Background and Rationale
Education is one of the most powerful drivers for reducing poverty and inequality and laying the basis for sustained economic growth. By providing all children and youth with a quality education that ensures learning, countries can ensure that they are equipped with the skills and competencies necessary for success in life and work.
The importance of an educated population is well established. Recent evidence points to the need to make sure that the increasingly schooled population is also effective in terms of competencies and abilities. For instance, it is not sufficient to simply increase school access and years of schooling attainment if that schooling is not also of high quality. Schools should ensure the attainment of cognitive skills and other competencies needed in society and the labor market. The quality of teachers is by far the strongest correlates of student attainment both pre-and in-service training. Education policies toward promoting teachers’ professional development makes difference in the capacities that teachers bring to the classroom. Using technology to enhance teaching and learning holds the potential to help bridging the advanced and disadvantaged in access to quality education.
Even though the benefits of education are well understood, we are still facing the greatest challenges to realize education’s promises for quality and equity. According to the World Development Report 2018, in many developing countries, most students are unable to read or write, ？？？even after many years of schooling. For example, if Brazilian 15 year-old improve at the current rate, it will take 75 years for them to reach the rich countries average score in mathematics and 260 years for reading. And the challenges are always much worse for disadvantaged. Education systems in developing countries must make transformational changes to meet the needs of human capital development for the 21st century.
The China Experiences, Participants, Topics and Objectives
The China experience: In 2009 students in Shanghai, China surprised the world as one of the top performers in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). As China’s education is earning reputation in quality, more and more countries are keen to explore the policies, practices and lessons from China. The interests range from government policy, finance, and innovations to nuts and bolts, including how China help the disadvantaged.
The developing member countries of the World Bank Group (WBG) could benefit from lessons of education development in China. China has the world’s largest education system. Over the past three decades, China has made remarkable progress in universalizing compulsory education, expanding access at all levels, and reducing adult illiteracy and, as a result, has supported the country’s impressive economic growth by supplying a large number of medium- to highly-skilled labor force. In addition to expanding education access, Shanghai’s and several other Chinese cities’ good performance in the recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a testament to the quality of education that the system can provide. Over China’s 37-year partnership with the World Bank in education, it has evolved from a recipient of financial and technical assistance to a major contributor to the world’s knowledge on education development.
Description and Objectives of the Executive Program: This WB-CIEFR Summer Executive Program focuses on sharing the global knowledge and experiences that education specialists need to know to work in the field of development today. Drawing on the most recent and seminal evidence globally and from China, the executive program brings global best practices, analyzes the nuts and bolts of delivering education that works for all, while avoiding key pitfalls in education policy and implementation.
Organization: This Summer Executive Program is a joint effort between the World Bank Group’s Education Global Practice with Peking University’s China Institute for Educational Finance Research (CIEFR). The 2018 program is the first of a series of Summer Executive Program developed for policymakers, researchers and practitioners who are interested in improving their education systems through sharing global and local experiences and best practices.
Participants: The program will bring together 40 participants including director level or above officials from the ministries of finance, education, and technical and vocational education accompanied by the World Bank, to explore ways and to highlight innovations that are enabling the development community to better understand how to improve quality and equity. The findings from the course will help participating countries to shape their ways of thinking toward goals as they continue to explore their own ways to improve quality of education for all.
Topics and Questions Covered at The Program: The Executive program will address the following key questions for policymakers to consider when developing national education policies: (1) what are the global development in education and what are the largest challenges; (2) what are the effective approaches for improving the quality of education; (3) what financing mechanisms, policies and approaches enhance quality and equity education; and (4) how to develop government polices to promote skills for economic development.
Schedule
Objectives:
Share global development in education
Learn about policies, approaches, and innovations in providing quality education services at scale
Understand models of education financing
Share practical examples on ensuring equity in education
Strengthen knowledge sharing and networking
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26th | Aug 27th | Aug 28th | Aug 29th | Aug 30th | Aug 31th |
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
| Introduction and Reception | Global knowledge and China' s experiences in education and development | Focusing on teachers and teaching | Field and school visit | Systems approach to education finance | Skills and technical and vocational education and training |
| The Lake-view Hotel | Meeting Room 2, Peking University Overseas Exchange Center | Meeting Room 2, Peking University Overseas Exchange Center | Onion Math; Haidian Teachers Training College | Meeting Room 2, Peking University Overseas Exchange Center | Meeting Room 112, Graduate School of Education, Peking University |
Contact Information:
Zhen Huang (Peking University) Tel: 86-10-62753628 / 86-13811932648 Email: zhhuang@ciefr.pku.edu.cn |
Ning Fu (World Bank) Tel: 86-10-58617659 / 86-18515363395 Email: nfu@worldbank.org |
