G LO B A L E D U C AT I O N M O N I TO R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 6 SUMMARY OUTCOMES Monitoring the core aspiration of target 4.7 – acquisition of knowledge and skills needed for global citizenship and sustainable development – is not easy. A basic, interdependent understanding of world history, geography, international institutions and global processes could serve as a starting point, but few cognitive assessments exist in this area. In many countries, only two-thirds of students are familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. le Development Go nab al tai 4. us A S A major challenge has to do with tension between local values and increasing global commitments. Recent initiatives seek to improve monitoring mechanisms for target 4.7 regarding adolescents, mainly in secondary education. In 2016, UNESCO
and the International Association for the Evaluation
of Educational Achievement officially began collaborating on measuring global citizenship and sustainable development knowledge. The Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics, focusing on global citizenship in grade 5, aims to develop comparative assessments that are more attuned to local conditions. Education facilities and learning environments TARGET 4.A T arget 4.a recognizes child-centredness, democratic participation and inclusiveness as principles of a child-friendly school. Not all these are amenable to global monitoring, but three aspects of them are: school infrastructure, ICT use, and violence and attacks in schools. SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE Only 52% of primary schools had adequate water supply in 2013 in the least developed countries Improving water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in education institutions can have significant positive effects on health and education outcomes. Yet only 71% of primary schools had adequate water supply in 2013, and the figure was just 52% in the 49 least developed countries. When schools are unsafe, the impact of natural hazards is magnified. Some countries inspect school safety closely, but not all can afford to monitor in detail. Participatory tools have been developed to help students and the community provide information on school conditions. People with disabilities need to overcome a wide range of physical and social obstacles to gain access to schools. It is difficult to know if facilities are suitable for children with disabilities due to the lack of a definition of accessible schools and, often, limited monitoring capacity. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS The basis for monitoring ICT in education is the 2003 Geneva Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society, which had two targets related to education. 51