Unification of  the  formal  arrangements  for  basic  education  has  also  tended  to  diversify  school  intake  and  to  make  the  task  of  teaching  in  most  schools more complex. In this context, ability grouping in schools may  seem  an  option  based  on  a  fairly  rational  organizational  approach (Gamoran et al., 1995) and on the educational assumption that, by grouping similar students together, it will be easier to ensure that their needs are properly met (Dupriez, 2001: 24).

Dupriez, V. 2001. Methods of grouping learners at school. Fundamentals of Educational Planning 93. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Where the quality of learning and teaching varies widely, and where it is rationed by price or by other factors that constrain access, it is important to ensure that improvements in access to education are equitable and do not increase learning opportunity for some at the expense of others. Enhanced equity is an essential condition of an expanded vision of access (Lewin, 2015: 38).

Lewin, Keith M. 2015. Educational access, equity, and development: planning to make rights realities. Fundamentals of Educational Planning 98. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Where officers feel a sense of accountability, organizations tend to function better. Efforts to strengthen accountability may be counterproductive, however, if officers feel isolated and unsupported. Unfortunately, few ministries have developed a genuine staff development programme and nor do they incite their staff members to take personal initiative in this regard. De-professionalization and demotivation of the civil service is a real risk, if the strengthening of external accountability is not accompanied by efforts towards professional development (De Grauwe, 2009: 16).

De Grauwe, Anton. Without capacity, there is no development. Rethinking capacity development. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP, 2009.

"Differences in average pupil learning achievement between schools and classes are considerable, even after statistically controlling for individual characteristics. They underscore the extent to which strong learning outcomes depend on the availability, use, and management of school-based resources (UNESCO-BREDA, 2007) ", (UNESCO, 2008:68).

UNESCO.2008. Education for All by 2015: will we make it? EFA global monitoring report, 2008. Paris: UNESCO.

The adjusted net enrolment ratio for lower secondary school age adolescents is a second-best indicator which has information on trends for just 82 countries (UNESCO, 2014: 67).

UNESCO. 2014. Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All; EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2013-2014. Paris: UNESCO.

Latin America and the Caribbean was one of the first regions to introduce the category of young people into the concept of adult education in the 1980s, due to their growing presence in educational programmes designed for adults. Youth and adult education continues to be the most representative conceptual classification covering what is principally second-chance or compensatory schooling, including literacy. (UIL, 2017: 27)

UIL. 2017. CONFINTEA VI Mid-Term Review 2017: progress, challenges, and opportunities; the status of adult learning and education; summary of the regional reports. Hamburg: UIL.

Sustainable Development Goal 4: Education is central to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within the comprehensive 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, education is essentially articulated as a stand-alone goal (SDG4) with its 7 outcome targets and 3 means of implementation (UNESCO, 2016: 4).

UNESCO. 2016. Unpacking Sustainable Development Goal 4: Education 2030; guide. 2nd ed. Paris: UNESCO.

Students in every country are evaluated annually or more often by their teachers (and their school). These evaluations measure, on the basis of teacher- or school-designed examinations, whether a student has ‘learned’ the prescribed curriculum. Except in those countries where there is automatic promotion, they determine whether students repeat the grade or move on to the next one (Carnoy, 1999: 62)

Carnoy, Martin. 1999. Globalization and educational reform: what planners need to know. Fundamentals of Educational Planning 63. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Basic education is more than an end in itself. It is the foundation for life long learning and human development on which countries may build, systematically, further levels and types of education and training (UNESCO, 1990: 7).

UNESCO. 1990. World Declaration on Education for All and Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs . Paris: UNESCO.

Important conceptual clarifications were made during this period, in conjunction with the International Literacy Year (1990) and the World Declaration on Education for All adopted in Jomtien, Thailand (1990). For example, UNESCO distinguished between literacy as a skill and literacy as a set of culturally and socially determined practices, and later endorsed efforts to promote the acquisition of literacy – newly conceived as ‘basic learning needs’ – on a continuum including formal and non-formal education, extended to people of all ages (UNESCO, 2004b) (UNESCO, 2005: 154).

UNESCO. 2006. Education for All: Literacy for Life; EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2006. PARIS: UNESCO.

Very poor levels of learning in lower primary grades are resulting in millions of children leaving education before acquiring basic skills. Children who do not learn to read a text or do basic calculations in the lower grades are likely to struggle throughout their school careers, their commitment to education is likely to diminish and they are more likely to drop out (UNESCO, 2015: 192).

UNESCO. 2006. Education for all: literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006. Paris: UNESCO. 

UNESCO supports bilingual and/or multilingual education at all levels of education as a means of promoting both social and gender equality and as a key element of linguistically diverse societies (UNESCO, 2003: 30).

UNESCO. 2003. Education in a multilingual world: UNESCO education position paper. Paris: UNESCO

Where a programme is financed by external agencies, the fifth option may also involve the issue of ownership and control: should the local agency – whether governmental or non-governmental – be responsible for the samples, or should the financier accept them? Currently, the general policy is to encourage local ownership and control in the interests of promoting capacity-building, although external specialists are often imported to help with the design and analysis (Oxenham, 2008: 112).

Oxenham, J. 2008. Effective literacy programmes: options for policy-makers. Fundamentals of Educational Planning 91. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Increasing education quality is a central aspect of the new agenda. This costing makes several provisions so that the quality of instruction meets minimum standards to ultimately achieve the desired learning outcomes: a ceiling for pupil/ teacher and pupil/classroom ratios; adequate maintenance of classrooms; competitive teacher salaries to support the recruitment of talented and motivated teachers; and sufficient non-salary expenditure for learning materials and administrative support (UNESCO, 2015: 295).

UNESCO. 2015. Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges; EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2015.  Paris: UNESCO. 

There  is very  little difficulty in interpreting  the objective of opening schools in such a way that all children enjoy equal opportunity of access to them.  Indeed it seems to be a basic element of all policies to reduce disparities.  Generally, though, accessibility is defined  solely in terms of  physical  accessibility.  To measure  this we would have to take into account distance, relief, communications, and  the time taken to travel between school and home, bearing  in mind available means of transport.  The problem therefore consists  in determining  the catchment areas of existing schools  in order to identify, on the one hand, the population that lies outside  these catchment areas and is therefore deprived of any education service  for reasons of physical accessibility, and, on the other hand, to estimate, inside the catchment areas  (i.e. in the areas reached by the school system) the proportion of school-age  children  actually managing to find places in the schools (Caillods, et al: 118).

Caillods, F.; Casselli, J. Ta Ngoc Châu; Porte, G. 1983. School mapping and micro-planning in education. Training materials in educational planning, administration and facilities. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

If education systems are fully inclusive, quality education can be extended to all groups as a matter of routine. Bringing this about requires systems-level interventions. Instead of just ‘doing’ child-friendly schools in local communities, CFS models are ‘sold’ as good practice for the entire education system (UNICEF, 2009: 6).

UNICEF. 2009. Child-friendly schools manual. New York: UNICEF.

Citizen-led assessments conducted in East Africa have helped shift the thinking of parents from assuming that learning is the sole responsibility of schools and teachers. It has helped raise awareness that parents have a major role to play in their children’s academic education (UIS, 2016: 41).

UIS. 2016. Understanding what works in oral reading assessments: recommendations from donors, implementers and practitioners. Montreal: UIS.

Governments should take active steps to strengthen teaching in early grades. Teacher education systems need to be reinvigorated to assure the success of such interventions. Pre-service training programmes appear to be paying insufficient attention to the teaching of reading. Courses need to increase the emphasis on effective classroom techniques. In-service training programmes engaging teachers in an interactive way can ensure that knowledge is converted into better classroom practice. Benefits are likely to be most noticeable where training is combined with other interventions, such as improved instructional materials (UNESCO, 2012: 135).

UNESCO. 2012. Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work, EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2012. Paris: UNESCO.

Originally conceived as a way of preventing drop outs through early detection of learning problems in higher education (Cross and Angelo, 1993), CBA has become recognized as a way of improving the overall quality of teaching and learning at all levels. Teacher-administered, informal techniques associated with CBA seek to monitor all aspects of student learning, including the acquisition of knowledge, values, skills, and behaviours in ways that help teachers adjust their teaching to meet the needs of the whole group as well as individual learners (UNESCO, 2009:32-32).

Bernard, J. 2009. Learning counts: An overview of approaches to understanding, assessing and improving the quality of education for all. Paris: UNESCO.

The third variable, the coefficient of efficiency, is obtained by dividing the number of pupil-years normally required to complete the primary cycle by the number of pupil-years actually spent. Thus, higher coefficients indicate greater efficiency, pupils spending on average less time to complete the primary education cycle. Although these data do not show the disparities between urban and rural areas, there appears to be a weak inverse correlation between the efficiency factors and the rurality of a country. In any case, the data do illustrate how pervasive the problem of primary schooling ‘wastage’ is, rural pupils typically spending far too much time in primary education (IIEP and FAO, 2003: 88).

IIEP and FAO. 2003. Education for rural development: towards new policy responses. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.