Standards and norms in education

Check out the new UNESCO website on standards and norms in education.

This is a collection of UNESCO’s standard-setting and normative instruments in education, legal as well as non-legal. It also includes support documents, plus other relevant United Nations documents pertaining to the right to education as well as other key education themes.

Standards and norms in education

Check out the new UNESCO website on standards and norms in education.

This is a collection of UNESCO’s standard-setting and normative instruments in education, legal as well as non-legal. It also includes support documents, plus other relevant United Nations documents pertaining to the right to education as well as other key education themes.

World falling behind on 2015 education goal

Read the full article by David Alexander in Reuters AlertNet.

"Access to education increased dramatically over the past century but 323 million children worldwide are still not in school and efforts to achieve universal primary education by 2015 are likely to fail, a new study said on Wednesday.

"Despite the findings, the study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences said the goal of providing a high-quality education to all children could be achieved at a reasonable cost with more support and funding from governments worldwide.

"'There's no question that it's possible," said David Bloom, one of the authors of the study. "It's a question of financial resources and it's a question of political will.'

"'We have cost estimates, for example, of what it would take and we're looking at numbers that are less than what the U.S. is spending on an annual basis in Iraq and Afghanistan,' he said. The United States is currently spending about $8 billion a month on the Iraq war."

Click here for the website for the Academy report Educating All Children: A Global Agenda.

World falling behind on 2015 education goal

Read the full article by David Alexander in Reuters AlertNet.

"Access to education increased dramatically over the past century but 323 million children worldwide are still not in school and efforts to achieve universal primary education by 2015 are likely to fail, a new study said on Wednesday.

"Despite the findings, the study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences said the goal of providing a high-quality education to all children could be achieved at a reasonable cost with more support and funding from governments worldwide.

"'There's no question that it's possible," said David Bloom, one of the authors of the study. "It's a question of financial resources and it's a question of political will.'

"'We have cost estimates, for example, of what it would take and we're looking at numbers that are less than what the U.S. is spending on an annual basis in Iraq and Afghanistan,' he said. The United States is currently spending about $8 billion a month on the Iraq war."

Click here for the website for the Academy report Educating All Children: A Global Agenda.

UNESCO and Mrs. Laura Bush hosted roundtable on literacy and teacher training

The United States and UNESCO yesterday hosted a roundtable discussion at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters focused on literacy and teacher training for educational practitioners who teach literacy outside of formal school settings. The roundtable, entitled "Teacher Training and Literacy" highlighted the need for a greater supply of trained teachers in regions where an acute shortage is affecting efforts to promote literacy and meet the goals of the Education for All program by 2015. It was hosted by Laura Bush and Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO. Mrs. Bush is the Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade.

UNESCO and Mrs. Laura Bush hosted roundtable on literacy and teacher training

The United States and UNESCO yesterday hosted a roundtable discussion at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters focused on literacy and teacher training for educational practitioners who teach literacy outside of formal school settings. The roundtable, entitled "Teacher Training and Literacy" highlighted the need for a greater supply of trained teachers in regions where an acute shortage is affecting efforts to promote literacy and meet the goals of the Education for All program by 2015. It was hosted by Laura Bush and Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO. Mrs. Bush is the Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade.

Peter Plympton Smith

PETER PLYMPTON SMITH, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, is the highest ranking U.S. citizen on the UNESCO staff. He took up the duties as Assistant Director-General on 20 June 2005.

Educational Qualifications:

Dr. Smith served as Assistant to the Commissioner of Education of Vermont, then in 1970 founded and served as President of the Community College of Vermont (1970-78), concurrently serving as Director, Office of External Programmes of the Vermont State Colleges (1975-76). In 1986, he became Vice President (1986-1988) of Norwich University, Vermont. Between 1991 and 1994, he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) at George Washington University. From 1994 to 2005 he 1994, he was the Chief Executive Officer and Founding President of California State University, Monterey Bay.

Dr. Smith received an M.A. degree in teaching (1970) and doctoral degree (Ed.d) in Education Administration, Planning and Social Policy (1984) both from Harvard University.

Other:

Dr. Smith served as State Senator (1980-1982), Lieutenant Governor (1982-1986), and a Member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1989-1990) for the state of Vermont. During his tenure as Congressman-at-large, he served on the Education and Government Operations Committee and on the Select Committee on Children and Youth.

Read Dr. Smiths biography on the UNESCO website or his entry in Wikipedia.

Since his arrival at UNESCO, Dr. Smith has been very much involved in the reform of the educational sector. The Director-General and the Executive Board asked Dr. Smith as he assumed his post to create a decentralized, result-oriented Education Sector that operates more effectively and accountably in achieving its mission. They also asked him to work with the education sector staff to develop an Action Plan and a Management Framework for Education For All (EFA). Navigant Consulting, Inc., a U.S. consulting firm, is reported to have been contracted to advise on the reform. Progress is reported to have been good so far in the planning and reform process.