Education For All: teachers’ assessment of 25 years of promises

According to the Global Monitoring Report 2012, the education goals agreed on in 1990 at the Jomtien World Conference on Education for All will not be achieved by 2015. Six goals were agreed to by the international community and that commitment was renewed in the Dakar World Education Forum in 2000.

As the deadline approaches, the time has come for governments, international development agencies, and civil society to evaluate the progress made after 25 years of global efforts to achieve Education For All (EFA).

In fact, a first meeting, facilitated by EI, to evaluate the implementation of the EFA process in individual countries within the African region will take place in Accra, Ghana, from 6-8 May 2013.

Informing and influencing the global debate

Teachers and their unions are key stakeholders in the process of assessment of the EFA movement. They have a unique insight and understanding of how has the EFA agenda has affected the classroom reality in their countries. Therefore, they are uniquely placed to inform the debate and bring key messages from the national to the global level.

This feedback is essential for holding governments accountable about the achievements and failures of the EFA process. Drawing lessons from the past is crucial to making concrete recommendations for the post-2015 education agenda. It is also central to making education a key priority in the post-2015 development framework.

Towards this strategic aim, EI is actively involved in the consultations led by UNESCO to assess the process. Furthermore, EI is helping member organisations to implement their own EFA assessments, with a view to telling the world the teachers’ version of the EFA story.

Towards a comprehensive EFA assessment

EI is facilitating a broad consultation process to allow member organisations to evaluate the implementation of the EFA process in their national realities.

EI will develop an assessment toolkit to provide member organisations with a standard set of tools, adaptable to national contexts, to collect and process the information required.

Some of the main aspects to reflect on include:

Policy dialogue
Funding for the education sector
Transparency and accountability in educational governance
Management and enhancement of teachers’ status

These are part of the 12 action points identified in the Dakar Framework for action to effectively deliver on the education goals.

“We believe the process of the EFA assessment must involve a democratic, transparent, wide consultation with teachers. We have to make the analysis broader to get a clearer picture of the situation of the public education systems worldwide,” said EI Deputy General Secretary David Edwards.

EFA is more than the six goals

There are crucial issues to be taken in account when building up the new agenda for education:

Assessing teachers’ participation in formulating and monitoring policies;
Whether the education systems have become more responsive and accountable;
If education curricula are addressing issues such as democratic values and tolerance;
How curricula tackled gender equality;
How beneficial the education environment is;
How educators’ status, morale and professionalism are enhanced.

EI believes this agenda must place students and teachers at the centre of efforts to ensure equity and quality in education. Every student must be taught by a qualified and well-supported teacher, and learn in safe educational institutions with adequate infrastructure, facilities and resources.

“The education we want won’t be achieved without engaging the hearts and minds of the main actors involved, that is, teachers. Governments and international organisations must understand that educators are not there simply to follow instructions or to be controlled through policy,” Edwards stated.