Blog

Equitas education was commissioned in 2022 by Save the Children, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme, to carry out a study on out-of-school children in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, covering 2015-2020.

The study’s focus countries are Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Turkey, and Yemen over the years 2015-2020. The study focuses on four specific areas of inquiry:

1. Documenting the main trends of OOSC.
2. Analysing the barriers and motivating factors that prevent or facilitate children’s participation and retention in education.
3. Understanding the nature of policies and programmes in the study areas.
4. Recommending specific areas for further study and  potential responses.

You can view and download the report through the Save the Children’s Child Rights Resource Centre.

New data is now available in the SDG 4 UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) database containing information on over 200 countries.

The UIS’ new approach to data collection, using dynamic templates to produce 23 indicators on students, teachers, schools, and education expenditure, has resulted in significant increases in data coverage for SDG 4 indicators.

UNESCO New Delhi launched its video documentary titled ‘Champions of Change‘ in October 2022, focusing on the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ learners.

Bullying and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE) in schools adversely affect LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming students’ physical and psychological health.

UNESCO New Delhi recorded videos capturing experiences of transgender people who overcame challenges related to stigma, discrimination, violence, and bullying in educational institutions and became achievers in their professional lives.

The video builds understanding on the scale and impact of homophobic bullying in educational institutions. It also provides recommendations on how to prevent and addresses school-based bullying faced by LGBTQIA+ learners.

We can all help build climate resilience.

We tend to concentrate on mitigation, such as lowering our carbon footprint, but we should also consider what adaptive actions can make our organisation, the communities we work with, and our environment more resilient to the changes ahead.

An article by MzN International – How to build a climate-resilient NGO in 2022 – explores the many ways to incorporate resilience-building into non-climate focused development work and how we run our organisations.

See the website for more information specific to Ukraine or Afghanistan.

This month the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) in the UK has launched a professional community for those working with deaf children and their families. The community is hosted on Facebook and is for professionals in education, health and social care to come together and discuss topics relating to working with deaf children.

An open letter, co-ordinated by Early Education and supported by the Early Years Alliance, has been sent to Ofsted (the UK’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills). The letter expresses concerns around the quality of Ofsted’s early years review: ‘Best start in life part 1: setting the scene’.

The letter highlights nine areas of concern with the review, raised by over 100 signatories:

• Coverage of all EYFS provision
• Underpinning principles.
• Limited engagement with research evidence. 
• Definition of curriculum.
• Definition of teaching.
• How children learn and cognitive science.
• Following children’s interests.
• Play.
• Reflecting the realities of early years practice.

The letter asks Ofsted to work more appropriately with a range of experienced practitioners and researchers as well as engaging with sector representative bodies on upcoming reviews.