1. UIS Regional Advisor for Asia and Pacific
Capacity Building for
EFA Monitoring
and Assessment
Topic 2: Information needs for EFA Planning, Monitoring and Assessment
National
Education
Statistical
Information
Systems
Systèmes
d’Informations
Statistiques
sur
l’Education
I am pleased to present the programme, ”Strengthening National Education Statistical Information Systems”in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is known by its acronym, NESIS.
Its objective is the development of sustainable institutional capacity to provide policy-relevant statistical services in Africa. It is an area, as one World Bank representative said, characterised by ”30 years of failure”, an area where no single agency has been able to solve. With Sweden as the lead agency, the Working Group on Education Statistics was formed within the ADEA and, with UNESCO as the host agency, NESIS was initiated as a pilot project with only three pilot countries and only two coordinators, myself and my colleague, Anna Eriksson.
UIS Regional Advisor for Asia and Pacific
UNESCO, Bangkok

2. Topic 1: Information Needs
Diagnosis of information needs and feasibility analysis
National Education Policy Information Needs
EFA, MDG, PRSP indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation

3. The IQ of an Organization: the quality of information available for
Setting policy goals and targets
Strategic resource planning
Monitoring implementation
Evaluating strategies
Information expensive? Try ignorance!
The quality of information is an indicator of the intelligence of the organisation. The aptitude of the organisation to make informed decisions and to engage in public discourse is reflected in the quality of information available for
Setting policy goals and targets
Evaluating past system performance
Monitoring progress of policy targets
and Strategic resource planning
It is commonly regarded that information is simply a matter of collecting data and that it does not cost anything. However, information systems do require well functioning organizational infra-structure and procedures, competent leadership, professional management and technical staff. Development of such a system does require investment and its operations do cost money, although relatively low, considering the savings due to improved information.
If you still think it is expensive, try ignorance! Uninformed decisions are wasting valuable resources. They are hitting the wrong places and missing the targets. Valuable resources are required for more optimal allocation and more selective focus. However, investment decisions are too often made right across the board, without focus. Education agenda is very urgent and resources need to be used more judiciously. Can you afford to continue making investment decisions in ignorance?
In formulating your objectives, strategies and workplan, I am hopeful that you will go beyond the short-sighted notion of capacity-building as simply acquisition of equipment and training in its use, toward a vision of sustainable development of dynamic knowledge management system.

4. Organization as Hierarchy of functions
Policy
Management
Operations

5. Hierarchy and functions
POLICY
MAKING
Goals & Objectives, Standards,
Strategic Planning
Systems, Processes:
Planning, Budgeting
Monitoring & Evaluation
MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION
MANAGEMENT &
ADMINISTRATION
IMPLEMENTATION
Operations
Activities:
Operational Tasks
The Ministries of Education were found to be organised as hierarchies divided by levels and functions, such as curriculum development, teacher training, personnel administration, etc.
Click: At the very top is the policy level, Click: engaged in defining goals, objectives, standards and strategic planning.
Click: The management level deals with systems, processes, planning, budgeting, monitoring, and evaluation.
Click: At the very bottom is the implementation level, Click: where operational tasks are carried out.
The capacity of the Ministries is enhanced or reduced by the degree of systemic integration of the levels and functions.
Click:Unfortunately, many Ministries are vertically segregated. Each level is isolated from other levels, by a wide chasm similar to traditional social class stratification.
Click:Likewise, the Ministries are also horizontally segregated by functions. Each functional area is isolated by hierarchy that does not permit interaction between members belonging to different functional areas.
Due to this compartmentalisation, there has been very little vertical and horizontal mobility for team work and professional career development.Unable to co-operate across these barriers, there have been enormous amount of duplication and redundancy in the system. The way out of this stricture is to create, with proper auhtorisation, a network of self-managing task-oriented teams across ministerial hierarchies within and between countries.
ASSESSMENT
TEACHER TRAINING
CURRICULUM
STATISITCS
FACILITIES
Planning
PERSONNEL
SUPERVISION
TEXTBOOKS
Hierarchy and functions

6. Information integrates levels and functions
Ministry of Education
Regional Education Offices
District Education Offices
District Assemblies
Schools Schools Schools Schools Schools
Looking at the macro-level organisation of the education sector, there are also problems of vertical and horizontal integration. Quite often, the communication gap between the Ministry of Education in the capitol city and the schools in the rural areas is enormous, due to the weakness of the middle level functions -- the regional and district offices and the local education councils. To overcome this, decentralisation has been prescribed as the day’s panacea. However, those countries have taken this path are experiencing dangers of disintegration. Functions to be decentralised must be accompanied by capacity-building program. The centre must also have the capacity to co-ordinate and provide technical assistance to the development of the capacity of the sub-national levels to perform the decentralised functions. Without an efficient and effective information system, the parts will fall apart. Many regional, district and local officers feel that decentralisation simply means abandonment of responsibilities.
TCHR TRAINING
ASSESSMENT
CURRICULUM
Planning
TEXTBOOKS
SUPERVISION
STATISITCS
FACILITIES
PERSONNEL
Information integrates levels and functions

7. Intelligence T-L Impact
Capacity for policy formulation and management Information flow in policy cycle
Policy formulation
Administration
Decision
Mobilization
Evaluation
Intelligence
Implementation
To address the issue of relevance of information for policy formulation and management, we conducted system diagnosis of 21 Ministries of Education in Africa.
Click: The decisions made at the policy level are issued as directives for mobilization of resources for implementation. This results in different impact on the teaching-learning of the target groups across the system. This part of the cycle, on the right-side of the figure, is a top-down command system, the object of which is to obtain obedience and control of deviation from directives. We have found that this part of the system, largely inherited from the old system, is functioning, to a varying extent, in most of the African countries.
Click: The efficiency of the system is the measure of the extent to which the directives are carried out.
Click: However, we have also found that the other part of the cycle, on the left-side of the figure, is the weak or the missing link. There is very little flow of information on impact from the intended targets to the decision-makers. Implementation results in different outcomes for different groups across the system. How are these outcomes reported to the decision-makers? --through the monitoring system, the evaluation system, and the policy planning function. What is the quality of information that feeds back into the next cycle of policy formulation? Click: The measure of the extent to which the intended impact has been made is the effectiveness of the system.
Click: The feedback is the basis for informed decision-making. Weakness in this intelligence function is an obstacle to informed decision-making. The African Ministries need to be transformed from an authoritarian bureaucracy to a learning organization. Periodic student demonstrations and riots are warnings of the urgent need for this transformation.
Monitoring
T-L Impact
Efficiency
Effectiveness

8. Policy Capacity = ability to execute …
Formulation – defining goals, identifying target groups and setting targets
Decision – “authoritative allocation of values” (policy indicators)
Mobilization – deliver resources to system development (resource input indicators)
Implementation – systems development (benchmark indicators)
Monitoring systems performance (benchmark indicators)
Assessment – systems outputs and outcomes impact
Informed, intelligent policy requires information on distribution, trends, contrasts and progress benchmark indicators with regard to policy target groups and targets.
Formulation – Policy formulation involves defining goals, identifying target groups and setting targets
It seeks to answer “Who wants or needs what, when and how? From who to whom, when and how?” These questions may be answered by individual favour-seekers or by other forms of conflict resolution. Scientific surveys of voter preferences, household living standards, labour market, health and nutrition, educational attainment and consumer preferences are examples of common approach in democratic and transparent societies.
Decision – Government decisions are said to be “authoritative allocation of values”,
For example, the government may declare its intention to provide learning opportunities to the target groups or pass a legislation
Mobilization – Some government decisions are followed by mobilisation of resources.
How much was actually delivered to system development works?
Implementation – systems development benchmark indicators
What system parts (eg. Schools for the rural poor) are implemented and what parts are not implemented (eg. Teachers for the rural poor)?
Monitoring – systems performance benchmark indicators
What system parts are functioning optimally, effectively, efficiently?
Assessment – systems outputs and outcomes impact
What target groups got what, how much, when and how?

9. Education Issues and Information Needs for Policy & Management
Knowledge & Skills
Policies & resources
Access &
Participation
Social
Demand
For daily decision-making, to conduct informed public discourse and to formulate appropriate policy responses, decisionmakers are concerned with strategies for an optimal management of scarce resources to meet the increasing demands for education relevant to social and economic development. On the desks of every Minister of Education are commitments and follow-ups that need to be addressed - the monitoring and assessment of the EFA and MDG goals, Poverty Reduction Strategy, Sector Wide Approach Programme, various conferences of the Ministers of Education. However, none of this can be addressed properly without any relevant information on different types and magnitude of various aspects of our education systems – first,
demand or need for various education and training services,
available and required human and material resources,
quality standards,
disparities in access and participation,
efficiency and wastage in our delivery systems,
knowledge and skills achieved by our pupils
and their impact on social and economic development.
In the final analysis, the critical factor of success of failure for individuals is the quality of the pupils’ knowledge and skills and, for the nation, their impact on social and economic development. Hence, the paradigm of education system capacity must undergo a fundamental shift from that of a resource administrative system to a knowledge management system capable of meeting the challenges of the coming millennium.
Quality
Standards
Social-Econo-
mic Impact
Efficiency
NESIS Indicators Model

10. Indicators for Education Sub-sectors
Indicator areas
Early childhood
Formal Basic education
NFE Out-of-school youth & adults, literacy, life skills
Demand for education and training
Input of resources and policies
Quality of education delivery process
Access and participation/coverage
Efficiency
Output of knowledge and skills
Impact on individual welfare & health
Impact on gender & social disparities
Impact on community development
Impact on socio-economic systems

11. Indicators of demand and inputs
Demand/need for education and training per target groups
Number/proportion eligible for education
Number/proportion lacking essential knowledge and skills
Illiterate youth and adults
Out-of-school school-aged children
Number/proportion unemployed
Number/proportion marginalized, minorities, disabled, etc.
Policy inputs per sub-sectors and target groups
Admissions and qualifications
Free and compulsory basic education?
Reduction/elimination of hindrances, eg. Fees, uniforms, free books
Teacher qualification and training
Legislation: HR rights-based education
Resource Inputs per sub-sectors and target groups
Financial (eg. Education expenditure as a proportion of GDP)
Curricula (education content)
Teaching and learning materials
Schools and Facilities
Human: Teachers & other HR

12. Indicators of quality of education delivery
Class/ Learning group size
Pupil/Teacher ratio
Teacher qualification (trained, untrained)
Pupil/book ratio (curriculum relevant books)
Need special data collection and analysis:
Pupil-teacher contact hours
Time on learning task
Number of full-days schools in operation
Pupil attendance/absenteeism (health, costs)
Teacher absenteeism (low salary, other jobs, HIV/AIDS)
Curricula relevance to learners needs and development goals
Gender & social bias in book and TL content
Etc.

13. Indicators of Access and Participation
Admissions/intake rates (apparent and net)
“School” places available within a given radius of population centres
Tuition fees, special levies and fees, compulsory uniforms
Participation/Coverage
Gross Enrolment = load capacity = total number of enrolled as proportion of “school-age” population (ie, includes non-school-age pupils)
Net Enrolment = total number of school-age pupils as proportion of total school-age population = coverage of the eligible population

14. Indicators of Internal Efficiency
Flow rates: promotion, repetition and dropouts
Transition rate: proportion continuing to the next educational level (eg. Primary to secondary level)
Survival/ completion rates
Average number of years to graduate
Coefficient of efficiency: number of graduates as a proportion of total student-place-years spent per entering cohort
Facility utilization rates (shifts)
Multi-grade classes/learning groups

15. Indicators of output and outcome
Outputs
Completion rate: Graduates with required knowledge and skills (diploma/certificate)
Learning achievement test results
Literacy rate
Life skills
Etc.
Outcome (external efficiency) impact on
Employment, income, etc.
Economics (shift from agriculture to knowledge industry)
Health (eg. Reduction in malaria, HIV/AIDS infection rate)
Gender and social disparities (eg. Share of women in wage employment in non-agricultural sectors)
Politics (eg. % parliament seats held by women)
Community development

16. Dakar EFA Objectives Expand & improve ECD
Ensure all to have access and complete education that is free, compulsory and of good quality
Ensure learning needs of all youth and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills prgrammes
Achieve 50% improvement in adult literacy
Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender equality in education by 2015
Improve quality of education and ensure excellence, so that all learners achieve recognized and measurable learning outcomes

17. Monitor and Evaluate Dakar EFA Objectives
Expand & improve ECCE
Ensure all to have access and complete education that is free, compulsory and of good quality
Ensure learning needs of all youth and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills prgrammes
Achieve 50% improvement in adult literacy
Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender equality in education by 2015
Improve quality of education and ensure excellence, so that all learners achieve recognized and measurable learning outcomes

18. Global EFA Indicators: Dakar objective 1:
Expand & improve ECCE
1. GER in ECD, age 3-5 (public/private; pupil/teacher ratio)
2. Proportion of grade 1 who attended ECCE

19. Dakar objective 2:
Ensure all to have access and complete education that is free, compulsory and of good quality
Access and participation/ coverage
3. Gross intake rate
4. Net intake rate (private, public)
5. GER
6. NER (by grade, gender, public/private; out-of-school children by age, gender, etc.)

20. Dakar objective 2, cont’d
Resource Input
7. Public current expenditure on primary ed as % of GNP, as % of GNP per capita (expenditure on teacher salary, expenditure by family and by private sector)
8. Ditto as % of total public expenditure on education
Quality of delivery
9. % primary teachers with required academic qualifications
10. % primary teachers who are certified (or trained) to teach according to national standards (curriculum)
11. Pupil/teacher ratio
Internal efficiecy
12. Repetition rate, 13. Survival rate to grade 5
14. coefficient of efficiency (to be dropped)

21. Dakar objective 3: Dakar objective 4:
Ensure learning needs of all youth and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills prgrammes
16. Literacy rate, age (Achievement of life skills)
16.a. Life skills education and training case studies
Dakar objective 4:
Achieve 50% improvement in adult literacy
17. Adult literacy, age 15+
18. Literacy gender parity index

22. Dakar objective 5:
Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender equality in education by 2015
+ Gender parity index F/M in
AIR and NIR,
GER, NER,
repetition, survival rate, transition rates

23. Dakar objective 6:
Improve quality of education and ensure excellence, so that all learners achieve recognized and measurable learning outcomes
15. % of grade 5+ who have mastered nationally defined basic learning competencies (problem: identify cost-effective method)
15.a. national standardized learning achievement tests
15.b. internationally standardized learning achievement tests (IEA, SACMEQ, OECD, etc.

24. Millennium Development Goals: education indicators (bold-faced text: addition to EFA indicators)
6. Primary NER
7a. Primary Survival to grade 5
7b. Primary completion rate
8. Literacy rate of year olds
9. Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
10. Ratio of literate women to men year olds
20. Ratio of school attendance of orphans to that of non-orphans aged 10-14

25. MOE Capacity to Monitor EFA Indicators South & Southeast Asian countries

26. Pacific MOE number of yes, able to produce EFA indicators

27. AP Capacity to produce indicators by areas
Adequate where indicators are derived from
Schools simple frequency count and arithmetic
Eg. GER, GPI, Pupil/Teacher ratio
Weak where
Need to access records (teachers’ qualification)
Sub-sector outside the MOE mandate – eg. ECCE
Need age data and population data (eg. Net Enrolment Ratio)
Need simulation or tracer study- eg. Efficiency coefficient, survival/ completion rate
Weakest where there are data collection problems
Knowledge attainment – eg. Literacy, learning competency
Individual attributes: age, gender, learning
Combination with NFE – life skills, literacy
Combination of calculated indicators with analytical variables, eg. Repetition rates by type of school

28. Global Education Digest Comparing Education Statistics Across the World (UIS 2003)
Pacific Countries
1999 enrolment
1999 secondary teachers
1999 education expenditure
2000 all figures
Cook Islands
Reported
Missing
Niue
Palau
Samoa
Tonga
Vanuatu
Kiribati
estimate
Papua New Guinea
Fiji,
Marshall Islands,
Micronesia
Nauru
Solomon Islands,
Tokelau,
Tuvalu