Press briefing to launch ‘education for all global monitoring report 2005’

The quality of education, not simply wider access, was a key element in ensuring all children acquired the skills critical to building developing economies and societies, said Alberto Motivans, Research Officer at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at a Headquarters press briefing today.

Mr. Motivans presented some of the main findings of “The Quality Imperative”, part of the 2005 Education for all Global Monitoring Report, produced by an independent team based at UNESCO.  The report, he said, addressed one aspect of the Dakar Framework for Action.

According to the report, without adequate attention to quality, governments and societies would fail to meet education targets.  That, in turn, he said, would hinder progress in a wider set of development goals.

Around the world, more children were participating in school than ever before, but more than 100 million school-age children still remained out of primary school, he said.  In one-third of the countries providing data, one in four students who began first grade did not complete fifth grade.  In half the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, one in three pupils who began first grade would not reach fifth grade.  Many children in less developed nations who actually completed five or six grades of primary school were still unable to read or write, he said.

Yet, some government efforts to expand access to schooling had been successful.  The abolishment of school fees, for one, was reflected in the millions of children entering primary school in nations such as Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya.  But the increase in enrolment posed its own set of problems, including additional pressures on educational quality.

“When systems were unable to cope with a large influx of new pupils due to overflowing classrooms, overwhelmed teachers and overriding concerns about shortages in teaching and learning materials, such as textbooks”, said Mr. Motivans, “quality and, therefore, outcomes suffered”.

The report also showed that education quality was not just about what happened in the classroom, but also what happened to a child before entering school, such as parental support, engagement in learning, and nutritional status.  Within schools, education was not just about supplying schools and textbooks, but about the processes that sparked learning.  Learning, he continued, was not just measured in tests, but in the ability of children to think critically and apply competencies in their own lives.

Recognizing that teachers were often central to improving quality, Mr. Motivans said they were often under stress.  In fact, many did not meet national standards for entering the profession and had received no special training for becoming a teacher.  In some developing countries, high proportions of untrained teachers and high pupil-teacher ratios were the norm.  In addition, the impact of HIV/AIDS on educational systems had undermined educational quality.  In Zambia, for example, 815 teachers had died from the scourge in 2001, representing half of the number of new teachers trained that year.

To improve the quality of education, different approaches were necessary.  In other words, “One size did not fit all”, he said.  Policies observed in eleven high-performing countries showed that there were common characteristics to a quality education, including a vision for education; strong government leadership; a high regard for the teaching profession; and steady levels of investment.  Mr. Motivans said that the report also demonstrated how a balanced curriculum, the efficient use of class time, the use of improved teaching methods and the promotion of flexible language policies, among others, contributed to good learning outcomes.  Lastly, he stressed, the ability of schools to minimize social differences in children’s backgrounds was a characteristic of high-performing systems.

The international community had an important role in improving education quality, said Mr. Motivans.  While levels of aid to basic education had improved to as much as $2 billion a year, it fell short of the estimated $5.6 billion a year needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015.  According to the report, 35 nations -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia -- were still far off-target to meeting the 2015 goals.  Another 51 countries would have to make strong efforts to get on-track.

Responding to a reporter’s question regarding the use of technology in schools, Mr. Motivans said technology would help bridge the gap between now and universal primary enrolment, and would be used as a tool to spread education.  In addition, he said, UNESCO had been looking at technology for distance training, and as an instrument for capacity building.

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