Latin American Regional Education Policy Forum: How to use information systems in education policymaking

24 September 2021

From 3 to 5 November 2021, policy-makers from the Latin America and Caribbean region will participate in an interactive virtual event to discuss the role of information systems in promoting more equitable and just societies through education. Ministerial authorities from 28 countries in the region and representatives from 17 international organizations have confirmed their participation.

Read the Forum’s concept note

The emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened and highlighted the need for relevant, pertinent and quality information for education planning and management.

Widespread school closures, the suspension of standardized learning assessments, and obstacles to monitoring remote teaching strategies created new demands on education information systems. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 62% of countries in the region were forced to postpone education data collection in 2020, and 58% were required to implement new data collection methods.

Now, with the return to face-to-face classes and the beginning of a recovery phase, governments in the region are more dependent than ever on functional and effective information systems capable of measuring the impact of the pandemic and informing decision-making.

Register to participate in the Forum

The annual organisation of the Regional Education Policy Forum is part of UNESCO's effort to support Latin American and Caribbean Member States in implementing the commitments of the Education 2030 Agenda, an essential part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In line with the global priorities of the international community and UNESCO, the 2021 edition of the Regional Education Policy Forum seeks to support the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in improving the production and use of their education management information systems to overcome the crisis.

During three days of conferences and workshops, national authorities from across the region, representatives of civil society, and experts from international organizations and academia will discuss the role of information systems in combating exclusion and promoting fairer and more equitable societies through education.

The event will be attended by a full representation of UNESCO Member States from Latin America, plus at least nine other Caribbean countries. More than 10 UNESCO offices, as well as the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) , and organizations such as CLADE, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Central American Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC-SICA) are also participating in this urgent regional debate.

The event starts with a series of panels to understand the current state and needs of information systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The results of these conferences are then discussed in depth in three workshops, in which education policy-makers analyse how the use of data can illuminate policy implementation, as well as support monitoring and evaluation. The meeting culminates in a consensus among countries on key recommendations for strengthening their own education information systems in a context of uncertainty and change.

The Regional Education Policy Forum has been held every year since 2017. Its fifth edition is jointly organised by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Office for Latin America, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago), the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the Division for Education 2030, and the Division for Lifelong Learning Policies and Systems of the UNESCO Education Sector.

What are the challenges to be addressed at the Forum?

  • The need to improve the information production of Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) and their processes. Although almost all countries in the region have some kind of educational information system, progress is heterogeneous, and it is essential to make greater efforts to coordinate information in order to provide better responses to existing problems.
  • Ensure the factors that allow for the right conditions for EMIS to be functional, effective and relevant. It is essential to consider factors such as educational data policies or legal frameworks; technological infrastructures and capacities; digital platforms and processing methods; and human, technical and financial resources.
  • Strengthen information use strategies so that the growth and sophistication of information systems is matched by more and better use of their outputs. Better production and management of information would serve to strengthen the monitoring of the progress of the 2030 Agenda, establish intermediate targets, and produce knowledge from and for the region.