Planning
Photograph by Sirisak Chaiyasook
Planning is one of the crucial steps of building a strong education system. The purpose of educational planning is to ensure systematic accomplishment of activities in order to reach the set objectives for educational development. Through the planning process, different activities are elaborated, costed and appraised after which decision makers choose the preferable options to meet the objectives. Often, a series of concrete outputs, targets, actions, and timelines are defined during this process, as well as resources required and roles and responsibilities of each concerned party. Monitoring and evaluation frameworks should also be clearly defined. The process is highly technical as well as political and without technically sound and politically agreed education plans, clearly defined targets, actions/activities, timelines, responsibilities and fully projected resources, there is a risk that policies may not be effectively implemented.
UNESCO Bangkok provides technical assistance to the Member States in the region in their efforts to develop their strategic plans for the education sector through (1) capacity building in the form of training workshops and (2) direct technical support to review, develop, and/or update education sector or sub-sector plans. UNESCO Bangkok has state of the art expertise in this area and has developed an extensive array of materials and tools which can support member states to design and implement successfully their education policies and reforms.
Cost projection and simulation for education policies and plans
There are several tools that enable policymakers to project financial resources required in order to realize goals stated in education policies and plans. Among them, UNESCO mainly use the Analysis and Projection Model (ANPRO) and the Education Policy and Strategy Simulation model (EPSSim), both created by UNESCO to support formulation of credible education development policies and plans. These models allow users to develop various scenarios and simulate the developments as well as resources required to achieve policy goals overtime. This allows the assessment of feasibility and validity of policy goals which in turn will facilitate policy discussions for better articulation and prioritization of the goals. ANPRO and EPSSim have been used in many countries, either for training purposes or for developing/updating education plans (e.g., Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam). For more information on ANPRO, EPSSim and other education simulation models, please click here.
Useful tools
1. EFA Planning Guide: Southeast and East Asia (UNESCO Bangkok, 2000): http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/efa/index.htm
2. Education planning through computer simulation (UNESCO HQs, 2001): http://inesm.education.unesco.org/files/124209e.pdf
3. Handbook for Decentralized Education Planning (UNESCO Bangkok, 2005): http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/EFAHandbook/EFA_handbook.pdf
4. Information tools for the preparation and monitoring of education plans (UNESCO HQs, 2003): http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001323/132306e.pdf