2006 Activities2006 Activities
During 2006, the Education Support Program, with its partners in various national foundations and education spin-offs furthered policies and programs that promote access, extend quality, and improve accountability in education. These activities included the following:
Network of Education Policy Centers (NEPC) Launch
ESP promoted the establishment of education policy centers in OSI’s traditional area in Europe and Asia for seven years. Three years ago, a serious effort was undertaken to bring together education policy centers. The NEPC emerged as an international community of practice, promoting independent and information-based policy analysis, advocacy for equity, and effective, sustainable solutions in education policy processes. See www.edupolicy.net.
Civil coalitions promoting access to quality education Pakistan
ESP supported a coalition of local partners to complete What Works and Why: an innovative, qualitative study of forty schools in eight districts across Pakistan. The study laid important groundwork for engaging the policy debate from the bottom on, bringing a clear perspective on problems in implementing policy and emphasizing the importance of local knowledge, ownership and accountability in reform processes. Local partners are launching a Campaign for Education Quality, a policy and advocacy civil coalition to campaign for education quality and greater accountability in education reforms in Pakistan.
Progress towards outcome-based education in Armenia
Standards for teaching social sciences in Grades 8 and 9 were developed with the support of ESP and OSI, and adopted by the Ministry of Education. This helped to introduce democratic values, knowledge and methods into the education system. It represents an important step towards an interactive, outcome-based and student-oriented approach more comprehensively in Armenian schools.
Education for democratic citizenship in Georgian higher education
The Georgian Foundation and ESP developed a higher education module on Education for Democratic Citizenship that piloted at the Faculty of Education, Ilia Chavchavadze State University. The module, primarily for future teachers and students of social sciences and humanities consists of four interrelated themes: Gender Studies, Human Rights, Media, and Methodology.
Advancing inclusive education in Serbia
The Fund for an Open Society–Serbia established an Inclusive Education Network that includes over 150 teachers and expert consultants in 15 towns within Serbia. Ten local teams now work on improving access to quality education for disadvantaged children. These efforts contribute to narrowing the gap between the government’s policy and practice in inclusive education,.
Enhancing teacher education and training in South East Europe
A joint study of teacher education in SEE was funded by ESP’s RE:FINE grant program, the Swiss Agency for Development, and UNESCO Study of Teacher Education and Training. The study describes how the systems of pre-service and in-service teacher education works and identifies real needs in faculties, colleges and inset institutions. The joint publication is a strong advocacy tool that provides a platform for improving teacher education and training. More information at www.see-educoop.net/portal/tesee.htm.
Open public debate on corruption in education in Azerbaijan
A series of seminars initiated by ESP, the Center for Innovations in Education, and IIEP UNESCO raised awareness on corrupt practice in education in Azerbaijan, introducing the term “corruption” in public and political discourse. At the beginning of the year, policymakers were reluctant to admit the lack of transparency and corruption, by November politicians, representatives of schools and NGOs were vigorously discussing the causes of corruption and how to fight against it. The Ministry of Education developed a code of ethics that was distributed to all educational institutions.
Monitoring financial transparency in schools
ESP developed an innovative instrument to estimate parental informal payments to education systems (PIPES) that intends to improve transparency and accountability in school systems. The PIPES survey is being carried out in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Moldova.
Developing new textbooks in Tajikistan
OSI–Tajikistan developed four new textbooks. With ESP support, the foundation also developed criteria for textbook evaluation which is now the standard in the country. Trainers were also trained in instructing teachers in the use of interactive methods of teaching and recommendations on training textbook authors were incorporated by the Ministry of Education, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
Leading the way to standardized exams in Ukraine
The testing project of the International Renaissance Foundation was started in 2001 with technical support from ESP. The focus of the project was to reform entrance examinations to higher education institutions, as the existing system encouraged bribery to secure places in prestigious departments and universities. As a result of this project the government introduced national examination reform, which links secondary school leaving exams (Matura) with higher education entrance exams. This effort to build the necessary political alliances, and to raise the level of understanding and necessary support from government, education stakeholders, and society took five years.
Monitoring Education for Roma: A Statistical Baseline for Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe
In response to the fundamental lack of accurate information on Roma in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, and in the interests of promoting education justice for Roma, ESP produced Monitoring Education for Roma: A Statistical Baseline for Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, which presents the best available data on Roma education in these regions.
The Statistical Baseline is an unprecedented compilation, which collates information from 19 countries, and provides the clearest, most accurate image yet of Roma participation across a broad range of key education indicators, including enrollment and completion in primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
