Foundational learning: Why it’s not just about schooling, but a smart investment in people and societies

The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning

Around the world, children are spending more years in school than ever before. Yet, in too many places, this increase in schooling is not translating into actual learning. A new synthesis of growing evidence, developed by the What Works Hub for Global Education team at the Blavatnik School of Government in partnership with the Global Coalition for Foundational Learning, makes one thing clear: learning, particularly foundational learning in early primary grades (G1-3) and beyond, plays a pivotal role in determining later employment, wage, health and economic growth outcomes.

This review has shown that it is not just schooling, but the learning achieved through schooling, that is associated with improvement in later outcomes for both individuals and society as a whole.

The synthesis brings together 54 studies on the link between learning and outcomes, painting a comprehensive picture of how foundational skills, such as basic literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional learning, are linked to earnings, employment, health, gender equity, school attainment and economic growth.

Foundational learning leads to lifelong dividends

At the individual level, the review finds strong and consistent associations between foundational learning skills and a range of later life outcomes:

• In Pakistan, children who perform better on literacy and numeracy tests go on to earn 12% to 28% more each month, showing that learning early can have a real and lasting impact on future earnings.
• When women complete primary school and gain basic literacy, their children are 67% less likely to die in infancy. Foundational learning doesn’t just change lives, it saves them.
• Students with stronger math skills are 50% less likely to drop out of school, not just once, but at two critical stages: between ages 8–12 and again between 12–15.

These findings affirm what many parents and teachers already know: when children master the basics, they are far more likely to stay in school, stay healthy, earn more, and make empowered decisions later in life.

Learning fuels economic growth far more than years of schooling alone

While years of schooling have long been used as a proxy for human capital, this review underscores a critical shift in thinking. Research shows that learning, not just time spent in school, is what really drives economic growth.

In fact, one study found that improving test scores had nearly six times more impact on GDP growth than increasing years of schooling alone. Another found that just a 1% improvement in learning outcomes could boost a country’s annual GDP growth by over 7%, a much bigger return than schooling alone delivers.

This is a crucial finding for governments seeking to strengthen human capital and create conditions to drive long-term economic growth and opportunity. At a time when international development budgets are under strain, investments in learning, which also help reduce repetition and drop-out rates, are not only strategic but necessary to cut the cost of future spending on learning. Investing in foundational learning skills isn’t just an education priority, it’s an economic imperative.

We know what works but now we must scale it

Fortunately, in recent decades a range of innovative programmes have significantly improved foundational learning. These proven solutions include approaches such as targeted instruction, such as Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), and structured pedagogy, which have shown cost-effective gains across contexts. To ensure lasting impact, these approaches must be grounded in evidence-informed practices and aligned with the latest research on how children learn best.

But as the brief cautions, knowing what works is not enough on its own. A key challenge is ensuring successful programmes are adapted and implemented in different contexts at scale. Bridging the gap between policy and practice requires intentional focus on implementation, systems support, measurement and efficient financing – alongside a clear understanding of the cost of scaling. More evidence is also needed on how to deliver learning at scale to the most marginalised children, ensuring no one is left behind. Only then can we turn evidence into impact at scale.

As a Coalition, we commit to supporting and amplifying efforts to scale effective foundational learning interventions and to collaborate across the Coalition, government and non-government partners to address the challenges of scaling sustainably, without compromising implementation quality. Scaling must also be grounded in equity, inclusion, early learning and cross-sector coordination to reach the most marginalised children.

Looking ahead

This brief arrives at a critical moment. As governments, development partners and implementers strive to recover learning losses and build resilient systems, foundational learning must be at the heart of their agendas.

As more children survive through improved health interventions, better nutrition and technological advancements, we must ensure they have the chance not just to survive – but to thrive. Foundational learning is not optional; it is an economic imperative.

As the evidence makes clear, learning-oriented policies can contribute not only to educational goals, but to countries’ broader development objectives, economic outcomes, health equity and gender empowerment. Investing in foundational learning creates the conditions for growth, drives self-sustained development and represents smart economics.

We invite policymakers, funders and practitioners to explore this synthesis and reflect on its implications. The returns on investing in foundational learning are too great to ignore, and the costs of inaction would be even greater.

Read the full synthesis brief here: The benefits of foundational learning to individuals and society: a review of the evidence

The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning was founded in 2022 to bring together partners with a shared commitment to improving foundational learning for all and a desire to work together to drive change more quickly. The main objective is to rapidly accelerate progress towards reducing the alarmingly high rate of learning poverty globally; by helping countries to access and use data, set ambitious targets and implement plans to achieve them.

The co-convenors are UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Gates Foundation, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank.

The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning. 2025. Foundational learning: Why it’s not just about schooling, but a smart investment in people and societies. What Works Hub for Global Education. Blog. 2025/011. https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-WhatWorksHubforGlobalEducation-BL_2025/011