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Title | Date added | Template | Body | Legal status | Document type | Year | Document code | Original document | Paragraph text | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students | Aug 19, 2019 | Document | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | 2014 | A/HRC/26/27 | ||||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 23 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Fulfilment of State obligations for the right to education is dependent upon how the education provided meets the essential objectives of the right to education, as shown by the educational attainments of students. This calls for national assessments of education to be driven by a human rights-based approach, where the full range of obligations arising from the right to education remains centre stage. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize the need and importance of a holistic approach which is broader than the narrow approach of performance evaluation only of mathematical literacy and language skills, and which broadens the assessment of the educational attainments of students to include all obligations relating to the right to education under international human rights law. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 24 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | States have the primary responsibility for ensuring that their national education systems meet the objectives assigned to education in international human rights treaties. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, schools must provide education which is respectful of human rights values, democratic citizenship and cultural diversity. According to the principles contained in article 29 (1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the education of the child shall be directed to "the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own." The education to which every child has a right is one which is "designed to provide the child with life skills, to strengthen the child's capacity to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture which is infused by appropriate human rights values." Yet, as the Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated, national and international programmes and policies on education that really count the elements embodied in article 29 (1) seem all too often to be either largely missing or present only as a cosmetic afterthought. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 25 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | In this respect, it is important to recall that the UNESCO constitution assigns to education the mission of promoting the "ideals of humanity" and fostering the "intellectual and moral solidarity" of humankind. Both UNESCO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have the institutional mission of preparing children for the responsibility of the future and these ideals should constitute the bedrock of national curricula. Moreover, education should be designed and provided in such a way that it "promotes and reinforces the range of specific ethical values" enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The need for "new ethics for our common humanity" has been voiced in propositions for planning for the post-2015 development agenda. This should find a prominent place in reflections on modernizing the curriculum for assessing the educational attainments of students accordingly, as an integral part of the humanistic mission of education. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 26 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The primary objective of national assessment systems is to appraise the educational attainments of students through the entire national education system. This should be driven by a human rights-based approach and the humanistic mission of education, rather than by its mere instrumental role, and by preserving and fostering the noble cause of education. The values and principles propounded by the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training "as a means to give full effect to the right to education worldwide" must be publicized in order to make them an integral part of the educational attainments of students. "Universally recognized human rights values and democratic principles should be embedded in any education system." |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 27 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | A ground-breaking report presented to UNESCO in 1996, known as the Delors Report, outlined four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. Those objectives provide a useful framework for the purpose of modernizing national curricula and the corresponding mechanisms for assessing the educational attainments of students. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Assessing the peacebuilding role of education is also important, especially in conflict situations and in the phase of post-conflict reconciliation. "Education in the twenty-first century needs above all to teach children what is arguably the single most vital skill for a flourishing multi-cultural society - the skill of living peacefully with other people … No country can hope to establish lasting foundations for peace unless it finds ways of building mutual trust between its citizens - and the place to start is in the classroom." An important consideration in assessing the educational attainments of students is whether their behaviour patterns reflect their understanding of, and commitment to, learning to live together. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 29 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Education is invaluable for the preservation of the cultural heritage of humankind. Inculcating in students a commitment to preserving and enriching multicultural and multilingual diversity and promoting a better understanding and appreciation of the richness of cultural diversity deserves an important place in any education system. National curricula should aim to prepare students for the defence of cultural diversity as an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity, as expressed in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity of 2001. The main lines of the action plan for the implementation of the Declaration clearly provide for promoting through education an awareness of the positive value of cultural diversity and improving to this end both curriculum design and teacher education. The education provided, as well as the assessments of students, should show the importance attached to the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity and pluralism as an essential part of human-centred development. The assessment of students should demonstrate their understanding of common values shared by all humankind, with respect for people from different civilizations, cultures and religions. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 56 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | As described by the Special Rapporteur in his previous report (A/67/310), technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is an integral part of the right to basic education at the secondary level. Educational institutions must be supported to develop quality innovative programmes, including technical and vocational training and lifelong learning, geared to bridging skills gaps in order to advance sustainable development objectives. In fact, skills development through TVET has emerged as a leading concern in improving the quality of education in an increasingly globalized economy. Such training has profound implications in the twenty-first century for radically different knowledge-based economies and societies. This is all the more important in view of the need to better promote the skills required by the emerging "green economy", requiring novel means to assess competencies and skills in "green technology". |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 57 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | However, development programmes for technical and vocational education and training and skills have not been adequately addressed in the most common international or regional assessments. National assessment mechanisms for those programmes must better evaluate how well they empower students to acquire the necessary competencies for the development requirements of their country, while still meeting the broader human rights-based objectives. Existing normative frameworks for TVET provide the basis for developing national assessments to appraise the acquisition of those competencies and skills by students. The UNESCO Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education (2001) stipulates that member States should aim to apply relevant and appropriate internationally recommended standards and norms relating to systems of assessment or evaluation; occupational qualifications and certification; and equipment and technical standards. The Recommendation also underlines the importance of the exchange of good practices and methods. Similarly, International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation No. 195 (2004) concerning Human Resources Development: Education, Training and Lifelong Learning stipulates that measures should be adopted, in consultation with social partners and using a national qualifications framework, to promote the development, implementation and financing of a transparent mechanism for the assessment, certification and recognition of skills, including prior learning and previous experience, irrespective of the countries where they were acquired and whether acquired formally or informally. Moreover, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires States in their reporting to indicate the measures taken to increase the availability of TVET programmes and whether they enable students to acquire knowledge and skills which contribute to their personal development, self-reliance and employability (HRI/GEN/2/Rev.6, section II, para. 60). |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 58 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | National assessment mechanisms for TVET programmes require a new and unique assessment mechanism to reflect how they differ from traditional academic programmes. TVET programmes involve private-public partnerships under the overall responsibility of Governments and institutionalized collaboration between TVET institutions and enterprises. A dual system of vocational training where students in vocational streams also undergo practical learning and training in enterprises is well organized in some developed countries and is a useful example for the developing world to draw upon for devising innovative policies and approaches. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 59 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Governments, enterprises and TVET institutions must thus be collectively involved in defining the vocational trades and in developing assessment mechanisms of the attainments of students as part of a tripartite system. This is indispensable for ensuring that TVET graduates are responsive to ever-changing national and private sector employment requirements, with the State also ensuring that TVET programmes and the assessments of them are supplemented by a broader human rights-based education. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 60 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | In an endeavour to transform technical and vocational education and training, novel approaches are emerging to assess TVET programmes. For example, countries in Latin America have adopted a competency-based approach, such as the Occupational Competency Standardization and Certification Council in Mexico and the National Service of Learning (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) in Colombia. Similarly, the National Programme for the integration between professional and basic education for young people and adults (PROEJA), established in 2006 in Brazil, is aimed at providing technical and vocational education and training at the basic and secondary education levels, as well as providing continuing technical education for young adults. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 61 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The emerging concept of technical and vocational skills development in Africa calls for novel mechanisms in the form of national qualification frameworks. In South Africa, the national qualifications framework provides a mechanism for awarding qualifications based on the attainment of specified learning skills prescribed by industry. It allows for the accumulation of credits and for the recognition of prior learning. Similarly, the Mauritius Education and Human Resource Strategy Plan 2008-2020 recognizes the need for creative learning - the acquisition of skills and competencies that unlock the human potential - as a paramount necessity since education is one of the cardinal drivers of economic growth, including a quality assurance system. Accordingly, a qualifications authority in the TVET sector has been established. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 62 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The Special Rapporteur considers that it is important for each country to develop a national framework of certification, recognizing and validating various modes of the acquisition of skills in a coherent and unified system. The recognition of prior learning, as expressed in ILO Recommendation No. 195, can help to bridge the divide between formal and informal technical and vocational skills development systems by providing mechanisms and opportunities for the recognition and validation of experiential learning. It is also necessary to ensure that the assessment mechanisms for TVET are founded on competence-based training, not only on theory-based certification. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 63 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Quality standards can set minimum skill requirements for graduate apprentices, with monitoring mechanisms to ensure they meet those standards. It is also necessary to improve the linkages between informal apprenticeships and formal education and training, in particular regarding the role of skills development in national policies and laws. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 64 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | In developing national qualification frameworks and assessing competencies, it is crucial to ensure that they are not limited to technical competencies in TVET, but also include critical thinking and are not devoid of a human rights perspective. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 65 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Finally, national assessment systems for TVET can be used as leverage in valorizing social perceptions of TVET and their status, since they do not enjoy the esteem that would be commensurate with their importance for development. Instituting national awards in conjunction with an assessment of performance in TVET is an important step in that direction. The practice of rewarding TVET students in China is a good example. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 66 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | It is up to States to adopt national assessment mechanisms which ensure that their education systems are in conformity with human rights law, including but not limited to those relating to the right to education. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 67 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | National assessment systems should evaluate how human rights values and knowledge have been acquired by students. Performance tests should be devised to assess the extent to which students have incorporated those values into their understanding, commitment and day-to-day behaviour patterns. This constitutes a response to rising levels of violence in many schools, a phenomenon which deserves consideration in assessing school-based evaluations. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 68 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | It is the teacher who conveys the national curricula to students and assesses their performance. Teachers should be able to develop in children a love of learning. They should be able to kindle in children and adults the capacity for critical thinking, as well as nurturing in them ethical and moral values. Four pillars of education - learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be - propounded by the Delors Report - are central to the teaching-learning process. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 69 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The quality of teaching and learning at the basic education level is an important factor in national assessment. Teachers are also key to linking assessments to improved learning. Moreover, they play a valuable role in accomplishing the humanistic mission of education. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 70 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers, adopted by the Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers in 1966, lays down a comprehensive normative framework on the teaching profession. It also recognizes the essential role of teachers in educational advancement. It applies to all teachers in both private and public schools and provides guidance on a diverse range of matters, including the roles and responsibilities of teachers. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 71 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Teacher training programmes must emphasize not just pedagogical skills, but also the assessments of students. Innovative programmes for revamping teacher education and development are necessary to devise novel modalities of teacher training in tandem with reforms in education. In France, for example, teacher evaluation, including a questionnaire, is also part of the student learning process. In-service training for teachers is a permanent requirement, not only to improve their qualifications or to keep them up to date with the latest teaching practices, but also to ensure their assessment skills are kept up to date. The need for "standard[s] frameworks, which could be applied nationally and regionally" has been underlined. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 72 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | A student-centred system of education and evaluation would include a detailed assessment record of each student's progress through the curriculum. While not all students progress at the same rate, a personalized assessment allows teachers, teaching assistants or even student mentors in a higher grade to provide support so that each student completes each module in the curriculum without suffering from the social stigma associated with being held back. |
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| 2014 | ||||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 73 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Universally recognized human rights values and democratic principles should be embedded in any education system, and incorporated into national curricula for basic education. It is important for public authorities to review their national curriculum periodically in order to respond to emerging requirements. It is also necessary to ensure that textbooks in all schools - private or public - and the contents of the curricula are in conformity with the values and objectives of education laid down in international human rights conventions and expounded by the work of the human rights treaty bodies. Moreover, curricula and the contents of education must keep pace with global concerns with new ethics for our common humanity. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 74 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | The aptitude of students should be given serious consideration in assessing their attainments. The evaluation of the abilities and aptitudes of children in consultation with parents and teachers can be useful in enabling them to realize their potential, leading to better attainments. In Lithuania, for example, evaluation in primary and basic education is driven by the concept of the assessment of pupils' achievement and progress, encouraging positive personal features and creativity and improving personal achievements. The main idea is assessment for learning, not assessment of learning. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 75 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | In this context, the State of Gujarat in India is exemplary in taking steps towards abolishing the conventional "character" certificate, systematically delivered to all students at the end of primary or secondary education, and replacing it with an "aptitude" certificate, which shows the aptitude of students as appraised by teachers, parents and students themselves, allowing them to pursue secondary or higher education. This has the inherent advantage of motivating students to pursue studies based on their aptitude. |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 76 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Aptitude tests and counselling are even more important for skills development. National assessment mechanisms should be coupled with "career guidance systems to assist learners in choosing appropriate pathways, including by the provision of up?to?date labour market information and self-assessment tools to identify aptitudes and interests and promote the acquisition of career management skills." |
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Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 77 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Non-negotiated soft law | Special Procedures' report | Exploding demand for education has led to an exponential growth in the number of education providers. A comprehensive and sound regulatory framework for controlling private schools and ensuring their conformity with norms and standards is required. To preserve the public interest in education, effective sanctions in cases of abusive practices by private providers are necessary. Each State must organize a system of prior authorization, successive monitoring and verification, in order to ensure that private schools respect the content and objectives of education, thus enabling the State, in turn, to respect its international commitments in that regard. In those States where basic education is also provided by private schools, the State should ensure that such schools fully respect the objectives and content of education. |
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