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1. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This section reviews major international publications to summarize the current thinking around
education quality internationally. On that basis, a conceptual framework laid out to organize the
empirical analysis on education quality in OIC countries. International goals and targets relating
to education and how this has changed are also briefly discussed. Towards the end of the section,
measures and determinants of education quality are discuss. The role of poverty in shaping
educational outcomes in the literature is also discussed.
Global Targets: EFA, MDGs and SDGs
The international agenda governing and monitoring educational development has changed
considerably over the last two decades. In 2000, theWorld Education Forum launched the Dakar
Framework for Action.3 The Framework comprised two key elements: 6 goals (and associated
targets) to be achieved by 2015 and 12 strategies to which all stakeholders would contribute.
This called for better access to early childhood care as well as compulsory and free education. It
also emphasizes on gender equality and improvements in education quality. EFA goal 3
(ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable
access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes) and goal 6 (Improving all aspects of
the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable
learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills)
were explicitly focused on education quality.
The same year, the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) were launched which overshadowed
the Dakar-based EFA agenda. In contrast to the ambitious EFA targets which focused on early
childhood, primary, secondary and adult education, the MDG focus on education was narrow. Of
the eight development goals, only one (goal 2) focused on education and set the target of
“universal primary education” for every child in the world by 2015. Another related target is to
“eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all
levels of education no later than 2015.” Given the single-focus of MDGs on universal primary
education, the more holistic targets of EFA were ignored.
Progress towards these two targets has been assessed in terms of the number of children
enrolled in primary education, the number completing the primary schooling cycle, and the
number of 15- to 24-year-olds attaining reading and writing skills. During the MDG era, access
to basic education increased significantly. Between 2001 and 2011, the gross enrollment ratio
in primary education rose by about 28 percentage points, reaching about 80 percent (World
Bank 2016). An assessment of trends for the period 2000-2015 confirms impressive gains4:
a) The primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions has increased by 8
percentage points (from 83% in 2000 to 91% in 2015).
b) The number of out-of-school children of primary school age worldwide has fallen to an
estimated 57 million in 2015 (against 100 million in 2000).
c) The literacy rate among youth aged 15-24 has also increased from 83% to 91%. The gender
gap in literacy has narrowed.
3UNESCO (2015) EDUCATION FOR ALL 2000-2015: achievements and challenges
4The 2015 Millennium Development Goals Report
(July%201).pdf