Glossary

glossary

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A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z
  • DEFINITION

    Basic learning needs refer to the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for people to survive, to improve the quality of their lives, and to continue learning.

    UNDO, UNESCO, UNICEF, WORLD BANK. 1990. Meeting Basic Learning Needs: A Vision for the 1990s; Background Document. USAUNICEF.

    EXAMPLE OF USE

    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.

  • DEFINITION

    Usually refers to some minimum competence in reading, writing and calculating (using numbers). The term is synonymous with basic learning needs.

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

    EXAMPLE OF USE

    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.