The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

In addition to an EFA-inspired emphasis on expanding access and equity,
most of the country programs were explicitly concerned with the quality of
education and learning outcomes. Despite a current narrative that the focus
on EFA has distorted investment toward access at the expense of quality, our
study finds that neither the national plans and agendas themselves nor the
perspectives of former ministers support such a view. Instead, a commitment
to focus on quality improvement is found in both the national rhetoric
about education, and in major investments in such activities as curriculum
reform, teacher development, and student assessment. While the eventual
effectiveness of some of these quality reforms can be criticized for their design
or implementation, the fact of the initiatives themselves and the specific
activities supporting them reflect an implicit national concern about quality
and outcomes, and the intention that investment result in quality improvement.
2. All of the countries studied have sought to implement significant reforms.
Some of the countries have had substantial success in implementing
nationwide reforms and building national capacity. Some programs have
been scaled up, modified and improved, and had measurable results.
Education reform efforts in the target countries have achieved some significant
advances in various dimensions of system development over the past 18 years.
The breadth of capacity, depth of impact, and speed and trajectory of the
reform process has differed considerably among countries. However, progress
is evident in many dimensions, including system outcomes such as improved
access and equity, learning outcomes in some cases, institutional capacity, and
the maturity of the management and governance of the education system.
Education system reform is a continuing process; each stage building on not
only prior technical advances but also on an institutional and political base.
None of the countries has “completed” the reforms, because improvement
of the system is an on-going challenge. None of the countries has raised the
quality of education to acceptable levels. However, all of the countries studied
have made progress toward better education for the population. Many aspects
of the foundations of institutional framework, capacity, leadership, technical
solutions, and management systems are evident in each country.
Egypt’s education initiatives in the 1990s were directed toward access
and equity issues, and were successful in improving these core measures
of performance. The substantive policy reforms stalled through much of
the decade of the 1990s due, in part, to political unrest, but have taken
off with increasing momentum since 2001, and particularly since 2005.
Improved stability helped, as did coming to terms at this time with the needs
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SECTION 3: SUMMARY fINdINGS ANd CONClUSIONS