Systemic Reform in Education
From APEC HRDWG Wiki
APEC has been interested in Governance and Systemic Reform since the 3rd APEC Education Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) in Santiago, Chile, when EDNET established it as a priority area. It focuses mainly on the broad issues of improved outcomes in literacy and numeracy abilities among students and the improved access to and equity of education. Systemic reform is more necessary than ever due to the need for highly responsive and evolving education systems. In the Joint Statement from the 4th AEMM in Lima, Peru, representatives again denoted Systemic Reform as a priority area of EDNET and the various economies' education systems. Within the realm of EDNET, systemic reform often takes the form of ensuring efficient outcomes in the other priority areas, namely science and mathematics education, learning of other languages, and career and technical education. The Ministers also emphasized the need for exchanges as part of transnational education services. Along with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Systemic Reform is a cross-cutting theme that applies across education reform activities.
Systemic Reform in APEC, as outlined at the 4th AEMM, concentrates on such issues as:
- Ensuring access to high-quality and properly instructed teachers, who are equipped with the necessary training to understand and educate their students about changing technologies and 21st Century competencies.
- Investigating policies and research to discover the best practices in providing access for all students, especially disadvantaged groups. While much progress has been made in recent decades, there is still work to be done in evaluating education systems and sharing information openly to overcome educational disadvantages.
- With the rapid rise of new technologies, economies must assess what resources and tools their education systems are utilizing and strive to fully integrate innovations in ICT to offer their students the greatest opportunities.
