31 Mar 2014
‘Big Data’ Does Not Mean Good Data By Susan L. Robertson
By Susan L. Robertson, University of Bristol. Andreas Schleicher – Head of the Indicators and Analysis Division in the OECD, Paris, in his many presentations on the now famous Programme of International Student Assessment – or PISA – likes to conclude with the phrase: “Without data, you are just another person with an opinion”. Now... Read More
24 Mar 2014
Understanding EFA within a Political Economy Perspective By Grace Akukwe
By Grace Akukwe, American Institutes for Research (AIR). As the 2015 MDG deadline approaches, the development community is focused on whether we will achieve the Education For All (EFA) targets or not. One major concern about the EFA targets which have been under less scrutiny is the differing institutional structures that support EFA implementation and... Read More
20 Mar 2014
International Private Sector Entities and Education Reform: a View from the CIES Conference By Alexandra Draxler
By Alexandra Draxler, Independent Consultant. In some OECD countries, education “reform” has of late become a code word for measures that involve rolling back government responsibility and investment, reining in unions, and using standardized data collection and individual testing as the principal yardstick to measure quality of teaching and learning. So-called public-private partnerships are implemented... Read More
13 Mar 2014
The SDSN’s Proposed Indicators for the SDGs: Some Commentaries on the Treatment of Livelihoods and Skills By NORRAG
By NORRAG Blog Editor. On 14th February the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) released a draft report for public consultation on proposed indicators for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We asked several NORRAG members to comment on how livelihoods and skills training were treated in these proposed indicators: here is a summary of what they said... Read More
11 Mar 2014
Tell Us What You Think About NORRAG
We are pleased to inform you that the NORRAG 2012-2013 survey has just been launched. >>>> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NORRAG Please take a few minutes to tell us what you think so that we can better meet your needs. Normal blog transmission will resume shortly!
07 Mar 2014
MoVE: Carrying Vocational Education and Training beyond Barriers By Akshay Nagarajan
By Akshay Nagarajan, Amrita University, India. In India, skills training is the least accessible to those who stand to benefit the most from it. Making vocational education mobile may be one solution to this. Seventy per cent of India’s population resides in rural and tribal areas where lifestyles are intertwined with the land and the... Read More
04 Mar 2014
Putting Equity at the Centre of Your Education Strategy: it can be done! There is No Need to wait for the Final Post-2015 Agenda By Jan Fransen, Tom Vandenbosch, Sven Rooms and Bart Dewaele
By Jan Fransen, Tom Vandenbosch, Sven Rooms and Bart Dewaele, VVOB. VVOB, a technical agency active in education for development, recently went through a participatory process to determine its new global objectives. This strategic process happened in an era of new challenges (such as growing inequalities in terms of learning), evolving country strategies in education,... Read More
25 Feb 2014
Medium of Instruction and Professional Status of Teachers: Exploring the Public vs Private Schooling Debate By Kamlesh Narwana
By Kamlesh Narwana, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Over the last two decades, the low fee private (LFP) schools have witnessed an unprecedented growth in India. The per cent of children in the 6-14 year age group in private unaided schools increased from around 10% in 1996 to as much as 28% in 2005. According... Read More
18 Feb 2014
The Growing Gender and Educational Inequalities - Addressing the Marginalized! By Sehar Saeed and Huma Zia
By Sehar Saeed and Huma Zia, Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), Pakistan. Education in itself is a fundamental human right, a bedrock of development that contributes to all social, economic and environmental dimensions, leading to gains for generations to come. The dividends that result from investments in education are immeasurable. However, for these benefits... Read More
17 Feb 2014
Can we avoid another Vague Skills Goal? By Robert Palmer
By Robert Palmer, Independent Education and Skills Consultant. Education is receiving quite a lot of attention in post-2015 discussions, but how this will translate into goals and targets is increasingly on our minds; at the same time, some comment that the whole issue of education post-2015 is being over-complicated. Meanwhile, despite increased global recognition and... Read More