people and planet

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In light of the expanded scope of the Education 2030
monitoring agenda and its many gaps, the question
of an education-specific survey needs to be revisited.
Such a tool could address issues such as participation
in early childhood, technical-vocational, tertiary and
adult education; the use of language at home and in
school; the collection of detailed information on school
attendance; and the direct assessment of literacy and
numeracy skills. Potential donors need to discuss the
cost-effectiveness of a new tool of this kind.
The second recommendation is for a consistent approach
to support the monitoring of learning outcomes.
Countries need support to build national assessment
systems that have solid foundations and are in their best
interests. Some countries face a multitude of options
from development partners that stretch their capacity.
A code of conduct among donors and a common pool
of resources are needed, with priorities including the
building of national capacity, the provision of long-term
support and the avoidance of overlap. Coordinated
support would also help countries gain access to shared
resources and knowledge networks.
Third, analysis of several measurement challenges in
the GEM Report highlights the fact that, with the
expanded scope of the Education 2030 agenda, many
targets have not yet been measured on a global scale.
Indicators, especially those related to learning outcomes,
have not yet been fully developed. A common challenge
is that large differences in culture and other contextual
factors hamper clear, comparable definitions of such
concepts as early childhood development, relevant
learning outcomes in basic education, digital literacy and
skills for global citizenship.
Therefore, this report recommends that institutions
like the UIS, with the support of the TCG, set a research
agenda related to the challenges of comparative
measurement in education. To be valid, proposed
measures need to be tested on the ground and at
scale. In key areas of global education, research on
measurement is fragmented. While there is much national
expertise, there is little pooling of resources to address
questions in a cross-country, cross-cultural context. In
the absence of a coordinating institution, it is strongly
recommended that a research hub be established to
focus on issues related to the major gaps in the global
monitoring of education. Education could draw lessons
from partnerships or networks in health or agriculture
that have pooled research resources to similar effect.
Framing the debate: what data revolution for education?
Much of the discussion about global monitoring of the
SDGs has been cast in terms of a ‘data revolution’. The
term can be defined in many ways, but one of the most
widely used descriptions is found in the final document
of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Independent
Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for
Sustainable Development: ‘New technologies are leading
to an exponential increase in the volume and types of
data available, creating unprecedented possibilities for
informing and transforming society and protecting the
environment. Governments, companies, researchers
and citizen groups are in a ferment of experimentation,
innovation and adaptation to the new world of data, a
world in which data
are bigger, faster and
more detailed than
The GEM Report
ever before’ (United
believes that the
Nations, 2014c).
concept of a ‘data
The GEM Report
revolution’ associated
takes the view that
with technology and the concept of a ‘data
‘big data’ is likely to be revolution’ associated
with technology and
irrelevant in education,
‘big data’ is likely to be
if not misleading
irrelevant in education,
if not misleading.
Most countries are
still grappling with compiling basic education data and
understanding their purposes and uses. And most of the
issues confronting countries are about basic concepts,
such as what is meant by literacy proficiency skills or
early childhood development. In addition, there is a
need to invest in robust monitoring systems. In both
these areas, the international community is called upon
to provide assistance. Rather than overhauling ways
of collecting data and bringing about a ‘revolution’
through technological means, better coordination
between agencies and more resources to implement
plans would bring about the changes needed to monitor
Education 2030.
Moreover, accessibility, openness and accountability of
data in education remain constrained. Many countries
carry out household, school or learning achievement
surveys but do not make the results or the data public.
Countries need to do much more to promote the
availability of data and encourage their use. This must
be a key part of any ‘revolution’ if it is to be in the
service of all.
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 383