The Network on Education Quality Monitoring in the Asia-Pacific (NEQMAP) and UNESCO Bangkok are pleased to announce a call for contributions for a policy brief series entitled “Equity and Equality in Learning in Asia-Pacific: What Do Results from Large-Scale Assessments Tell Us?”. We welcome the collective wisdom of educational researchers and policy experts to offer insight on socio-economic background, gender, ethno-linguistic minorities, and rural and urban differences in learning outcomes.
This series aims to:
- Inform thinking, research, and methods on evidence-based policymaking and practice in education, and
- Support knowledge-sharing among education stakeholders involved in assessments of student learning.
We are currently seeking contributions to the first two briefs, focusing on (1) learning outcomes in Asia-Pacific by socio-economic background, and (2) gender. The briefs will identify learning outcome gaps, potential underlying factors, and propose promising policy solutions to ensure better learning for all, using large-scale assessment (LSA) datasets as primary source data.
1. Socio-economic Background and Learning:
This brief will review learning outcomes of students along the socio-economic spectrum, with a particular focus on school level analysis and the concept of resilience as defined by PISA.
2. Gender and Learning:
This brief will analyze learning outcomes of boys and girls across various competency domains, looking at socio-economic background, learners’ perceptions of schools, schooling experiences, developmental and cultural factors, and school policies and practices.
Contributors should focus on learning gaps in Asia-Pacific, with attention given to school-aged students in formal education. Comparable data from international, regional, and national assessments, such as PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, SEA-PLM, PILNA etc., should be used.
Format: Written policy brief (~10 to 15 pages in a WORD document)
Tentative Timeline:
- Application Deadline: July 20th, 2023
- Notification of Selection: July 30th, 2023
- Submission of Detailed Outline: Mid-August 2023
- Feedback from Editorial Team: End of August 2023
- 1st Draft Submission: September 2023
- 1st Round of Reviews and Feedback: October 2023
- Revision of Drafts: November 2023
- Publication and Launch: December 2023
How to Apply:
Fill in the application form (see Annex 1) and email it to the NEQMAP Secretariat (neqmap@unesco.org) by 20th July 2023, 00:00 Bangkok time (GMT+7). Please note, contributions to the policy brief series are voluntary, and no remuneration will be provided. The series will be published by UNESCO on NEQMAP’s Knowledge Portal, and all authors will be recognized.
Contact:
For further information, please reach out to Soumaya Maghnouj, NEQMAP Secretariat (neqmap@unesco.org) or Victoria Klimova, UNESCO Bangkok Consultant (v.klimova@unesco.org).
For definitions of key terms used and the application form, please refer to the full document.
We look forward to your valuable contributions!
