Second meeting of ministers of education

Paula Louzano, Consultant, PRIE

Juan Carlos Palafox, Consultant, OREALC/PRIE

César Guadalupe, Consultant, PRIE

UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics prepared the statistics and designed most of the education indicators contained in this report.

USAID, UNESCO/OREALC, UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, the Andrés Bello Convention, the World Bank, and the governments of Chile, the USA, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico are helping fund the PRIE’s activities.

INTRODUCTION

The Regional Education Indicator Project (PRIE) initiative arose from the Second Summit of the Americas, at which the hemisphere’s heads of state and government identified education as the region’s top priority.

Mariana Aylwin Oyarzún Ana Luiza Machado

Minister for Education Director, Regional Office for

CHILE Education in Latin America and the Caribbean

UNESCO/OREALC

THE REGIONAL EDUCATION INDICATOR PROJECT – PRIE

6. 
   Background

   At the Second Summit of the Americas (Chile, April 1998), the Heads of State and Government adopted a Plan of Action for Education in the region, with the following general goals: ensuring, by the year 2010, universal access to quality primary education for all children; providing access to quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of young people, with increasing percentages of young people completing secondary education; and providing the general population with opportunities for lifelong learning.

   At the meeting of the education ministers of the countries involved in the Second Summit of the Americas (Brasilia, July 1998), Chile’s Ministry of Education offered to coordinate the design and implementation of a Regional Education Indicator Project.
   

7. 
   Development

   Chile’s Ministry of Education and UNESCO/OREALC entered into a cooperation agreement for the development and execution of the Regional Education Indicator Project (PRIE). This effort is also receiving assistance from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics.

   Interested countries from across the hemisphere met in Washington, D.C., in August 2000; on that occasion, Chile explained the PRIE’s content and methods and began work on its implementation.

   For executing the project, it has been proposed that the indicators should be designed on the basis of the initiatives already existing in the region (such as the OECD/UNESCO World Education Indicators effort, WEI; the OECD’s INES program; the MERCOSUR project; and CREMIS in the Caribbean), and a coherent strategy should be established so that all the nations of the hemisphere can work together on their development.

   
   
8. 
   Objectives

   The PRIE has set itself the following objectives:

   – Building a basic set of comparable education indicators for the Americas, based on existing initiatives.

   – Strengthening national indicator systems and developing a technical cooperation program.

   – Publishing these indicators and encouraging their use in the adoption of education policies.
   

9. 
   Components and Work Methods

   In pursuit of its objectives, the PRIE uses three interrelated components, each of which follows its own working method. These components are the following:

   4.1 Indicator Design

   The PRIE, working in conjunction with UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, supports the countries as they gather information in accordance with the Institute’s questionnaires. In addition, the Institute designs the indicators used by the PRIE.

   At the same time, working groups made up of professionals from the countries are established, in accordance with the categories of analysis used by the PRIE and with the countries’ own interests and priorities. The aim of this is to further pursue the conceptual and methodological contents of the indicators in question or to develop theoretical aspects and new indicators that can expand knowledge in the different areas and, consequently, facilitate a better understanding of the education sector and of society as a whole.

   4.2 Technical Assistance

   The PRIE provides the countries with technical assistance so they can better respond to the questionnaire from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and to help them improve their information systems and education statistics.

   A technical assistance program has been designed and launched. Depending on their needs, it offers the countries three alternatives: individual assistance for countries; assistance for groups of countries that share common interests; and internships in experienced nations, offered to other groups of countries.

   4.3 Dissemination and Analysis

   The PRIE has drawn up a Regional Report, using the project’s 25 indicators and statistical data for 1998, as returned on the UNESCO Institute for Statistics questionnaire. The preliminary results have been presented at the education ministers’ Third Summit follow-up meeting.

   
   
10. 
    Expected Results

    The results we expect after the PRIE’s planned three-year execution period are the following:

    – A set of comparable education indicators, calculated with the active involvement of the countries in question, to enable them to make better decisions in the field of education policy.

    – A culture of generating and using quality information in education decision-making.

    – A continuous strengthening of the statistics systems within the region’s countries.

    – Strengthening the region’s permanent education information system.

    
    
11. 
    Funding

    This project is being financed with funds from both governments and international organizations. In particular, the PRIE receives funding from USAID, UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, UNESCO/OREALC, the Andrés Bello Convention, the World Bank, and the governments of Chile, the USA, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.