What Learning Is Important for All Children and Youth?

The Learning Metrics Task Force (LMTF) released a report called "Toward Universal Learning: What Every Child Should Learn," culminating the first phase of an initiative that hopes to shift the focus of the global conversation on education from universal access toward "access plus learning."

This report primarily attempts to answer the question, "What learning is important for all children and youth?" Through a consensus-building process that includes consultation of existing global policies and dialogues, learning research, and global public consultation, the Standards Working Group developed a holistic framework of learning in which the following seven domains were identified:

• Physical well-being
• Social and emotional
• Culture and the arts
• Literacy and communication
• Learning approaches and cognition
• Numeracy and mathematics
• Science and technology

In identifying the seven domains of learning for all children and youth, the task force report also makes several considerations in terms of equity related to Children with Disabilities, Gender, Learning in Conflict and Emergency Contexts, and Countries Demonstrating Low Levels of Learning. The report also documents considerations for further investigation by subsequent working groups in the later phases of the LMTF initiative, such as:

• Should global learning be measured in an internationally comparable way?
• Should learning assessment focus on children and youth in schools or all children and youth, regardless of where they are learning?
• Should learning be measured by age cohort or grade level?

The Learning Metrics Task Force was co-convened by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Center for Universal Education at Brookings in 2012 to coordinate understanding the global education community's ambition towards improving learning and to propose practical actions for delivery and measuring progress. This effort was initiated within the context of global education monitoring and reporting toward the 2015 deadline to achieve the Education for All goals. The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report from UNESCO found that at least 250 million primary school-age children around the world do not possess basic literacy and numeracy skills, including those children who have spent at least four years in school.

For More Information:

Full Report and Executive Summary: "Toward Universal Learning: What Every Child Should Learn."

About the Learning Metrics Task Force

About the Education for All Movement