This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

Improving Education Quality

A new way forward in defining the issue of quality education is to view it through a broader lens, involving at least five dimensions: what learners bring, content, processes, environments, and outcomes. Panelists and over 150 delegates discussed the critical importance of education quality to genuine learning and human development and reviewed best practices.

Event Organizer:
UNICEF
Moderator:
Dr. (Mrs.) Saisuree Chutikul (former senator, Government of Thailand)

Panelists:
Stephen J. Woodhouse, (Regional Director for Europe, UNICEF)
Emmy Simmons (Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development
Elie Jouen (Deputy Secretary General, Education International, and member Steering Committee, Global Campaign for Education)
Mia Farrow, UNICEF Global Ambassador
Ezio Castelli (President, Association of Volunteers in International Service, USA, Inc.)
Bill Bell, (Head Advocacy, Save the Children Fund UK, on behalf of the Global Campaign for Education)

Respondent: Cream Wright, Chief, Education Section, UNICEF

Over 150 participants discussed the need to improve education quality to achieve development outcomes, and close the gender gap.

Dr. Chutikul (Thailand) spoke of quality education as a right in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She reminded participants that children themselves state that relevant and good quality education is what they need most.

Steve Woodhouse (UNICEF) emphasized that access without quality is tantamount to no access at all. He outlined five dimensions of quality: what learners bring, learning environments, content, processes and outcomes, and how girls face extra obstacles.

Emmy Simmons (US) reviewed principles underlying USAID's work in quality education based on lessons learned. Mr. Jouen (Education International) made an impassioned plea for teachers as pivotal actors in achieving quality.

Mia Farrow spoke of the need to create safe learning environments for girls. Mr. Castelli (AVSI) highlighted good practices in working with teachers and communities in Uganda and Albania.

Mr. Bell (Global Campaign for Education) emphasized the link between quality of education and girls' success in school. Cream Wright (UNICEF) concluded that quality is the most challenging dimension of the task to achieve Education for All and Millennium Decade Goals.