A Framework for Action
Effective and Equitable UPE
Gender Equality in School Education
Literacy and Skills Development
Knowledge and Skills for Development in a Global World
Sustainable, Well-Managed, Education Institutions, Systems and Partnerships
Education for all is central to national policies for the elimination of poverty, human development and sustainable economic growth.
In helping to create opportunities to acquire and apply knowledge and skills for these purposes, DFID will support the efforts of peoples and governments committed to:
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· Effective and equitable UPE |
The attainment of these goals requires:
· strong political commitment and leadership· realistic budgetary and expenditure frameworks and effective financial management systems
· the management of education close to educational activity
· the application of knowledge and technology - including Information Communications Technology (ICT) - to improve management systems and enhance the quality of learning.
The link between education, the elimination of poverty and economic growth is neither a neat nor a linear relationship. What is clear is that the eradication of poverty and pump-priming sustainable economic growth is unlikely to happen without strong and sustained commitment to creating educational opportunities and enabling people to benefit from them throughout their lives.
Overcoming Barriers to Access
Supporting Children to Complete a Full Cycle of Basic Education
Improving the Quality of Schooling
Equity for All Children
Placing UPE within the Wider Education Sector
Universal Primary Education by 2015 is a challenging target. It is an objective which will underpin and inform DFID's approach to education in its country level and international partnerships. It will be a major benchmark against which to assess its investments in education.
Effective UPE requires increased access to learning opportunities and the regular attendance of girls and boys at school (or its nonformal equivalent) for a complete cycle of good quality basic education. Defined in this way, UPE is more than 100% net enrolment. It encompasses:
· overcoming barriers to access and retention
· supporting children to complete a basic cycle of education
· improving the quality of schooling
· equity for all children
· placing UPE within the wider education sector
Attaining and sustaining effective UPE will lie at the heart of DFID's co-operation with national governments, NGOs and other development agencies. Progress towards UPE within individual countries will be monitored carefully. Where appropriate, assistance will be given to develop national, regional and international capacity to collect accurate, gender-disaggregated data on core indicators, including net primary school enrolment, completion rates and post-school literacy levels; data which is essential to measure progress and inform policy. DFID will help to sustain international commitment to UPE through such fora as Education For All (EFA), within the European Union and with UN agencies.
Access to school is denied to many children, particularly girls, because of the costs - direct and indirect - which are incurred by families and individuals. The primary responsibility for the financing of primary education lies with governments. But there is mixed evidence of the willingness of governments to accord basic education (and basic health) the priority which it deserves. DFID will support governments prepared to give sustained budgetary support to basic education within a comprehensive sector framework which recognises the need for equitable geographical and gender-related provision.
"...a combination of reforms to education policy in developing countries, some modest switching of expenditures by them towards primary schooling, and additional transfers of around $US 2 billion per year (or about US$ 2.5 billion in 1990 prices) from northern countries are needed to provide schooling of minimally acceptable quality for all the worlds children."
Colclough with Lewin 1993
DFID generally supports the conclusion of the International Forum on Consensus on Principles of Cost Sharing in Education and Health in Africa (Addis Ababa 1997) that:
General taxation and other forms of government revenue are more effective, efficient and equitable methods of raising revenue for financing social services [defined as basic education and health] than are cost sharing mechanisms".
DFID funded research has suggested that:
"...the aggregate effect [of cost sharing] seems to have been that cost sharing has contributed to a stagnation in enrolment ratios and failure to improve the quality of educational provision, and that it has enabled governments to avoid difficult reforms"
(Penrose 1997).
Where costs have to be incurred by parents and guardians there is scope for measures which lessen the burden on poor people. These include reducing and/or staggering the direct costs of education, non- discretionary exemption schemes and flexibility in the provision of schooling to mitigate seasonal demands on child labour and the requirements of the daily household economy.
Access to school may be denied for physical reasons. There may be no school or it may be at a distance which requires a long daily walk with potential physical dangers and health risks for very young children, especially girls. Adolescent and pre-adolescent girls may be at risk from sexual harassment and rape. DFID will support sector reforms that address geographical inequalities and enhance institutional capacity to gather accurate data, map social and educational needs and develop sensitive school design, development and management approaches.
Primary education may be barred to children by their parents, guardians or wider community for cultural, religious and other reasons which are grounded in the social, as well as the economic circumstances of households and communities. Understanding these issues and their causes and defining appropriate educational responses is an essential component of any strategy designed to give access to the most disadvantaged. DFID will support national sector initiatives which address context specific issues of language, gender prejudice, inappropriate school calendars, and politically charged or potentially divisive learning processes.
Many of the most severely marginalised children, "missing" from school, are those for whom poverty is compounded by other disadvantages. These include: disabled children, orphan children with HIV/AIDS, the children of nomadic communities, boy and girl soldiers, child parents, the 250 million children in full or part time labour, refugee children, street children, child sex workers and more. Enabling these children to have educational opportunities is one of the most difficult challenges in attaining effective UPE. DFID will support research and innovation designed to respond to the educational rights and needs of these groups of children.
For many illiterate people access to a "second chance", basic education is a lifeline to a more meaningful existence. While UPE refers to eligible primary age children, it can be endorsed, supported and strengthened by enabling out of school youth and adults to acquire literacy and basic skills. In addition to enabling individuals to access written materials, there is the greater likelihood that literate mothers and fathers will wish their sons and daughters to attend school. DFID will support initiatives which recognise the importance of "second chance" education.
The completion of primary education is unlikely to occur without strong community support and participation. Enshrining the rights of communities in the practice of educating their children is needed at policy level and legislative levels in many countries. A second major challenge is to design effective approaches to the decentralisation of the financing and management of schools to enable communities to play a leadership role in the development of their schools. Sustaining UPE depends in considerable measure on stimulating the interest of boys and girls and their mothers, fathers and guardians, enabling them to help shape local educational provision and contribute to the development of their school. DFID will encourage research in this important area, support innovation and the sharing of practical and effective strategies and assist sector reform which promotes community participation.
Children are unlikely to stay in school or learn effectively if the physical environment of the school is unhealthy and unsafe. The provision of safe water, good sanitation, secure, safe and physically attractive buildings are important components in making a school which is a place to be, rather than a place to avoid. This is particularly true for adolescent girls who must have access to adequate sanitation facilities.
Hungry, ill-fed children are unlikely to stay in school regularly; hunger affects attention, concentration and learning. Although a complex issue, school feeding programmes may be the answer in certain circumstances.
Assessment and Evaluation
Whole School Development
Curriculum
Language for Learning
Teachers
Teaching and Learning Materials
The Learning Environment
Community Partnership
Decentralisation
Improving the quality of primary education is at the heart of the UPE challenge.
It is unlikely that all children will stay in school if the actual and perceived quality of what is taking place is poor or unacceptable. As the opportunity costs of schooling are often interpreted by parents as much higher for girls than for boys, if education is perceived to be of poor quality it can have a particularly negative impact on girls.
"In Liberia, teachers working with boys who had been forced to fight in the civil war have had to experiment with much more flexible teaching methods...it was clear the traditional rigid system would not work with children who had been through so much and were in conflict among themselves as well as with the world."
SCF (UK) 1998
"Egypt.....reforms aimed at generating healthy and health-promoting schools: regular medical checks for all children; special nutrition programme; special help for rural areas; free health insurance for school children; integration of health and nutrition messages in the curriculum; child to child programmes to promote health in the community."
UNICEF 1998.
Understanding what children have really learned is an essential part of continuously improving the quality of learning. In many developing countries there is public concern about the quality of education which may lead to children withdrawing from school. However there is very limited capacity to assess exactly what is happening. This assessment can happen in different ways. In the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in Andra Pradesh in India:
".... trained evaluation personnel, teachers and the community [are] working in partnership to evaluate the effect of DPEP. The true impact of DPEP will be found in hamlets, schools and homes across the state where parents, teachers, children and the community control aspects of their own educational agenda and where habits of reflection, asking questions and seeking solutions, has become a normal activity"
(Evaluation in Primary Education DPEP 1998).
National and international assessments - systematic regular measures of learning achievement - have the potential to provide another important guide to the quality of learning. At best they can monitor pupil achievement levels, help set realistic standards, provide feedback to all key stakeholders and identify where major weaknesses exist. Clearly, disaggregated results will help to monitor differences in the performance of girls and boys. There is increasing acceptance in many countries that the outcomes of traditional, formal examination systems do not provide information which will assist in designing measures to improve the quality of learning.
Improving the quality of primary education requires a strong focus on the school and on the totality of its development. Research into the effectiveness and improvement of schools points to the desirability of a whole school approach designed to bring together and integrate the many inputs and processes which constitute the learning environment and the learning experience of children. Whole school improvement incorporates a set of major interrelated factors, some of the more important of which are in Figure F.
DFID has considerable experience of supporting projects and programmes which target a number of the inputs and processes listed in Figure F. Some of these initiatives will continue but we will also support overall sector reform which sets quality related targets and promotes budgetary and institutional change to enable sustainable, school-based improvements in quality to take root.
The primary curriculum. provides a framework for learning. However, what is designed to be taught, what is taught and what is learned may be three very different things in resource poor systems (and in rich ones as well). While there is broad conceptual agreement on the need for literacy, numeracy and life skills in primary education, the translation of these concepts into practice is more problematic. Clearly defined educational outcomes, widely understood and assessed performance standards, and flexibility in the delivery of the curriculum to match school circumstances are significant components of the equation which matches purpose with practice.
The meaning of life skills is widely debated: "education in values and behaviours", "general survival skills" and "livelihood skills" are three interpretations of an intention to provide a basic education which provides a strong bridge to the world of productive work and community life. The place of "productive work" in the primary school remains problematic in its timing, practicality and transferability. Comparative study of what is effective in building bridges requires continued international support.
A well-ordered and relevant curriculum requires adequate teaching time. Generally girls and boys from the poorest communities attend schools where time utilised for effective learning is limited, broken or uncertain. Rectifying this situation has complex, practical implications for government policy on the school calendar, teacher management and the definition of realistic learning targets and outcomes.
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Figure F Policies and Processes Which Promote Whole School Development and Enhance the Quality of Learning · School based planning and management centred on effective learning outcomes · Gender aware curricula offering an appropriate and manageable menu of literacy, numeracy and basic life skills acquired through active learning in adequate teaching and learning time · Realistic learning targets and effective learning outcome assessments which can inform and improve practice · Motivated, committed and adequately rewarded teachers of both sexes, involved in their own professional development and school planning and management · Initial instruction in a familiar language · Adequate, appropriate and gender aware learning materials · Safe and healthy physical environments which are conducive to learning and respect the needs of girls and boys · School partnerships focused on the quality of learning - including children, parents, headteachers, teachers, community leaders, local education officials, and health and community workers · Support systems for management, inspection, advice and teacher development which are school focused and are accessible to female and male teachers · Resource allocations which are school based, reflecting the needs and circumstances of individual schools and communities · Budgetary reform which readjusts the balance between salary and non-salary expenditures · Strong assessment and evaluation systems at all levels in the system |
"Many children in developing countries such as Malawi and Zambia, appear to be innocent victims of their governments' opting for English in order to modernise and unify the country....the majority who fail to acquire adequate skills in English continue with an English medium education in a miasma of incomprehension."
Williams, DFID 1998
"...to help address the Chinese Government s commitment to enhancing and improving basic education...we will develop in parallel with the EU a basic education programme in Gansu Province focusing on improving access and the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in poor counties"
DFID Country China Strategy Paper 1998
The acquisition of literacy skills in a familiar language is of crucial significance for escaping from the poverty trap. Supporting language for literacy purposes is a means for enabling primary school children to benefit from the wider school curriculum and as a key step towards empowering them to participate more fully in the economic, social and political life of their community. Government's language policies can affect poor communities by enhancing educational achievement, but there is also the risk that the overloading of the curriculum with too many languages, or a narrow focus on a minority language, may reinforce social and economic marginalisation. Education in a familiar language has to be complemented in most education systems with access to opportunities embodied in a more widely used national language or an international language. If governments wish to use English or other international languages as a means of alleviating poverty and promoting more equal access to educational and socio-economic opportunities, it is essential to:
· build on literacy skills first acquired in a familiar language
· foster an appropriate balance in the curriculum between first, second and international languages
· improve the range of low cost reading materials in all languages
· encourage a cross-curricular approach to the teaching of core subjects
· train all teachers in the effective use of language for learning
The interaction between learners and teachers is a critical determinant of learning outcomes, so the availability, cost, supervision, accountability and quality of teachers is a primary factor in delivering effective UPE. A UNESCO/IIEP study (The Quality of Primary Schools in Different Development Contexts: Carron and Ta Ngoc Chau 1996) concludes that constraints in the working and living conditions of teachers are gradually eroding their availability and their commitment to teaching. Policies to improve quality underplay these constraints. However, the study also concludes that the margin of manoeuvre for stimulating male and female teachers' motivation is not limited to improving conditions of service. Affordable professional incentives, focused on improving classroom working conditions, can have a powerful impact, especially where these are school based and assisted by advice and professional support which is close at hand.
Improvements to quality must address remuneration, conditions of service and improving teachers' knowledge and pedagogical skills, and be set within the broader objective of ensuring that effective teachers are distributed equitably, to meet the needs of all children and all schools. Out of date teacher employment policies will have to change. In many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, teacher-focused, quality reforms are addressed within the context of a very high incidence and increasing impact of HIV/AIDS among serving teachers and trainers. This is an issue to which DFID will give focused attention.
"..recent ministry statements (in Zambia) speak of 680 teachers dying during 1996, 624 in 1997, and more than 200 in January-April 199 8. These figures translate into more than 2.1% of trained teachers or almost two per day (equivalent to ten pre-service training colleges)."
Kelly/Oxfam 1998
The availability of teaching and learning materials is a key determinant for literacy and improving the quality of learning. For most poor countries there is a dearth of learning materials and little or no provision within sector budgets beyond that which may be available from external agencies. The poorest, usually rural schools, invariably have fewer learning materials than their urban counterparts. Outdated materials are often gender biased. The primary objective for governments is to plan and mobilise resources to develop and supply a range of cost-effective materials for teaching and learning purposes in a way which is equitable, transparent and sustainable. This should not result in increased costs for poor parents. The objective requires a holistic view of materials development, from conception, through preparation, trialling, editing, production, pricing, procurement, distribution and effective usage. National book policies provide an important strategic framework for this approach.
The quality of the learning process is enhanced when books take close account of the needs and aspirations of those who use them. Low cost materials which are developed, published and marketed locally, school-based book selection and decentralised book procurement procedures all contribute to developing effective learning materials to match real learning environments. Girls as well as boys are the "end users". Learning materials should reflect the need for gender equality and balance. Teachers need skills to improve the reading environment within schools with the materials at their disposal. Improving access to books more widely within communities develops and consolidates literacy. Libraries, book selling outlets, book boxes and community centres represent a few of the ways in which it is possible to improve access to books. Where appropriate, DFID will support programmes designed to ensure that good quality, relevant books and learning materials reach the poorest and most remote areas.
Safe and healthy environments are conducive to teaching and learning. There is no international template which encompasses building materials, maintenance, the provision of safe and good sanitation, electricity, basic classroom design, furniture and equipment, and space per pupil. What is known is that there is a spectrum of school environments which range from a total lack of any infrastructure, primarily in rural areas, through to well-equipped and managed schools in prosperous urban areas. No school should be allowed to fall below a minimally acceptable level of physical provision however that is defined. Priority should be accorded to those communities where nationally agreed and gender appropriate benchmarks are not met.
A focus on improving the overall quality of a school requires a wider appreciation of the support systems which have the potential to nurture and foster a positive learning culture. Community school partnerships, united in a common vision of the purpose and direction of the local school and agreed on the value of drawing on the knowledge and support of all sections of a community, represent an important way forward. There is growing international evidence of the place of the community in schooling which requires careful interpretation for the cross-national lessons which it may have to offer. The active participation of women is an essential element of local partnerships for quality schooling.
"Lok Jumbish (meaning People s Movement), in Rajasthan, is a grass roots movement mobilising village communities to participate in education planning and empower women through education. The main emphasis is on improving the quality of primary education and improving access to disadvantaged groups."
DFID Project Submission, India 1999
Decentralisation of school management, school advisory and inspection systems and school financing offers another important dimension of improving quality. It fosters strong local management and accountability. It is a challenging route to pursue. There is some evidence to suggest that decentralisation can hold more of a threat than a promise for poor people. For effective but accountable authority to lie with local communities and authorities a set of key issues need to be addressed:
· decentralisation should be driven by school improvement rather than considerations of political and administrative efficiency· local government structures need the resources and the capacity to manage and deliver effective primary education
· decentralisation requires a real transfer of discretionary powers to facilitate attention to school level problems
· the design and implementation of decentralisation requires gender balanced stakeholder consultation
· decentralisation requires provision for community level training
· clarity of roles and responsibilities is paramount
· transparent and efficient mechanisms for resource transfers to school are essential
· decentralisation requires a willingness on the part of government to countenance a shift in power between communities and education professionals
· coherence and congruence is needed in educational decentralisation with wider political decentralisation structures
· the potential of the school headteacher in school level management and decision taking should be a part of effective decentralisation
· the importance of developing the concept of accountability at school level - among students, parents and teachers
· decentralisation must incorporate measures to involve women and address gender issues
· extreme decentralisation of funding will lead to greater disparities unless government plays a regularising role
(drawn from Gaynor 1995)
Equity is a thread which runs through all facets of UPE. Equity of access and equitable approaches to the process of delivering effective primary education underpins a " based" approach to education. It is particularly important that every school and every classroom develops an ethos of equity, to ensure that differences that derive from gender, language, economic well-being and disability are addressed in ways which are educationally inclusive. DFID will be supportive of national legislation, sector policies, reforms and strategies which are informed by these considerations.
Achieving effective UPE has implications that extend well beyond the primary sub-sector and its non-formal equivalents.
As UPE cohorts move through the primary cycle the demand for access to secondary school strengthens. The pressure on secondary education to be effective in its dual task of preparing students for higher levels of education and for the world of work will intensify as UPE becomes a realisable objective.
DFID will support the clear articulation of objectives for secondary education within the framework of a sector development policy. This will include the need to identify realistic and equitable approaches to the financing of an expanding sub-sector. It may involve the identification and development of new ways of delivering secondary education, including distance education and the use of new communication technologies.
In some countries, specific programme and project support will target secondary education, recognising when a country has reached the point in its educational development at which effective secondary schooling is critical for national development. As economies diversify in response to globalisation, the demand for, and value of, discipline-based and pre-vocational skills increase. Primary education has strong links with other parts of the education sector, including the research, training and management capabilities of universities, training colleges and public sector management institutions. These linkages are a vital and integral part of the drive to, and the sustenance of, effective UPE.
The attainment of UPE necessitates budgetary and fiscal policies which give priority and protection to basic education while ensuring that the sector in its entirety is provided for in an efficient, realistic and sustainable way.
The management of UPE cannot be divorced from the management of the sector more generally and, in some countries, with public service reform policies. DFID support for UPE will recognise the need to engage with this wider political, economic and institutional environment.
"Secondary education will also need major assistance if it is to do more than. cater for 60,000 students in a population of 15 million... It will look at opportunities for distance learning to improve the quality of teaching."
DFID Country Strategy Paper, Mozambique, 1998
"To ensure universal enrolment for girls at primary and secondary levels over the next 15 years will require an additional investment of US$ 5-6 billion a year. Of course, money is only one component of the package....What is essential is to formulate national and global strategies to achieve universal female education over the next 15 years - and to earmark enough resources in national budgets and allocations to meet that target."
Human Development Report 1995
Reform to remove gender disparities in primary and secondary schooling by 2005 will receive strong support from DFID. It is an essential component of the poverty elimination agenda. It is a strategic objective for people-centred development. This will be the second major benchmark against which DFID will assess its contribution to education for poverty elimination.
DFID will continue to promote international commitment to the education of girls. We will build on the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW 1979), Jomtien (1990), and The Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995). We will develop programme partnerships with international and regional agencies where this offers real opportunities to make progress on enrolment, attainment and literacy targets. We will be responsive to requests from governments for support to develop policies and strategies which address the complex of issues which impact on the attendance, retention and achievement of girls in school. We will recognise that gender equality in education requires a cross-sectoral and integrated approach.
Eliminating gender disparities in primary education is an integral part of attaining UPE by 2015. It is not a separate route map. It deserves focused and mainstream attention within the broader framework of sector reform and pro-poor education policies. Special measures, projects and interventions may be needed but these should be within the wider purpose of enabling education for all to become a reality.
The major but not exclusive route for DFID support for countries planning to make progress towards eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 will be through sector wide support. This approach requires a clear understanding of gender and equality issues more generally and of the need to develop links between education policies and reforms with related gender objectives in health, economic opportunity and social, political and cultural freedoms.
Six major barriers to girls undertaking an effective cycle of primary and secondary education have been defined:
· persistent apprehension, and ambivalence, on the part of parents, children, teachers and society at large regarding female education, its cost effectiveness and the value of keeping girls in school· the poor quality of the teaching and learning environment, particularly in rural areas, in which most children, particularly girls, learn very little
· sexual harassment and liaison and early pregnancy
· the high level of wastage because of repeaters and drop-outs which discourages parents, students and teachers
· the low level of girls esteem regarding their status in society and their academic potential
· poor returns to female education in the labour market.
(based on Odaga and Heneveld World Bank 1995)
DFID will support reform which recognises these challenges and the need for measures which address both the supply and the demand side of girls' education. This requires close analysis of the constraints and practical policy options that are manageable and acceptable within different countries and cultures. DFID will continue to support national and international research which helps to raise awareness of workable strategies. It will support the development of gender aware planning, policy formulation and expenditure frameworks.
DFID will be supportive of governments which set clear targets in relation to girls' access to primary and secondary education and to retention levels and learning achievements. These targets are most likely to be met if they are translated into objectives at school and district levels and are based on a clear public understanding of their nature and their purpose.
DFID will be proactive in helping governments and other agencies identify and implement measures which encourage high level and widespread political commitment for girls' education, engage community participation, especially of mothers and undertake effective, national and local information campaigns which emphasise the socio-economic benefits of girls' education.
"To expand the pool of women interested in teaching and increase teacher retention in rural areas, community based teacher training is being instituted in some countries...improving school facilities and assuring safety are also critical to retention of female teachers."
Educating Girls: Investing in Development
CAII 1994
National policies and programmes should be designed to increase the social demand for girls education. This requires attention to the costs of schooling, direct and indirect, in ways which lessen the financial burden on parents. The direct costs and opportunity costs of educating girls are major barriers to eliminating gender disparities. But so too are the lack of economic incentives in labour markets which discriminate against women, concerns over sexual harassment and high rates of pregnancy in schools, and strong cultural beliefs about the place of girls and women within the fabric of society.
Supply side measures are complex and numerous. They require detailed attention at the level of the school, its overall ethos and mainstreaming of gender equity through every aspect of a school's operation.
Increasing the supply of effective women teachers is an important contribution to redressing gender inequalities. Women teachers frequently have domestic responsibilities which inhibit their ability to take advantage of professional development opportunities. They may be reluctant to take up rural or remote teaching posts. Yet, women teachers and headteachers are important role models for girls. They can contribute to the design of school-based initiatives which encourage girls to stay at school and become students who perform well. Enhancing the supply, addressing difficult deployment issues and improving the status, conditions and career development of women teachers are important components of national teacher management strategies. DFID will support research and innovation in this area.
The closer a country gets to UPE the more the demand for secondary school opportunities for girls grows. This is likely to require substantive additional investments which may include single sex, boarding schools or additional boarding hostels for girls, bursary schemes and fee exemptions, distance education programmes and gender aware approaches to the full spectrum of subject disciplines. Sustained and earmarked resources in national budgets and development assistance will be needed to reach the IDG 2005 objective for secondary education.
DFID will support education sector policies and programmes which enable poor people to acquire practical skills for development, including literacy.
Effective UPE is a pre-requisite for human development and economic growth but will not in itself meet the diversity of education needs which flow from policies designed to promote sustainable livelihoods and the economic well-being of poor people. DFID will support countries committed to skill development opportunities that are directly accessible to poor men and women
Literacy in its many forms and uses is an essential component of pro-poor development. It is an underlying aim of Education for All, although little progress has been made since 1990. The overall figure of illiterates over the age of 15 is relatively static. The gender gap in literacy is widening. Well-constructed literacy programmes can enable people to bring about significant changes in their lives. These changes, direct or indirect, include: increases in productivity and consumption, improved health and nutrition, the adoption of new agricultural practices, better appreciation of personal and community rights and responsibilities, and greater self-esteem.
DFID will support governments committed to giving greater priority to adult literacy as a significant means of enabling people to enhance their economic and social wellbeing. It will give priority to countries, and regions within countries, which have low levels of female literacy. It will encourage programmes conceived within the framework of clear language policies. Use of a familiar language provides the best route for those acquiring initial forms of literacy.
DFID will recognise the diversity of government and non-government responses which are required to" enable literacy to develop in different contexts.. We will encourage the inclusion of literacy strategies within sector wide reforms of education and in policies for health and population, rural and urban development and community development policy more generally. Literacy is not the preserve of a single sector. Where appropriate, we will support programmes to build the research and management capacity that is needed to shape and implement literacy strategies.
DFID will continue to support innovative action research and literacy programmes which respond to the circumstances of significant numbers of people or have the potential to influence national and international policy and practice.
"Abdul Awall is 18.. has five brothers and sisters. He is a farmer. Now that he knows more... he has started a business collecting timber and making chairs and boats. He keeps accounts... he used to earn Taka 700-800 per month... now it is Taka 1500-2000. He teaches his nieces and nephews simple literacy and numeracy.."
Nijera Shikhi Movement,
Bangladesh. Cawthera 1997
"Literacy rates in Nepal are among the lowest in the world: 28% in 199 5. The government and local, national and international NGOS are active in the provision of adult literacy programmes. Most programmes target women. The DFID-funded Community Literacy Project seeks to establish Nepal's first Community Literacy Resource Centre. The programme will strengthen in-country capacity to facilitate the use of literacy skills in Nepalese communities."
DFID Internal Memorandum 1999
Practical skills for productive work and sustainable livelihoods are acquired in a variety of formal, nonformal and informal ways. Existing patterns of work and the economic opportunities which may be open to people with additional skills, should help to define appropriate education and training responses.
DFID supports skills development in a variety of direct and indirect ways; through micro-enterprise and micro credit programmes, agricultural extension, the better management of natural resources, safe water programmes and improving access to markets. DFID will sustain this commitment through country programmes.
Formal, government financed education systems have a relatively poor track record in helping to meet the practical, skill needs of the poor. International support for this sub-sector has declined.
DFID plans to give a strong new focus to promoting practical "Skills for Development". Particular attention will be accorded to building stronger connections between formal schooling and training provided in technical and vocational training institutions - public and private - and to strengthening the interface of this complex institutional system and the practical, skill development needs of the world of work.
DFID will support governments committed to redirecting, and developing the capacity of strategic training institutions to design, implement and manage training programmes which are responsive to the economic and employment circumstances of the poorest sections of the national community.
DFID's contribution to the Fund for International Cooperation in Higher Education (FICHE) will provide an important means of enhancing further education institutions however these may be defined in individual countries.
We will support countries endeavouring to re-establish a skills development capacity as they recover from prolonged and damaging periods of conflict and civil strife.
We will help to build on community initiatives which recognise that the primary school can be a centre for more than the education of young children, with the potential to provide a community base for youth and adults to acquire literacy and develop knowledge and new basic skills. DFID will be responsive to the needs of initiatives which give priority to men and women working in the informal sector, urban and rural, and to those for whom limited periods of formal schooling provide an insufficient skills base for entering productive employment.
In addition to mainstream country programmes, DFID will explore the potential of alternative funding for new training initiatives, assist cross-national applied research, and, where appropriate, help to build private sector capacity to play a stronger and more direct role in basic skills development.
"The UK's National Skills Task Force identifies three groups of skills: generic, vocational and job-specific. Key generic skills are transferable: communication, numeracy, problem solving, team working, information technology, and improving ones own learning and performance. Vocational skills include specific skills for an occupation, while job-specific skills include functional skills such as operating equipment or particular working methodologies."
From Skills for Development Issues
Paper DFID (internal) 1998
Information Communications Technology (ICT)
Support for Knowledge Based Links and Programmes
The fast changing world of global markets, global capital and Information Communication Technology (ICT) carries both threats and opportunities. There are major risks that the poor and disadvantaged will become even more marginal in a world where the flow of capital and knowledge can buttress power and authority in the hands of the few. More positively, globalisation offers access to knowledge and technology to help address the scourge of poverty.
The ICT revolution has the potential to have a profound impact on the management, delivery, content and quality of education services throughout the world. Currently, the degree of penetration of ICT and its benefits are much less marked in poorer countries and particularly for the most disadvantaged in those countries.
ICT offers particular benefits at the higher, vocational and management levels of the education sector which operate in a more global context than schools. It can help people who are distant from major centres of educational activity to gain access to learning which would otherwise be beyond their reach. But it should not be allowed to divert resources away from the disadvantaged in resource-poor systems.
DFID recognises considerable potential for ICT in:
· improving education sector management
· improving access to post primary educational opportunities
· enhancing the quality of secondary, tertiary, and vocational education"The international development goal of reducing by one half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty will not be achievable by 2015 unless greater numbers of people are able to develop and utilise knowledge and skills necessary for their own development, and thereby contribute to their country 's development."
DFID, White Paper 1997
Figure G tabulates some specific opportunities under each of these headings. If ICT is to pay its way in serving poor communities and students, it must do so by enhancing the capacity of those parts of education systems which, through improved efficiency and quality, can better meet the direct educational needs of the poorest members of society and enhance the productive capacity of the country.
DFID will support ICT for better education through the technical cooperation components of country level, sector development programmes and through projects and programmes, including institutional links with UK universities.
DFID will continue to assist major scholarship and award schemes, notably the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) and DFID Shared Scholarships, as a significant contribution to knowledge and skill development and the building of bilateral partnerships in education. We will support proposals for the reshaping of these programmes to heighten their contribution to areas of study which have direct impact on poverty elimination and building skills for development. We will sustain support for academic links under FICHE (overseen by the Committee for International Cooperation in Higher Education: CICHE) and, as appropriate, will build new links under the aegis of the Skills for Development Programme.
DFID will continue to support the programmes of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) as an international vehicle for developing distance education to increase access to learning opportunities. We will encourage an examination of the place of distance and open learning within national educational strategies and the identification of key sectors and potential participants.
We will explore ways by which study and training opportunities can be provided more readily within countries, regionally or in third country institutions through a more flexible mix of skills development opportunities, including attachments, work based experience and study tours.
"The potential is great for developing countries to take advantage of the new technologies to upgrade education systems, improve policy formulation and execution and widen the range of new opportunities for business."
World Development Report 1998
Figure G
ICT for Education
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Education Sector Management |
Well-managed ICT based information and communication systems have the potential to: · improve teacher deployment |
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Increasing Access |
ICT-assisted distance education has the potential to: · help train more teachers, especially female teachers who are unable to attend distant centre based training |
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Enhancing Quality |
ICT can offer: · access to a wider world of knowledge for tertiary level institutions |
Sector Wide Approaches
Institutional Capacity Development for Effective Sector Reform
DFID will give strong support to national, sector-wide approaches and programmes designed to enhance the capacity of the sector as a whole to contribute to poverty elimination and sustainable development.
DFID will give priority to countries which are committed to the principles set out earlier in this paper and where there are real prospects for making substantive progress towards sustainable UPE, gender equality, literacy, and knowledge and skills development within a framework of coherent, long-term sector development.
Traditionally, poorer countries have sought technical assistance and other resources mainly through development projects. In many countries projects have become islands of excellence in a sea of under-provision.
Projects usually underplay the need for resources to sustain and maintain systems and capacity. Separate, donor driven projects may inhibit the development of coherent sector policy. Management capacity can be undermined by the need to service donor funded projects. And projects may have their own, but not system wide, budget disciplines.
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Figure H Characteristics of a Sector Wide Approach · Governments define a macro-economic framework within which medium term expenditure frameworks determine the resources available for individual sectors · Governments lead a consultative process with stakeholders and investors, including development agencies to define: an overall sector policy framework · Major donors jointly support the process and the practice of the sector programme preferably using common procedures · Technical assistance is commissioned by governments rather than donor agencies and |
The scale of the poverty agenda and the challenges identified in this policy framework, including the IDGs, require new development relationships. In education, as in other sectors, DFID will move towards sector wide support for educational development and in countries where there is a strong commitment to this approach.
The key elements of a sector wide approach are defined in Figure H; it offers the potential of prioritising scarce resources around a spending framework which has commonly shared objectives. It moves away from project funding towards direct budgetary support.
"Policy objectives rather than operational activity; programme objectives rather than project inputs; broad budgetary support rather than project input accounting; a national accounting framework rather than individual contracts; sustained broad partnership rather than individual deals; review of sector performance rather than project performance; and common management arrangements rather than disparate systems."
From Minister of Education's Address Uganda 1998
DFID analysis of the lessons which have been learned on the application of sector wide approaches thus far highlights the importance of:
· strong national and local leadership and commitment· a shared and widely understood vision
· avoidance of a centrally-driven and top down approach
· a clear sector wide context and budgetary framework
· sufficient time to fully develop a sector programme; interim systems and approaches are needed to ensure that progress is not hampered.
· analysis of resource allocations within a sector
· overall budget frameworks (government and donors) within which a sector programme is set
· monitoring trends in overall resource allocations
· regular formal dialogue on budget frameworks
· regular review of long term recurrent cost sustainability
· integration of sector programmes in central budget and civil service reform
· a relatively simple set of key indicators
· shared monitoring procedures.
Sector development programmes will take different forms and will change over time. No two situations are entirely alike so the formulation of a sector approach needs to take full account of local situations. Currently, DFID is supporting major sector-related programmes in Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Malawi, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Discussions are underway in Ethiopia, Nepal, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Some of these programmes are sub-sector programmes; others relate to parts of a country, for example, at state level. These may or may not be interim stages in the development of a national, all-inclusive programme.
In some countries DFID will not be a major player in a sector wide approach but will seek to ensure that other forms of support - projects, training awards, research, challenge funding for innovation, public service reform - are consistent with sector policies and budgetary frameworks.
Many countries are now recognising the need to analyse and re-evaluate the work and purpose of their education system in an holistic way - including institutional structures, finance and economic planning, professional and technical capacity, learning outcomes and, more generally, the impact of education on human development. This is a process of sector renewal and reform.
Education sector reform has a complex of institutional development implications. These include:
· the refocusing and repositioning of ministries of education to play a strategic sector role in planning and financing, co-ordinating, guiding and evaluating as opposed to systems maintenance· gender analysis in all aspects of the planning and implementation of basic education and skills development
· capacity to acquire and use knowledge about the expressed educational needs of poor communities
· the creation of devolved and accountable systems of school management
· the development of research and training capacity in universities and colleges geared to contribute directly to effective UPE
· the identification and application of new technologies and new strategies for learning, including distance education in its many forms
· developing robust monitoring and evaluation systems
This is a major agenda for action. DFID will support sector policies and national reforms which incorporate these components of institutional change. For many countries the resources available to change institutional cultures and structures are scarce. Resources to provide governments with access to expertise and useful comparative experience will be a part of the technical cooperation component of sector wide programmes.
Institutional strengthening which has clear UPE and gender equality related objectives will be incorporated in the reshaping and further development of UK-supported scholarship, training awards and. links programmes.
DFID is supporting education sector reform through the programmes of the European Union (EU) in line with policies set out in the 1994 EU Council Resolution on Education and Training in Developing Countries and the 1996 EU Resolution on Human and Social Development.
