Education for All in LACWhere do we stand, where do we go?

ECOSOCBuenos Aires, 12 & 13 May 2011

UNESCO Santiago 1

EFA and youth transition to work

EFA: specific solutions for specific challenges

•Diversity: 41 countries, 5 ‘administrative’ languages, many indigenous languages

• Most countries classified as middle income countries (MICs) except Haïti (low income); some high income countries

• Many countries with high or medium development as per UNDP HDI 2010; Haiti (low human development) and Barbados (very high)

• Characteristics: deep inequality, political changes and non continuity; violence; natural disasters

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EFA and youth transition to work

EFA: a concerted effort

• OEI – education goals 2021:– 11 general goals e.g. UPE and USE– 27 specific goals– 38 indicators

• OAS – education goals of the Summit of the Americas:– Universal primary education - UPE– Access for at least 75% of young

people to secondary education– Opportunities for lifelong learning

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EFA and youth transition to work

EFA (contd.)• ALAS Foundation: civic society for

child development

• CLADE: Latin American campaign for the Right to Education

• Plan International: “learning without fear” a global campaign for ending violence in schools

• … and AECID, PREAL, IADB, CECC-SICA, CARICOM, Save the Children, WB, and others 4

EFA and youth transition to work

G-1: expanding & improving ECCE• Legal provisions for access to ECCE exist in most countries e.g. Caribbean

• Average enrolment at the pre-primary level (for countries with data), increased from 55% in 2000 to 65% in 2008

• Gender parity reached in many countries

• However, children from the richest 20% of population enrol much more than those from the poorest 20%

• Furthermore, children from urban areas enroll much more than those from rural areas 5

EFA and youth transition to work

Overview of enrolment in ECCE

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EFA and youth transition to work

Goal 2: UPE – primary enrolment• Between 2000 & 2008 the region progressed towards UPE with enrolment rising from 93% to 95%

• As per Pareto principle the last 10- 5% is actually the most difficult to reach– Countries improved enrolment in 1999 –2007:

Guatemala: 82 to 95%; Nicaragua: 76 to 96%– Others saw a drop in enrolment: Jamaica: 88

to 86%; Peru 98 to 96%)

• On the whole completion rates improved over the last decade from 86% to 90%

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EFA and youth transition to work

Goal 3: learning opportunities for all learners - secondaryEnrolment at the secondary level increased by 6% from 66% to 73% in 2000 - 2008

Noticeable increases in Guatemala (to 49%), DR (to 47%)

When comparing secondary completion rates of those aged 20–24 with those aged 30–34 it increased by 25%

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62

64

66

68

70

72

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2000 2008

Regional NER Secondary

EFA and youth transition to work

Tertiary educationEnrolment rose from 22% to 38% in 2000–08 i.e. an 16% increase

The greatest proportional increase worldwide; greatest regional increase after Central & Eastern Europe

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EFA and youth transition to work

Goal 4: adult literacy• Adult literacy increased moderately between 2000 and 2008 from 90% to 91%

• This masks differences within and between countries: around 20% of people in Guatemala and Nicaragua are illiterate, in Uruguay and Cuba, illiteracy is virtually non-existent

• Overall, adult literacy is marginally lower among women than men in LA and higher among women than men in the Caribbean

• Between 2000 and 2008 growth in literacy has been slightly higher among males than females

•…but there is the issue of functional illiteracy…10

EFA and youth transition to work

Goal 5: gender parity

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EFA and youth transition to work

Goal 6: quality of educationThe UNESCO 2nd regional study (maths, reading, science for 3rd and 6th graders) shows that important tranches of learners do not achieve minimum levels of proficiency in either reading or mathematics in some countries

In general, differences in learning outcomes between boys and girls are small

The former tend to perform better in maths, the latter perform better in reading

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EFA and youth transition to work

The state of EFA: summary• UPE is not seen any longer as a challenge with overall 95% enrolment (UIS, 2008). Is this true?

• Access to pre-primary level (ECCE), as well as access and completion of secondary education & TVET, remain serious concerns

• Goal 6 will not be met: quality of education and all its ramifications

• Inequity is pervasive and slows down socio-economic progress. A new definition….

• Issues: school violence, natural disasters that put in danger EFA gains, ICTs in education; education to combat climate change, etc…

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Guiding principles:

Division of labour & workingareas

Terminology & definitions

Situation analysis

Programme design (coordination, collaboration, convergence)

Validation process

Incentives

Implementation, M&E

Accountability

CROSS-CUTTING THEMES

STRUCTURE OF THE SECTOR

Others

undergraduate

higher secondary

secondary

middle

primary

ECE

Towards Education convergence in LAC

SUPPORTIVE

MECHANISMS

&

SYSTEMS

EFA and youth transition to work15

Education Support systems

Curriculum reforms

Teachers

Management and planning

Schoolsculture

A social contract for education

• Diversity and flexibility• Standard-setting• Harmonisation of learning objectives• Methods of delivery and pedagogy

• Culture of peace and ‘convivencia’• School climate• Instructional & participatory leadership• Inclusion & equity

• Decentralisation• Quality assurance & school inspection• Accountability• Education mgmt. inf. systems (EMIS)

• Inter-agency partnerships & coalitions• Public–private partnerships • South-South cooperation• Innovative financing

• Pre-and in-service training• Certification, accreditation, minimum standards• Teacher evaluation

Accelerating EFA by 2015?

EFA and youth transition to work

Beyond 2015 - Where do we go from here?• Rethinking quality of education: how do the various aspects of quality relate to each other? Teaching and pedagogical methods, assessment of and for learning, 21st century skills, etc.

• Equity: how do we serve the learners that do not have access to quality education today?

• Higher learning (academic & technical, professional): beyond basic skills to transform LAC into knowledge-based societies

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EFA and youth transition to work

Financing must remain a commitment• Impact of economic downturn emphasizes the need to explore innovative modalities for financing of EFA

• Some countries use the self-benefiting modality as they require better technical expertise or programming capacity

• South-South Cooperation, endowment funding, Public Private Partnerships, Debt Swaps, private sector and foundations, etc.

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EFA and youth transition to work

Thank you

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