people and planet

21
DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS FOR
MONITORING EDUCATION
SYSTEMS
A review of work by various international and regional
agencies highlights a variety of approaches used to
map education systems and provide useful comparative
information for policy-makers.
GLOBAL TOOLS
In 1996, the UNESCO International Bureau of
Education (IBE) established the World Data on
Education (WDE) series. Originally, the WDE
reproduced the National Reports on the Development
of Education that member states submitted to IBE
before each International Conference on Education.
Later, national profiles were organized using a common
structure to cover principles and general objectives;
laws and other basic regulations; administration and
management; structure and organization by level;
education processes, including learning achievement
assessments; and teaching staff. The seventh edition in
2011 covered about 160 countries (IBE, 2016b).
The WDE has been a valuable source of information on
education systems at the global level. However, resource
constraints plagued its development. Initially, national
governments verified the profiles before publication.
However, by the third edition this process ceased.
Country networks or digital platforms to regularly
update profiles never emerged, so profiles quickly went
out of date. In addition, the depth of coverage narrowed
and eight areas were dropped, including current
educational priorities, financing of education, and higher
education.
UNESCO has no current plan to update the series,
although regional initiatives have been developed.
For example, the Education Policy and Reform Unit at
the Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in
Bangkok recently began publishing system profiles as
part of the National Education Systems and Policies in
Asia-Pacific platform.
UNESCO does provide at least three other examples
of global databases that are regularly maintained.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), as part
of its annual education survey, collects data on the
availability of compulsory and free education in every
country. The UIS carries out quality assurance on these
data, which are used in the statistical tables in the
GEM Report annex. Information is collected by age or
grade on whether
countries legislate
The UNESCO Institute for compulsory and
free education.
for Statistics (UIS)
collects data on the
A second example,
availability of compulsory initiated in 2014, is
the Global Database
and free education in
on the Right to
every country
Education. Country
data on fulfilment
of the right to
education are organized into five categories: ratification
of normative instruments; observations from UN bodies
such as the Universal Periodic Review under the Human
Rights Council; constitutional frameworks; legislative
and administrative frameworks; and education policies.
The information is regularly updated with reports which
countries submit to the UN, together with official national
documents they are encouraged to share (UNESCO,
2016b). Within the framework of its strategy on standardsetting
instruments in the field of education, UNESCO
intends to upgrade this database to an Observatory on
the Right to Education as a research tool.
A third example of a standardized – albeit more
specialized – resource is the World Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Database, an
online repository developed by UNESCO-UNEVOC. It
provides concise, reliable and up-to-date information
on TVET systems worldwide to help officials, experts,
stakeholders and researchers learn about trends and
challenges. The database comprises over 70 country
profiles containing key descriptive information about
national TVET systems, including national policies,
strategies, structure, qualification frameworks and
reforms. They are compiled from various national and
international sources and validated by UNEVOC centres
or other national authorities (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2016).
These system-level profiles cover a wide selection
of countries but a narrow range of education policy
issues. In general, they emphasize factual information
communicated by countries, but omit important areas
of education policy-making.
One initiative aiming to create a global platform of
system-level information is the World Bank’s Systems
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 361