Pacific Community-SPC’s Post

Publication: Innovation and New Directions: Searching for Novel Paths in Arab Education Reform Wafa Al-Khadra, Shaikha Jabor Al-Thani, Nathan J. Brown, Heba El-Deghaidy, Rima Karami-Akkary, Marwan Muasher, and Christina Zacharia The skill and performance gaps within the global labor force underscore the crucial need to prioritize budgetary support for education and educational institutions. National leaders must recommit themselves to educational reform, adopt a proactive stance, and take decisive action. Education should be prioritized not only in rhetoric but also in budget allocations and policy decisions. Verbal commitments must be substantiated with tangible investments. #skillsgap #performancegap #eduction #reform #educationalresearch #research #researchimpact #prioritizeeducation

Source: https://lnkd.in/g3Pa3BF8? Taken from The Inclusive Education Foundation Facebook page 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦: 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗨𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗠𝗔𝗥 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 (𝗘𝗖𝗥) The Centre for Education and International Development (CEID) IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society ECR focuses on debates about education, conflict, and international development, providing analyses of social, political, economic, and security dimensions in conflict-affected and humanitarian situations. It's a forum for knowledge exchange between academics, practitioners, and graduate students researching educational issues in these environments. Myanmar has faced decades of domestic conflict and political instability, disrupting education delivery and risking the future of millions of children. This special issue aims to shed light on challenges, innovations, and resilience in the education sector amid protracted conflict. Interested authors should submit a proposal for their paper (max 500 words) by May 24, 2024, to educationandconflictreview@gmail.com

#AUC Chair Emphasizes Need For More Investment In Education Sector In Africa. Chairperson of the #AfricanUnion Commission Mussa Faki Mahamat emphasized the need for more investment in the education sector in the continent in order to produce a generation that is productive. The Chairperson made the remark at the opening of the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) in Addis Ababa today. The session is underway under the theme “Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.” On the occasion, Mussa Faki Mahamat stressed the need for more investment in the education for it is crucial to have a productive generation in the continent, ENA reported. AUC Chair also mentioned about the efforts being exerted to resolve conflicts and bring peace in the continent stressing the importance of collaboration and unity among member states to successfully achieve this goal. African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee stated that the meeting is crucial as it is expected to exchange views on issues related to Agenda 2063, continental peace and regional integration and recommend possible resolutions. The objective of the meeting is to discuss various draft reports and prepare the agenda of the 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council scheduled to take place 14-15 February 2024, in Addis Ababa, AU indicated. Participants at the PRC meeting include Ambassadors from African Union Member States and AU officials.

It is exceptional for assessments to publish their costs. kudos to Hilaire Hounkpodoté & CONFEMEN for the transparency in this article: https://lnkd.in/ep42wnWt Here are a few things I have learned from working closely with PASEC and being on their steering committee over the past couple of years: 1. In the last 2019 round (published in Dec. 2020), PASEC covered 3 juncture: lower primary and upper primary students as well as a teacher content and pedagogical knowledge survey in 14 francophone countries. https://lnkd.in/e5YGBmN7 2. In next cycle in 2025, PASEC is expanding to 21 countries. These include the participation of the anglophone Nigeria and of the Lusophone Mozambique. Some countries like Senegal are administering for the first time in national languages in the early grades. They are also adding a lower secondary module.   3. More countries, more languages, more modules, this all has implications on sampling and costs. In the blog above, pasec explains the shift in international costs and national costs that resulted from these choices. 4. A key insight is that cost increases can be broken down between national and international costs. The international costs are the fees that PASEC receives. This is the only costs that international assessments usually publicize. PASEC’s shifted from 520k to 775k , a 49% increase, that can be understood by the fact secondary schools is a fully new sample. For comparison, international assessments announce fees of ~600k only for one module. So 775k is not a crazy cost for four modules in two different samples of schools. 5. National costs have increased significantly too. From 625k to 1.1M. These are costs that countries incur to do the administration sometimes with their own staff. Countries have actually the ability to control those depending on whether they pay per diems or not and at what level they set them. 6. In the context of the 2025 rounds, some countries like Nigeria have showed leadership in adapting their national costs to levels that made sense to them in terms of total costs of the evaluation. 7. The practice of announcing national costs from the start is specific to pasec and comes from the concern that if costs are not set aside early on, budgets could be re-allocated. It s a unique practice. It would be interesting to better understand the pros and cons of this model vs. the standard model of letting countries dealing with their national costs. 8. Beyond this cycle, there are strategic decisions awaiting PASEC, including a potential expansion to more non-francophone African countries, pioneered by Nigeria and Mozambique, *if* ther is demand. A similar model to ERCE/LLECE in Latin America.   Looking forward to seeing the results of the 2025 cycle and warmly recommend the read!

UNESCO-IIEP's strategy is to increasingly focus on education management. This is an informative overview—in English—of our efforts towards enhancing education quality management with 15 francophone African countries.

🌟 Shaping Higher Education in Fiji 🌟 Several years ago, the Higher Education Commission Fiji embarked on a transformative journey to enhance its regulatory practices, setting a new standard for higher education in Fiji. With a five-year grant from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the project aimed to develop risk-based monitoring and evaluation systems and lay the groundwork for an employer-led work-based learning system. Consultant Martin Draper played a pivotal role in this journey, tasked with developing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework. Through extensive research and stakeholder engagement, the framework was meticulously crafted, focusing on principles such as self-assessment, annual monitoring, periodic review, and risk management, setting a strong foundation for quality assurance in higher education across Fiji. Today, the impact of this project reverberates through Fiji's education landscape, with the Higher Education Commission employing the framework to ensure the quality and relevance of higher education institutions. This initiative stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in shaping the future of education, leaving a lasting legacy of excellence and opportunity for generations to come. Together, we can drive transformative change and shape the future of #vocationaleducation in your region. Contact us at info@tvetinternational.com to start the conversation. #VocationalEducation #HigherEducation #QualityEducation #FijiEducation #MonitoringandEvaluationFrameworks #SkillsDevelopment #TVET #WorkBasedLearning #QualityAssurance

🌏 Australian government to introduce legislation to strengthen international education sector 📚 🔒 Measures include capping student enrolments, preventing ownership of agent businesses, and halting registrations 🛑 🔍 Aim is to combat exploitation and ensure quality education delivery 🎓 💼 Reforms also target predatory practices like student poaching and enhance data sharing 🔄 📝 Draft framework outlines vision for managed growth of international student population 📈 💬 Ministers emphasize strategic management of sector growth for national priorities 🇦🇺 💡 Focus on vocational education to ensure safety and integrity for international students 🛠️ 📰 Consultations ongoing to finalize framework, ensuring sustainable future for international education in Australia 🌟

It's a Wrap! We are pleased to announce that the final technical report of the project "Strengthening the Governance model in Pre-tertiary Education in Romania" is now available. I was delighted to be able to deliver the closing remarks for a project that covered important areas such as school evaluation and support, educational resources, the teaching profession, and data and monitoring systems. It was also a great learning experience for me and my colleagues. The Ministry of Education - Romania received technical assistance to implement secondary legislation following the adoption of the new law on pre-university education, a result of the Educated Romania project. In this sense, the OECD - OCDE provided continuous support on difficult issues to be addressed in the coming months. Our sincere thanks go to Elizabeth Fordham, Laura Abadia and Ana Tăbăcaru, as well as to all the OECD experts who helped us in this endeavour. The project was financed by DG Reform through the Technical Assistance Instrument. I would like to thank Raluca Painter, Florin Popa and Rima Joujou-Deljkic for their constant support. It is expected that the conclusions and recommendations will be used as a basis for further secondary legislation. The report can be downloaded from the following address: https://bit.ly/4389e2j #education #Romania #EducatedRomania #governance #technicalreport #projectmanagement #schoolsystems #evaluation #teaching #policyreform #MinistryofEducation #OECD

Building bridges through education! 🌏📚 Experts highlight the crucial role of education and training in strengthening the relationship between Vietnam and Australia. Education and Training are Crucial Foundations in the Relationship between Vietnam and Australia: Expert Read More: https://rb.gy/0ld9zu #VietnamAustraliaRelations #EducationDiplomacy #GlobalPartnerships #EducationForAll #Training

Under the Presidency of Portugal and co-Presidency of Mauritania on Dialogue 5+5 Research, Innovation and Higher Education today a workshop "Engancing research driven spin-offs and Start-ups - research connected to the socio-economic development" co-lead by Algeria, Tunisia and Spain took place. The fruitfull dialogue included governance, financial instruments and share of best practices. Many thanks to the representatives and experts from 10 countries. Looking forward to the next steps.