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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> press-releases-bounces@lists.spc.int [mailto:press-releases-bounces@lists.spc.int]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>SPC Media<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 17 November 2017 15:06<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [SPC-News] Media Release: Can data alone inform decisions to bring about change?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><img width="1191" height="175" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D35FB5.6F7F2840"></span><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;text-align:center">
<b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:18.0pt">Can data alone inform decisions to bring about change?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU">17 November 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Coral Coast, Fiji</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"> – When you open yourself up to transparency and share the evidence, you are able to see the issues and change your mindset, allowing you to
change your results. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU">This was just one of the key messages shared this week at the
<b>Regional Summit on strengthening use of education information to inform change
</b>hosted by the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP).<b>
<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU">Ministry of Education officials from 15 Pacific Island Countries shared their experiences and lessons learnt in terms of education data. Where they were as a country and how
they can move forward learning from one another. Developing a divisional lens to identify evidence determines the strengths and areas required for improvement within education systems was something the delegates agreed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU">Identifying the correct tools in gathering data and communication in the process of gathering data are pivotal in making decisions that bring about change. Moreover, the solutions
are not in the data but in the individual, that is assessing the data and using education data to help policy makers getting to decisions that are both technically possible and politically feasible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU">“Data usage is about people. Having the right people, in the right places with the right skills” Andrew Erbs, ICT for Education Consultant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU">The Summit has been a great platform to share knowledge, information and practises among the countries and to discuss how the political contexts in individual countries and across the region
factors in to how governments use information to inform education decisions. There has been widespread collaboration through presentations, discussions and storytelling; learning from one another’s experiences along the road to improving education outcomes
in the Pacific.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU">The Kingdom of Tonga representative, Mr Hepeti 'Isoa Takeifanga stated that he agrees with looking for a common ground in understanding and in building a regional mechanism relevant to our context
and building capacity of pacific expertise. Expertise to develop our Education Management Information Systems and to make sure it is applicable to every Pacific context even though we may have different requirements.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU">Representatives from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu
and Vanuatu were represented at the Summit by their ministries of education senior officials. Development partners from the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Government of Australia, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNESCO UIS, Pacific
Islands Forum Secretariat and UNICEF were also present.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Media contacts<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Solomoni Matthewsella -Communications Officer |
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="mailto:solomonim@spc.int">solomonim@spc.int</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">
</span></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:15.6pt"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Useful link:
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:15.6pt"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://t.co/tly2tdp3w4">https://t.co/tly2tdp3w4</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">To subscribe to SPC’s mailing list, click the link below:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://lists.spc.int/mailman/listinfo/press-releases">http://lists.spc.int/mailman/listinfo/press-releases</a></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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