En este informe, presentado en cumplimiento de las resoluciones 8/4 y 44/3 del Consejo de Derechos Humanos, la Relatora Especial sobre el derecho a la educación examina las dimensiones culturales del derecho a la educación, que son cruciales para lograr la plena efectividad del derecho universal a una educación inclusiva y de calidad, como preconiza el Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 4. En su análisis, la Relatora Especial señala, a partir de numerosas experiencias nacionales, elementos que favorecen el respeto de la diversidad y los derechos culturales de todos en la educación, a saber: a) La valoración de los recursos culturales presentes; c) La descentralización en favor de los actores locales y la dotación de cierta autonomía a las escuelas para garantizar la pertinencia cultural del aprendizaje; d) Los métodos de observación participativa y sistémica; e) El respeto de las libertades en el ámbito de la educación, en particular. La Relatora Especial hace un llamamiento para que el derecho a la educación se considere un derecho cultural en sí mismo, es decir, como el derecho de toda persona a tener acceso a los recursos culturales necesarios para desarrollar libremente su propio proceso de definición de la identidad, tener relaciones dignas de reconocimiento mutuo a lo largo de su vida y afrontar los desafíos cruciales a los que se enfrenta nuestro mundo, así como para participar en las prácticas que le permitan apropiarse de estos recursos y contribuir a ellos.
La originalidad de este enfoque radica en considerar la vida educativa como una relación viva entre los actores (alumnos, educadores, organizaciones y otros actores asociados) y el conjunto de conocimientos que forman los recursos culturales comunes, portadores “de identidad, de valores y sentido”, sin los cuales los actores no pueden hacer nada.
In recent decades, governments have made considerable efforts to provide education for all. However, a large gap remains between international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goal 4, and the actual achievement of inclusive and equitable quality education for all. As a result, certain actors often critique public education as ineffective and inefficient, and thus incapable of addressing this issue. They argue for privatisation as a solution, deeming private providers as more innovative and effective than public ones. However, shortcomings in public education often arise not from lack of capacity, but lack of political will.
This review of examples of public education in low- and middle-income countries shows that, in direct contrast to widely disseminated (and empirically unvalidated) ideas, public education can be highly effective, efficient and transformative and, crucially, it is possible to develop quality public education everywhere.
In recent decades, governments have made considerable efforts to provide education for all. However, a large gap remains between international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goal 4, and the actual achievement of equitable quality education for all. As a result, certain actors often critique public education as ineffective and inefficient, and thus incapable of addressing this issue. They argue for privatisation as a solution, deeming private providers as more innovative and effective than public ones. However, shortcomings in public education often arise not from lack of capacity, but lack of political will.
This review of examples of public education in low- and middle-income countries shows that, in direct contrast to widely disseminated (and empirically unvalidated) ideas, public education can be highly effective, efficient, and transformative and, crucially, it is possible to develop quality public education everywhere.
Public education is often critiqued as ineffective and inefficient. However, where shortcomings in public education are identified, they can often be attributed not to lack of capacity, but lack of political will. Reviewing seven examples of public education in developing countries, this research shows that, in direct contrast to widely disseminated ideas, public education can be the most effective, efficient, and transformative approach to education, and, crucially, it is possible to develop quality public education everywhere.
The ten rights defined in this PRS framework describe what should be included in the approach of an ‘ideal’ school that offers quality inclusive public education and supports our work to secure and strengthen free, compulsory inclusive quality public education for all.
This collaborative approach between ActionAid and the Right to Education Initiative aims to secure free, compulsory, quality public education for all.
This is version two of the framework replacing the first version produced in 2011.
One of the most serious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the disruption of children’s education worldwide with the closure of schools for public health reasons. Projections from UNESCO Institute for Statistics show that nearly 100 million children across eight age cohorts would move below the minimum proficiency threshold in reading in 2020 due to the pandemic (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2021). Both current studies and experience of school closures due to previous similar crises, such as the Ebola epidemic, show that COVID-19 closures risk exacerbating vulnerabilities for those who are already disadvantaged (Azevedo et al., 2021). This includes lack of access to the vital nutrition provided by school nutrition programs (Borkowski et al., 2021); exposure to violence at home; early marriages and pregnancies for girl children (De Paz et al., 2020); lack of social interaction (Larsen et al., 2021); and deepening inequalities for those without access to the Internet (United Nations Children’s Fund & International Telecommunication Union, 2020).
L’avenir de l’humanité sur la planète est, nous le savons aujourd’hui, compromis. La pandémie a eu au moins le mérite de démontrer combien nos existences sont fragiles et combien nos destins sont inextricablement liés. Il est nécessaire et urgent désormais, d’agir collectivement pour changer de cap et réinventer notre avenir. Dans ce tournant, l’éducation jouera un rôle crucial pour sa capacité, universellement reconnue, à provoquer le changement. Mais pour jouer son rôle, elle devra surmonter un double défi : honorer, d’une part, sa plus vieille promesse, c’est-à-dire d’être effective et d’assurer le droit à une éducation de qualité pour chaque enfant, chaque jeune, chaque adulte partout à travers le monde ; et, d’autre part, assumer entièrement son potentiel transformateur, afin d’ouvrir la voie vers un avenir collectif durable. Pour y parvenir, il convient de s’engager dans un nouveau contrat social pour l’éducation, qui permette de corriger les injustices tout en transformant l’avenir.
Ce nouveau contrat social doit être enraciné dans les droits humains et être fondé sur les principes de non-discrimination, de justice sociale, de respect de la vie, de la dignité humaine et de la diversité culturelle ; il doit aussi s’appuyer sur une éthique de la sollicitude, de la réciprocité et de la solidarité ; il doit enfin renforcer l’éducation comme projet public et un bien commun de l’humanité. Le présent rapport, préparé durant deux ans et qui a pu s’appuyer sur une consultation mondiale de près d’un million de personnes, invite les gouvernements, les partenaires et les citoyens du monde entier à élaborer un nouveau contrat social en faveur de l’éducation, pour construire un avenir pacifique, juste et durable pour toutes et tous.
Les conceptions, les principes et les propositions avancés ici ne constituent qu’un point de départ. Seul un effort collectif pourra les traduire en actes et les adapter aux situations locales. Il existe en effet de vraies lueurs d’espoir. Ce rapport essaie de les ressaisir afin que l’avenir se construise sur ces fondations. Qu’on n’y voit donc pas un manuel ou un plan directeur : c’est le début d’une conversation vitale.
Our humanity and planet Earth are under threat. The pandemic has only served to prove our fragility and our interconnectedness. Now urgent action, taken together, is needed to change course and reimagine our futures. This report by the International Commission on the Futures of Education acknowledges the power of education to bring about profound change. We face a dual challenge of making good on the unfulfilled promise to ensure the right to quality education for every child, youth and adult and fully realizing the transformational potential of education as a route for sustainable collective futures. To do this, we need a new social contract for education that can repair injustices while transforming the future.
This new social contract must be grounded in human rights and based on principles of non-discrimination, social justice, respect for life, human dignity and cultural diversity. It must encompass an ethic of care, reciprocity, and solidarity. It must strengthen education as a public endeavour and a common good.
This report, two years in the making and informed by a global consultation process engaging around one million people, invites governments, institutions, organizations and citizens around the world to forge a new social contract for education that will help us build peaceful, just, and sustainable futures for all.
The visions, principles, and proposals presented here are merely a starting point. Translating and contextualizing them is a collective effort. Many bright spots already exist. This report attempts to capture and build on them. It is neither a manual nor a blueprint but the opening up of a vital conversation.
En los países latinoamericanos, la necesidad de disponer de recursos adicionales para financiar los servicios sociales, la infraestructura y la inversión educativa ponen de manifiesto la urgencia de vincular fiscalidad y educación en las discusiones sobre las políticas públicas. Para incrementar la inversión social en educación es necesario que la comunidad educativa regional considere activamente la relevancia que la actual estructura tributaria y en específico el impacto que los flujos financieros ilícitos (FFI) tienen sobre el desfinanciamiento de la inversión social, ya que significan pérdidas cuantiosas en términos de ingresos tributarios no recaudados.
The efficient design and delivery of early childhood policies and services are critical to ensuring long-term learning opportunities and improved learning, behaviour, employment, and health outcomes amongst individuals. Research in neuroscience, developmental psychology and cognitive science has revealed that quality early childhood education, supportive communities and a positive family environment serve as important building blocks to promote healthy development amongst infants and toddlers.
The World Health Organization identified the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and by February 2021, two-thirds of LMICs were reported to have reduced their public education budgets (Education Finance Watch Report, 2021). Although many challenges to achieving full access to quality early childhood services existed before the pandemic, this finding dramatically reveals how the pandemic threatens to erode hard won gains already achieved for children and families, and could continue to have exceedingly negative impacts on child development, early learning, family well-being and all types of early childhood services.
The Global Partnership Strategy (GPS) for Early Childhood was created to counter this negative trend in education and to overcome the reduction and closure of services for health, nutrition, sanitation, and child protection in all world regions. Well designed and implemented policies and services for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Early Childhood Development (ECD) enable all countries to protect and guarantee child rights, achieve high rates of return on their investments in child and family development and widen avenues for transforming societies and lives.