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| Viewpoint |
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 The
world’s nations are in the process of assessing their progress
in achieving the goals of Education for All. For this effort
to be successful, there must be serious and grassroots engagement.
Countries must own this process! But equally important will
be capitalizing on geographical proximity and shared institutional
know-how. This means making the most of links between countries,
and will require inter-country co-operation at subregional and
regional levels. |
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| This
makes clear sense in island subregions, such as the Pacific
and the Caribbean. But all subregional and regional bodies with
a focus on human development should make the EFA 2000 Assessment
a priority. A broad coalition of partners should be involved,
United Nations agencies, governments, non-governmental organizations,
teachers unions, parents’ associations, research institutions
and the media. |
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| Participating
countries will be invited to discuss results of their assessments
and associated special studies at regional meetings to be held
in late 1999 and early 2000. These meetings will be major forums
that have the advantage of being closer to the country-level
than a global event. They can help countries, within their own
regions, share experiences and challenges, and learn from each
other’s successes and shortcomings. The outcomes of the regional
meetings will then serve as the foundation for the fourth global
meeting of the EFA Forum to be held in the year 2000. |
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| UNDP,
along with its partners in the EFA Forum, is helping to support
this process. UNDP sees the EFA commitments made by the international
community in 1990 as crucial in the pursuit of more effective,
human-centred development for the twenty-first century. Thus
we will be working alongside all of you in making this assessment
a success! |
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| John
Lawrence, Principal Technical Adviser United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) |
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| More
emphasis on regional activities |
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| Regions
will be at the core of the EFA 2000 Assessment process. At its
meeting in September 1998, the EFA Forum Steering Committee
decided that there should be a stronger focus on regional assessment
activities, giving more importance to the regional Technical
Advisory Groups (TAGs) and the regional EFA meetings to be held
in late 1999 and early 2000. |
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| "The
regional TAGs are extremely important," says Michael Lakin,
Executive Secretary of the EFA Forum. "They must immediately
become operational and manage a wide range of activities." |
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| For
the Assessment, countries will be grouped according to eleven
regions: East Asia, South and West Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific,
Latin America, the Caribbean, the Arab States, Southern and
Eastern Africa, Central and Western Africa, North America and
Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe. In more than half of
them regional TAGs are already up and running. |
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| The
first priority of the regional TAGs is to mobilize countries
to participate in the EFA 2000 Assessment, and then to provide
technical assistance as needed. |
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| To
date only some thirty-five countries have appointed national
co-ordinators to design and supervise the national assessment
exercise. "It’s very diappointing," Lakin comments. "If the
global assessment is to succeed, all countries urgently need
to set up a special team and start the necessary technical work."
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| He
adds that the assessment is an excellent opportunity for countries
to rethink their EFA strategies, and to develop their capacity
to monitor the provision of basic education. |
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| The
regional TAGs: who are they and what do they do |
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| July
1998: The main purpose of the regional Technical Advisory
Groups is to organize regional assessment activities and to
mobilize and assist the EFA assessment process at country level.
|
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| They
will work with the EFA Forum Secretariat to identify those countries
wishing to participate in special surveys and case studies,
assist in raising funds for regional activities, and organize
the regional EFA policy meetings toward the end of the assessment
exercise. |
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| The
regional TAGs consist of designated staff in the regional offices
of the Forum’s five convenors (UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF and
the World Bank) together with representatives of other multi-lateral
and bi-lateral development agencies, as well as regional banks
and institutions. |
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| Each
regional TAG designates one of its members as the regional focal
point for communications with countries and with the EFA Forum
Secretariat. |
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| Commissioned
studies to complement national EFA 2000 Assessments
|
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| The
global EFA 2000 Assessment will draw mainly on national EFA
reports on how they are meeting the basic learning needs of
their people. |
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| However,
the worldwide review of basic education will include also a
dozen thematic studies on educational issues of global concern,
and some twenty country case studies on literacy and educational
attainment of young people and adults. |
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| The
thematic studies will describe best practices, as well as successful
and unsuccessful experiments in policy implementation. The suggested
themes -- all relating to basic education -- include adult education,
applying new technologies, children in difficult circumstances,
decentralization and community participation, demographic transition,
donor financing of EFA, early childhood care and development,
education for special needs, education in economic crises, girls'
education, refugees, school health and nutrition, and textbooks
and learning materials. |
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| Each
study will be sponsored by a development agency or a major NGO,
which will seek appropriate partners to carry out the study.
|
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| Some
twenty case studies on literacy and non-formal education will
be carried out through analyses of in-country sources such as
household surveys and census data. An important part of each
study will be in-depth description of at least one example of
‘best practice’, a successful experiment, or a major reform
in literacy and non-formal education. |
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| The
case studies will be commissioned by the regional TAGs to appropriate
national institutions. |
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| Measuring
the quality of education |
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| Assessing
the quality of education is an important part of the EFA 2000
Assessment. Sample surveys of the conditions of teaching and
learning in primary schools are planned for a cross-section
of 20-30 developing countries. |
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| "Most
developing countries lack this kind of vital educational information,"
says Vinayagum Chinapah, who is co-ordinating the special surveys.
"Any serious effort to assess progress and problems in basic
education needs to address this lacuna." |
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| The
surveys will use a school questionnaire with some 40 items,
including school background, staff information, school facilities,
learning materials, health and security, as well as a teacher
classroom questionnaire, containing some 50 items covering teacher
training, use of teaching materials, attendance and job satisfaction.
. |
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| Seven
countries in Southern and Eastern Africa have already started
to undertake the surveys, with funding support from the EFA
Forum Secretariat. The regional TAGs will help identify other
countries to carry out similar surveys. |
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| The
EFA 2000 Assessment will also build upon the results of the
joint UNESCO-UNICEF Monitoring Learning Achievement Project,
which was launched in 1992 and has been implemented in some
30 countries. Furthermore, it will include development work
on the learning achievement of 14-year-olds. |
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| New
publications of the EFA Forum Secretariat |
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| EFA
2000, No. 33, focuses on basic education in the Arab States.
It includes an opinion article by Her Majesty Queen Noor of
Jordan and a feature article on the working conditions of teachers
in Algeria. The bulletin is available in Arabic, Chinese, English,
French and Spanish. |
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| Newspapers
in Adult Education: A Sourcebook - on how to use news-papers
in improving adult education. Published in co-operation with
the World Association of News-papers, it is currently available
in English. |
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| Brochure
on the Education for All movement and the Education for All
Forum, available in English, French and Spanish. (copy enclosed). |
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| Staff
members of the EFA Forum Secretariat: |
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Executive
Secretary:
Michael Lakin
Deputy Executive Secretaries:
Svein Osttveit, Ulrika Peppler Barry
Information Officer:
Anne Müller
Secretary:
Mary Konin |
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Assessment
co-ordination:
Warren Mellor (country assessment)
Vinayagum Chinapah (special surveys) |
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 |
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The Education
for All Newsflash is published by the Secretariat of the International
Consultative Forum on Education for All (EFA Forum). It is a
special information service for professionals involved in the
worldwide EFA 2000 Assessment (1998-2000). The assessment is
a major activity in the follow-up of the 1990 World Conference
on Education for All.
Editor: Anne Müller
Contact: The EFA Forum Secretariat, UNESCO, 7, Place de Fontenoy,
75352 Paris 07 SP, France.
Fax: (33) 1 4568 5629; E-mail: efa@unesco.org
Internet homepage: http://www.education.unesco.org/efa
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