Education in crisis - this way out

The EI Research Institute and the University of Amsterdam IS Academie "Education and Development" have co-published a volume exploring the role that teachers play in global policy processes and the effects of education reforms on teachers' labour and professionalism in seven case study countries, including India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Namibia, Peru, Turkey and Uganda. 

The chapters are based on empirical research and analyse how different global education policies, including PPPs, competency-based curriculum, school clusters, teachers' evaluation and accountability have been adopted and implemented in varying contexts and how they transform teachers' work. The various case studies show that teachers responses to global managerial education reforms are diverse and contradictory, yet all underline the crucial importance of teachers' agency for educational development. 

EI has developed a flexible framework for the question concerning the global development of education and the MDG agenda after the 2015 deadline; EI took part in the online consultations for the “World We Want” Initiative, and EI will be attending the high level global thematic panel meetings in Dakar and Bali later this year. Currently, EI is advocating for: human rights—especially the right to an education to be at the core of a credible development and education framework; an education wherein the impacts of inequalities will not undermine or inhibit the full access to this right; particular attention to be paid to gender parity, special needs and disability students across all priorities within the global development framework; the level of quality of teachers as a key determiner for the level of quality of education that those teachers distribute; broader standards of evaluation in determining rates or levels of learning; the continued expansion of an equal access to quality education for all people, especially at the primary and secondary levels; sufficient, progressive public financing to ensure implementation and achievement of education for all people regardless of socio-economic status; and the utilization and influence of the past successes and failures of different education frameworks on the post-2015 framework.