unit 5 (ECE 1)

• The principles of early childhood education has been highlighted in a plethora of international policies and standards
• These international policies and instruments are premised on the fundamental importance of recognizing the right to quality basic education of all learners, especially those belonging to early childhood
• These international policies serve as international pillars of early childhood education
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)


  Article 26 enshrined the right to education of every human, while focusing on children, including those at the stage of early childhood. Education is seen as a fundamental right which is essential for the exercise of all other human rights connected therewith as it promotes individual freedom and contributes definitively to a child's broader empowerment, well-being, and development, not least by ensuring that they are equipped to understand and claim their rights throughout their lives
• Apart from serving as the main pillar of the policies on ECE, the UDHR contributed to ECE today by enshrining the right to education of every human, while focusing on children, including those at the stage of early childhood
• UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (CADE)


  Article 3 obligates States Parties to employ means to proscribe discrimination in education based on the grounds specified, in particular regarding acts specified in paragraphs (a). (b); (c), and (d) of Article 4
• CADE


  Expresses the fundamental principles of nondiscrimination and equality of educational opportunities, covers the right to education comprehensively and serves as a cornerstone of the Education 2030 Agenda
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)


  Article 13 reiterates that the right to education is a fundamental human right. It occupies a central place in human rights and is essential and indispensable for the exercise of all other human rights and for development
• General Comment 13 on the Right to Education (Article 13 of the ICESCR)

  Identifies four essential elements of the right to education: availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)


  The most complete statement of children's rights ever produced and is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history. Article 28 recognizes the right of the child to education, and Article 29 states that the education of the child shall be directed to specific aims
• The 1990 Jomtien Declaration called upon all countries to universalize adequate basic education, emphasizing not only access to basic education, but also the quality of education and actual learning outcomes
• The World Declaration on Education for All contains three themes and 10 articles


  • Education for all: the purpose
  • Education for all: an expanded vision and a renewed commitment
• The World Declaration on Education for All contains three themes and 10 articles
• Themes of the World Declaration on Education for All

  • Education for all: the purpose
  • Education for all: an expanded vision and a renewed commitment
  • Education for all: the requirements
• Articles of the World Declaration on Education for All

  • Article I - Meeting the basic learning needs
  • Article II - Shaping the vision
  • Article III - Universalizing access and promoting equity
  • Article IV - Focusing on learning
  • Article V - Broadening the means and scope of basic education
  • Article VI - Enhancing the environment for learning
  • Article VII - Strengthening partnerships
  • Article VIII - Developing a supportive policy context
  • Article IX - Mobilizing resources
  • Article X - Strengthening international solidarity
• The Philippines crafted and implemented the 10-year EFA Philippine Plan of Action covering 1991-2000
• Thrusts of the 1991-2000 EFA Philippine Plan of Action (EFA 1)

  • Early Childhood Development
  • Universalization of Quality Primary Education
  • Alternative Learning Systems
• The Education for All (EFA) was adopted by the Dakar Framework in April 2000 at Senegal, Africa
• The Dakar Framework reaffirms the view of education as outlined by the World Declaration on Education for All developed in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990
• The Dakar Framework is a collective commitment to action, wherein governments have an obligation to ensure that EFA goals and targets are reached and sustained
• The Dakar Framework reiterates that education is a fundamental human right
• Goals of the Dakar Framework for Action

  • Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children
  • Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality
  • Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes
  • Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015 especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults
  • Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality
  • Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills
• Strategies of the Dakar Framework for Action

  • Mobilize strong national and international political commitment for education for all, develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education
  • Promote EFA policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies
  • Ensure the engagement and participation of civil society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for educational development
  • Develop responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational governance and management
  • Meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, natural calamities and instability and conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and that help to prevent violence and conflict
  • Implement integrated strategies for gender equality in education which recognize the need for changes in attitudes, values and practices
  • Implement as a matter of urgency education programmes and actions to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic
  • Create safe, healthy, inclusive and equitably resourced educational environments conducive to excellence in learning, with clearly defined levels of achievement for all
  • Enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers
  • Harness new information and communication technologies to help achieve EFA goals
  • Systematically monitor progress towards EFA goals and strategies at the national, regional and international levels
  • Build on existing mechanisms to accelerate progress towards education for all
• Under the Dakar Framework, National EFA Forums will be strengthened or established to support the achievement of EFA
• The Philippines committed itself to the vision set in the 1990 World Declaration by coming up with the Philippine EFA 2015 National Action Plan titled "Functionally Literate Filipinos, An Educated Nation"
• The EFA 2015 Plan emphasizes the need to provide basic education for all and add a dimension to what has been thus far almost exclusively school-based education
• The EFA 2015 Plan suggests a "viable alternative learning system" to formal schooling that together with the schools can ensure that "minimum learning achievement will be a reality for all Filipinos"
• The EFA 2015 Plan emphasizes that educational opportunities are channels of learning which can become effective conduits of values orientation, consciousness, and information useful and relevant to a wide range of social goals
• The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an intergovernmental commitment and "a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity"
• The 2030 Agenda comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are "integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental"
• Within the 2030 Agenda, education is essentially articulated as a stand-alone goal, sustainable development goal no. 4 (SDG4) with its seven outcome targets and three means of implementation
• SDG4 is dedicated to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all"
• Education is linked to almost all other SDGs in one way or another
• Comparison of the Global Education Agendas of MDG2, EFA, and SDG4


  • Scope: MDG2 - Primary Education [children], EFA - Basic Education [children, youth & adults], SDG4 - Basic Education, Post Basic Education & Training, Lifelong perspective
  • Geographical coverage: MDG2 - Low-income countries, EFA - Conflict-affected, SDG4 - Universal agenda for all countries regardless of income level and/or development status
  • Policy Focus: MDG2 - Access to and completion of primary education for all, EFA - Access to quality basic education for all, SDG4 - Access to quality basic education for all, Equitable access to post-basic education & training, Relevance of learning for both work and global citizenship
• Key Strategic Messages of SDG4-Education 2030


  • Education is at the heart of the SDGS
  • Beyond a silo approach to education
  • SDG4-Education 2030
  • National ownership and leadership
  • No separate SDG4-Education 2030 plan should be developed
  • Building on/strengthening existing coordination mechanisms
  • Enhanced multi-stakeholder partnerships for implementation, monitoring and accountability
• SDG4 Targets and Main Policy Commitments

  • Target 4.1 - Ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
  • Target 4.2 - Ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
  • Target 4.3 - Ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
• UNESCO. 2016)
• SDG4 Targets and Main Policy Commitments

  • Target 4.1
  • Target 4.2
  • Target 4.3
  • Target 4.4
  • Target 4.5
  • Target 4.6
  • Target 4.7
  • Target 4.a
  • Target 4.b
  • Target 4.c
• Target 4.1

  By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
• Policy commitment for Target 4.1

  The provision of 12 years of free, publicly funded, inclusive, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education-of which at least nine years are compulsory, leading to relevant learning outcomes-should be ensured for all, without discrimination.