Monitoring Education for All:

Implications for comparative education

Nicholas Burnett and Aaron Benavot

EFA Global Monitoring Report Team, UNESCO

Comparative and International Education Society,

Honolulu, Hawaii, March 14, 2006
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Overview of presentation
Rethinking the Comparative (conference theme)
Traditional purposes of comparative education
New purposes:
a) monitor and evaluate progress toward international educational
goals and targets
b) distill policy implications from comparative research and indepth case studies at international level

What lessons can be drawn from comparative analyses and

assessments reported in the EFA Global Monitoring Reports?

Challenges, responsibilities and high stakes of comparative

education research at the global level

Traditional and new purposes of

comparative education
Generalize about inter-relationships between educational change and
major socioeconomic or political trends

Understand the historical origins and determinants of specific

educational patterns

Understand how educational systems respond to external forces

Compare country performances according to standard criteria e.g.
student achievement

Identify successful national educational models to encourage

emulation

Discuss outlier cases as a way of exploring especially innovative

educational systems

New: Assess country progress towards international educational goals

International Targets in Education

Early Targets:
compulsory school legislation (e.g. Bombay 1952, Cairo 1955, Lima 1956)
universal access to education (e.g. Karachi 1960, Addis Ababa 1961,
Santiago 1962, Tripoli 1966)

Influence of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec 1948):

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in
the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be
compulsory...

Education for All

Jomtien 1990
Dakar 2000
Millenium Development Goals 2000

The EFA goals and the MDGs

EFA Goals
Expanding early childhood care
and education, especially for
disadvantaged children

Universal primary education by

2015

Equitable access to learning

Millennium Development Goals

Goal 2: Achieve Universal primary

education
(Target 3: Completion of full
primary schooling by all children
by 2015)

opportunities and life skills

programmes for young people and

adults

50% improvement in adult

literacy rates by 2015

Goal 3. Promote gender equality

and empower women
(Target 4: Eliminate gender
disparity preferably by 2005 and
no later than 2015)

Gender parity by 2005 and gender

equality by 2015

Improving quality of education

Can goals make a difference?

Help raise international awareness, create a sense of urgency and
sustain stakeholder commitment

Encourage countries to accelerate action, initiate policy reform and

prepare national plans

Create frameworks for additional funding and more focused

technical support

Encourage standardized data gathering, and potentially increase

capacity building

Important international policy goals have been achieved on or

around their target dates: smallpox eradication, child immunization,
fertility reduction

Problems with goal setting

In education, almost all international goals and targets have been missed (Clemens
2004)

In some countries goal attainment and target setting become an end in themselves,
rather than a means to other ends (Fielding 1999)

National priorities can be inappropriately reordered

Different conceptual meanings within and across countries are reduced, contested
interpretations are ignored (Jansen 2005)

Becomes potential basis for international sanctions, reduced funding

Reinforces view that educational progress and educational outcomes are easy to
measure and quantify

Can distort the daily, often invisible, work of teachers, who seek to improve the
quality of pupil learning

Does not correspond to countries education sector plans and budgets but
represents partial aspects of them.

EFA Global Monitoring Report: Origins

World Education Forum, 2000, Dakar, Senegal

164 countries committed to achieve the six EFA goals by

2015, and one by 2005

Donors and NGOs pledged to support this effort: No

country will lack the necessary resources

Governments called for regular monitoring of progress

Emphasized need to improve upon the scientific quality of
previous evaluations of EFA

EFA Global Monitoring Report

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Global Monitoring Report: Purposes

An independent assessment, advocacy and reference tool that:

Charts progress towards the six EFA goals

Compiles reliable and comparable quantitative and qualitative

evidence to examine educational progress

Draws attention to emerging issues and challenges

Provides a bridge between research & policy communities

Monitors international commitments to achieve EFA; holds the global

community and donor agencies accountable

Highlights effective policies and strategies, using case studies and

country comparisons

Global Monitoring Report:

Background and audiences
Developed by an independent, multi-national and inter-disciplinary team
based at UNESCO

Advised by an international editorial board with representatives from NGOs,

international organizations, aid agencies, etc.

Funded by seven bilateral aid agencies and UNESCO

Informed by commissioned research papers, on-line consultations
and literature reviews

Reports are translated into six UN languages; summaries translated into

additional languages

Includes global, regional and national launches

CD-Rom produced as well as special tool to access statistical annexes

Audience: National policy-makers and planners, NGOs, civil society, advocacy

groups, donor agencies, researchers, academics, and media

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Global Monitoring Reports:

Past and Future
2002: EFA: Is the World on Track?
2003/4: Gender and EFA: The Leap to
Equality

2005: EFA: The Quality Imperative

2006: Literacy for Life
2007: Early childhood care and
education

2008: Overall progress

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Sources for comparative analysis in GMR

Quantitative administrative data and qualitative descriptions of
national education systems (UNESCO institutes, particularly
UNESCO Institute of Statistics)

Commissioned literature reviews and research; draw on studies by

international organizations, bilateral agencies and NGOs

Household survey data; international assessments of educational

achievement; aid data from OECD-DAC

Official and national documents

Work with others on specific topics (e.g GCE on literacy
programs, FTI on aid, UNICEF on out of school, World Bank on
fees, etc)

Conducts small surveys of aid agencies

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Key strands in GMR monitoring

RIGHTS: Assume access to quality education and literacy are

fundamental rights

DEVELOPMENT: personal, social, political, cultural and

economic

Strong gender perspective

Map global challenges
Seek to identify major determinants of educational progress
Identify effective national reform strategies
Discuss what makes for good practice
Evidence-based and comparative approach
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Challenges in monitoring EFA goals

Contested conceptual understandings of key concepts (e.g.

educational quality, literacy)

Simplifying complex issues to common denominators

Gaps in data supplied by countries; time lag in data

availability

Weakness of financial data

Problematic cross-national comparisons (eg, ECCE, nonformal education)

Little availability of sub-national data

Continued debate over the definition, interpretation and
meaning of goals in addition to determining appropriate &
valid indicators (goal 3)

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Goal 1: Early childhood care and education

Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood
care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged children

Monitoring the ECCE goal is limited to institutional data on

pre-primary enrolments (ISCED-0)

Enrolment-based measures do not capture intent of goal 1;

also pre-primary frameworks vary significantly: see 2007 GMR

The gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education in the

majority of countries is below 50%

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to be

excluded

Attendance rates considerably higher for urban children than

those living in rural areas

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Goal 2:Progress
Universal primary
education
towards
UPE
Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have
access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good
quality
47 countries have achieved UPE,
Fees charged in 89 countries are
20 on track to achieve it by 2015
major barrier to progress

44 countries making good

progress but may not achieve

UPE by 2015

Significant enrolment increases

in sub-Saharan Africa and South

and West Asia

Progress in countries with very

low indicators

HIV/AIDS impact on education

systems

Substantial increases in school-

age population expected in

Africa, South and West Asia and
the Arab States

23 countries at risk of not

achieving UPE by 2015, due to

declining net enrolment ratios

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Goal 2: Where are out of primary school children?

About 100 million children still not enrolled in primary schools
70% in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia

Out-of-primary school children by region (in millions), 2002

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Goal 3/4: Equitable learning opportunities

(3) Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes;
(4) Achievingequitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults

Learning needs of adults and young people at the center of this

goal

Also goals for a second chance at learning (and learning to live in

society?)

Mainly Non-Formal, but can be integrated into formal education

Some possible examples: life skills programs, adult basic education,
lifelong learning, livelihood skills, skills for work, vocational skills?

Challenge to develop monitoring instruments that (a) reflect the

diversity of non-formal learning; (b) assess equitable access.

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Goal 4: Literacy and adult learning

Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of
adult literacy by 2015, especially for women
Gender parity index (F/M), 2002

Gender parity

771 million adults without literacy skills,

75% live in 12 countries, 64% are women
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Literacy: major trends

Patterns of literacy from 1970 to 2000 show an increase in adult literacy
rates. Among the 15-24 age group, these rates are consistently higher

Adult literacy rates are not increasing as rapidly as in the 1970s

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Changing methods for assessing

and monitoring literacy
CONVENTIONAL: indirect assessments, mainly from censuses, based on
self-assessments, head of household reports or years of schooling

DIRECT: ask respondents to read or write a simple sentence

Several countries (eg. Brazil, Botswana, China, Lao PDR, Morocco, U.R.
Tanzania) have conducted direct assessments.
They show that individuals overestimate their literacy skills

Direct assessments suggest that the global literacy challenge is much

greater than assumed

Further issue of continuum of literacy rather than dichotomous

literate/illiterate (e.g. IALS).

Issue of the literate environment

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Goal 5: Gender Parity

Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by
2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015

Considerable progress in countries with lowest gender parity

index

94 countries will miss 2005 gender parity target

Gender parity index (F/M), 2002
1.20

Gender
parity

1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40

primary
secondary

0.20
0.00
Sub-Saharan
Africa

Arab States

South/West
Asia

Central /
Latin America/
EasternEurope
Caribbean

Central
Asia

East Asia/
Pacific

N. America/
W. Europe

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Global assessment of gender parity

Overall

Primary
100

49

Secondary
54

Achieved in 2002

6
8

6
10

Likely to be
achieved in 2005
86

Likely to be
achieved in 2015
At risk of not
achieving by 2015

9
9
31

79

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The changing meaning of gender parity

Initial focus on increasing access of girls to primary and secondary

education

Actual cross-national evidence at primary and secondary levels

reflects different gender disparities:

At primary level in over 60 countries gender disparities are

nearly always at the expense of girls

At secondary level, however, boys under-represented in 56

countries

Danger this can dilute attention to girls?

Goal also calls for gender equality how to monitor?

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Goal 6: Education quality

Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence
of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved
by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills

Weak literacy retention: In many low-income countries more than

one-third of children have limited reading skills even after 4-6 years
of schooling

High drop-out rates: in 41 out of 133 countries with data, less than
two-thirds of primary school pupils reach the last grade

Large classrooms: pupil-teacher ratios on the rise in countries where

education has expanded rapidly

Lack of teacher training and poor teaching conditions hinder

learning in many low-income countries

Insufficient instructional time: few countries reach recommended

850-1,000 yearly hours

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Quality of learning
Poor learning outcomes remain a concern in many countries.
Lack of school books is one reflection of impoverished learning environments

Percentage of Grade 6 pupils in African classrooms where there are no books available, 2000

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Quality: trained teachers in demand

The number of additional teachers needed to increase gross
enrolment ratios to 100% and to achieve a 40:1 pupil-teacher ratio is
probably unreachable in several countries

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Can educational quality be measured?

Need to map and evaluate national learning assessments, as well as
international ones

Snapshots of what actually occurs in classrooms

More evaluation studies of pedagogy, curriculum and teaching
methods

More studies of long-term impact of learning

Conditions for literacy and numeracy retention issue of the literate
environment

Tendency to use proxies (e.g. number of years completed)

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Assessing overall progress: the EDI

The EFA Development Index covers 123 countries and incorporates the four most
quantifiable EFA goals: universal primary education; quality (survival to grade 5);
gender parity (primary, secondary, adult literacy) and the adult literacy rate

EDI
Countries have achieved the
goals or are close to doing so

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0.95-1.00

Countries in intermediate position

In these countries, quality of education is an
issue, especially in Latin America. In the Arab
States, low adult literacy is stalling progress.

Countries far from meeting the goals,

including 16 in sub-Saharan Africa

49

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0.80-0.94

less than 0.80

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Are composite indices a good method for

monitoring country progress?
Advantages

Attract attention, especially of governments and mass media

Underline holistic nature of EFA goals
Disadvantages

Weighting of index components not scientific

Does not easily capture national policy changes
Less country coverage compared to goal-by-goal analysis, and so
incomplete global picture

Oversimplification of the world?

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Monitoring Aid to Education

Data Issues
DAC requirements
Commitments versus
flows
Loans
How to allocate budget
support?

Analytical Issues
Determining gaps
Global
Country-by-country

Assessing aid
dependence:
Statistically
Policy influence

Donor or country
perspective?
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The aid gap

No country in need should be denied international assistance
Billions of US$

Aid to basic education

should increase from 2.6%
to 5% of total aid

$3.7

Aid must be aligned more

Funding
gap

$7.0
$1.2

G8
pledge

multilateral

$0.9
bilateral

$1.2

Required to
achieve
UPE and
gender

closely with educational

needs

Long-term predictable aid

is essential

The Fast Track Initiative

Total
aid
$2.1
billion

received strong
endorsement at G8. A step
for harmonization but no
significant aid increase

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The shifting context for assessing EFA

Big trends:

Globalisation and knowledge economies

Sustained economic growth in the South
Increased public spending on education
Promises of increased aid
Inequality worsening

Education under stress:

Over 30 civil conflicts, all in low-income countries

Natural disasters Indian Ocean tsunami, Pakistan quake
HIV/AIDS: child orphans, teacher shortage and absenteeism
Fertility still high in regions with greatest EFA challenge
Rapid expansion of secondary education

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Expanding secondary education

The number of secondary school students has risen four times
faster than that of primary school students since 1998

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How does the GMR have an impact?

Ways the Report influences on-going national and
international debates
Media coverage: on average in 70 countries each year
Policy seminars in numerous countries attended by education
ministers, senior policymakers, NGOs, civil society groups and
multilateral agencies

Demand for special language versions: summaries in Bangla,

Nepalese, Portuguese, Khmer, Hindi and Vietnamese

Website activity: 10 fold increase in number of visitors and pages

viewed over three years

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Are international educational goals and

monitoring necessary?

Would the movement to universal quality education be

noticeably different, in the absence of the EFA goals?

If EFA goals remained, but no GMR (or independent

monitoring mechanism), what then?

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Some Conclusions
Monitoring international goals in education is a high
stakes activity

Accessing broad institutional resources and transnational networks requires careful analysis

Synthesizing comparative research at global level

carries strong policy messages, especially in
developing countries

Policy recommendations must be attentive to

varying contexts
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Thank you
For more information, visit web site: www.efareport.unesco.org
Contact: EFA Global Monitoring Report team
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07 FRANCE
E-mail: n.burnett@unesco.org or a.benavot@unesco.org
Fax: (+33) 1 45 68 56 41

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