Preventing school failure involves developing an inclusive system where all learners – including those at risk of failure and most vulnerable to exclusion – receive a high-quality education. 

Various forces push and pull the learners between the desired outcome of successful completion of secondary education, raised achievement and transition to a stable adulthood and the undesired outcome of school failure. These forces are at play within the individual, the school and the community.

To deal with school failure, countries should prioritise policy approaches focusing on prevention, instead of compensation and intervention. 

Prevention refers to policy measures that support the effective implementation of inclusive education and aim to prevent school failure before it emerges (for example, legislation promoting a rights-based approach, avoiding disabling policies that lead to gaps in provision, lack of qualifications, etc.).

A systemic approach to preventing school failure aims to identify and overcome institutional barriers at all levels that might cause school failure. In doing so, it promotes an inclusive ecosystem that ensures both equity and excellence.

An inclusive ecosystem is comprised of four inter-related system levels: