Technical Advisory Group (TAG) recommendation for education
1. …
Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
recommendation for education indicators for
global and thematic monitoring
Albert Motivans
UNESCO Institute for Statistics and
Technical Advisory Group on Post-2015 Indicators
World Education Forum
Incheon, 20 May 2015
Parallel session
Developing indicators
to measure progress
for the post-2015 education targets
14:30-16:00
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
2. The scope of the education targets in the SDGs
0-5 6-14 15-24 25+ Ages
Target 4.7
Target 4.6
Target 4.4
Target 4.3Target 4.2 Target 4.1
Target 4.5 equityCross-cutting
Means of implementation Targets 4.8, 4.9, 4.10
3. Proposed levels of monitoring (UNSG*)
*UN Secretary General’s Synthesis Report, December 2014
National Link to national plan;
consult national stake-
holders; recognise context
and address inclusion and
broader learning goals
Global Focused set of globally comparable
indicators based on clear criteria (10-15
indicators)
Thematic Broader set of indicators covers the range
of sectoral priorities (42 indicators)
Regional Indicators to monitor frameworks
validated by regional groupings
(AU Education decades, EU2020)
4. Strong focus on quality and equity themes
reflected in the global indicators
• Quality
– Should focus on small set of outcomes measures
– Should have direct measures of learning and skills
– Other quality measures also considered important
• Equity
– Disaggregate indicators where possible,
strengthening messages on gender equity
– Ensure that multiple disadvantage is captured
– Ensure that disadvantaged groups and contexts
difficult to measure receive special attention
5. Indicator proposals for global targets on
basic education and literacy
• Percentage of children who achieve
minimum proficiency standards in
reading and mathematics at end of: (i)
primary (ii) lower secondary
• Percentage of youth/adults proficient
in literacy and numeracy skills
• Parity indices (female/male,
urban/rural, bottom/top wealth
quintile] for all indicators that can be
disaggregated
Key criteria
Relevance: reflect the most
critical policy themes in the
targets
Alignment: construct to be
measured must be valid and
reliable and have the same
meaning in all settings.
Comparability: data are
collected on a regular basis.
Communicability: indicator
easily understood and allows
a clear narrative regarding
progress towards the targets
6. Global monitoring challenges
• Early childhood research-based measures move to field-
tested consensus on comparable indicators collected in a cost-
effective way
• For learning outcomes at different ages/grades, efforts are
underway to develop an approach to equate and link key
national definitions of learning outcomes to compare results.
• For the measurement of literacy and numeracy by level of
proficiency it will be critical to build on recent efforts to assess
skills based on cost-effective approaches
• The core of the new agenda is related to equity. Need to
measure and monitor differences in learning achievement
across population groups.
7. National monitoring challenges
• Documented standards and definitions
• Measurement tools, metric, background data
collection instruments
• Technical expertise and capacity for the
collection and use of data
• Ensure impact on policy – data that make a
difference
8. Next steps – the TAG and on-going UN
processes related to indicators
Education community
• Extended TAG, including
Member States, to build
consensus and improve
framework (June-October)
• High-level UNESCO meeting
of Ministers to adopt the
education agenda and
framework (November)
UN processes
• First meeting of the Inter-Agency
and Expert Group on SDG
Indicators (June)
• Inter-governmental meeting on
goals and targets (June-July)
• UN General Assembly meets to
adopt targets (September)
• 47th UN Statistical Commission
to consider the new indicator
framework (March 2016)
• Framework submitted to ECOSOC
for final adoption (July 2016)
9. Questions for discussion
• What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the proposed thematic
monitoring framework for the post-
2015 education goals?
• What will be issues in implementing
the framework, such as capacity
needs?
• What is still missing from the
proposed thematic monitoring
framework?
• What needs to happen next to
formulate an overarching roadmap for
measurement and monitoring?
Editor's Notes
many respondents highlighted the importance of equity and inclusion in the post-2015 agenda and the need to develop better methods for capturing all population groups, including people with disabilities and those affected by conflict or natural disasters.
Some respondents commented on the importance of capturing the “system” of education, meaning inputs and processes, whereas others sought a singular focus on the direct measurement of learning. Indicators of quality in learning environments were highlighted as being especially important and yet lacking in availability
The TAG envisions global tracking as one part of a broader and more contextually-sensitive monitoring system that will be designed by countries and regions as part of their implementation of the Framework for Action. It is important to note that it is not possible to fully measure the breadth and vision behind the proposed goal and targets with available indicators. Therefore, the TAG has proposed an initial set of indicators based on their importance and feasibility with the understanding that this is considered to be an intermediate step towards a more complete data and measurement agenda for education, which will require further coordination and extensive investment to achieve.