Policy

UNESCO Asia-Pacific
Education Policy Brief
VOLUME 3

Brief
Integratin
2030 (APMED 2030) in November 2015,
including to review existing education plans,
policies and M&E systems in light of

g Education
Education 2030

2030 into
Education
Plans and
M&E
Key Points
•Governments, civil society organizations
(CSOs) and development partners are
committed to the achievement of 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by
2030, which includes education-specific
goal SDG 4
•SDG 4 constitutes a renewed global
agenda for education (Education 2030)
calling to ensure inclusive and equitable
access to quality lifelong learning, and
embraced by both developed and
developing countries
•It is critically important that the national
education plans and monitoring and evaluation
(M&E) systems are aligned to the major
initiatives and targets of the Education
2030 agenda
•Most countries face capacity challenges
as Education 2030 targets are very holistic,
ambitious and sometimes difficult to
quantify, posing a real challenge in
monitoring and evaluation
•In preparation for the implementation of
SDG 4/ Education 2030, a set of nine
immediate actions for 2016 was adopted at
the Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education
1. What is Education 2030? Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
succeeding the Millennium Development Goals
In May 2015, the Incheon Declaration was adopted
(MDGs). The Education 2030 agenda is fully
at the World Education Forum 2015 (WEF 2015)
captured in SDG 4, which aims to “ensure
by delegations from 160 countries and
inclusive and equitable quality education and
development partners in Incheon, Republic of
promote life-long learning opportunities for
Korea. The Incheon Declaration reiterated the
all”. Following the adoption of the SDGs, the
vision of Education for All (EFA), initiated in Jomtien
“Framework for Action Education 2030: Towards
(Thailand) in 1990 and restated in Dakar (Senegal)
inclusive and equitable quality education and
in 2000. The Declaration represents the collective
lifelong learning for all” was adopted at the
commitment of the global education community
38th session of the General Conference of
to a holistic, inclusive, transformational,
UNESCO in November 2015. It serves as the
ambitious and aspirational education
overall guiding framework for the
development agenda (“Education 2030”).
implementation and monitoring of Education
This new agenda is universally relevant to all
2030 at the global, regional and national levels. It
countries, regardless of their development
aims to support all countries to align their
stages. It affirms the principles of education as
national policies and plans to targets reflected in
a public good, as a fundamental human right,
the framework of SDG 4.
as a basis for guaranteeing the realization of other
rights, and inspires bold and innovative action. To prepare countries for the
imple- mentation of Education
In September 2015, “2030 Agenda for
2030 in the Asia-Pacific
Sustainable Development” was formally
region, the
adopted at the 70th United Nations General
first Asia-Pacific
Assembly. This new agenda contains 17

Malaysia
Funds-In-
Trust
Regional Meeting on Education 2030 Education for All (2000-2015) era, according to the
(APMED 2030) was organized in Bangkok, 2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report.
Thailand in November 2015. Attended by more
than 200 participants from 40 countries, including i. Sustain political commitment
education ministers, ministry representatives, ii. Expand knowledge base, evidence and expertise
development partners, donors and iii. Strengthen national policy and practice
researchers, the meeting laid the iv. Effectively mobilize more financial
resources (including domestic
groundwork for Education 2030 through
resources)
building a common understanding, discussing
v. Bring the monitoring and reporting of progress to a new level
the necessary structures for regional and
vi. Link monitoring with accountability
national coordination and partnership, and
identifying the immediate actions needed to These lessons were learned from the EFA
start implementation. experience, during which numerous EFA
National Action Plans were prepared, often
2. Why is it important to integrate these outside of national planning, budgeting, and
monitoring cycles. Indicators for monitoring EFA
targets into national education plans and
goals, especially those related to quality of education
M&E? and life skills, were rarely included in national
Encouraged by successful expansion of education M&E systems. In some countries EFA
access to education in the past 15 years, became an isolated and/or a parallel process to
Education 2030 focuses more on equality and national education planning, creating extra burden on
quality of learning. The new agenda calls for countries with limited impact on national policies.
governments and development partners to
If we are to ensure efficient, effective, and
ensure all people have opportunities for
sustainable implementation at the national level, the
lifelong learning to enable them to lead
initial step must be to integrate the global agenda into
decent lives and contribute to sustainable
existing national planning
development. To do this, the below six lessons
need to be reflected from the

Box 1: Education 2030 (SDG 4) Targets and Means of Implementation

EDUCATION 2030 (SDG 4) TARGETS

I. By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading
to relevant and effective learning outcomes
II. By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-
primary education so that they are ready for primary education
III. By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and
tertiary education, including university
IV. By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and
vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
V. By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational
training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable
situations
VI. By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
VII. By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable
development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles,
human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
a. By 2030, build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe,
non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
b. By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular
least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education,
iyaysook_267

including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and
scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
 c. By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for

UNESCO
teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing
States

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 and M&E systems. Through integration, countries will Education is managed differently across
be able to put in place an enabling policy countries and coordination for implementation of
environment, legislative framework, domestic Education 2030 can be a challenge. The holistic
financing, institutional structures and processes for nature of Education 2030 requires better
implementation and national monitoring and coordination within the education sector as well
accountability systems for achieving the as across sectors (e.g. education and health). In
Education 2030 targets. Drawing hard lessons most countries in the Asia-Pacific region,
from the past and analyzing available evidence on education is managed by 2-3 different ministries.
the current status of Education 2030 integration into It is often the case that ECCE, higher education,
national planning and monitoring systems, this policy TVET and NFE are under different ministries
brief articulates the need for appropriate actions – than the Ministry of Education. Effective
national and regional – for effective integration of coordination among ministries requires a very
Education 2030 in the region. high level of political commitment as well as a
national coordinating mechanism.
3. Current trends and challenges
Most countries have mechanisms for
Prior to APMED 2030, UNESCO Bangkok
stakeholder consultation, but the extent of
conducted a quick survey on the current situation of
effectiveness varies. One of the key features
integrating Education 2030 into national plans and
of Education 2030 is its focus on participatory
M&E systems. The survey was sent to Ministries of
and democratic education policy making and
Education officials in the Asia-Pacific region soon after
implementation. Most of the countries have
the adoption of the agenda by the UN General Assembly.
mechanisms for consulting various stakeholders, but
These findings therefore reflect early responses
their perceived effectiveness varies (Figure 2).
from 33 countries. They key findings of the survey
Results show that countries feel that sub-national
include:
governments and schools have a higher chance of
Many countries feel that their sector plans already being consulted than CSOs and direct
address many of the Education 2030 targets, but beneficiaries.
the extent of integration vary among targets. Most Figure 2: Perception of effectiveness of stakeholder consultation
of the 33 countries answered that Target 1 (%)
(Universal Primary and Secondary Education) is
already either completely or well addressed in their
existing education plans. On the other hand, as
expected, fewer countries feel that way for the goals
related to the “new areas”, such as entrepreneurship,
sustainable development, global citizenship, etc.
(Targets 4 & 7). Among the means of
implementation targets (a-c), the importance of
qualified teachers (c) is considered well addressed in
many countries, while safe and inclusive school facility
(a) and scholarship (b) are less so (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Perception of the Education 2030 targets integration

(%)
100%
90%
80% Available data for M&E are concentrated at the
70% basic education level (primary and secondary).
60% Primary and secondary education is included in
50% M&E systems of all countries that responded to
40% the survey. However, ECCE, higher education,
30% TVET and NFE are less integrated in education
20%
M&E systems due to the fact that these
10%
areas are often under different ministries.
0% In addition, comprehensive data
1 2 3 4 5 7 a b c
63673426_Indi

6
Targets
Completely addressed Well addressed Moderately addressed
 shutter
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To what extent are the results of the

consulation reflected in the final
plan documents?
1.
3 6 Very well
% %
2.
25
Well
%
19 3.
% Fairly
4.
Poorly
47
%
requirements for Education 2030 are likely to drive reviewing existing policies, programmes, and
reforms of M&E systems in many countries. The capacities that contribute to Education 2030 to
survey identified common challenges countries face identify the actions needed to fill such gaps.
if they are to integrate the Education 2030 targets This can provide insights on alignment of
into their national plans and M&E systems, Education 2030 initiatives and targets with
including: national plans.
• Building capacity to ensure effective At the regional/sub-regional level, efforts to
intra- and inter-sectoral
harmonize various national initiatives need to be
coordination;
made. This would mean 1) creating common
• Developing a culture of
advocacy messages and materials that can
evidence- based education
be used by countries; 2) providing clearer
policy making;
definitions and tools for monitoring and evaluation
• Creating and managing robust Education
Management Information System (EMIS) at all especially for the new concepts such as lifelong
levels; learning, global citizenship, and sustainable
• Ensuring good governance at all development; and
levels, especially at the 3) identification of technical and capacity
decentralized levels; and development needs and provision of support
• Ensuring sufficient financial resources for integration of Education 2030.
to implement plans through better A nine-point action plan was adopted at the
alignment between plans and close of APMED 2030. This APMED 2030
budgeting outcome document indicates actions for
In short, countries feel that they have a good countries, development partners and CSOs to
foundation for integrating Education 2030 into undertake in 2016. While countries agreed to
their sector plans and M&E systems, especially review their existing plans, policies and
targets related to school education (formal programmes vis-à-vis Education 2030,
primary and secondary education). However, development partners were tasked with
the holistic nature of Education 2030 and its providing: (1) common advocacy and
focus on equity, inclusiveness of lifelong communication materials; (2) platforms for regional
learning, sustainable development and and sub-regional coordination and information
global citizenship, mean that integration of sharing; and
Education 2030 will be a very challenging task. (3) clearer definitions and technical guidelines of
the Education 2030 target indicators.
4. What actions are needed for integration? Development partners and CSOs were also
tasked to provide technical and capacity
The Education 2030 agenda is holistic,
development support in integration/alignment of
aspirational, and bold. Its implementation at the
national plans with the Education 2030
country level calls for major adjustments in
targets. UNESCO will lead follow up actions
national education systems and development
together with UNICEF and other partners.
partners must adhere to the commitments to
support countries throughout the process. Implementing Education 2030 into national plans
The most important process of integration will will require building a strong enabling policy
be internalization of the Education 2030 framework, enhancing the capacity of
concepts at the national and sub-national levels. management and coordination, and improving
This will require: 1) stronger advocacy at the the utilization of data and evidence. Moving
country level to ensure that all stakeholders forward, countries will need a focused, concerted
understand the importance and significance of all effort among all education stakeholders to integrate
Education 2030 targets; 2) establishment of a and implement the education targets and vision
national coordination mechanism to ensure both for inclusive and equitable quality education for
horizontal (e.g. intra-ministerial) and vertical all.
(e.g. national and sub- national) coordination; and
3) gap analysis: mapping and
 Published in 2016 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07
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