The Rise of the Skills Agenda in African Education Reforms, 1970-2021

This study examines the evolution of the skills agenda in education reform across 52 African countries between 1970 and 2021. Using rule-based deductive computational discourse analysis, it classifies 3,219 education reforms using a two-dimensional framework that distinguishes skills focus (foundational and cognitive, technical and vocational, science and technology, socio-emotional, and entrepreneurial skills) from development mechanism (access expansion, curriculum reform, governance and qualifications, and labor market linkage). Skills-oriented reforms account for 30.5% of all education reforms and increased steadily over time, with the odds of a reform prioritizing skills rising by 3.4% annually, corresponding to a 5.4-fold increase across the study period. Foundational and cognitive skills and technical and vocational skills dominated throughout, while governance and qualifications remained comparatively uncommon despite a recent rise in labor market linkage. The study provides a longitudinal account of policy commitment to skills development, extending institutional analyses of education reform through a continent-wide perspective.