16 & 18. SPSF 2022-8: EFA, ESD, & post-Covid-19 to 2050

Book 1. Sachs, J.D. (2015).
UNESCO "Futures of Education" report
Data Activities & Discussion
Education for Sustainable Development
Japanese Entry

Book 1. Sachs, J.D. (2015).

The Age of Sustainable Development, Columbia Uni Pr

Chap. 8: Education for All

Life Cycle Approach to Human Development

Economic development depends on investment... the most important investment in that countries make is in their own people, especially investment in their children...Economists speak of investments in "human capital," just like investments in the physical capital of roads and bridges.
The concept of human development includes two related ideas:

the important fact that the abilities and health of an individual depend on cumulative process, of good health and access to health care, living in a safe environment, education, building skills, and on-the-job experience (SDSN Thematic Group on Early Childhood Development, Education and Transition to Work 2014). The Future Of Our Children: Lifelong, Multi-Generational Learning For Sustainable Development
the individual "life cycle": An individual's capacities, health, and productivity at any stage of the life cycle depend on the choices that are made at earlier stages of that life cycle (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child/National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs [NSCDC/NFECD 2010]).

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

Research over the past twenty years has shown the startlingly important effect of early childhood, especially during the first three years, when the brain develops in many dynamic and important ways...Inequalities of childhood development start at a very young age. By age six or seven, a child raised in an unsafe environment will already have huge disabilities and liabilities relative to those children fortunate to be raised in a safe and secure environment (pp.256-257).
This pattern suggests that poverty will repeat itself from one generation to the next... Yet here is where government can play a crucial role. Government programs and financing can help children of impoverished families to get a decent start. Part of the issue is money... Societies that fail to invest in preschool are likely to have lower social mobility and a greater gap in lifetime attainment between children born to high-income and low-income households (p.259).

The Rising Returns of Education and the Supply Response

There are clearly bottlenecks on the supply side...Tuition costs are extremely high and continue to rise. Just when society ought to be helping young people to make an investment in higher education, very high tuition costs are holding back the supply response to a clear demand.

Education is a path to a more productive life as a citizen and an income earner, but we've noted that it can also be an amplifier of social inequality...More equal societies, which generally also have a strong role of government in providing ECD and access to quality education at all levels, end up with greater intergenerational mobility.

The Role of Higher Education in Technological Advance

Higher education plays a key role in the two kinds of growth (endogenous growth and catch-up growth) we discussed in chapters 3 and 4.
Universities are also critical for a third basic activity: helping society to identify and solve local problems of SD. Every issue with which were are grappling requires locally tailored solutions, often based on sophisticated management systems. .. America has long promoted its universities for this kind of problem-solving. One of the pioneering steps in the US was the Morrill Act, a major piece of legislation passed in 1862.

UNESCO "Futures of Education" report

【UNESCO報告書（概要版）】
https://bit.ly/UNESCOFuturesofEducation

Introduction

- The survival of humanity, human rights, and the living planet are at risk

- The need for a new social contract for education

- Redefining the purposes of education

Part I: Between past promises and uncertain futures

Chap.1: Towards more equitable educational futures

- Incomplete and inequitable expansion of education

- Persistent poverty and rising inequality

- A web of exclusions

Chap.2: Disruptions & emerging transformations

- A planet in peril

- The digital that connects and divides

- Democratic backsliding and growing polarization

- The uncertain future of work

Part II: Renewing education

Chap.3: Pedagogies of cooperation & solidarity

- Reimagining pedagogical approaches

- Pedagogical journeys at every age and stage

- Renewing the mission of higher education

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.4: Curricula & the evolving knowledge commons

- Participation in the knowledge commons

- The enabling role of higher education

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.5: The transformative work of teachers

- Recasting teaching as a collaborative profession

- The life-entangled journey of teacher development

- Public solidarity to transform teaching

- Universities’ ongoing relationships with teachers

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.6: Safeguarding & transforming schools

- The irreplaceable role of schools

- The necessary transformation of schools

- Transitions from school to higher education

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.7: Education across different times & spaces

- Steering educational opportunities towards inclusion and sustainability

- Expanding ‘when’ education happens

- Broadening the right to education

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.8: A call for research & innovation

- A new research agenda for education

- Expanding knowledge, data, and evidence

- Innovating educational futures

- Principles for dialogue and action

Chap.9: A call for global solidarity & international cooperation

- Responding to an increasingly precarious world order

- Towards shared purposes, commitments, norms and standards

- Cooperation in knowledge generation and the use of evidence

- Financing education where it is threatened

- The role of UNESCO

- Principles for dialogue and action

Data Activities & Discussion

A. UNESCO & OECD Data (Group)

Go to https://www.education-inequalities.org/

i) Is there any countries in which female students have graduated more than male from primary school?

ii) Generally speaking, which do male or female students go more to higher education? And why? (Cross check the ii) results with this: https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/enrolment-rate.htm

iii) Choose "Location" disparities and explain what you find in "Higher education attendance."

(iv) If you have extra time, read the NEET graph: https://data.oecd.org/youthinac/youth-not-in-employment-education-or-training-neet.htm