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Education for All
 2008 Global Monitoring Report Education for All by 2015: Will We Make It?
A mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015 including Education for All's (EFA) 1st goal on Early Childhood.
2007 Global Monitoring Report Strong Foundations: Early Childhood Care and Education
An international Report on progress towards Education for All, with a special focus on EFA's 1st goal, Early Childhood Care and Education:
• Trends in early childhood care and education: who benefits and where?
 • How early childhood programmes move the anti-poverty agenda forward
• The role of the international community
See also regional reports, highlights from the launch and a video message from Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Background Information on Education for All
In March 1990, in Jomtien, Thailand participants at the World Conference on Education for All ratified the Conference Declaration, which included the statement:
- "Learning begins at birth. This calls for early childhood care and initial education. These can be provided through arrangements involving families, communities or institutional programmes as appropriate."
(Article 5)
A Framework for Action was developed to guide governments and their partners from civil society in creating national plans of action with targets to be met by the end of the decade, including:
"Expansion of early childhood care and development activities, including family and community interventions, especially for poor, disadvantaged and disabled children." (Article 5, para.8)
Ten years later in Dakar, Senegal at the April 2000 World Education Forum, 104 countries reported on the assessment of their progress toward achieving the goals of EFA – including two indicators for ECCD. The international community adopted the Dakar Framework of Action reaffirming the Declaration of 1990 including ECCD as the first of 6 goals: Goal # 1
"Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children."
In addition the following two related paragraphs:
"All young children must be nurtured in safe and caring environments that allow them to become healthy, alert and secure and be able to learn. The past decade has provided more evidence that good quality early childhood care and education, both in families and in more structured programmes, have a positive impact on the survival, growth, development and learning potential of children. Such programmes should be comprehensive, focusing on all of the child's needs and encompassing health, nutrition and hygiene as well as cognitive and psychosocial development. They should be provided in the child's mother tongue and help to identify and enrich the care and education of children with special needs. Partnerships between governments, NGO's, communities and families can help ensure the provision of good care and education for children, especially for those most disadvantaged, through activities centered on the child, focused on the family, based within the community and supported by national, multi-sect oral policies and adequate resources." (para 30)
"Governments , through relevant ministries, have the primary responsibility of formulating early childhood care and education policies within he context of national EFA plans, mobilizing political and popular support, and promoting flexible, adaptable programmes for young children that are appropriate to their age and not mere downward extensions of formal school systems. The education of parents and other caregivers in better child care, building on traditional practices, and the systematic use of early childhood indicators, are important in achieving this goal." (para. 31)
The Consultative Group and involvement in EFA
Key Messages introduced:
- Eight is Too Late to start paying attention to children’s learning needs. By the time a child reaches school age, most key brain wiring, language abilities, physical capabilities and cognitive foundations have been set in place.
- Learning begins at birth…... And basic education begins then too, as we support children in their healthy development.
- Support Early Childhood Care and Development
Investing in ECCD is investing in the whole child, with dividends that continue to pay off throughout the entire life cycle.
- Parents are the child’s first teachers
In supporting the youngest children, it is especially important to recognize that parents are the child’s first teachers. Supporting and educating parents and parents-to-be is a highly effective basic education.
- ECCD as a field has valuable experiences to share, including effective strategies for supporting young children in their development, supporting families, and of greatest interest to many primary level educators, helping to make schools more ready for learners and learners more ready for schools.
At that first World Conference on Education for All, the CG consortium lobbied -- along with others -- to ensure that the fundamental concept that "Learning Begins at Birth" was taken on board and integrated into the overall Jomtien agreement. What is more BASIC than a solid foundation for all later learning? When we remember that our goal is to build children’s capacities to become fully participating members of society, we are reminded to look at their whole development: their nutrition and health status, their environmental supports, the love and nurturing they receive, their opportunities to play, explore, learn, interact with materials, solve problems and participate in their communities. In the context of a whole life, it becomes clear that lifelong capacity rests on the foundation established in the first several years.
In Amman, Jordan, the Consultative Group reinforced the message of 'learning begins at birth' with that of "8 is Too Late" (See Brief: 8 is Too Late). While a focus on primary education is very important, eight is too late to start paying attention to children’s learning needs. By the time a child reaches school age, most key brain wiring, language abilities, physical capabilities and cognitive foundations have been set in place. Early Childhood Care and Development programs play a crucial role in establishing basic education for all.
In preparation for Dakar, some of our partners (agency and regional participants) attended and provided inputs into some of regional meetings that led up to the conference in April, and Robert G. Myers (a member of the Secretariat) undertook on behalf of the CG a review of the decade in relation to ECD for the Dakar conference. In addition, the Consultative Group organised a Strategy Session on Early Childhood Development in Dakar highlighting key issues and challenges for the future. Finally, members from the Consultative Group on ECCD participated on the EFA Steering Committee over the last number of years.
The CG has agreed collectively that regional participants and member organisations will continue to look for appropriate opportunities for ongoing participation and active engagement in the proposed follow-up to Dakar. Through the CG and specifically through the CG's Advocacy Working Group, the CG aims to ensure ongoing awareness raising of ECCD and its ability to contribute towards the overall EFA process (e.g. it enhances children's early development, it can increase the efficiency of basic education, it complements and supports other goals such as increasing girls' education and women's literacy).
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