Schools need to do more to prepare learners for participation in just societies

Legal education remains limited in many countries and is usually confined to civics. Human rights and peace are also unevenly taught. Teaching about past conflict can be a thorny topic, and teachers frequently lack the preparation and support they need. Across 12 European countries, only half of teachers had received training in human rights or citizenship education. In Côte d’Ivoire, two thirds of teachers reported needing more support to teach conflict history.

• Globally, the coverage of justice issues in curricula is inconsistent. Meanwhile, there is a tendency to look at injustices in classrooms from a historical perspective rather than as contemporary challenges.
• Integrate human rights, peace and legal education through a specific subject (e.g. civics), whose teaching time is protected, and also embed justice questions across the curriculum and at all stages (e.g. through literature).
• Adopt a whole-school approach that embeds justice values into school culture and relationships with the community, making institutions inclusive and putting student experiences of injustice at the centre.

Learning gaps begin before children enter school

Underinvestment matters. Global data consistently show that inequalities in learning largely reflect unequal access to organized early childhood learning opportunities, rather than differences in primary schooling alone.

In crisis-affected settings, these risks are magnified. Displacement, prolonged stress, disrupted caregiving, and food insecurity undermine early development, while access to structured early learning environments is often limited or inconsistent. When early childhood education is underfunded, many children enter grade 1 already behind.