On Educational Goals to Follow EFA

Education for All is a policy first promulgated in Jomtien in 1990 and revised in Dakar a decade later. It sets international goals for education that were intended to be met by 2015. Some countries are on schedule or even ahead of schedule in meeting those goals, but others will surely fail to do so.

In our seminar on UNESCO, we have a class exercise in which the students discuss what new goals should be set by the global community for the period following 2015. Lets think about the question.

Why set international educational goals?

• As an excuse for lots of people to gather in some great place and spend time together at public expense
• To foster international discussion on the purposes, means and resources of education
• To promote more and better educational opportunities
• All of the above
• None of the above

What (if any) process should be used to set goals?

• Aggregating national goals set through internal processes defined within nations
• Through an intergovernmental process at UNESCO or the United Nations
• Through a broader process involving governments and civil society (NGO's, professional educational organizations, etc.)
• Through a process limited to civil society representatives
• By educational administrators
• Through a multistage process involving different stakeholders at different stages.

What is the target audience for a new set of international educational goals?

• What countries would set national goals influenced by the international goals? (Some countries seem to have internal goals that are more ambitious than EFA, and might not care what the international goals might be. Failed and failing states probably can't implement national goals. )
• Would NGO's working in international education change behavior as a result of new goals?
• Would donors change behavior? Multinational? Binational? Foundations?
• Would goals affect the private sector? Vendors of educational services? Potential partners for the public sector or NGOs?
• The community of educators?
• Does the wider public care?

What is the legitimate basis for international action is setting educational goals?

• Promoting global adherence to a universal human right to education
• Promoting education as a means to alleviate poverty
• Promoting education as a means to advance international economic prosperity
• Promoting education as a means of advancing international security objectives
• Promoting cultural advancement
• Other?

Are there illegitimate bases for such action?