National language policies – the designation of an official language, the choice of language of instruction in schools and adult learning programmes – can facilitate or hinder language development and literacy acquisition. Research consistently shows that learning to read and write in one’s mother tongue enhances access to literacy in other languages (UNESCO, 2005: 24).

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

Among the great variety of language policies adopted in post-colonial Africa, three main trends stand out. First, there are those countries which opted for the status quo, avoiding any initiative that questioned the existing order. The Western language remains the language of instruction and the only official language used in government institutions and the public sector. This policy amounts to a confirmation of the colonial order. Then there are those countries which underwent slow, step-by-step change: using African languages in non-formal education and adult literacy programmes and experimenting with them in the formal education system, taking policy measures to promote African languages, opening up new, broader contexts for the use of so-called national languages – without challenging the official status of the Western language. A third category of countries have embarked on a policy of in-depth change: curtailing the official use of the Western language to the benefit of African languages, using the latter as the medium for learning in both formal and non-formal education, promoting bilingualism and multilingualism (Ndoye, 2003:4). 

Ndoye, Mamadou. 2003. « Bilingualism, language policies and educational strategies in Africa ». IIEP newsletter 21, n^o 3 (2003): 4.

Large-scale learning assessments are uniform and standardized in content, administration process, timing, and scoring – they are, in fact, frequently referred to as standardized tests – particularly within Anglo-Saxon countries and literature. They are generally sample-based, although, over the last decades, an increasing number of countries have adopted a census-based approach (Verger et al., 2018). They can be school- or household-based; curriculum-based or not; and generally, teachers and schools may have a stake in the outcome while they hold low/no stakes for the test-takers (UNESCO, 2009:17).

UNESCO. 2019. The promise of large-scale learning assessments: acknowledging limits to unlock opportunities. Paris: UNESCO.

SACMEQ’s research and training activities have been delivered through a collaborative ‘learning-by-doing’ mode, where educational planners are involved in all stages of its policy research cycle – systematically proceeding from general policy concerns to specific research questions, data collection and analysis, reporting and policy suggestions, policy debates and agenda for action, and programme implementation aimed at improvements in the equity and quality of education.

Makuwa, Demus K. « In search of quality: what the data tell us ». IIEP newsletter 28, n^o 3 (2010): 2.

In the last decade, the number of countries conducting large-scale learning assessments has doubled. Yet despite the importance – and controversy – attached to these tests, there is little information to help policymakers and practitioners make informed decisions about how to implement different types of assessments and use the results (UIS, 2015).

UIS. 2015. Catalogue of learning assessments: a public resource to learning assessments around the world. Montreal: UIS.

Some children are more likely to learn properly than others. There are plenty of causes which can explain why certain pupils face learning difficulties: They may be in poor health, they may be less able to learn (innate ability), they may have a mother language different from the working language of the school, they may belong to a family which has less motivation for supporting school values than others, or they may be exposed to a shorter study time, both inside and outside the school (Postlethwaite, 2004: 12).

Gender equality in education requires not only equality of access, but also equality in the learning process, in educational outcomes and in external results. The Dakar Framework highlights school-related factors that can constrain the achievement of equality and calls for schools to be safe and gender-sensitive learning environments (UNESCO, 2015: 174).

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

If the gender gap in learning outcomes is used as a measure of progress towards gender equality, some evidence suggests the relative position of girls has been improving. The gap separating them from boys in mathematics and science has shrunk, although some caution is needed, as much of the more robust information over time comes from richer countries. (UNESCO, 2015:17)

UNESCO. 2015. Education for All 2000-2015: achievements and challenges; EFA global monitoring report, 2015. Paris: UNESCO.

Lifelong learning is about more than diversifying the loci and modi of learning, more than expanding access and opportunity, more indeed than transferring primary agency from the educator to the learner. Its value is nothing less than the inspiration for a new idea of human society. Lifelong learning, like sustainable development, is a notional germ from which a different kind of society may sprout; one that values learning both for its uses and its own sake and that likewise values people both for what they do and who they are. Such a “learning society” is not as distant or utopian a vision as it might at first seem. Its inception requires that we re-examine how and why we learn, and then harness our creativity to design systems of learning that enrich all aspects of our lives.

UIL website.

In addition to deciding on educational goals beyond literacy and on a broad learning strategy to engage interest and maintain the will to learn, every literacy programme has had naturally to adopt, adapt or develop a method for teaching the actual skills of reading, writing and written arithmetic (Oxenham, 2010: 96).

In countries where teachers do not receive formal education prior to teaching, investments in professional development may be even more important for ensuring quality. Discussion with all personnel about how to implement an age-appropriate curriculum with interesting lesson plans and well-used learning materials is also recommended (UNESCO, 2017: 95).

UNESCO. 2017. Overview: MELQO: Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes. Paris: UNESCO.

Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes is one of the six Dakar goals to achieve Education for All, as shown in Box 1. Although there is some debate on the meaning of ‘life skills’, provision of vocational skills training no doubt plays an important role in equipping young people and adults, especially those whose learning opportunities are limited, to lead more fulfilling and productive lives (Holmes and Tschanz, 2004: 19).

The acquired skills provided by new entrants to the labour market cannot be relied upon to fully adapt the skills of the workforce to be in line with changes in technology, since new entrants are only a small proportion of the total workforce. It is therefore important that existing workers, who may be many years out of formal education, continue to develop their skills in a process of lifelong learning. In order to participate in lifelong learning, individuals must have the necessary skills on which to build and the ‘ability to learn’ (McIntosh, 2008: 82).

McIntosh, Steven. 2008. Education and employment in OECD countries. Fundamentals of Educational Planning 88. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Placing responsibility for literacy: There is also no empirical evidence to guide the placement of a governmental agency for promoting literacy. The logical home for such an agency would seem to be the ministry of education, and this is indeed where most agencies are located. However, in some countries, the agency is under the ministry of labour or the ministry of social development. In at least one country, the agency was established under the Prime Minister’s office. Ideally, as literacy is a set of transversal, cross-cutting or general skills, the agency should be established and financed in a manner that enables it most readily to arrange for literacy work to fit in with and support the efforts of other development-oriented ministries, such as those of labour, employment, social affairs, industry, agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and similar departments (Oxenham, 2008: 59).

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

Even achieving universal upper secondary school completion with literacy skills by 2030 will not bring about universal adult literacy. There will still be all of today’s illiterate youth, estimated for the first time in 2018 at just under 100 million, and most of today’s 773 million illiterate adults. The Global Education Monitoring Report estimates that, in 2050, 11.5% of sub-Saharan African adults will not have completed primary school (UNESCO, 2020:268).

UNESCO.2020. Global education monitoring report, 2020: Inclusion and education: all means all. Paris: UNESCO
 

Completion rates are even lower than enrolment rates. For example, in low-income countries, while 62% of adolescents were enrolled in 2015, only 27% of them finished lower secondary education in the period 2008–2014 (UNESCO, 2016). Even when they complete an education cycle, children, adolescents and youth frequently do not obtain the expected skills because  the quality of education is low. (UIS, 2017: 11)

UIS. Reducing global poverty through universal primary and secondary education, 2017.