Education, and the Beyond Access project
The majority of the world’s 100 million out-of-school
children are girls. The
first of the UN Millennium Development Goal targets - to
get equal numbers of girls and boys into school by
2005 -
was missed. It is therefore urgent
that action is taken to get more girls into school. However, as well as ensuring
that more girls are able to go to school, there is a need to ensure
that once in school, both girls and
boys receive a good-quality
and gender-equitable
education. It should be empowering, and should help them to develop
the range of skills that they
need to flourish as adults.
One way in which Oxfam is working to promote gender equality in education is through the Beyond Access: Gender Education and Development project. This project was set up in 2003 by Oxfam GB, the Institute of Education, and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government. It seeks to contribute to promoting gender equality and empowering women (MDG 3) - by generating and critically examining knowledge and practice regarding gender equality and education. To do this, it has brought together a wide network of practitioners, policy makers, and academics to explore critical issues that affect the achievement of gender equality in education, and the way in which these issues relate to gender inequalities in society more broadly.
The Beyond Access project has produced a range of resources to share and disseminate learning from the project, and to help practitioners and policy makers understand what they can do to promote gender equality in education:
Working with the Media on Gender and Education: A Guide for Training and Planning
 |
This guide is designed to help education and gender campaigners, and organisations and coalitions, work more effectively with the media to promote gender-equitable education. It explores issues relating to gender equality in education and contains practical advice on working with the media. Throughout the guide suggestions of activities to help groups generate discussion and explore the issues addressed in more depth are given the guide is accompanied by a set of worksheets that correspond to these activities.
Download
the guide (PDF 950KB)
Download
the worksheets (PDF 320KB)
Programme Insights: Education and Gender series
This
series of nine papers on gender equality in education contributes
to improving policy development and practice
by presenting new
learning and examples of good practice in a clear and straightforward
manner, with recommendations for action.
Find out more about the papers
Beyond Access: Transforming Policy and Practice for Gender Equality in Education
This book presents a vision of a transformational education, which
would promote social change, enable girls to achieve their full
potential, and contribute to the creation of a just and democratic
society. Contributors examine the extent and causes of gender-based
inequality in education and report on original field-work in a
range of local contexts where gender-equality initiatives have
flourished.
Download the whole book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Equals, the Beyond Access: Gender, Education, and Development newsletter, contains information, discussion, research updates, and personal perspectives on gender equality and education, from a range of contributors drawn from the project’s wide network. These include teachers, NGOs, academics, and policy makers.
Recent editions of Equals can be downloaded here:
| > | Equals Issue 22 October 2008 (PDF816K) |
| > | Equals Issue 21 July 2008 (PDF 881K) |
| > | Equals Issue 20 April 2008 (PDF 794K) |
| > | Equals Issue 19 January - April 2007 (PDF 832K) |
| > | Equals Issue 18 August - November 2006 (PDF 1MB) |
| > | Equals Issue 17 April - July 2006 (PDF 1553K) | Bangla (3.4MB) | French (PDF 753K) | Spanish (PDF 249K) |
| > | Equals Issue 16 January/March 2006 (PDF 370K) | Bangla (PDF 6261K) | Spanish (PDF 144K) |
| > | Equals Issue 15, November/December 2005 (PDF 2567K) | Arabic (PDF 277K) | Bangla (PDF 2185KB)| French (PDF 479K) | Spanish (PDF 100K ) |
| > | Equals Issue 14, September/October 2005 (PDF, 713K) | Bangla (PDF 6.9MB) | French (PDF 694K) | Spanish (PDF 180K) |
| > | Equals Issue 13, July/August 2005 (PDF 690K) | Arabic (PDF 199K) | French (PDF 422K) | Hindi (PDF 70K) | Spanish (PDF 122K) |
Beyond Access policy papers
These papers bring together key ideas and policy recommendations developed by participants at a series of international seminars organised by the Beyond Access project, which looked at different aspects of achieving gender equality in education.
Download the papers here:
| > | Developing Curricula for Gender Equality and Quality Basic Education (PDF 223K) |
| > | Pedagogic Strategies for Gender Equality (PDF 235K) |
| > | Achieving Gender Equality in Adult Basic Education (PDF 195K) |
| > | Partnerships for Gender Equality in Education (PDF 238K) |
Electronic versions of all past issues of Equals published in several languages, as well as the full set of papers presented at the Beyond Access international seminars are available on the project website.
Information about the Beyond Access Project is also available on the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative website.
Other resources
Oxfam has also produced a range of other resources relating to gender equality in education. These include:
Partnerships for Girls' Education
By documenting and analysing the achievements and challenges of
actual partnerships for girls' education, this book aims to suggest
strategies for progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Download the book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Practising Gender Analysis in Education
Aimed at policy makers and planners, academics, researchers and
students, development agencies, and practitioners, this book provides
accessible tools for carrying out gender-sensitive analyses of
current education situations.
Download the book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Practising Gender Equality in Education
Drawing on the work of the 'Beyond Access, Gender, Education, and Development' project, contributors discuss some of the key challenges in achieving gender equality in education, give examples of initiatives in a range of contexts, and make recommendations for action.
Download the book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Developing Adult Literacy: Approaches to Planning, Implementing and Delivering Literacy Initiatives
This book will help those who plan and develop literacy initiatives make their decisions based on an understanding of ideas, values, and principles. It explains how to take into account the local context, and the purposes of learners, the local community, and other key stakeholders.
Download the book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Gender Equality, HIV and AIDS: Challenges for the Education Sector
This book shows that while gender inequalities in society generally, and particularly within the education sector, are driving aspects of the HIV epidemic, educational settings can be empowering and bring about change. It examines different expectations of what HIV education programmes and education settings can do to transform unequal gender relations and protect young people against HIV and AIDS and contribute to care for those affected and infected.
Download book (PDF)
Purchase the book from the Oxfam Publications website
Promoting gender equality in education through mentoring: Reflecting on the experience of the Commonwealth Education Fund’s Gender Equality in Education Project
Save the Children, actionaid, and Oxfam International
Mentoring provides long term support to partners to facilitate learning, enthusiasm and confidence and it differs from advisory support in that the Mentor is not supposed to set the agenda or provide the answers but to help staff from partner organisations do their own work for themselves, providing process support and guidance through one-to-one and group discussions. Partners were supported to document innovative approaches that have a positive influence on strategies for improving gender equality in education. Reflecting on the experience of the CEF GEEP, this report shares some of the steps in implementing the project, achievements and challenges, with recommendations on elements of a good mentoring project.
Download the report (PDF 1.36MB)
