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

010CHAPTER 32Education for All Global Monitoring ReportEvidence fromrich countriesshows that muchof the attainmentgap at the end ofsecondary schoolis predictablebefore age 5untrained teachers in overcrowdedclassrooms lacking basic teaching materials.While the problems are often system-wide,it is marginalized children who experiencethem the most acutely. Strategies to combatmarginalization need to ensure that schoolsserving the poor attract skilled teachers whocan teach in an appropriate language withcultural sensitivity, and that sufficient andrelevant teaching materials are available.Entitlements and opportunities. Schools can playan important role in combating marginalizationin education and beyond, but there is a limit towhat they can do. Mitigating the impact of povertyon education requires measures that increaseand stabilize the incomes and food securityof poor households. Legal provisions can setstandards and equip people with rights thatunlock opportunities for education, providedthey are enforceable. And public spending canhelp counteract the disadvantages associatedwith poverty. In each of these areas, actionsby governments can create an enablingenvironment for greater equity. At the sametime, political mobilization by the marginalized,or by civil society more widely, is often apowerful catalyst for change.Each point of the triangle needs to be viewed inrelation to the others. Making primary educationaccessible and affordable without tacklingproblems in education policy is clearly nota prescription for combating marginalization.Conversely, raising the average level of learningfor the majority while leaving behind a substantialminority is a route to more marginalization.The wider pattern of entitlements and enablingconditions is vital because it shapes theenvironment in which the abstract ‘human right toeducation’ is translated into meaningful claims andsubstantive rights. What ultimately matters is thedevelopment of an integrated policy response thataddresses the multiple and overlapping structuresof disadvantage that restrict opportunities formarginalized learners. One powerful exampleof such a response at a community level comesfrom Harlem in New York (Box 3.14).The lesson that emerges from this section isthat schools have the potential to make a greatdeal of difference to the lives of the marginalized.But the processes that drive marginalization startearly in life – long before children enter school.As Chapter 2 makes clear, evidence fromBox 3.14: ‘Tipping points’ in HarlemNumerous initiatives have attempted to closethe racial and social divide in American education,but few have achieved a breakthrough in equalopportunity. The Harlem Children’s Zone Project isdifferent. Begun in 1997, it traces its roots to 1970scommunity activism. The failure of social programmesto improve education, tackle unemployment andrespond to the breakdown in family and communitylife that came with crack cocaine use and streettrading prompted community leaders to explorenew avenues.In contrast to narrowly based ‘school reform’ models,the Harlem Children’s Zone Project recognizes thatpoverty, gun crime and drugs are part of a widerculture of low expectations and underachievement.The intent of the project is to create a ‘tipping point’by covering at least 65% of children and their parentsliving in the blocks where the project operates. It seesthis as ‘a threshold beyond which a shift occurs awayfrom destructive patterns and towards constructivegoals’ (Harlem Children’s Zone, n.d., p. 3).An ambitious, integrated ‘pipeline’ model startsbefore birth with support for maternal health andparenting skills, continues through pre-school tosecondary school and college, and encompasseshousing, social services and nutrition. The emphasisdeveloping countries shows that malnutritionbefore age 2 undermines cognitive developmentand weakens learning achievement. Evidence fromrich countries shows that much of the attainmentgap at the end of secondary school is predictablebefore age 5, and that learning achievement isstrongly associated with household wealth andparental education (Blanden and Machin, 2008;Feinstein, 2003). Schools can at best mitigatedisadvantages accumulated in early childhood.That is why nutrition, maternal and child health, andearly childhood care and education are central to anintegrated approach for overcoming marginalization.Expanding access and improvingaffordability for excluded groupsAround 72 million children of primary school ageare out of school, either because they have neverentered the education system or because they havedropped out. Many millions of adolescents enteradulthood without the basic learning skills they needto realize their potential. Changing this picture andaccelerating progress towards the goal of universal188