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World
Education Forum
Dakar, Senegal 26-28 April 2000 |
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| Strategic
choices in the development and use of teaching and learning
resources |
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Issues
Paper
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| Strategy
Session II.4 |
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Original
: English
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 The
focus of this strategy session is on the options for overcoming
the continuing shortage of resources for effective teaching
and learning both inside and outside school. Survey work in
different parts of the world, commissioned by ADEA and the UNESCO/DANIDA
Basic Learning Materials Initiative for the EFA 2000 Assessment,
identified persistent disparities in access to even a basic
minimum package of teaching and learning resources that Education
for All requires. |
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Therefore, the objective of this strategy session is to establish
the different ways to address the imbalance concerning access
to appropriate, good quality, affordable resources for learning.
The panellists will explore ways of improving access to learning
materials of all kinds, as well as innovative strategies for
ensuring more effective usage. |
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First of all, the session will consider the changing scenario
over the last decade in which the context for making teaching
and learning materials available has shifted. Liberalisation
of the school book market in many parts of the world is resulting
in new partnerships between Ministries of Education and the
private sector. At the same time, deregulation and privatisation
of broadcasting and publishing limits the free access to these
services previously enjoyed by Ministries of Education. Many
governments are shifting from highly centralised systems of
book production and procurement towards developing publishing
as a strategic industry and widening book selection procedures
to involve the end user. Book provision is becoming more diversified,
with many education systems moving from a single textbook for
each subject to arrangements by which teachers, parents and
students have more choice in the materials used for learning
both inside and outside school. The current trend towards decentralisation
of book selection and procurement is helping to widen such options,
but the inadequate geographical coverage of library and book
selling networks perpetuates the lack of opportunity that hampers
equitable access for people living in poorer, more remote parts
of the country. |
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The same uneven picture emerges when addressing ways in which
the range of print-based and non-print technologies can help
improve the quality of basic education. Criteria such as quality,
relevance, cost effectiveness and gender equity apply to any
choice of materials and to choices between different media.
Beyond this, strategic choices between various kinds of resources,
from books to computer-based materials, are constrained by costs,
by questions of their convenience to the learner, and by the
infrastructure required for use of a range of technologies.
The session will treat the application of innovative combinations
of old and new technologies as part of the same continuum -
within which choices faced by the learner are either widening,
or continue to be restricted. |
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The panel will lead the discussion on the options that face
policy makers, teachers and students within the rapidly evolving
context of technological change. It will also consider constraints
that hamper the creation of more equitable opportunities for
enabling Achievement for All through diversified education channels
in school, in the community and at home. It will address the
barriers to creating a more enabling environment to promote
reading for pleasure, as well as for information. It will seek
to identify areas in which renewed efforts by communities, families,
schools, and government ministries can lead to a more cost effective
allocation of instructional resources to ensure more effective
delivery of Education for All. Finally, it will also seek to
identify areas where external partners can help countries in
this regard. |
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In consequence,
given that this strategy session seeks to link criteria affecting
choice and selection with issues arising from better resource
management and usage, all panellists will comment on the conditions
and prospects for more effective provision of teaching and
learning resources during the next decade.
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Here, there would be a need for specific actors - "producers"
or "project promoters" - to manage the setting of common goals,
the overall production, the evaluation and promotional activities,
thereby creating the working space necessary so that each partner
can do what it does best, with a view to meeting basic learning
needs more efficiently and productively. |
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| Key
issues for discussion |
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Panellists will start the discussion by addressing at least
two of the following issues: |
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Using
existing in-country resources more effectively (from both
pedagogic and cost points of view) to encourage improved
channels for learning. Implications for better resource
management and appropriate teacher education.
The
impact of liberalisation of materials selection and supply
on access, quality and cost aspects of teaching and learning
resources. The shift from single textbooks for subjects
to choice of materials and media. Equity implications of
Books for All in relation to cost sharing through user fees.
The
significance of privatisation of book production and distribution.
Changing patterns of public/private sector relationships
(i.e. between governments, government/education materials
supplier/distributor, government/publisher, publisher/bookseller).
Cost
effective options for publishing materials in minority languages,
linked to strategies for dissemination and promoting readership.
Implications of education policy in respect to language
for publishing. Strategies for promoting a reading culture
in which people are motivated to read for pleasure, as well
as reading for information.
Promoting
reading for access to knowledge and information. Educational,
media, fiscal and commercial strategies that can help to
create a more enabling environment for promoting Reading
for All. The need for inter-ministerial commitment to ensure
that book and media resources are affordable, and can be
shared with neighbouring countries with a common language
heritage.
Harnessing
new and old technologies to promote Learning for All. Resource
implications. Safeguarding cultural values and traditions
within a rapidly changing scenario of technological modernity.
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