Introduction
INTRODUCTION
At this beginning of the 21st century, Education for All (EFA) is the foremost major world thrust in education. At the World Education Forum held in April 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, education policy-makers from all the countries together with representatives of relevant development agencies, NGOs, institutions and educationists jointly adopted the Dakar Framework of Action1 which aims at achieving the following six EFA goals by the year 2015: 1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. 2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality. 3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes. 4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. 5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. 6. Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. In essence, these EFA goals are about ensuring full access and participation of all eligible persons in basic education of good quality so that they can acquire literacy and life skills for a decent living and learning throughout life. The EFA goals place special emphasis on helping disadvantaged population such as girls and children of poor families, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, those in remote areas, with disabilities, and from other vulnerable population groups to fully participate in and benefit from education, under the priority of ‘Reaching the Unreached’. Information key to Education for All and All for Education Education for All cannot be successfully achieved unless there is All for Education. Commitments of all the stakeholders down to the local, school and grass-root level are needed. This relates to the need on the one hand to mobilize local community actions to identify the illiterates, out-of-school children and 1
World Education Forum: Dakar Framework of Action – Education for All: Meeting our collective commitments. 2000. (see website: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121147E.pdf ) i
Introduction
people with learning needs, and to design and implement effective strategies and measures to help them to fully participate in education and learning. On the other hand, it has been increasingly felt that closer involvement of local stakeholders can greatly help in ensuring the quality of teaching/learning processes and learning outcomes. There is now widespread awareness about the need for transparency and accountability, and all persons concerned with education want to know what is happening with the education system. More systematic collection, dissemination and use of information on EFA will be key to informing the stakeholders at all levels in order to mobilize their active participation and support. There is an ever increasing need for more relevant and reliable data and indicators to help to raise consciousness and actions at policy level and within local communities and schools. Capacities at all levels of the education administration also need to be strengthened in order to systematically record, analyse, share and use data and information to identify problems and issues in EFA and to make sound evidence-based decision to address them. At the same time, it has been realized that data have been and can be further collected for use in monitoring progress towards all six goals of EFA. Practically all countries have established mechanisms to systematically collect data every year from the schools and educational institutions. Many such data collection systems can be upgraded to gather the kind of data needed for monitoring EFA, and major efforts will be needed to strengthen education information management capacities at district and school levels. Since the mid-1980s, many countries of the world have been engaged in developing EMIS (Education Management Information System). They operate nowadays computerized EMIS databases to process the data and to use them in support to policy-making, planning, monitoring and management of education. Appropriate adjustments to the operations of such EMIS will be needed for them to play a major role in monitoring EFA. In particular, lessons learned over the past decades tell us that the effectiveness of EFA monitoring and subsequent actions depends to a large extent on the quality of the data at the source: namely at the school and local community levels, and their capacity to collect and produce such data. Special attention will therefore have to be given to promoting capacity building in systematic EFA monitoring particularly at the district and school levels. In parallel, national population censuses and household surveys have been collecting complementary data on literacy, educational attainment and participation in education among the general population. Much of these data can be used in monitoring aspects and goals of EFA which cannot be assessed through EMIS data from the schools. When fully utilized, these two main sources of education data together can contribute to a more comprehensive and solid monitoring of EFA. As the world approaches the EFA target year of 2015, efforts to monitor EFA are expected to intensify in the coming years in order to implement further actions to achieve the EFA goals. The present training modules aim at accompanying this process by strengthening education information management capacities at all levels and particularly at decentralized levels of the education administration, and spreading the practices of analysis and use of education data which have been collected through population censuses and household surveys.
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HOW THESE TRAINING MODULES ARE DESIGNED AND HOW TO USE THEM These training modules are presently designed to strengthen capacities to monitor EFA among: (a) Education administrators at all levels and school managers on how to record, collect, analyse, disseminate and use school data; (b) Education researchers, analysts and administrators on how to access, analyse and make full use of education data from population censuses and household surveys using statistical software/package. Accordingly, two series of modules have been compiled with the Modules A1 to A5 addressing the needs of the target group (a), and the Modules B1 to B5 catering to the target group (b). Together they respond to the need to reliably produce and meaningfully use the EFA monitor indicators. A wide range of indicators have been identified and recommended for use in monitoring the six EFA goals2,3. They constitute a comprehensive EFA monitoring indicators system that can be applied by different countries according to their specific situation, priorities and needs. For the purpose of strengthening EFA monitoring capacities, the present training modules focus on a ‘core’ set of 54 indicators as shown in the table below: Table 1. List of core EFA indicators Goal 1: ECCE (Early childhood care and education)
(H)
(S) S (S) (S) (S)
(H)
Goal 2: UPE (Universal primary education)
H H H H H H H H H
(S) (S) S S S S S S S S S S
1. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in ECCE programmes 2. Percentage of new entrants to primary Grade 1 who have attended some form of organized ECCE programme 3. Enrolment in private ECCE centres as a percentage of total enrolment in ECCE programmes 4. Percentage of trained teachers in ECCE programmes 5. Public expenditure on ECCE programmes as a percentage of total public expenditure on education 6. Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) in ECCE programmes including preprimary education 7. Pupil/Teacher Ratio (PTR) (child-caregiver ratio) 8. Gross Intake Rate (GIR) 9. Net Intake Rate (NIR) 10. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) 11. Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) 12. Percentage of repeaters 13. Repetition Rate (RR) by grade 14. Promotion Rate (PR) by grade 15. Dropout Rate (DR) by grade 16. Survival Rate to Grade 5 17. Primary Cohort Completion Rate
2
UNESCO: Guidelines for EFA Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment: Identifying and Reaching the Unreached. UNESCO Bangkok. (To be published). 3
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS): Education Indicators Technical Guidelines. Montreal. November 2009. (see website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/template/pdf/EducGeneral/Indicator_Technical_guidelines_EN.pdf)
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H Goal 2: UPE (continued)
S S S S S S S
Goal 3: Lifelong learning
H H (H)
S (S) (S) (S)
Goal 4: Adult literacy
H H (S) (S) (S) (S) (S) (S) (S)
Goal 5: Gender equality
H
H H (H) H H
S S S
(S) S S
18. Transition Rate (TR) from primary to secondary education 19. Percentage of trained teachers in primary education 20. Pupil/Teacher Ratio (PTR) in primary education 21. Public expenditure on primary education as a percentage of total public expenditure on education 22. Percentage of schools offering complete primary education 23. Percentage of primary schools offering instruction in mother tongue 24. Percentage distribution of primary school students by duration of travel between home and school 25. Number and percentage distribution of the adult population by educational attainment 26. Number and percentage distribution of young people aged 15-24 years by educational attainment 27. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for technical and vocational education and training 28. Number and percentage distribution of lifelong learning/continuing education centres and programmes for young people and adults 29. Number and percentage distribution of young people and adults enrolled in lifelong learning/continuing education programmes 30. Number and percentage distribution of teachers/facilitators in lifelong learning/continuing education programmes for young people and adults 31. Adult literacy rate (15 years old and above) 32. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years old) 33. Public expenditure on adult literacy and continuing education as a percentage of total public expenditure on education 34. Number and percentage distribution of adult literacy and basic continuing education programmes 35. Number and percentage distribution of facilitators of adult literacy and basic continuing education programmes 36. Number and percentage distribution of learners participating in adult literacy and basic continuing education programmes 37. Completion rate in adult literacy and basic continuing education programmes 38. Number and percentage of persons who passed the basic literacy test 39. Ratio of private (non-governmental) to public expenditure on adult literacy and basic continuing education programmes 40. Female enrolled as percentage of total enrolment 41. Female teachers as percentage of total number of teachers 42. Percentage of female school managers/district education officers 43. Gender Parity Index for: a. Adult literacy rate (15 years old and above) b. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years old) c. GER in ECCE d. GIR in primary education e. NIR in primary education iv
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Goal 5: Gender equality (continued)
Goal 6: Quality of Education
H H H H H H
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
f. GER in primary education g. NER in primary education h. Survival rate to Grade 5 i. Transition Rate from primary to secondary education j. GER in secondary education k. NER in secondary education l. Percentage of teachers with pre-service teacher training m. Percentage of teachers with in-service teacher training 44. Percentage of primary school teachers having the required academic qualifications 45. Percentage of school teachers who are certified to teach 46. Pupil/Teacher Ratio (PTR) 47. Pupil/Class Ratio (PCR) 48. Textbook/Pupil Ratio (TPR) 49. Public expenditure on education as a percentage of total government expenditure 50. Percentage of schools with improved water sources 51. Percentage of schools with improved sanitation facilities 52. Percentage of pupils who have mastered nationally defined basic learning competencies 53. School life expectancy 54. Instructional hours
The ‘H’ in the second column of the table above identifies those EFA indicators that can be derived using data from household surveys; and the ‘S’ in the third column points to EFA indicators to be calculated using school data. They indicate the respective focuses of the two series of training modules A1-A5 and B1-B5. The ‘(H)’ and ‘(S)’ denote those EFA indicators which can be derived if data can be collected using either channels of data collection. For example under Goal 1 related to ECCE, the ‘(S)’ points to those EFA indicators that can be produced if relevant data have been collected from ECCE centers. The same applies to the ‘(S)’ under Goals 3 and 4 when data are available from literacy and non-formal education centres. These training modules are mainly designed to be used in self-learning. Specific parts can also be extracted and adapted for use in organizing and conducting training in groups and workshops. For example, appropriate parts of Modules A1-A5 may be incorporated into pre-service and in-service training programmes for school teachers and head-teachers, and into training courses in education planning and management for education administrators. Besides being used in training education administrators, researchers and analysts, the contents and approach adopted in Modules B1-B5 are also suitable for university courses on education research and analysis. The Modules A1-A5 and B1-B5 are structured following operational sequences but each module can be an independent learning unit. Attention has been given to include a maximum number of crossreferences. Depending on the profile and need of the learners, they can choose to focus on one or more specific modules, and follow the cross-references to access relevant elements in the other modules. As there are thousands if not millions of education administrators, researchers and school managers and personnel in different countries, it can be envisaged to also upload these training modules into the v
Introduction
internet for direct interactive e-learning online. The training modules therefore try to incorporate as many examples and cases as possible, together with practical tips, do’s and don’ts, activities, Q&A, and Glossaries of terms. A special effort is being made to identify and facilitate access to a maximum number of relevant references in the footnotes and the ‘Further Studies’ section at the end of each Module, for the learners to further broaden and deepen their knowledge and skills. To help to assess the learning outcomes, the learners are given the opportunity of doing a small quiz at the end of each modules, right before the section on ‘Further Studies’. It is suggested that the first-time learner follow the sections in each module in the order they are presented, and refer to the cross-references to the Glossary, other sections or modules, and/or additional references in the footnotes and ‘Further studies’, before returning to continue the current section of the module under study. The activities and Q&A at the end of the sections help the learners to contextualize what have been learned into their own environment and conditions, and to consolidate and internalize the learning. After having completed each module, the learner can attempt to respond to the quiz to assess learning outcomes. Unsatisfactory response to specific question(s) in the quiz may indicate inadequacies in understanding. Please re-do the corresponding section, read additional references if needed, before re-taking and passing the quiz. All the persons using these training modules are encouraged to freely contribute comments and suggestions for further improving them for the benefit of other learners. Please do not hesitate to point out errors, omissions and inappropriate elements. If possible, please suggest appropriate corrections and further improvements. Concrete examples, experiences, cases, stories, tools and ideas for use in enriching these modules will also be most welcome. All such contributions may please be sent by email or mail to : UIS-AIMS UNESCO Bangkok 920 Sukhumvit Road Bangkok 10110 Thailand Email: bkk.aims@unesco.org
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