Education International Research
Lack of political will for implementation remains a key obstacle to progress Timely implementation of SDG 4 requires effective coordination, planning, and fast action on the part of governments. However, 24% of unions responding to the question “What concrete steps has your government taken to implement SDG 4 since 2015?” replied that no concrete steps had been taken whatsoever. This lack of action is commonly attributed to a lack of political will rather than capacity (financial or otherwise). Educators point out that some governments simply have no interest in the global agenda, some have alternative priorities or policy distractions, and some have conservative agendas that are inherently in tension with the progressive SDGs agenda. As an example, the PTUZ34 in Zimbabwe remark that “very little progress has been made — there is more of a talk show, and less practical commitments towards achieving the SDGs”. In the US, the NEA point out that there is no reference to SDG 4 whatsoever on the Department of Education’s website, a telling sign of the government’s failure to mainstream it (or even make it visible). The union argues that no concrete steps have been taken to implement SDG 4; on the contrary, the government has actively sought to cut education funding, disempower regulations related to gender equity and sexual harassment, and implement initiatives to weaken public education. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, SYECO35 also claims that no concrete efforts have been made towards the goal. They attest that, although some initiatives have been undertaken and several meetings held, these have merely been part of an effort to justify the resources received from international partners such as the World Bank rather than to make progress towards ensuring education for all. In the UK, NASUWT36 note that the slow and complicated exit of the country from the European Union (Brexit) has meant that other policy agendas, including the SDGs, remain gravely neglected. According to EI’s chief regional coordinator in Latin America, unions in the region view the SDGs as having produced a “doble discurso” (doublespeak) — governments and international organisations pay lip service to the SDGs whilst promoting harmful education policies on the ground, in particular the commercialisation and privatisation of education.
Some high-income countries do not consider the SDGs relevant to them Some unions in high-income countries have observed a lack of sufficient action on the part of their governments to mainstream and ensure coordination of the SDGs domestically. In Denmark, DTU37 note that “action-oriented” interest in the SDGs from the government is low because statistically, Denmark is already among the top countries in the world when it comes to realisation of the SDGs. However, it is clear that there is still room for improvement in order to ensure quality education and lifelong learning for all in the country. Similarly, in Japan, teachers argue that the Japanese government has viewed SDG 4 as a goal for development rather than a domestic issue. Meanwhile, there are children in Japan who do not have access to education due to poverty, statelessness and other factors; the JTU38 had to lobby the government to monitor the numbers of out-of-school children.
Intersectoral coordination needs to be enhanced GRO.EI-IE
At the national level, coordination between government departments is often insufficient. In particular, educators point out that challenges arise when the work for SDG 4 targets involves multiple ministries, such as Target 4.2 on early childhood education, or Target 4.5 on equitable education. At the international level, there is still no forum for discussing the interdependence of the SDGs and the bridging of sectors and silos. Coordination between sectors and SDG governance structures must be improved to leverage synergies between goals, ensure that implementation efforts for specific goals support each other, and avoid duplication of efforts (or worse, efforts toward one goal being undermined by efforts toward another).
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Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe Syndicat des Enseignants du Congo NASUWT - The Teachers’ Union Danish Union of Teachers Japan Teachers’ Union