Tracking post-2015 opportunities for the education sector worldwide
To advance progress for children and youth worldwide, it is critical for the global community to recognize education as essential for human development. As Education For All and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sunset in 2015, and the U.N. secretary-general launches Education First, the education sector has a unique opportunity to raise the profile of global education goals to ensure access plus learning becomes a central component of the global development agenda.
Online discussions for the global thematic consultations on education in the post-2015 development framework are now in progress, along with countless other meetings and events hosted by civil society, NGOs, development agencies and more. The official consultations, supported by UNICEF and UNESCO, include four phases of e-discussion that are taking place between December 2012 and February 2013 on the topics of equitable access to education; quality of learning; global citizenship, skills and jobs; and governance and financing for education. Each of the e-discussions will run for 2 weeks and each week will have a new set of questions to guide the discussion. Other key events during the consultation process will include a global meeting on education in Dakar, Senegal, on March 17, 2013, and the finalization of a synthesis report on March, 31, 2013 that summarizes input to the online discussions. Opinions gathered will be used directly by the U.N. and world leaders to plan a new development agenda.
The public consultation on education is one of 11 themes being addressed in the post-2015 consultation process. The other themes are growth and employment; health; inequalities; environmental sustainability; governance; hunger, food security and nutrition; conflict and fragility; population dynamics; water; and energy.
Opportunity to influence the discussion on Quality of Learning
The second stage of the education consultations on Quality of Learning is open until January, 21 via the Global Thematic Consultation online discussion on education in the post-2015 development agenda.
The questions posed are:
• How should learning outcomes be measured and how can measurement of learning improve education quality?
• What could be a universal measurable indicator to measure quality of learning in (a) formal education and (b) the nonformal sector? Should there be targets, and interim targets?
• What would be your recommendations to address and improve the quality of education in the post MDG framework?
• What are the key policy implications for an education goal in the post-2015 development agenda?
• How could access to education, equity and quality learning be combined in a post- 2015 learning goal?
• What specific actions should be taken to facilitate the quality education for the most marginalized groups, such as girls and women, ethnic and other minorities, disabled, refugee and IDPs and child soldiers?
• What specific actions and interventions should be recommended for each of the following actors: governments; school boards and other school-based actors; stakeholders, such as teacher and student unions, parents associations, etc; civil society; communities; private sector; academia, including universities and research institutes; media; U.N. system and international donor community.
Rebecca Winthrop is a Director, Center for Universal Education, Brookings