Monitoring the International Education Agenda

2.1.1. National Level Monitoring

While the SDGs are not legally binding, national governments have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review at national levels, and are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals. The monitoring of progress in meeting SDG Four is closely linked to the needs of national and subnational governments in developing education sector plans and informing education policies. As recognised in The Road to Dignity by 2030, national monitoring of the SDGs should ‘build on existing national and local mechanisms and processes, with broad, multistakeholder participation’ (UNSG, 2014, p. x).

Crucial to implementation of the SDGs at all levels, and to the core principle of leaving no one behind, is the generation of information and knowledge that allows us to better understand the nuances of the challenges ahead. This high-level granularity and the need to adapt to the specificities of national education systems and local contexts offers a greater capacity to inform policy decisions by examining differences among subregions and specific disadvantaged groups, together with other important areas for national and local policies (UIS, 2016; UNESCO, 2017a).

In many countries, however, the administrative data that play a crucial role for national planning purposes provide only some of the information needed for monitoring progress. Some of the key data sources that constitute a comprehensive education data and information system include administrative datasets; data collected through household surveys, learning assessments and finance and expenditure datasets (UNESCO, 2017a). Fig. 1 highlights the extent of the reporting and monitoring challenge presented by the framework and the level of detail required to meaningfully disaggregate ³ and interpret the data to better define strategies that ensure inclusion of all groups and achievement of the various targets across SDG Four.

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Fig. 1.

Data Coverage of SDG Four Indicators.

2.1.2. Global Level Monitoring

Global level monitoring relies on a more limited and carefully selected group of leading indicators to provide an overview of progress towards each target. The harmonisation of monitoring and reporting of SDGs for cross-country comparability is also of critical importance (UIS, 2017a). The ability to analyse and compare national data across countries and years provides insights into measuring performance, driving policy reform and allocating resources equitably to improve learning among all population groups (UN-HLPF, 2017a, 2017b).

The UIS is the official source of cross-nationally comparable data used to monitor progress towards SDG Four. As confirmed in the Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, UNESCO has the mandate to ‘work with partners to develop new indicators, statistical approaches and monitoring tools to better assess progress across targets related to UNESCO’s mandate’ (2015, p. 10).

Agenda 2030 makes no specific reference to baseline year(s) for global tracking, and baseline data for several of the education targets remains unavailable. With an overall coverage of just 41% across the SDG Four indicators, the need to strengthen data collection and information-reporting capacity to provide consistent, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated data to measure progress and identify gaps is clearly recognised (IAEG, 2015; Sustainable Development Solution Network, 2015; UIS, 2017a, 2017b; UN Economic and Social Council, 2017).

The UN High-level Political Forum (UN-HLPF) on Sustainable Development informed by an annual SDG progress report, the quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report ⁴ and other relevant inputs, has a central role in overseeing the follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs at the global level. The UN-HLPF, which replaced the Commission on Sustainable Development, acts under the auspices of the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and encourages member states to ‘conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and subnational level which are country-led and country-driven’ (2030 Agenda, paragraph 79). This approach, based on common reporting guidelines recognises the aspirational nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with each Government setting its own national targets taking into account national circumstances and respecting national policies and priorities (UN General Assembly, 2015).

The Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs)

aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The VNRs also seek to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and to mobilise multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. (UN-HLPF, 2018)

2.1.3. Regional Level Monitoring

At the regional level of monitoring, a set of indicators may be developed to take account of priorities and issues of common interest that are shared by countries in a particular region. Placing education within a regional policy context can: help to improve communication among key stakeholders; harmonise indicator development; avoid duplication efforts across nations and facilitate the integration of monitoring data through the provision of access to data experts. Building on existing regional networks and partnerships, data aggregated at the regional level can help to identify divides within and across regions. Data missing at the national level can also be estimated based on regional averages.

2.1.4. Thematic Monitoring

Thematic monitoring adds a level of monitoring of comparable indicators within a specific sector (e.g. education, environment, energy) or cross-cutting theme (e.g. rural/urban divide). Thematic indicators serve as a framework to track progress on a cross-nationally comparable basis, with a more in-depth view of sectoral priorities than available in the global monitoring framework.

2.2.1. Global Progress towards MDG Two and the EFA Agenda

Looking back at the MDGs, between 2000 and 2015, efforts to achieve MDG Two, which focussed on universal primary school education, contributed to major increases in enrolment over the period:

• An increase in the primary school net enrolment in the developing world from 83% in 2000 to 91% in 2015.

• Almost halving the number of out-of-school children of primary school age, from 100 million in 2000 to around 57 million in 2015.

• Significant improvement in primary education enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa. The net enrolment rate increased from 8% in the period between 1990 and 2000 to 20% in the period between 2000 and 2015.

• Global increase in the literacy rate among youth aged 15–24 from 83% in 1990 to 91% in 2015. At the same time, the gender gap has lessened.

However, despite millions more children in primary school, conflict and crisis continued to prevent children from having access to education, and learning outcomes remained weak even for those who have made it into the classroom. A number of SDG Four targets express a renewed commitment to universal access to basic quality education for all and gender parity by 2030. These global targets reflect most clearly the ‘unfinished EFA agenda’ (UNESCO, 2017a) and are:

• Target 4.1 – Ensuring that all children and youth have access to a full cycle of 12 years of quality primary and secondary education, of which a minimum of nine years are to be compulsory, public and free.

• Target 4.2 – Ensuring that all children have access to quality early childhood care and development and at least one year of pre-primary education.

• Target 4.5 – Ensuring gender parity at all levels of education.

• Target 4.6 – Ensuring that all youth (15–24 years of age) have adequate literacy and numeracy skills.

2.2.2. Global and Regional Trajectory to 2030

As a global education agenda, SDG Four differs from both the education-related MDG and from EFA in scope, geographical coverage and policy focus. Table 3 highlights the key differences.

Looking forward, at the start of the SDGs in 2015, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) developed a global scorecard for the Goals (2015a). Based on existing trends, the report projects forward current rates of progress across the full SDG agenda to forecast the ‘business as usual’ trajectory to 2030. While the report acknowledges that ‘without increased effort, none of the goals and examined targets will be met’ (ODI, 2015b, p. 14), it also recognises the considerable progress made and the scale of the challenge ahead.

When considering education, Target 4.1 was selected as a minimum threshold for the attainment of all the targets and indicators across SDG Four. As this target relates to achieving universal secondary school completion by 2030, the focus of the projections is on educational attainment for 20–24 years old in 2035. This cohort should have completed secondary school if the target is met. While this measure does not encapsulate the quality of educational outcomes, it is a necessary precursor. Furthermore, while Targets 4.2 and 4.3 reflect an important focus on early childhood development and post-secondary education, there is limited internationally comparable data on these topics.

The report shows considerable progress by 2035. As depicted in Fig. 2, the percentage of the global population aged 20–24 years completing secondary education is expected to increase steadily and reach 85% by 2035. This, however, falls short of the universal target and highlights the need to accelerate progress by two-and-a-half times to deliver the goal against current trends (Sachs, Schmidt-Traub, Kroll, Durand-Delacre, & Teksoz, 2017).

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Fig. 2.

Secondary Completion (Globally).

There is considerable variation across nations and regions. Most regions in the developing world are expected to converge towards a secondary school completion rate of around 85% by 2030, with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, which is set to remain below 65% (see Fig. 3). On this trajectory, sub-Saharan Africa is not set to achieve universal secondary school completion for 20–24 years old for more than 50 years (Sachs et al., 2017). This regional divide is highlighted in the latest UN-HLPF review, which states that

advancing toward SDG4 (quality education) will require increasing efforts […] especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia and for vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities, indigenous people, refugee children and poor children in rural areas. (ECOSOC, 2017, p. 7)

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Fig. 3.

Secondary Completion (Regionally).

2.3.1. Policy Coherence

Countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, Jordan, Maldives, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Thailand, Qatar and Zimbabwe have identified education as a national policy priority; many have started to integrate the SDGs into formal and informal curricula and educational programmes. The cross-cutting nature of SDG Four was also highlighted with many countries reporting on the role of education as a powerful tool to foster awareness of the SDGs in general, with Belgium, Cyprus, Maldives, Nigeria and Portugal reporting initiatives highlighting the link between vocational training and SDG Eight (Sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all). Corresponding to the overarching goal of ‘leaving no-one behind’, several countries also chose to emphasise initiatives that target the most vulnerable, including underprivileged children, children with disabilities or special needs and children in marginalised groups.

2.3.2. Implementation

Many countries identified the progress in implementation of SDG Four, along with the challenges. Specific examples vary across regions and countries from

secondary school attendance being on the increase (Zimbabwe), increasing the number of higher education institutions (Jordan), a decrease in drop-out rate (Luxembourg), an upward trend of school age children enroling in 12-year basic education (Thailand), and an increase in the number of children attending early learning centres (Kenya). (UN-HLPF, 2017b p. 11)

However, given the voluntary nature of country level disclosure and the adoption of multiple reporting frameworks, this falls short of a statistical profile of progress made in the implementation of SDG Four. Table 4 presents an overview of the latest Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2017b).

Fig. 4 underscores the variation in progress towards SDG Four among various countries worldwide. Despite considerable gains in education enrolment over the past 15 years, worldwide, the adjusted net enrolment rates were 91% for primary education, 84% for lower secondary education and 63% for upper secondary education (UNESCO, 2017b). There are significant differences in enrolment rates with just over one-third of children in Liberia enroled in primary education, compared with 100% enrolment in Japan.

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Fig. 4.

SDG Four Net Primary Enrolment Rate among Countries Worldwide 2011–2016.

The UN-HLPF synthesis report (2017b) notes that, despite considerable progress in school enrolment, millions of children remain out of school, especially where educational systems struggle to keep up with population growth. In 2015, there were 264 million children and youth out of school, including 61 million of primary school age (9%), 62 million adolescents of lower secondary school age (16%) and 141 million youth of upper secondary school age (37%). While the number of children and adolescents completing education has risen, household survey data from 2010 to 2015 indicate completion rates were 83% for primary, 69% for lower secondary and 45% for upper secondary education. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia account for over 70% of the global out-of-school population in both primary and secondary education (UNESCO, 2017b).

Table 5 highlights national variances in both participation (access to education) and learning (educational outcomes). Even when more children are enroled, many do not acquire basic skills. Even though more children than ever are going to school, many do not acquire basic skills in reading. It is estimated that 387 million children of primary school age (56%) did not reach the minimum proficiency level in reading; in Sub-Saharan Africa 87% of children did not reach this level. The adult literacy rate increased from 81.5 to 86% worldwide between 2000 and 2015, however, it is below 60% in low-income countries.

Quality education continues to be hampered by the lack of trained teachers and adequate school facilities. Sub-Saharan Africa has a relatively low percentage of trained teachers in pre-primary, primary and secondary education (44, 74 and 55%, respectively). Moreover, majority of schools in the region do not have access to electricity or water (UNESCO, 2017b). These stark contrasts focus attention on the world’s poorest economies highlighting the progress that has already been made and the long journey ahead in bringing parity of educational outcomes for all.