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The State of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Guaranteeing Quality Education for All

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The State of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Guaranteeing Quality Education for All The STaTe of educaTion in LaTin america and The caribbean: GuaranTeeinG QuaLiTy educaTion for aLL A regional report, reviewing and assessing the Progress toward Education For All within the framework of the Regional Education Project (EFA/PRELAC) -2007 © UNESCO, Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO San- tiago) in collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Working team: Report Director: Cesar Guadalupe, Regional Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean - UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), and Coordinator of the Regional Information System (SIRI) - OREALC/ UNESCO Santiago; with SIRI’s professional team: Ivan Castro de Almeida Daniel Taccari Team responsible for documentary analysis on pertinence and relevance: Rosa Blanco Ricardo Hevia Carolina Hirmas (team director) The background documentary studies used for this analysis were carried out by: Daniela Eroles, Stafford Griffith, Carolina Hirmas, Cecilia Kaluf, Liliana Miranda, and Patricia Romero. Team responsible for statistical evidence and analysis: Regional Information System (SIRI) - OREALC/UNESCO Santiago Administrative support: Marcela Copetta, Loreto Bilbao and Viviana Ramírez The entire professional staff of OREALC/UNESCO Santiago participated in various working sessions aimed at defining the structure and contents of this document, as well as in revi- sions of its various drafts. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) processed and provided information from the household surveys used in this report. The Planning Office of the Ministry of Education of Cuba furnished information on schooling levels of the adult population of that country – which was produced jointly with the National Statistics Office of that country. The UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning – IIEP (Buenos Aires office), processed and provided information from its research program on “The Professional Training of Teachers.” The members of the working team are responsible for the contents of this report. The opinions expressed herein are theirs alone and not necessarily those of UNESCO. The place names and maps used in this publication do not imply on the part of UNESCO any opinion or position in regard to the legal status of countries, cities, territories, or zones; nor regarding their authorities or the drawing of their borders. This publication is available on-line at www.unesco.cl and may be reproduced in its entirety or in part provided that explicit reference always be made to the source. Design and lay-out: Marcela Veas ISBN No: 978-956-8302-77-1 Printed by Salesianos Impresores S.A. Santiago, Chile, August 2008 contents Preface . .5 Acknowledgements . .7 Reader’s Guide . .9 Executive Summary . .13 Introduction . 23 1. Are educational experiences relevant, given the purposes of education and the challenges of the modern world? . .29 2. Are educational services offered pertinent to the particular conditions of students, their families, and communities? . .51 3. Are education systems of the region efficacious in terms of attaining fundamental goals? . .75 4. Are the education systems of the region efficient in terms of the allocation and use of resources that society assigns to education? . 111 5. Are education systems contributing to equity through the creation of equal opportunities? . 121 Conclusions . 135 Summary information by country . 141 Methodological notes . 185 Annex 1: Information and guidelines for the documentary analysis . 201 Annex 2: Statistical data . 219 References . 235 Preface The availability of information on the state of education in the region is vital for policy formulation, execution, and assessment, as well as for the development of more informed public discussion regarding education. This report reviews and assesses the progress of countries from the basic right to education perspective, taking into account the internationally agreed-upon goals of Educa- tion For All as well as the strategies and principles which, in its Regional Education Project (PRELAC), the region has identified as central. From this perspective, it is both a response to an explicit request of the ministers of education in this regard, as well as an effort that directly touches on UNESCO´s role as an intellectual ally of its members in the search for fulfilling those key principles and rights that have determined the activities of the United Nations since its creation. In order for information to be useful in education policy processes, it is necessary that it be produced and analyzed within a framework of meanings closely related to those policies needs. From this perspective, the production of information should be based on the identifica- tion of the substantive aspects that define public action in the field of education. Thus, this report, rather than being a compendium of “data”, is grounded on indica- tors of the state of education. It has been written with the understanding that education is a basic Human Right. For this reason, it has been organized taking into account dimensions that, on the one hand, defines this right, and on the other, represents public action in the field of education. Thus, it seeks to account for the relevance, pertinence, and equity of education, as well as the efficiency and efficacy of education systems operation. This broad perspective also makes it possible to transcend the kinds of instrumental and/or reductionist views that have prevailed in the development of education information systems. It thus offers the bases for a substantial improvement and strengthening of the abilities of such systems to provide information that is not only reliable and timely but also meaningful and relevant, given the current challenges faced by education and the views of education that are the foundations of the policy strategies that PRELAC has identified as crucial. Thus, this document consists of a contemporary view of the meaning of education. It is the result of a process that has taken place among the countries of the region through preparatory meetings of the Inter-governmental Committee of PRELAC, in which they have been able to discuss their own form and organization of this revision. Moreover, this document is to be the first of a series to be produced every two years that will seek to contribute to national efforts, providing a regional perspective of the state of education. On the other hand, this document was presented as a draft to the II Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of PRELAC, which took place in Buenos Aires on March 29-30, 2007. The intention of presenting it as a preliminary report was to provide an additional op- portunity to receive feedback of countries regarding its contents prior to its publication. It should be noted that the information upon which this document is based comes from various official sources, including: (i) documentary analysis based on national norms and documents; (ii) statistics that are mostly based on official reports of the Member States as delivered to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) as the agency that is responsible at the world level for this task, as well as information from household surveys carried out by national statistics agencies that are collected and processed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It begins with a useful Reader’s Guide that establishes some basic parameters regarding how the report has been constructed while providing details about the information utilized. The Executive Summary presents the most significant aspects and findings of the document. This is followed by an introductory chapter presenting general considerations as well as the analytical framework that define the structure and range of the entire document. There then follow five chapters, each dedicated to a dimension of the analysis of the state of education here considered: relevance, pertinence, efficacy, efficiency, and equity. Finally, there are the Conclusions, as well as a section on methodology and two Appendices with researcher check- lists and data used. A reading reveals significant progress in the region in the area of education while at the same time identifies another equally important set of challenges that seriously threaten the Right to education. In this sense, we have here a document that, in the difficult task of providing a comprehensive view of a complex phenomenon and diverse situations, seeks to maintain a balanced position that avoids both self-complacency as well as the temptation of negativism and pessimism. Indeed, the state of education of the region is replete with great challenges and ur- gency due to the fact that what is at stake is the present and future of millions of people in our region. Recording what has been achieved and identifying what still needs to be done will provide information for the development of education policies. We believe that this publication, as well as the series to follow will become a required reading that foster the development of efforts to which our people have a right, and that it is the obligation of those who hold the public trust to carry out. We hope that the analyses and findings presented here will become part of national debate. If they do, we will have made a significant contribution to our tasks as an organization at the service of our Member States. If, in addition, the report points a way that the information system products do not merely stay in the reference libraries, we will have also contributed to education policies being increasingly informed by facts. Santiago, Chile. May 2007. rosa Blanco Guijarro Director a.i. UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean UNESCO Santiago acknoWledGements Production of this report has been made possible thanks to the contributions of a number of people and institutions, including: • The Vice-Ministers of Education, the technical staffs of ministries, as well as other participants in the preparatory meetings for the II Intergovernmental Meeting of the Regional Education Project for Latin America and the Caribbean (Santiago, December, 2006 and May, 2006).
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