Making sure education keeps pace with a modern Mongolia
The government of Mongolia has a clear and ambitious goal: ensuring every child receives a high-quality education.
It has already taken significant steps to modernise the teaching system and has voted for education reforms to become law. The country’s economy is growing. And, in a time of change, the Ministry of Education (MoE) wants an internationally competitive curriculum, with a focus on maths and science.
The MoE asked us to partner to:
- Make quality education accessible for every student
- Update the primary and secondary curriculum and make sure it is recognised around the world
- Build high schools that specialise in certain subjects
- Support teachers throughout the changes, and throughout their careers
The government wanted our recommendations to meet those goals in a phased, sustainable way. They asked us work together on a plan of action from 2023 to 2028.
Quality teaching can reach every corner of the country
The population distribution in Mongolia is one of the biggest barriers to an equal education, and the government was keen to break it down. We visited lots of Mongolia’s remote, rural schools in the soums, where resources can be scarce.
And we visited lots of city schools too, where it’s the opposite story. Recent urbanisation has led to overcrowding and, to meet demand, some teachers are working in shifts. In the biggest and busiest schools, teachers might run the same lesson to crowded classes multiple times a day. That shortens professional learning time, tires teachers, and limits their extracurricular activities.
It’s early days, but we’ve already run workshops with senior educators and school leaders on teaching differently in Mongolia’s biggest schools. We’ll continue to build and act on those conversations in the years ahead.
A curriculum that’s recognised around the world
Together, we’re updating the primary and secondary school curriculum to make classroom learning more interactive. The new curriculum will also teach the digital skills and resilience that students need in the world today.
We’re partnering with the General Agency of Education (GAE) to get the right textbooks into pre-primary and primary school classrooms to teach the curriculum effectively. And we’ve trained curriculum developers and textbook publishers to keep the quality and consistency going long-term. This will help to ensure that Mongolia’s curriculum is internationally competitive.
Getting specialised high schools – and all schools - off to the best start
The government is joining PISA international surveys which measure how maths and science students are performing, compared to students around the world. They are piloting specialised high schools in science, including maths. We provided support to the pilot team, running workshops to facilitate key activities such as mapping the position of the specialised schools model in relation to existing progression pathways within the education system.
Giving teachers the time and support they need to develop
We’re working with the government to make changes in all schools. Teachers are essential to turning policy into impactful practice.
We have supported the GAE to finalise and implement new National Teacher Standards. These are part of a coherent in-service professional development system, where we’ve also created quality assurance tools and teacher training approaches.
Experts at the Education Evaluation Centre (EEC) and the GAE are supporting us by reviewing teacher training around assessment specifically. We’ve already run a workshop in Ulaanbaatar to start standardising what new teachers need to know, by the time they step inside a classroom. We also reviewed and reported on university entrance exams.
Getting specialised high schools – and all schools - off to the best start
The government is joining PISA international surveys which measure how maths and science students are performing, compared to students around the world. They are piloting specialised high schools in science, including maths. We provided support to the pilot team, running workshops to facilitate key activities such as mapping the position of the specialised schools model in relation to existing progression pathways within the education system.
Giving teachers the time and support they need to develop
We’re working with the government to make changes in all schools. Teachers are essential to turning policy into impactful practice.
We have supported the GAE to finalise and implement new National Teacher Standards. These are part of a coherent in-service professional development system, where we’ve also created quality assurance tools and teacher training approaches.
Experts at the Education Evaluation Centre (EEC) and the GAE are supporting us by reviewing teacher training around assessment specifically. We’ve already run a workshop in Ulaanbaatar to start standardising what new teachers need to know, by the time they step inside a classroom. We also reviewed and reported on university entrance exams.
A partnership for the future
This collaboration is already reaching classrooms across the country, supporting more than 291,000 students and 9,500 teachers. With every step, Mongolia is building an education system that inspires confidence, nurtures curiosity and gives every learner the chance to thrive.
Together, we're building an education system that is internationally recognised — one where students in both urban and rural areas have equal access to a quality education. Also, we're building a teacher professional development system where teachers can grow professionally in the workplace, within a professional learning community (PLC). We're doing this in phases, so the pace stays manageable for our teachers, and the changes remain aligned and coherent.
Ms Bud Odon, a Head of the National Centre for Teacher Development, MNUE
The team
- Ministry of Education of Mongolia (MoE)
- General Agency for Education (GAE)
- Education Evaluation Centre (EEC)
- Mongolian Institute of Educational Research (MIER)
- Mongolian National University of Education (MNUE)
- School principals, senior officials, and teachers in urban and rural schools across the country consulted with us and participated in our programmes.
