[Icaeaeducationdevp2015] [17] First synthesis

[Cecilia Fernández]

ICAE Virtual Seminar

“Adult Education and Development: Post 2015”

 

Some elements of our collective reflection so far

Cecilia Fernández – ICAE Secretariat

 

It is 10 days already since we started this collective reflection that
attempts to answer some questions about the post-2015 process and to share
different views and proposals. We are more than 1050 people from all regions
of the world participating in this virtual space. 

In an effort to synthesize some of the many things that have been said, and
to gather this knowledge and opinions we share a partial preview of what was
expressed so far.

 

“Where are we now?”  This is one of the questions that have guided the
exchange and generated different reactions from different regional contexts
and perspectives of analysis. We need to share a lot of information to
participate in a strategic and collective way. But, as Heribert says, the
opportunities and time for bottom-level-up debates are running very quickly.


 

What then are the key issues for us in this debate?  Alan suggests to start
thinking about “how should advocacy energies be focused in the eighteen
months before new targets are established?

And what energies can we draw for the longer journey of work beyond 2015
with youth and adults to create the other possible world to which we are
committed?  

 

It is clear that global targets are important, said Alan in his introduction
to the virtual seminar. It appears to be a general agreement that a global
goal is necessary, and some versions have raised, with slight variations in
wording. But there is also a clear tendency to agree that a goal is not
enough to move from rhetoric to action.

 

Ulrike informs that UNESCO has developed a “Position Paper on Education
Post-2015”, which will be presented to Member States for discussion and
consideration at the upcoming 194th Executive Board session in April 2014.
In this paper, UNESCO advocates for a clearly defined, balanced and holistic
education agenda which should take a lifelong learning approach, and
recommends to its Member States that “Ensuring equitable quality education
and lifelong learning for all by 2030” might be a suitable overarching goal

 

On the other hand, Werner Mauch, from UIL, affirms that the UNESCO
Medium-Term Strategy 2014–2021 provides another promising perspective for
the years to come. The Belen Framework for Action central message, that “the
role of lifelong learning is critical in addressing global educational
issues and challenges” seemed to be perfectly in line with the growing
worldwide interest in lifelong learning and its relevance within education
agendas. 

For UNESCO’s Education sector the strategic objectives formulated, include
shaping the future education agenda, explicitly in order “to ensure that
education remains a global priority beyond the 2015 target date, as a basic
human right and as a prerequisite for peace and sustainable development”. 

A closer look at the proposed new development goals mentioned, Werner Mauch
says, shows that three out of four indicators on the proposed Goal 3
(“Provide quality education and lifelong learning”) focus on children and
formal education – only! And indicator no. 4 addresses the development of
skills “needed for work” – only! Adult literacy as a field of necessary
action is virtually absent. 

 


The debate on the definition of the post-2015 development objectives is
entering a critical phase expressed Ronald Cameron, and the possibilities of
improving the objectives are becoming increasingly limited. He believes,
that it is important to initiate a shift without delay, to start looking at
the strategy for the post-2015 period, which will follow the adoption of the
objectives.


 

We must prevent the international movement on adult education, says Ronald,
from focusing only on the post-2015 development objectives plan and from
reducing its perspective to the vision of international institutions. The
adult education movement must now begin to define the perspective of its
action beyond 2015. This requires defining the political action of social
movements in the States and in the field.

 

“the past teaches us …” is something to consider when developing strategies
for action.

 

A key conclusion of the EFA developments to date pointed Alan, is that EFA
suffered from the  separation of the MDG and EFA processes.  For the
collective voices of NGOs supporting EFA it has been a central demand that a
single overarching education goal in the MDG/SDGs post-2015 be supported by
an EFA mark 2, where the elements of the overall goal can be disaggregated,
and monitored, and that UNESCO should have that responsibility.

 

Daniel states that as wide as a political space be, adult education will
always have to fight to be included in policies, legislation and financing
priorities.

In this sense, too, Robert says that “we need to identify lessons from our
past to inform our imaginations and strategies to influence the post-2015
education and development debates.

 

A  way to strengthen the always fragile place of adult education in the
global agenda that the post-2015 agenda, says Daniel, will have to be
explicitly and strongly linked with other instruments, like CONFINTEA VI and
the next recommendation on the development of adult education.

He thinks that the international adult learning community has another
specific forum to advocate for the defense of the right to adult education:
the actualization of the 1976 recommendation on the development of adult
education. We could expect being consulted in the near future, he adds,
regarding the place of adult education in the joined  action plan to the
next Agenda post-2015 that will be proposed, and on the newly Recommendation
on the development of adult education that will be adopted. 

 

The precise comment of Carol Añonuevo from UIL gives us clarity and provides
information about the process that is underway. She informed that a draft
revision of the 1976 Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education
(RDAE) will be presented to the UNESCO General Conference in 2015 for
approval and the Institute is now preparing a process to arrive at a revised
RDAE. An expert meeting will be held next May, to be followed by an online
consultation in June and a formal consultation process to Member States
starting September. 

Carol also affirms that the timetable of the revision of the 1976 RDAE is
also coinciding with the Revision of the Recommendation concerning Technical
and Vocational Education. The expert meeting in May will address the two
Recommendations and therefore bring together experts in AE and TVET. 

 

“Education as a factor responsible of development- development as a factor
necessary to achieve a good education”

 

The presence of economists in the field of education is not new in the
debate on the relationship between education and development, Sergio and
Filomena affirm. They say that The World Bank's position, is clear when it
comes to defining its role in the development agenda by focusing and
reducing its efforts to learning aimed at the labor market and focusing on
early childhood education. “The expansion of horizons” referred to in the
article of King, aiming at promoting prosperity through learning, means
economic prosperity and education as a tool available to the market. 

 

What are the alternative paradigms in and for education and development that
transcend the limited orientation towards economic growth? asks Heribert.

 

Subscribing to a broader vision in order to promote the full exercise of
citizenship implies for Ronald, 

intersectoral approaches and partnerships between networks and social
actors. “What encourages us in our commitment to the right to education for
all, he says, is not the level of scholarship that an individual may
acquire, but a prospect of developing a more just world with a full exercise
of citizenship and the rights of the entire population”. “In a context of
growing social stress, given the impacts of environmental change, the
challenges of social justice intersect, more than ever, the path of action
in favor of the right to education for all.”

 

Nélida, in turn, says a multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach is
essential to overcome the causes of illiteracy, such as social injustice and
unequal distribution of wealth in the continent.

 

“Collective voices are better heard” 

 

Heribert asks how can civil society at the national, regional, and
international level get better involved in these debates, and thus support
the efforts by ICAE and others?

 

In this sense Alison asks herself where is ALE in the Caribbean today. The
debate on adult learning and education in the Caribbean, she says, has been
one of the best kept secrets to the general public within the Caribbean
context. And she affirms that we need more voices represented in the Adult
Education community. If we don’t have active Adult Education communities, we
cannot participate. If we don’t participate, we will be left further and
further behind. 

 

Where are the African civil society voices related to adult learning and
education (ALE) in the global education debates asks Robert. And he affirms
that collective voices are better heard, thus “The time is now to once again
profess and declare our willingness and preparedness to network within and
beyond our borders”.  To conclude, he states that something has to be done
and done differently for that matter.

 

The only way to achieve our goals, says Iqbal elSamaloty, is the continuous
learning and learning for all using the comprehensive developmental approach
including the (economic - cultural - social) aspects in addition to the full
participation of the target group and the priority for the young and female
actors as entrepreneurs, not as just recipient of the service.

 

For Ronald, the challenge for the development of a culture of learning for
all remains dependent on post-2015 mobilizations in different social
occurrences. From this point of view, he thinks that it's not so much to
internalize targets set by the UN, but to locate the strategy to develop an
action aimed at social transformation within states. It is a question of
moving beyond a minimalist vision of targets that will not be, indeed,
easier to achieve. It is much more to develop a political battle that
focuses on outcome indicators!

 

To take into account

Some of the elements and proposals that begin to be drawn from the inputs
and comments 

 

* An early task is to enumerate for each of the 12 universal goals proposed
in the High Level Panel report just how adult learning makes a difference,
backed ideally by hard evidence – and following the guidelines adopted by
the OECD 

 

* to make an explicit and strong link with other instruments, like CONFINTEA
VI and the next recommendation on the development of adult education.

 

* Follow up of regional initiatives such as the Observatory of ALE in Latin
America (EDULAC Portal) in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Office in
Santiago, UIL, OEI, INEA in Mexico and CEAAL / ICAE for CONFINTEA VI, in
order to establish parameters, compare data and promote a space for
cooperation and coordination between the 33 Member States of the region

 

* Track and report how African union and other regional inter-governmental
bodies are engaging in the Post-2015 official negotiations

 

* Target decision makers not only from those Ministries responsible for
adult literacy. “The plight of semi and unskilled workers who as human being
deserve descent work terms and conditions, are often not included in our
advocacy programs”

 

* speaking of "lifelong learning" could relieve from governments the
obligation to promote specific policies and programs for realizing the right
to education of all persons, as well as neglecting the importance of
professionalism - training and working conditions - of educators working in
this field of education. These two aspects would have to be incorporated
into sub goals and indicators, in order to avoid those risks.

 

* the use of inclusive language to make visible boys and girls, young men
and women as well as adult people as another means for positioning the
gender perspective and its inclusion in the agendas. The inclusion of gender
in education, in a cross-cutting way, even if it is now included in some
constitutions in the region (such as Ecuador and Bolivia), it is not
included in education systems that have not adapted at all for these rights
to be real and effective.

 

The virtual seminar continuous, we still have many documents and comments to
share! 

We invite and encourage you to continue thinking and acting together!

Cecilia

 



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