Let’s review Indicator 4.1.1 on learning outcomes
In the recent introduction to this series of blogs, Everything you always wanted to know about SDG 4 data indicators… but didn’t know who to ask, I flagged a dilemma facing researchers and statisticians: how to translate technical processes around indicators into comprehensible measurement?
New tools from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics chart a course for education stakeholders
One constant dilemma for researchers and statisticians is how to translate intricate technical processes, often emerging from intense scrutiny and discussion, into measures that are comprehensible and actionable for those who were not part of those discussions from the beginning.
This week at the Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 in Bangkok, stakeholders will exchange ideas on how to transform learning. The first step lies in sound data systems to help governments respond to the demand for skills needed to achieve SDG 4.
The release includes updated data for the 2016 reference year and time series data for two key global indicators used to monitor Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9.5. With SDG 9, countries have pledged to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. In particular, SDG Target 9.5 calls upon them to encourage innovation and substantially increase the number of researchers, as well as public and private spending on R&D.
The UOE questionnaires collect data on formal education, including personnel, enrolment, graduates, source of funds, demographic data and class size.
Results of the survey will be released in 2019 via the UIS database. A timely response to the survey is essential to produce high-quality, comparable data, which are used to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and included in major international reports.
Learn more:
Where can you find the latest data to monitor Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4)? How are the indicators produced and how can they be interpreted and used? Go straight to the source with a series of new products developed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
As the custodian UN agency for SDG 4 data, the UIS not only has the mandate to produce the global monitoring indicators but also to help stakeholders – from countries and donors to civil society groups and technical partners - use the findings to get all children in school and learning by 2030.
As governments pursue Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education, with its strong focus on equity, are they embedding equity at the very heart of their national education plans? Recent research suggests that, in many cases, the answer is no, but it also highlights ‘honorable exceptions’: countries that are tracking equity in access to education and in learning.
Only a few of us may not have heard the clarion cries for equity or equality in education, with politicians and others calling for ‘equitable education’ or ‘equality of opportunity’ or ‘equal outcomes’, with such terminology often used interchangeably.
In continued efforts to build statistical capacity in countries, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has released a new guide to help countries to initiate learning assessment reforms by providing the tools needed to begin policy dialogue and outlining the value gained by collecting these data.
We know it is critical to measure equity in education: the fairness of education provision and quality of learning outcomes, as well as access to schooling, if we are to meet the global goals and targets for education.
We also know there are many different ways to conceptualize the measurement of equity, with different perspectives, start points and aims – often driven by the current political climate.