Situation Analysis of Education in Iraq 2003

This document details the state of education in Iraq right up to the war in 2003, at the different levels of study and in the various regions. Taking advantage of UNESCO’s long and close involvement in the country, it provide a baseline for further action.

"This is a time to be ambitious, rather than merely optimistic, about the intellectual development of Iraq," says UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, John Daniel. "Rehabilitation and reconstruction are necessary stages, but the real focus must be on renewal".

In practical terms this implies renewing all levels of education, from universities to kindergartens, simultaneously. It means working determinedly to attract back to Iraq the best elements of its enormously talented intellectual Diaspora. More

REVISITING TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

An update on Trends, Innovations and Challenges.
By David Atchoarena and André Delluc.

The situation of technical and vocational education varies widely across sub-Saharan countries. Delivery systems are diverse, combining school-based provision with various non-formal training arrangements. Unfortunately, this diversity is also associated with glaring disparities. Differences in historical, political, cultural and economic contexts largely account for such variations in structures, operating conditions and outcomes. Order online

INTEGRATING LIFELONG LEARNING PERSPECTIVES

This book contains the major papers presented during the International Conference on Lifelong Learning: Global Perspectives on Education, held in Beijing, China, from 1 to 3 July 2001. Almost 200 participants from government agencies, academic institutions, research organizations, multilateral agencies and non-government organizations from 40 countries, shared their policies and practices on lifelong learning in their respective contexts. Order online

Information and Communication Technology in Education: A Curriculum for Schools and Programme of Teacher Development

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become, within a very short time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now regard understanding ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part of the core of education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy.

This book deals with ICT in secondary schools and with the changing competencies required of both students and teachers if they are to function effectively in today's society. It sepecifies an ICT curriculum for secondary schools and outlines an accompanying programme of teacher development to implement such a curriculum.

It is currently available in English

For more information, please contact Mariana Patru (m.patru@unesco.org)

Education in a multilingual world

UNESCO is launching this year a new series of Education Position Papers with a focus on relecting the Organization's views, policies, proposals and practices in key areas of educational thinking at an international level. The Papers complement other more specialized publications coming from UNESCO and are intended as core reference documents, reflecting UNESCO's leadership worldwide in the field of education. The first of these is Education in a Multilingual World dealing with the issue of Languages and Education.

It is currently available in English

Information and Communication Technologies in Teacher Education: A Planning Guide

The document proposes a framework for ICTs in teacher education, describes the essential conditions that must be met for successful technology integration and provides guidelines for the development of a strategic planning process.It also identifies important strategies for managing the change process in the teacher education programme as technology becomes a catalyst for trans- forming the teaching-learning process.

It is currently available in English (PDF)

For more information, please contact Mariana Patru

Children in difficult circumstances

More than 100 million of the world's children live in the street, threatened by hunger, violence, drugs, sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS. The risks that they face are often over-shadowed by the precariousness of their situation and the necessity of survival. They suffer from exclusion and are frequently victims of discrimination. Because they are infected by HIV/AIDS or threatened by it, they are further marginalized.

Download the whole brochure (PDF)

For more information, please contact Livia Saldari

Guidelines for education in situations of emergency and crisis: EFA strategic planning

Education in situations of emergency and crisis is one of the Education for All 'flagship programmes'. In order to support this component, this guideline outlines major key points to be considered in developing an emergency response in education. It provides orientations and recommendations and strategic planning for achieving EFA in situation of emergency, crisis and reconstruction. The target groups are education planners, government officials, NGOs, civil society and other partners involved in the EFA process at national and international levels.

It is currently available in English (PDF)

Globalization and the Market in Higher Education
How are governments and universities responding to the challenge of a global market and the growing privatization in higher education?

As higher education opens up to world markets and the World Trade Organization turns its attention towards universities, quality, accreditation and qualifications are becoming issues of major concern to university leaders, governments, students and parents. What are the possibilities of dealing with these issues in a concerted way? What are national and regional authorities doing to tackle what promises to be most important issues since the development of mass higher education?

Drawing on contributions from scholars, leaders and practitioners, this book entitled Globalization and the Market in Higher Education, Quality, Accreditation and Qualifications examines if it is possible to create an international framework in quality assurance and accreditation.

The 224-page book is edited by Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic of the UNESCO Higher Education Division and is published by UNESCO Publishing/Economica, with the co-operation of the International Association of Universities

(ISBN: 92-3-103870-2/ also ISBN 2 7178 4467 - 8) - Click here to buy it!

Open and Distance Learning: Trends, Policy and Strategy Considerations
The present paper aims to review open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, describe relevant concepts and contributions, outline some significant current global and regional trends, suggest policy and strategy considerations and identify UNESCO's initiatives in this area, including its role in capacity building and international co-operation.

The globalization of distance education provides many opportunities for developing countries for the realization of their education system-wide goals. Two main factors have led to an explosion of interest in distance learning: the growing need for continual skills upgrading and retraining; and the technological advances that have made it possible to teach more and more subjects at a distance.

Download the full print document in PDF

2002 Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Is the world on track?
This Report is about opportunities to learn.
Its primary purpose is to assess the extent to which the benefits associated with education are being extended to all children, youths and adults around the world and whether the commitments made two years ago in April 2000 at the World Education Forum in Dakar are being met.
It offers an interim answer to the question as to whether the world is on track to achieve Education for All (EFA) in 2015.

Get the full print document in PDF

Best Practices on Non-Violent Conflict Resolution In & Out of School
In the context of our activities concerning education for non-violence, UNESCO is planning to produce a collection of texts dealing with non-violence and conflict resolution in the formal and non-formal school environment.

This document is designed for teachers of primary and secondary education, teacher trainers, as well as students and young people. Continue

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Women and management in higher education. A good practice handbook
constitutes an international inventory of successful strategies to increase the participation of women in this sector and thus promote the principle of gender equity in higher education. The handbook, produced in collaboration with the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education, contains a wide range of experiences, including the results of UNESCO’s Special Project “Women, Higher Education and Development”.

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Technologies for Education: Potential, Parameters and Prospects
To "tech" or not to "tech" education is not the question. The real question is how to harvest the power of technology to meet the challenges of the 21st century and make education relevant, responsive, and effective for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Drawing on the wealth of worldwide knowledge and experience, this book outlines the rationales and realities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for education, examines the options and choices for applying them, and summarizes a series of case studies that illustrate modalities of integrating ICTs into learning systems in different settings.

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Gender parity: disparities and progress
Gender disparities are found at different stages in the education process, from pre-primary to the tertiary level. The Challenge of Achieving Gender Parity in Basic Education - A Statistical Review, 1990-1998, just published, attempts to evaluate such disparities in primary and secondary education and to detect how different aspects of disparities are relevant for different regions. The report analyses the progress made since Jomtien and proposes a baseline for assessing future progress towards the goals set at the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000). Two statistical appendices complement the Report. They focus on indicators' tables with measures of gender disparities and individual country profiles with key data for the countries singled out by the UN Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI) as needing special attention.

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New brochure on UNESCO's programme for street children

The appalling conditions in which 100 million street children throughout the world live call for new solidarity and greater mobilization. Denied basic human rights, many of them are easy victims of repression and violence, and suffer from poor hygiene due to the use of drugs, prostitution, etc. And though education is a right for all and a key to breaking the vicious circle of poverty and suffering, many of these children have not been in school at all or for a very short period only.

A new 12-page booklet introduces UNESCO's programme for the education of children in difficult circumstances. The programme's two objectives are to guarantee to these children a basic education and to prevent the departure of children in difficulty to the streets. The activities include increasing awareness among the general public and the authorities, providing technical and financial support to humanitarian organizations, and reinforcing private and public-partnerships.

Photos by Aline Arlettaz who is engaged in supporting the social and economic reinsertion of street children in Argentina and Bolivia.

Download the full print document in PDF (in French only)

Recommendation on Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Globalization is significantly influencing skills in demand and the way work is organized today. To help countries cope with these new challenges UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have published two major policy statements on Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
As the titles suggest, UNESCO's concern is centred on technical and vocational education while the ILO focuses on training for employment, decent work and the welfare of workers. The 68-page booklet is a result of extensive consultations between countries, professional associations, and non-governmental organizations. To ensure the Recommendations are understood and applied nationally, regional workshops will be organize with policy-makers from Ministries of Education and Labour.

Download the full print document in PDF

Teacher Education Guidelines: Using Open and Distance Learning
Technology - Curriculum - Cost - Evaluation

The Guidelines set forth in this document are intended for use principally by senior and
middle-management education officers in Education Ministries and teacher training institutions who are daily called upon to make hard choices in how to expand teacher
education through open and distance learning.

Download the full print document in PDF

HIV/AIDS and education: a strategic approach
Interagency draft by the World Bank, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, WHO, UNESCO and UNAIDS

The AIDS crisis continues to expand in numbers and reach, without immediate medical solutions in view. As a consequence, the centrality of prevention and mitigation through education is being recognized in countries and among agencies. Educational interventions should provide the knowledge and encourage the development of attitudes and skills that can limit the spread and impact of the epidemic. Agreement about what the issues are, and key actions to be taken, can help in increasing the speed and effectiveness of the response. The document is available in English, French and Spanish (PDF Format)

Contact: Alexandra Draxler, UNESCO/International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)

UNESCO publishes second edition of The Art of Living in Peace

For more than ten years, The Art of Living in Peace, published by UNESCO, has been successfully used in seminars on education for a culture of peace, aimed at teachers, trainers and young people, in several countries throughout the world. UNESCO is particularly proud to have contributed to the spread of the method that it presents, which has lost none of its relevance and effectiveness.

The book is written by Professor Pierre Weil, Rector of the International Holistic University of Brasilia and Chairman of the City of Peace of Foundation, to whom UNESCO awarded its Education for Peace Prize (honourable mention) in 2000. The 2002-edition is currently available in French. The English version is due to come out in July 2002. To order

Report of the High-Level Group on Education for All now available
The final report of the first meeting of the High-Level Group on Education for All (UNESCO, 29-30 October 2001), just published, focuses on the three major themes of the meeting: political commitment, resource mobilization, and civil society and partnerships. Other issues discussed during the High-Level Group Meeting, notably, the need for a high quality monitoring report and the preparation of comprehensive EFA strategy are also featured in the report, together with the text of the Communiqué adopted by the meeting. The report (PDF format).

New policy brief on early childhood
March 14, 2002 - The first issue of UNESCO's Policy Briefs on Early Childhood is now available. It is a monthly flash note for policy makers, responding to their need for information on policy options and strategies for early childhood. The Briefs are prepared by the Section or invited experts, reviewed by a peer review group and circulated both in print and through UNESCO web site and emails. Further information on policy development in early childhood will be available shortly on the UNESCO web site at http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/ecf/index.htm.

Financing Secondary Education in Developing Countries: Strategies for sustainable growth
By Keith Lewin and Françoise Caillods
Published by the International Institute for Educational Planning, this book explores the problems and issues that surround secondary school financing. It outlines the rationale for expanding secondary education and investigates under what conditions it might be possible to do so at sustainable level of cost. It then analyzes the issue on the basis of case studies in Asia, Latin America and Africa. It concludes with a discussion of the policy options that offer prospects of improved access at sustainable levels of cost without unacceptable deterioration in quality. On sale at UNESCO Publishing

Making Knowledge Work - The Enhancement of Learning and Training Opportunities for Marginalized Youth through Non-formal Education
This booklet demonstrates the contribution of non-formal education to the fight against poverty, notably through literacy for marginalized youth. Focusing on eight pilot projects (in Crimea, Egypt, Haiti, Laos, Mongolia, Mozambique, Senegal and Viet Nam) it highlights the main problems faced by non-formal projects and shows the variety of teaching-learning tools that can be used to achieve education for all.

World Conference on Higher Education on a CD-ROM
The World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1998) gave a new direction for higher education systems and institutions. The new CD-ROM of the Conference is a rich source of information for all those involved in reforming and revitalizing higher education. It includes the main working documents, speeches, reports of commissions and thematic debates and much more in English and French. A selection of documents in Spanish is also available. More

Snapshots of Primary and Secondary Education in Asia-Pacific
The School at the Doorstep in India, Effective and Affordable Secondary Education in the Philippines and Youth's Participation in Community Development in Thailand are just a few of the wide range of imaginative initiatives in education described in the just-published "Snapshots of Primary and Secondary Education in Asia-Pacific".
It is the first in a new series entitled "Educational Innovation for Development", produced by the Asia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development (ACEID). This first issue provides up-to-date information on forty-two innovative programmes that are currently being pursued in the region by Ministries of Education, international development agencies, institutions and individuals. The 73-page book can be downloaded from the UNESCO Bangkok's E-book section

Education and Afghan Society in the Twentieth Century
The reconstruction of the education system in Afghanistan is an immense challenge. This document published in November 2001 by UNESCO traces and analyses the development of modern education in Afghanistan reflecting the changing political, social and cultural policies in the country. It is a valuable source of information for the wide range of stakeholders currently involved in helping the Afghan society to rebuild the education system. PDF Format (in English only).

Directory of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs
Third Edition of the Directory of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme. Published on the occasion of the Programme's tenth anniversary this updated version of the Directory presents UNESCO Chairs by country and the networks that are partners of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme. It contains the latest statistical data indicating the number and distribution of the Chairs by region and by field. More

Teacher Education Through Distance Learning
These case studies represent an interesting mix of applications of different modes of distance learning. Distance education still remains, at heart, a reflection of individual national infrastructures and a wide complex of educational, social, cultural and economic issues, including the willingness and capacities of teachers themselves to become engaged in these modes in their various learning institutions and communities. More - Full document in PDF

Education for a Culture of Peace in a Gender Perspective
UNESCO launches "Education for a Culture of Peace in a Gender Perspective" by the well-known peace educator, Professor Betty Reardon, who presented her latest teaching manual during a meeting addressed by John Daniel and Pierre Sané, UNESCO Assistant Directors-General for Education and Social Sciences respectively. More

Monitoring Report on Education for All, 2001
This report sets out to monitor progress that countries and agencies have achieved towards the goal of EFA, as well as to highlight important trends and findings and to point to future actions. It assesses the future effort required in terms of additional school places, literacy campaigns, teacher training, educational materials and so on, as well as the magnitude of the financial gap that needs to be closed in order to achieve the goals and targets set for 2015. Full text in HTML -- PDF

The CD-ROM, "Educating for Citizenship"
was launched by John Daniel, Assistant Director-General for Education at the Third World Congress of Education International. Intended to help pre-primary and primary school teachers in their approach to teaching this theme, this trilingual instructional tool offers them a wide range of materials. More
Further information from the Documentation and Information Service of the Education Sector

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