Education for All?
Goal 4: Quality Education
Overview
Humanities
Languages
One 45 minute lesson + homework task
15 – 21 years old
Groups of up to 30
Objectives
Behavioural competences
- To appreciate the access to education
- To recognize and utilise the everyday learning opportunities
- To take responsibility for ensuring one’s own education and the education of others
Reflections
- To recognize the value and benefits of education/ to reflect upon the empowerment of education
- To recognize the value of non-formal and informal learning
- To critically analyse the level of access to quality education world-wide
Lifelong learning key competences
- Social and civic competencies
- Learning to learn
Materials
- 1 set of the game cards for every three or four students
- 2 sheets of stiff paper or thin card (A4 size) for every three or four students and glue (optional but preferable)
- Scissors
- Paper and pens for notes
Preparation
Familiarise yourself with the cards.
Copy the sheets of game cards and back them with the stiff paper to make the cards more durable. Cut out the 40 cards. Make sure to mix them well so that matching pairs are not adjacent.
Instructions
The memory game (10 minutes)
- Explain that there are twenty pairs of cards; each pair comprises a statement card and a picture card. The task is to identify the pairs and to match them. The texts on the cards relate either to the aims of the World Education Forum (WEF), to bring about “education for all”, or to general issues of human rights and education.
- Explain how to play. The students should form small groups of three or four. They should spread the cards face down on the table. In turn, the students turn over two cards. If one (or both) of the cards is a statement card, then the player reads out the text to the rest of the group. If the cards are a pair, then the player keeps them and has another go. If the cards do not match, then s/he turns them over so they lie face down again on the floor in exactly the same spot as they were before. The next player then has a go to turn over two cards. It is a memory game, because people have to memorise where the different cards lie, in order to be able to pick up matching pairs.
The ‘winner’ is the player who holds the most pairs of cards at the end of the game.
Follow up (30 minutes)
- Summarise the issues on a flipchart/whiteboard. Ask people to read out the headings on their cards (not the whole statement again) while you write them down.
- Ask the class to identify four to six issues which interest them most.
- Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 people. Ask each group to pick two of the issues they would most like to discuss. (Try to organise it so that two different groups discuss the same issue in order to generate more ideas.)
- When the issues have been agreed and allocated, give the groups 15 minutes to discuss their two chosen issues. The focus of the discussions will differ slightly depending on the card. If the card has a question, this should be answered. If the card has a statement, people should prepare a critical comment.
- After 15 minutes, call people into plenary for reporting back. Take each issue in turn. Give each group just 5 minutes to feed-back and allow no more than an extra 5 minutes for questions from the floor.
After all the groups have reported on all the issues, move to the homework task (see “Follow up suggestions”).
Evaluation
Homework task:
To follow up and evaluate/reflect on the activity ask the students to write a 1-2 page essay/report on one of the following:
- Are there too many challenges? Is it possible to have “education for all”?
- What can you, your group, your community do to work towards achieving the goal of “education for all” in your country and/or in developing countries?
Follow up suggestions
For the next class, ask students to identify a person/personality who fights to achieve education for all (either in the local community, at local level, or internationally) and describe the groups that that person targets. Ask students to reflect what advantages they have comparing to those target groups when it comes to education.
You can also ask students to make a research upon nowadays personalities who were born in poverty, but succeeded in life because they pursued an education.
Moreover, you can ask the students to make a research upon the access to quality education in Pakistan. Ask them to reflect upon the way Malala Yousafzai protested against Pakistani girls’ limited access to school. Ask them to consider what is needed to ensure quality education in a country (see “Further information” for literature about the situation and Malala Yousafzai).
Ideas for actions
Further information
The sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) targets: http://globalresponsibility.eu/goal-4-quality-education/
Council of Europe, “Education,” http://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/education
A World at School, “Pakistan,” http://www.aworldatschool.org/country/pakistan
Plan International, “Youth Advocates Improve Access to Quality Education,” https://plan-international.org/pakistan/access-post-primary-and-life-skills-based-education-pakistan
The Malala Fund, “Malala’s Story,” https://www.malala.org/malalas-story
Open Society Foundations, “Right to Education for Girls in Pakistan: Malala’s Struggle Must Continue,” https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/right-education-girls-pakistan-malala-s-struggle-must-continue
United Nations: Sustainable Development Goals:
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