Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
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Meeting commitments: are countries on track to achieve SDG 4? Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: Global Education Monitoring Report Team | UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) The world is a third of the way towards the deadline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes the fourth Sustainable Development Goal on education, SDG 4. But it is behind on its commitments. This joint publication by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report for the 2019 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development captures concisely how far the world is from achieving its education targets. This is the year that the generation of students that should finish secondary school by 2030 should be entering school for the first time. Yet, in low-income countries, only 60% of children complete primary school, while in some regions the percentage of students who achieve minimum proficiency in reading is even falling. There is no denying that the world is off track. It is time to put an end to complacency. The international community relies on data to report on the SDG 4 monitoring framework to assess progress. While clear improvements have been made in data collection, data gaps remain a major concern. This publication makes a call for countries and their international development partners to coordinate and finance the collection of data to monitor and deliver on SDG 4. 
Beyond commitments 2019: how countries implement SDG 4 Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: Global Education Monitoring Report Team Almost one-third of the time set to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has elapsed. The 2019 High-level Political Forum (HLPF), the global SDG follow-up and review mechanism, represents a major stock-taking moment for countries, especially as regards SDG 4, the education goal, which is being reviewed for the first time. The international community relies primarily on quantitative measures to assess progress towards the SDGs. Acompanion publication by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report for the 2019 HLPF, titled ‘Meeting commitments: Are countries on track to achieve SDG 4?’, shows that there are major challenges ahead. But increasingly, member states demand more than quantitative information. They ask for guidance on how to respond when their education systems do not reach their targets. To respond to this demand, this publication has the following purposes: Understand countries’ perceptions of SDG 4 based on responses to a questionnaire prepared for this publication, which asked countries to report on their flagship SDG 4 policies Distil those perceptions into a framework of the types of national policies that are best aligned with SDG 4 and whose implementation should be monitored Communicate the framework succinctly and provide a complementary input for the review of SDG 4 at the 2019 HLPF Provide an opportunity for countries to engage in dialogue on how they approach SDG 4. An analysis of the questionnaires submitted by 72 governments shows that most countries refer to SDG 4 as a framework in which they place their education planning. A core recommendation is that countries should align their education plans and policies with their international commitments. 
Rethinking schooling: annual report 2018 Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) Calls to gear up schools for the 21st century are ubiquitous today. Some Asian education systems are held up as models for an innovation-led utopian future. Across much of Asia, however, neither the reality of schooling nor the patterns of development with which it is associated give cause for blithe optimism. This study is informed by UNESCO’s commitment to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through educational reform worldwide. Since its inception, UNESCO has championed a humanistic vision of education (UNESCO, 2015)—a vision today encapsulated in SDG 4.7. These ideals need to be strongly restated and defended in an era when educational debate has come to be framed by a narrowly economistic and instrumentalist agenda. Deriving urgent significance from this broader context, the Rethinking Schooling report analyses how far the ideals of SDG 4.7 are embodied in policies and curricula across 22 Asian countries (UNESCO MGIEP, 2017a). The report seeks to develop benchmarks against which future progress can be assessed. It also argues forcefully that the fundamental purposes of schooling need to be reconfigured, if the ideals to which the global community has subscribed are actually to be realized. 
Policy brief: rethinking schooling for the 21st century Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) Analysing how far the ideals of SDG 4.7 are embodied in policies and curricula across 22 Asian countries, this study establishes benchmarks against which future progress can be assessed. It also argues forcefully that we must redefine the purposes of schooling, addressing the fundamental challenges to efforts to promote peace, sustainability and global citizenship through education. 
Teaching and Learning Transformative Engagement Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: UNESCO While there is a large body of literature on citizenship and civic education, there is less clarity about the meaning of ‘responsible transformative engagement’ for young learners in relation to GCED and ESD – notably, the types of transformative engagement and the meaning of ‘responsible’. Understanding better the connection between learners’ engagement and education can clarify the knowledge, skills and competencies that schools may provide, as well as how the role of education can vary depending on context. In this light, this paper explores the meaning of ‘responsible transformative engagement’ with a view to clarifying the role of education in ways that may be reflected by UNESCO and other education stakeholders. 
Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019: Migration, Displacement and Education: Building Bridges, Not Walls Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: UNESCO | Global Education Monitoring Report Team The 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report examines the education impact of migration and displacement across all population movements: within and across borders, voluntary and forced, for employment and education. It also reviews progress on education in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Two new global compacts on migrants and refugees recognize education’s role and set objectives aligned with the global commitment to leave no one behind. This report is a vital toolkit for these compacts. It covers policy issues that address seasonal migrants, rural school consolidation, intercultural curricula, refugee inclusion in national education systems and elimination of segregation, qualifications recognition, targeting of school funding, more effective humanitarian education aid and teacher preparedness for diverse classrooms in emergency, protracted and “new normal” contexts.The report calls on countries to see education as a tool to manage migration and displacement and an opportunity for those needing one. 
Right to Education Handbook Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: Right to Education Initiative (UK) The ultimate aim of this handbook is to facilitate the realization and universal enjoyment of the right to education. Its objective is not to present the right to education as an abstract, conceptual, or purely legal concept, but rather to be action-oriented. Where possible, practical guidance is given on how to implement and monitor the right to education along with recommendations to overcome persistent barriers. It seeks to do this by: Increasing awareness and knowledge of the right to education. This includes the normative content of the right to education, states’ legal obligations, the various sources of law regarding the right to education, what states must do to domestically implement the right to education, how to monitor the right to education, and how to increase accountability of the right to education. Providing a summary of current debates and issues regarding education and what human rights law says about them, including on forced migration, education in emergencies, the privatization of education, and the challenge of reaching the most marginalized. Providing an overview of the UN landscape and its mechanisms, including a clear understanding of the role of UNESCO and more generally the UN, as well as all relevant stakeholders in education, particularly civil society. UNESCO’s Strategy on standard-setting instruments in the field of education (2016-2021) encourages Member States of the Organization to use normative action in relation with the right to education as a strategic tool to implement and achieve SDG4. In line with this, this handbook – specifically foreseen by the Strategy– will also serve as a reference tool for the design and organization of training modules and workshops in the field of right to education. Finally, the handbook will also be an important reference for those working towards the achievement of SDG4, by offering guidance on how to leverage legal commitment to the right to education as a strategic way to achieve this goal. 
Assessment of Transversal Competencies: Current Tools in the Asian Region Year of publication: 2019 Author: Esther Care | Alvin Vista | Helyn Kim Corporate author: UNESCO Bangkok | Brookings Institution UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education has been working on education quality under the name of ‘transversal competencies’ (TVC) since 2013. Many of these competencies have been included in national education policy and curricula of countries in the region, but now the importance accorded them is increasingly gaining attention. As policy makers increasingly require their systems to provide evidence of 21st century skills acquired by their learners, implementation challenges highlight the need for a stronger alignment between curricula, pedagogy and learning assessments. UNESCO Bangkok’s Network on Education Quality Monitoring in the Asia Pacific (NEQMAP) undertook this regional study to examine components within countries’ learning assessments that show how these apply to and can measure transversal competencies. This report provides valuable information on how learning assessments are already capturing TVC and is useful for a broad range of education stakeholders, not only test developers, but also curriculum developers, teacher trainers and teachers. Particularly important is the need to align these skills and competencies across the entire education system. 
Global Education Monitoring Report 2019: Gender Report: Building Bridges for Gender Equality Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: Global Education Monitoring Report Team Achieving gender equality in education participation, in the teaching and learning process and in access to social and economic opportunities that education can facilitate are key interlinked ambitions in two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: SDG 4 on education and SDG 5 on gender equality. These aims are also key to the Education 2030 Framework for Action, which calls on countries to adopt strategies that not only cover access to education for all but also address substantive gender equality issues: ‘supporting gender-sensitive policies, planning and learning environments; mainstreaming gender issues in teacher training and curricula; and eliminating gender-based discrimination and violence in schools’. The 2019 Gender Report is based on a monitoring framework first introduced in the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report.In addition to focusing on gender parity in education participation, attainment and learning achievement, the framework examines broad social and economic contexts (gender norms and institutions) and key education system characteristics (laws and policies, teaching and learning practices, learning environments, and resources). The framework also looks at the relationship between education and selected social and economic outcomes. For instance, a move towards parity in education attainment may increase women’s labour force participation rates, but low levels of labour force participation feed into existing norms and may constrain expansion of education opportunities for women. 
Education for Sustainable Development: Partners in Action; Global Action Programme (GAP) Key Partners' Report (2015-2018) Year of publication: 2019 Corporate author: UNESCO The Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was launched by UNESCO as a follow up to the United Nations Decade of ESD in order to accelerate progress on sustainable development and scale up action in all areas of education and learning. Its duration is from 2015 to 2019.To that end, UNESCO works with a network of 97 GAP Key Partners from government, civil society, the private sector and academia active in five Priority Action Areas: advancing policy, transforming learning environments, building the capacity of educators, empowering youth, and accelerating sustainable solutions at the local level. Each GAP Key Partner committed to meet specific targets by 2019. To measure progress in meeting the targets set by the GAP Key Partners, 10 indicators were identified, two in each Priority Action Area. Through surveys sent to them by UNESCO, GAP Key Partners report against these 10 indicators and toward the targets set for each indicator. In the surveys, GAP Key Partners are also invited to rate the benefits of participation in the GAP for their work and provide qualitative data concerning their implementation progress. Three progress reports are scheduled to be produced: The first report, covering progress between 2015 and 2016, was released by UNESCO in 2017 This second report, covering 2015-2018, is to be published in 2019 The third and final report, covering the entire period of the GAP, 2015-2019, will be published in 2020 This second report presents the results of the GAP Key Partners survey carried out at the end of 2018, with a response rate of 78%. The report presents the analysis of the quantitative responses of GAP Key Partners to each of the 10 indicators. Based on the qualitative responses provided by the GAP Key Partners, a short comment on each of the progress status is also provided.