UIS Develops New Survey on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information

Posted on May 1, 2019 by UIS Data Blog

By Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information of UNESCO, and Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

On World Press Freedom Day (3 May), we are reminded of the urgent need to ensure freedom of expression and access to information in this digital age of disinformation and violence directed at journalists. This is why the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), working with the UNESCO sector for Communication and Information (CI), is developing a new global data collection on these issues, thanks to support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), which is a longstanding champion of human rights in the area of communication and information. Continue reading →

Focus on our SDG 4 Data Digest Partners: Conférence des Ministres de l’Éducation des États et Gouvernements de la Francophonie (CONFEMEN)

Posted on April 25, 2019 by UIS Data Blog1

By Hilaire Hounkpodoté, PASEC Coordinator

The recent SDG 4 Data Digest illustrates the range of partners working with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to help countries produce and use assessment data to strengthen lifelong learning. This blog highlights the work of one of these vital partners: the Conférence des Ministres de l’Éducation des États et Gouvernements de la Francophonie (CONFEMEN). CONFEMEN works with the world’s French-speaking countries to implement the Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (PASEC), a renowned regional learning assessment.

Continue reading →

We Must Support Our Teachers

Posted on April 15, 2019 by UIS Data Blog

By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

It seems so obvious: without good teachers, there cannot be good education. But when you look more closely at the conditions in which millions of them work, you could be forgiven for thinking that this message isn’t getting through.

The latest data release from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) offers some sobering facts and figures for the annual CIES Conference in San Francisco this week. The Conference will focus on ‘Education for Sustainability’, and it seems to me that you cannot sustain anything in education – not even one single school class – without a good teacher who is driving the pupils’ learning. Continue reading →

Join the UIS at CIES 2019: Education Data for Sustainability

Posted on April 8, 2019 by UIS Data Blog

As the custodian agency for SDG 4, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) works with countries and a wide range of partners to develop the indicators and methodologies needed to monitor progress towards the global education goal. The UIS will present the latest developments at the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) in San Francisco from 14-18 April. Continue reading →

Data to Celebrate 50 Years of Progress on Girls’ Education

Posted on March 7, 2019 by UIS Data Blog

By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

This blog was also published by Norrag.

On International Women’s Day, we can look back at 50 years of extraordinary efforts to get girls into the classroom. Thanks to these efforts, the gender gap in education is closing and has been closing for decades. And today, the majority of girls worldwide complete primary school. Girls are also in school for longer than ever before. As 50 years of data produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show, girls’ school life expectancy is on the rise.

School life expectancy is the number of years of education a child can expect to receive. Overall the trends look good, even though school life expectancy also includes the years that girls repeat grades. Back in 1970, the global average for girls’ school life expectancy, spanning primary, secondary and tertiary education, was around 6.7 years. Today, it tops 12 years. Continue reading →

Digital Literacy Skills: From a Framework to a Measure

Posted on March 6, 2019 by UIS Data Blog

By Manos Antoninis, Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report

The latest SDG 4 Data Digest 2018, Data to Nurture Learning, summarized, among other things, the progress made by a range of partners working with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) towards establishing a framework and identifying assessment tools to monitor digital literacy skills.

Against the backdrop of Mobile Learning Week, this blog highlights the challenges for operationalizing the framework in a way that is formative, informative and cost efficient. Continue reading →

Millions of Girls Are Out of School – But Data Show that Gender Alone Is Not the Main Culprit

Posted on March 5, 2019 by UIS Data Blog1

By Tanya Guyatt, 60 million girls Foundation

International Women’s Day on 8 March is a time to celebrate achievements in advancing gender equality. It’s also a day to push for more progress, and this year’s theme “think equal, build smart, innovate for change” suggests that real change requires a new approach. We need innovative solutions to reach the remaining out-of-school girls and to ensure that all children finish school with the skills to thrive in today’s modern, global economy.