Learning what matters in Mexico

For children and young people in Mexico, learning “what truly matters” extends beyond academic achievement to encompass the range of skills needed to thrive in an increasingly complex world. Yet education systems often struggle to move beyond conventional approaches to prioritize holistic development due to disconnected priorities, fragmented structures, and institutional inertia. This limits their ability to support young people in developing the range of skills needed for themselves, their communities, and beyond. Nuevo León is among Mexico’s most industrialized, urbanized states. Despite its favorable conditions for education system transformation, actors throughout its educational ecosystem are struggling to truly transform it into one that truly supports range-of-skills development.

This report contains the results of our exploration of the opportunities and challenges to transforming Nuevo León’s education system in response to NEST’s shared research question: how well are education systems creating opportunities for children and young people to learn what matters? Drawing on system mapping, desk research, quantitative data, and qualitative insights from 29 interviews and two focus groups with actors across government, civil society, private sector, and youth organizations, the study reveals a growing shared commitment to a breadth of skills agenda that strengthens youth agency, socioemotional development, and community engagement in Nuevo León. However, despite a favorable policy environment and scattered innovations, systemic transformation is hindered by structural inertia, political discontinuity, and limited coordination. Qualitative data highlighted the importance of building a shared intersectoral vision, strengthening local capacity, and fostering social demand for quality education that transcends traditional test-based accountability measures. We argue for an expanded conceptualization of transformational conditions to include Context and Communication under the existing 3C framework, and conclude that sustainable transformation requires aligning actors across sectors, amplifying youth voices, leveraging local context as a foundation for change, and embedding learning that truly matters at the heart of the system via systematic attention to all five Cs.