Education for All in LAC
Where do we stand, where do we go?
ECOSOC
Buenos Aires, 12 & 13 May 2011
UNESCO Santiago
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EFA: specific solutions for specific
challenges
•Diversity: 41 countries, 5 ‘administrative’
languages, many indigenous languages
• Most countries classified as middle income
countries (MICs) except Haïti (low income); some
high income countries
• Many countries with high or medium
development as per UNDP HDI 2010; Haiti (low
human development) and Barbados (very high)
• Characteristics: deep inequality, political changes
and non continuity; violence; natural disasters
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EFA and youth transition to work
EFA: a concerted effort
• OEI – education goals 2021:
– 11 general goals e.g. UPE and USE
– 27 specific goals
– 38 indicators
• OAS – education goals of the
Summit of the Americas:
– Universal primary education - UPE
– Access for at least 75% of young
people to secondary education
– Opportunities for lifelong learning
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EFA and youth transition to work
EFA (contd.)
• ALAS Foundation: civic society for
child development
• CLADE: Latin American campaign for
the Right to Education
• Plan International: “learning
without fear” a global campaign for
ending violence in schools
• … and AECID, PREAL, IADB, CECCSICA, CARICOM, Save the Children,
WB, and others
EFA and youth transition to work
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G-1: expanding & 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 enroll
much more than those from rural areas
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EFA and youth transition to work
Overview of enrolment in ECCE
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EFA and youth transition to work
Goal 2: UPE – primary enrolment
• Between 2000 & 2008 the region progressed
towards UPE with enrolment rising from 93% to 95%
• As per Pareto principle the last 10- 5% is actually
the most difficult to reach
– Countries improved enrolment in 1999 –2007:
Guatemala: 82 to 95%; Nicaragua: 76 to 96%
– Others saw a drop in enrolment: Jamaica: 88 to
86%; Peru 98 to 96%)
• On the whole completion rates improved over the
last decade from 86% to 90%
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EFA and youth transition to work
Goal 3: learning opportunities for all
learners - secondary
Enrolment at the
secondary level increased
by 6% from 66% to 73% in
2000 - 2008
Noticeable increases in
Guatemala (to 49%), DR
(to 47%)
Regional NER Secondary
74
72
70
68
66
When comparing
secondary completion
64
rates of those aged 20–24
62
with those aged 30–34 it
increased by 25%EFA and youth transition to work
2000
2008
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Tertiary education
Enrolment rose
from 22% to 38%
in 2000–08 i.e.
an 16% increase
The greatest
proportional
increase
worldwide;
greatest regional
increase after
Central &
Eastern Europe
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EFA and youth transition to work
Goal 4: adult literacy
• Adult literacy increased moderately between
2000 and 2008 from 90% to 91%
• This masks differences within and between
countries: 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 males than females
•…but there is the issue of functional illiteracy…
EFA and youth transition to work
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Goal 5: gender parity
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EFA and youth transition to work
Goal 6: quality of education
The UNESCO 2nd regional
study (maths, reading, science
for 3rd and 6th graders)
shows 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
The former tend to perform
better in maths, the latter
perform better in reading
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EFA and youth transition to work
The state of EFA: summary
• UPE is not seen any longer as a challenge with
overall 95% enrolment (UIS, 2008). Is this true?
• Access to pre-primary level (ECCE), as well as
access and completion of secondary education &
TVET, remain serious concerns
• Goal 6 will not be met: quality of education and
all its ramifications
• Inequity is pervasive and slows down socioeconomic progress. A new definition….
• Issues: school violence, natural disasters that put
in danger EFA gains, ICTs in education; education
to combat climate change, etc…
EFA and youth transition to work
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Towards Education convergence in LAC
Guiding principles:
CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
Others
undergraduate
higher secondary
secondary
middle
primary
ECE
S
U
P
P
O
R
T
I
V
E
M
E
C
H
A
N
I
S
M
S
Division of labour &
working
areas
&
S
Y
S
T
E
M
S
Terminology & definitions
Situation analysis
Programme design
(coordination,
collaboration,
convergence)
Validation process
Incentives
STRUCTURE OF THE SECTOR
Implementation, M&E
Accountability
Accelerating EFA by 2015?
Education
Support
systems
Curriculum
reforms
• Diversity and flexibility
• Standard-setting
• Harmonisation of learning objectives
• Methods of delivery and pedagogy
Teachers
• Pre-and in-service training
Schools
culture
•
•
•
•
Management
and planning
• Certification, accreditation, minimum
standards
• Teacher evaluation
Culture of peace and ‘convivencia’
School climate
Instructional & participatory leadership
Inclusion & equity
• Decentralisation
• Quality assurance & school inspection
• Accountability
• Education mgmt. inf. systems (EMIS)
• Inter-agency partnerships & coalitions
A social
• Public–private partnerships
• South-South cooperation
contract for
15
•
Innovative
financing
EFA
and
youth
transition
to
work
education
Beyond 2015 - Where do we go
from here?
• Rethinking quality of education: how do the
various aspects of quality relate to each other?
Teaching and pedagogical methods, assessment
of and for learning, 21st century skills, etc.
• Equity: how do we serve the learners that do
not have access to quality education today?
• Higher learning (academic & technical,
professional): beyond basic skills to transform LAC
into knowledge-based societies
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EFA and youth transition to work
Financing must remain a
commitment
• Impact of economic downturn
emphasizes the need to explore
innovative modalities for financing of EFA
• Some countries use the self-benefiting
modality as they require better technical
expertise or programming capacity
• South-South Cooperation, endowment
funding, Public Private Partnerships, Debt
Swaps, private sector and foundations,
etc.
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EFA and youth transition to work
Thank you
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EFA and youth transition to work