Special
High Officials Meeeting
Amari
Orchid Resort, Pattaya, Chon Buri, Thailand
29-31 May 2002
Proceedings
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Regional
Cooperation on Quality and Equity in Education in SEAMEO Member Countries |
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| A Concept Paper |
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| I. | Introduction | |
With
the advent of the new millennium, the impact of globalization is
being felt in the lives of people everywhere. Information technology,
cross-national and cross-regional trades and industrial investments,
migration of laborers, workers and professionals, promoted interdependency
with the characteristics of global and regional economic systems,
which are becoming more interrelated. Education thus becomes a global
and regional common concern and at the heart of all areas of development
is the need for the promotion of quality and equity in education. |
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In
Southeast Asia, educational quality and equity is one of the top
priorities in many governments’ agenda. Various reform measures
have been introduced to meet the challenges of educating a new generation
of competitive citizens who can cope creatively and effectively
with the increasingly complex national and global problems. |
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Yet,
in spite of development policies directed towards education reform
in many countries, the quest for new knowledge-base built from practical
hands-on experiences at the school level still lags behind. |
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| II. | Principles | |
During
the Malacca SEAMEO Workshop held in 2001, SEAMEO, the organization
under the leadership of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education
Council, took a further step towards future redirection. In particular,
SEAMEO could provide a forum for the promotion and development of
a new knowledge-base on quality and equity in education, and to
serve as a clearing-house for the exchange and sharing of experiences
and best practices at the school levels in the region. |
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All
students in Southeast Asia deserve equitable access to quality learning
regardless of race, ethnic groups, gender, socio-economic status,
languages or disability. Traditionally, learning can be provided
at home and at the school. But with the shift from agriculture to
industrialization, and from small community-based social system
to large-scale urbanization, many home environments may not be effective
in providing learning opportunities, and some may even be unsupportive
to quality learning provided by the school system and situation.
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Various
schools in Southeast Asian countries are now focusing on the important
and urgent issues, like: a) quality and equity in science education
and mathematics, in languages and communication, and in creativity;
b) quality and relevance of the curriculum to community needs; and
c) and quality and equitable governance. |
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In
order for a school to ensure quality and equity in education for
all, the following aspects should be considered: |
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| 1. | School-based management and whole-school approach; | |
| 2. | Teaching environment and condition; | |
| 3. | Teachers’ competency and rewarding system; | |
| 4. | Curriculum content and learning materials; and | |
| 5. | Community participation. | |
| III. | The Project | |
Since
it is widely accepted that educational quality and equity can only
be best measured by what actually transpires in classroom school
situations, the 37th SEAMEO Council Conference In-Camera Session
approved the project on Regional Cooperation on Quality and Equity
in Education in SEAMEO Member Countries: Thailand’s Initiative on
11 March 2002 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Subsequently, the heads of
delegation of SEAMEO Member Countries signed the SEAMEO Declaration
on Quality and Equity in Education in Southeast Asia at the 37th
SEAMEC Conference Plenary Session. The signing signifies that the
SEAMEO Member Countries agreed to cooperate in a venture at the
school level and to support national policies and initiatives in
education reform and development. A copy of the Declaration is in
Appendix I. |
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| IV. | Objectives of the Project | |
The
general objective of the project is to enhance regional cooperation
on improving quality and equity in education. Specifically, it aims
to: |
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| 1. | encourage
systematic pooling of resources and sharing of experiences among
SEAMEO Member and Associate Member Countries and other major education
stakeholders; |
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| 2. | develop
and implement relevant and appropriate model/s, policies and approaches
to address the most pressing issues on quality and equity of education
in the region; |
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| 3. | mobilize the home, the community and other members of society in supporting quality and equity improvement programmes and activities; and | |
| 4. | recognize
the importance of quality and equity education in improving the
quality of peoples’ lives. |
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| V. | Features of the Project | |
| The prominent features of the project are the following: | ||
| 1. | Focusing
Issues on flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of the schools
and the communities; |
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| 2. | Sharing
of experiences, problems, innovations and best practices on school
vision, school-based management, classroom practice, teachers’ knowledge
and condition, school leadership and community participation; and |
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| 3. | Commitment
of SEAMEO Member and Associate Member Countries, SEAMEO Centres/Units
and other organizations/agencies to provide support in all possible
ways. |
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| VI. | Project Implementation | |
The
SEAMEO Declaration serves as a manifesto of the Organization on
declaring the willingness of SEAMEO Member and Associate Member
Countries and SEAMEO Units in launching a new initiative for quality
and equity in education in the region. As the executive arm of SEAMEO,
the SEAMEO Secretariat will serve as the facilitating agent in this
project. Guided by the SEAMEO Declaration, the Secretariat, SEAMEO
Member and Associate Member Countries, SEAMEO Units, donor agencies
and other major education stakeholders will work cooperatively to
implement the project. |
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To
ensure the project implementation, a regional task force comprising
education experts will be formed. Appendix II contains the Terms
of Reference (TOR) of the Project Task Force. It is envisioned that
after the pilot period, the project could help advance issues and
experiences cross-cutting regional concerns and promote a whole-school
approach as a model for school level quality and equity education
in the region. Figure 1 shows the framework of the project implementation. |
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In this regard, a regional pilot project on educational quality and equity in Southeast Asia shall be launched by the SEAMEO Council. This involves the selection of pilot schools in SEAMEO Member Countries. Schools will then be selected to form the coalition of schools for quality and equity in Southeast Asia. The networking will require a) a whole-school approach involving the administrators, teachers, students and the communities, and b) the systematic pooling and sharing of hands-on experiences and skills in the aspects of school design, school vision and development plan, school curriculum, teachers development, and teaching-learning process. A diagram showing the Coalition of Schools is shown in Figure 2. |
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To start the project a Special High Officials Meeting (SHOM) shall be conducted, In this meeting, the Project Task Force will be organized and commitment among major stakeholders will be sought. |
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| VII. | Budget | |
Thailand
has allocated a budget for the establishment of the trust fund to
cover part of the expenses for the pilot project. |
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Last
updated:
2 May, 2003
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