What is most important in education reform? The impact of leadership, innovation and partnerships

What is most important in education reform? Is it leadership that guides and steers education reform initiatives? Or is it perhaps the innovation that is highlighted in the education reform itself? Or is it the partnerships required to enable the reform to take hold? This article contributes to debates about the success or failure of international aid in education reform represented by technology transfers of evidence-informed policies and practices. This four-part inquiry describes the impact of evidence-based reform. The first section provides a succinct description of Singapore – a developed nation – and the Philippines – a developing nation. The second part describes the education reform partnership. Particular emphasis will be placed on the education reform movement guiding the partnership between two contrasting nations and the overarching framework that guides it – the leadership premium. The third section describes the explanatory mixed methods research design employed in order to explore the participants’ perceptions of the reform initiative. This part describes the results of a quantitative survey and exploratory models for explaining perceptions of education reform. The fourth and final section contextualizes the response to what is most important to education reform from the perspectives of the participants themselves. This section also critiques the dominant leadership premium paradigm.