Global Education Monitoring Report
The Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) was launched in 2016. Previously titled the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, it published 12 Reports from 2002 until 2015, and was then renamed and relaunched under a new UN mandate to monitor progress towards the education targets in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The GEM Report is an editorially independent report, hosted and published by UNESCO.
History
In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar (Senegal), 164 countries committed themselves to achieve six Education For All goals by 2015 that would vastly improve learning opportunities for children, youth and adults.
International agencies pledged that no country engaged in this effort would be hindered by a lack of resources. Governments recognized that regular and rigorous monitoring was required to track progress towards the six goals, identify strategies that make a difference and hold governments and donors to account for their promises.
The Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) was established in 2002 as an authoritative reference that aimed to inform, influence and sustain genuine commitment towards these global Education for All goals.
At the World Education Forum in 2015, the EFA Global Monitoring Report became the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report), with a new mandate to monitor the new sustainable development goal on education (SDG 4).[1] The Report is editorially and financially independent.
Mission
The GEM Report’s mission is to synthesise, analyse and clearly present the best available data, evidence and research to explain progress and differences in education, and to make recommendations that stimulate reflection and dialogue and thereby improve policymaking.
At the 2015 World Education Forum, the GEM Report received a mandate from 160 governments to monitor and report on:
- Progress on education in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular reference to the SDG 4 monitoring framework
- The implementation of national and international strategies to help hold all relevant partners to account for their commitments, as part of the overall SDG follow-up and review process.
Vision
The GEM Report’s vision is to serve as the main resource for decision makers who seek comparative research and knowledge to inform their actions on inclusive and equitable quality education at national, regional and global levels.
The GEM Report team aims to fulfil its vision and serve its mission in accordance with its core values:
- Quality: It commits to maintaining the highest standards in our reporting of evidence and data so as to be able to inform advocacy and hold education stakeholders to account for delivering on their commitment to SDG 4.
- Independence: it commits to maintaining its editorial independence, which is essential to serving its audiences and stakeholders; the GEM Report is not beholden to the interests of any country, organization, agenda or group, and commits to upholding that autonomy.
A dynamic team of 20 researchers, communications and operations specialists from over 18 countries work to produce the GEM Report. An Advisory Board provides oversight and guidance.
The theory of change underlying the GEM Report’s approach is based on the idea that, by making rigorous evidence, data and recommendations on education available and accessible, the GEM Report will improve policy dialogue and peer learning and will strengthen education systems, plans, policies and budgets towards achieving SDG 4.
Report
The annual GEM Report is based on multiple sources of data, which enables it to provide a macro view of education issues. Through multiple communication channels, it reaches all regions of the world. It serves as a foundation for evidence-based advocacy to promote progress towards SDG 4, including by convening dialogue on education issues among key decision makers that can effect policy change.
With 17 editions between 2002 and 2021, the GEM Report is an indispensable part of the global education architecture. Four evaluations, the last of which was carried out in 2019, have found that it successfully fulfils its mandate, providing rigorous, relevant, high-quality and authoritative evidence for its broad audiences.
Its users include but are not limited to: governments (including leadership and senior civil servants of ministries of education and finance and implementing agencies); experts (including academic researchers, think tanks and consultants); multilateral, international, regional and national development organizations; teachers and their unions; youth, students and their organizations; civil society and non-government organizations engaged in education; and the general public. Each Report is developed over a 12 to 18-month period. It draws on scholarship and expertise from governments, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies, UNESCO institutes and research institutions. Research Papers commissioned for each Report are available on the website.
The Report is translated into UN and other languages so that its messages and findings may be shared. Each year different versions of the Report are produced for different audiences: a gender report, a youth report, a summary version, policy papers and background papers.
Since 2019, regional reports are being published on each annual theme: migration and displacement (Arab States), Inclusion and education (Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Asia, the Caucasus and Central Europe, non-state actors in education (South Asia – forthcoming).
Online resources
The GEM Report runs five complementary websites
- The Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) compile countries’ education laws and policies to help countries compare and learn from others. The profiles cover the following themes:
- Inclusion in education (2020)
- Equitable financing (2020)
- Non-state actors in education (2021/2)
- Climate change education (2021/2)
- Comprehensive sexuality education (2022)
- Technology and education (2023)
2. The World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE) managed with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, visualises data showing inequalities by groups, within and between countries
3. Scoping Progress in Education (SCOPE) has visualisations explaining the data complexities behind SDG 4
4. Visualizing Indicators of Education for the World (VIEW) compiles multiple data sources to look at completion rates over time by country and region
5. World Education Blog is a blog written by the GEM Report, and featuring guest-blogs from a vast array of education stakeholders from the around the world. The content is managed by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, which is editorially independent from UNESCO
Fellowship
The Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report Fellowship Programme, funded by the Open Society Foundation, supports researchers who aim to bring a novel perspective to comparative and international education development to aid the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, the global education goal.
The Fellowship offers an opportunity to be part of a select group of scholars and researchers, collaborating with the GEM Report team on one or both aspect of its core objectives:
(1) to monitor and report on progress in the SDG4 on education and education-related aspects in other SDGs;
(2) to report on the implementation of national and international strategies to help hold all relevant partners to account for their commitments as part of the SDG follow-up and review.
Reports by year
Global Education Monitoring Report 2021/2
Global Education Monitoring Report 2020
Global Education Monitoring Report 2019
Migration, displacement and education
Global Education Monitoring Report 2017/8
Global Education Monitoring Report 2016
Education for people and planet: Creating sustainable futures for all
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015
Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/4
Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012
Youth and skills: Putting education to work
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011
The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009
Overcoming inequality: why governance matters
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008
Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007
Strong foundations: Early childhood care and education
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2006
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005
Education for all: the quality imperative
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/2004
Gender and education for all: the leap to equality
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2002
Education for all: Is the world on track?
Directors
Manos Antoninis, 2017/18, 2019, 2020, 2021/2 reports
Aaron Benavot, 2015, 2016 reports
Pauline Rose, 2012, 2013/4 reports
Kevin Watkins, 2009, 2010, 2001 reports
Nick Burnett, 2006, 2007, 2008 reports
Christopher Colclough, 2002, 2003/4, 2005 reports
Funding
The GEM Report is funded by governments, multilateral organizations and foundations.
See also
- UNESCO
- Education
- Education For All
- Literacy
- International Literacy Day
- Early childhood education
- Marginalization