Learning poverty: benefits and pitfalls of a simple global metric

Caine Rolleston

Chapter 5 in Handbook of Social Justice in Education, 2026, pp 68-78 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In 2018, the World Bank introduced a measure of ‘learning poverty’ defined by the share of a population who are out of school plus those unable to read a simple text by age 10. In 2022, an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries were defined as learning poor, marking a significant ‘learning crisis’. The measure is part of a shift towards a focus on ‘absolute’ measures of educational deprivation, while both absolute and relative (i.e. inequality) learning poverty present challenges to equity and social justice. This shift has done much to recognise the ‘scale’ of the global problem, but apparent ‘global solutions’ neglect the many and varied systemic, structural and historical causes of low learning. Addressing learning poverty will arguably require a multiplicity of solutions in diverse contexts. A decolonial perspective draws attention to the dangers of externally driven ‘solutions’, including exported ‘best practice’.

Keywords: Learning Poverty; Learning Crisis; World Bank; Inequality; Inequity; Social Justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035318445
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