regional report on education for all in lac · many indigenous languages • the regional education...

Regional Report on Education for All in LAC

UNESCO Santiago

1

EFA and youth transition to work

EFA in LAC: a concerted effort

• Diversity: LAC comprises 41 countries with 5 languages and

many indigenous languages

• The regional education strategy is articulated around the

EFA/PRELAC framework for action, adopted at the 2002

Ministerial Conference in Cuba

• Other regional education strategies include the Organisation

of

the Americas’

(OAS) Plan of Action, from the 2nd Summit of the

Americas, which focuses on:

– Universal access to quality primary education– At least 75% access to quality secondary education– Lifelong learning opportunities for all persons in the

population

• The Organisation

of Iberoamerican

States (OEI) is leading the

project “Educational Goals 2021”, covering 11 priorities

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MDGs

1. Eradicate extreme

poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary

education

3. Promote gender equality

and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS,

malaria and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental

sustainability

8. Global partnerships for

development

1. Expand early childhood

care and education

2. Free and compulsory

primary education for all

3. Learning & life skills for

young people and adults

4. Increase adult literacy

5. Eliminating gender

disparities

6. Improving all aspects of

the quality of education

EFA Goals EFA/PRELAC

Contents and practices

of education

Teachers

Culture of schools

Management of

education systems

Social responsibility for

education

Current IADGs


EFA in LAC ‐

current issues

•UPE is no longer a challenge with overall 95% enrolment

(UIS, 2008)

•Access to pre‐primary level

(ECCE), as well as access and

completion of secondary education & TVET, are serious

concerns

•Goal 6: main focus on achieving EFA is on quality of

education

•Emerging issues: school violence, natural disasters and

PCPD jeopardise

EFA gains in some areas of the region; ICTs

in education, higher education, etc.

•Inequity

is pervasive and slows down progress4


Goal

1: expanding

and

improving ECCE

•Legal provisions for access to ECCE exist in most countries

e.g. Caribbean

•Average enrolment at the pre‐primary level, for countries

with data, increased from 55% in 2000 to 65% in 2008

•Gender parity reached in many countries

•However, children from the richest 20% of population

enrol much more than those from the poorest 20%

•Furthermore, children from urban areas enrol

much more

than those from rural areas

5


An

overview

of

enrolment

in ECCE

6


Goal 2: UPE –

primary enrolment

• Between

2000 and

2008 the

LAC region

made interesting

progress

towards

UPE,with

enrolment rising from just over

93% to

over

95%

• As per

Pareto principle, the

“last

5%”

of

children

may actually

be the

most

difficult

to

get

into

primary

schools

• While

some

countries

improveed

enrolment

between

1999

and

2007 (Guatemala: 82 to

95%; Nicaragua: 76 to

96%), in

others, a drop

in enrolment

was

observed

(Jamaica: 88 to

86%;

Peru

98 to

96%)

•Primary

completion

rates

improved

over

the

last

decade, from

86% to

90%

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Goal 3: learning opportunities for all learners ‐

secondary

Overall

enrolment

at the

secondary

level

increased

by

6%, from

66 to

73%, between

2000 and

2008

Noticeable increases in

Guatemala (to 49%), DR (to

47%)

When comparing secondary

completion rates

of those

aged 20–24 with those aged

30–34, completion has

increased by 25%, indicating

significant progress over time

8

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

2000 2008

Regional NER Secondary


Tertiary

education

Enrolment

increased

from

22% to

38%

between

2000 and

2008 i.e. 16%

increase

The

greatest

proportional

increase

in tertiary

enrolment

worldwide, and

greatest

absolute

regional increase

after

Central &

Eastern Europe

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Goal

4: adult

literacy

•Adult literacy increased slightly between 2000 and 2008,

from an estimated 90% to 91%

•This masks great differences within and between

countries: while around 20% of people in Guatemala and

Nicaragua are illiterate, in Uruguay and Cuba, illiteracy is

virtually non‐existent

•Overall, adult literacy is marginally lower among women

than men in LA and higher among women than men in the

Caribbean

•Between 2000 and 2008, growth in literacy has been

slightly higher among the male than among the female

population

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Goal

5: gender

parity

The

region

is

close

to

achieving

gender

parity

in primary

education. In secondary

and

tertiary

education, female

learners

actually

outnumber

male

learners 11


Goal

6: quality

of

education

PISA 2009 suggests that there is

ample room for improvement in

quality of education

The 2nd (SERCE) regional study

by UNESCO (maths, reading,

science among 3rd and 6th grade

learners) indicates that important

tranches of learners do not

achieve minimum levels of

proficiency in either reading or

mathematics in some countries

In general, differences in learning

outcomes between boys and girls

are small, although the former

tend to perform better in maths

while the latter perform better in

reading

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Accelerating

EFA: what

are we doing?

•EFA/PRELAC to

be evaluated

in 2011 for

a renewed

vision

and

operational

action

in LAC

•More regional partnerships

to

increase

results, accelerate

progress, protect

gains, improve

educational

planning

(UNESS, UNDAF) within

UNESCO/UN and beyond (WB,

PREAL, etc.)

•LLECE

will

continue

and

expand

its

work

on

measuring, and

conceptualising, quality

of

education

•Regional network

of

education

statistics

(SIRI) to

carry

out

indicator

development, capacity

building

and

advocacy

throughout

the

region

13


Accelerating

EFA: what

are we doing?

•Setting

up a regional initiative

on

teachers

(quality

of

teaching, accreditation, certification) emphasising

the

pivotal

role of

teachers

in improving

education

quality

•Joint UIS – UNICEF initiative

on

out‐of‐school

children

•Setting

up an

Observatory

of

Educational

Trends

in 2011

•SIRNEE: Regional Information

on

Special

Education

Needs

•Interventions

in inclusive education, sexuality

education,

HIV/AIDS, culture of

peace

and

school

violence, ECCE,

disaster

risk

reduction, ESD, etc.

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Opportunities•Increased

focus

on

ECCE

as a building

block

of

the

learning

cycle

will

have

an

impact

on

educational

achievement

at

later

stages

•Special

educational

needs

(SEN) require

continuous

attention

•Inequities

across

the

region

hamper

EFA progress; new

partnerships

are needed

•Violence

in schools

threatens

EFA progress, gains

and

further

initiatives

•School

leadership: a factor for

change

in schools

and

classrooms

•Education

in emergencies

(PCPD) & disaster

preparedness

to

be enhanced15


Beyond

2015: Quality

of education

•A “new”

EFA multisectoral

initiative

would

highlight

contextual aspects

of

education

i.e.

safety, security; health; labour, etc.

•It

would

frame

quality

of

education

bearing

in

mind

various

dimensions

e.g. achieving

better

learning

outcomes; student‐centered

learning,

ICTs

in the

classroom, more adaptable curricula,

enhanced

economic

growth, …

•Educational

assessment

(what

is

assessed

&

how) has to

be integral part

of

education

quality

16


Beyond

2015: The

Equity

issue

•A “new”

EFA thrust would highlight equitable,

inclusive access and completion of quality

education services for all throughout life

•Analyses illustrate that higher levels of equity in education are positively correlated with better

learning outcomes overall

•The ratio between within‐school variability of learning outcomes and between‐school variability

might be a proxy indicator for educational equity

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Beyond

2015: Higher

and tertiary

education

•Countries with high % of tertiary education graduates are

among the most developed as per UNDP‐HDR

•With UPE coming into sight, and progress made in

secondary education, the emerging EFA agenda in LAC will

increasingly focus on access to quality secondary, TVET and

higher/tertiary education

•Most LAC countries are MICs; further development of

secondary, TVET and tertiary education is particularly

important for socio‐

and macro‐economic development

•Teachers in LAC are usually university graduates,

highlighting the key contribution of higher/tertiary

education to achieve and consolidate EFA targets, and

overall education quality

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Thank you

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