Simon McGrath
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Do we need new development goals?
December 17, 2012
In 2015 the current global run out. 2012 has seen the process of replacing them start in earnest with the Rio+20 summit and its proposal for sustainable development goals, and the appointment of the UN High Level Panel on post-2015. More recently, there has been a wave of sectoral and overall consultations that are ongoing …
What can we learn from the past 50 years of education-for-development in Africa for the Beyond 2015 debate?
September 21, 2012
In all the talk about international development targets beyond 2015, I am particularly concerned about two things. First, that the voices of educationalists regarding the nature of education and its role in development are being reduced to simple soundbites based on overstatement of certain effects of education. Second, that the discussion on what works is …
The UNESCO World Vocational Education and Training (VET) Report and the purposes of VET
June 1, 2012
This post from Professor Simon McGrath first appeared on the Network for Policy Research, Review and Advice on Education and Training (NORRAG) blog about international education, training and development aid and policy. NORRAG is a focus and a forum for the analysis of international cooperation in the education and training field. Simon is one of …
South Africa – skills and underdevelopment
March 13, 2012
South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, in spite of nearly 20 years of public policy efforts to address this issue. Over these 20 years, skills have played a central role in this policy response. Why did South Africa think that skills were so important to its response to its developmental …
Broken Promises? Higher Education and the Global Knowledge Economy
November 17, 2011
Student unrest seems to be a good indicator for a more general world crisis, whether we think back to 1968 or to events of the last year. A recent book by Phil Brown, Hugh Lauder and David Ashton, entitled the Global Auction, suggests that student dissatisfaction is likely to rise, at least in OECD countries, …
Aid effectiveness: moving from telling to listening
October 29, 2011
At the end of November and start of December, the “Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness” is meeting in Busan. What lies behind this rather opaque title? For much of the history of aid, there have been criticisms that it doesn’t work. From the right, these have characterised aid as bureaucratic and market distorting; …
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