Spotlight session UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum

The Spotlight Series developed in partnership between the Global Education Monitoring Report, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the African Union (AU) leverages research and analysis on foundational learning and basic education completion to influence policy decisions and support policy dialogue across Africa. It shows that, at most, one in five children who reach the end of primary school in Africa achieve the minimum proficiency level required to continue their education and fulfil their potential.

Echoing the ambitions of the AU Year of Education, a 90- minute session during the UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum will draw on the Spotlight research to position foundational learning in the context of the Forum’s ambition to envisage a transformative future for Africa. It will demonstrate the importance of building education systems that equip students to become effective change agents; citizens who will help build the continent’s sustainable development as envisioned by the AU and its 2063 Agenda. 

The 2022 Spotlight report, Born to Learn, synthesized evidence on completion rates and levels of minimum learning proficiency in the continent, informing the debate on national SDG 4 / CESA benchmarks. It draws on five country reports covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal and a series of case studies from all African regions. The second report, Learning Counts, released in May 2024 examines how countries align their mathematics curriculum, textbooks, teacher support and assessment – with reference to the Global Proficiency Framework for Mathematics. The report draws on country reports from Mauritania, Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa, country research in Niger and a series of case studies from across the continent. 

The session will feature dialogue on country progress towards national SDG 4 benchmarks for assessing progress in basic education on the continent and the latest policy analysis on successful practices drawing from the Spotlight series; it will inform of existing African Union peer learning mechanisms for collaboration on the continent being bolstered by the Spotlight research - key pillars for creating the strong, prosperous, inclusive and cohesive future we all desire. The session will stimulate discussion on the next Spotlight Report focusing on leadership and ask participants to share the leadership attributes and enabling environments they believe are required to bolster foundational learning and transform education systems across the continent.  

Led by the Spotlight Report Team at the GEM Report, the session will feature interventions from UNESCO Chairs, academics and foundational learning champions from across the continent. 

Speakers to be announced.