Join a global consultation on education indicators for a global agenda
By Albert Motivans, UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Today, we are launching a new online consultation to gather your views on the proposed post-2015 global education indicators. The proposed indicators have been drawn together by a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) coordinated by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). It includes members from the EFA Global Monitoring Report, the OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank.
In the run-up to 2015, several initiatives are underway to formulate a new set of goals and targets for sustainable development. Based on consultations with Member States, the Open Working Group (OWG) has released a proposal for the entire development agenda, which covers a wide range of issues, from the eradication of poverty to environmental conservation and education.
Helping shape the post-2015 education agenda
In parallel to the OWG initiative, the international education community is also helping to shape the targets of a new post-2015 education agenda through Education for All (EFA) mechanisms. Their contributions are presented in the Muscat Agreement of the Global EFA Meeting that took place in Oman in May 2014. The targets of the agreement are closely aligned with the education targets formulated by the OWG.
How to measure the new post-2015 targets?
The challenge now lies in developing indicators to monitor these targets. In response, the EFA Steering Committee set up a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in March 2014 to propose a set of indicators that could be used for global monitoring. The TAG is coordinated by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), and includes members from the EFA Global Monitoring Report, the OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank. The group released an initial proposal in July 2014.
In proposing indicators, the TAG identified two key criteria:
- Alignment: To what extent does the indicator measure accurately and fully all the concepts that are included in the target?
- Global comparability: Does the concept have the same meaning in all places? Can it be measured in the same way in all places? Are the data collected in the same way globally, in a sufficiently large number of countries, and on a regular basis?
Today, the TAG has released an updated version of the document entitled Towards indicators for a post-2015 education Framework, which incorporates and responds to concepts introduced by the OWG, Muscat Agreement and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
The document uses a ‘traffic light’ system to score the proposed indicators according to the criteria of alignment and comparability. Some indicators will require considerable methodological work and national capacity development in the coming years if they are to be used for global monitoring purposes, i.e. to inform on country progress. New indicators may also be needed to better capture the meaning behind the proposed target.
Join the online consultation on the post-2015 education indicators
We would like to hear your views on the indicator proposal through a global consultation, which will run from 17 November 2014 to 30 January 2015. The TAG is particularly keen to receive your thoughts on the four questions below. We very much welcome the views of governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, researchers, teachers, youth and anyone with an interest in education.
We invite the international education community to respond to the following questions:
- For each target, does the report identify the best indicators that are most aligned with the concept and are already being tracked in a large number of countries?
- What new indicators could be developed to be more closely aligned with the proposed targets and have the potential to be globally comparable?
- If you were to select one input, one output, and one outcome indicator for each target, which ones would you prioritise?
- Are there key issues that the document has not addressed in a satisfactory way or other issues that also need to be taken into consideration?
How to provide feedback
Comments to the TAG proposal must be submitted using the feedback form and sent via email to uis.publications@unesco.org with ‘Education Indicators Post-2015’ as a subject heading. We want to reach as many people and organizations as possible. So please help us ‘spread the word’ among your networks and social media, referencing #Education2015.
Following the consultation, the TAG will review the list of indicators based on your feedback. The final proposal will be submitted for endorsement at the World Education Forum in Incheon (Korea) in May 2015. The final documents will form the basis for discussions on the education targets of the sustainable development goals at the UN General Assembly in September 2015.
We look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your support in encouraging your networks to participate in the consultation.
Join the discussion on twitter via @EFAReport @UNESCO @WBEducation @OECD_Edu @UNICEFEducation and #Education2015.
First reaction to question 4. Why are there are still no disability indicators, despite the fact that children with disabilities make up one third of the world’s out of school children, the UN commitment to disabled people in the CRPD and above all their inclusion as a ‘cross-cutting issue in the post 2015 SDGs?
I agree with Prof Peter…Please consider adding this large group of school children in to the questions…
Very excited to read about this. People for Education is an independent nonprofit in Ontario, Canada working to develop a set of indicators for creativity and innovation, citizenship, physical and mental health, social-emotional skills, and quality learning environments. We have good papers with some examples of measurement strategies for all five domains. Happy there is a worldwide conversation about this. Would be great to have the basis for the discussion first, as opposed after comprehensive measurement products marketed to the world for unquestioning adoption.
If we mention disability in the goals and/or targets, we should also measure them with indicators. That this is difficult for disability, does not mean that it is not doable. And again leaving this group because it is perceived too difficult implies that we are still not taking equity serious.
The currently proposed equity targets only measure gender and wealth. What about ‘location’ such as rural, urban, remote, nomadic, migrants? More of the same will not work anymore (unless we want the EFA history to repeat itself). To reach the most disadvantaged now, means we must do an extra (and more costly) effort to reach out to all.
Why not prepare for these post-EFA goals, targets and indicators by answering the following questions in each country: Who is enrolled? Who is NOT enrolled? Who is enrolled, participates and learns? Who is enrolled and does NOT participate and learn?
If we can answer these questions, we can also analyse the reasons why and design the best possible response.