Why local education leaders matter: Strengthening systems from the middle
In many countries, education systems are made up of different levels. One important but often overlooked level is the ‘middle-tier’ of education systems. The middle-tier, as defined by the Education Development Trust and UNESCO, refers to regional, district, or sub-district education systems – the often-complex area positioned between schools and national or state level policy making. Although it tends to look very different from country to country, the middle-tier typically comprises a wide range of professionals with planning, management, and pedagogical support functions such as district officers and school supervisors. This level plays a pivotal role in translating national policies into practical actions at the school level, effectively bridging the gap between policy design and teachers, who are key to making sure students receive quality education and make progress in their learning.
System strengthening and middle-tier
System strengthening efforts often involve activities such as education sector analysis and planning and monitoring; data analysis to support pro-poor policies and public expenditure; or capacity building at central and sub-national levels. Learning from the recent global evaluation of UNICEF contributions to teacher development and improved learning outcomes, this blogpost presents reflections on system strengthening efforts in the middle-tier. More specifically, this blog presents ideas to carry forward in the roles that the middle-tier plays in teacher development identified in the recent evaluation: (a) scaling technical and pedagogical support, (b) managing the education sector, including resource allocation, (c) monitoring for accountability, and (d) ensuring ownership and sustainability. It also describes why and how the middle-tier should be engaged in development programmes and initiatives, presenting examples of such engagement that worked.
Role 1: The middle-tier as technical and pedagogical support
Improving the quality of teaching requires more than teacher training, and the middle-tier is key in providing contextualized and timely instructional support and coaching to teachers. The operational support provided by the middle-tier is also essential to ensuring the consistent implementation of pedagogical reforms as well as to fostering stronger accountability relationships. See Box 1 for some examples. The provision of such support necessitates time, resources and the presence of skilled pedagogical professionals in district and regional offices; development partners’ input is influential in this regard.
Box 1: Successful examples from UNICEF work: The middle-tier as technical and pedagogical support |
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Role 2: The middle-tier as sector manager
The middle-tier plays an important role in sector coordination and management, including resource allocation. Although their mandates vary significantly across country contexts, they could play an important role in improving the efficiency of management. Countries where this type of role was observed with positive results include Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic and Rwanda. Across these countries, the middle-tier received assistance from relevant actors (e.g. UNICEF) in the form of technical support to establish management information systems and to improve data analytics and resource allocation. Such support contributed to improving coordination and management of teacher development efforts.
Role 3: The middle-tier for monitoring for accountability
Teaching and learning monitoring systems serve as crucial bridges between national policy and local classroom practices. The middle-tier plays pivotal roles in translating policies into mechanisms that monitor, guide and support teacher performance. Countries like the Dominican Republic (Gestión Operativa del Sistema Educativo de la República Dominicana - GOSRD platform) and Ghana (Differentiated Learning + Dashboard) have successfully demonstrated the middle-tier’s effectiveness in fulfilling this role. In these cases, development stakeholders, such as UNICEF, provided relevant technical support and training alongside digital solutions and data analytics expertise to the middle-tier actors.
Role 4: The middle-tier to ensure ownership and sustainability
Middle-tier actors anchor policies and/or reforms within systems, communities and classrooms. They play important roles in ensuring continuity across political cycles, adapt national policies to local contexts, and institutionalize change through ongoing engagement with schools and stakeholders. Countries like the Dominican Republic and Jamaica provide a few examples of where this can be observed.
Why midstream leadership is key to lasting reform
Education reforms often focus on upstream work supporting policy and system designs or downstream efforts, engaging communities to advocate for quality education. But the midstream level, where subnational governments operate, is where policies are tested, adapted, and made real in classrooms. This is the space where catalytic capacities and local ownership can be leveraged for policy or system changes.
Middle-tier actors connect national goals with everyday teaching. They support teachers, manage resources, monitor progress, and ensure that reforms are sustainable, identifying context-specific enabling factors and barriers that prevent children from realizing their rights to learning. Despite the middle-tier’s potential contributions to sustainable policy education reforms, investments in local leadership capacity must be accompanied by strong political support. This will ensure that its transition from an administrative function to an empowered pedagogical and instructional role to support continued teacher development is realized.
About the evaluation
This blogpost is the product of further reflections informed by the “UNICEF Contributions to Teacher Development and Improved Learning Outcomes,” evaluation which took place between September 2024 and June 2025. This evaluation, commissioned by UNICEF Evaluation Office, was conducted by a team of external evaluators (Alvin Leung, Andrea Lee Asser, Magali Ramos, and Paola Vela) and managed by Tami Aritomi, Evaluation Specialist. Internal and external stakeholders were integral to its completion, and we wish to thank all those who contributed to this evaluation.
About the authors
Magali Ramos Jarrin is an external consultant with more than 10 years of education and research experience. Former Undersecretary for Teachers Professional Development of Ecuador, she is a PhD. Candidate in Education from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Alvin Leung is an external consultant with over 10 years of experience working on evaluation and education. A former teacher, he holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Cambridge.
Tami Aritomi is an evaluation specialist in UNICEF evaluation office. With more than 20 years of evaluation and research experience, she holds a dual PhD. degree in Demography and Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University.
The opinions expressed on the UNICEF Blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of UNICEF.
