Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

0120CHAPTER 2Education for All Global Monitoring ReportThe core purposeof education is toensure thatchildren acquirethe skills thatshape theirfuture lifechancesThe quality of educationGoal 6: Improving all aspects of the quality ofeducation and ensuring excellence of all so thatrecognized and measurable learning outcomesare achieved by all, especially in literacy,numeracy and essential life skills.The core task of any education system is toequip young people with the skills they need toparticipate in social, economic and political life.Getting children into primary school, through theirearly grades and into secondary school is not anend in itself but a means of delivering these skills.Success or failure in achieving education for allhinges critically not just on countries deliveringmore years in school; the ultimate measure liesin what children learn and the quality of theireducation experience.Many countries are failing the quality test. Outof-schoolchildren face obvious disadvantages,yet less attention has been paid to the fact thatmillions of children emerge from primary schooleach year without having acquired basic literacyand numeracy skills. Unable to formulate or reada simple sentence, these children are ill equippedto make the transition to secondary school – letalone enter employment markets. The problemsextend to secondary schools, where many children– sometimes a majority – do not reach even aminimal level of competence.Policy-makers, educators and parents need tofocus far more on the core purpose of education:ensuring that children acquire the skills thatshape their future life chances. That goal isdifficult to achieve – far more difficult, arguably,than getting children into school. Governmentsneed to revise approaches to teaching, learningand curriculum development. With the globalfinancial crisis having tightened already severebudget constraints, cost is often a barrier, butlearning achievement can be greatly improvedat low cost, in some cases by making better useof resources already being invested in education.Public concern over the quality of educationis evident in many of the world’s richest nations,as well as the poorest. This section focuses onthe situation in developing countries. There arethree key messages:While global gaps in access to school may benarrowing, gaps in school quality remainenormous. Evidence from learning achievementtests suggests that, in many developing countries,average students are performing close to or belowminimum competency levels. Global disparitiesare reinforced by inequalities within countries. Theproblem is not just one of relative performance;absolute levels of learning achievement areexceptionally low in many countries.Getting the basics right is important – and manycountries are failing to build strong foundations.Children in the early grades are not masteringthe reading skills necessary for further learning.Without these foundations, returns on the hugeinvestment that governments and householdsmake in education will be sub-optimal. Readingskills can be improved relatively easily. Educationministries and teachers need to renew theirefforts regarding these basic skills.Children do not start their schooling on anequal footing: more must be done to equalizeopportunity. Circumstances beyond children’scontrol, such as the income and education oftheir parents, the language they speak and wherethey live, influence their achievement at school.If the quality goal is to be achieved, ensuring thatall learners, regardless of background, achievebasic levels of learning needs to becomea central objective. Programmes to improveachievement for the most disadvantagedlearners are necessary.The section is divided into three parts. Part 1highlights the large disparities in learningachievement among and within countries. Part 2explores early grade reading – one of thefoundations for learning. Part 3 looks at the widerchallenge of improving learning in schools and atglobal trends in teacher recruitment.The learning gap —from global to localIn an increasingly knowledge-based world,prosperity, employment and poverty reduction –for countries and individuals – depend increasinglyon skills and capabilities delivered in the classroom.For large parts of the world’s population, however,education systems fall far short of legitimateexpectations. Poor quality in education isjeopardizing the future of millions of young people,many of whom face the prospect of lifelong illiteracy.104