Educational Panorama

Information on state of education for the Summit of the Americas Countries, related to the established goals, the achievements and the challenges for it. Data refers to 2007 or the most updated available. Emphasis on the challenges for early childhood and education and secondary education Educational Panorama Sources Sources: Data of Education System and Literacy from UIS/UNESCO. Data on completion of primary and secondary from ECLAC Household Surveys database, for LA countries, and UIS/UNESCO for the Caribbean's. Education Assessment from UNESCO Santiago, for SERCE, and OECE for PISA. Information on TVET, from ILO. Additional information for ECCE from 2007 OAS survey.

Panorama: Account for the goals to be established for 2010: Goal 1:Primary education: access, universal progress, quality Goal 2: Secondary education: access for at least 75% of young population, quality and increasing percentages of youth who complete secondary education Goal 3:Lifelong learning: more opportunities, universal literacy, access to all levels of education, access to and quality of tertiary education

GDP per capita x Demand for Primary Education 2007 More demand for primary education in countries with lower GDP per capita. For 1/3 of the countries, primary school population is higher than 20%

Progress in Primary Net Enrolment Rates Almost all countries with NER above 90% Universalization of primary still requires additional efforts Countries with lower GDP per capita would have more difficulties to achieve the goals

Repetition in Primary Education 2007 Repetition in the region still a problem. It means more expenditure and no guarantee of improvement of quality of learning. It is a major problem if one notice that most of repetition occurs in first grade.

Completion of Primary Education 2007 All countries show improvement in population completion of primary towards younger population. Countries with lower rates show more improvement on completion of primary education Still, one can see some countries face important challenges in universalization of primary completion.

I Summit, Miami 1994 Governments commit to reach by 2010 enrollment of at least 75% of youth in secondary education II Summit, Santiago 1998 Guarantee for 2010 access for at least 75 percent of young people to quality secondary education, with increasing percentages of young people who complete secondary education V Summit, Trinidad and Tobago 2009 Develop strategies to make quality secondary education accessible to all our young people by 2015, specially the most vulnerable groups and those with special education needs. Access to Secondary Education

Access to Secondary Education Threshold 75% Few countries were able to achieve the threshold of 75% Poorest countries (lower GDP per capita) are the ones showing more challenges for achieving this goal Notwithstanding, better improvement occur for those countries with lower rates

Completion of Secondary Education One can see improvement in all countries in the population completion of secondary education. Countries with lower rates show more progress Yet, the challenges for completion this level of education are much bigger than for primary education

Equity in completion of secondary education Gender inequity turns against male for most of the countries regarding completion of secondary. Substantially more inequity on secondary completion as compared to primary against lower income group, rural and indigenous (indigenous, afro- descendant, mestizos, etc.) Poverty is still the major hindrance towards achieving this goal

Adult and Youth Literacy For all countries there is improvement on the literacy level of the population towards the youngest group Countries with lower rates show better improvement in the literacy rate There are still 8 countries with literacy rate below 90%.

The cost of illiteracy Among those who have not completed four years of schooling, those who doesn’t know how to read and write earn between USD 200 and 700 less than those who read and write. Comparing with those who completed lower secondary education, income loss per capita increase to something between USD 678 and 1,557. Difference is higher compared with upper secondary education. It is between 4.5 and 6 times higher for those with upper secondary against those who don’t know how to read and write. UNESCO/ECLAC (2009), “SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ILLITERACY ANALYTICAL MODEL”, unpublished document.

Tertiary Education Access to tertiary education is very unequal among countries of the region For the Caribbean's, most students go abroad in order to complete their tertiary education

Comparing two different periods, one can see improvement in the tertiary education enrolment for the countries of the region Few countries reach the 40% threshold for gross enrolment. At least 1/3 of the countries would have to face major challenges in order to be able to accomplish with the goal established in the V Summit, in Tertiary Education

Achievements in learning in the Region II Summit, Santiago 1998 Proposes assess the quality of education, the factors associated with achievements in learning, specially, in language, mathematics and sciences. III Summit, Quebec 2001 Support ongoing regional projects for comparable indicators and educational assessment resulting from the Santiago Summit, including cooperation initiatives based on performance assessment programs regarding educational processes and achievement, taking into consideration studies in pedagogy and assessment practices previously developed by the countries IV Summit, Mar del Plata 2005 We agree that in order to improve employment opportunities we must ensure quality education for all citizens, which requires the evaluation of our efforts based on clearly defined standards and accountability for results.

Achievements in learning in the Region SERCE – Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (2006) Assesses 3rd grade (language, mathematics) and 6th grade (language, mathematics and sciences) primary education students. PISA 2006 – Assess competencies (reading, mathematics and sciences) of the 15 years old school population, regardless their level of education enrollment.

Assessment outcomes by proficiency level – Percent of Students – all countries SUBJECT< IIIIIIIIV Mathematics 3 rd Language 3 rd Mathematics 6 th Language 6 th Sciences 6 th

PISA The percentage of the Latin-American students with level of proficiency in reading lower than “Level 1” varies between 10 and 54%. A person not achieving “Level 1” skill in reading means that he/she is not able to understand simple tasks, like instructions of how to prepare a baby’s bottle.

Early Childhood Education I Summit, Miami 1994 Pledges to work individually and collectively to improve access to quality education and primary health care IV Meeting Ministers of Education, Trinidad and Tobago 2005 Recognizes the need to broaden the structure of education beginning with early childhood education, given its very positive impact on the quality of education and on the reduction of inequality. V Meeting Ministers of Education, Colombia 2007 Development of reliable education indicators through PRIE and to explore ways of developing appropriate early childhood and preschool education indicators, based on existing international efforts. V Summit, Trinidad y Tobago 2009 Recognizes the access to early childhood education as a key factor for primary universalization by 2015

Early Childhood Education Net enrollment rate improves for most countries. Regional average 2000 = 52.2%; 2007= 57.6%. Many countries still show rates below 50%, meaning greater challenges for the region.

School Assistance children age before Primary Entrance, by income quintile - Year 2007 Assistance to educational programs very unequal in the region Within the countries, the family income inequity against the poorest widens. This is an evidence for what it is been a concern in many Summits in reaffirming the need to invest in early childhood care an education programs to overcome poverty and promote equity in the region.

Challenges: Early Childhood and Education Policies still focused in ”pre-school” 3 to 6 years old population. Little attention of this programs that takes into account cultural diversity and social inclusion. Programs framework for children under 3 years old tend to focus in attention, rather than in pedagogical aspects. Tendency of implementation of fragmented policies not sustainable over time. Very limited policies, due to lack of resources, and mainly focused in “pre-school” attention. There is no information system and ECCE monitoring regarding early childhood under 3 years old population. (OAS (2007) Understanding the state of art in Early Childhood Education and Care: the first three years of life. SEDI/DEC, OEA. Washington DC.

General Comments Comparable information shows that an important part of the school population has not achieved minimum learning skills. Participating in comparable international studies that assess students learning achievement, still important to promote in the region. Following the countries progress still requires important efforts in improving the education management information systems. The current Economic Crisis might lead to negative effects in education, like: Pressure to reduce public expenditures and investment, mainly in specific social policies (feeding programs, scholarships, health, transportation subsidies, etc.) Already observed increase in unemployment rates might lead to school drop-out, specially in secondary education (increase in child and youth labor)

Commitments for Education Port of Spain Declaration of Commitment, Fifth Head and Government Summit of the Americas, Trinidad and Tobago, 19 April 2009 ThemesObjectives and Goals ECCE and primary education  Quality and access to early childhood education is a key factor to achieve the universal primary by 2015 Secondary education  Access to quality secondary education to all youth population by 2015 Youth  Expand economic opportunities to the youth population  Promote access to integral education and vocational and technical training for the labor market.  Pave the way towards leadership and promote healthy lifestyle. Lifelong learning  Improve and expand literacy  Access to tertiary, technical-vocational and adult education.  Increase participation in tertiary education for at least 40% by 2020

Conclusions Between 2000 and 2007 it is noticed an increase in the primary NER average by 1.3% and secondary NER by 8.3%. It is seen an important improvement in the secondary net enrollment rates. Nevertheless, not only access is important, but also to guarantee that young people could complete their studies. It is still necessary to improve the opportunities for access to preprimary, as well in the quality of education of all levels. The current economic crisis scenery calls attention to: the need to protect the already achievements in education in the region, maintain the current level of public investment in education, to optimize the use of resources and management practices.

Conclusions Declaration of Commitments, V Summit of Heads States and Government, 2009: “We call upon the Ministers of Education to increase efforts to measure educational progress in the Americas by the year 2010, both within our individual countries and through multilateral initiatives such as the Regional Educational Indicators Project (PRIE)”. New focus for PRIE: Development of ECCE indicators Diversify and improve the secondary education information Develop tertiary education indicators Improve the assessment of learning achievement in the region and common comparable criteria Promote more discussions and analysis using the Educational Panorama information, specially those related to the challenges for the region an to individual countries, promoting, as well, the culture for using solid evidences for decision making in education

Thanks for your attention REGIONAL PROJECT OF EDUCATION INDICATORS EDUCATION PANORAMA