We have been ringing alarm bells about the global learning crisis for some time, with 617 million children and adolescents worldwide unable to read a simple sentence or handle a basic mathematics calculation. This year’s SDG 4 Data Digest: Data to Nurture Learning from the UIS turns up the volume, making the case for data to monitor lifelong learning.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is launching the SDG 4 Data Digest 2018: Data to Nurture Learning, which demonstrates how data can contribute to improve learning, as ministers and policymakers gather at the Global Education Meeting in Brussels to take stock of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on quality education for all.
The UIS has launched its 2019 data collection on literacy and educational attainment statistics to more than 200 Member States and territories.
If you want to view the most complete data landscape on learning outcomes, the SDG 4 Data Digest 2018 is your go-to source. With launch events planned next week at the Global Education Meeting in Brussels (3-5 December 2018) and at the Global Partnership for Education Board Meeting in Dublin (6-7 December 2018), the Digest will report on the quest for data to track lifelong learning.
As any statistician will tell you, gathering data is only half the battle. If data are to make a difference, they have to have power. For that, they need to be backed by political will, with a firm commitment that they will be used to drive change.
Young learners have moved up the data agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 4! The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and its partners have been pushing to upgrade SDG 4 Indicator 4.1.1a on measuring learning outcomes in Grades 2 and 3, and earlier this week we heard that our efforts have been successful.
For 10 consecutive days in October, I travelled across Hamburg, Karachi, Islamabad, Muzzafarabad (AJK), Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzzaffargarh and Lahore. The purposes of my travel included chasing a consensus for globally-agreed learning indicators, initiating the 2018 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) assessments and overseeing accelerated learning gains for out-of-school adolescent girls.
When the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were drafted in 2015, there was broad agreement that the new global goals needed to evolve from measuring increased access, investment in infrastructure and reporting average learning gains, to measuring learning with a focus on the most disadvantaged children. The focus on ensuring that no child is left behind is crucial.
The 2019 Survey of Formal Education covers key data for the school year ending in 2018 required for the monitoring of international and national education goals.
Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is working closely with Member States and partners to develop new indicators, statistical approaches and monitoring tools to better assess progress towards the SDG 4 education targets while making every effort to minimise the reporting burden on countries.
The Institute, in partnership with the UN Statistics Division, has been mandated to develop the methodology to measure the economic contribution of culture, which can be collected through Culture Satellite Accounts. An agreed-upon framework would enable the role of culture in the economy to be compared globally.
During this meeting, technical experts will review methodological issues, learn about experiences in Japan and identify the next steps of the project.