Global Education Digest 2012 - International Reading Association

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SECTION 4 / Monitoring education quality: Putting the spotlight on low levels of learning BOX 4. What universal reading skills should all children acquire by the end of primary education? The Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) have launched a Learning Metrics Task Force to catalyse a shared vision for learning goals and targets. The task force provides a space for consultation and dialogue among a diverse group of experts to develop recommendations for learning standards, metrics and implementation practices. The project timeline strategically aligns with global policy processes to implement the next generation of the Education for All agenda and Millennium Development Goals, as well as the UN Secretary- General’s new global education initiative, Education First. The task force will develop recommendations for learning metrics at the early childhood, primary and post-primary education levels. It includes representatives of national governments, civil society, regional organizations, multilaterals and bilateral donors. The Brookings Institution and the UIS will support the analytical and administrative work of the task force, while technical working groups will make recommendations concerning standards, measures, methods and implementation strategies. their current grade to repeat the grade. This policy is motivated by the belief that an extra year in the grade will give struggling pupils an opportunity to improve content mastery and be better prepared to succeed in subsequent grades. Those who favour grade repetition policies also tend to suggest that it is important for schools to maintain high standards. In contrast, other school systems apply a social promotion policy of moving pupils to the next grade level despite poor achievement at their current grade. It is based on the belief that promotion maintains the motivation of pupils and that such pupils will get more from exposure to new content than they would from repeating their current grade (UIS, 2004). Results from international learning studies show that student performance is not closely associated with the practice of repetition or automatic promotion. For example, high-performing students come from countries that practise repetition and from those that practice automatic promotion. In more developed countries, results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009 (OECD, 2011) show that some high-performing countries apply automatic promotion (e.g. Finland, Iceland and Norway) while others practice repetition (e.g. Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States). According to results from the SACMEQ III survey (Hungi, 2011), the top three performers in terms of reading scores of primary Grade 6 pupils were Seychelles, Mauritius (which have automatic promotion policies) and Tanzania, which applies repetition. At the same time, the progress of individual pupils may be impacted by repetition or automatic promotion policies. In South and East Africa, in all of the 15 SACMEQ school systems, pupils who had never repeated grades were likely to achieve better results than pupils who had repeated grades in reading, and in all but two of the school systems (Malawi and Swaziland) in mathematics (Hungi, 2011). Over the last decade, PASEC evaluations in 11 countries provide evidence that during the school year repeaters progressed less than their classmates in terms of learning (PASEC, 2010). Does repetition improve learning? A wide range of studies and empirical evidence have still not reached a consensus on the use of repetition to address insufficient learning (Ndaruhutse, 2008; Crahay, 2007; UNESCO/IIEP, 1997). Those who support its pedagogical effectiveness argue that advancing to the subsequent grade/level of education is contingent upon mastery of the curriculum of the preceding grade/level. They also argue that repetition can be effectively used to regulate and motivate students. Conversely, arguments against the use of repetition consider that such a policy: i) is a waste of financial and human resources; ii) harms the self- 50
OPPORTUNITIES LOST: THE IMPACT OF GRADE REPETITION AND EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING esteem of repeaters; and iii) is not effective in helping students to catch up academically (Labé, 2010). An analysis of the results of international student assessments seems to portray a story of two worlds. In the first, schools are stable, well-resourced institutions, designed to serve school-ready entrants who can successfully meet curricular objectives. Yet, in other places, schools lacking even the most basic services are trying to serve students, who often face poverty and compounding disadvantages. In the end, it is the children with the least opportunities who are most likely to repeat grades and leave school early without being able to read a basic text. It is important to note that the indicators of learning outcomes described here are not comparable; they were generated using different assessment models. At the same time, it is impossible not to observe that all the evidence from the different assessments point in a similar direction. Millions of children in less developed countries do not learn to read in the early grades, which is when they should do so, as reading is a foundation for further learning. In short, many youngsters are completing primary school each year without having acquired basic literacy skills. 51
Page 1 and 2: Global education diGest 2012 INSTIT
Page 3 and 4: GLOBAL EDUCATION DIGEST 2012 Opport
Page 5 and 6: FOREWORD Each year the UNESCO Insti
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS Foreword 3 Acknowledgement
Page 9: OPPORTUNITIES LOST: THE IMPACT OF G
Page 12 and 13: SECTION 1 / Policy design and imple
Page 20 and 21: SECTION 2 / Learning achievement: D
Page 34 and 35: SECTION 3 EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING: LOS
Page 36 and 37: SECTION 3 / Early school leaving: L
Page 48 and 49: SECTION 4 / Monitoring education qu
Page 50 and 51: SECTION 4 / Monitoring education qu
Page 54 and 55: SECTION 5 THE COSTS OF SCHOOL FAILU
Page 56 and 57: SECTION 5 / The costs of school fai
Page 62 and 63: REFERENCES Belfield, Clive (2008).
Page 64 and 65: A N N E X A4 DEFINITIONS Adjusted n
Page 66 and 67: DEFINITIONS Educational institution
Page 68 and 69: DEFINITIONS Social science, busines
Page 70 and 71: DEFINITIONS Net flow ratio of mobil
Page 72 and 73: DEFINITIONS Part-time students. Stu
Page 74 and 75: A N N E X B INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
Page 76 and 77: A N N E X C REGIONS ARAB STATES (20
Page 78 and 79: A N N E X D ELECTRONIC RESOURCES UI
Page 80 and 81: READER’S GUIDE ii) UOE survey UNE
Page 82 and 83: READER’S GUIDE Population issues:
Page 84 and 85: A N N E X F STATISTICAL TABLES The
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Global Education Digest 2012 - International Reading Association

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