Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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CHAPTER 2
Education for All Global Monitoring Report
The core purpose
of education is to
ensure that
children acquire
the skills that
shape their
future life
chances
The quality of education
Goal 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.
The core task of any education system is to
equip young people with the skills they need to
participate in social, economic and political life.
Getting children into primary school, through their
early grades and into secondary school is not an
end in itself but a means of delivering these skills.
Success or failure in achieving education for all
hinges critically not just on countries delivering
more years in school; the ultimate measure lies
in what children learn and the quality of their
education experience.
Many countries are failing the quality test. Outof-school
children face obvious disadvantages,
yet less attention has been paid to the fact that
millions of children emerge from primary school
each year without having acquired basic literacy
and numeracy skills. Unable to formulate or read
a simple sentence, these children are ill equipped
to make the transition to secondary school – let
alone enter employment markets. The problems
extend to secondary schools, where many children
– sometimes a majority – do not reach even a
minimal level of competence.
Policy-makers, educators and parents need to
focus far more on the core purpose of education:
ensuring that children acquire the skills that
shape their future life chances. That goal is
difficult to achieve – far more difficult, arguably,
than getting children into school. Governments
need to revise approaches to teaching, learning
and curriculum development. With the global
financial crisis having tightened already severe
budget constraints, cost is often a barrier, but
learning achievement can be greatly improved
at low cost, in some cases by making better use
of resources already being invested in education.
Public concern over the quality of education
is evident in many of the world’s richest nations,
as well as the poorest. This section focuses on
the situation in developing countries. There are
three key messages:
While global gaps in access to school may be
narrowing, gaps in school quality remain
enormous. Evidence from learning achievement
tests suggests that, in many developing countries,
average students are performing close to or below
minimum competency levels. Global disparities
are reinforced by inequalities within countries. The
problem is not just one of relative performance;
absolute levels of learning achievement are
exceptionally low in many countries.
Getting the basics right is important – and many
countries are failing to build strong foundations.
Children in the early grades are not mastering
the reading skills necessary for further learning.
Without these foundations, returns on the huge
investment that governments and households
make in education will be sub-optimal. Reading
skills can be improved relatively easily. Education
ministries and teachers need to renew their
efforts regarding these basic skills.
Children do not start their schooling on an
equal footing: more must be done to equalize
opportunity. Circumstances beyond children’s
control, such as the income and education of
their parents, the language they speak and where
they live, influence their achievement at school.
If the quality goal is to be achieved, ensuring that
all learners, regardless of background, achieve
basic levels of learning needs to become
a central objective. Programmes to improve
achievement for the most disadvantaged
learners are necessary.
The section is divided into three parts. Part 1
highlights the large disparities in learning
achievement among and within countries. Part 2
explores early grade reading – one of the
foundations for learning. Part 3 looks at the wider
challenge of improving learning in schools and at
global trends in teacher recruitment.
The learning gap —
from global to local
In an increasingly knowledge-based world,
prosperity, employment and poverty reduction –
for countries and individuals – depend increasingly
on skills and capabilities delivered in the classroom.
For large parts of the world’s population, however,
education systems fall far short of legitimate
expectations. Poor quality in education is
jeopardizing the future of millions of young people,
many of whom face the prospect of lifelong illiteracy.
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