KIX LAC launches a regional cycle to strengthen the use of evidence in teacher policies and practices

February 9th, 2026.

9 de February de 2026

KIX

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The Knowledge and Innovation Exchange for Latin America and the Caribbean (KIX LAC), an initiative promoted by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, and led regionally by SUMMA and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), launched the Knowledge Mobilization Cycle on the Use of Evidence in Teacher Policies and Practices on January 28, 2026.

The Knowledge Mobilization Cycles, promoted by KIX LAC, are annual strategic processes that begin with a stage of collective listening and prioritization, followed by exchange activities, the development of knowledge dissemination products, and capacity building to generate contextualized educational solutions. The decision to focus the work on teacher policies and practices stems from the needs identified by the countries themselves.

The day began with a presentation by Mar Botero, Knowledge Mobilization Officer, at KIX LAC, who introduced this cycle as a process for connecting evidence with teaching practice. She also emphasized that education policy, professional development, and working conditions are dimensions of the same system that function in an integrated manner. She also noted that KIX LAC acts as a regional platform that articulates research, public policy, and educational practice, and that the seminars are part of a broader strategy of knowledge production and support for national and regional processes.

The first speaker, Valtencir Mendes, Chief of Education at OREALC/UNESCO, presented the Regional Teaching Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean 2025–2030, emphasizing that beyond the diagnosis of teacher shortages and regional gaps, the main lesson is to understand the implementation of this strategy not as a final step, but as a central axis of policy design that requires institutional capacities and sustained financing. Similarly, he highlighted that the proposal integrates cross-cutting themes, including professionalism, autonomy, inclusion, a gender perspective, and social dialogue. He emphasized that the success of this roadmap depends on the interrelationship between teacher training, pedagogical leadership, working conditions, and well-being to ensure teacher quality and retention. Mendes concluded with a call to consolidate a shared vision that positions teachers as the central engine of social progress.

“We are at a decisive moment for education in our region, marked by urgency, but also by extraordinary possibilities […] There can be no fair, sustainable, or lasting transformation without teachers.” – Valtencir Mendes, Chief of Education, OREALC/UNESCO.

The Caribbean teachers’ perspective was presented by Sharon Clifton Kelsick, President of the Caribbean Union of Teachers, who shared the regional challenges in the daily and urgent realities of the classroom. Her presentation highlighted how critical factors, such as teacher migration due to precarious conditions, digital overload, and the recurring impact of the climate crisis, directly affect the stability of the education system and the well-being of teachers. She argued that teacher policies must go beyond technical standards to focus on the overall well-being of teachers, and called for the consolidation of a social dialogue that integrates unions and validates practical classroom knowledge as a driver of sustainable change.

“This is a great opportunity to come together, work together, and find ways to solve the challenges we currently face in the region and throughout Latin America.” – Sharon Clifton Kelsick, President of the Caribbean Union of Teachers.

Subsequently, the meeting opened a space for dialogue to translate shared diagnoses into concrete lines of action for the 2026 cycle. From the voices of the applied research projects that are part of the KIX LAC Ecosystem, the Educo Foundation of El Salvador highlighted the urgency of moving towards comprehensive systems of pedagogical support and in-service training that overcome fragmented models and align with the real needs of the classroom. For its part, the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE) emphasized that regional prioritization must incorporate inclusive and inequality-sensitive approaches, ensuring differentiated resources to close gaps in the most vulnerable contexts.

Representatives from different countries highlighted the importance of these spaces for addressing shared challenges and ensuring that the experience of teachers is at the heart of more sustainable policies. This dialogue enabled progress in the process of defining an evidence-based regional agenda that prioritizes the experience of teachers and the development of contextualized responses.

Continuing with the presentations, Dante Castillo, Director of Innovative Policies and Practices at SUMMA, linked the lessons learned from the meeting with the work that SUMMA has been developing, placing the improvement of pedagogical practice at the center of the agenda. SUMMA’s initiatives were highlighted in relation to the synthesis of regional and global evidence, the development of accessible decision-making tools, and support for Ministries of Education, emphasizing that the central challenge is to ensure relevant and usable evidence that connects education policy with classroom practice.

For her part, Lisa Sargusingh-Terrance, Senior Technical Specialist in Education at the OECS, emphasized that the well-being and active listening of teachers are indispensable human pillars for any educational reform to be truly sustainable. She also called for the maintenance of spaces for dialogue that allow reflection to be translated into concrete learning and improvements.

To conclude the meeting, María José Sepúlveda, Deputy Director of Innovative Policies and Practices at SUMMA, presented the initiative “Dialoga: From Synthesis to Decision,” a project led by SUMMA, in coordination with the KIX LAC Hub and the Evidence for Education Network (EEN), in collaboration with eBASE Africa, OECS, and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), promoted regionally within the framework of the GPE’s KIX program, with support from IDRC.

Dialoga invites countries to participate in a collaborative work cycle aimed at strengthening the use of evidence in decision-making, connecting countries’ educational needs with the analysis of knowledge gaps, the formulation of research questions for evidence synthesis, and the production of concrete inputs to support public decision-making. The initiative proposes an applied, peer-to-peer approach that brings together technical teams, academia, and actors in the education system to build regional public goods in the service of education policy.

Under this premise of regional collaboration, this meeting allowed for the development of a shared and comprehensive view of teacher policies and practices, aimed at identifying knowledge gaps to respond to the educational needs of countries and move toward a collective commitment to translate dialogue and evidence into concrete actions that strengthen the work and professional development of teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean.