Education for All by Darren Walters https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj Darren Walters: EDGI 508 en-us 2017-05-01 14:41:31 UTC 2017-05-02 14:53:05 UTC hello@padlet.com Overview dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169187909
  • Established in 1990 at the World Conference for All by UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF and the World Bank with the goal of delivering “quality basic education for all children, youth and adults” (UNESCO, n.d.).
  • Within this framework, the founders included a desire to universalize primary education and works towards decreasing the issue of illiteracy plaguing the globe by the year 2000 
  •  In a 2000 meeting in Dakar, Senegal, the group realized it must extend its deadline to 2015 and include additional goals to EFA in order to support increasing education for children and adults.
  • Six goals were added to address the following issues:
    1. Expansion and improvement of early childhood education, with specific attention paid to the most disadvantaged.
    2.  Providing free, compulsory education to all, with special attention paid to ethnic minorities and girls.
    3. Access to appropriate learning methods.
    4. 50% literacy improvement, especially in women.
    5. Achievement of gender equality and access.
    6. Educational improvement at a measurable level, especially in literacy, math and general life skills.
    ]]>     2017-05-01 14:49:12 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169187909     Education as a solution dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169188135 Education is the critical component for EFA because it unlocks development potential in countries that are largely economically disadvantaged. Therefore, Education for All views education as a solution to the following issues:
    • Malnutrition
    • Participation in pre-primary education
    • Progress in survival to the last grade of primary school
    • Illiteracy
    • Dropouts
    • Foundational and vocational skill building and retention
    • Gender parity and equality 
    • Educational gaps
    • Armed conflict
     

    ]]>     2017-05-01 14:49:58 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169188135     EFA & its assumptions regarding education & development dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169199459 The lead agency involved in Education for All is UNESCO, whose fundamental mission is “to promote education as a fundamental human right, to improve the quality of education and to facilitate…capacity building” (UNESCO, n.d).  This underlines both UNESCO’s and its partner organizations’ beliefs that education is paramount to the development of the ability of individuals and nations to advance in the global economy.  This is evidenced in the statement of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in the 2013/2014 EFA Global Monitoring Report (2014) who writes, “Educate communities, and you transform societies and grow economies” illustrating that EFA supports educational progress that feeds development by helping to eliminate issues that impede the primary objective (2014, p. ii).

    ]]>     2017-05-01 15:26:43 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169199459     References dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169200251 Labaree, D.F. (1997) “Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle Over Educational Goals” American Educational Research Journal 34(1): 39-81
     
    Spring, J. (1998). Education and the Rise of the Global Economy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
     
    UNESCO. (2014). EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/4: Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for all. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225660e.pdf
     
    UNESCO. (n.d.) Education for All Goals. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/
     
    UNESCO. (n.d.) Education for All Movement. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/
    UNESCO. (n.d.) History. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/the-efa-movement/
    ]]>     2017-05-01 15:29:10 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169200251     EFA Fast Facts dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169231244
  • As of 2012, some 162 million children under 5 were still malnourished; three-quarters of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia (UNESCO, 2014, p. 2).
  • Girls make up 54% of the global population of children out of school (UNESCO, 2014, p. 2).
  • Around half the world’s out-of-school population lives in conflict-affected countries, up from 42% in 2008 (UNESCO, 2014, p. 3).
  • Ten countries are responsible for almost three-quarters of
  •  the world’s illiterate adults. Women make up almost two-thirds of the total (UNESCO, 2014, p. 4).
  • Among low-income countries, disparities are commonly at the expense of girls: 20% achieve gender parity in primary education, 10% in lower secondary education and 8% in upper secondary education (UNESCO, 2014, p. 5).
  • Between 1999 and 2011, the pupil/teacher ratio in primary education increased by at least 20% in nine countries. By contrast, it fell by at least 20% in 60 countries (UNESCO, 2014, p. 5). 

    • ]]>     2017-05-01 17:09:55 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169231244     Issues with EFA dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169233593 Unfortunately, despite the underlying good that EFA accomplishes, it is important to consider the philosophy behind it.  There is not a doubt that EFA is an important tool in alleviating many of the terrible issues plaguing individuals and nations around the world.  However, because EFA doesn’t advocate education solely for the sake of learning, but as a service to a global development agenda, EFA must be further scrutinized.]]> 2017-05-01 17:17:59 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169233593 Potential Effects of EFA dwalters3 https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169435699 Though EFA falls short on many of projects’ targets, it is undoubtedly a source of incredible aid that helps change how individuals live their daily lives in a multitude of ways.  However, EFA framework mirrors social efficiency as the philosophy of EFA clearly mandates that without the proper education, individuals across the world will be without the competencies to help their country earn its place among the global economy.  As Labaree (1997) states, “society as a whole must see to it that we invest educationally in the productivity of the entire workforce”, which is the primary ethos behind EFA (p. 42).  And because the “goals of schooling are directly related to the world’s economic needs”, EFA could be considered a tool for utilizing growth to feed aid nations economies (Spring, 1998, pp. 5-6).  For instance, with increased development comes increase demand from countries such as the United States, UK, Germany, and Japan for textbooks, consumer items and junk food.  Considering the major sources of financial support come from agencies such as the World Bank, EU Institutions, IMF, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Asian Development Bank Special funds and the African Development Fund, an argument can be made that perhaps these donors finance aid to economically ‘colonialize’ dependent nations (UNESCO, 2014, p. 396).  This is especially salient as EFA conveniently mirrors Western ideals perpetuated throughout the US education system such as the focus on literacy, math and science, early childhood education (Head Start) and nutrition which all parallel the US education system.]]> 2017-05-02 14:30:08 UTC https://padlet.com/dwalters3/nl419jap6dzj/wish/169435699