How to achieve efficient investment in education?

ENESET, in collaboration with the European Commission's DG EAC, held its second Research to Policy (R2P) webinar on investing in education on the 15^th of October . The session was moderated by Miroslav Beblavý and opened by Joana Elisa Maldonado (European Commission), who emphasised that effective education investment requires not just adequate funding, but strategic allocation and implementation. Following this introduction, Marco Montanari (European Commission), Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano), and Kaire Põder (Estonian Business School) presented complementary perspectives on education investment efficiency and effectiveness. 

• Marco Montanari's presentation on the "Investing in Education 2025" report highlighted that education funding in the EU faces intensifying competition from other public expenditure priorities, particularly following the COVID-19 and energy crises. While demographic decline reduces the number of students in many countries, this transition presents a strategic opportunity to redirect resources toward quality improvements rather than simply maintaining infrastructure. Montanari emphasised that education investment itself serves as a powerful countermeasure to demographic challenges, as a well-educated workforce can offset the economic impacts of population aging and decline.
• Tommaso Agasisti's analysis challenged the assumption that higher spending automatically produces better educational outcomes. His research demonstrated that beyond a certain funding threshold, efficiency becomes more critical than resource quantity. Key findings included the pivotal role of school principals as managers whose leadership practices significantly influence school climate and student results. Agasisti stressed that technology holds promise for education, but only when implemented with human-centred pedagogy under skilled teacher supervision. He also highlighted the potential of analytical models to develop Early Warning Systems that identify struggling students at the earliest stages of their educational journey, enabling timely intervention.
• Kaire Põder's presentation focused on her ENESET report on promoting excellence in basic skills. Her evidence-based policy recommendations included: implementing late tracking systems or carefully designed ability grouping with flexibility and mobility between groups; investing in low-cost, scalable differentiated instruction tools that can be widely adopted; and adopting student-centred pedagogies such as self-regulated learning that empower learners to take ownership of their educational progress. Põder emphasised that implementation quality matters as much as policy design, urging researchers and policymakers to focus on how policies reach the classroom level. 

Overall, the webinar presentations agree on the fact that in an era of constrained public budgets and demographic transition, the focus must shift from the quantity of education investment to its quality and efficiency. Effective spending requires strategic policy design, strong implementation at the school level, empowered and well-trained school leadership, and evidence-based interventions that balance excellence with equity. Demographic change, while challenging, offers an opportunity to invest in education quality improvements that can drive long-term economic resilience. 

Approximately 78 participants joined the discussion.