The Global Targeting of Education and Skill: Policy History and Comparative Perspective

After countless meetings, debates and advocacy, including the World Education Forum (WEF) in Incheon and Financing for Development in Addis, there is now (as of 1st August) a final version of the 17 Sustainable Development... [ view full abstract ]

After countless meetings, debates and advocacy, including the World Education Forum (WEF) in Incheon and Financing for Development in Addis, there is now (as of 1st August) a final version of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the SDG 4 on Education, that is likely to be confirmed at the UN General Assembly in New York on the 25th September 2015.
Global target setting is still a relatively young art, and there is much to be learnt from its short history about the ownership of the process, the roles of developed and developing economies, and the actual status of global targets over against national plans.
The policy history of global goals and targets is arguably inseparable from that of global and regional education commissions, and from universal declarations and conventions. But the very process of targetisation elevates targets over text. Equally, the requirement to ‘go global’ and to be ‘universal’ raises the bar much beyond what is feasible for many developing countries.
Unlike the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien (1990), the World Education Forum in Dakar (2000) or the WEF in Incheon (2015), which were all single-sector education events, the Education SDG 4 is just a small part of a much larger development ambition. It may be essential, therefore, for those concerned with the global targeting of education to be aware of what is also being proposed for education in New York in the SDGs relating to decent work, health, and climate change, not to mention the proposed financing of the SDG aspirations and the plans for their compliance and governance. ‘Learning for Sustainable Futures’ is about much more than SDG4.