The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/25 is entitled ‘Leadership in Education: For Learning’ and highlights possible perspectives and aspirational goals that should drive education management worldwide and examines the extent to which and the methods by which qualified leadership contributes to better educational outcomes. It becomes clear that school leaders worldwide are confronted with diverse and increasing challenges, which are mainly due to structural deficits in the prevailing education systems of many countries.

The report makes it clear that further training in educational practice often focuses too heavily on theoretical content and that essential practical management skills, digital competences or financial education are often neglected. Non-transparent recruitment procedures also often mean that suitable candidates for management positions in educational institutions are not always given the jobs for which they would be ideally qualified. In addition, the GEM report also addresses the challenge posed by the gender-specific composition of people in leadership positions, as women* are still underrepresented worldwide.

Key findings of the Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/25

• Leaders in education are responsible for more than just management. They pave the way for change. Education policymakers are faced with the challenge of finding, training and supporting suitable leaders for schools. National strategies should promote four central leadership dimensions: Expectation management, focus on learning, collaboration and staff development. However, a global analysis shows that less than half of training programs address these aspects - and only a third fully cover all four.
• Successful school leaders promote both student achievement and the quality of teaching. In the US, it has been estimated that school leadership explains up to 27% of the variation in performance - only slightly less than the influence of the teachers themselves. An international study shows that strong leadership is linked to better teaching practices. In addition, good school leadership contributes to safety, health and inclusion in schools.
• Effective leadership requires fair selection processes, trust and development opportunities. Only 63% of countries use open, competitive processes to select school leaders, even though this has positive effects on school performance. While teacher training is often mandatory, less than 30% of countries require management experience. Autonomy can strengthen leadership potential, but in many countries, it is limited - especially in personnel and financial decisions. Targeted training and development are crucial but often neglected: almost half of school leaders in wealthy countries receive no training before appointment, and practical skills such as data analysis or digital know-how are often insufficiently developed.
• School leaders are under great pressure to fulfil expectations but are often given too few resources and too little time. They are central to the implementation of reforms but are heavily burdened by administrative tasks. In middle-income countries, school leaders spend an average of 68% of their time on administrative work. In OECD countries, many school leaders state that they do not have enough time for pedagogical leadership tasks, which severely limits their effectiveness.
• Leadership roles should be shared within the school to create a collaborative learning environment. This empowers teachers to take responsibility for their teaching and encourages student engagement and the involvement of parents and the local community. However, collaboration is often neglected in training and professional development. Leadership is often organised hierarchically, although extended teams with clear roles, training and incentives would be more effective.
• Too little attention is often paid to education officials in education authorities in leadership strategies. These employees can bring about system-wide improvements and better alignment of reforms through more autonomy and collaboration.
• Education ministers work in complex political environments, often have no background in education and usually only remain in office for a short time (on average around two years). These short terms of office make it considerably more difficult to implement reforms. To achieve progress despite this, political decision-makers must skilfully make compromises, engage in public relations work and build coalitions and partnerships. A World Bank analysis shows that frequent changes in office are negatively linked to the success of education projects.
• More women* in leadership positions have a positive impact on education. Female politicians often put education higher on the agenda and have contributed to higher spending on primary education worldwide. Despite this, the proportion of female education ministers has risen only slightly from 23% to 30%. Studies also show that female head teachers in some regions achieve better learning outcomes than their male counterparts. Despite many female teachers, female head teachers are significantly less common, with an average difference of at least 20 %. Only in a few countries are there targeted measures to promote gender diversity in school leadership.
• Many stakeholders exercise leadership. Many actors - including teacher and student advocacy groups, business leaders, academia and civil society - exert influence on education systems. However, influence is not always linked to professional quality, as examples from the USA show. International organizations also shape the global education debate, provide data and finance education projects. However, competition for influence can impair their effectiveness and legitimacy.

These findings emphasize the central role of leadership in education for educational success and the need to promote education, autonomy and diversity worldwide. Based on these findings, corresponding recommendations were formulated in the current GEM Report 24/25:

Recommendations of the Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/25:

1. Recommendation: Trust and empowerment. Leadership in schools can only be effective if school leaders have autonomy over financial resources, personnel and pedagogical decisions. However, autonomy alone is not enough: It must be clearly regulated, linked to a timely and fair allocation of resources and supplemented by continuous professional development. At the same time, there is a need for clear accountability mechanisms in which people from the education sector can learn to use the available resources responsibly.
2. Recommendation: Select, develop, recognize. The selection of school leaders should be open, equitable and inclusive so that suitable people have a fair chance to grow into their leadership roles. Elements of leadership development should already be promoted during teacher training. At the same time, a systematic focus on all four central dimensions (expectation management, focus on learning, collaboration and staff development) is essential in initial and further training. Finally, there is also a need for national leadership standards that formulate clear expectations and act as a basis for feedback, certification and further development.
3. Recommendation: Sharing. School management should be understood as a collective responsibility instead of relying on individuals as ‘heroes’. School leaders should therefore learn to form teams, delegate responsibility, value the perspectives of others and create structures in which feedback, participation and shared goals are possible. Despite the known advantages, this form of ‘shared leadership’ is still not emphasized enough in training and further education as well as in national standards. Targeted measures should therefore be taken to promote and establish a collaborative management culture in education.
4. Recommendation: Invest in leaders at system level. Education officials in education authorities are crucial for the implementation of reforms and quality assurance but are often inadequately prepared and supported. Their role is often seen as one of control rather than support. Challenges such as slow administrative reforms, unclear objectives and a lack of professional qualifications make it difficult for them to fulfil their tasks effectively. To increase their effectiveness, targeted further training programmes need to be developed - particularly in the areas of teaching-related leadership, quality assurance and crisis management.