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EFA Goal Six: Enhancing Educational Quality 637.2 PISA Study in ThailandPresenter: Sunee Klainin, National Coordinator, PISA Study, ThailandA brief report was given on the PISA study results in Thailand, which highlighted keyissues in learning outcomes of the educational system. Learning outcomes can serveas indicator of the quality of the system. UNESCO would encourage all countries whohave undertaken PISA or similar assessments to consider these results within theoverall context of quality in the EFA mid-decade assessment. The full presentation ofPISA Thailand can be found in the CD-ROM.7.3 Summary of Peer Group DiscussionsEditor’s Note: Due to time constraints, there were no group discussions on the EFAgoal on quality education. The issue of quality, however, was raised in discussionsduring peer group sessions on the other EFA goals. Points relevant to qualityeducation were extracted from these discussions and presented here in a summaryform.This goal is intrinsically linked to all the other five EFA goals in that quality is animportant aspect of ECCE, primary education, life skills, literacy and genderprogrammes.Specific recommendations from participants for each of the five EFA goals all containa quality component, indicating that quality is an integral part of each goal that must beassessed and studied.Countries agreed that assessment should not only focus on quantitative achievements,such as the number of children in school as measured by gross and net enrolmentrates, but also on the quality of learning.The quality of ECCE, UPE, life skills and literacy programmes, for example, can beassessed by undertaking a curriculum review. Curriculum revision should keep up withand be more reflective of the rapidly changing society largely brought about byglobalization. For example, life skills taught in both formal and non-formal venuesshould be updated to be more relevant to the needs of the person, preparing thelearner to meet the demands of daily life and living in a multi-cultural world.Monitoring learning achievements in both the formal and non-formal education sectorsis also an effective way to assess quality. Conducting equivalency tests for participantsof literacy programmes to assess its quality, relevance and effectiveness is an example.Participation in surveys like the OECD’s Programme for International StudentAchievement or PISA is also a good way of evaluating the quality of education.Education for All: Reaching the Unreached