 |
| |
|
FAQs
|
|
|
What is the Education for All Global Monitoring Report?
In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar (Senegal), 164 countries committed themselves to achieve six goals by 2015 that would vastly improve learning opportunities for children, youth and adults. International agencies pledged that no country engaged in this effort would be hindered by a lack of resources. Governments recognized that regular and rigorous monitoring was required to track progress towards the six goals, identify strategies that make a difference and hold governments and donors to account for their promises. Such is the purpose of the EFA Global Monitoring Report.
What are the Six Education for All (EFA) Goals?
1 Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education
2. Ensure universal access to and completion of free and compulsory primary education of good quality
3. Improve learning opportunities for youth and adults
4. Increase adult literacy rates by fifty percent
5. Achieve gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and gender equality by 2015
6. Improve all aspects of the quality of education
Goals 2 and 5 also comprise two of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals that aim to halve world poverty by 2015. They were adopted by 189 countries in 2000.
Does the report target a specific audience?
The report aims to inform and to influence education and aid policy through an authoritative, evidence-based review of progress and a balanced analysis of the most critical challenges facing countries. The publication sets out an ambitious agenda for reform. Decision-makers – ministers, policy-makers, parliamentarians and education planners – are one prime audience. Just as crucial is the broader constituency of civil society groups, teachers, non-governmental organizations, university researchers and the media: by enriching understanding of education issues, the report is a springboard for debate, knowledge-sharing and advocacy.
The report is published by UNESCO but described as independent. Why?
The six Dakar goals do not emanate from one single United Nations agency: they are the result of a collective agreement and partnership. As such, the report does not represent the voice of one organization, it is an international project that tracks the performance of governments, civil society, bilateral donors and international agencies. Reflecting this spirit of partnership, the report’s editorial board, which meets yearly, includes representatives from all these key constituencies.
Who funds the report?
The report receives funding from several bilateral donors (United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Germany) and UNESCO.
How is the report prepared?
An international team of research officers and policy analysts based at UNESCO headquarters in Paris (France) draws upon a wide range of expertise to prepare the report. An advisory board gathering specialists and practitioners from different regions provides guidance on the special theme chosen for each report. The team synthesizes specialized literature and commissions background papers from researchers and institutes around the world. In 2005, an online consultation focusing on literacy further informed the contents of the 2006 report.
Where do the data come from?
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) plays the lead role in providing the report team with extensive data on students, teachers, school performance, adult literacy and education expenditure. The Institute, based in Montreal (Canada), collects data from over 180 national governments. Serious limitations exist in data coverage, making it difficult to monitor several dimensions of EFA such as public financing to education. To accelerate data collection, UIS is working closely with governments to strengthen their own systems and analysis capacities. The report also draws on data from other sources, including national household surveys and specially commissioned studies.
Why do countries often claim that they have more up-to-date data?
The report publishes quality-assured data compiled so that statistics are internationally comparable for the majority of countries, using the International Standard Classification of Education. Not all countries, however, use the same classification systems, sometimes leading to discrepancies between national data and those published internationally. Differences can also stem from national population estimates: to calculate several indicators, the Institute uses estimates from the United Nations Population Division. These sometimes differ from those published by individual countries. More generally, the quality assurance process entails a time lag between the collection (and often the publication) of data by national governments and their release by UIS for use in this and other reports.
Can the performance of countries be ranked?
The Education for All Development Index (EDI), developed by the report team in 2003, is designed to provide a rounded picture of progress towards the four most measurable EFA goals: universal primary education, gender parity, literacy and quality, using a proxy for each one. This composite indicator strikingly demonstrates the tight linkages between each of these goals. Poor quality, for example, can hinder progress towards universal primary education.
How is the report shared and disseminated?
Media launches organized in all regions generate strong press coverage. Throughout the year, the report’s findings are shared during ministerial meetings on EFA, international academic conferences, training courses for education practitioners, seminars involving governments, donors, researchers and teachers. Summaries of the report are available in the six UN languages and translated into several others (including Bangla, Hindi, German, Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese). All reports published to date along with commissioned papers are available on the website and a CD-ROM.
Are these goals reachable?
Education is first and foremost a right, one that is deprived to over 100 million children and to a much greater number of adults. There is also powerful evidence to show that countries that invest in education for all achieve higher levels of social and economic well-being. On current trends, some 70 countries are not on track to achieve these goals.
International assistance to education falls far short of what is required to support the expansion of learning opportunities. But each report stresses that proven strategies exist to speed up change: they require that governments make education a national priority and that the international community stand behind this effort.
What are the themes of other Education for All reports?
Education for All Reports
2002: “Is the World on Track?”
2003/4: “Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality”
2005: “Education for All: The Quality Imperative”
2006: Literacy for Life
2007: Early childhood care and education (release late 2006)
2008: Progress since 2000 (release in 2007)
To find out more:
Website: www.efareport.unesco.org
The website includes all reports published to date, all commissioned papers and statistical annexes.
Inquiries: efareport@unesco.org
Phone: to come
Fax: + 33 1 45 68 56 41
A CD-ROM with the first three editions and commissioned papers is available. |
|
|
|
Education
>
EFA - Global Monitoring Report
