With the Sustainable Development Goals, the international community has pledged to ensure that every child is in school and learning by 2030. Reading is a gateway skill to all other learning, which...
“Lifelong learning for all” is not just a slogan but a commitment undertaken by the international community with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). To transform this promise into action, governments and donors need robust data and tools to improve the learning outcomes of all and monitor progress globally.
Learning goes beyond the ability to read and perform simple arithmetic; it entails a range of cognitive, social and emotional skills needed to lead productive and healthy lives. Today, there are many different types of assessments designed to address different purposes. Yet despite the importance – and controversy – attached to these tests, there is little information available to help countries make informed decisions in this area and use the data to better address the needs of their children and youth.
Through close coordination with a wide range of stakeholders, the UIS is building on the work of the Learning Metrics Task Force to foster consensus around learning indicators, while reinforcing the capacities of countries to produce and use relevant, reliable and valid data that can be compared internationally.
With the adoption of the SDGs, the UIS has been clearly recognized as the “the official source of cross-nationally comparable data on education”, as confirmed in the Education 2030 Framework for Action. The UIS has been given the mandate to “work with partners to develop new indicators, statistical approaches and monitoring tools to better assess progress across the targets related to UNESCO’s mandate, working in coordination with the Education 2030 Steering Committee.”
Key initiatives:
