UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.
One of their goals is to attain quality Education for All (EFA) and lifelong learning. The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, including youth and adults. At the World Education Forum 164 governments pledged to achieve EFA and identified 6 goals to be met by 2015. Governments, development agencies, civil society and the private sector are all working together to reach the EFA goals.
Goal 1
Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
Goal 2Ensuring that all children, particularly girls, in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
Goal 3
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.
Goal 4
Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
Goal 5
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
Goal 6
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
The main challenge faced by the teaching profession today is both one of numbers and quality. The recruiting of new teachers go hand in hand with improving the quality of teaching and learning as we have learned through our Effective Programs & Practices class as well as our Issues & Trends course. Achieving quality education for all EFA calls for more and better trained teachers, as pedagogical processes lie at the heart of quality education. Schools must be supported in attracting qualified teachers to ensuring quality and equity for all students. UNESCO works to address these challenges by designing and implementing viable national policies for teacher initial and continuous training, recruitment, retention, status and working conditions.
Quality childhood care and education programs should emphasise the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling. High quality childcare, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) workforce is often made up of pre-school teachers, care workers, informal carers and other professionals. Adequate training and work conditions are essential so they can integrate the content and practice of early childhood care and education and address the transition to formal schooling. Regular inspection and follow-up of the service setting are crucial for meaningful learning to take place. Active involvement from parents and communities ensure that early childhood services remain relevant to the needs of the children and all other stakeholders and increases sustainability.
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Melanie, after reviewing the points you posted referring to the 6 goals, I noticed that there were only two not typically mentioned in our realm of early care studies. Addressing the disparities that girls experience in education and the adult literacy issue were new to what we normally encounter. As we see, if we don't address literacy early on, it becomes an issue that we must address later in life. This goes back to paying for education on the front end.
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