ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review Regional Preparatory meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean

1. A comprehensive reference framework for quality in education ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review Regional Preparatory meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean “Key Education Challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean: Teachers, Quality, and Equity” 12-13 May 2011 Buenos Aires, Argentina

2. UNESCO • Committed to facilitate global understanding of Quality of Education • In progress… • Objective: enhance national technical capacity to analyze/diagnose, improve and monitor the quality of their general education systems • Jointly with Members States and others International Agencies that work on development and education.

3. Right to quality education for all • Education • Key for country development and economic prosperity • Prepares people to embrace and adapt to change but also to manage and influence it. • Creates mutual understanding and underpins peaceful societies. • A human right • A public good • Long life….

4. EFA Goal 6 Remains a Challenge • Undeniable progress toward expanding access to education. • It has not been met by comparable progress in improving education quality.

5. What Do We Mean by Education Quality? • Frequent approach: quality is equal to the efficiency and effectiveness • Multidimensional concept • Implies a value judgment ______ 5

6. What Do We Mean by Education Quality? A broad concept of quality education: • Effective • Relevant or responsive, • Equitable, • Efficient • As denoting substantive access ______ 6

7. Elements of the Framework Equity/Inclusion • Substantive • Access • Acquisition of • grade-specific • outcomes • Assessed of • Progression • Successful • Completion • Optimum • Attainment Efficiency Processes Assessment Learning Management Inputs Teaching Governance Technical Resources Physical environment Fiscal Resources Psycho-Social environment Outcomes Human Resources Cognitive Skills Academic Knowledge Outputs Non-cognitive Skills Generic core Skills • Learners • Graduates • Citizenship Relevance/ Responsiveness

8. Constraints to Education Quality Improvement Efforts • limited in scope • The tendency to address pre-defined challenges and to generalize them • Fragmented interventions • Impatience with comprehensive diagnostics that should precede and ‘accompany’ quality improvement interventions ______ 8

9. Beyond 2015 - Where do we go from here? • Rethinking quality of education: how do the various aspects of quality relate to each other? Pedagogical methods, assessment of and for learning, 21st century skills, etc. • Education convergence in LAC ______ 9

10. Thank you ______ 10