Leveraging the potential of the middle tier to improve education outcomes

Suguru Mizunoya has worked on international education cooperation and policy development in both development and emergency contexts for more than 25 years, including in various countries such as Kenya, Syria, Pakistan, Thailand, and Lao PDR. Currently, he serves as the Head of the Technical Cooperation team at UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in Paris. In this role, he leads teams of specialists to provide technical cooperation for education planning and management, including conducting Education Situation Analysis (ESA), supporting countries in developing Education Sector Plans (ESP), improving the capacities of education officials at national and sub-national levels, enhancing public finance management in education, and utilising data, including geo-spatial data, for education planning, monitoring, and learning (MEL). Additionally, his work centres on strengthening the capacities of education systems to be resilient in times of crisis, including climate and man-made disasters.

Katie leads the Education Workforce Initiative’s research agenda and activities. Katie is from the United States and currently based in Madrid, Spain, working as a consultant in global education research and policy. She oversees the Education Workforce Initiative’s research agenda and activities. She led development of EWI’s flagship report, Transforming the Education Workforce, and also supports EWI’s in-country work to develop education workforce reform options with Ghana, Sierra Leone and Vietnam. Previously, Katie worked in Nashville, Tennessee leading immigrant and refugee education services with non-governmental organizations.

Katie graduated from Belmont University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Russian. She holds a Masters of Education degree in International Education Policy and Management from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and completed Columbia Law School’s graduate program at the Center for Public Research and Leadership.

Barbara Tournier coordinates research and technical cooperation projects on teacher issues and the broader education workforce. She focuses specifically on how improved organisation of education systems can help better support teachers in their daily activities and enhance their motivation.

Barbara has led multi-country research programmes, notably on teacher careers and instructional leadership at the middle tier of education systems. She now directs the institute's work on middle-tier capacity analyses, exploring how staff and structures at this level can be leveraged to better support schools and frontline practitioners. Additionally, she supports the institute in domains such as integrated Human Resources Management Systems, leadership strengthening, and coordinating online or face-to-face training on teacher management.

Marco Kools is a Policy Analyst and Technical Assistance Lead with the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. He has led and/or contributed to several policy implementation support & technical assistance projects in recent years, including in the Flemish Community of Belgium, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, New South Wales (Australia), Scotland (UK) and Thailand. He has specialised in various areas of education policy, including in assessment and evaluation in education, institutional capacity assessments, schools as learning organisations, and policy/programme design and implementation.

Lydiah Njoki is a Director of Quality Assurance and Standards at the Ministry of Education, Kenya. With over 14 years of experience in education program leadership, she has played a pivotal role in national initiatives such as the Kenya Primary Literacy Programme (KPLP) and TUSOME. Her work focuses on improving learning outcomes through the development and implementation of evaluation frameworks, teacher capacity-building, and evidence-based education reform. Lydiah oversees and supports the work of Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QASOs) across counties and sub-counties, ensuring education policies are effectively implemented at all levels. She is deeply involved in Kenya’s transition to Competency-Based Education (CBE) and holds a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from Kenyatta University, along with certifications in PDIA, strategic leadership, and monitoring and evaluation.