Transforming a National Education System

The government of the fictional Eastern European country Loravia wants to transform its public education system over ten years to support economic development goals. Loravia's school outcomes significantly underperform peer countries despite relatively high spending and low student-to-teacher ratios. This case involves diagnosing the education system, interpreting multi-country benchmark data, and calculating the structural impact of school consolidation.

- Loravia is a fictional Eastern European country of 20 million people, transitioning from decades of communist rule to a free market economy. - The government has launched an ambitious economic plan requiring a highly educated workforce — transformation of the school system over 10 years is a priority. - Loravia's school system is entirely public, serving students from age 5 to 18. - Despite spending more per student and having lower student-to-teacher ratios than many peers, Loravia ranks among the lowest on international academic assessments. - McKinsey has been engaged to diagnose the current state of the education system and identify the most important areas for improvement.

Why does Loravia's education system underperform despite relatively high spending and favourable teacher-to-student ratios and what structural, curricular, and teacher quality reforms are most likely to drive meaningful improvement in educational outcomes?

- Structure the diagnostic across three dimensions: education quantity (access and resources), education quality (curriculum and teaching), and economic alignment (workforce readiness) - Use international benchmarking not to copy peer systems but to isolate which variables actually drive outcome differences - The lack of correlation between spending/class size and outcomes is the critical insight — focus reform energy on teacher quality and curriculum, not input metrics - Build a phased reform roadmap: Year 1-3 diagnostic and pilot; Year 4-7 system-wide rollout; Year 8-10 monitoring and iteration - School consolidation (reducing by 37.5%) should be positioned as an efficiency enabler for better teacher hiring and training — not a cost-cutting measure - Engage teacher unions early — consolidation and quality reform will face resistance; a collaborative implementation plan is essential - Define clear, measurable outcomes (international assessment score targets, graduation rates) to evaluate reform impact at 3-year checkpoints