely with partner governments to address regulatory barriers and expand transnational delivery.These efforts are taking Australias education and training system to the world.Our key strategic interests will advance through greater education engagement with the Pacific,Southeast Asia,China and India in particular.Aligning with Invested:Australias Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 and A Partnership for the Future:Australias Education Strategy for India is an opportunity for the international education sector to contribute to the implementation of these important objectives.Australias support to education and training outcomes for the Pacific helps to build a peaceful,resilient and prosperous region.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|7 Collaboration continues to strengthen,deepening connections between Australia and our key partners.For example:The opening of a Monash University campus as the first foreign university campus in Indonesia.The University of Western Sydney and Deakin University will establish campuses in Indonesia in 2024.In 2023,the establishment of Deakin University and University of Wollongong campuses in GIFT City,India,as well as 16 new partnership agreements between Australian and Indian institutions.The Bendigo-Kangan Institute has partnered with Indias Government of Gujarat and automaker Maruti Suzuki as a knowledge partner to establish the International Automobile Centre of Excellence in Gujarat.In 2024 Murdoch University opened an offshore campus with a local partner in Malaysia and has been operating in a branch campus in Singapore since 2013.When a student studies in Australia or when an Australian student goes overseas to study,they get more than an education.When they return home they take friendships,experiences,and a cultural understanding with them,forming a bridge between Australia and the rest of the world.International education should not be a one way street.It is not only about international students coming to Australia to study increasingly,its about taking Australian providers to the world.Establishing offshore campuses and other types of transnational education helps more students have a high quality education in their own or another country,deepening our international relationships.This Strategic Framework sets a new directionfor a sustainable,high-quality,and diverse international education and training sector,founded on integrity This Strategic Framework establishes clear actions for Australias international education sector:Maintaining high-quality providers and high-quality courses underpinned by a strong and transparent regulatory framework.Implementing a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time.Ensuring offerings have strong alignment to our skills requirements for a prosperous future-Australia.Carefully considering challenges in the sector as they arise to deliver outcomes for the national interest.Advancing Australias foreign policy,economic and development interests,particularly in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.Ensuring the system is free from exploitation.Expanding offshore,online,other innovative arrangements to diversify the sector.Contributing to global skills needs.Advancing Australias strategic interests.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|8 Objective 1:A Objective 1:A S Sector ector B Built uilt on on Q Quality and uality and I Integrityntegrity Australias global reputation is built on our high quality education and training systems.Action is needed to ensure it remains that way.The actions of a small number of unscrupulous providers undermine Australias reputation and exploited students.Work to strengthen the integrity of the sector is in the best interests of students and of our many high-quality providers.Australias economy then benefitswith the sector attracting high performing genuine students and delivering quality graduates who can contribute to Australias skills needs.Strengthening the integrity and quality of international education must be calibrated to target risk and ensure only those providers who meet Australias quality standards are able to operate.The capacity and composition of the international education sector needs careful management.It can be better focussed on how and where high-quality courses are delivered and their relevance to Australias skills needs,and thereby support a social licence that ensures the sectors sustainability.A focus on integrity is embedded across the international education sector,from the recruitment of students,through visa application processes to the delivery of courses.Prospective providers must be thoroughly assessed to ensure genuine intention and capacity to deliver to international students without risk of exploitation.Integrity in the system is evidenced by the delivery of a high-quality product and experience to international students.Through quality in product and delivery,trust in the sector will increase and reinforce Australias reputation as an education destination of choice.This will have flow on benefits for Australias economy.The Government is focused on ensuring integrity in the student recruitment process.The Migration Strategy places additional scrutiny on high-risk student applications.Additional work across government is underway tackling unscrupulous education provider.Case Study:National Foundation for AustraliaCase Study:National Foundation for Australia-China Relations and Charles Darwin University Indigenous China Relations and Charles Darwin University Indigenous Immersion ProgramImmersion Program The Foundations Charles Darwin University(CDU)Indigenous Immersion Program enriches the educational experience of Chinese international students by introducing them to First Nations culture.Through experiential trips and conversations with Indigenous elders in the Northern Territory,the program connects Chinese international students with Indigenous culture,history,and contemporary issues.The Foundation created a video featuring Niki Chen who is a Chinese international student with CDU,and highlighted her positive experiences with the Program and with living and studying in Darwin.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|9 Implementing integrity reformsImplementing integrity reforms The Government has,and will continue to,undertake reform across the international education and migration systems to embed robust,agile,and fit for purpose regulatory and risk frameworks to address emerging integrity and quality issues.Strong regulation of the sector disrupts and deters those who seek to exploit Australias international education system and ensures a quality student experience.Several reviews,including the Review of the Migration System announced in September 2022 with the Final Report delivered in March 2023(Migration Review),and The Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australias Visa System,announced in January 2023 with final report delivered in March 2023(Nixon Review)found more needs to be done to ensure the integrity of the international education sector.Changes to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000(ESOS Act)and associated instruments,known collectively as the ESOS framework,have increased the accountability of education providers and their agents.These changes complement reforms from the Australian Governments Migration Strategy,released 11 December 2023,which outlines the Governments vision for a better targeted migration system.Following release of the Migration Strategy,Government acted quickly to implement reforms to ensure the quality and integrity of the international education sector and student visa program.On 24 August 2023,the Government closed the concurrent study function in the Provider Registration and International Student Management System(PRISMS).This followed identification of unscrupulous practices by providers to poach international students within the first six months of their course.Government will consider if further change is needed to prevent poaching,including through lengthening the six month no-transfer period to 12 months.From 1 July 2023,Government reintroduced the working hours cap for student visa holders at an increased level of 48 hours per fortnight,and from 1 October 2023,the savings requirements for obtaining a student visa increased by 17%to$24,505,with a further increase to$29,710 occurring on 10 May 2024.Additionally,in a suite of changes implemented as part of the Migration Strategy in March 2024,the English language requirement for a student visa was raised,a Genuine Student requirement replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement,and the Minister for Home Affairs announced the use of powers under section 97 of the ESOS Act to suspend high-risk providers from recruiting international students.The measures to recalibrate student and graduate visa settings support both the education sector and Australias migration needs through clearer pathways to residency for genuine students in areas of skills shortage,and ensures graduates do not become permanently temporary.These reforms improve onshore students educational experience in Australia.They provide pathways for students with the skills Australia needs to transition to the workforce and help drive economic productivity while making clear that all students need to abide by their visa conditions.Not all students will be able to remain in Australia,but they will contribute to the development of the workforce regionally and around the world,enhancing Australias international people-to-people linkages.They strengthen the alignment of the composition of the onshore student cohort with Australias national interests.Through the use of quality agents,providers can have confidence that students they enrol are genuine and studying courses appropriate to their needs.Provider-agent business relationships that seek to undermine the migration and education systems will not be tolerated.The Government will not support exposing students to exploitation.The entry of non-genuine or high-risk providers to the international education sector affects the reputation and quality of the overall sector.Discount providers looking for a quick return by offering lower fees and shorter durations,compete against genuine providers who charge appropriately for quality education products.These providers focus on recruiting students who are already in Australia and poach students from genuine providers.These Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|10 behaviours create unfair competition,may put genuine providers out of business,and negatively affect the experience of international students.Providers seeking to enter the international education market will be required to have delivered courses to domestic students for 24 months in most circumstances.This demonstrates their commitment to quality education and closes a loophole for those providers seeking to solely target international students,often of a single nationality for profit and potentially to channel them into employment rather than study.Where a provider has not delivered a course to international students for a period for 12 months,their registration will be cancelled.The Government will enact a stronger fit and proper provider test,to prevent collusion between education agents and providers,protecting vulnerable international students from exploitation and coercion.Providers found not to be fit and proper will have an automatic condition applied so they cannot enrol any more international students.A ban on agent commissions for onshore student transfers between providers removes incentives for unscrupulous agents and providers to poach students and reaffirms the providers key role to support and advise their students.Strengthening integrity ensures the Australian public can have confidence that the international education sector is operating in the best interests of students and the economy,including through contributing to Australias critical skills needs.Legislative changes will provide Government with the power to prevent providers from delivering courses which have significant quality and integrity issues,or which have limited value to Australias skills needs.Overseas students bring a diversity of perspectives and cultures,enriching the experience of domestic students and the broader community.Many overseas students seeking to remain in Australia have also found themselves in a state of being permanently temporary as they had no pathway to a permanent visa.To support changes outlined in the Migration Strategy,the Government will also introduce the ability for the Minister for Education to stop accepting or processing applications for registration of new providers and new courses.Legislative changes address persistent integrity concerns by raising the English language requirement for a student visa,and introducing the Genuine Student requirement to replace the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement.Switching off the concurrent study function On 26 August 2023,the Australian Government took action to close a loophole that was identified with facilitating poaching of international students and other non-genuine student activity.The concurrent study function that allowed students to hold concurrent enrolments was identified as an avenue to avoid transfer restrictions under the National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018(National Code).In practice,this provision had allowed education providers to shift international students who had been in Australia for less than 6 months from genuine study to an arrangement designed to facilitate access to work in Australia.Prior to this Government action,there had been a sharp uptake in the use of the concurrent function in 2023.In the first half of 2023,17,000 concurrent enrolments were created,compared to approximately 10,500 for the same period in 2019 and 2022 combined.Following the changes,students can still study courses concurrently once they have passed 6 months with their original provider,or if their provider agrees to their release.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|11 Integrity measures timelineIntegrity measures timeline Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|12 A sustainable and diverse sectorA sustainable and diverse sector A robust and sustainable sector is one that is diverse and able to withstand and respond to changes in demand from students and in Australias economic and skills needs.There are currently over 1,400 registered providers across all sectors.Historically providers have been allowed to request the number of enrolments they want to offer overseas students,with limits on their capacity to deliver determined by their premises and teaching capacity.The number of enrolments has not been considered at a strategic level to determine the appropriate size and composition for a sustainable international education sector.Under this Strategic Framework,the Government will work with the sector to consider the optimal make-up of the onshore international education sector.This will take into account integrity and quality issues at a provider,location and course enrolment level and determine whether the composition of the sector is optimised to deliver the skills Australia needs.Experienced and Experienced and ethical providersethical providers The ESOS Act and the National Code set standards to ensure education services meet the needs and expectations of international students who come to Australia and satisfy the objectives of the ESOS Act.This includes outlining the responsibilities of providers in recruiting students,provider-agent relationships and supporting students,but the Nixon Review1 found that some education providers and their agents are exploiting the visa and education systems.To address these concerns,greater scrutiny is required at the point of entry to the market.Prospective providers will need to demonstrate to a higher level that they are ready to deliver courses to overseas students.This includes an assessment that they are fit and proper and have relevant experience and capacity to deliver quality products and support the best interests of the student.Provider relationships with agents will be scrutinised to disrupt and deter the potential exploitation of students.1 Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australias Visa System Report(homeaffairs.gov.au),p15.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|13 Best interests of Best interests of the studentthe student As noted in the Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030,promoting students best interests leads to positive outcomes.Keeping the student at the centre of the international education system will focus agent and provider behaviours on delivering quality and acting with integrity.Education agents are the face of the provider in the student recruitment process.It is imperative that providers are supported to select the agents who will operate in the best interests of the student as well as the provider and apply due diligence when assessing the genuineness of a prospective student.Increasing transparency of agent commissions and performance data will enable providers to better act on their responsibility under the National Code to ensure that their agents act ethically,honestly and in the best interests of students.It will also empower students through greater consumer awareness.Actions of providers must reflect a commitment to the best interests of the student.This includes facilitating changes in their courses where appropriate and supporting students in their broader interactions with the Australian community,whether socially or through employment.Enhanced monitoringEnhanced monitoring It is critical for Australias reputation that relevant agencies respond quickly and effectively to combat emerging integrity or compliance issues and act against unscrupulous education providers.Strong,whole of system data sharing activities and robust risk indicators will enable the regulators to address integrity concerns.This includes the development of evidence-based risk indicators for the international education sector to inform a robust whole-of-system risk architecture and to drive targeted compliance activity by education regulators.The Australian Skills Quality Authority(ASQA)recently announced an uplift in their systems and resources to address quality and integrity concerns in the Vocational Education and Training(VET)sector.The Department of Education will continue to work with ASQA and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency(TEQSA)to identify and address issues and behaviours of concern.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|14 Questions for sector consultationQuestions for sector consultation 1.Are there further reforms governments should consider that will improve the quality and integrity of the sector?2.What more can providers do to improve the integrity of the international education sector?Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|15 Objective 2:A Managed System to Deliver Sustainable Objective 2:A Managed System to Deliver Sustainable Growth Over TimeGrowth Over Time There is a promising future for the international education and training sector aligned to Australias national interests.Actively managing the growth of the sector will protect its reputation for excellence,and maintain its social licence for a long-term,sustainable future.Building on a longstanding reputation for high-quality course offerings,strong relationships with alumni cohorts and strategic partners,the sector is well placed to continue to innovate and transform for the future.Implementing a Implementing a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over timemanaged system to deliver sustainable growth over time International education is a significant national asset for Australia.The sectors significant growth has been accompanied by challenges unscrupulous providers,unpredictable growth,and exploitation of international students.These challenges require careful response from the sector,led by the Government,to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector.In recent years,and most acutely since the post-pandemic return of international students,unmanaged growth in international education has seen a rise in integrity issues and threatened the sectors social licence and Australias reputation.The Government is committed to managing the system to deliver sustainable growth over time.The Government announced several policies in the Migration Strategy that have impacted on growth in international education.These changes have had positive impacts on integrity and have helped return growth in international education back to sustainable levels,but a longer-term approach is needed to ensure this is managed across the sector.Further work is required to ensure regional and outer metropolitan universities are appropriately supported in any change,and to ensure providers attempts to diversify markets can be encouraged.A managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time will build on measures already underway to improve the quality and integrity of the sector.This will provide clarity to providers and students,help preserve the sectors social licence,support Australias skills needs,and advance the viability of regional providers.This approach will be enabled by legislative amendments to manage growth in the number of enrolments in courses and at providers,giving crucial certainty to education providers about the size of the sector.Amendments to the ESOS Act will enable this approach,giving Government the power to:limit or cease the ability of providers to deliver courses which the ESOS agencies determine have persistent quality and integrity issues,or those in areas which the Government determines have limited value to Australias critical skills needs.allow Government to set limits on enrolments at a provider level,including within specific courses or locations.These powers will enable Government to implement a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time,in consultation with the sector.This approach will apply across higher education and VET.Growth in both sectors will be carefully managed through separate approaches to reflect structural differences between the sectors.Within a plan for managing the system:Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|16 Public and private higher education provider enrolment levels will be determined by the Minister for Education.Enrolment levels for VET providers will be determined by the Minister for Skills and Training Government will consult with both the higher education and VET sectors on approaches to implementing a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time that maximise opportunities and mitigate risks unique to each sector,while supporting a common set of policy objectives for government.Government will establish a process to set international student profiles with individual universities that limit how many international students can be enrolled over a set time period,supported by changes to the ESOS Act.A range of considerations will influence the profiles allocated to universities,including the universitys supply of purpose-built student accommodation,and the contribution of enrolments to meeting Australias skills needs.Government will allow universities to enrol additional students above their international student profile where the university establishes additional,newly built supply of purpose-built student accommodation.Government will work closely with the sector to implement this policy and establish transitional arrangements that support the sector to manage this change effectively.Implementation of this approach will consider the need to provide particular support to regional delivery and regional universities.As the sector transitions into these settings,international student profiles will be included as an element of mission-based compacts agreed between universities and the Australian Government.For VET providers,Government will consult with the sector on a mechanism to distribute VET international student enrolments in accordance with the Governments objectives for managing the system.Policy development relevant to the VET sector will consider the complexity of the sector,particularly its size and scale as well as the close engagement needed with states and territories in managing the system.Government is mindful of the disproportionate impacts that managing the system to deliver sustainable growth may have on key student cohorts such as those from China and India.A focus of this approach will be to support the need for diversity across the international education sector.International student enrolments in postgraduate research degrees add significant value to Australias broader innovation and skilled migration objectives,and are a small component of the international student cohort(3 per cent).Schools,short courses,non-packaged short English courses,and non-award courses enrolments are small,have manageable housing and infrastructure impacts and are substantially lower than in other areas of the sector.As a further part of this consultation,Government will consider settings for postgraduate research enrolments,schools,short courses,non-packaged short English courses,and non-award courses,and the appropriateness of excluding these from new settings to manage growth.The Government will work closely with the international education sector in developing a plan for a managed system to deliver sustainable growth over time,and to align objectives for the sector with other areas of government policy such as those determined for domestic students through the Australian Universities Accord Final Report.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|17 Stewardship of the sectorStewardship of the sector National assets require care.With careful stewardship,the sectors value can be enhanced long into the future.Stewardship requires all stakeholders to participate in the management of the sector.A cohesive policy and regulatory ecosystem is necessary to usher the sector into the future.Australia provides rigorous protection for international students through a robust legislative framework(the ESOS Act and related legislation),which protects and enhances Australias reputation for quality education,provides tuition protection and supports the integrity of the student visa program.The Department of Education is responsible for the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students(CRICOS).Only education institutions registered under the ESOS Act and listed on CRICOS can enrol overseas students to study in Australia on a student visa.The Government continues to work with the sector to ensure the legislative framework remains fit for purpose.Stewardship also includes strong connections to visa settings and appropriate pathways to permanency for those interested in sharing the skills we need,improved graduate outcomes tied to national skills needs,and a flourishing network of relationships.This includes people-to-people and institution-to-institution relationships,aligned to our national interests.It is based on Australian education and training providers being of the highest quality and with unshakeable integrity.Stewardship of the sector should be underpinned by formal avenues for advice and decision-making.It must actively engage with the composition of the sector,align the sector with the national interest,and support actions that enhance the sectors social licence to operate.The Council for International Education(the Council),comprising Commonwealth Ministers and sector experts,is a key vehicle for sector stewardship.It brings the international education and skills sector and student voice to the development of policy and implementation of innovative solutions to pressures.The Council is effectively positioned to advise the government,convey the views of the sector,and help inform policy and regulatory decision-making.Stewardship of the sector includes the maintenance of strong relationships with international partners across the world.Australias overseas networks based across Europe,Latin America,and North,South and Southeast Asia,build confidence in the quality of Australian education and support new and existing partnerships.Combined with ongoing dialogue between government and the sector,these mechanisms provide valuable advice to inform policy and operations for all parties.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|18 DiversificationDiversification Opportunities in Latin America Latin America is a region primed to engage more strongly with Australia in international education and training opportunities.With high-quality students looking to study in areas of priority skills for Australia,matching these students to regional locations can deliver long-term benefits for students,their source countries,and Australia.Latin American students in Australia have stronger employability outcomes than other international student cohorts,with a study last year finding Colombians and Brazilians were most likely to be working in a study-related field.Australia is renowned for our world-class education system,with universities consistently ranking among the top globally.International students are an invaluable part of Australian communities,bringing new ideas and skills to enrich the fabric of our society,and a diversity of perspectives and experiences that are highly valued in our classrooms,and in the community.We provide a high-quality education,cutting-edge research,and state-of-the-art facilities to international students including those from our largest source markets:China,India and Nepal.We value the experience and skills our international students gain through studying in Australia,which can contribute to communities and workforces in both Australia and across the region.The connections between people bring us closer to our region and embed greater understanding in all our graduates of many cultures and ways of thinking.Regardless of country of origin,concentrations of students in courses and locations have been a persistent issue in the Australian international education sector.The overwhelming majority of onshore international students study in Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane(approximately 70 per cent of 2023 enrolments).There is work to be done to alleviate current pressures on accommodation,transport and other infrastructure.Governments at all levels will continue to provide leadership as the sector collaborates on implementing long term solutions.Improved market diversity is one of those solutions.Students from our five largest source markets make up over half of all international enrolments in Australia.At a provider level,concentration is often even higher.High demand for Australian education from these countries is expected to persist.These students will continue to receive a high-quality education in Australia,and contribute extensively to the Australian community.Within the bounds of international population shares and demand for international education,there is more we can do to improve our source market diversity.Demonstrating the value of Australias offerings more broadly can encourage more balanced patterns of student enrolments regardless of their country of origin.While international students are an important source of potential skilled migrations,student enrolments have not always been aligned with our national skills interests.In 2023,for example,35 per cent of tertiary level international students studied business and managementskills not generally in shortage in Australiaand only 8.7 per cent studied in areas of health and education.Similarly,there is work to do to overcome barriers to the professional recognition of qualifications in areas of skills shortage,in partnership between providers,employers,professional bodies and governments.Australias policy settings must help the international education sector to remain flexible and innovative,able to grasp opportunities and respond positively to emerging trends,and support the broader economy through strong alignment to our national priorities.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|19 Student experienceStudent experience Providers have a central role in supporting the international student experience.A positive student experience improves student outcomes and promotes Australia as a destination of choice for the worlds best students.The sector works collaboratively with states,territories and federal governments to ensure a quality student experience for international students and enhanced community engagement.States and territories also celebrate the contribution that international students make to Australian society through annual international student awards.The role of providers in ensuring student safety and supporting student welfare was emphasised in the Australian Universities Accord Interim and Final Reports.The Government has shown its commitment to student safety through its implementation of key measures such as the Support for Students Policy,an agreement to establish a National Student Ombudsman and the implementation of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education.Providers need to consider how they can support international students under these policies to ensure student safety and wellbeing.The size of the international student cohort each provider enrols should be considered against the capacity of the provider to support students to have a positive and safe student experience.Education providers need to consider how they will ensure the international students they enrol are set up to succeed,including having a positive experience.Factors which need to be considered include:availability of suitable accommodation which an education provider can offer to international students the ability for the student to receive a quality education where they can seek additional learning support they may need support services which the provider can offer or refer the international student to which helps them to flourish during their time studying and living in Australia.A sector that promotes opportunities for international students to engage with domestic students in and out of their classrooms will improve sector sustainability and enhance Australias reputation as a destination of choice.It will also support the continued development of English language skills and broader cultural skills,and provide a solid foundation for international students to transition into the Australian workforce,and succeed using the skills theyve developed.Case Study:National Foundation for Australia-China Relations Dr Stephen Fitzgerald Scholars Program The Foundations Dr Stephen Fitzgerald Scholars Program is designed to build a cohort of Chinese international students at the Honours,Masters and PhD levels with increased understanding of,and connection to,Australia.The program was named after Australias first Ambassador to China and aims to fosters lasting relationships through the next generation of Chinese leaders.The inaugural program took place in November 2023 and 30 high-performing Chinese international students from 20 Australian universities were nominated by their universities to participate in this prestigious program.Planning is underway for the 2024 program.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|20 Graduates ready for workGraduates ready for work Good employment outcomes are one of the most important factors for prospective international students when choosing a study destination,and important for Australia in seeking to attract and retain international students as skilled migrants.Providing international students with access to work integrated learning prepares them for the workforce.It supports Australias reputation for high-quality education.Through participation in work integrated learning,international students increase their capacity to find employment after graduation,build community networks,and improve their study experience.Education and training providers play a vital role in promoting international students to prospective employers and providers of work placements.Institutions should strengthen their partnerships with employers and industries to create more internship and job opportunities suitable for international students and their visas.Institutions should provide training and support to international students to participate in work integrated learning or internships,noting that there may be cultural differences and expectations within an Australian workplace which students may not be familiar with.Through the Migration Strategy,graduate visas have changed to ensure more graduates are working at their skill level,addressing skills needs,and not becoming permanently temporary.Consistent with the Migration Review,Government has adjusted the length and eligibility of post study work rights.These changes give graduates sufficient time to demonstrate their ability to succeed in the skilled labour market and establish their careers,while setting boundaries for others with low prospects of becoming permanent residents.Where a graduate is working in a skilled job in the labour market,the graduate can apply for the new Skills in Demand visa or a permanent skilled visa,rather than requiring a two-year extension.Stronger pathways from graduate visas to temporary skilled visas give employers more certainty about a graduates ongoing work rights and pathways to permanent residence.Ensuring international students have access to work integrated learning and other work experience during their studies means students gain skills beyond those available in the classroom.The experience also sets students up for better outcomes post-graduation.Through these experiences,international students build networks,develop their English language skills,and build the skills and attributes necessary to find suitable work in their field of study.Innovation through Critical Skills Courses in Agriculture The Developing Critical Skills Courses in India project,due for completion in 2024,piloted a new model for Australian and Indian VET providers to collaborate on course development and delivery in the agriculture sector.The project built partnerships between Australian and Indian education providers and industry through the development of courses that meet Indias skills needs and are aligned to Australian standards.It offers a replicable collaborative solution to skills needs through building consortia of universities,vocational institutions and industry,aligned with Australias geopolitical strategic interests.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|21 Promoting regional AustraliaPromoting regional Australia To support greater sector sustainability and onshore diversification,government and education providers need to work more closely together to support the growth of the sector in regional areas of Australia.The familiarity and amenities of major Australian cities have led to high concentrations of international students in metropolitan locations.However,regional Australia has much to offer international students in the way of unique experiences,opportunities for strong people-to-people connections on campus and in the community,and employment outcomes.The benefits are two-way:international students bring social,cultural,and economic benefits to regional Australia.They help support local jobs and industries,and internationalise regional education providers.However,in 2023,fewer than 10 per cent of international students resided and studied in regional Australia.Australian communities and international students each have much to gain from increasing the share of regional Australias international student enrolments.For example,many of the employability barriers faced by international students are due to a broader struggle to connect with local communities.Studying in regional locations provides international students with more opportunities to engage with local communities,on and off campus.Engagement in these regional settings can help build professional networks,improve English language skills,and foster the broad range of soft skills that provide the foundation for employability.Regional Australian higher education institutions are well positioned to deliver professional education in areas of acute skills needs in their regions,including nursing and teaching.Regional providers also often excel in specialist field of study rankings,for example James Cook University for marine sciences.The needs of providers in regional areas are particularly important in ensuring they are fully integrated into the system and not disadvantaged by their location or size.More can be done to promote regional Australian university rankings at a field of study level,rather than institutional level,which could help grow regional Australias share of international education enrolments,and contribute to diversifying international students field and location of study,including in areas that align with Australias skills shortages and source country priorities.Promoting regional Australia abroad In Latin America,the Australian Government has worked with the Regional Universities Network(RUN)to promote the quality education and research produced in regional Australia and facilitate international collaboration in areas of shared strategic interest,such as agriculture and energy.Following a series of online events with government and institutional partners in the region,RUN worked with the Department of Education to support a research mission to Brazil,Colombia and Chile in March 2024 to promote engagement on sustainability and the clean energy transition.This has increased awareness and strengthened the profile of regional Australia in Latin America,creating new opportunities to attract international students,academics and researchers,and strengthen international education linkages in areas of mutual benefit aligned with Australias geopolitical strategic interests.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|22 Meeting Australias skills needsMeeting Australias skills needs Like other countries,Australia faces challenges in meeting current skills shortages and those of the future.International students often contribute to Australias labour market while they study,and some go on to contribute to Australia permanently in building our skills base.International students with the skills Australia needs have the potential to make a strong contribution to the economy.Where they study courses that align with our skills needs,it can deliver benefits to Australia and to graduates alike.It would provide clearer opportunities for graduates with the skills we need to help meet Australias future workforce requirements and help avoid circumstances where some become permanently temporary.More can be done to encourage study in areas of persistent and critical skills shortage such as in teaching and nursing.International student enrolments in areas of critical skills shortage can be supported through a managed approach to student growth.Innovation in research collaboration The Australian Governments Offshore Counsellor Network proposed a Virtual PhD Internship Program(Internship)to the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education as an innovative solution to impacted research collaboration activities during global travel restrictions in the pandemic.The Internship offered an opportunity for Malaysian PhD students at public universities to undertake an international research collaboration experience with world-class Australian researchers.This venture was the first of its kind in the region.The key objectives of the Internship were:To hone critical skills in an international academic research setting To build collaborative partnerships with Australia To foster ongoing collaboration between Australian host institutions and Malaysian home institutions.Ten PhD candidates in the fields of humanities,education and social sciences were selected from a competitive field to undertake a 2-month virtual internship with an Australian university,commencing in June 2022.Throughout the Internship,participants met online with their Australian supervisors and actively participated in the host research teams activities,including through seminar participation,peer group discussions and team journal clubs.The Internship concluded with a hybrid academic symposium,where each PhD candidate presented their research findings.Candidates and supervisors reported an overwhelmingly positive experience of the Internship and candidates also fed back that their research and communication skills had improved greatly over the duration of the internship.Every participant of the inaugural program has developed ongoing research collaborations with their Australian host university.A second cohort of 12 Malaysian PhD students completed the Internship in 2023-2024,with 2022 participants acting as mentors for the new participants.A third cohort will commence in late 2024.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|23 Alumni engagement and researcher networksAlumni engagement and researcher networks International students enhance our innovation,economic growth,and global competitiveness.For international students and their families,a return on investment means more than a quality education.Alumni of Australian institutions and our scholarship and fellowship programs are critical to Australias relationships in the region.International students enhance our innovation,economic growth,and global competitiveness.Ensuring meaningful alumni engagement into the future will strengthen Australias positive reputation and geostrategic policy.There is more that can be done in building the awareness and consideration of,and grow preference for,Australian services among learners,industry,and governments in key offshore markets.In particular,the Australian government invests heavily in engagement with outbound and inbound scholarships program participants.Since the 1950s,Australia Awards and predecessor scholarships programs have produced an estimated 100,000 alumni a diverse and talented group who contribute to positive development outcomes in our region and act as a vital diplomatic asset to help advance Australias regional and global influence.This is balanced by over 43,000(Australian)alumni of the New Colombo Plan since 2014,with experience and connections in the region.We will continue to build on and refocus existing programs to bolster on-award engagement with students and alumni engagement by posts.These efforts will ensure we continue to attract the best candidates and retain connections that underpin our strategic and development objectives across the region.In addition to deepening connections between Australia and the Awardee(s),alumni engagement also provides opportunities for government and key partners to connect with our programs,highlight Australian policy,priorities and excellence,lay the foundations for long-term connections and strengthen bilateral relations.Our delivery partners play a crucial role in building and enhancing connections,including creating and delivering activities.Existing funding for Australian alumni engagement is used for activities such as exhibitions,small grant projects,professional development workshops and seminars.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|24 Alumni Profile-Namgyal Dorji Minister for the Ministry of Industry,Commerce,and Employment,Bhutan Masters of International Relations,from the Coral Bell School of the Asia-Pacific College at the Australian National University At the age of 39,the youngest member of the Bhutanese Cabinet,Australia Awards alumnus Namgyak Dorji provided welcoming remarks to the Australia Awards South Asia&Mongolia Regional Alumni Workshop on 22 April 2024.He expressed his gratitude to the Australia Awards Scholarship,the potential and support that the program provides.“Australia has empowered 1200 Bhutanese leaders through Australia Awards As Bhutans representative to the UN,I translated the theoretical foundations of my study at ANU into practical action.What a journey it has been.My Australia Awards experience has driven positive changeand reaffirmed my belief in creating a more just and equitable world.”Case Study:Australia Awards Women Leading and Influencing(WLI)Pacific The Australia Awards Women Leading and Influencing program provides leadership training,coaching and mentoring for Pacific scholars studying at Australian universities.Together,scholars build skills,networks and readiness and forge enduring person-to-person links with alumni in Australia and the Pacific.This network consists of almost 200 alumni and the 2024 cohort commenced their 18-month program with a leadership intensive at Outward Bound,Canberra.Scholars also met with Australias Minister for International Development and Pacific and other Ministers at Parliament House.Each cohort brings together diverse expertise and experience to explore leadership in practice,gender and inclusion,and deepen higher education networks to contribute to resilience and prosperity in the Pacific region.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|25 Working with our regionWorking with our region Australia is committed to working with the Pacific and Southeast Asia to address our shared climate,economic,environment and security priorities.In addition to making an important social and economic contribution to the Pacific and Southeast Asia,international education and training can play a larger role in building the regions prosperity and security,as well as building connections between Australia and our regional partners.Australias world class education and skills systems are highly valued in the Pacific and Timor-Leste where skills development is a powerful driver of economic and social growth.Pacific partners value Australias longstanding investments in education and training,including through the Australia Pacific Training Coalition(APTC),partnership with the University of the South Pacific(USP)and bilateral education programs.Commitment to the Pacific Regional Education Framework(PacREF)promotes the shared benefits of education for the region including economic development,social inclusion,and building climate resilience.The Australia Awards is the Governments primary bilateral program enabling emerging leaders across the Pacific region to study in Australia,the Pacific and Papua New Guinea(PNG).They offer high-potential scholars the opportunity to undertake study,research,and professional development in Australia,the Pacific and PNG,building lifelong connections to Australia and between countries in the region.Australia has longstanding connections with Southeast Asiathrough ties between our people,economies,and support for an open,stable,and prosperous region.The Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040(SEA Strategy)sets out a pathway to increase Australias two way trade and investment with the region including in education and skills.The Strategy highlights research collaboration,expanded offshore delivery,increased scholarships and mobility programs as potential mechanisms to increase engagement in the region.The New Colombo Plan(NCP)further delivers against Government priorities to connect Australians with the Pacific and Southeast Asia.In 2023,398 Australian undergraduates undertook NCP scholarships in 30 host locations,and 7,734 Australian undergraduates were supported by NCP grants to participate in mobility projects(for shorter-term study and work-based experiences)in 35 host locations.Quality education is central to achieving Australias human development objectives in the region,in line with Australias International Development Policy.Australias international development program is bolstering these efforts,with almost$200 million in Official Development Assistance(ODA)in 2023-24 supporting education in this region.Our partnership activities range from policy reform to skills development,alongside our longstanding scholarships,fellowships and alumni programs.The ASEAN Scholars Leadership Program(ASLP)The ASLP provides a transformative 10-month leadership enrichment program for Aus4ASEAN scholars completing a masters level scholarship at an Australian university.With the opportunity to engage at an intensity that suits their interest and availability,scholars have had access to a combination of online facilitated learning sessions,face-to-face leadership retreats and one-on-one leadership coaching.Through a merit-based process,5 of the scholars have also been supported to undertake an internship relevant to their field of study.Beyond enhancing scholars skills,networks,and readiness to take on leadership roles in their workplaces,communities and countries,the ASLP aims to forge links between leaders in the ASEAN region and Australia,strengthening people-to-people connections.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|26 Domestic success and global influenceDomestic success and global influence International education plays an important role in advancing Australias global interests beyond our borderscontributing to a more informed,peaceful,prosperous and resilient region.International education helps to train the researchers of the future,contributing to closer trade and investment through enhanced people-to-people links and bolstering the research collaborations needed to pursue a clean energy future and ensure Australias sovereignty.Moreover,international education is a powerful tool for regional influence.As a key player in the region,Australia needs to leverage our education,skills and research partnerships to ensure regional cohesion and stability.As the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 outlines,“Australias education sector is a national asset in our engagement integral to building enduring relationships and economic prosperity with the region.”This is because international education creates“connections between people,institutions,and governments that can be used as building blocks for further cooperation”.International education also forms a core part of strategic engagement in the Pacific.Commencing in 2024,the Pacific Engagement Visa will increase permanent migration from the Pacific and Timor-Leste,growing the diaspora in Australia,strengthening people-to-people links,and encouraging greater cultural,business and educational exchange.Those selected will be able to apply for permanent residence to live,work and study in Australia.International education therefore remains fundamental in advancing not only closer people-to-people links through student exchange,but by offering a crucial lever for achieving Australias foreign policy goals.Case Study:Australia-Vietnam international education relationship Australia is a leading education destination for Vietnamese students,with more than 38,000 Vietnamese students studying in Australia in 2023.Vietnam is also Australias fifth largest market for international student enrolments.We collaborate bilaterally on many education and training initiatives,including in quality assurance,qualification recognition,research collaboration and vocational education;facilitating institution-to-institution partnerships;and supporting vibrant Australian alumni associations.The new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Australia will further bolster education cooperation and we continue to support efforts to build enduring relationships between our universities,especially in relation to increasing exchange of students and staff,and collaboration in research and innovation,as well as supporting Vietnams university governance and internationalisation reform agenda.We are also working with Vietnam to enable more Australian universities to have a presence in Vietnam and a joint Working Group has been established to support this particular objective.To further strengthen collaboration in knowledge and innovation,Australia and Vietnam have established the Vietnam-Australia Centre at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in Hanoi.The Centre draws on Australian expertise to support Vietnams future leadership,while enabling Vietnam and Australia to pursue solutions to shared national and regional challenges and deepen people-to-people and institutional links.It brings together influential Vietnamese and Australian leaders,government officials,experts and academics.Through Aus4Innovation,Australia and Vietnam are together exploring emerging areas of technology and digital transformation,trialling new models for partnerships between public and private sector institutions,and strengthening Vietnamese capability in digital foresight,scenario planning,commercialisation,and innovation policy.Aus4Innovation is a collaboration between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,CSIRO and Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology.It is funded through Australias development program.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|27 Questions for sector consultationQuestions for sector consultation 1.What factors should inform governments approach to allocating international student enrolments across sectors,providers,and locations in Australia?2.What considerations for government should inform the overall level of international students in Australia?3.How will this approach to managing the system affect individual providers?4.Should sectors other than higher education and vocational education and training,such as schools,ELICOS and non-award be included in approaches to manage the system for sustainable growth?5.How should government determine which courses are best aligned to Australias skills needs?6.How should government implement a link between the number of international students and an increased supply of student housing?7.What transition arrangements would support the implementation of a new approach?Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|28 Objective 3:Taking Australian Education and Training to Objective 3:Taking Australian Education and Training to the the WWorldorld The Australian Government is focused on building Australias economic prosperity and social wellbeing by creating opportunities and driving positive outcomes through access to high-quality education and training.Australia is embracing the opportunities to build a sustainable and diverse international education sector through high-quality and innovative delivery models,including transnational education(TNE).International education is a key enabler for Australias strategic partnerships and plays a key role in advancing our foreign policy objectives in our region and beyond.Education is a cornerstone of Australias global reputation and government-to-government relationships,and it underpins our engagement in key global fora.As a world leader in the delivery of high-quality education,Australia must look to maximise high-quality and sustainable offshore TNE market opportunities and take our education and training to the world.Transnational EducationTransnational Education Australia is seen as an attractive destination for students seeking an international education.In charting a new course for Australias international education sector and managing future growth,it is well placed to capitalise on market opportunities and take Australian education and training to the world through diverse and innovative TNE delivery modes.TNE further provides students with an alternative and flexible option to reap the benefits of an international degree.Now more than ever,students are studying offshore with Australian providers.The flexibility of TNE programs makes them particularly attractive to mature students,students in employment and students who may not be able to travel for health reasons.In a post-pandemic world,TNE stands out as being a transformative force in shaping a more inclusive and culturally diverse society.Australia is a desirable international education destination within the Indo-Pacific region due to its geographic positioning,strong quality offerings,high rates of student satisfaction and close neighbourly ties.Within our region and beyond,there is untapped potential to support both capacity development and local demand for education.Latin America is another diversification region outside our immediate neighbourhood that has seen long-standing investment in market development from the Australian Government.The Governments Education and Research Offshore Counsellor Network,through the Department of Education,plays a leading role in advancing the policy settings and international relationships providers require in key regions to deliver in a global market.Ensuring recognition of Australias qualifications and supporting other countries alignment with our policy frameworks helps remove barriers to TNE for Australian providers and opens new market opportunities.Marketing and promotion are integral to enabling increased offshore delivery of Australian education and skills.As the Australian Government agency with responsibility for marketing and promoting Australian education and skills globally,the Australian Trade and Investment Commission,known as Austrade,helps Australian education and training providers to grow and diversify their export markets.Austrade promotes Australian education and training to prospective international students in their home countries.There is strong groundwork and experience with Australian universities already establishing branch campuses overseas and a growing body of collaborative partnerships reflecting diverse TNE delivery modes.We can build Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|29 on the strength of Australias education and training system with our key partner countries and leverage the alignment of our respective education systems to address critical skill needs and common objectives.Australian providers have demonstrated records of innovation and creativity.During the COVID-19 pandemic,providers rapidly expanded their delivery options to offer students the flexibility to study at home,with the support of their family,whilst borders were closed.Building on this innovation,the sector continues to embrace opportunities to expand the international education and training market.Australia has long been a leader in TNE delivery,with the focus shifting from one of early growth and adoption,to one centred around sustaining impact.Leveraging the lessons learned historically,as well as those more recently through the COVID-19 pandemic,Australian education and training providers are in an enviable position and well-primed to take the benefits of a high quality educational experience to the world.There is no internationally accepted definition of TNE.In Australia,it refers to the delivery of programs and courses to students living outside of Australia.Broadly,there are two overarching models by which Australian providers can deliver TNE:the traditional offshore TNE(i.e.offshore campus and joint delivery partner models)and the more recently embraced online TNE.Other hybrid models exist and will continue to emerge as academics and providers experiment and test new technologies and methods to facilitate education delivery in this fast-moving space.Snapshot of some TNE delivery modelsSnapshot of some TNE delivery models Branch Campus Franchise Arrangement Twinning Arrangement Online An Australian provider establishes a bricks and mortar campus in another country to offer programs and qualifications.Branch campuses may be fully or jointly owned by the Australian institution.An Australian provider authorises a foreign provider to offer,either as a whole or in part,an approved program of study.The Australian provider supplies the syllabus to be delivered by the foreign provider.An Australian provider and foreign provider partner to offer arrangements where students complete the first component of the qualification offshore before completing their studies in Australia.This may result in a joint or double degree.An Australian provider delivers education directly to students anywhere in the world through the internet.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|30 Case Study:RMIT collaboration on cyber security and digital skills in Indonesia RMIT is delivering the digital skills of tomorrow in Indonesias Nongsa Digital Park in Batam,through a strategic partnership signed in 2021 with local partner Infinite Learning.Through the partnership,RMIT has been delivering intensive cyber security short courses to the local workforce in Batam since 2022.In August 2023,the partnership was expanded to deliver a games design and development short course.Case study:Monash University helping meet education demand in the region Monash Universitys campus in Jakarta(Monash University International)was established in 2021 as Indonesias first international,foreign-owned university.In addition to Masters and PhD programs,Monash Jakarta partners with industry on training and research to help address pressing challenges facing Indonesias economic and technological development.The campus is a prime example of how Australian TNE can support the global innovation needs of tomorrow.For example,in response to Indonesias plans to build the new capital city Nusantara,Monash University International will deliver courses in public policy and management,business innovation,cyber security and public health to Indonesian scholars as part of the Australia Awards Nusantara Scholarships.TNE Pilot Collaborative Online International Learning(COIL)in Colombia A cultural shift has occurred with online learning in Latin America.There are new models of international education collaboration which create new opportunities for Australian providers to develop and foster relationships in Latin America,deepening mutual understanding and enabling long-term diversification.Australia is actively engaged with Brazil and Colombia to share expertise in quality assurance of online learning,paving the way for Australian providers to increase delivery in the region.To encourage stronger higher education partnerships between Australia and Colombia,the Department of Education has supported a pilot project to connect providers in both countries to develop and deliver a COIL project for their students.COIL is a means to accelerate the TNE journey,embedding TNE-like approaches into the mainstream and providing a platform for TNE development.The pilot has facilitated six new partnerships and early feedback has highlighted how the online model can be leveraged to overcome distance and to support provider collaboration.Through the pilot,providers are able to offer international education experiences as part of the curriculum and develop linkages that open the door to longer term collaboration.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|31 New and strengthened transnational education partnershipsNew and strengthened transnational education partnerships Australia is a leader in international education and is widely recognised for the quality of its education providers across higher education,vocational education and training,English language and schools.The quality of our education sector means it is well placed to capitalise on opportunities for online delivery.Australias proximity to key markets and shared time zones with Asia are advantages for enabling synchronous communication,service and support to students.Australia can advance beyond establishing international branch campuses and partnerships,to embrace innovative TNE models underpinned by quality,integrity and sustainable impact.For some markets,the establishment of international branch campuses may still be the best option to address skills shortages and benefit respective economies.Government encouragement of innovationGovernment encouragement of innovation In the past two decades,Australian education providers have developed sophisticated and successful approaches to the provision of education to students located outside of Australia.The scale and scope of TNE delivery,including the range of partnerships and types of delivery models,is diverse and continues to evolve.The Government is also ensuring the quality and integrity of Australias education system by supporting the sector to mitigate the risk of foreign interference.Foreign powers continue to seek to interfere in the sector in pursuit of commercial or strategic interests.In 2023,the Transnational Education Working Group of the University Foreign Interference Taskforce developed guidance for universities engaging in TNE arrangements.This guidance established a range of counter foreign interference considerations that universities may consider when assessing the complexity of operating offshore,online or through international partnerships(including multi-party and commercial arrangements).The Government is continuing to ensure the sector builds awareness of and resilience to foreign interference risk.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|32 Expanding recognition of Australian qualifications internationallyExpanding recognition of Australian qualifications internationally Australian qualifications are increasingly recognised all over the world.Qualifications recognition is a fundamental enabler of student,graduate,academic and worker mobility.It underpins partnerships,linkages and collaborations both regionally and globally.Certain modes of TNE delivery are also affected by a lack of recognition,requiring greater cross-border dialogue and cooperation.The Government actively leads engagement with our strategic partners to promote best principles and practices for qualifications recognition.This minimises barriers to the recognition of Australian qualifications,which in turn promotes student and graduate mobility.By continuing to work with strategic partners,Australia is influencing recognition systems to align with international best practice.Australia is also addressing the policy settings which impede the recognition of Australian qualifications and the expansion of Australian education delivery offshore.Engagement in this field also increases education cooperation more broadly.This includes supporting strategic partners to develop qualifications frameworks and quality assurance systems,which underpin our education and training system.Australia was a key champion in the development and adoption of the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education 2019(Global Convention),helping to secure ambitious provisions for the recognition of quality assured online learning,offshore campus delivery and joint degrees,as well as other innovative forms of education delivery,vital to the new era of education.The UNESCO recognition conventions remain Australias preferred mechanism for cooperation on qualifications recognition.They offer an effective,efficient,and sustainable treaty level framework based on best principles and practices to support the recognition of overseas qualifications and student mobility.Mining in Latin America The Government is working with the training sector to pilot vocational training courses and micro-credentials based on occupational standards for in-demand mining jobs in Argentina,Chile and Mexico.The pilot will deliver products that are broadly aligned to the Australian system.This will facilitate both offshore delivery by Australian VET providers as well as recognition of skills for migration purposes to Australia or across Latin America.The pilot will also support Australian mining companies to access the skills they need to operate developed through trusted providers.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|33 Spotlight:AustraliaSpotlight:Australia-India International Education RelationshipIndia International Education Relationship A Partnership for the Future:Australias Education Strategy for India In November 2023,Minister Clare released A Partnership for the Future:Australias Education Strategy for India.The strategy builds on our strong bilateral relationship and demonstrates to India that Australia is a committed education partner with deep ties and a clear vision for the partnership.Working together,Australia and India can be leaders in education,research,and technology in the region and beyond.The three pillars of the strategy are:Delivering mutual benefits through education Strengthening institutional partnerships and research collaboration Enhancing people-to-people links,mobility and employability.The strategy is an opportunity to build partnerships and deliver quality education that contributes to Indias economic growth while also educating Australias and Indias future workforces.Australia India Research collaboration Australia has a diverse span of research partnerships with India,with ever increasing research outputs in biomedical and clinical sciences,engineering,biological sciences,health sciences,and information technology.A long-term,high-quality,and impactful research collaboration between our two countries ensures a strong research workforce prepared to tackle humanitys future challenges,such as climate change and food and water security.The Australian Government continues to support research capacity building,with the Department of Education funding two important programs:The Australia India Research Student(AIRS)Fellowships were announced at the sixth Australia India Education Council(AIEC)during Minister Pradhans visit in August 2022 and implemented in 2023.The program supported Australian and Indian research students and early career researchers to undertake short-term placements.It enhanced researcher networks,broaden collaboration,and strengthen academic mobility between Australia and India,further deepening the research excellence of both countries.A total of 59 fellowships were awarded to research students and early-career researchers:33 Indians and 26 Australians.The Australia India Unnati Research Collaboration Grants Program,announced at the sixth Australian International Education Conference(AIEC)during Minister Pradhans visit in August 2022,enhanced existing research projects or provided seed funding to promote new opportunities and encourage collaboration with India in four targeted sectors.The Australia India Unnati Research Collaboration Grants boosted and deepened research collaboration between Australia and India.Twelve Australian researchers across nine universities were awarded grants of up to AUD$30,000.They were supported by Indian partners from more than 20 higher education institutions,research centres and industry.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|34 Mechanism for the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications between Australia and India On 2 March 2023,Minister Clare and Minister Pradhan,Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the Government of India,signed the Mechanism for the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications between Australia and India(the Mechanism).The Mechanism is the most comprehensive qualification recognition agreement India has ever announced,and has been well received by stakeholders in both countries.The Mechanism commits Australia and India to recognise secondary and post-secondary education qualifications to facilitate access to higher education and for general employment.Australias education sector benefits through greater diversification and optimised mobility outcomes.For Indian nationals,the Mechanism will deliver greater confidence that they can study at Australian institutions and use their Australian qualification in India to pursue further study and public sector employment.Importantly,it secures the recognition of qualifications gained through transnational delivery,paving the way for streamlined entry of Australian providers to India.Skills Strategy for India In November 2023,Minister OConnor announced the Governments commitment to develop a Skills Strategy for India,at the inaugural Australia India Education and Skills Council(AIESC)meeting.This Strategy will provide a roadmap for deepening skills engagement with India,informed and supported by the Australian and Indian VET sectors.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|35 TNE innovation-Australia and India Australia is committed to supporting the Indian Governments National Education Policy 2020 agenda to have 50 per cent of its learners through school and higher education,including vocational education and training,by 2035.Collaboration between our two nations continues to move from strength to strength with India implementing transformational regulations,allowing for the first time joint delivery of degrees by Australian higher education providers and the establishment of foreign campuses.In May 2022,the University Grants Commission(UGC)approved regulations that allow Indian and foreign universities to offer twinning,joint and dual degrees:Twinning programs final qualification is awarded by the Indian university,but part of their program is undertaken offshore with a foreign university.Joint degree program the curriculum is designed by both the collaborating Indian and foreign universities.Upon completion of the course,a single joint degree qualification is awarded.Dual-degree programs programs offered by both the Indian and foreign university in the same subject area and at the same qualification level.Two qualifications are awarded one by the foreign university and one by the Indian university.In November 2023,the UGC also approved regulations that allow the establishment and operation of foreign university branch campuses in India.The regulations also regulate the entry and operations of foreign universities/institutions in India to conduct certificate,diploma,degree,research,and other programs at the undergraduate,postgraduate,doctoral,and post-doctoral levels.In 2022,India allowed foreign universities to establish in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City(GIFT City)to provide skilling solutions for companies in the area.Campus developments demonstrate Australias higher education sector is a committed partner for Indian industry in developing skilled workforces.Now Australian universities will be able to establish branch campuses in other areas of India.The University of Wollongong and Deakin University were not only the first Australian universities,but the first foreign universities to establish campuses in India.The University of Wollongong GIFT City campus will offer postgraduate courses in computing,finance and financial technology in 2024,and undergraduate courses in business and computing science in 2025.The University of Wollongong has strong and ongoing relations with India through strategic research collaborations in the fields of 3D bioprinting,transportation,and advanced medicine solutions.Deakin University has been a leader in building Australia-India relations over the past 30 years.Deakins GIFT City campus will start teaching in 2024 and initially offer postgraduate courses in cybersecurity and business analytics.It will then expand to other degrees from the faculties of Science,Engineering&Built Environment and Business&Law.The opportunity for Australian providers to establish campuses in India both in and beyond GIFT City will further strengthen bilateral relationships.The first-mover response from Australian providers to opportunities in GIFT City,the development of joint programs,and establishment of foreign branch campuses in India,has seen Australia move ahead as Indias key partner of choice in education.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|36 Questions for sector consultationQuestions for sector consultation 1.What are the barriers to growth in offshore and transnational delivery of Australian education and training?2.Where can government direct effort to support transnational education?Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|37 Next Next S Stepsteps This Strategic Framework marks a significant shift for Australias international education sector.Government invites views from the sector and interested parties on the issues raised ahead of finalising the Strategic Framework later in 2024.Australia is a highly sought after destination for international education for students from all over the world.This reflects the quality of our education providers,teaching and learning facilities,and the varied and unique experiences available for students in Australia.The Government is committed to the careful management of Australias international education sector,and to strengthening its quality,integrity and reputation.We seek to shape a sector which is sustainable in the long-term and which plays a leading role in delivering on Australias national objectives.Enhancing the quality and integrity of the sector,strongly aligning education outcomes with areas of skills needs,and continuing to build our innovative delivery models are just some of the key measures that will help advance Australias position as a world leader in education.We are dedicated to supporting international students,and to acknowledging the significant contributions they make to our nations cultural and social fabric.The perspectives and diversity that onshore students bring to Australia are valued,which is reflected in the initiatives aimed at ensuring they have a high-quality student experience and access to safe and affordable housing.By keeping the student at the centre of the international education system,we can focus agent and provider behaviours on delivering quality services and acting with integrity.Australias international education and training sector is a success story.The Strategic Framework identifies some of the remarkable partnerships,agreements,and broader strategic outcomes we have generated with educational partners and students worldwide.That many of these outcomes were achieved during the pandemic amidst a rapidly changing and unpredictable environment highlights our capacity for collaboration,exchange and innovationqualities that will continue to shape the sector into the future.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|38 Appendix A:Recent reviews and reforms with strategic Appendix A:Recent reviews and reforms with strategic implications for the international education and training implications for the international education and training sectorsector Review and Reforms Implication for International Education Quality and Integrity the Quest for Sustainable Growth:Interim Report into International Education.Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,Defence and Trade Parliamentary Inquiry into Australias Tourism and International Education Sectors The interim report focuses on the challenges and opportunities presented to the international education sector.The report highlights:The value of international education students beyond just economic value.The importance of soft power diplomacy and workforce skills.How international education can source the best and brightest international graduates to support solutions for Australias skills shortages.The future of skilled work pathways including work integrated learning.The international student experience and the benefits that these students bring to Australia,including the importance of their cultural diversity.The cost-of-living pressures and options for student accommodation.Challenges around data sharing between agencies and organisations.Challenges for the registration of education agents and how it could be improved.Australian Universities Accord Final Report Strengthening Australias international education sector was an important focus for the Australian Universities Accord,with the Panel recognising the significant contribution international students make to the economy as well as Australias relationships with key partners.The Final Report provided recommendations to:Address issues with quality and integrity of the sector and ensure that international education providers maintain their social licence to operate.Better align courses to the national skills agenda and migration initiatives.Support growth of international education in regional and remote areas.Explore opportunities to support diversification of student markets,including transnational education.Enhance alumni engagement.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|39 Review and Reforms Implication for International Education Working Future:The Australian Governments White Paper on Jobs and Opportunities(Employment White Paper)The Employment White Paper sets out the Governments roadmap for the Australian labour market.It lays the foundation for a more robust and equitable labour market,poised to meet the evolving demands of the future for the benefit of all Australians.For Australias national training system in particular,the White Paper highlights the importance of:an adaptable VET system that responds to emerging skills needs,ensuring that the VET,higher education and migration systems are working together to tackle skills challenges in a co-ordinated way,the critical role of Jobs and Skills and Australia in providing labour market forecasting to support education and training policy for the future,and the importance of foundation skills,high quality careers advice,and breaking down barriers to lifelong learning.The White Paper supports the key role that Australias training system plays in supporting labour market outcomes for priority cohorts,such as First Nations people,women,and students with disability,by reducing barriers to workforce participation.Invested:Australias Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 The strategy outlines a practical pathway to significantly increase two-way trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia,including through education and skills to deepen our engagement.Recommendations from the strategy focus on:Promoting and raising awareness of Australias education offerings across Southeast Asia to attract more Southeast Asian students Removing blockages and maintaining Australias position as an education destination of choice Building capability and enhancing enduring linkages between Australia and the region,including economic and people-to-people connections Deepening investment in research collaboration with Southeast Asian countries,including research grants.A Partnership for the Future:Australias Education Strategy for India This strategy demonstrates the committed education partnership between India and Australia and a clear vision for the partnership going forward,including:Delivering mutual benefits through education.Strengthening institutional partnerships and research collaboration.Enhancing people-to-people links,mobility and employability.The strategy was developed to complement and build on the education recommendations of the India Economic Strategy 2018 and the Update to the India Economic Strategy 2022.Australias International Education and Skills Strategic Framework|40 Review and Reforms Implication for International Education National Defence:Defence Strategic Review 2023 The strategic direction and key findings from the Defence Strategic Review will s
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