Blog: Let's Get Schooled

Last month the 2016 GEM-Report - Education for people and planet: Creating sustainable futures for all was published. It replaces the EFA Global Monitoring Report and has a newly defined mandate to report on the progress of education under the 2030 Agenda. This is the first of a 15 part series, which will report on the progress of SDG4 and will explore the complex relationship between education and the other facets of sustainable development.

On September 13th, Carol-Lyn McKelvey, Co-Chair of the Education Team and I attended the German launch of the report in Bonn, Germany. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear Dr. Aaron Benavot, the Director of the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report Team share their findings and discuss some of the challenges in preparing a report of this scope.

“The GEM-Report is an independent, evidence base publication that serves as an indispensable tool to promote informed dialogue and increase awareness about progress and challenges in education.” It is also nearly 500 pages long! We are going break our review of the report into a multi-part series, which will be published in intervals in the coming year.

Let’s get started...

Planet, Prosperity, People, Place, Peace and Partnerships

The first six chapters of the 2016 GEM-Report address the thematic issues of the Sustainable Development Goals and explore how education plays a vital role to the success of each.

“How and what people learn not only influences their knowledge, skills, attitudes and worldviews, but also their respect for each other, along with investment and research choices that affect coming generations. … Humans must imagine, think and act differently in order to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development – and education is vital to that.” (p12)

Planet: environmental sustainability

Key Messages:

Living sustainably requires a huge shift in mindset. Education has to be part of that change.

1. Education can help people understand and respond to environmental issues.
2. Outside of school, we must learn through communities and throughout our lives.
3. Education systems must be careful not to encourage unsustainable lifestyles.
4. Schools need to take a holistic approach to tackling environmental challenges.
5. The private sector must encourage lifelong learning to fight climate change. (p18)

“Analysis of 78 national curricula show that 55% use the term ‘ecology’ and 47% use the term ‘environmental education’”.

Prosperity: sustainable and inclusive economies

“Education and lifelong learning are needed to make production and consumption sustainable, supply skills for the creation of green industry and orient higher education and research towards green innovation. They also have a part to play in transforming key economic sectors, such as agriculture, upon which both rich and poor countries and households rely.

Just as the economy must become sustainable, so too must it become more inclusive and less unequal. Education of good quality can contribute to these aims. A better-educated labour force is essential to inclusive economic growth focused on human welfare. Education reduces poverty by increasing chances of finding decent work and adequate earnings, and helps close wage gaps due to gender, socio-economic status and other bases of discrimination.” (p15 - Summary)

People: inclusive social development

Key Messages:

Progress in health, nutrition and gender equality is inextricably linked with progress in education.

1. Substantive gender equality is far from being achieved.
2. Millions of people - particularly the marginalized - are still denied the right to education.
3. Education improves health by giving people relevant knowledge and skills.
4. Educating women is at the heart of social development.
5. Children need to be healthy and well-nourished in order to attend school and learn.
6. Education on its own is not enough to achieve equality in society; the health, gender and education sectors must work together. (p66)

“Ending poverty is not only about income, but also concerns critical services such as education, health, water, sanitation, energy, housing and transport.”

Peace: political participation, peace and access to justice

Key Messages:

Getting children into school is doesn’t result in more peace, but the right type of education can help. Conflict and violence are meanwhile destroying education systems.

1. Education makes people more likely to participate in political processes constructively and non-violently. 
2. Better education is clearly linked to more women in political leadership.
3. An education that is provided equally, with inclusive teaching and learning materials, is a powerful preventive tool and antidote for conflict.
4. Conflict is taking an increasingly large toll on education systems.
5. Education should be better recognized in peacebuilding agendas for its role in helping with con ict resolution.
6. Education can reduce crime and violence against children and youth.
7. Educational programmes help marginalized people access justice and legal protection. (p96)

Places: inclusive and sustainable cities

“Education gaps are often wider within urban areas than between urban and rural”

“Urbanization is one of today’s defining trends – more than half the global population lives in cities and urban areas. ...

This chapter presents evidence of how cities and urbanization affect education, and how education affects urban issues. Population growth, migration and the refugee crisis all have particular consequences for education.”

A city can transform by placing education and lifelong learning at its heart.

More and more cities have been putting education and lifelong learning at the heart of their development. To promote sustainable economic, social and environmental development, cities from Amman (Jordan) and Balange (the Philippines) to Bahir Dar (Ethiopia) and Ybycuí (Paraguay) are turning themselves into learning cities (Valdes-Cotera et al., 2015).

The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) connects cities with global actors to promote education and lifelong learning at the local level. The GNLC defines ‘learning cities’ as those that promote inclusive learning, from basic to higher education; revitalize learning in families and communities; facilitate learning for and in the workplace; extend the use of modern learning technology; enhance quality and excellence in learning; and nurture a culture of learning throughout life. All this creates and reinforces individual empowerment and social cohesion, economic and cultural prosperity, and sustainable development (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2015). Learning cities contribute to SDG 4, promoting ‘inclusive and equitable quality education’, and SDG 11 on improving urban life by making ‘cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ (United Nations, 2015).

BOX 5.3 Education is a critical component of making cycling the norm in urban transport

In countries with best-practice cities, such as Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, cycling became the norm for transport as a result of both urban planning and education, with right of way for cyclists, bike parking, comprehensive traffic education and training for cyclists and motorists, and a range of promotional events to generate support. Education is woven into an integrated approach in which Danish, Dutch and German children from an early age receive extensive training in safe and effective cycling – in classrooms and on the road – as part of their curriculum by the fourth grade. Police officers test children, who receive official certificates and stickers for their bikes once they pass the test.

Starting early ensures that children begin cycling when they are young. A comprehensive approach provides greater impact than individual, uncoordinated measures. Policies also de-incentivized driving through taxes and restrictions on car ownership and use, while education shifted public opinion in favour of walking, cycling and public transport in reaction to the negative impact of car use.

Paris’s bike-sharing or ‘public bicycle’ system, Vélib, has reduced traffic in private vehicles and increased daily bicycle trips enormously. Similar systems have been adopted in over 50 countries and over 700 cities. Education is important to promote public understanding and frequent use of such systems. Bike-sharing programmes are being widely adopted in Latin American cities, including Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.

Sources: Ferreiro (2015); Godefrooij et al. (2009); Pucher et al. (2010); Pucher and Buehler (2008).

Partnerships: enabling conditions to achieve SDG 4 and the other SDGs

Key Messages:

The world must pull together to overcome barriers to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1. More domestic resources are needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
2. Aid must increase to achieve the Education 2030 targets,but is declining.
3. Aid to education is not effectively targeted to those most in need.
4. Governments and international agencies must work together to achieve the sustainable development agenda.
5. The ambition of the SDGs requires partnerships if it is to be achieved. (p132)

The scope of the 2030 Agenda and the role that education plays in achieving its success is incredible. This quick wrap up of how education is woven throughout the 17 SDGs just scratches the surface and seeks to spark your curiosity to learn more.  

I recommend starting with the GEM-Report Summary and if you have a deeper interest in a particular area, then diving into the full Report is very worth while. Also of note are data boxes throughout the full Report offering figures, tables, quotes, study results.

If you would like to share this information with a younger person, have a look at the Youth Report.

GEM-Report Primer: Part II will appear in an upcoming issue of Let’s Get Schooled.

*All quotes in this blog are taken from the 2016 GEM-Report unless otherwise noted.