The massive expansion of education access throughout the world in the
past few decades signalled a positive progress for global development through
human capital accumulation. However, this same growth highlighted the
substantial deficiency in the learning that schools are unable to deliver to
the children that pass through them. In short, massive expansion in schooling
has not delivered quality education, a situation that United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO,
2013) termed a global “learning crisis”. The disconnect between
schooling and learning in the 21st Century also informed the global
aspiration to improve learning outcomes, as captured in SDG 4.
With the global attention now centered on SDG
implementation, policymakers and researchers are focused on data for measuring
learning outcomes. Measuring performance against SDG 4 entails assessing the
extent to which targets set on inclusive and quality of education have been
met. However, as the 2017 Goalkeepers Report shows, there is notable
conceptual problem and data gap in measuring the quality of education (see also
Unterhalter,
2019).
On the conceptual level, there is lack of consensus on
the appropriate indicator of quality education. Education quality is a
multidimensional concept and encompasses educational inputs, processes and
learning outcomes. This concern is apparent even in the SDG system, particularly,
in the Tier Classification of Global SDG indicators developed by the
Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs). This means that
additional work is needed to establish methodology and create an
internationally comparable statistic (UN Statistical Commission,
2018).
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