Dates: 16 to 18 September 2025

Location: Oxford, UK

• Relational Ecologies of Knowledge and Practice: a Workshop of the Epistemic Justice Network
• Innovations in Multilingual Education forSustainable Futures
• Funding the Future: How Outcome-Based Financing can Strengthen Education Systems

NORRAG at the UKFIET Conference 2025

NORRAG participated in the UKFIET 2025 conference in Oxford, held under the theme “Mobilising Knowledge, Partnerships, and Innovations for Sustainable Development through Education and Training.” The event convened policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and funders to reflect on the role of education in advancing sustainability, equity, and systemic transformation. Cross-cutting themes included skills for sustainable futures, equitable partnerships, intersectionality, learner wellbeing, and climate and environmental justice.

The NORRAG exhibition on International Cooperation in Education was showcased in the halls, and NORRAG experts contributed to three sessions: “Funding the Future: How Outcome-Based Financing can Strengthen Education Systems”, which examined whether results-based financing can support systemic coherence and long-term sustainability; “Relational Ecologies of Knowledge and Practice: a Workshop of the Epistemic Justice Network (EpiNet)”, which fostered dialogue about more equitable knowledge partnerships and relational models of knowledge production; and “Innovations in Multilingual Education for Sustainable Futures”, showcasing rapid innovations in using learners’ home and community languages in educational settings across continents.

During these sessions, participants engaged deeply with tensions around aligning funding models with local systems, decentering hierarchical knowledge flows, and promoting linguistic justice as integral to equitable education. NORRAG’s facilitation helped bridge theory and practice and underscored the urgency of reframing partnerships, knowledge mobilization, and innovation in service of sustainability, equity, and inclusive education.

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Relational Ecologies of Knowledge and Practice: a Workshop of the Epistemic Justice Network

This workshop was proposed by the emergent Epistemic Justice and the Knowledge Commons Network (EpiNet) to advance collaborative research and action for transforming knowledge for the futures of education. EpiNet envisions strengthening an approach favouring relational ‘ecologies of knowledge’ over hierarchical research and partnership arrangements that have dominated knowledge production and exchange in education and research. The workshop is proposed for the Equitable Partnerships sub-theme, actively responding to the call to ‘bravely open up space’ to share ‘critical accounts and reflections on the challenges and barriers to equitable partnerships’.

Innovations in Multilingual Education for Sustainable Futures

More on NSI 11: Multilingualism and Language Transition: Innovations and Possibilities

The Innovations in Multilingual Education symposium brought together more authors then any other session at UKFIET, representing just a fraction of the contributions to NORRAG Special Issue 11. The six quickfire presentations demonstrated how multilingual approaches to teaching and learning make a difference for learners, who speak minoritized language. In the symposium, we heard about curriculum innovation including UNESCO IBE’s work on a multilingual curriculum for Haiti (Amapola Alama); teacher professional development for multilingual primary education in The Gambia (Clyde Ancarno); and a mother-tongue based multilingual foundational learning programme in Uganda (Usha Rane). Presentations also highlighted the enduring challenges of designing and implementing multilingual education, including presentations on teachers’ multilingualism in Rwanda (Jo Westbrook) and problems of policy implementation Nepal (Rajib Tamalsina). The discussant, Mercy Martens, highlighted the coloniality of monolingual policies and drew attention to paucity of research on the school environment beyond classrooms. After the presentations, discussion focused on the design of inclusive language in education policy. We observed the coloniality of rules that  limit and control the languages used by learners and teachers. The symposium and  linked NSI provide practical examples of innovations that build on and expand learners’ and teachers’ multilingualism, with benefits for learning  across all curriculum subjects.

PRESENTATIONS

Funding the Future: How Outcome-Based Financing can Strengthen Education Systems

More on IFE to Leave No One Behind

This session explored the growing use of outcome-based financing (OBF) as a tool to improve educational outcomes and accountability. Bringing together perspectives from India, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and international initiatives such as the Education Outcomes Fund, the discussion examined both the potential and the limitations of OBF. Participants highlighted its ability to align incentives and drive measurable improvements, while also cautioning against risks such as fragmentation, misalignment with national priorities, and limited ownership by local actors.

Moira V. Faul was invited as discussant and she highlighted the importance given to systems by fellow presenters and the critical need to recognise that any Outcome Based Financing (OBF) is built on top of existing systems.

PRESENTATIONS

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