Suchergebnisse

The significant improvement in school access (particularly at the primary level) is one success story of the Education for All (EFA) movement and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, many already marginalised children were left further behind during the global mass enrolment drive of the 1990s and early 2000s, and today half of the world's children without basic skills in literacy or numeracy are actually in school, according to recent data from UNESCO (Rose, 2015). With the launch of the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030 in May 2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) later that year came a noticeable shift in the discourse, from an almost exclusive focus on expanding access to formal schooling to the improvement of the quality of education, specifically through the improvement of student learning outcomes. SDG 4 includes targets and corresponding indicators for basic literacy and numeracy achievement (Targets 4.1 and 4.6), for 'relevant skills … for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship' (Target 4.4), and, finally, for 'the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development' (Target 4.7). This emphasis on improving quality by improving learning outcomes has ignited an interest in teachers and teaching and, subsequently, has put teachers in a position of greater prominence on the SDG agenda in the form of a dedicated 'means of implementation' in Target 4.c: 'By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States' (UNGA, 2015b). While some might view it as a promising development that teachers are included in the SDGs, in this chapter, we argue that how teachers are included in the agenda is a cause for concern for educationists and for the international community as a whole.

The UK needs to accelerate action to achieve its 80 per cent carbon reduction target by 2050 as it is otherwise in danger of lagging behind. A much discussed question in this context is whether voluntary behaviour change initiatives can make a significant contribution to reaching this target. While providing individuals with general information on climate change or low carbon action is increasingly seen as ineffective, some studies argue that personalised information has greater potential to encourage behaviour change. This mixed methods study examines this claim through a longitudinal field experiment which tested the effectiveness of a carbon calculator interview. It finds that the intervention significantly raised awareness of ways in which participants could reduce their carbon footprint. However, this increased awareness did not translate into measurable behaviour changes in relation to home energy and travel. Qualitative analysis shows that participants refer to infrastructural, social and psychological barriers to change. This indicates that more ambitious government and corporate action is required to speed up carbon reduction.

For the poorest of our world, non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) account for more than a third of their burden of disease; this burden includes almost 800000 deaths annually among those aged younger than 40 years, more than HIV, tuberculosis, and maternal deaths combined. • Despite already living in abject poverty, between 19 million and 50 million of the poorest billion spend a catastrophic amount of money each year in direct out-of-pocket costs on health care as a result of NCDIs. • Progressive implementation of affordable, cost-effective, and equitable NCDI interventions between 2020 and 2030 could save the lives of more than 4·6 million of the world's poorest, including 1·3 million who would otherwise die before the age of 40 years. • To avoid needless death and suffering, and to reduce the risk of catastrophic health spending, essential NCDI services must be financed through pooled, public resources, either from increased domestic funding or external funds. • National governments should set and adjust priorities based on the best available local data on NCDIs and the specific needs of the worst off. • International development assistance for health should be augmented and targeted to ensure that the poorest families affected by NCDIs are included in progress towards universal health care.