02 May 2013
The Meaning of Skills in Global Reports
Peliwe Lolwana, University of Witswatersrand The sudden interest in skills development by global and large research agencies is contributing to a very active debate on the relationship of education to the labour market. Central to this debate is the notion that skills have become the ‘global currency of the 21st century’. There is currently an... Read More
29 Apr 2013
If Data is Not Wisdom, then Non-Data Certainly is Not
Karina Veal, Asian Development Bank. Where hide the wise answers to questions vexing TVET policy makers and practitioners in developing countries today? They ask, for example: will benefits outweigh costs of building a National Qualifications Framework. What works best to engage the most marginalized youth in skills training? How can one measure learning outcomes from... Read More
24 Apr 2013
Don’t Get Lost – Focus on Quality
Eric A. Hanushek, Stanford University. UNESCO has done both a service and a disservice to those concerned about global development. GMR 2012, Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work, brings its analytical attention to bear on the relationship between skills and economic development. The power of the idea of Education for All has been to... Read More
22 Apr 2013
Transforming Education into Better Jobs and Better Lives
Andreas Schleicher, OECD. Everywhere skills transform lives and drive economies; and without the right skills, people are kept on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, and countries can’t compete in today’s economies. But the toxic co-existence of unemployed graduates on the street, while employers tell us that they cannot... Read More
19 Apr 2013
Post-2015 Agendas: NORRAG Paper on the Case of Education and Skills
By Kenneth King and Robert Palmer, NORRAG. We carried out an analysis of what looked like the gathering storm of proposals around education and skills in the post-2015 development agendas back in August 2012. In the last seven months, there really has been a hurricane of activity. In this new working paper, we revisit the... Read More
15 Apr 2013
Is a Skills Goal Feasible for Post-2015?
By Simon McGrath, University of Nottingham. It sometimes feels like all of us interested in development are getting sucked into the business of debating and even lobbying for development goals for the post-2015 period. Whilst I remain deeply sceptical of the inherent value of global goals, I have found myself over the past few... Read More
08 Apr 2013
The Future of Education Financing - Mobilizing Domestic Savings?
By Dan Bond, international economist and development finance consultant. The recent OECD announcement that official aid from rich to poor countries declined four percent last year after having fallen three percent in 2011 gives additional impetus to efforts to find innovative sources of financing for education and other development needs. Additional impetus comes from February’s... Read More
28 Mar 2013
Post-2015 Agendas: Northern Tsunami, Southern Ripple? The Case of Education and Skills
By Robert Palmer and Kenneth King, NORRAG. The storm is upon us! We carried out an analysis of what looked like the gathering storm of proposals around education and skills in the post-2015 development agendas back in August 2012. In the last six-seven months, there really has been a hurricane of activity: UN thematic and... Read More
25 Mar 2013
Education Post-2015: Re-Invigorating the Agenda, or Reshuffling the Lobbies? NORRAG Panel at CIES 2013
By Kenneth King and Alexandra Draxler. This panel at CIES was organized by NORRAG as part of its contribution to the discussion about the policy directions and financial flows that are likely to make up the post-2015 international education environment. The exercise of setting the post-2015 agenda is currently dominated by institutions and individuals in... Read More
20 Mar 2013
Coming Full Circle? Reflections on the International Education Agenda for 2015 and Beyond
By Sobhi Tawil, UNESCO. This text summarizes some of the ideas presented at the annual CIES conference (10-15 March 2013) during the NORRAG panel devoted to ‘Education Post 2015: Re-invigorating the agenda, or reshuffling the lobbies?’ Parallel education agendas since 2000 Since 2000, the international education agenda has been defined by two parallel frameworks. The... Read More