1. Making Sense of Numbers
Using education indicators in media reporting
South-East Asia Media Training
on Education for All
18-20 April 2007, Hanoi, Viet Nam

2. Using education indicators in reporting
Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. 
~ Aaron Levenstein
Importance of understanding what the data is about. What the indicator means.

3. Basic Education Indicators
Access
Indicator 1
Gross Enrolment Ratio in Pre-Primary / Preschool (ECCE) Programmes 2
% of new Grade 1 intakes with Pre-school (ECCE) experience 3
Gross Intake Rate (AIR) 4
Net Intake Rate (NIR) 5
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by Level (primary, lower sec., upper sec.) 6
Net Enrolment Ratio (GER) by Level (primary, lower sec., upper sec.) 7
% of Girl Enrolment by Level (preschool, primary, l.sec., usec.) 8
Public Expenditure on Education as a % of GDP 9
Public Exp. on Education as a % of Total Government Exp. 10
Public Recurrent Expenditure on Education as a % of Total Government Recurrent Expenditure 11
Unit Cost (public recurrent expenditure per pupil) by Level

4. Basic Education Indicators12
Teachers with Required Academic Qualification by Level 13
Pupil-Teacher Ratio by Level 14
Pupil-Class Ratio by Level 15
Promotion Rate by Grade 16
Repetition Rate by Grade 17
Dropout Rate by Grade 18
Transition Rate from Primary to Lower Secondary Level 19
Literacy Rate of Year Old 20
Adult Literacy Rate (Aged 15+)
And more…

5. What is an indicator? An indicator: indicates a state or level
acts as a gauge or meter for a specified purpose
Like the car dashboard, navigational indicators of speed, fuel, distance traveled, etc.
shows current situation, progress made so far and the remaining distance towards achieving the desired target
Benchmark indicators are like a ‘road sign,’ shows whether you are on the right road
how far you have traveled, and
how far you still have to go in order to reach your destination (or attain your objectives)
Don’t get overwhelmed by the numbers. An Indicator is simply a measure…

6. Why do we need to set indicators?
Indicators are set to:
serve as benchmarks
act as a “measuring rod” in comparing different population groups, localities, levels, sex, etc.
get a systematic and appropriate analyses
help define relevant objectives and outputs
Indicators are a basis for measuring progress or towards a goal or objective

7. Are we moving closer to the goals? Forward? Backward?
Indicators
Are we moving closer to the goals? Forward? Backward?
Goal
Need an Indicator to know how far you are from the goal
Photo© UNESCO/KC.Tung

8. Education Indicators Ministry of Education annual statistical reports,
the EFA Global Monitoring Report,
the Human Development Report, etc.
all use mostly the same core education indicators to measure progress in education systems

9. Indicators of Coverage & Participation
Coverage and participation are measured by comparing the number of children enrolled in school with the total school-age population
Enrolment ratios are used to measure the extent of coverage of an education programme (e.g. Primary)
Types of enrolment ratios:
gross and net enrolment ratios
by level, sex, region etc.
These indicators are used for assessing how far a country has succeeded in providing Education for All.

10. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)
Total Enrolment in Primary Level
GERprimary= X Total Population of official age-group for Primary

11. GER interpretation
A high GER indicates adequate capacity in the education system
A GER approaching or surpassing 100% indicates that a country is, in principle, able to accommodate all children in the official age-group
In some countries, many children older than the official school admission age enroll in Grade 1 leading to a GER of over 100%
The Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) is a more precise measure of access in an educational level

12. Net Enrolment Ratio (NER)
Definition: Enrolment in primary education of the official primary school age group expressed as a percentage of the corresponding population.
Enrolment of the official primary school age
NER = x 100
Population of official primary school age
Purpose: NER measures the proportion of the targeted age-bracket population who are enrolled in primary education, eg, .

13. NER vs. GER
By analyzing GER and NER together, one can see the participation pattern of the system:
Over and under age pupils
Degree of participation
Geographical disparity
Gender disparity
Theoretically, NER should not be more than 100 while GER can be more than 100
NER and GER can be calculated for:
ECCE, primary level (also by grade), secondary

14. Enrolment by Age and Levels of Education
School-Age
Total Pop
DK/MD
None
Pre-Primary
Primary
Lower Secondary
Upper Secondary
Post Secondary
Pre-Primary
425
287 31 35 72
Primary
796 20 60 39
663 14
11-13 Lower Secondary
524 25 49 1
214
224 11
14-15 Upper Secondary
328 17 45 21
161 84
16+ Post Secondary
4096
365
3221 3 79
227
201
6+ All age groups
6169
714
3406 75
973
478
322
Enrolment by Age and Levels of Education

15. Enrolment per Age Group
School-Age
Total Pop
Total Enrolled
% Enrolled per Age Group
Out of School
% Out of School
Pre-Primary
425
107
25%
318
75%
Primary
796
716
90% 80
10%
11-13 Lower Secondary
524
450
86% 74
14%
14-15 Upper Secondary
328
266
81% 62
19%
16+ Post Secondary
4096
510
12%
3586
88%
6+ All age groups
6169
2049
33%
4120
67%

16. Enrolment per Age Group
School-Age
Total Pop
Total Enrolled
% Enrolled per Age Group
Out of School
% Out of School
Pre-Primary
425
107
25%
318
75%
Primary
796
716
90% 80
10%
11-13 Lower Secondary
524
450
86% 74
14%
14-15 Upper Secondary
328
266
81% 62
19%
16+ Post Secondary
4096
510
12%
3586
88%
6+ All age groups
6169
2049
33%
4120
67%

17. Enrolment per Education Level
School-Age
Total Pop
DK/MD
None
Pre-Primary
Primary
Lower Secondary
Upper Secondary
Post Secondary
Pre-Primary
425
287 31 35 72
Primary
796 20 60 39
663 14
11-13 Lower Secondary
524 25 49 1
214
224 11
14-15 Upper Secondary
328 17 45 21
161 84
16+ Post Secondary
4096
365
3221 3 79
227
201
6+ All age groups
6169
714
3406 75
973
478
322
Enrolment per Ed Level, including DK&MD
Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) 8%
83%
43%
26% 5%
Gross Enrolment Ratio GER
18%
122%
91%
98% 3%
Enrolment per Ed Level, excluding DK&MD
25%
85%
45%
27%
54%
125%
96%
104%
Enrolment per Education Level

18. Enrolment per Education Level
School-Age
Total Pop
DK/MD
None
Pre-Primary
Primary
Lower Secondary
Upper Secondary
Post Secondary
Pre-Primary
425
287 31 35 72
Primary
796 20 60 39
663 14
11-13 Lower Secondary
524 25 49 1
214
224 11
14-15 Upper Secondary
328 17 45 21
161 84
16+ Post Secondary
4096
365
3221 3 79
227
201
6+ All age groups
6169
714
3406 75
973
478
322
Enrolment per Ed Level, including DK&MD
Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) 8%
83%
43%
26% 5%
Gross Enrolment Ratio GER
18%
122%
91%
98% 3%
Enrolment per Ed Level, excluding DK&MD
25%
85%
45%
27%
54%
125%
96%
104%
Enrolment per Education Level

19. Gender Parity Index (GPI)
Gender Parity Index (GPI) is most widely used index in assessing gender differences
GPI is calculated as the ratio of the selected indicator’s value for girls divided by that for boys
GPI =
Value of indicator for Girls (Female)
Value of indicator for Boys (Male)
A value of less than one indicates the difference in favor of boys, whereas a value close to one indicates that parity has been achieved
Gender parity is sometimes considered to have been attained when the GPI lies between 0.97 and 1.03*
*Global monitoring report 2003/4

20. Early childhood education
Absolute enrolment figures for East Asia declined in 2004 from 1999
But the average GER for East Asia remains stable at 40%

21. Early childhood education
Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in pre-primary education show countries like Lao and Cambodia have very minimal access with GER of 8.5% and 9.4%
Refer to page 21 of the 2007 GMR

22. GER pre-primary ECCE in Asia

23. - Poverty limits access
Early childhood education 20 40 60 80
Niger
D. R. Congo
U. R. Tanzania
Lao PDR
Tajikistan
Uganda
Rwanda
Senegal
Egypt
Bolivia
Myanmar
Azerbaijan
Madagascar
Sierra Leone
Philippines
Cameroon
Kenya
Nicaragua
Mongolia
Haiti
Lesotho
India
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Colombia
Trinidad/Tobago
Attendance rates (%)
- Poverty limits access
Higher attendance
for children from
richer households
Lower attendance
among poor who
would benefit most
Attendance rates for three and four year olds.
Poverty Large gaps in access between richest and poorest households
Lack of mother’s secondary education
Place of residence Rural enrolment 10 to 30 percentage points lower than urban
Lack of centre close to home
Lack of birth certificate, often reflecting marginalization
Disadvantaged and vulnerable children stand to benefit most from early childhood programmes
Poorer households
Richer households

24. Early childhood care & education
Other indicators:
Infant mortality rate; Under-5 Mortality Rate
Percentage of children under 5 suffering from: underweight, wasting, stunting
Exercise: Refer to page 238 of the 2007 GMR and check your country’s data. How would you interpret the data? What kind of story can you write based on the data?

25. Primary education
Primary school participation on the rise but fell slightly in East Asia 50 60 70 80 90
100
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Arab States
South/West
Asia
Central/Eastern
Europe
Central Asia
East Asia
Pacific
Latin America
Caribbean
N. America
West. Europe
Net enrolment ratios
in primary education (%)
1999
2004
Almost all countries with ratios below 85% in 1999 improved their situation.
Slight decrease in this region

26. 77 million children still not in school
Half in sub- Saharan Africa
One-third in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ethiopia
Drop of 20 million since 1999, mainly in South Asia
The 77 million figure includes children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary school. Previous measures cited in the report looked at out of primary school only.
Four countries are home to the largest numbers of out of school children
India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia are the four countries (22.8 million OOS)
Important to note large reduction in India between 2002 and 2004

27. Net Non-Enrolled Ratio (NNER) in Primary Education (%) East Asia, 2004
NOTE the limitations of this interpretation; Doesn’t capture the over- and under-aged children

28. Common complaints on enrolment ratios
The ratios calculated at the national level conceal disparities that exist between urban and rural provinces and between boys and girls
Disaggregate enrolment ratios by Urban/Rural and Sex
District level enrolment ratios indicate better than the regional level aggregate ratios
The ratios don’t tell us about the extent of repetition and dropout rates and survival to any of the grades
Use also efficiency indicators
These ratios do not tell anything about how much the pupils actually learn in schools
Not intended to be used as an indicator of learning
An alternative measure is the ENROLMENT RATE – per age group

29. Intake Rates
Intake rate indicates accessibility as the proportion of children, out of all children of admission age, who are coming to school for the first time.
Two indicators are used in this regard,
Apparent intake rate
Net intake rate
What is the difference?
In what way is the difference important to planners and decision makers?
Implications on out of school children

30. Net Intake Rate (NIR)
What are the percentages of boys and girls who are in age 6 but did not enter school?
11% for boys and 20 % girls

31. Key performance indicators
Promotion rate: is the proportion of pupils who have successfully completed a grade and proceeded to the next grade the following year.
Repetition rate: the proportion of pupils who repeat a grade once or twice. The repetition rate of grade g, year y is obtained by dividing repeaters of grade g, year y+1, by enrolment in grade g, year y.
Drop-out rate: the proportion of pupils who leave the system without completing a given grade in a given school year.
Percentage of repeaters: Percentage of repeaters at a particular grade.

32. Key performance indicators
Interpretation
High rates of repetition reveal problems of internal efficiency (wastage of resources) and possibly reflect a poor level of instruction;
When compared across grades, the patterns can indicate specific grades with relatively higher repetition rates, hence requiring more in-depth study of the causes and possible remedies;
Repetition rates could be zero due to an automatic promotion system
In some cases, low rates merely reflect policies or practices of automatic promotion;

33. Progress towards gender parity
About two-thirds of countries out of 181 with data have achieved gender parity in primary education

34. Exercise:
Check page 254 of the 2007 EFA GMR. Look at the indicators on access to primary education for your country. How would you interpret these indicators? What stories can you write base on these indicators? Consider as well the gender differences for the indicators

35. Literacy remains elusive
One in five adults – 781 million – lack basic literacy skills
The vast majority live in South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia
Cambodia: mil 73% F
Lao PDR: mil 64% F
Myanmar: mil 70% F
Thailand: mil 66% F
Viet Nam: mil 69% F
The increase since 2004 (771 million) due to previously unavailable data for Afghanistan and changes in population estimates
One in five adults
One in four adult women

36. Measuring quality Pupil-Teacher Ratio Pupil-Class Ratio
Percentage of Trained Teachers

37. Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR)
Total number of pupils in a given level
PTR =
Total number of teachers at the level
This ratio also gives a rough indication of the quality of the teaching/learning process

38. Pupil Class Ratio (PCR)
The average number of pupils per class is an important indicator which gives a rough indication of class size
It is used to assess the efficiency of resource utilization
It is also used, indirectly, to assess the teaching/learning process
This ratio is defined as the number of pupils to the number of class rooms
* A group of pupils in one instructional class. Hence, a section is equal to a class. One classroom can be used for a number of sections.

39. Percentage of trained teachers
Definition: The number of school teachers with at least the minimum academic qualifications required by the public authorities for teaching in primary education, expressed as a percentage of the total number of primary school teachers.
Purpose: Indicates magnitude of quality teaching force in education.
The formula is as follows: (e.g. Primary level)
Total number of primary teachers with at least the minimum academic qualifications
= x 100
Total number of primary teachers at that level

40. Percentage of trained teachers
Interpretation
A high percentage denotes the availability of academically qualified teachers and the general quality of the teaching force
Teachers' academic qualifications, together with pre-service or in-service teacher training, correlate strongly and consistently with pupils’ scholastic performance
Other factors would be - the experience and status of teachers, teaching methods, teaching materials and the quality of classroom conditions.

41. The EFA Development Index
Out of 125 countries, 47 have achieved the most common
and measurable EFA targets.
Countries showing the greatest progress typically those farthest from the goals
Excludes many countries far from goals; e.g., those in conflict
Far from EFA
(EDI below 0.80)
Intermediate position
(EDI between
0.80 and 0.94)
EFA achieved or close
0.95 and 1.00) 50 28 2 18 1 3 6 11 4 8 19 47 15 17
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Lao PDR
Sub-Saharan Africa
Arab States
Central Asia
East Asia/Pacific
South and West Asia
N. America /West. Europe
Latin America/Caribbean
Central/Eastern Europe
The EFA Development Index (EDI), introduced in the 2003/4 Report, provides a summary measure of a country’s situation vis-à-vis four EFA goals: universal primary education (UPE), adult literacy, gender and quality of education. The data are insufficiently standardized to include early childhood care and education (goal 1) and the learning needs of youth and adults (goal 3). Each of the four goals is represented by a proxy indicator.[1] The EDI is a simple average of the four indicators; it varies between 0 and 1, with 1 representing EFA achievement.
[1] UPE: total primary net enrolment ratio; adult literacy: literacy rate for persons aged 15 and over; gender parity and equality: the gender-specific EFA index; quality of education: survival rate to grade 5.
Pages 64 and 65 of full report
125 countries with data for all four indicators – this explains why other countries missing
Indonesia, Iran, Macao, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Philippines, Myanmar
Total
Korea, China

42. EFA Development Index (EDI)
Four components of the EDI:
Total primary NER
Adult literacy rate
GEI (Gender-specific EFA Index)
GPI in primary education
GPI in secondary education
GPI for adult literacy
Survival Rate to Grade 5
Exercise: Refer to page 200 of the GMR and check your country’s ranking based on the EDI

43. Where are the sources of data?
In addition to the Ministry of Education statistics data can also be found from
population and housing censuses,
household surveys,
labour force surveys,
household income and expenditure surveys, etc.
Annual reports from international organizations such as
UNICEF’s State of the Children Report, Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS)
ILO’s annual child labour report,
UIS’ Out-of-School children Report,
country MDG reports
UNDP’s Human Development Report
World Bank’s World Development Report

44. Where are the sources of data?
Human Development Report 2006
The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. Includes EDUCATION INDEX
Tools for calculating the indices
Major sources of data used in the HDR

45. Where are the sources of data?
WEBSITES and DATABASES:
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
UNESCO
AIMS Unit website with links to international statistical databases