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Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Latin America. Mostrar todas las entradas

OTRA∃DUCACION - Texts in English


Poetic and Dreamlike Paper Cut Artworks - Fubiz

This is a bilingual blog. Most texts are published in Spanish. Here is a compilation of texts written in English (alphabetical order).

10 false ideas on education in Finland
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2016/03/10-false-ideas-on-education-in-finland.html

 

12 Theses on Educational Change
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/12/12-theses-on-educational-change.html

1990-2015: Education for All Educación para Todos (compilation)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/08/1990-2015-education-for-all-educacion.html

1990-2030: Global education goals
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/09/1990-2030-global-education-goals-metas.html

25 Years of Education for All
http://educacion-para-todos.blogspot.com/2013/03/25-anos-de-educacion-para-todos-25.html

About 'good practice' in international co-operation in education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-would-be-good-practice-in.html

Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/05/adult-literacy-in-latin-amrica-and.html

Basic learning needs: Different frameworks
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/11/basic-learning-needs-different.html

Beautiful letters
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/07/lindas-letras-beautiful-letters.html


Child learning and adult learning revisited

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2012/02/child-learning-and-adult-learning.html

Children of the Basarwa (Botswana)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/09/children-of-basarwa.html

Children's right to basic education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/11/childrens-right-to-basic-education.html

Children's rights: A community learning experience in Senegal
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/01/children-rights-community-learning.html

Cuba and Finland
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/06/cuba-and-finland.html

Ecuador's literacy fiasco
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2017/10/ecuadors-literacy-fiasco.html


Education First

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2012/09/educacion-primero-education-first.html


Ecuador: Good Bye to Community and Alternative Education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/11/ecuador-good-bye-to-community-and.html

Education for adaptation?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/10/educacion-adaptarse-un-mundo-cambiante.html

Education for All 2000-2015 - How did Latin America and the Caribbean do?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/04/education-for-all-2000-2015-how-did.html 

Education in the Information Society
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/05/education-in-information-society.html

Escuela Nueva: An innovation within formal education (Colombia)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/11/escuela-nueva-innovation-within-formal.html

Farewells
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/06/despedidas-farewells.html


Finland Study Visit

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.fi/2015/10/visita-de-estudio-finlandia-finland-study-visit.html


Finland's education compared

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/07/finlands-education-compared-la.html


Formal, non-formal and informal learning

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2016/08/formal-non-formal-and-informal-learning_21.html


From literacy to lifelong learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges of Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/05/from-literacy-to-lifelong-learning-de.html

From school community to learning community
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/03/from-school-community-to-learning.html

Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-goal-4-education-sustainable.html
- SDG: Translation issues
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/09/sdg-translation-issues-ods-problemas-de.html

Girls' education: Lessons from BRAC (Bangladesh)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2017/01/girls-education-lessons-from-brac.html


Giving up to a literate world?

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/11/giving-up-to-literate-world.html

GLEACE: Letter to UNESCO on the Literacy Decade (2003-2012)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-to-unesco-on-literacy-decade.html

Kazi, the Graceless
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/09/kazi-el-sin-gracia.html

Knowledge-based international aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/10/knowldedge-based-international-aid-do.html

Latin America over-satisfied with public education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/06/latin-america-oversatisfied-with-public.html

Latin America: Six decades of education goals http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2016/09/latin-america-six-decades-of-education-goals.html

Lifelong Learning: moving beyond Education for All
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/02/lifelong-learning-moving-beyond.html

Lifelong Learning for the North, Primary Education for the South?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/11/lifelong-learning-for-north-primary.html

Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, Sida Studies 11, Stockholm, 2004
http://www.sida.se/English/publications/Publication_database/publications-by-year1/2004/november/lifelong-learning-in-the-south-critical-issues-and-opportunities-for-adult-education/ 
http://www.sida.se/contentassets/d60c67d64bf947b1b147419f7751a466/lifelong-learning-in-the-south-critical-issues-and-opportunities-for-adult-education_1614.pdf

Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The linkages
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2012/01/literacy-and-lifelong-learning-linkages.html

Literacy for All: A renewed vision
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/02/literacy-for-all-renewed-vision.html

Literacy for All: A United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012): Base Document for the Literacy Decade (2000)
http://www.slideshare.net/RosaMariaTorres2015/base-document-united-nations-literacy-decade-20032012


Military spending in education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/03/military-spending-and-education-gasto.html

Now comes PISA for 'developing countries'
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/05/now-comes-pisa-for-developing-countries.html

On education in Finland
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/06/on-education-in-finland-sobre-la.html
 
On innovation and change in education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-innovation-and-change-in-education.html

On Learning Anytime, Anywhere (WISE 2011)
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-learning-anytime-anywhere.html

One child, one teacher, one book and one pen
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/10/one-child-one-teacher-one-book-and-one-pen-one.html

One Decade of 'Education for All': The Challenge Ahead (IIEP-UNESCO Buenos Aires, 2000, PDF)
http://www.iipe-buenosaires.org.ar/publicaciones/one-decade-education-all-challenge-ahead
http://www.buenosaires.iipe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/education.pdf 

Open letter to school children
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/08/open-letter-to-school-children.html 

OTRA∃DUCACION: Lo más visitado ▸ Most visited
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/12/otraducacion-lo-mas-visitado-most.html

Public gym stations in Beijing and Quito
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/10/chinas-public-gym-stations-in-beijing-and-quito.html


Reaching the Unreached: Non-Formal Approaches and Universal Primary Education

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/06/reaching-unreached-non-formal.html

"Rethinking education" and adult education

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2016/08/rethinking-education-and-adult-education.html


Six 'Education for All' Goals

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/01/six-education-for-all-goals-seis-metas.html

South Africa 1993: A moment with Mandela
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/12/south-africa-1993-moment-with-mandela.html

Stop PISA!
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/05/stop-pisa-paren-pisa.html

The 4 As as criteria to identify 'good practices' in education
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/10/4-as-as-criteria-to-identify-good.html 

The green, the blue, the red and the pink schools
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/10/green-blue-red-and-pink-schools.html

There is no "education for the 21st century"
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2010/10/there-is-no-education-for-21st-century.html

The million Paulo Freires
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2011/02/million-paulo-freires.html

The oldest and the youngest

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-oldest-and-youngest-los-mas-viejos.html


The virtuous C (Keys for a renewed learning culture)

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/01/la-virtuosa-c-virtuous-c.html

The World Economic Forum and education quality

http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-world-economic-forum-and.html

Transforming formal education from a lifelong learning perspective
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/10/transforming-formal-education-from.html

We are Latin America
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2012/05/somos-america-latina-we-are-latin.html

What did the MDGs achieve?  
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/10/what-did-millennium-development-goals-achieve.html


What Happened at the World Education Forum in Dakar (2000)?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-happened-at-world-education-forum.html

What is 'basic education'?
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-happened-to-expanded-vision-of.html

What is youth and adult education - today? http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-is-youth-and-adult-education-today.html

WISE Prize for Education Laureates: Bottom-up Innovators
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.com/2013/11/wise-prize-for-education-laureates.html



Education for All 2000-2015 - How did Latin America and the Caribbean do?


Education for All Monitoring Report site

(ver español más abajo)
UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2000-2015 was released on April 9, 2015. Over these 15 years, only one third of countries worldwide met the four EFA goals considered measurable (goals 1, 2, 4 and 5), half of them achieved universal access to, and completion of, primary education (goal 2), and 25% of them reduced adult literacy rates by 50% (goal 4).

Latin America and the Caribbean did not do too well. Most salient (although uneven) advances: gender parity in primary and secondary education (goal 5), and expansion of pre-school education (part of goal 1). Cuba is the only country in the region that achieved the four goals.

We present below the table with the regional overview included in the EFA report. It refers to the four indicators considered in the EFA evaluation: (a) enrolment in pre-primary education, (b) enrolment in primary education (completion not included), (c) adult illiteracy, and (d) gender parity in primary and secondary education. Out of EFA's six goals, four were included in the Education for All Development Index (EDI). Goal 3 (basic learning needs of youth and adults) and Goal 6 (quality of education) were not included. The table presents prospects for 2015 for the EDI-related goals and indicators.

The full report in English can be downloaded here. A summary of the report, here. A comprehensive regional overview, here. Press release, here.


El Informe Global de Monitoreo de la Educación para Todos (EPT) 2000-2015 fue dado a conocer por la UNESCO el 9 abril de 2015. En estos 15 años, solo un tercio de los países del mundo logró cumplir las cuatro metas de la EPT consideradas "mensurables" (metas 1, 2, 4 y 5), la mitad logró universalizar la matrícula y la terminación de la educación primaria (meta 2), y una cuarta parte redujo a la mitad la tasa de analfabetismo adulto (meta 4).

América Latina y el Caribe no tuvo un buen desempeño. Los avances más notorios, aunque desiguales: equidad de género en primaria y secundaria (meta 5), y expansión de la educación pre-escolar (parte de la meta 1).
Cuba es el único país en la región que logró cumplir las cuatro metas.
Abajo la tabla con el resumen regional incluida en el informe (en inglés, traduzco títulos y subtítulos al español), la cual se refiere a los cuatro indicadores considerados en la evaluación de la EPT: (a) matrícula en educación pre-escolar, (b) matrícula en educación primaria (no se incluye completación), (c) analfabetismo adulto, y (d) equidad de género en educación primaria y secundaria. De las seis metas de la EPT, cuatro se integraron al Indice de Desarrollo de la Educación para Todos (IDE). La Meta 3 (necesidades de aprendizaje de jóvenes y adultos) y la Meta 6 (calidad de la educación) no se incorporaron al IDE, al considerarse que no eran medibles. En la tabla se presentan las perspectivas al 2015 para las cuatro metas e indicadores incluidos en el IDE.

El informe completo, en español, puede descargarse aquí. Un resumen del informe, en español, aquí. El resumen de la situación regional, en inglés, aquí. Un resumen en español de los principales resultados del informe, aquí. Comunicado de prensa del lanzamiento, aquí.
REGIONAL OVERVIEW
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
EDUCATION FOR ALL GLOBAL MONITORING REPORT 2015


Table 1: Education for All development index (EDI) and prospects for Education for All
goals 1, 2, 4 and 5
Tabla 1: Indice de Desarrollo de la Educación para Todos (EDI) y perspectivas para las metas 1, 2, 4 y 5 de la Educación para Todos

MEAN DISTANCE TO EDUCATION FOR ALL (EFA)
OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT AS MEASURED BY THE EDUCATION FOR ALL DEVELOPMENT INDEX (EDI), 2012

Overall EFA achieved
  Logro de la EPT (EDI) between 0.97 and 1.00) | (1): Cuba

Close to overall EFA  Cerca del logro de la EPT (EDI between 0.95 and 0.96) | (7): Aruba, Bahamas, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Intermediate position Posición intermedia (EDI between 0.80 and 0.94) | (15): Belize, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia.

Far from overall EFA Lejos del logro de la EPT (EDI below 0.80) | None.

Not included in the EDI calculation No incluidos en el cálculo del EDI (insufficient or no data) | (20): Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint-Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint-Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos

PROSPECTS FOR EDUCATION FOR ALL GOALS 1, 2, 4 AND 5
PERSPECTIVAS PARA LAS METAS 1, 2, 4 Y 5 DE LA EDUCACION PARA TODOS

Goal 1: Likelihood of countries achieving a pre-primary gross enrolment ratio of at least 80% by 2015
Meta 1: Probabilidad de que los países logren una matrícula bruta de pre-primaria de al menos 80% en 2015

High level Nivel alto (GER: 80% and above) | (18): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).

Intermediate level Nivel intermedio (GER: 70–79%) | (4): El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama

Low level Nivel bajo (GER: 30–69%) | (11): Anguilla, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Cayman Islands, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Paraguay and Saint Lucia

Very low level Nivel muy bajo (GER: <30%) | None

Not included in the prospects analysis No incluidos en el análisis prospectivo (insufficient or no data) | (10): Bahamas, Brazil, Curaçao, Haiti, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint-Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint-Maarten and Turks and Caicos

Goal 2: Country prospects for achieving universal primary enrolment by 2015
Meta 2: Perspectivas de los países de lograr la matrícula universal en educación primaria en 2015

Target reached Meta cumplida (ANER: 97% and above) | (14): Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay

Close to target Cerca de la meta (ANER: 95–96%) | (3): Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Intermediate position Posición intermedia (ANER: 80–94%) | (10): Anguilla, Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Panama, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Suriname

Far from target Lejos de la meta (ANER: <80%) | (2): Guyana and Paraguay

Not included in the prospects analysis No incluidos en el análisis prospectivo (insufficient or no data) | (14): Antigua, Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint-Martin, Sint-Maarten and Turks and Caicos.

Goal 4: Country prospects for achieving the adult literacy target of halving the adult illiteracy rate by 2015
Meta 4: Perspectivas de los países de lograr la meta de reducir a la mitad el analfabetismo adulto en 2015

Adult literacy rate 97% and above
Tasa de alfabetismo adulto de 97% o más | (6): Argentina, Aruba, Chile, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay

Target achieved Meta lograda (adult illiteracy halved or reduced by more)  | (4): Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Costa Rica, Peru and Suriname

Close to target Cerca de la meta (adult illiteracy rate reduced by 40-49%)  |  (5): Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Intermediate position Posición intermedia (adult illiteracy rate reduced by 30-39%) | (5): Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama

Far from target Lejos de la meta (adult illiteracy rate reduced by less than 30%)  | (2): Colombia and Nicaragua

Not included in the prospects analysis No incluidos en el análisis prospectivo (insufficient or no comparable data) | (20): Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Montserrat, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint-Martin, Sint-Maartenand Turks.

Goal 5: Country prospects for achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2015
Meta 5: Perspectivas de los países de lograr la equidad de género en educación primaria y secundaria en 2015

Gender parity in primary education
Paridad de género en educación primaria

Target reached Meta cumplida (GPI: 0.97-1.03)  | (20): Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Close to target Cerca de la meta (GPI: 0.95-0.96 or 1.04-1.05) | (7): Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay

Intermediate position Posición intermedia (GPI: 0.80-0.94 or 1.06-1.25)  | (6): British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname

Far from target Lejos de la meta (GPI <0.80 or >1.25) None

Not included in the prospects analysis No incluidos en el análisis prospectivo (insufficient or no data) | (10): Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint-Martin, Sint-Maarten and Turks and Caicos.

Gender parity in secondary education
Equidad de género en educación secundaria

Target reached Meta cumplida (GPI: 0.97-1.03)  | (11): Anguilla, Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Chile, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Peru, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis

Close to target Cerca de la meta (GPI: 0.95-0.96 or 1.04-1.05)  | (3): Aruba, Bahamas and Costa Rica

Intermediate position Posición intermedia (GPI: 0.80-0.94 or 1.06-1.25)  | (18): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Far from target Lejos de la meta (GPI <0.80 or >1.25)  | (1): Suriname

Not included in the prospects analysis
No incluidos en el análisis prospectivo (insufficient or no data)  | (10): Brazil, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Haiti, Honduras, Montserrat, Saint-Martin, Sint-Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos.

*****

Related articles in this blog  | Artículos relacionados en este blog
1990-2015: Education for All
▸ Educación para Todos
(compilación)
International Initiatives for EducationIniciativas internacionales para la educación  (compilación)

Latin America oversatisfied with public education



(en español: Satisfacción excesiva con la educación en América Latina)

"Traditionally, the concept of quality of life has been viewed through objective indicators. Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life looks at quality of life through a new lens, namely, the perceptions of millions of Latin Americans. Using an enhanced version of the recently created Gallup World Poll that incorporates Latin America-specific questions, the Inter-American Development Bank surveyed people from throughout the region and found that perceptions of quality of life are often very different from the reality. These surprising findings have enormous significance for the political economy of the region and provide a wealth of information for policymakers and development practitioners to feast upon."

A pioneer study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which used the 2007 Gallup World Survey (40 thousand people in 24 Latin American countries answered it) revealed that Latin Americans were in general satisfied with their lives and, in particular, with public education.

The distance between realities and perceptions was especially big in the case of education. While Latin America is well known for the low quality of its education and its poor learning outcomes - as revealed by national tests (prepared in each country), regional tests (such as (LLECE) and international tests (such as PISA) - satisfaction with public education is much higher than that of citizens in countries with an overall better schooling and learning situation. 

Over-satisfaction applies also to health, but it is much more prominent in the case of education. People with lower levels of education (generally associated with lower economic status) tend to have a better opinion of educational services than those with more years of schooling (theoretically associated with more critical attitudes). “Do you think the majority of children are getting a good education?" was responded positively by people with primary and incomplete secondary education. Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Honduras and Dominican Republic reported levels of satisfaction similar to those in developed countries. Haiti, Peru and Argentina were the least satisfied.

Is is also known as "aspirations paradox": those who have the least, those who get the education of the lowest quality, are the ones that are most satisfied, those who thank anything they get and, thus, those in the most unfavorable position to identify and demand quality education. The paradox applies to many other fields.
“The majority of Latin Americans are satisfied with their education systems because they value discipline, security and the physical infrastructure of schools more than the academic scores their children get” (Preface, Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life).
Discipline
 
Many parents expect the school to do what they cannot: discipline their children. Norms, instructions, schedules, uniforms, homework, rewards and punishment, are part of the disciplinary package.

For the conventional education ideology, 'good teacher' is the disciplinarian. Teachers who are flexible, friendly, innovative, are often misunderstood and questioned by school authorities and by parents. Teachers who acknowledge play and fun as part of the learning experience, who explore with their students other forms of learning, are not welcome by the traditional school culture.

The obsession with discipline brings rigidity to relationships, legitimizes authoritarian behaviors, limits dialogue and reasoning, blocks spontaneity, curiosity, creativity and liberty -- all of them  essential to learning.
Security


Violence and insecurity are high and rising in the region (See: UNDP, Human Development Report for Latin America 2013-2014: Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and proposals for Latin America). Families view the school as a key ally where their children can be safe and taken care of. In contexts of great violence such as the ones characterizing most Latin American cities, preserving life becomes the obvious priority. Learning - often confused with rote learning - has always received little attention by families, and not only among the poor.

Violence is not only outside but increasingly inside the school system. Out of school violence - in the family, in the community, in society - enters school with parents, students and teachers. Bullying has become a major concern and war in most countries. Robbery, assault, drugs, harassment, death, are today part of the school scenario in the world.

Insecurity and fear do not contribute to the development of good education. They lead to shutting mouths, to locking classroom doors, to building high school walls.

Infrastructure


Social imagery associates education with school. Teaching and learning come afterwards.

Social and political imagery coincide in the appreciation for infrastructure. Building and inaugurating classrooms and school buildings - the easiest in education - are salient features of the political and electoral culture. Voters are very sensitive to school infrastructure. Politicians know it, give it high visibility, and nurture the idea of education (quality) as infrastructure.

For most people, it is difficult to perceive and even to imagine education without buildings: outdoor education, distance education, self-education, homeschooling, etc. Not everyone is able to accept what abundant research shows all over the world: good education depends much more on good teaching than on a good building; quality learning depends much more on the quality of relationships than on the quality of things.

***

Over-satisfaction and the "aspiration paradox" in education are found in surveys and studies all over the world, but they are very high in Latin America and the Caribbean. PISA 2012 showed that Latin American 15 year olds are the happiest with their school, even if they get the worst results among PISA participating countries. 

There are those who see the gap between realities and perceptions as a positive cultural sign - optimism, happiness, etc. - and as a blessing vis à vis the ranking culture. However, the gap is a problem. Complacency is an enemy of improvement and change.

Advancing towards a 'better education' or a 'good education' implies addressing and questioning overly "optimistic" perceptions. It implies expanding and elevating the education level of society as a whole and, on the other hand, a systematic information, awareness and citizen education effort: educating people's perceptions, informing their decisions, enhancing their participation, and qualifying their demand for the right to education.


Related texts in OTRA∃DUCACION

» The World Economic Forum and educational quality
» Ecuador: Good bye to community and alternative education
» Lógicas de la política, lógicas de la educación
» Escuelas sin aulas, aulas sin escuelas
» El barrio como espacio pedagógico: Una escuelita itinerante (Brasil)
» La escuela de la maestra Raquel (México)
» La biblioteca como núcleo de desarrollo comunitario (Una experiencia en Córdoba, Argentina)
» Proyecto arquitectónico sin proyecto pedagógico
» "Antes, aquí era Escuela Vieja"
» Pobre la educación de los pobres

The World Economic Forum and educational quality



The Ecuadorian Public News Agency (Andes) published the note "Ecuador leads the primary education quality ranking in South America" ("Ecuador lidera ranking de calidad en educación primaria de Suramérica", 25 April 2014). The note quoted the Global Competitiveness Index 2013-2014  of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Ecuador appeared in position number 74 (3.8 points) in this category. Andes referred to South America - not to Latin America - since Costa Rica (located in Central America) appears in position 32 (4.8 points), thus with a leading position in the region. (See table at the bottom)

WEF's ranking on educational quality took us by surprise as well as the values attributed to Latin American countries. In the regional context, Cuba occupies a prominent position in the two studies conducted so far by UNESCO's Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE). LLECE tests assess Language and Mathematics in third and sixth grades, and Natural Sciences in sixth grade. 16 countries participated in the second study (SERCE, 2006). Cuba, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay were above the regional average; Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic appeared below the regional average. (See SERCE's Executive Summary).

The presence (or absence) of other countries in the world in the first 74 positions of quality primary education also called my attention. Thus, I decided to find out how WEF defines quality education and establishes the rankings. It turns out that they result from an Opinion Survey - "The Voice of the Business Community" (110 respondents in Costa Rica; 118 in Ecuador, for the various topics).

As seen on Table 4.9 on Quality Primary Education, the question asked was:


In your country, how would you assess the quality of primary schools?
1 = extremely poor - among the worst in the world.
7 = excellent - among the best in the world.


Several concerns arise:

a) WEF does not indicate that the 'quality of education' indicator is related to perceptions and opinions, rather than to research.

b) The business community is not a specialized voice in the field of education and in the topic of educational quality. Also, Partner Institutes - as they are called in the report- may be linked to the government in ways that make it difficult to have an independent opinion. Quality of education (of any level and sort) is a complex and much debated concept, dependant on many factors. Dealing with it requires specialized and well-informed knowledge;

c) Quality of education is essentially and ultimately related to learning processes and outcomes. Specific measures and instruments have been developed nationally and internationally in order to assess such processes and outcomes, beyond opinions;

d) The question asks about primary schools - not about primary education. This leads to pay attention to issues such as infrastructure or equipment, disregarding education as such, pedagogy and learning;

e) In Latin America and in other "developing regions" there are often huge and persistent gaps between rural and urban schools, and between indigenous and non-indigenous schools, thus making it very difficult to judge quality of primary schools in general;

f) It is widely acknowledged and confirmed that less educated societies or segments of the population tend to be the ones that are most satisfied with their school systems and the education they receive, while more educated societies or social segments tend to be more dissatisfied and critical. This reinforces the vicious circle of low quality education.

A study conducted by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), adding specific questions to the Gallup World Survey, concluded that Latin America has "excessive satisfaction" vis a vis health and education services, given the objective quality of such services. This was and remains true especially in the case of education. Discipline, security and infrastructure tend to be valued by Latin Americans much more than teaching, learning, and effective learning outcomes. Perceptions of quality are particularly distant from realities. See: Beyond Facts, Understanding Quality of Life, Eduardo Lora (ed.), IDB, 2007.

The same applies to PISA international tests. Despite the fact that participating Latin American countries systematically occupy the last positions in the three areas assessed (reading, mathematics and science), students are quite happy with their schools (question asked: "Am I happy in school?"). The low results/high satisfaction paradox is prominent in Latin America.

In conclusion: we should not consider WEF's values and rankings attributed to quality of education as reliable and useful indicators.




RANK         COUNTRY/ECONOMY              VALUE

1 Finland ........................................... 6.8
2 Belgium ......................................... 6.3
3 Singapore ...................................... 6.0
4 Barbados ....................................... 6.0
5 Switzerland .................................... 6.0
6 New Zealand ................................ 5.8
7 Lebanon ........................................ 5.7
8 Ireland ............................................ 5.7
9 Malta ............................................. 5.7
10 Netherlands ..................................5.7
11 Qatar ............................................5.6
12 Cyprus ..........................................5.6
13 Canada .........................................5.5
14 Taiwan, China  ..............................5.4
15 Iceland ..........................................5.4
16 Bosnia and Herzegovina...............5.4
17 Brunei Darussalam........................5.3
18 Estonia ..........................................5.2
19 United Arab Emirates ...................5.2
20 Slovenia ........................................5.1
21 Japan ...........................................5.1
22 Australia ........................................5.0
23 Korea, Rep...................................5.0
24 Sweden ........................................5.0
25 Germany .......................................5.0
26 Lithuania .......................................5.0
27 Montenegro ..................................5.0
28 Austria ..........................................4.9
29 Norway .........................................4.9
30 Hong Kong SAR ...........................4.9
31 United Kingdom ............................4.9
32 Costa Rica.....................................4.8
33 Malaysia ........................................4.8
34 Latvia ............................................4.8
35 France ..........................................4.7
36 Guyana .........................................4.7
37 Ukraine .........................................4.7
38 Croatia ..........................................4.7
39 Luxembourg .................................4.7
40 Italy ...............................................4.7
41 United States ................................4.7
42 Denmark .......................................4.7
43 Sri Lanka......................................4.6
44 Jordan ..........................................4.6
45 Trinidad and Tobago ......................4.6
46 Portugal ........................................4.5
47 Mauritius .......................................4.5
48 Bhutan ..........................................4.5
49 Seychelles .....................................4.4
50 Gambia, The.................................4.4
51 Czech Republic............................4.3
52 Hungary ........................................4.3
53 Albania ..........................................4.3
54 Slovak Republic............................4.3
55 Indonesia ......................................4.3
56 China ............................................4.3
57 Oman ...........................................4.2
58 Poland ..........................................4.2
59 Saudi Arabia.................................4.2
60 Bulgaria ........................................4.1
61 Russian Federation.......................4.1
62 Swaziland .....................................4.1
63 Zimbabwe .....................................4.1
64 Bahrain .........................................4.0
65 Iran, Islamic Rep...........................4.0
66 Spain ............................................4.0
67 Botswana .....................................4.0
68 Suriname ......................................4.0
69 Kazakhstan ...................................3.9
70 Macedonia, FYR...........................3.9
71 Israel .............................................3.9
72 Tunisia ..........................................3.9
73 Cape Verde..................................3.9
74 Ecuador ........................................3.8

SOURCE: World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey

Related texts in this blog
Sobre evaluación en educaciónOn evaluation in education

Youth & Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean


Rosa María Torres
 

(published in LLinE - Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2011)
 
1. Introduction

This paper draws from various studies I have conducted on adult education and on lifelong learning in Latin America and other regions. Two such studies (written in English) serve here as main references: 

- Youth and AdultEducation and Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean: Trends, Issues and Challenges. Regional report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI, Belém, Brazil, Dec. 2009), commissioned by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL).[1]
 
- LifelongLearning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, Sida Studies 11, Stockholm, 2004. Global study commissioned by Sida.

Latin America and the Caribbean is a highly heterogeneous region, comprising two subregions (Latin America, the Caribbean) and 41 countries and territories with very different political, cultural, economic, social and educational realities. Some 600 languages are spoken; Spanish and Portuguese are the two most widespread official languages. Any regional generalization would be abusive, and space does not allow us to elaborate here more on each country. Also, the situation is very dynamic; trends may change considerably in a short period of time. In the current international context, and vis a vis the world and European crisis, Latin America appears strong and united, with economic and social indicators improving over the past few years.[2] On the other hand, Mexico and Chile, the two Latin American countries that are members of OECD, are facing major turmoils, their education systems being exposed and under heavy social scrutiny and criticism.

In most Latin American countries, the term used is Youth & Adult Education (henceforth YAE). The term “youth” was incorporated in the 1980s, acknowledging the increased presence of young people in adult education programmes as well as the need to address the specificity of youth in such programmes.

The information and analysis presented below refers basically to the 12-year period between CONFINTEA V (1997) and CONFINTEA VI (2009).

2. Reactivation of youth and adult education in the region in the past few years

Between the late 1980s and the late 1990s YAE practically disappeared in most countries, following World Bank recommendations to governments in “developing countries” in the sense of giving priority to primary education and to children as opposed to adults. (WB also rectified later its argument about the failure of adult literacy, which was ill-documented). The Education for All (henceforth EFA) world initiative coordinated by UNESCO (1900-2000-2015) has followed the same trend: out of the six EFA goals, Goal 2 referred to primary education has received the most attention while Goals 3 and 4 referred to youth and adult education have received the least attention, as acknowledged every year by EFA Global Monitoring Reports (henceforth EFA GMR). In fact, the 2009 EFA GMR, coinciding with the year of CONFINTEA VI, continued to ignore YAE, not considered of strategic importance to the achievement of EFA by 2015.

For various reasons, since the late 1990s there has been a visible reactivation of YAE in the region. CONFINTEA V contributed to enhance social mobilization and networking around YAE, both before and right after the Hamburg conference. Later on, we have witnessed the emergence of new supranational and international actors engaged in YAE, notably the Cuban government and its ‘Yo Sí Puedo’ (Yes, I Can) literacy programme, and the Organization of IberoAmerican States (OEI) which organized the Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (PIA) 2007-2015.

Such reactivation is reflected among others in the following: 

Bialfa: Paraguay
Renewed emphasis on youth/adult literacy A new wave of ‘illiteracy eradication’ has taken over the region. Many countries resumed national literacy programmes or campaigns, even some countries with very low illiteracy rates (lower than 3%) such as Argentina and Uruguay. The exception is Cuba, declared ‘territory free of illiteracy’ almost half a century ago (1961), as well as several countries in the English-speaking Caribbean where governmental focus on literacy is on the formal system. There are also sub-national and local programmes run by local governments, religious groups, NGOs, social organizations and movements, and teacher unions.

Clearer institutionalization of YAE There are advances in legislation and policy in most countries. There is increased recognition of the right to (free) education as well as to linguistic and cultural diversity and to inter-culturality as a comprehensive approach to education.  In Cuba and Mexico for a long time, and more recently in countries such as Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia or Paraguay, YAE becomes more institutionalized, pointing towards the building of a system or subsystem, rather than the usual and discontinued ad-hoc interventions.

New actors and partnerships In most countries, there are government partnerships with NGOs, universities, religious groups and the private sector. In a few countries, partnerships have included teacher unions and strong social movements (e.g. in Argentina and Brazil). There are also several international actors engaged in YAE in the region. As indicated, the most active in recent times are the Spanish government/OEI and the Cuban government/IPLAC. Others include the Convenio Andrés Bello (Andrés Bello Agreement -CAB), an international inter-governmental organization focused on supranational integration (12 countries), based in Bogota and linked to OEI; and the Organization of American States (OAS), based in Washington, which coordinates the Summits of the Americas.

More and better information and knowledge on YAE  There is considerable growth in research and documentation at national, subregional and regional level in recent years.  Of course, there are also major differences between countries in terms of quantity, quality, topics and approaches related to research. Big countries such as Brazil and Mexico and also Chile report many surveys and studies.

Advances in evaluation Evaluation has become a central piece of school systems and reforms in the region since the 1990s, but its incorporation is rather recent in YAE. In Brazil, a Functional Literacy Indicator (INAF), based on actual evaluation of reading, writing and numeracy skills of the adult population (15-64 years of age), has been developed annually since 2001 by two private institutions. In Mexico, the National Institute for Adult Education (INEA) has its own evaluation system. In Chile, evaluation of student outcomes is under a National System for the Evaluation of Learning and Certification of Studies, which includes YAE. Both Mexico and Chile have adopted results-based schemes for paying the institutions and/or teaching staff hired for YAE programmes.

Aiquile, Bolivia. Photo: Rosa María Torres
Linkages between education/training and work as a field of research, policy and action  The linkages between education, the economy and work have become a field of concern, policy and action, within the overall concern with poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. Social Economy gains increased attention as an alternative economic model that generates also alternative approaches to education and training linked to production, commercialization, barter and other income-generation activities by families, cooperatives, and organized communities.

Increased attention to ‘special groups’ Visible attention has been given in recent years to the disabled, migrants and prison inmates. The use of traditional and modern technologies has facilitated this task, especially with the disabled and with the migrant population. Prison education has been enhanced since 2006 in the framework of the EUROsociAL programme of the European Commission. Initiatives aimed at the blind, the visually challenged and hearing impaired have been developed in recent years in many countries.

New technologies reaching the field   Radio has been a powerful ally of YAE for several decades and continues to be in many countries, especially in some of the poorest ones such as Haiti, Bolivia, and Paraguay. In the past few years, audiovisual media have become widespread mainly through the Cuba-assisted Yo Sí Puedo literacy and post-literacy programme operating in several countries since 2003. Computers and the Internet are also reaching YAE, particularly for the younger population. Tele-centers or info-centers (different from cybercafes, privately owned and for-profit) are part of basic education programmes in several countries. In remote rural areas, energy plants or solar panels are being installed. In many places today it is easier to find a cybercafe or a tele-center than a library, a computer than a book.

3. Some old and new weaknesses and limitations. Challenges for the future

The ‘Agenda for the Future’ approved at CONFINTEA V, its wide vision and ambitious proposals for adult learning, is not the one that has been implemented in this region since 1997. Neither is the 2000-2010 YAE Regional Framework for Action prepared as a follow up to CONFINTEA V. Advances coexist with old and new limitations related to governmental and non-governmental action as well as to international agencies intervening in the field.

Sectoral approaches and interventions Despite advances in cross-sectoral policies and collaboration with other government actors, YAE continues to be perceived as pertaining to the ‘education sector’, unconnected with major economic, political and social issues. YAE is in fact a transversal issue, but invisible unless it falls directly under an education authority and refers somewhere explicitly to the term ‘adult’.

Dominican Rep: Haitian Batey. Photo: Rosa María Torres
Continued low status of YAE The traditional low status of YAE is related to: (a) age (vis a vis children), and (b) socio-economic status. Estimations of costs of programmes and plans rarely consider infrastructure, equipment or even remunerated work. In many cases, YAE continues to be considered a ‘special regime’ together with other areas that challenge conventional classifications, such as bilingual intercultural education, special education, and multigrade schools.

Activism and discontinuity of efforts Activism has been a characteristic of YAE, often related to one-shot and isolated activities lacking continuity, monitoring, systematization, evaluation and feedback. Countries engage from time to time and over and over again in ‘illiteracy eradication’ or ‘illiteracy reduction’ initiatives. So far, policies have been unable to deal with literacy/basic education in a sustained and integral manner, linking school and out-of-school, children’s and adults’ education as part of one single strategy towards education for all.

Big distances between policies and implementation The right to free, quality education continues to be denied to a large portion of the population. National reports prepared for CONFINTEA VI say little about actual implementation. One key conclusion I drew from the field study on literacy and written culture by out-of-school youth and adults in nine countries of the region is that “policies in this field have become autonomous, with little or no contact with actual practice on the ground.”

Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Rosa María Torres
High political, financial and administrative vulnerability of YAE YAE continues to be highly vulnerable to national/local political and administrative changes as well as of changes in international priorities. This implies a permanent threat to the continuity of policies and programmes, and to the building of national capacities and accumulated practical experience. A key component of such vulnerability are the meager financial resources available for education in general and for YAE in particular. Few national reports and studies provide concrete information on YAE funding and costs. This is marked in the case of the private sector. In many countries YAE budget represents less than 1% of educational spending. Brazil calculates that, budgetwise, an adult learner counts as 0.7% of a primary school child (Brazil CONFINTEA VI report).

Funding comes from various sources: government, churches, the private sector, social movements, and international agencies. There is scarce information on the financial contribution of bilateral and multilateral agencies to YAE, its uses and impact. In most countries, government plays the major role, especially in basic education levels. 

Government programmes generally do not charge fees and many of them provide access to free equipment and materials. Also, various countries have been adopting compensation policies or plans tied to studying.

Rise of for-profit spirit and market mechanisms There is an important decline in volunteerism, social mobilization and political commitment traditionally linked to YAE. In many countries, NGOs are hired and paid by governments to implement programmes. On the other hand, the trend towards accreditation and certification (completion of primary/basic/secondary education) has attracted the for-profit private sector, introducing fees and other market mechanisms into the field.

Low attention to professionalization of adult educators The low status, poor training and bad working conditions of adult educators continue is an old vicious circle in YAE. Training is generally poor and short, and its deficits are even more visible in the case of indigenous educators prepared for intercultural bilingual education programmes. Availability of audiovisual and digital technologies are contributing to further reduce the importance of professionalization and of initial and in-service training,

Requisites for adult educators have been “upgraded” in some countries, including a professional teaching title or completion of secondary education rather than primary education only; such requisites tend to loosen in rural areas and in literacy programmes, which continue to operate in most cases with community volunteers. The question that remains concerns the desired profile and education/training of adult educators, and whether possessing a teacher certificate ensures good teaching.

Weak dissemination, use and impact of research and evaluation results Research, documentation and evaluation efforts lack sufficient and opportune dissemination. We found differentiated circuits, one closer to academic circles and another one closer to bureacucratic and government structures. Overall, there is little evidence that research results are informing and influencing policy-making, training or teaching practice. They have not contributed to modify long-entrenched ‘common sense’ in the field, including negative perceptions and terminologies linked to illiteracy (e.g. ‘scourge’, ‘plague’, ‘darkness’, ‘blindness’, ‘shackle’, ‘eradication’, etc.), the association between illiteracy and ignorance, between number of years of schooling and ‘functional literacy’, and between adult education, non-formal and remedial education. Also, most diagnoses and recommendations are based on literature reviews, with little connection to realities and little or no empirical research.

Age discrimination within YAE There is a consistent trend towards (a) giving priority to the younger segments of the adult population, establishing age limits (40, 35, in some cases less), and (b) segmenting educational opportunities by age: literacy offered to older generations and other programmes offered to youth. Cuba is the only country that has the elderly as a priority group in terms of educational and cultural attention by government. Uruguay – known for its high percentage of third age population - is also expanding the age of learners within YAE.

Perú - ARE. Photo: PYSN
Continued neglect of indigenous peoples The YAE Regional Framework for Action (2000-2010) identified four priority groups: indigenous, peasants, youth and women. Youth and women have in act been prioritized; indigenous and afro descendant groups have not. Racism is alive despite advances in national and international legislation, including the approval in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Brazil’s national illiteracy rate (2008) was 7,1%, and among  indigenous peoples 18% and among black people 16% (Brazil CONFINTEA VI report). In Mexico, the national illiteracy rate was 8.4%. and the illiteracy rate among indigenous groups was 36.1% (Mexico CONFINTEA VI report). Also, Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) continues to focus in rural areas. However, indigenous populations are also settled in urban areas, especially in large Latin American cities, following strong rural-urban migration patterns.

Continued neglect of rural areas Formal and non-formal education continue to concentrate in urban and the periphery of urban areas, thus maintaining and even deepening the urban-rural educational gap. Probabilities that youth and adults in rural areas get no or incipient education are twice as big as in urban areas, and in some countries three times bigger (SITEAL). Peru has the highest urban-rural school gap. Peru’s CONFINTEA VI report acknowledged that practically all educational institutions doing adult education are located in cities. In Brazil, illiterates in urban areas are 9.7 million against 4.7 million in rural areas; however, in percentile terms rural areas have almost three times more illiterates – 26.3% against 8.7% in urban areas.

Low coverage of programmes YAE programmes are very limited for actual needs. Despite being a prioritized age group, by 2007 less than 10% of 20-29 year olds who had not completed secondary education attended some educational programme. In large countries such as Brazil and Mexico, all efforts seem small and advances slow. According to Brazil’s CONFINTEA VI report, only 10% of the demand was served in 2008. Chile calculated that it would take 20 years to reach the 4 million people who have not completed basic education (Chile CONFINTEA VI report).

Quality and learning remain distant issues Quantitative indicators (enrolment and retention, number of groups organized, materials or equipments distributed, etc.) predominate as indicators of achievement and success. A minimum number of participants is often established as a requisite to start a programme or a center, thus leading often to cheating (e.g. manipulating the statistics, completing the list with family members, friends or persons who are not part of the target population, etc.).  In literacy programmes, goals continue to be set in terms of ‘eradicating’ or ‘reducing’ illiteracy rates, rather than in terms of learning and effective use of reading and writing. Only in very few cases have adult literacy programmes and campaigns been thoroughly evaluated. One such examples is Ecuador’s National Literacy Campaign ‘Monsignor Leonidas Proaño’ (1988-1990).

Continued weaknesses of technical and vocational education/training programmes There is skepticism in relation to the effectiveness of these programmes; several international organizations have commissioned studies and impact evaluations of the programmes they support. The “solution” of keeping or ‘re-inserting’ adolescents and youth in schools (often against their will) - the same unchanged schools that expelled them in the first place – is also debatable. An IIEP study of 52 programmes in 14 Latin American countries concluded that education/training programmes intended to prepare young people for work (a) take a simplistic view of youth inclusion in the labor market, (b) reach only a small portion of the potential population, (c) adopt a narrow approach focused on specific training, and (d) do not take sufficiently into account the importance of formal education, the competitiveness of the labor market and the scarcity of decent jobs.

“Best practices” selected without clear criteria Many practices selected as ‘good’ or ‘best’ practices in education and in YAE in particular are outdated, are based on documents, experts’ opinions or self-evaluation by their own actors, and lack evidence of their implementation, results and actual perceptions by participating learners. Few of them would pass the test of the four As - availability, accessibility, adaptability and acceptability. On the other hand, many relevant experiences remain unsystematized and unknown because of chronic lack of time and of resources in the field, their commitment to action and their many urgencies. Also, it is important to remember that ‘innovative’ does not necessarily mean ‘effective’, or generalizable. Innovations are specific, generally local and small-scale, and cannot be easily replicated or expanded on a massive scale.

Major coordination problems among national and international actors
Decentralization processes and diversification of educational provision have increased coordination and articulation problems amongst the diverse national actors: government across sectors and at the various levels, governmental and non-governmental bodies, profit and non-profit private sector, NGOs, universities, churches, etc. The same is true for the various international actors working in YAE, and in the literacy field in particular. Each of them has its own plans, objectives, goals, timeframes, diagnoses, approaches, methodologies, reporting and financing mechanisms. See table below for the case of literacy.

Table 1
Regional and international adult literacy goals (1980-2015)
MPE
Major Project for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean
EFA I-Jomtien
Education for All

EFA II–Dakar
Education for All

UNLD
United Nations Literacy Decade

PIA
Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education
1980-2000
1990-2000
2000-2015
2003-2012
2007-2015
UNESCO-OREALC
UNESCO-UNICEF-UNDP-World Bank
UNESCO
OEI
Eradicate
illiteracy by 2000
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2000
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2015
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2012
Eradicate  illiteracy by 2015
Elaborated by R.M. Torres

4. Lifelong Learning (LLL) in Latin America and the Caribbean

The paradigm shift proposed worldwide – from education to learning, and from adult education to adult learning – has not been appropriated in this region. Although CONFINTEA V had strong regional resonance, the term learning was never introduced in its follow up. Youth and Adult Education (YAE) was the term used in the Regional Framework for Action following CONFINTEA V.

The Lifelong Learning (LLL) concept - emerged in the North closely related to economic growth, competitiveness and employability - is understood and utilized in most diverse ways worldwide. Generally: (a) LLL continues to be used interchangeably with Lifelong Education, without differentiating education and learning [3]; and (b) LLL is associated to adults rather than to the entire lifespan - ‘from the cradle to the grave’.

All this is reflected in Latin America and the Caribbean. LLL is mentioned in many legal and policy/programme documents, with the same biases and inconsistencies that are found internationally. LLL appears often as a separate line of action or goal rather than as embracing category. In Jamaica’s Ministry of Education’s structure, for example, LLL was added as a sixth section, next to the other five sections on early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary and special education.

From the documents and websites reviewed, the LLL terminology appears to be more widespread - and more embedded in recent policies and plans - in the English-speaking Caribbean countries than in Latin American ones. In the Caribbean, LLL seems to follow the frameworks adopted in Europe. In Jamaica, for example, the LLL policy devised in 2005 was decided by the Human Employment and Resource Training-HEART Trust /National Training Agency-NTA, the institutions that coordinate workforce development in Jamaica.

Even new initiatives such as the Metas Educativas 2021 (2021 Education Goals) coordinated by OEI do not refer to Lifelong Learning but to Lifelong Education, and is considered a separate goal rather than a goal including all others.

Table 2
OEI: Metas Educativas 2021 (2021 Education Goals) 2012-2021

1. Participation of society in educational action.
2. Achieve educational equality and overcome discrimination.
3. Increase supply for early childhood education.
4. Universalize primary education and lower secondary education, and expand access to upper secondary education.
5. Improve the quality of education and of the school curriculum.
6. Facilitate the connection between education and employment through technical-professional education.
7. Offer every person lifelong education opportunities.
8. Strengthen the teaching profession.
9. Expand the Ibero-American Knowledge space and strengthen scientific research.
10. Invest more and better.
11. Evaluate the functioning of education systems and the 2021 Education Goals project.

Source: http://www.oei.es/metas2021/libro.htm Translation from Spanish: Rosa María Torres

5. A few conclusions


Given the big gap between rhetoric/policies/laws and practice, the inclusion of YAE in recent policies, reforms and legislative frameworks on paper should not lead to assumptions about effective implementation.
Quantitative gains – small as they are - are usually shadowed by quality and equity problems.
Priority given to youth has ended up marginalizing adults and the elderly, just as priority given to women ended up marginalizing men in several countries and programmes.
The acknowledgement of the importance of literacy has traditionally placed it at the heart of YA efforts, and is currently being overemphasized in many countries with too many programmes running in parallel and poor targeting of efforts.
▸ Literacy achievements are rarely sustained and complemented with policies and strategies aimed at making reading and writing accessible to the population, paying attention to their specific needs, languages and cultures.
Many vocational and technical training programmes continue to ignore the complex issues involved in the transition between education and work (not only employment), and of the world of work these days.
The important impulse towards completion of primary/secondary education and accreditation of studies needs to be accompanied by the necessary efforts to ensure effective, meaningful and useful learning.
Many hands involved often do not generate genuine ‘partnerships’ but rather enhanced lack of coordination, competitiveness, duplication of efforts and misuse of resources.
Experience indicates that decentralization and outsourcing not necessarily bring with them the advantages promised.
Expansion of ICTs for YAE purposes is counterbalanced with improvisation, poor use of such technologies, poor criteria to decide on the best one or the best combination to use in each specific case, and – most importantly - neglect of the essential interpersonal pedagogical relationship.
Cost-efficiency applied to YAE is often understood as ‘cheaper and quicker’, thus leading to an amplified vicious circle of low quality and poor results.

6. Challenges for the future

A common language The terminological labyrinth is an old concern in the field of education and especially of YAE worldwide. Glossaries have been proposed and produced over the past few decades, but the terminological/conceptual confusion persists and becomes more acute as new terms emerge. Once again during the CONFINTEA VI process, and specifically in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, it was agreed that a common language is essential if we want to communicate better and also give more scientific consistency to the field.

Lack of evidence and lack of financial resources: two myths to be revisited Two myths must be revisited with regard to YAE and education in general: that in order to receive more attention what is needed is (a) more evidence and (b) more financial resources. In fact, there is plenty of research evidence, for several decades now, on the multiple benefits of investing in YAE, for learners themselves, for their families and communities, and for citizenship-building and national democracy. Abundant research shows that YAE has positive effects on the self-esteem and life opportunities of men and women as well as on their children’s wellbeing (child mortality, child birth, rearing practices, access to school, learning outcomes, etc.). It is clear that lack of attention to YAE is not related to insufficient data, evidence or conceptual clarity, as argued in the 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report.[4] There is more than enough knowledge available on YAE – theoretical and empirical, regional and international - to indicate what needs to be done and to do it well. The main shortcoming concerns action, not information and knowledge.

On the other hand, the financial deficit is only a manifestation of a political deficit, namely the lack of political will to make education a priority and to invest in the poor on the basis of quality and equity. Addressing the political deficit is the real priority. Also, as evaluations in the field of school education reiterate, there is no direct and necessary connection between more financial resources and better education. What is needed is not only more – usually highlighted - but better use of available resources, precisely because they are scarce. Parameters of what is ‘good spending’ and ‘good international co-operation’ in YAE must be established.

Internationally, in 2005 the Global Campaign for Education proposed “at least 3% of the education budget” allocated to adult literacy in order to attain the EFA goal of reducing illiteracy by half by 2015. Regionally, the Final Document of the Mexico CONFINTEA VI Regional Conference (Sep. 2008) requested 3% for YAE in general, not only for literacy. Many countries have set financial benchmarks for the education sector in their constitutions, laws and/or policies. Most of them aim at reaching, over several years, 6% of the GNP allocated to education. It is thus clear that the fight for higher financial resources devoted to YAE must be associated with the fight for more and sustained financial resources and attention dedicated to education as a whole.

Time for action and for investing in people Lots of money is spent in research that has little relevance and impact on actual decision-making, on costly events and publications that reach only a few, on reiterated diagnoses that repeat the same problems and the same information. It is time to revise the allocation of scarce financial resources at all levels, from governments and international agencies to organizations of civil societies. It is time for action, for making sure that policies and laws are effectively implemented, that what is already known is translated into practice. It is time for investing in the people, in the capacities and qualities of those engaged in YAE at all levels, not only facilitators on the ground, but also those in planning, organizing and managing positions.

Holistic approach Whatever the advances or inertias, they cannot be attributed solely to education in general and to YAE in particular, but also and primarily to the political, social and economic contexts in which education operates. YAE deals with the most disadvantageous situations and with the most vulnerable segments of society, those most affected by poverty, exclusion, and subordination in many aspects: political, economic, social, cultural, linguistic. How much more or better could be done under the concrete circumstances in each case, remains an open question with at least one clear answer: unless there are important economic and social changes in the overall conditions of the population served by YAE, YAE will not be able to fulfill its mission. It is time to rethink the equation: education by itself cannot fight poverty and exclusion, unless specific and intended economic and social policies – not just compensatory programmes – are in place to deal with them in a radical manner. YAE is not an independent variable.

Recuperate the transformative role of education and of YAE specifically The role of education is not to ensure enrolment, retention, completion and accreditation. The ultimate mission is to enhance personal and social change, to ensure relevant learning, awareness raising, critical and creative thinking, informed and committed action, citinzenship building. YAE’s historical critical and transformative nature has been lost and must be recuperated, challenging conformity and mere social adaptation promoted by current times and ideologies dominating the world. Learners must be educated as citizens, not only as people in need of certain basic skills, but in need of knowing their rights and duties so as to be better able to fight for them.

From literacy to lifelong learning  “From literacy to lifelong learning” was the title chosen for the CONFINTEA VI regional preparatory conference held in Mexico (Sep. 2008). In other words, the challenge to move from usual narrow understandings of adult education as equivalent to adult literacy, from adult education to adult learning and to lifelong learning, anywhere and anytime: in the family, in the community, at work, through the media, through art, social participation and through the active exercise of citizenship. The right to education today is no longer the right to basic literacy, to access school or to complete a number of years of schooling, but the right to learn and to learn throughout life, from early childhood to late adulthood.



[1] This regional report analyzed a large volume of documents, including: national reports submitted to UIL by Ministries of Education/Adult Education Departments based on the questionnaire circulated by UIL; documentation produced in the framework of the Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (2006-2015) promoted by the Spanish cooperation for Ibero-American countries (it excludes French- and English-speaking countries in the region); national studies on the state of the art of Youth and Adult Education produced in 2007 in the framework of a CREFAL-CEAAL regional study on the subject (available in Spanish, and in Portuguese for the case of Brazil); cross-national field study on “Literacy and access to the written culture by youth and adults excluded from the school system in Latin America and the Caribbean”, conducted in 2006-2008 together with CREFAL in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries; and international and regional documentation produced for CONFINTEA V (Hamburg 1997) and its regional follow-up.

[2] About the current situation of the region, see: ECLAC’s Social Panorama of Latin America 2011 “Poverty and Indigence Levels Are the Lowest in 20 Years in Latin America”
“Good tidings from the south: Less poor, and less unequal”, The Economist, 3 Dec. 2011.

[3] Lifelong Learning in Spanish is Aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida. Most translators continue to use education and learning in an undifferentiated manner. The Delors Report entitled “Learning, the Treasure within” was translated into Spanish as “La educación encierra un tesoro”. The1st World Forum on LifelongLearning (Paris, October 2008) was translated as Foro Mundial para la Educación y la Formación a lo largo de la vida and into French as Forum Mondial pour l'Education et la Formation Tout au Long de la Vie.

[4] Also, “the fact that no clear quantitative targets were established at Dakar, apart from the main literacy target, may have contributed to a lack of urgency. In addition, the language of the commitment is ambiguous. Some read goal 3 as calling for universal access to learning and life-skills programmes, but others, including the drafters of the Dakar Framework, understand no such intent.” (EFA GMR 2009, 2008: 91).

Related texts in this blog:
» Rosa María Torres, Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015
» Rosa María Torres, From Literacy to Lifelong Learning ▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida
» Rosa María Torres, Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages
» Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning: moving beyond Education for All
» Letter to UNESCO on the Literacy Decade (2003-2012)

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