Impressions from the 12th UKFIET International Conference on Education and Development
“We live in a world in which we do not know where we are going with regard to economic or financial market development,” said Karen Mundy of the University of Toronto. “This means that we also don’t know how our development cooperation will look like in future.”
Kevin Watkins from the Overseas Development Institute added that it was tricky to determine development goals for 2030 based on present knowledge, when there is an unfinished 2015 agenda and neither partner governments nor donor governments plan that far ahead.
Dzingai Mutumbuka from the Association for the Development in Africa noted a disconnect between the larger MDG discussion and the need to support the teachers in the classroom to help children learn.
These are just a few excerpts from a series of rich and wide-ranging discussions that energized me during the 12th UKFIET International Conference on Education and Development.
Country contexts matter
The conference program was made up of more than 180 presentations and the 550 researchers, academics and practitioners from around the world ensured fruitful discussions. The UKFIET conference was themed around the post 2015 development debate and many sessions dealt with practical questions. Case studies from Ghana and DFID’s Education Sector Support Program in Nigeria (ESSPIN), for example, showed that an integrated approach to school improvement, putting teachers and headmasters on the spot, helps to improve learning efficiency.
Other sessions looked at the challenges with regard to administration, service delivery and national policy-making. Overall discussants repeatedly highlighted that the country and political context matters. César Guadalupe, from the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education, pointed out that all learning domains recommend by the Learning Metrics Task Force are essential but each country has to determine its own priorities and needs such as national languages or the specific needs of minority communities.
Practitioners and researchers also raised perceived risks related to donor practices and global agendas which might undermine national structures and processes instead of supporting countries to define and own their priorities and policies.
It is an opportunity for the Global Partnership for Education to support local leadership with regard to the preparation of education plans based on participation and needs analysis as explained in the Guidelines for Education Sector Plan Preparation.
Why not education as the first goal?
In the world we want every child goes to school and learns and we know what matters to make it happen: qualified teachers, learner friendly classrooms, financial resources and equal educational chances to take even a poor child’s education straight up to university. There is a ‘thirst for education’ and we need to help our partners respond to the increasing demand. The online consultations on the World We Want were recognized as highly valuable while noting that there are limitations of global goal setting. It is not easy to boil down the education agenda into one or two common global goals or take into account the needs and challenges of each individual country. But there was strong agreement that education needs to be on top of the pots-2015 development agenda. “Why not having education as the first goal”, asked Lori Heninger from the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE).
A knowledge bank linking research with practice
The conference showed only a fraction of what is being done in the field of education and development research. Chris Berry from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) suggested building a knowledge bank to share education information and knowledge across partners. This was echoed by others who asked for an improved link between research, policy advice, evidence, public policy and service delivery. A quote that stuck with me is from a paper of the Overseas Development Institute: ”Guidance emanating from donor headquarters, […], is likely to be influenced as much by donor ideologies, instincts and constraints […] as by evidence that certain approaches are generally more or less appropriate. Much will rest on the shoulders of wise and informed aid managers.”
What sweeps us off our feet?
Amina J. Mohammed, Special Advisor of the United Nations Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, requested further input from the conference participants into the post- 2015 discussion. The window is still open to push education and to make contributions to the Report of the Global Thematic Consultation on Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The question remaining for me is how we can capture the energy and passion that is generated in those conferences? In the end, it is not high-level reports that make us jump up from our chairs, but the passion of people that can sweep us off our feet and mobilize others to make the changes we want to see in the world of education.
Also worth checking out
- BRAC Education Program: Solutions in primary education for children who have never been to school or have dropped out. Education is fun and interactive.
- Cambridge Education
- Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development
- Global Education at R4D
- ODI | Development Progress | Education
- Sussex | Center for International Education
- UK Forum for International Education and Training (UKFIET)
- UKFIET Community of Practice