Education authorities – government departments and local education authorities – can hinder or aid radical improvements in the learning of young people.

Many education authorities in the developed world are through bureaucratic control and accountability mechanisms hindering schools from improving the learning of young people.

Education funding systems have established a power hierarchy that is resisting change in how funding is allocated, which is particularly noticeable relative to the evidence that investment in early years education has much greater impact than investment in the education of older students.

Assessment systems, allied with global comparisons and the desire of politicians for simplistic measures of young peoples’ achievements, are a massive constraint on change

Support for digitally connected families is the responsibility of national governments as it will impact positively on so many other areas of government spending.

National support for digitally-connected learners, the Learn It Yourself agenda, needs to be arranged in ways that contribute to support globally, not hidden in walled gardens.