World Literacy Foundation | Oxford Declaration

The landmark conclusion of the World Literacy Summit 2012 was the Oxford Declaration. Delegates were asked to outline the key action points required to improve global literacy standards. They contributed throughout the conference via face-to-face interviews and an interactive web forum.

Click here to read the full Oxford Declaration.

A brief summary of the Oxford Declaration

To address the state of literacy worldwide, the quality of education must be a global development priority. In order to raise the profile of literacy and learning on the international agenda, the delegates of the World Literacy Summit 2012 call for:

Leadership and collaboration across all national and global levels
Increased and more effective financing for quality education programs through partnership
Targeted advocacy to ensure literacy is part of broader education policy discussions
Improved measurement of learning outcomes
Strong evidence base for why universal literacy is fundamental to an individual’s and country’s success

The four priority areas in which the Oxford Declaration pledges a collective investment:

Improve teaching, curriculum and instructional materials
Support monitoring, effective assessment systems for literacy programme improvement
Increase gender and socio-economic equity in literacy levels
Respect cultural differences

The Declaration was a call to action. By signing the document, delegates pledged to:

Work in partnership
Be active, innovative, forward thinking and focused on commitments to world literacy as a global priority
Ultimately improve the lives of millions of children and adults.

The Oxford Declaration is now being used as an instrument to break down the barriers between government, business, non-governmental organisations, educational institutions and the world’s citizens in an effort to promote greater literacy standards worldwide. The Declaration is providing impetus to fund, plan, operate and measure literacy initiatives.

You too – whether you are an individual or an organisation – can now add your name to the list of signatories supporting the Oxford Declaration. Please contact info@worldliteracyinformation.org for more details.