The challenge of monitoring quality in distance education, note 1: Regional programme to support quality management in basic education

This memorandum seeks to contribute to the programme to support the steering of quality in basic education and to the reflection currently underway in ministries of education. It takes stock of the most commonly used models for delivering distance learning courses and discusses new actors who are entering the field and who will play a decisive role, as well as the conditions for the success of each model. It places particular emphasis on the accompanying measures that should be taken to ensure that the quality dimension of distance education is taken into account. Looking beyond the current emergency, the memorandum could be used in any future situation of exceptional school closures (security risks, floods, cyclones, other epidemics, etc.) to guide ministries’ decisions on the continuation of teaching via distance learning and on ways to assess its effectiveness.