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Developing Adult Education and Training Policies for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of the State of Kuwait Year of publication: 2017 Author: Sabika Hussain Bursli Corporate author: Tanta University In this article, the author presents the case of Kuwait in relation to adult education. The article analyzes the current Kuwaiti policies related adult education in light of sustainable development requirements. 
National meeting on peace education: working papers; report Year of publication: 2015 Corporate author: Encuentro de Educacion para la Paz y los Derechos Humanos This document presents the most relevant reflections and commitments made up from the First National Encounter of Education for Peace and Human Rights, which took place on July 29th of 2014, with the participation of the Mayors, Secretaries of Education from the different territories of Colombia, governmental organizations, NGO's and multilateral agencies. 
Singapore’s educational reforms toward holistic outcomes: (Un)intended consequences of policy layering Year of publication: 2023 Author: Dennis Kwek | Jeanne Ho | Hwei Ming Wong Corporate author: Center for Universal Education at Brookings In the transition from economic imperatives to holistic drivers, there has been a gradual move over five policy phases (from 1965 to 2022 and beyond) toward curriculum and school diversification to cater to different students, with more autonomy given to schools to innovate their pedagogy and improve instructional quality to meet their students’ unique needs. Importantly, there has been a shift in policy rhetoric from focusing on educational structures to focusing on pedagogy and instructional quality. To shift pedagogy from being mainly didactic in nature—with emphasis on preparing students for national examination—the Singapore government recognized the need to focus on school leaders’ and teachers’ capacity building to enable new curricula and teaching practices. The school cluster structure was initiated in 1997 to enable collaboration and learning among school leaders, key personnel, and teachers. Opportunities for collaborative teacher learning are provided at different ecological levels: professional learning communities (PLCs) within schools and networked learning communities (NLCs) across schools. Beyond the education system, the Singapore government works with other ministries and community organizations, such as ethnic self-help organizations, to tackle educational equity issues. Ultimately, even though the official policy narrative post-1997 has been a de-emphasis on examination results and educational infrastructure to help improve the instructional quality in schools toward holistic outcomes and improved student well-being have been developed, education systems building co-exists with an alternative underlying shadow education system valued by parents who continue to chase narrow academic outcomes. Tuition and enrichment centers in Singapore constitute the shadow education system. 
The Comprehensive Learning Diagnosis: Chile’s approach to assess socio-emotional learning in schools Year of publication: 2023 Author: José Weinstein | Juan Bravo Corporate author: Center for Universal Education at Brookings Education in Chile has important challenges of quality, equity, and social integration. For decades, policies tried to respond to these concerns with a high-stakes accountability institutional framework, which has not had success. The underlying vision of educational quality was limited. The assessment system in place privileged cognitive and academic dimensions of educational results. Socio-emotional learning had been neglected or considered secondary, without an infrastructure of assessment tools that allowed teachers and principals to diagnosis students’ situations and monitor their progress. The COVID-19 crisis was an opportunity for change: Students’ socioemotional needs were a main concern for schools and society, and the regular accountability system based on standardized tests was interrupted. Subsequently, the Comprehensive Learning Diagnosis (DIA) was launched by the Education Quality Agency. The DIA is a voluntary assessment tool made available to all Chilean schools. The DIA promotes the comprehensive development of students, providing timely information and guidance to internally monitor students’ learning in the academic and socio-emotional domains at several points during the school year. Specifically, with respect to socio-emotional learning, three areas were considered: personal, community, and citizenship. In each of these areas, a set of socioemotional skills were defined, operationalized, and became possible to monitor by school communities. The DIA also collects students’ opinions of school management practices regarding socio-emotional skills. The DIA has received a wide acceptance in school communities. Despite being voluntary, an ample majority of schools decided to participate. The information collected from the DIA allows for practical use by principals and teachers. Moreover, the DIA provides the opportunity for students to inform school management. The new Chilean government has decided to strengthen DIA as an important component in a four-year national plan for reactivating academic and socio-emotional learning in schools. The previous high-stakes accountability system, which involved external assessments, has been suspended and is under discussion. The DIA experience has shown that critical social and educational situations can provide fertile ground to motivate deep and rapid transformation, if an educational actor (in this case the Education Quality Agency) is capable of enacting a pertinent, timely, and practical response to school needs. The DIA is not only an example of productive uses of students´ assessment by schools, but also a demonstration that it is possible to build an institutional arrangement among local, intermediate, and national levels of school systems, where a vertical hierarchy is changed by a collaborative relationship based on local agency, mutual trust, and differentiated technical contributions. 
Evaluating the Link between Conflict and Education Year of publication: 2005 Author: Lynn Davies Corporate author: SAGE Publishing This paper examines two areas of important evaluation: the impact of education on peace and the impact of education on conflict, and argues that they are not necessarily the same type of evaluation. 
Education in the twenty‐first century: Conflict, reconstruction and reconciliation1 Year of publication: 2005 Author: Alan Smith Corporate author: Taylor & Francis This paper is an attempt to map out an emerging and increasingly important field of study concerning the relationship between education and conflict. The paper argues that actions through various ‘entry points’ at each of these levels carry the potential to exacerbate or ameliorate conflict and suggests that a systemic analysis of investments in education systems from a conflict perspective should be a routine part of educational planning. 
Supporting Learning Recovery One Year into COVID-19: The Global Education Coalition in Action Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: UNESCO | Global Education Coalition The Global Education Coalition, launched by UNESCO, is a platform for collaboration and exchange to protect the right to education during this unprecedented disruption and beyond.This is the annual report of the Coalition, which builds on the inaugural report published in September 2020, and covers the activity between March 2020 and March 2021. 
Education for Citizenship in the Caribbean: A Study on Curricular Policy and Teacher Training in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic Year of publication: 2005 Author: Cheila Valera Acosta Corporate author: UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) | Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) This study aims to describe teacher training and curricular policy for the primary and secondary levels in relation to education for citizenship in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic and make practical recommendations for improvements in the quality of design and implementation of these initiatives in the three countries.The following are some of the conclusions: At the start of the twenty-first century, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti share a context in which the processes of democratization have encountered obstacles connected with their colonial heritage, the hegemony of the European nations and the influence and direct interference from United States geopolitical, economic and cultural power.These democracies have developed from long and violent political dictatorships, which established authoritarian and restrictive institutional mechanisms for the day-to-day administration of public affairs. Public policies on education for citizenship should therefore take account of the contradictions faced by the democratizing processes and of the complex cultural impact on the development of social identities brought about by the phenomenon of mass migration.These issues and the tensions arising from social and economic inequalities are inadequately addressed in the three countries’ curricula and teacher training policies.There are legal bases integrating education for citizenship as part of the State’s educational responsibilities in all three countries. Education for citizenship is intended as a specific subject for the primary and secondary school levels.Educational proposals are required that can provide the population with greater understanding of community life, skills for confronting traditional ideological indoctrination, and for learning to live together while recognizing differences, and for helping to educate the imagination for a broader view of human affairs and our responsibilities with regard to them.The actors involved in teacher training in the three countries consider it a key tool for the democratic development of societies. Their main criticisms indicate that there is a need to improve the contents and the approaches to teacher training so that they can respond to the current challenges of these societies from an interdisciplinary standpoint consistent with the stated educational goals. 2013 Asia-Pacific Education Research Institutes Network (ERI-Net) regional study on: transversal competencies in education policy and practice (Phase I): regional synthesis report Year of publication: 2015 Corporate author: UNESCO Bangkok The Asia-Pacific region has been spearheading global, social, and economic development for the last several decades. Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty and basic education (primary and lower secondary) has become near universal in many countries in the region. Upper secondary and higher education enrollment rates have also increased significantly. However, while these are tremendous achievements, education quality remains a major concern among emerging economies and industrialized nations alike. While some countries in the region excel in international assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), other countries still attain low scores. National assessment results of countries that have not participated in international assessments reveal large knowledge and skills disparities among students of the same country. In some cases the results also indicate a very low attainment level of basic skills, even after years of schooling.At the same time, the debate surrounding what actually constitutes quality education and learning in the 21st century is ongoing. There is a growing concern that education systems are focusing too much on the accumulation of academic “cognitive” skills at the expense of the more elusive and hard-to-measure “nonacademic” skills and competencies. The accumulation of these skills and competencies, which include skills and competencies in efficient communication with others, innovative thinking, respect for diversity and the environment, conflict resolution, team work, problem solving, and so on, is not only important for students to be adequately prepared for the world of work, but is also paramount in ensuring future generations are equipped to live meaningful, sustainable, and responsible lives in a rapidly changing and interconnected world.1 The effects of the limited attention paid to such skills and competencies in education can be felt in a number of domains and include, for example: poor respect for diversity (including socio-economic, ethnic, and gender equality), neglect of environmental issues, and a lack of innovation and social entrepreneurship among students.To counter these challenges, many countries and economies in the Asia-Pacific region have introduced, or are in the process of introducing, policy and curriculum changes aimed at enhancing the cultivation of such “non-academic” skills and competencies in learners. To date, these important reforms in the Asia-Pacific region have not been widely documented, and hence, in 2013 members of the Asia-Pacific Education Research Institutes Network (ERI-Net), hosted by UNESCO Bangkok since 2009, agreed to make this their next topic of investigation. The research aims to document and consolidate reform initiatives for knowledge dissemination and policy consideration to the benefit of countries and economies in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. In phase I, the 2013 ERI-Net research examined how different countries and economies in the region define and apply “non-academic” skills (often termed “non-cognitive skills”) in their education policies, practices, and curriculum frameworks, and identified emerging trends and challenges. This report synthesizes ten case studies and includes important information and insights gained from the discussions held during the ERI-Net annual meeting 2013.The objectives of the report are: (i) to capture the movements in the realm of “non-academic” learning in ten education systems in the Asia-Pacific region; (ii) to identify possible policy recommendations for promoting and enhancing well-rounded and holistic learning; and, (iii) to suggest further stages of investigation. 
Citizenship education at school in Europe Year of publication: 2005 Corporate author: Eurydice. European Unit This comparative analysis is based on country descriptions supplied by the Eurydice National Units.To collect information for them, a Guide to Content, including common guidelines and definitions, was prepared by the Eurydice European Unit (EEU) in consultation with the National Units at the beginning of 2004.The aim of the Guide to Content was to ensure that the country descriptions were drafted in accordance with a common structure to facilitate subsequent cross-country comparison of the information provided.