Development Management Policy Seminar: Roles of the International Task Force on Teachers for EFA (Education for All) and the Partnership with Kobe University

The above seminar was held on Tuesday 12th August 2014 and the title of the presentation was “Roles of the International Task Force on Teachers for EFA (Education for All) and the Partnership with Kobe University”. The seminar was held in the Main Conference Room of Kobe University’s Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), and the guest speaker was Dr. Hiromichi Katayama, who is a Project Officer at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France and a GSICS Alumni.

Dr.Katayama’s presentation focused on the post-2015 education agenda, and he started by reviewing the Jomtien, Thailand Conference (1990) and the Dakar, Senegal Conference (2000). He reminded the members present of the fact that these two conferences were on Education for All (EFA) and that the post-2015 education agenda will be discussed during the Incheon, South Korea Conference (2015).

Dr. Katayama went on to talk about a new approach under the post-2015 education agenda, which focuses on teachers. More specifically he touched on Target 6, which states that; by 2030, all governments should ensure that all learners are taught by qualified, professionally trained, motivated and well-supported teachers. According to him, this target was set by UNESCO and is part of the Muscat, Oman agreement. He emphasized that this target focuses on not only children but also teachers.

Further to above, Dr. Katayama highlighted some of the issues that will be discussed during the Incheon 2015 Conference and these are: 1) a conceptual framework; 2) lessons learned from the monitoring of the Dakar framework for action; 3) comparability of data across courtiers; 4) data sources; and 5) leadership and the division of labor for the international monitoring.

This seminar was an excellent opportunity for the participants to learn about the Post-2015 development agenda. The end of the presentation was followed by a question and answer session, which allowed the participants to ask the guest speaker pertinent questions regarding education development in general and the post-2015 agenda in particular.

Authored by Masahito Motokawa
Master Student