Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta literacy. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta literacy. Mostrar todas las entradas

WISE Prize for Education Laureates: Bottom-up Innovators


Rosa María Torres


(Texto en español: Los Laureados con el Premio WISE a la Educación)


2011 WISE Prize for Education Laureate: Sir Fazle Hasan Abed (Bangladesh)
 
 
2012 WISE Prize Laureate: Dr. Madhav Chavan (India). Interview

   
2013 WISE Prize for Education Laureate:
Vicky Colbert (Colombia). Interview

 
2014 WISE Prize for Education Laureate: Ann Cotton (UK). Interview


"The WISE Prize for Education is the first distinction of its kind to recognize an individual or a team of up to six people working together for an outstanding, world-class contribution to education. Established in 2011 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, the WISE Prize for Education sets the standard for excellence in education, giving it similar status to other areas for which international prizes already exist, such as literature, peace and economics. The Laureate receives a monetary prize of $500,000 (US) and a gold medal. The WISE Prize for Education Laureate is honored as a global role model and ambassador for education."


What are the educational innovations that draw the attention of the global education community? The first four winners of the WISE Prize for Education (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and their respective education programs share several common characteristics. One of them: they are bottom-up innovators and innovations, that have started small and local, have become national and later expanded internationally over a long and sustained period of time. My personal knowledge of two of them, BRAC and Escuela Nueva, through study visits, research and follow up over many years, provides some insights into the specific nature and process of these inspiring educational models and experiences.  

BRAC - Bangladesh
The 2011 WISE Prize for Education was awarded to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairman of BRAC, "the largest development organization in the world." Created in 1972 in a remote rural village, BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) reaches today nearly 135 million people in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, and also in Haiti in the Caribbean. BRAC is not only an education-related NGO. Its holistic and multifaceted approach to development covers various areas and issues: microfinance, education, healthcare, legal services, community empowerment, and social enterprises. Education has been one of its key and most successful areas. So-called BRAC Non-Formal Primary Schools, which became internationally renowned in the 1990s, have spread as a viable and replicable primary school model. Starting with ver modest primary schools, BRAC has developed a whole education system, that includes today BRAC University.

WISE Jury and Committee
 

Pratham - India
The 2012 WISE Prize for Education was awarded to Dr. Madhav Chavan, Co-founder and CEO of Pratham, the largest education NGO in India. Pratham's mission is "Every child in school and learning well". It was created in 1994 to provide pre-school education to children living in the slums of Mumbai. Community volunteers were recruited, trained, provided basic teaching-learning materials, and encouraged to organize classes in any space available in the communities (temples, offices, people’s houses, etc.). Pratham Balwadis (pre-school classes) multiplied in other locations. Today Pratham reaches millions of children in rural and urban areas in 19 of the country’s 28 states, through early childhood education, learning support to in-school and out-of-school children, mainstreaming of out-of-school children, computer literacy, vocational training for youth and special programs for vulnerable and working children. An area approach (whole community interventions) was adopted in 2002-2003. Pratham’s Learn to Read (L2R) technique is an accelerated learning technique targeted at teaching both in-school and out-of-school children how to read in 4- 8 weeks. Facilitated by Pratham, The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is the largest survey undertaken in India by people outside the government. It measures the enrollment as well as the reading and arithmetic levels of children in the age group of 6-14 years.

WISE Jury and Committee

Escuela Nueva - Colombia
The 2013 WISE Prize for Education was awarded to Vicky Colbert, founder and director of Fundación Escuela Nueva, and co-creator (together with Prof. Oscar Mogollón) of the Escuela Nueva (EN) model. EN was initiated as a local project in 1975, covering a few public schools in rural areas, and grew as a regular program within Colombia's Ministry of Education. In 1985, EN was adopted by the Colombian government as a national policy to universalize quality primary education in rural areas. EN has shown that the multigrade school (one or two teachers in charge of all levels in a single classroom), if given appropriate conditions and treated as a multigrade system, can become a quality alternative rather than a "poor temporary solution for the poor". In fact, Colombia has been the only country in Latin America where students in rural areas have shown higher learning achievements than children in urban areas when UNESCO's LLECE tests were applied. EN has also shown that, even with many problems and ups and downs, radical and meaningful innovation can be developed within government structures and within formal, mainstream education. The Escuela Nueva Foundation was created in 1987 in order to help strengthen the program, adapt it to urban areas, and expand it to other countries (the EN model has been experimented in 16 countries). Over the years, EN has received numerous international awards, including a WISE Award in 2009.

WISE Jury and Committee

CAMFED - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi
The 2014 WISE Prize for Education was awarded to Ann Cotton, a UK citizen founder of CAMFED.
"When you educate a girl in Africa, everything changes. She’ll be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS, earn 25 percent more income and have a smaller, healthier family."
Camfed is an international non-profit organisation that works in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. It wants to break the cycle of poverty and disease in rural areas by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as agents of change. Since 1993, Camfed has been working in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi, supporting over 1,202,000 students to attend primary and secondary school. Over 3 million children have been benefited. They are selected by the community as being the most in need. Camfed supports them throughout their development, from primary school until adulthood. In every country, Camfed works through national and local systems - with parents, teachers, government officials, and traditional authorities. It does not set up a parallel system. Programs are devised, managed, and monitored by the community, and all of Africa offices are staffed by nationals of that country. The Camfed Alumnae Association (CAMA) is a pan-African network of Camfed graduates, currently with 24,436-members. They receive training in health, financial literacy and ICT, as well as business development and entrepreneurship. They, in turn, support vulnerable children to stay in school, and deliver health and financial literacy training to over 150,000 students and community members in their own countries. Camfed's values are: 1. Focus on the Girl, 2. Involve the community, 3. Operate transparent, accountable programs. Camfed’s model has been recognised as best practice by the OECD for setting the standard for governance, sustainability and development innovation at scale.

WISE Jury and Committee
 

What do these four education programs have in common?  


Two of them are located in Asia, in two of the "nine most populous countries" on earth, where education issues and problems are massive and extremely complex. One is located in Latin America, in comparatively small Colombia, affected by long-term violence, social inequity and conflict. One works in Sub-Saharan Africa - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi - where social and education challenges are extremely big. Very different "developing countries", each of them unique and specific within their own regions.


The four programmes:
 

» Have a long history and process behind
: BRAC started in 1972, Escuela Nueva in 1975, Camfed in 1993, Pratham in 1994.  


» Started local and small
, before expanding and becoming national and later international models. This bottom-up approach, plus the long term effort, have been key to their sustainability and success.
 

» Emerged as educational alternatives for the poor and some of the most disadvantaged groups in their respective societies. BRAC, Escuela Nueva and Camfed were rooted in rural areas. Their education models were tailored for the specific conditions of rural areas.   

» Serve children, through primary education in the case of BRAC and Escuela Nueva, early childhood and pre-school education in Pratham, and primary and secondary education in Camfed. BRAC started targetting girls, given the huge gender gap in primary education enrollment and attendance in Bangladesh at that time. Camfed is devoted to girls and women.  

» Expanded gradually
beyond their original visions, missions and scopes, paying attention to the needs revealed by reality and by the learning process itself. They ventured into new areas, covered new ages and levels. All of them were aware of the importance of involving parents, families and communities, and have worked consistently in that direction.
 

» Focus on ensuring the basics
: reading, writing and numeracy, survival, life and social skills, family and community empowerment.  


» Give great importance to pedagogy and to pedagogical transformation,
much more than to infrastructure, administration or technologies. They all adopt learner-centered pedagogies. 


» Have been developed by NGOs, with the exception of Escuela Nueva, which was built within the existing ministry of education structure. In this case, the NGO has played a key role in accompanying, sustaining and promoting the innovation. Camfed is an international NGO. 

» Are low cost
: they take advantage of all human and material resources available in the school, the family and the community.  


» Have been supported by several international agencies, especially from the United Nations as well as from the World Bank and other regional banks and organizations. Also by the private sector. 

» Have received much recognition both at national and international levels.  

»
Have a rather low technological profile. Technologies are not the driving force. Human beings, participation, volunteering, school-community relationship, pedagogical transformation, are the key.

Related texts in this blog
Rosa María Torres and Manzoor Ahmed, Reaching the Unreached: Non-formal Approaches and Universal Primary Education   

Giving up to a literate world?




Every year, for years and decades, we read the same thing: There are millions of illiterate people worldwide (two thirds are women) and little headway is made despite the recommendations, statements, events. The United Nations Literacy Decade (20032012), of which few knew about, ended almost unnoticed.

Infographs of the 2012 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report graphically displayed the progress of the six goals of Education for All from 2000 (World Education Forum, Dakar) to 2015. In all goals, progress was lower than expected and less than what was pledged for 2015. Same thing was repeated in the 2013 EFA Global Report. Adult illiteracy was the furthest from being achieved. 

In 2010, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) concluded that 'literacy rates are increasing, but not fast enough'. In fact, progress has been insignificant and even more so if we go back a decade to the beginning of Education for All (EFA), to its launch at the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand) in 1990.


1989: 895 million illiterates (figure disclosed by UNESCO as an EFA baseline). The goal was to reduce illiteracy by half by the year 2000.

2010: 775 million illiterates (EFA Report 2012).

2011: 774
million illiterates (EFA Report 2013).
2015: 757 million illiterates.

▸ Illiteracy was reduced 12% since 1990, but only 1% since 2000.

After 25 years of Education for All and already well into the 21st century, we are still a long way off from a literate world.  

The commitment to reducing illiteracy by 50% by 2015 was not accomplished.

On the other hand, the 2012 EFA report pointed out that 160 million adults in 'developed countries' have 'poor literacy skills'.


In Latin America and the Caribbean, the commitment to 'eradicate illiteracy' goes back to 1980. The goal that captured global attention in Education for All and Millennium Development Goals was primary education with a focus on access and enrolment. Early childhood education and the education of young people and adults, at both ends of the 'school-age' spectrum, have always been pushed to the background, and the false option of education of children versus education of adults accepted.

History repeated itself in the race against time in trying to reach 2015 with what was possible and the debate on how to continue beyond 2015. The education - and specifically literacy education - of young people and adults once again gets relegated. Some demand that these goals be added, forgetting that they have always been there and that what has been missing is the political will to fulfill them, both on the part of governments as well as the international agencies. Once again a related goal will be added and once again it will become the usual salute to the flag.

In a world that prides itself on having entered the Information Society with an eye towards the Knowledge Society, that boasts of technological advances and struggles to decrease the digital divide, that tries to gain points in the global rankings on poverty reduction, 'digital illiterates' have become more important than the 'just' illiterate. It seems to bother no one that those people who claim to be illiterate continue to number in the millions, swell the ranks of the poorest and dispossessed, and will never read a book or benefit from the internet.

The number of illiterate people in the millions seems to have become perfectly tolerable and compatible with the progress of humanity. Who wants to take responsibility for them? Who wants to accept that the actual number of illiterate persons must be much greater since, as we well know, many people do not assess themselves as such in censuses and surveys? Who wants to pay attention to the failure of literacy education, to the worrying reality of the millions of people who cannot read or write even though they have formally learned to read and write?

The utopia of a literate world seems to be getting shelved away. Gone are the days of aspiring to end illiteracy (and poverty); the most that is aspired to today is the 'reduction' of both in defined percentages and conveniently prorated. And there are even those who, from an economic calculation, ideology or simply ignorance, are ready to claim that the illiterate persons who live among us in the world today are surely impaired and incapable of learning. 


Renouncing the objective of universal literacy is not only denying a basic learning need and a fundamental human right that assists people of all ages and conditions, but the renunciation of one more piece of dignity and hope in an increasingly dehumanised world.

To learn more

On LifeLong Learning ▸ Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida


Pawła Kuczyńskiego


A compilation of texts of mine included in this blog (posts, articles, conferences, interviews, books) related to the LifeLong Learning paradigm, on which I have been working since the 1990s.

Compilo aquí algunos textos míos publicados en este blog (artículos, conferencias, entrevistas, libros) relacionados con el paradigma del Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida, en el cual vengo trabajando desde los 1990s.



▸ En 1996-1998, siendo Directora de Programas para América Latina en la Fundación Kellogg, organicé la Iniciativa de Educación Básica "Comunidad de Aprendizaje", que continué desde el IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires (1998-2000). La comunidad local como comunidad de aprendizaje.

▸ En el año 2000, siendo miembro del grupo experto internacional organizado por UNESCO para la preparación de la Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización (2003-2012), se me encargó la redacción del Documento Base de la Década, el cual fue discutido y aprobado en una sesión especial en el Foro Mundial de Dakar (abril 2000).

Base Document - Literacy for All: A United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012). Drafted for UNESCO in 2000.
Documento Base - Alfabetización para Todos: Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización 2003-2012. Redactado a pedido de la UNESCO en 2000.

Literacy for All: A Renewed Vision (2000)
Alfabetización para Todos: Una Visión Renovada (2000)

Knowldedge-based international aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?. Paper prepared for the International Seminar on "Development knowledge, national research and international cooperation", Bonn, 3-5 April, 2001. Norrag News, Edinburgh, CAS, UK, 2001.

Lifelong Learning in the North, Primary Education in the South?, International Conference on Lifelong Learning “Global Perspectives in Education”, Beijing, China, 1-3 July, 2001 (abridged version).
¿Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida para el Norte y Educación Primaria para el Sur?. Conferencia sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida “Global Perspectives in Education”, Pekín, China, 1-3 julio, 2001 (versión resumida).
▸ "Aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida: Un nuevo momento y una nueva oportunidad para el Aprendizaje y la Educación Básica de Adultos en el Sur". Estudio encargado por la ASDI (Agencia Sueca para la Cooperación Internacional), Estocolmo, 2002.
Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical issues and opportunities for adult education. A study commissioned by Swedish Sida. Sida Studies No 11, Stockholm, 2004 (book, PDF)
Justicia educativa y justicia económica: 12 tesis para el cambio educativo. Estudio continental encargado por el Movimiento Internacional 'Fe y Alegría'/ Entreculturas, Madrid, 2005. (libro para descargar)

Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages. Conference at the 2006 Biennale of ADEA, Libreville, Gabon, March 27-31, 2006. El UIL-UNESCO afirma que ésta fue la primera vez que se vinculó alfabetización y ALTV.

Ciudades educadoras y derecho al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Entrevista con el periódico Ciutat.Edu, Simposio "Ciutat.edu: nuevos retos, nuevos compromisos", Barcelona, España, 9-11 octubre, 2006. Diputación de Barcelona, Área de Educación.

Presentación del libro de Emilia Ferreiro “Alfabetización de niños y adultos: Textos escogidos”. CREFAL, México D.F., 28 febrero 2008.

Niños que trabajan y estudian (Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Ecuador)
Exposición en la Jornada Internacional "Una propuesta de desarrollo humano que nace desde la infancia trabajadora" organizada por el CMT, Quito, 17 octubre 2008.

Social Education and Popular Education: A View from the South. Closing conference AIEJI XVII World Congress “The Social Educator in a Globalised World”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4–7 May, 2009.

De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. En 2009 preparé, a pedido del UIL-UNESCO, el informe regional para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges of Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional Report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education - CONFINTEA VI, organized by UNESCO. Belém, Brazil, 1-4 December 2009. Report commissioned by UIL-UNESCO.
De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe Regional preparado para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Prepared as keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

On Learning Anytime, Anywhere. Presentation at the "Learning Anytime, Anywhere" session at the World Summit on Innovation in Education (WISE 2011), Doha, Qatar, 1-3 November, 2011.

Youth & Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Published in LLinE - Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2011.
El enfoque de Aprendizaje a lo Largo de Toda la Vida: Implicaciones para la política educativa en América Latina y el Caribe. UNESCO, Documentos de Trabajo sobre Política Educativa, No. 8, París, 2020.
The Lifelong Learning approach: Implications for education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO, Working Papers on Education Policy, No. 8, Paris, 2020.

Otros textos míos sobre ALV en este blog

El derecho de niños y niñas a una educación básica
El Ecuador y el Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida

Aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida no se refiere solo a adultos

Tres maneras de entender "aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida"

El Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida no se limita al sistema escolar
Lifelong Learning is not confined to the school system

Formal, non-formal and informal learning
Aprendizaje formal, no-formal e informal

Saberes socialmente útiles

Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
Objetivo 4: Educación - Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

On Innovation and Change in Education

About "good practice" in international co-operation in education

Child learning and adult learning revisited

Educar a los niños o a los adultos: falso dilema

Comunidad de Aprendizaje: Educación, territorio y aprendizaje comunitario
Sucesivas versiones presentadas en eventos nacionales e internacionales.

Basic Learning Needs: Different Frameworks

La biblioteca como núcleo de desarrollo comunitario (Una experiencia en Córdoba, Argentina)

El barrio como espacio pedagógico: Una escuelita itinerante (Brasil)

Children's rights: A community learning experience in Senegal

PISA o PIAAC

La educación de un niño empieza 20 años antes de su nacimiento

The oldest and the youngest | Los más viejos y los más jóvenes

Transforming formal education from a lifelong learning perspective


Rosa María Torres

Conference prepared for the
  International Conference on Learning Cities
           UIL-UNESCO and China's Ministry of Education,
           Beijing, China, 21-23 October 2013


(draft, in process)
Pawel Jonca

Lifelong Learning means Learning throughout Life

Many people confuse Lifelong Learning (LLL) with Out-of-School Learning (Informal Learning, Open Learning, etc.), leaving the school system out of it. Many think LLL as Adult Education or as Non-Formal Education, leaving children out of it. All these associations seem to ignore that Lifelong Learning means literally learning throughout life.

In the first place, LLL is a fact: all of us learn from birth to death, everywhere and from many sources: family, friends, play, observation, practice, experience, nature, school, work, reading, writing, solving problems, participating, etc.

LLL is also the paradigm proposed for education and learning policies and systems in the 21st century. It embraces and emphasizes two key concepts: LEARNING and LIFE.

LEARNING: 
- NOT getting access to
- NOT teaching
- NOT studying
- NOT approving

LIFE:
- NOT only adulthood.

Formal education and lifelong learning 
 
Formal education
is "institutionalised, intentional and planned through public organizations and recognised private bodies" ( UNESCO's
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED, revised in 2011). The education ladder includes pre-school education, primary education, lower and upper secondary education, technical and vocational education, adult formal education, and higher education. 

Formal education is a very important part of the LLL experience. However, viewed in a LLL perspective, formal education occupies a rather small portion of learners' lives. Most of what we learn in life (and some of the most important, such as learning to speak) is the result of  informal learning: non-institutional learning that occurs in daily life, and where no actual or deliberate teaching is involved.

Millions of people worldwide get no or very little formal education; others make it through various school levels, get diplomas and higher education qualifications. All of them - the illiterate and the Ph.Ds - are lifelong learners. Without learning, survival and life would be impossible. Those who never go to school learn basically through informal learning and oral (non-written) interaction.

Life and lifelong learning

Life is getting longer. Life expectation has grown considerably throughout the world over the past two decades. Consequently, adult and older learners have multiplied - current population trends indicate they will continue to multiply in the coming years. New scientific knowledge confirms that aging implies cognitive deterioration but it also confirms that older adults are capable of learning almost anything. Now we also know that learning begins before birth, and that it takes place also while we sleep.

Schooling and lifelong learning

Formal education continues to expand downwards and upwards. Institutionalized initial/pre-school education grow in many countries, and even become part of compulsory education in a few countries; the age to start school is also lowered in some countries. On the other side, higher education continues to expand, adding degrees and titles. School life expectation and the number of years of schooling and/or of higher education graduates are taken as indicators to compare countries' educational status.

However, the real objective is not a competitive race for titles. The objective is learning, enhancing lifelong learning opportunities for all, creating learning societies.

Formal education and learning

Access to school, especially to primary education, has been the traditional focus of national governments and international agencies vis à vis "developing countries". Completion of primary education and other levels and cycles, was the next step. Actual learning has remained an elusive objective until very recently, and often continues to be confused with approving school tests. And yet, the core mission of education is learning. Teaching without learning is absurd and a waste of time. Learning remains a critical area of school systems worldwide. Ensuring learning within the  school system is thus a major challenge in itself.

OECD: PISA & PIAAC

OECD's PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test applied to 15 year-olds since the year 2000 assesses competencies in three key areas: reading, mathematics and science. Initially designed for OECD countries, over 70 countries have participated in PISA so far.

In recent times, OECD has also applied ‌the Survey of Adult Skills, a survey conducted in 33 countries as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies  (PIAAC). The survey was applied in 2012 to 16 to 65 year olds. It measured "Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving Skills in Technology-rich Environments". They are considered "information-processing skills", "key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper." The questions could be answered via computer or with pen and paper. 5,000 individuals were interviewed at home in each participating country.

This is the first international survey on the subject, the first one digging into LLL from an adult (16-65) learning perspective. The first results were released in October 2013.


                                          PIAAC: Some results
PIAAC provides insights into how these "information-processing" skills are developed and used at work and at home. Below a concise summary of some of these results:

▸ LITERACY AND NUMERACY skills are low in most countries.

▸ INITIAL + CONTINUING OPPORTUNITIES There appears to be a combination of poor initial education and lack of opportunities to further improve skills.

▸ AGE In general, older adults have lower proficiency in the three domains than younger ones (the peak is around 30 years of age). This is especially true in relation to modern technology. The extent of the gap between generations varies considerably among countries.

▸ GENDER differences are there (men have higher scores in numeracy and problem solving in technology‑rich environments than women), but the gap is not large and is very small among younger adults.

▸ LANGUAGE is a major barrier affecting the immigrant population, especially in the literacy domain.

▸ ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL WELL BEING is positively related to higher skills levels.

▸ WORK has major influence on skills use and development.

▸ FORMAL EDUCATION On average, adults with tertiary‑level qualifications have a 36 score‑point advantage – the equivalent of 5 years of schooling – over adults who have not completed upper secondary education. However,  levels and qualifications are not necessarily linked to skills proficiency.
Source: OECD Interactive Charts  OECD Skills Outlook 2013



Literacy and numeracy continue to be the most important and critical skills (all ages)


For the purpose of the Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC defines Literacy and Numeracy as follows:

Literacy is the ability to understand, evaluate, use and engage with written texts, to participate in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. Literacy encompasses a range of skills from the decoding of written words and sentences to the comprehension, interpretation and evaluation of complex texts. It does not, however, involve the production of text.

Numeracy is the ability to access, use, interpret and communicate mathematical information and ideas in order to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a wide range of situations in adult life. To this end, numeracy involves managing a situation or solving a problem in a real context by responding to mathematical content represented in multiple ways.
Source: OECD Interactive Charts



Historically, literacy and numeracy are at the heart of the school system and of the mission of primary education in particular. Reading, writing and dealing with mathematical problems, continue to be at the top of any list of "21st century skills". However, literacy and numeracy skills continue to be problematic for a large part of the schooled population, be it children, youth or adults, in both "developed" and "developing" countries.

This is what PISA and PIAAC reveal, as well as many other research and evaluation reports throughout the world. Formal education is doing a poor job in this field. This is not new. The situation has been identified and exposed for a long time now.
▸ After completing 4 years of primary school, 130 million children worldwide cannot read and write (Education for All - EFA Report 2012)

▸ "In most countries, there are significant proportions of adults who score at lower levels of proficiency on the literacy and numeracy scales" (...) "Even among adults with computer skills, most scored at the lowest level of the problem solving in technology‑rich environments scale."
(PIAAC 2013)
(See: Rosa María Torres, El fracaso alfabetizador de la escuela | ¿Renuncia a un mundo alfabetizado?)

What does it mean transforming formal education from a LLL perspective?

Among others:

■ A unitary, articulated formal education system  
In many countries, the formal education system is segmented in two or more systems - education and higher education, or initial/preschool education, education, and higher education - in charge of different government bodies (Family, Social Wellbeing, Education, Technical Education, Training, Higher Education, etc.). with little or no co-ordination between them. A major challenge is thus viewing and organizing formal education as a continuum, as a teaching and learning system articulated in all dimensions: administrative and normative issues, curriculum, pedagogy, learning spaces, teacher education, etc. 

■ Placing learning at the centre
Moving from access to learning,
from student to learner,
from studying to learning,
from approving to learning,
from education for all to learning for all,
from lifelong education to lifelong learning.

■ Acknowledging learners’ and teachers' previous knowledge and experience
Acknowledging learners' (children, youth, adults) and teachers’ previous and out-of-school information, knowledge and experience and adopting it as a key pedagogical principle at all levels.

■ Rethinking TIME for education and learning purposes 
The school system is always in a rush, trying to add and cover as much content as possible, with the "next level" as the desirable and visible horizon. A LLL perspective of learning allows moving back and forth, seing beyond the next level and back to the previous level, and outside the school system. Learning requires time.
(See: Rosa María Torres, ¿Más de lo mismo? Un sistema escolar que se estira | Repensar los tiempos escolares)

■ Rethinking SPACE for education and learning purposes 
The school system is one of many education and learning systems. Learning is ubiquitous. Rather than trying to assume total responsibility and control over learning, counting with families as the only "outside partners", school systems and teachers have a critical role in visualizing community and out-of-school learning realities and possibilities, and identifying the role of the community as a learning community.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Comunidad de Aprendizaje: Educación, territorio y aprendizaje comunitario)

■ Rethinking AGE within the right to education and to learning (education and learning for ALL)
Radically rethinking the traditional vision of AGE for schooling, education and learning purposes.
- Learning does not begin with the first day of school. Learning begins at birth (and even before birth). Early childhood is the most important learning period and experience in the life of any individual. When children get to school they are competent speakers of their language, they have learned and know many things. This knowledge must not be denied but rather be assumed as the starting point for the school experience.
- Revisiting concepts such as 'school age' and 'over-age'.
- Promoting (rather than inhibiting) peer-to-peer learning and inter-generational learning.
- Acknowledging adult education as part of the right to education and of the learning continuum.
- Children's right to education must include the right to educated parents.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Pre-niños (los cimientos invisibles) | Children's right to basic education | Educar a los niños o a los adultos: falso dilema | Los niños como educadores de adultos | Kazi, el sin gracia | Kazi, The Graceless | Child learning and adult learning revisited)

■ Connecting school and out-of-school learning systems
Connecting the school system to the multiple learning systems operating out of school: home, community, media, play, work, religion, social and civic participation, etc.

■ Education centres and community learning centres and learning communities
Thinking education centres as community learning centres and learning communities (inter-generational, family-centred, learning-oriented).


SIX EXAMPLES: LLL POLICIES AND FORMAL EDUCATION

A LLL perspective of literacy acquisition, use and development

When and where do we learn to read and write? Where do we read and write? Where do we develop our reading and writing skills?

The answer is: FROM BIRTH and EVERYWHERE.
- When children reach school, they have valid knowledge about reading and writing, they have developed their own hypotheses about their use by seing others read or write and by seing reading and writing materials around them.
- The school system is not the only one in charge of teaching and developing literacy skills. Moreover, within the school system, literacy education is embedded in the entire curriculum, not just in one particular subject.

Finland is a fine example in this regard: the whole society places great importance on reading and enjoys reading. Reading is a national hobby. Reading and writing are given great emphasis in the school curriculum. Families use libraries over the weekend; libraries are spread everywhere. Newspaper subscription is one of the highest in the world.

Given that literacy is often the main reason for school repetition in early grades, a wider vision of literacy acquisition would allow to understand it not as an objective for the first or two first grades but at least for the whole of basic education.
(See: Rosa María Torres, El absurdo de la repetición escolar)

Literacy, and reading specifically, require LLL policies and strategies, prior to and far beyond the school system, not tied to any particular Ministry (typically, Education and/or Culture), making use of all available and potential resources, from the local to the national level.

A schooled society is not necessarily an educated society. An educated society is a learning society. Proficient reading and writing are essential to an educated and a learning society.  
(See: Rosa María Torres, Escolarizado no es lo mismo que educado).

A LLL perspective of teacher education 

Teachers’ school biography and family background are key elements in teacher quality. Teacher education does not start with professional education. Quality formal education requires quality teachers, but quality teachers are educated in quality schools. School reform is thus a requisite for quality teacher education.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Los maestros son exalumnos | Talleres de lectura para maestros)

A LLL perspective of skills development

PIAAC confirms that "actual skills often differ from what formal education qualifications suggest".
▸ "Italy or the United States rank much higher internationally in the share of adults with tertiary degrees than in the level of literacy or numeracy proficiency".

▸ "On average, Japanese and Ducth high school graduates easily outperform university graduates in some other countries".
▸ "In many countries, there are large proportions of the population that have no experience with, or lack the basic skills needed to use ICTs for many everyday tasks".  (PIAAC 2013)
Answers to the question: Where are skills developed, used and eventually lost? include formal, non-formal and informal learning, and especially the role of home, school and work.

A LLL perspective of school "dropout" 

School "dropout" is generally not a personal decision but rather a sign of system disfunction. It is not a sudden fact, but a process. A process that starts in the early grades of primary school and even before, in early childhood and pre-school education. The school system gives students and their families permanent signs that things are going fine or wrong. Problems are viewed as "learning problems", "learners' problems", "individual problems", rarely as "teaching problems" and "system problems". Policies and programmes often see their mission as "reducing school failure" rather than "ensuring school success". Failure becomes the expected outcome, much more than success, especially if students come from poor and disadvantaged contexts. Nothing is more successful than success. If children are trusted, if high expectations are deposited in them, they will succeed. From the start. This is the best way to "prevent failure" and "reduce dropout".
(See: Preventing Dropout Effort Starts in Kindergarten, MindShift, Dec. 1, 2010).

A LLL perspective of family cultural environment and inter-generational learning

All studies and evaluations of school learning achievement conclude on the critical role of out-of-school factors and especially of the family, not only its socio-economic but also its cultural status and background. Literate/educated mothers and fathers, and a culturally rich and stimulating family environment, make a big difference in children's learning and performance in school. And yet, disregarding all scientific and empirical evidence, adult education continues to be treated with ad-hoc remedial policies, often reduced to adult literacy. A LLL perspective would imply an inter-generational approach to children's and adults' learning, address the family as a whole - family literacy, family education, family cultural development.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Niños que trabajan y estudian: Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Ecuador)

A LLL perspective of "human talent"

Increasingly, the notion of "human talent" gets to be associated with formal education and, specifically, with higher education, science and technology. However: a) every person has talent(s), b) human talent is developed since early childhood, c) there is no necessary correlation between talent and titles. A LLL perspective of human talent development takes all this into account, for investment and pedagogical purposes.


Transforming formal education from a LLL perspective: a major 21st century challenge

Given the importance of the school system as a systematic teaching and learning system for children, youth and adults, one that is spread throughout the world and that is critical to fulfilling the right to education, transforming formal education from a LLL perspective is essential to make LLL an effective new education and learning paradigm, to organize learning communities, and to build learning societies.

This implies an authentic revolution, not just introducing innovations, reforming or "improving the quality of education". It requires scientific knowledge but also people's wisdom and lots of common sense. Political will - top-down and bottom-up - is essential, but so are creativity and imagination!

Març Rabal

Related texts in this blog (English)
Rosa María Torres, On LifeLong Learning Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (compilation)
Rosa María Torres, Sobre Lectura y EscrituraOn Reading and Writing  (compilation)
Rosa María Torres and Manzoor Ahmed, Reaching the Unreached: Non-Formal Approaches and Universal Primary Education (dossier)
Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical issues and opportunities for adult education, Sida Studies No 2, Stockholm, 2004 (book, PDF) 

International Initiatives for Education ▸ Iniciativas internacionales para la educación

Rosa María Torres

Compilación de textos sobre iniciativas y actividades vinculadas a organismos internacionales publicados en este blog

Compilation of texts on initiatives and activities linked to international agencies published in this blog


International Co-operation ▸ Cooperación internacional
▸ Knowledge-based aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?

▸ About "good practice" in international co-operation in education


▸ El Banco Mundial y sus errores de política educativa
▸ The World Bank and its mistaken education policies


Avenidas promisorias y callejones sin salida

▸ Maldición de Malinche

Plans, Objectives and Goals for Education Reform ▸ Planes, Objetivos y Metas para la Reforma Educativa

1990-2030: Global education goals
1990-2030: Metas globales para la educación

Recipe for education reform
Receta para la reforma educativa

▸ América Latina: Seis décadas de metas para la educación (1957-2021)

▸ Latin America: Six decades of goals for education (1957-2021)

Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015
Alfabetización de adultos en América Latina y el Caribe: planes y metas 1980-2015

Education for All (EFA) ▸ Educación para Todos (EPT)

La década olvidada de la Educación para Todos (1990-2000)

Una década de Educación para Todos: La tarea pendiente (IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, 2000)
One Decade of Education for All: The Challenge Ahead (IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, 2000)

Basic Learning Needs: Different Frameworks

1990-2015: Education for All | Educación para Todos

25 años de Educación para Todos
25 Years of Education for All

Six 'Education for All' Goals
Seis metas de la 'Educación para Todos'

▸ La Educación para Todos se encogió

Educación para Todos: De Jomtien a Dakar (1990-2000)
Education for All: From Jomtien to Dakar (1990-2000)

▸ What happened at the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000)?
▸ ¿Qué pasó en el Foro Mundial de Educación (Dakar, 2000)?
▸ Que s’est-il passé au Forum Mondial sur L’Éducation (Dakar, 2000)?

▸ Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond Education for All (EFA)

Lifelong Learning for the North, Primary Education for the South?

▸ El Pronunciamiento Latinoamericano por una Educación para Todos

▸ Observatorio: Mitos y Metas de la Educación para Todos - blog
▸ Observatory: Myths and Goals on Education for All
- blog

▸ Military spending and education
▸ Gasto militar y educación

▸ 2005

Education for All 2000-2015: How did Latin America and the Caribbean do?

Millennium Development Goals (MDG) ▸ Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (ODM)

What did the MDGs achieve?
¿Qué lograron los ODM?


▸ Educación para Todos y Objetivos del Milenio no son la misma cosa - entrevista con la Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

▸ Education First
▸ La Educación ante todo


Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ▸ Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)

Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
Objetivo 4: Educación - Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible
SDG: Translation issues
ODS: Problemas de traducción

VI International Conference on Adult Education ▸ VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos (CONFINTEA VI)

▸ From Literacy to Lifelong Learning
▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida

▸ Youth and Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean

United Nations Literacy Decade ▸ Decenio de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización (2003-2012)

▸ Literacy for All: A Renewed Vision
▸ Alfabetización para Todos: Una Visión Renovada


▸ Letter to UNESCO on the Literacy Decade (2003-2012)
▸ Carta a la UNESCO sobre el Decenio de la Alfabetización (2003-2012)

Indice de Desarrollo Humano - PNUD

Indice de Desarrollo Humano: América Latina y el mundo
El Ecuador y el Indice de Desarrollo Humano

Banco InterAmericano de Desarrollo - BID

Satisfacción excesiva con la educación en América Latina

Foro Económico Mundial - FME

El Foro Económico Mundial y la calidad de la educación

World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE (Qatar Foundation)

WISE Prize for Education Summit: Bottom-up innovators
Los laureados con el premios WISE a la educación

▸ On Learning Anytime, Anywhere (conference at WISE 2011)

PISA - Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos (OCDE)

Artículos sobre PISA
Articles on PISA

Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación - LLECE (UNESCO)

América Latina y las pruebas del LLECE

Information Society ▸ Sociedad de la Información

Education in the Information Society
Educación en la Sociedad de la Información

Education as a Human Right ▸ La educación como derecho humano

▸ The 4 As as criteria to identify "good practices" in education
▸ Las 4A como criterios para identificar "buenas prácticas" en educación

Lifelong Learning (LLL) ▸ Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (ALV)

▸ ¿Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida para el Norte y Educación Primaria para el Sur?
▸ Lifelong Learning for the North, Primary Education for the South?

▸ Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages

▸ On Learning Anytime, Anywhere

▸ Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, Sida Studies 11, Sida, Stockholm, 2004.

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