Education International Research
-- Ensure a Just Transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy, guaranteeing decent work and dignity for all workers 16: Education institutions are too often attacked and militarised. Implementing SDG 16 is therefore crucial to enable access to quality education for all. Governments must: -- Endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and implement the 2015 Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict -- Ensure access to quality education for all children in conflict and post-conflict contexts -- Immediately cease any government militarisation of education institutions and harassment of students and educators
SDG accountability must be strengthened at the national level There are no binding global mechanisms for governments to be held accountable for the implementation of the SDGs. However, governments are accountable to their citizens and should put in place their own mechanisms to ensure SDG implementation. Firstly, national indicators are a key part of the monitoring framework for the SDGs, and they provide governments with the opportunity to monitor the aspects of the 2030 Agenda that are most relevant to them in their context. Yet, so far, national indicators have not been given the attention they deserve. Secondly, due to politicisation, few governments have put in place transparent mechanisms for evaluating their own policies and implementation efforts. Thirdly, governments have not sufficiently leveraged social accountability. Education unions and civil society are all too often not adequately involved in monitoring and evaluation processes, including the development of VNRs. As laid out in the Brussels Declaration,39 governments must increase their efforts to “support meaningful involvement of youth, students, teachers, school and post-secondary institution leaders, and their representative organisations, as well as communities, parents, civil society and academia at all stages, from planning to monitoring progress in ensuring the right to quality education for all�.
Data, data, data! The opportunities and perils SDG 4 is monitored by 43 thematic indicators (including 11 global indicators) in addition to regional and national indicators. Monitoring progress towards SDG 4 is important to encourage improvement and identify where more work needs to be done. However, we currently have less than half the data necessary globally to monitor the thematic indicators. The global education community therefore has a strong desire for more and better education data. But what type of data do we need the most? And what are the potential risks of the drive for data used to monitor SDG 4? Data disaggregation GRO.EI-IE
Timely, quality data can help policymakers identify which children, youth and adults are making progress and which are not, and why. When disaggregated, data can be put into action to better support vulnerable groups and the most marginalised populations. Governments must ensure that their data are disaggregated beyond sex to capture the compounding impacts of, inter alia, gender, poverty, disability, conflict, migrant or refugee status, indigeneity and living in rural and/or remote areas. Is the drive for data distorting the SDG agenda?
0302 NOITA CUDE
EI is concerned that the last four years have seen a disproportionate focus of resources, time and expertise on developing the methodologies for assessing learning outcome indicators through GAML, at the expense of progress made to advance other SDG 4 indicators40 such as 4.7 and 4.c. This is likely due in part to UNESCO’s vulnerable financial situation and use of earmarked funding to develop globally comparable learning metrics. There is also the fact that assessment providers stand to gain something by developing the testing materials used to monitor learning outcomes. 39 See: https://www.sdg4education2030.org/brussels-declaration-5-december-2018 40 See: http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/report-of-director-on-activities-of-the-institute-2017.pdf
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