Presidential Invited Session: National SDG 4 benchmarks: a formative tool for progress towards 2030

Group Submission Type: Presidential Invited Sessions

Proposal

In 2015, the international community committed in the Education 2030 Framework for Action to establish “appropriate intermediate benchmarks” for SDG 4 indicators, seeing them as “indispensable for addressing the accountability deficit associated with longer-term targets”. Following the approval of the SDG monitoring indicators by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group and the UN General Assembly in 2017, the Technical Cooperation Group on SDG 4 Indicators developed in 2019 a proposal on seven SDG 4 indicators that could be benchmarked. The Global Education Meeting in 2020 then requested that countries “accelerate the progress and propose relevant and realistic benchmarks”. A technical and political process was put in place to set benchmarks for these seven indicators, which cover early childhood, basic education, teachers, equity and financing.  

 

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report have been working with countries to set national SDG 4 benchmarks for 2025 and 2030 on seven indicators, based on their past trends and education sector plans. By mid-2022, over 90% of countries had directly or indirectly taken part in setting these benchmarks. The analysis has shown that even if countries reach these benchmarks by 2030, the world will still fall short of the ambition expressed in SDG 4, before even accounting for the potential impact of COVID-19 on education systems. Yet, countries appear to be committing to accelerate progress beyond what they managed to achieve over 2000–15.  



This panel will show how the national SDG 4 benchmark mechanism can also be used to set national targets and monitor commitments made at the Transforming Education Summit (TES), sitting at the heart of its accountability mechanism.



Convened by the GEM Report in partnership with the UIS, the panel will present the national benchmarks to an academic audience and demonstrate how they are a key tool for measuring progress towards SDG 4 and an invaluable new resource for the comparative education community .



The UIS Director, Silvia Montoya, will present the national SDG 4 benchmarks and demonstrate their linkage to the TES and monitoring of commitments made at the Summit. Representatives from national ministries of education and regional education organizations will share insights on the process of setting national benchmarks and their alignment with education sector plans, and the future use of benchmarks for reporting and filling data gaps. Finally, Aaron Benavot will share insights into the utility of the benchmarks for the comparative education community and ways in which they can promote policy dialogue towards meeting SDG 4 with a particular focus on SDG 4.7.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Manos Antoninis, Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO

Individual Presentations

• Academic insights on national benchmarks and flagship indicators on climate change education - Aaron Benavot, University at Albany-State University of New York

• Silvia Montoya - Silvia Montoya, UNESCO Institute For Statistics

• Stephanie Peña - Stephanie Pena, Global Campaign for Education