The challenge of measurement in education: the case of out of school children data

Charles GaleResearch AssociateEducation Policy and Data Center, FHI 360cgale@fhi360.org

57,247,729

Number of out of school children, primary ages, 2011 (UIS Data Centre, accessed February 2, 2014)

2011 figure available

No 2011 figure available

Map created using Stat Planet (http://www.statsilk.com/)

Overview - data gaps and EFA goal 2

Source: 2013 GMR

Overview

How many

Data source

Administrative Household survey

primary-aged children

Variation in ‘primary’

Across countries Within countries

Over time

are out of school?

School coverage

Private providers Pre-primary

How many primary-aged children are out of school?

How many primary-aged children are out of school?

Data source

Administrative Household survey

Out of school rate, primary, administrative vs. household survey sources

Peru

ColombiaSyria

Cambodia

Morocco

Rwanda

Philippines

KenyaIndia

Ghana

Nigeria

Pakistan

Ethiopia

Mauritania

Burkina_Faso MaliNiger

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2 47 7

11 11 11 1317

2432 32

34

4448

54

62

29

14

13

1

9

17

5

23

4137

13

23

42 44

56Survey Admin

%

Sources: UIS, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) * ISCED 1 definition of primary

Effect of India discrepancy between survey and administrative sources on global total of OOSC, primary

Source for global totals UIS Data Centre (accessed 2/16/2014)Source for difference: EPDC (2013)

Series10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

mill

ions

68.2 (UIS)

76.5 (UIS+HHS)India, difference between HHS and admin

Global Initiative on Out of School Children

“It should be noted that there is no one correct figure on out-of-school children. The numbers of OOSC from household survey data analysis and administrative data indicate the range of numbers of OOSC in a country” (UIS-UNICEF, 2014)

How many primary-aged children are out of school?

Variation in ‘primary’

Across countries Within countries Over time

ISCED 1 compared to national primary durations

Pakistan Brazil Nigeria Uganda India Kenya Ethiopia5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Series1 ISCED 1 (1997) Country durations (where different from ISCED)

Source: UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE)

Chi

ld a

ge

Primary duration and entry ages, India, state compared to national

State or U/TPrimary Entry age

Primary Duration

Primary Age Range

% OOS local ages

% OOS ages 6-10

Goa 5 4 5-8 15% 4%

Kerala 5 4 5-8 7% 1%

Maharashtra 5 4 5-8 18% 9%West Bengal 5 4 5-8 26% 16%

Orissa 5 5 5-9 15% 14%

Punjab 5 5 5-9 20% 12%

Sikkim 5 5 5-9 33% 20%

Uttar Pradesh 5 5 5-9 28% 20%

Source: International Bureau of Education (IBE), EPDC extraction of DHS dataset

Number of out of school children, primary age, Burkina Faso

199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120120

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

884,687

1,032,931

Source: UIS Data Centre (accessed 2/2/2014)

(2009)

(2010)

How many primary-aged children are out of school?

School coverage

Private providers Pre-primary

Enrollment in unregistered schools, Kenya

Source: APHRC (2008)

Pre-primary attendance by age, Kenya

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 -

25

50

75

100

9 7 3 4

28

116 2

in pre-school out of school

Recommendations

Recommendations

Improve timeliness of data or adjust for time trends

Note: UIS estimates were current at time of publication

Banladesh 1990 UIS Bangladesh 2011 DHS DRC 1999 UIS DRC 2010 MICS0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

27.3

15.4

66.9

25.6

Recommendations

• Streamline basic definitions– Household survey as alternative source for out of school children

numbers– Measuring school exclusion for standard age cohort such as 7-14

Ghana, DHS 2008 Congo (DRC), MICS 2010 Sudan, South, IPUMS Census 2008

Kenya, DHS 20090

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

16.0 20.4

66.2

7.8

24.4 25.6

71.7

13.4

Ages 7-14 Official primary ages

Recommendations

• Build a broad understanding of data quality concerns

References

Education Policy and Data Center. (2013). Out of school children: Data challenges in measuring access to

education. Washington DC: FHI 360.

Oketch, M., Mutisya, M., Ngware, M., Ezeh, A., & Epari, C. (2008b). Pupil school mobility in urban Kenya

(APHRC Working Paper No. 38). Nairobi: African Population and Health Research Center.

UIS. (2010). Measuring educational participation: Analysis of data quality and methodology based on

ten studies. Montreal: UIS.

UIS Data Centre. Accessed at uis.unesco.org on 2/5/2014.

UIS & UNICEF. (2005). Children out of school: Measuring exclusion from Primary education. Montreal:

UIS.

References

UIS & UNICEF. (2014). Global Initiative on Out of School Children. South Asia Regional Study.

Kathmandu: UNICEF.

UNESCO. (2012). Youth and skills: Putting education to work. Education for All Global Monitoring Report

2012. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO. (2013). Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all. Education for All Global Monitoring

Report 2013. Paris: UNESCO.

Thank you!Contact: cgale@fhi360.org