prospects: quarterly review of education, xiv, 3...

prospects quarterly review of education

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prospects Vol. XIV, N o . 3, 1984

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VIEWPOINTS/CONTROVERSIES

Lessons from the periphery Andrea Canevaro 315

The institutionalization of educational projects James Ohm 331

OPEN FILE Encouraging pupil achievement

Wastage in primary education from 1970 to 1980 Office of Statistics, Unesco 347

School feeding programmes: myth and potential Beryl Levinger 369

Is failure at school inevitable? Pierre Laderrière 377

Improving the effectiveness of schools in the U S S R V. M . Monakhov and A. M . Pyshkalo 385

The prevention of failure in elementary schools in Czechoslovakia Miroslav Mach 395

A changing pattern of assessment for England and Wales Keith Kimberley 403

TRENDS AND CASES

T h e University of the West Indies in the 1980s Edris Bird 413

Reviews

Profile: Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg 423

Book reviews 429

ISSN 0033-1538

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Recognizing innovation

Vitality and positive change are not always found in educational systems, which are often exclusive, inward-looking and rarely self-critical. The articles by Andrea Canevaro and James Olsen illustrate these elements.

Actually, the two authors—and their approaches—are distinctly different. One is a specialist in peripheral phenomena of educational systems, of creative 'discord' from his professional vantage-point, special education. The other works in the field as a man of action, seeking and experimenting with alternatives to the formal system which does not include, in any case, all children of school age nor even adequately educate those who are in school. However, a similar conviction motivates both authors: the innovative impulse often comes from the periphery, from the non-formal sector, in fact, from projects, experiments, and different methods for teaching and learning. But the singularity and sometimes the uniqueness of such initiatives actually make them fragile and vulnerable: 'educators whom we call peripheral are reduced to relative insignificance, their ideas being regarded as non-essential rather than as serious methodological proposals' notes Canevaro. Thus the routine which characterizes many educational systems perpetuates immobility. Routine is naturally the production ad infinitum and without variety of well-entrenched methods and techniques in spite of their obvious sclerosis and inefficiency. Routine is also bureaucracy, the prompt return to the past after a brief attempt at change. Experiments and successful educational projects can only have a multiplying effect if they are institutionalized. 'All too often strategic decisions regarding programme-planning factors are made in isolation in the capital by politicians . . . and technicians' (Olsen). But when an educational project develops and succeeds beyond the formal system, few politicians support and provide it with firm foundations. 'When the government sees the excellent results [of an educational project], it will continue the work itself. This attitude is naïve . . .' notes Olsen. Without government support, literally no project can survive. That is how the system and existing apparatus too frequently stifle innovation: by isolating it and by refusing the political support which would have allowed it to become institutionalized and have a multiplying effect. What can be done? It must be repeated time and again that the formal and non-formal systems are made to complement, not to exclude each other. In this respect, the formal system should take into serious consideration the theory of 'cognitive discord' mentioned by Canevaro, that which forces one to question oneself and

Prospects, Vol. XIV, N o . 3, 1984

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provoke an active attitude. It should be more open to the periphery and to any innovative or renovative method that it brings and which allows education, when it is willing to listen, 'to take stock of its effectiveness and so gain in authenticity and credibility . . .'. Furthermore, it has to be admitted that a successful educational project only has the possibility to reach its development objectives if it is institutionalized. It is well known that 'institution-building is central to a country's self-sustaining growth' (Olsen). To recognize innovation is not only to identify it, but also to accept it as such and to integrate it.

T h e 'educational mortality rate'

That is how Italian statisticians, according to Canevaro, identify repetition and failure at school. In this respect, this Open File is of concern to all readers, since nearly all countries are affected to different degrees by this phenomenon.

In the context of his own article, Canevaro sees repetition and failure at school as the results of the 'prevailing idea of education and teaching [that] is based on the belief that there is only one kind of culture, by reference to which all human beings, children and adults alike, can be classified, many of them being adjudged beyond hope (or educationally dead)'.

Beyond hope: in certain countries the repetition rate in primary education reaches rates of 30 to 40 per cent, in other words, millions of children. Some industrialized countries are scarcely better off. Furthermore, if the percentage of children repeating a class among total primary school pupils has decreased on average during the last decade, the number of children repeating increased by 45.J per cent in Latin America, 41 per cent in Africa and 7.3 per cent in Asia. And dropout rates, primarily as a result of 'failure at school', at the end of the primary level, in the same regions and for the same period are hardly encouraging: 27 per cent in Latin America, 21 per cent in Africa and 9 per cent in Asia. W e are thus witnessing a more and more frantic race between the barely sustainable effort of countries to enrol children in schools and the educational machine continuously functioning to produce more children left by the wayside. That is modestly called a 'dysfunction' of the school system, a dysfunction with considerable psychological, economic and social consequences whose wastage has not adequately been measured.

There are dozens of internal and external reasons for these drop-outs and failures. Our Open File examines some of the internal factors. There are many countries in which, in spite of legislation stipulating the right

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to education for all and the state's obligation to provide it, primary education is still not available for all children. In addition, when this instruction exists, the syllabus is often unique, overloaded and even inappropriate to national needs: the classes are also crowded, teaching materials and equipment are insufficient, buildings are in poor condition and frequently distant from the population they are intended to serve. Frequently teachers are underqualified, especially in rural areas, and they are the ones who pass judgement regarding a child's success or failure. H o w is a child to go from one class to another, or to succeed when the nature, structure, methods and conditions of the educational system are such?

Furthermore, the conception of 'success at school' which predominates here and there, which is considered 'normal', is that in which the primary values are competition, the competitive spirit, hierarchy and elimination. Most school systems in the world today are built more or less explicitly upon selection, even when the system allows automatic promotion from one class to another.

This being said, a real definition of 'success at school' has not been found. For example, what does it mean 'to succeed' in a system, in terms of preparation for professional life, participation in national construction, or simply preparation for personal fulfilment and happiness? Looking to the adult a child or adolescent will become (the private man, the worker, the citizen), what can evaluations such as 'excellent', 'good', 'average', 'bad' signify? What can such terms actually predict with certainty?

Finally, what help can 'success at school' constitute when understood in its usual context if it only leads to the same situation as failure at school? In fact, nearly everywhere in the world, the outcome for young people who have succeeded in obtaining a diploma is difficulty in finding employment, hence a sort of social impasse in which youth are not integrated into society.

Facing the category which has overcome all obstacles is another quite visible group made up of those who, in the eyes of the system, have failed and constitute living proof of wastage and injustice: a waste of goodwill, human resources, everyone's time and public money; injustice, since those who are rejected most frequently come from the most disadvantaged groups of the population.

But failure at school which, not so long ago, was accepted by all—politicians, planners, teachers, trade unions, parents, children—as an internal necessity and an unavoidable outcome of the system, is more and more intolerable. If there had been a 'policy' in this area, it was a policy of failure. Today, there is a demand to reverse this tendency, to draw up and implement a policy of success. It is well known and should not be hidden that intellectual factors play a certain role—although not

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quantified according to universally agreed standards—in failure at school. But it is undoubtedly more urgent to recognize that when social and cultural factors are unfavourable, as is so frequently the case, their impact is decisive. Given the same IQ among children, difficult or unsatisfactory material conditions, a lack of a well-balanced family life, a poor or undeveloped cultural environment inevitably make the difference. And it is so much more unbearable that the population which suffers is doubly handicapped: by its own material conditions and by the 'excellence model' which is the norm established by the most advantaged social group.

Consequently, if the declaration of intent, often written into policy programmes, which gives priority to establishing equal educational opportunity (that is to say, to give all children not only maximum equality of opportunity but also, of success), should really be applied, it would presuppose a complete change of approach. Education should give greater attention to the social and cultural heritage than to biological heredity. It should not set up a single, unique norm which starts off by prejudicing the disadvantaged. It should transform the policy of competition-elimination-failure, into a policy of success or successes. There is the whole problem and it is clear that it is a policy issue which involves global reforms and strategies.

It would be a grave error to refuse even partial improvements on the pretext of preventing a school system so clearly opposed to the ideals it proclaims to perpetuate and consolidate itself.

If failure at school is not a necessity, if it is only the result of a 'dysfunction' located elsewhere, it is possible, however, now and everywhere, to limit its harm by offering the disadvantaged a quality compensatory education, by improving the relevance and balance of the syllabus, by reorganizing the pace of studies, by reforming teacher training and by changing pedagogical practice so that the teacher looks after all children in his or her class, regardless of their intellectual aptitudes, by providing better quality space, equipment and learning materials. In the long run, it is a matter of enabling the school to satisfy the whole range of expectations, so that it serves all of society in terms of the diversity of its component groups.

This Open File was prepared with this perspective on success and achievement, as incomplete as it may be: the study by Unesco's Division of Statistics provides facts and figures; the article by Beryl Levinger shows the compensatory effects of various school feeding programmes with the support of experiments and studies; Pierre Laderrière tends to show that failure at school for a particular region, although conceived of and accepted as a necessary outcome, need not be inevitable under certain conditions; Keith Kimberley analyses the current debate in England and Wales on new trends in measuring achievement and the merits of various types of evaluation; finally, Miroslav Mach for Czechoslovakia,

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faltón

V. M . Monakhov and A . M . Pyshkalo for the Soviet Union àe0pe the efforts to prevent failure at school even before the begiftri&tig ° / « r* C P O primary school and once children are enrolled, to improve\ it1f$n'v v~ -"' achievement. \ <\ \ .. Q \ C . O

Hence, the effort should no longer be simply an attempt to reduce^m failure at school which is secreted by the social and educational ¡ysteptj^^ ^ S ^J that is to say simply to reduce the distance between an imposednormmjffleur ¿e \\&s actual performance, but instead, to act upon the causes and undertake the maximum to ensure the success of all.

Z . M .

VIEWPOINTS

CONTROVERSIES

Lessons from the periphery

Andrea Canevaro

Insights and innovations o n the periphery of education

Educationists and practising teachers faced with educational problems sometimes come across facts that arouse their excitement or dismay. They m a y , for instance, read about little-known events, characters and cases in the past that anticipate innovations of their o w n day, and find that what they have thought of as being highly inventive or experimental has a precedent in even the distant past. A n d situations often thought of as geographically or historically peripheral to the education system m a y provide the stimulus for innovation. T h e element of innovation or renovation, as a result of which education takes stock of its effectiveness and so gains in authenticity and credibility, often comes from education on the periphery.

M a n y well-known educators such as Freinet, D o n Milani and Freiré developed their methods in peripheral situations. Their voices reach the centre of the education world from the periphery—from isolated villages, poor schools and rural areas where life is m a d e up of grinding poverty and neglect. Other educators too, both past and present, can sometimes be seen to have acted as pioneers in this way.

In order to understand these peripheral ideas, let us begin by taking a problem that throws light on the larger reality. T h e problem of handicapped children is part and parcel of the whole problem of the effort to affirm one's identity; for one school of educational thought holds that a handicap is a negation, like a 'minus' sign, which neutralizes every other characteristic.

Andrea Canevaro (Italy) is an instructor in special education at the Institute of Educational Sciences in the University of Bologna. He trains teachers and other educational workers in methods for the educational and socio-cultural integration of handicapped people. He has conducted research and published several books on this subject.


Andrea Canevaro

M o r e than a century ago, Edouard Séguin pointed out that doctors often did not realize that they were looking at a portrait gallery in which the same portrait was repeated over and over again. They did not see that handicapped people were profoundly affected by the kind of life they were obliged to live and lost all identity by being m a d e to conform to a stereotype. T h e denial of diversity encourages a centralized view of the world and of education.

These brief remarks are concerned with a particular part of the periphery of education, namely that of education for the handicapped; and in particular with Séguin, a minor historical figure whose n a m e is as important as it is unknown in the official history of education. They show h o w the educational 'establishment' is based on egocentrism, which gives rise to the temporal structure of dissociated reasoning, in which the relations of causality can be denied. This sort of egocentric logic has been called the 'cauldron world', a strange expression which is based on an anecdote that caricatures one sort of reasoning. It is the story of a m a n w h o borrowed a cauldron and gave it back to the owner cracked. H e appeared before the judge and with great frankness and self-confidence maintained, first, that he had never borrowed a cauldron, second that the cauldron was cracked w h e n he borrowed it, and finally that he had returned it to its owner in perfect condition, undamaged in any way. According to his way of reasoning, all three defences are valid, and it does not matter that each n e w defence invalidates the previous one. Presumably, logical time for this person starts from scratch and each n e w argument cancels out the one that went before it (Gabel, 1962). Logical dissociation operates as if a fact or a person simply did not exist.

In educational systems egocentrism produces similar dissociations as a result of which the theory of education has developed on the basis of censorship and omission. In education, censorship means failure, and it is no accident that this is referred to in statistical parlance as the 'educational mortality rate'. T h e prevailing idea of education and teaching is based on the belief that there is only one kind of culture, by reference to which all h u m a n beings, children and adults alike, can be classified, m a n y of them being adjudged beyond hope (or educationally dead).

Educational systems based on egocentrism defend themselves by pointing out what their o w n aims are. T o fulfil their purposes, they m a y behave like a hospital that takes care of healthy people and sends away the sick. O r , by analogy with Canguilhem's remarks on individuality, w e might say they do not see that a child w h o is classified as ineducable or incapable of being integrated into the education system does not constitute one of the great problems of a


school or of education in general; on the contrary, he is the very reason for their existence (Canguilhem, 1975).

Educators and proposals regarding education that come from the periphery are eccentric in the true sense of the word, and are seen as such by the educational 'establishment'. Even praising them and holding them up as examples can be a way of defending inertia and counteracting the forces of change, because in this way educators w h o m w e call peripheral are reduced to relative insignificance, their ideas being regarded as non-essential, rather than as serious methodological proposals. This is what happens in the case of education for the handicapped; any proposal m a y be seen as extrinsic or irrelevant, whether it was made in the past or in our day. History is viewed with the caution Canguilhem himself enjoined when he said w e should mistrust anyone given to blind admiration of our predecessors, because any assumption about the past raises serious questions of epistemology. Indeed, if w e assume that what is true of school education is true of education as a whole, w e can see that the encouragement of competition in education means that, right from the start, school life is in direct opposition to recognition of the interests of the group and to ideas such as the need for pupils to co-operate in finding things out, each in his o w n way, to compare results and to develop love for discovery.

Out-of-school life likewise has an apparent spontaneity which covers up the contradictions of consumerism and the mass media. Lurçat draws attention to this when she asks what changes should be made in the schools w h e n adolescents are thin and neatly dressed and have no spots on their faces, at an age when they are supposed to have acne and be eating too many sweets. They adopt a defiant attitude towards sexual taboos, in the belief that they are liberating their sex, when in fact they are subjecting it prematurely to the domination of consumerism, full of male chauvinism and false altruism. They acquire a lot of possessions, often expensive ones, without earning any money and without having to support themselves. They sing in English, regardless of whether they can speak the language, with a nasal twang, and gestures to suit, while at school they get bored and refuse to study languages (Lurçat, 1976).

But in a system based on egocentricity relations are characteristically governed by the vicious circle of the need for incentives. It is a vicious circle because it goes in both directions: those at the top try to control those at the bottom by gaining their favour, and those at the bottom—in this case those in the classroom—compete with each other to please those at the top. This is more visible in cases where the egocentric system functions as an undisguised hierarchy, ready-made and incapable of organizing all the parts so

Andrea Canevaro

that they form a whole. This inability is dealt with by cutting off whatever is of real significance and paying attention to only those parts that fit in with the plans that have been neatly drawn up and finalized.

T h e problem Lurçat refers to also makes it clear that the periphery, or rather the peripheries, of education are not simply whatever falls outside the main official education systems; the peripheral or marginal in education is not necessarily valid or a suitable alternative. W e cannot determine what the term covers by rule of thumb. W e must formulate concepts. It is not a matter for mere pragmatism or blind activism. Still less should it be based on the belief that spontaneous growth or learning is a suitable alternative. Sometimes peripheral educators are treated with unwarranted harshness because they are accused of behaving like demagogues, of simply allowing the pupils to do as they like and adopting an easy, laissez-faire attitude. If w e think of the names I have already mentioned—Freinet, D o n Milani and Freiré—we shall see that there is scant validity in such accusations or reproaches. In fact, the examples and proposals that come to us from the periphery are all part of a pedagogy of commitment, which directly challenges the lack of commitment concealed under a kind of conservative moralism in education systems.

Educational research often comes from or starts at the periphery, but not spontaneously. Fresh air cannot be found just by going out to the periphery; in fact, the opposite is often true. This mistake is sometimes m a d e when mechanically legislative action is taken, in the belief that if you place a problem in a different context you have solved it. Sometimes, for example, nursery school or kindergarten and pre-school education in general constitute an educational periphery in which n e w approaches to teaching can be developed, but it would be wrong to think that the socio-cultural disadvantages of the whole school system could somehow be compensated for by promising developments in pre-school education.

By using the term 'periphery of education', I have been trying to indicate a cultural dimension that allows for more creative freedom in a world dominated by 'cauldron logic', a greater opportunity to tackle the question of communication, and a constant effort to find fresh solutions to real problems.

This is not freedom in the sense of authorization, because the cauldron world does everything it can to make one pay dearly for such liberties; it is a difficult, problematical possibility. T h e most important names in this pedagogical periphery have already been mentioned: Freiré, the little village of Barbiana, D o n Milani and Freinet. Looking back to the past, w e can see that Maria Montessori

Lessons from the periphery 31

was on the pedagogical periphery and, before her, so was Itard and his 'sauvage'. All these are part of a long series of departures from the 'naturalness' of the educational 'establishment' by educators working on the periphery. Education is no longer confined within its formal boundaries; it is continually seeking its identity wherever pupils, whether they are children or adults, have an opportunity for exploration and discovery, which are related to and derive their vitality from different factors, including practical efficiency and—although here w e enter the ethical sphere, which is always problematical—authenticity and credibility.

Adaptability and readiness for change

Barbiana is a small, isolated village near Florence but far from the urban world. D o n Milani was sent by his Bishop to live there, and from then on his whole life, up to the time of his death, consisted of seeing to the school, teaching, and ensuring that every child could learn and could become a teacher in his turn. T h e children used to say that some teachers did not need to k n o w children personally, because they could just invent them. D o n Milani suggested a definition of a school that would apply equally well to education in general. H e said a school is between the past and the future, and both should be present within it: on the one hand it must have a sense of reality, on the other, it must be ready to change and to go beyond that same reality (Milani, 1970).

T h e aim of education is to transform things as they are, but there is no guarantee that it will succeed. It tries to produce and to modify cultural patterns, but educators should not impart a false sense of security about the certainty of the results. W h a t they can impart is knowledge of the way to organize research. Let us take, for example, the process of communicating by speech. In its linear and progressive structure, speech presents the listener with various images, each n e w one replacing those that went before it. W h a t the listener hears is not all of a piece; some parts are full of meaning, others not. T h e passages of a speech are discussed as they are remembered, independently of the way in which the speaker assembles his material. T h u s a n e w speech comes into existence. But if a speaker does not want to follow this rigidly linear and progressive structure he can use aids and devices such as blackboards, diagrams or film projections, to keep all the different elements of what he is saying before his listeners. T h u s the logic is broken up and a n e w logic is formed which is not linear, but circular. In progressive linear logic,

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w e usually forget the parts that do not fit in with our rationalization and are not arranged to form a n e w and original structure. W e attach no importance to any valence, signal or message that upsets our scheme of things.

This w a y of communicating does not lead to repetition, but to the integration of elements produced by the teacher with others produced by the pupil. D o n Milani's ideas about readiness for change are especially relevant to this aspect of education. T h e y are anything but unrealistic. In general, educators w h o are on the periphery of education believe in what m a y rightly be called the 'contractual' importance of the physical dimension. This forceful expression implies the tension between the two people concerned, each of w h o m gives the other information which he wishes h i m to take into account. T h e contractual relation lies in recognition of a person's presence and of what he m a y say. Readiness for change is inherent in this contractual potential of the physical dimension.

Proceeding on a contractual basis therefore means recognizing the other as a subject. A n d the other, as a subject, has desires which he wants to satisfy and ideas which he wants to convey; they must not be blindly accepted, but discussed and evaluated. T h u s each hopes and expects that the other will defend his o w n ideas on the same contractual basis of negotiation, so that he will not be deprived of significance and fail to m a k e his intentions k n o w n . This is the origin of consciousness through oral communication.

D o n Milani (1970) writes:

I have been teaching farmers and labourers for eight years, and I have given up almost all m y other activities. M y whole life is language and languages. Ten or twenty times an evening I check on some question of etymology. I stop at certain words and dissect them; I bring them to life like people w h o go through birth, development, change and deformity. At first young people do not want to know about this kind of work, because they do not immediately grasp its practical application. Then little by little they begin to see the point. O n e notices it in the highway code book he is studying to get a driving licence, another finds it in his party's newspaper, another stumbles on the Russian novelists and understands them. Then they all notice it in the village piazza or in the bar, where the doctor and the pharmacist are engaged in a heated argument. Today, they understand words and their shades of meaning. N o w they realize that what is being said does not mean as m u c h as they had thought, and that in fact it has very little meaning. The more confident among them, indeed, try to make their own contribution to the discussion. They start questioning longwinded speakers as to what their words mean . . . W h e n the poor learn to handle words as if they were people worthy of respect, the tyranny of the pharmacist, the speech-maker and the proprietor will be broken.


Using his printing-press, Freinet encouraged children to write and print things for themselves, to master the use of the tools that give everyone his identity. Each of them was to become something—the teacher did not know what. A n d Freiré, by making his pupils aware of the familiar things of everyday life at h o m e or at work, opened up a possible future for the illiterate peasant. Such conscientization is the keystone of Freire's educational work. It means grasping a situation by finding objects that 'generate' conscious language, or objects to which everybody can relate as a subject. Thus a peasant masters his language through the tools of his work. Besides, conscientization means discovering that one is a subject, and therefore it also implies being ready for change, since it is only subjects that can change.

These ideas that have been developed by educators w h o are on the periphery are not merely the product of the circumstances in which their value and effectiveness have been demonstrated. They have implications for the very basis of education.

T h e essential nature of a child, as Wallon used to insist, must not be considered apart from the environment in which he is growing up. I believe that our knowledge is not yet sufficiently advanced to define a child's essential nature. Childhood is a subject for research; at the m o m e n t w e can say h o w research is developing, but it is by no means complete. T h e reasons for this must be sought in history, and extensive studies have been m a d e which show that in certain parts of the world children were for a long time not considered as subjects with their o w n identities, and that the need to pay particular attention to childhood and to study it was not realized until relatively recent times.

Since research on childhood has only just begun, the wisest and most capable educators do not try to maintain that education is based on a body of well-established knowledge, nor do they sit back and say that nothing can be done in education until our knowledge is complete. They are careful to base their action on respect for the child, knowing that this does not m e a n non-intervention but rather non-interference. Educators w h o have been afraid to make real contact with children have been mere spectators of the difficulties a child experiences and expresses to others. A n adult must not pretend he does not exist, so as to give the child its freedom. Such freedom is both ambiguous and fictitious.

A n experiment of interest in this connection has been going on for more than twenty-five years in Budapest, in a house known as Löczy (from the name of the street) where forty to sixty children live, ranging from new-born babies to three-year-olds. This experiment is important because it shows us at least something of Wallon's

Andrea Canevaro

ideas as applied to everyday life. Let us take motor skills as an illustration:

Even more important in psychological development is the child's initiative in the matter of motor ability. It is now generally recognized that the child's active movement, in which he himself takes the initiative and which he himself carries out, plays a dominant part in the development of his awareness of his own body, in his self-awareness, in his perception of his own capacities, in his ability to learn and in his recognition, both spatial and temporal, of the world around him (Pikier, 1980).

This helps us to understand the question of the child's readiness for change. Having considered h o w such readiness for change is concerned in communication, the formation of language, and our o w n constantly changing knowledge of the educational relation, let us consider h o w far the idea is applicable to small children, whose dependent condition seems to preclude the possibility of their asserting themselves as protagonists of change. T h e matter becomes clearer w h e n w e consider that E m m i Pikler, w h o founded Lôczy and directed it for m a n y years, did not believe in helping a child to develop rapidly; she and her husband, w h o was an education specialist, decided to adopt an entirely different attitude to their first son, w h o was born in 1931. She was m u c h encouraged by this experiment, which she carried out before she founded Lôczy.

In relation to developing motor ability, m y main suggestions to parents were: first, they should not prevent the child from moving freely, and should do nothing to hasten or change the course of his development. . .; second, they should provide the child with all the material conditions necessary for freedom of movement, so that he can learn to move independently and spontaneously—suitable clothing, enough room, a firm surface which does not shift under his weight, and so on (Pikier, 1980).

In practice this means that one should not help the child to learn h o w to sit or stand, but put him in a real situation, at the same time removing obstacles from his way , so that he can consolidate what he has learned and master n e w skills. Looking at the scientific literature on early childhood, E m m i Pikler observes that all too often a child is cpinned d o w n ' in one place, forced to learn motor skills and thus driven into exaggerated dependence on adults, w h o become indispensable w h e n he has to learn something n e w , although their intention m a y very well have been to m a k e the child independent more quickly. Mistakes of this kind m a d e by adults in the past in their handling of children are understandable, and despite them non-academic resources have been available for experimentation on the independence and identity of children.


From these peripheral situations, whether they concern the education of children in isolated mountain villages, poor farmers in Latin America or little children in Budapest, w e can see that the teachers are also educating themselves; they are not expecting to obtain objective knowledge of childhood or of learners, but rather are participating actively in the disclosure of identity, both their o w n and that of others. They are participating quite realistically in the process of change.

S o m e consequences of the structuring of knowledge

In 1923, Freinet attended one of the first congresses of the World Education Fellowship, held in Montreux. H e heard what Ferriere, Claparède and Bovet had to say, but at the same time he was struck by the difference between their ideas, which required special circumstances and equipment, and the state of affairs in Bar-sur-Loup, a little village in the Alps inland from Nice, with its poorly equipped, dusty school buildings. Freinet was concerned about the difference, the incongruity between the various proposals m a d e by authoritative persons and the real state of affairs.

In 1954 Milani was 'confined' to the parish of Barbiana, in the mountains of Tuscany. There was no electricity in his house, and the conditions he was living in were quite different from those in which he had grown up. T h e people around him spoke an Italian dialect, which they could not write. They did not read, there were no newspapers, and they were cut off from civilization. If they went down to the town they became labourers and wore themselves out without seeing the meaning of their tiredness. D o n Milani stayed in Barbiana until his death in the summer of 1967. Through the young people of Barbiana, the experience of a school based on commitment from dawn to dusk is still alive.

Freiré (born in 1921) was confronted with the tragic problem of illiteracy in rural Brazil in 1963. H e thought the ordinary methods for teaching literacy unsatisfactory. There were technical requirements which could only be met by providing enormous structural support, yet the region was so poor that the structures required were out of the question; and the amount of time it would have taken to install them, their incongruity with the social environment and their oppressively colonial character all made them undesirable.

These three examples, I believe, are typical of peripheral educators and reveal the authentic vitality of their ideas. I think, too, that there

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is something in their experience which is of great importance for the cognitive structures themselves.

T h e beliefs of an educator such as Freinet, for example, can be s u m m e d up in the principle that every 'incident' gives us an opportunity to find out towards what changes experimentation in education should be directed. W e should therefore try to reduce the unease w e feel as a result of 'incidents' or situations that do not accord with our o w n ideas; to do so is to be ready for change. T h e change m a y be a change of tools (we m a y have to find n e w tools instead of those w e meant to use) or of the context or its organization, or of the phasing of educational activities and so on. But such changes are always a material reflection of a person's mental attitude, and their purpose is to communicate to the other the dimension of the change that m a y result from his actions.

W e m a y try to understand these various attitudes—those of both educators and research workers, whose concerns are identical—by referring to the theory of cognitive dissonance. Various elements can be in consonance or dissonance, depending on h o w they are perceived and received by the subject. T h e perception of dissonance can lead to different kinds of behaviour, but they can all be interpreted as attempts to lessen it. T h e decisions educators m a k e can be determined from their perception of dissonance and the ways in which they try to reduce it.

This means that the educator is more often faced with the problem of what action to take and h o w to take it. T h e difference between deciding what action is needed and h o w to carry it out m a y be disguised and confused by institutional requirements in which explicit directions such as rules and regulations are combined with unacknowledged conformity or conformism. There m a y also be the false problem of studies that seem to have no place in behavioural and relational structures, while in fact a child could derive great educational benefit from understanding, for example, h o w the problems of mathematics are analogous to those of making an environment pleasant to live in.

Festinger makes the following points:

1. The existence of dissonance, which creates psychological discomfort, impels the individual to try and reduce it by obtaining harmony.

2. W h e n there is dissonance, the individual not only tries to reduce it but also seeks to avoid situations and ignore facts that are liable to add to it (Festinger, 1973).

This seems to explain certain kinds of behaviour. In the presence of dissonance w e sometimes prefer to minimize its extent and deny its novelty, because it threatens to upset our present framework of


knowledge. O r sometimes w e find it simpler to blame someone, and account for the dissonance in that way, so that w e can live with it yet avoid modifying our views. Peripheral educators, as I have called them, do not behave in this way.

T h e theory of cognitive dissonance seems to be a useful way of interpreting their behaviour and decisions; for it enables us to work out a methodology based on their behaviour, so that it can be reproduced. Clearly, the discomfort caused by the perception of dissonance stimulates the search for a n e w relationship. This can be of real use in education if the reduction of discomfort and dissonance leads to the reorganization of possibilities, rather than to an attempt to neutralize the source of discomfort and dissonance. In the latter case, the other, with the views he holds, will be seen as an object (not as a subject) and as wrong, bad, or at all events a cause of displeasure.

But in the former case, as is shown by the educators w e have been considering, the other is seen as the bringer of n e w ideas that are interesting in the first instance precisely because they are different. Diversity is welcomed, and encourages one to overcome any discomfort that m a y be felt, so as to modify the relations and organization of the situation itself. Thus others are seen in quite a different light; they become a source not of discomfort but of discovery. T h e relationship is therefore one of goodwill, and is likely to become an inherent part of the cognitive structures. If w e compare the attitude of peripheral educators with that of other educators, w e shall see that the latter consider those w h o do not fit in with their o w n ideas of education as a hindrance to the development of a programme whose main characteristic is that it 'conforms to the norm'. This is h o w those w h o cause 'incidents', or trouble-makers, are viewed; they are urged either to come back into the established system or to recognize that they are outsiders and beyond the pale of education.

I shall say no more about this refusal to consider other people's original ideas, for it is an attitude clearly opposed to that of peripheral educators. T h e latter m a k e a point of stimulating the intellectual powers of those with w h o m they work. They accept a relationship of mutual respect, so that they are educators only in so far as they themselves are educated by the people—or the children—they meet and work with. T h u s they form a relational structure that engenders culture and is able to deal with the discomfort caused by discrepancies or dissonances, seeking to reduce them by mobilizing resources for change.

This is a point in favour of the mastery of tools and of cognitive structures, which I see as real cognitive achievements in their o w n right, rather than as a condition for the subsequent mastery of content. Structure and content develop at the same pace; the views

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of the educators referred to on this point are confirmed by researchers such as Piaget and Wallon.

W h a t has been said above might be s u m m e d up as follows: a person w h o has a positive approach to dissonance assumes an active attitude towards his situation, so that he can judge which of its components can be moved or changed in such a way that the situation can be transformed and m a d e agreeable. It is an anti-fatalistic attitude, and diametrically opposed to indecision and procrastination. It is the antithesis of that expectation of catastrophe which makes for impotence in difficult situations and a tendency to wait for some overwhelming event to upset the existing situation. Disruption would certainly bring change, but the change would consist mainly of loss of cultural identity. T h e resolution of dissonance by positive action is the revelation of identity and therefore the affirmation of diversity. I a m not sure h o w far this point of view will seem like a statement of principle to those w h o k n o w nothing of the practical work performed by peripheral educators; but this article is meant to encourage them to find out more about that work and its results and to keep on trying to unmask the elaborate attempts by which the system is always seeking to portray such innovators as irrelevant or as superhuman beings.

Here, I think, the idea of cognitive dissonance makes a further contribution. It could be said that educators, w h o are actually working out and reducing dissonance, have transmitted to others the dynamic of change through what is k n o w n as 'digital' messages. (Written language m a y be called 'digital', and the meaning of the term can be understood if one thinks of a typewriter or the keyboard of a computer terminal.) At the same time they use 'analogical' messages, such as images and objects. In this way the use of the different methods of communicating links the different systems of expression. T h u s two possibilities are opened up—that of using one's o w n system of expression to the best advantage and that of understanding other systems. In other words, this procedure neither denies the modes of expression used by other people or groups nor does it take up a protectionist attitude which runs the almost inevitable risk of turning into a sort of cultural 'apartheid'. A s peripheral educators see it, realism means consideration of reality so as to interpret it and thus transform it on the basis of understanding and respect for its originality. For examples of this I cannot but refer to a very rich field of peripheral education—education for the handicapped. In this kind of education on the periphery there is a characteristic which links experiences that are far removed from each other in time and space: an attitude of continual attentiveness and care to prevent the handicap from absorbing and neutralizing a handicapped person's


whole identity. A handicapped child is not respected if he is simply left to live with his handicap as best he can, but neither is he respected if the fact that he is handicapped is denied. If, on the other hand, his identity and his originality—which includes his handicap—are encouraged to assert themselves and to increase, he is being respected. This is active, realistic consideration, in regard to both his situation and his relationships. Its antithesis is the realism of inertia.

This reference to experience with handicapped children m a y help us understand that the importance of the lessons w e learn from the periphery of education is not confined to the periphery. T h e suggestions m a d e are not meant to be self-contained; they open up possibilities that go far beyond them, in both space and time.

S o m e implications for teacher training

T h e examples to be found in peripheral education can be applied to teacher training, although it should again be stressed that w e must look at their structural aspects rather than their episodic interest. Peripheral teaching raises fundamental questions. For instance, should the teacher, like Orpheus, believe in a tradition behind him which he finds reassuring as long as he does not turn round to see what it really is? Should he proceed without reference to history and therefore without understanding the historical significance of his o w n actions?

Let us try to imagine an Orpheus w h o finally decides to turn round, disperse the illusions and see w h o or what is following him. H e moves out of a stereotype and into a situation, and so makes it possible for the other and for others in general to m o v e out of a stereotype and into a situation in their turn. T h e search for historicity, which opens up innumerable problems, calls in question the teacher's normal way of doing things. For example, the solution of the problem of handicapped children involves various forms of peripheral education, certainly including institutions, since in some of them it has been dealt with in such a way as to reform and his-toricize the educational process itself, and indeed also the different modes of expression, in particular bodily expression.

T h e bodily dimension is of primary importance in the training of educators, whether they are teachers, social workers or members of the child's family. 'Communicative behaviour' includes the attitude one adopts, the use one makes of objects, gestures, distances, m o v e ments, etc.; and it can either reinforce or impair the whole process of

Andrea Canevaro

communication. Specialists in the matter call such behaviour cmeta-communication', and have shown that it is of fundamental importance for all aspects of education. Moreover, the Socratic dialogues show that people were well aware of these things in ancient Greece, and research into past experience would undoubtedly yield some surprising information on the subject.

It is perhaps a weakness in teacher training that it fails to train students to look for objects that make it possible to create proper mediation, organize the structures and relations of learning, and provide points of reference for an event that acquires a temporal dimension, and does not vanish immediately. Educators—like children—are taking a risk if they do not realize the need for practice in finding objects which create a communicative context and which make it possible for words or gestures to be misunderstood without compromising the structures of the educational relation. T h e aim of real training is not merely to provide information to be transmitted, but to give the pupil a chance to try out his powers in a problematical situation which causes the discomfort of dissonance and requires determination to reorganize that situation and reduce the dissonance within it. In training, this can be done by simulated problems or experiments which can be subsequently analysed and evaluated.

Let us consider a few branches of study which I believe to be useful in the training of teachers: T h e study of psychomotor education (the body in relation to others);

includes the main experiments in psychomotor education, the study of one's o w n direct experience of breathing, relaxation, gestural education bodily contact, and the use of both everyday and specially m a d e materials.

T h e study of materials; examining materials produced as a result of historical experiments, from Itard to Séguin, Montessori and Freinet; finding out if they are used in schools in the neighbourhood, or indeed anywhere; finding out what materials are reco m m e n d e d by dealers and shops; examining specially constructed materials, such as logic blocks, multibase material, etc., and learning h o w to use them; constructing one's material from original designs, and beginning to use it with children or with small groups; learning the techniques of modelling—masks, puppets, etc.; relating these activities to language education (every kind of material has its o w n terminology, the terms of technology and/or dialect) and to mathematical logic (every kind of material involves measuring and comparison).

T h e study of group life as seen by the group; practice in making decisions in difficult situations observed directly or on video tape, then analysed to show what is the role of non-verbal conduct,


what interaction and interference take place, and the importance of facial expression and of mediating objects, whether intentional or not. Experiments in role-playing can be used in these training activities, as well as dramatization, problem-solving in simulated situations and so on.

T h e study of documentation; building u p a collection of good documentation, which even children can understand and which handicapped persons can appreciate; co-operating in the building u p of documentation; tools used for observation; signs, from marks m a d e with the fingers to writing and other signs; comparison of different kinds of documentation and the identification of programmation models (which points are part of the structure, what variations can be foreseen, etc.).

These modest proposals accord very well with the principles of 'pedagogical' pedagogy. T h e y could solve the problem of training which in m a n y cases succeeds only if educators review—and 'reject'—training itself. T h e y are an attempt—and one that has been put into practice—to tackle the problems of the transmission of knowledge and those of communication in conjunction with those of training and to provide intensive practice in overcoming the discomfort caused by dissonance. W h a t is positive is above all the discovery of and respect for the other. T o allow one's o w n identity to be shared and revealed by encounters with others in a given situation or context certainly implies a loss of innocence, to use Bloom's expression.

Lastly, let m e quote the aims of education as formulated by de Landsheere:

i. T o facilitate the acquisition of a social ability to work with and adapt to groups, particularly in the classroom.

2. T o help the teacher get beyond his or her own ego needs. This involves the restructuring of attitudes, especially social attitudes.

3. T o disclose and overcome resistance to change. 4. T o develop a non-directive style in the teacher as leader of a group, w h o

should try never to substitute himself for others except when this is absolutely necessary (de Landsheere, 1976).

I think these points are quite consistent with the proposals of what I have called the principles of 'pedagogical' pedagogy. •

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References

C A N G U I L H E M , G . 1975. La connaissance de la vie. Paris, Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin. D E L A N S H E E R E , G . 1976. La formation des enseignants demain. Paris, Casterman. F E S T I N G E R , L . 1973. La teoría délia dissonanza cognitiva. Milan, F . Angelí. (First published

I957-) G A B E L , J. 1962. La fausse conscience. Paris, Éditions de Minuit. L U R Ç A T , L . 1976. L'échec et le désintérêt scolaire à l'école primaire. Paris, Les Éditions du Cerf. MiLANi, L . 1970. Lettere di don L.M., priore di Barbiana. Milan, Mondadori. P I K L E R , E . 1980. Per una crescita libera. L'importanza di non interferiré nella liberta di movi-

mento dei bambini fin dal primo anno di vita. Milan, Edizione E m m e . (First published 1969.) W A L L O N , H . 1976. Lecture d'H. W. Choix de textes. Paris, Éditions Sociales.

T h e institutionalization of educational proj ects

James Olsen

Countries that seek to promote and sustain development need institutions—the support system that provides goods and services to people. If there is a need in overdeveloped countries to de-institutionalize, there is a corresponding need for developing countries to build n e w institutions and to reinforce emerging ones. While there have been literally thousands of projects in education in developing countries over the last ten years, there have been few n e w institutions that have resulted from those projects. Yet institution-building is central to a country's self-sustaining growth because institutions provide an organizational infrastructure which can introduce improvements and innovations, sustain their m o m e n t u m and evaluate their results.

Increasingly educational projects have as an explicit objective 'institution-building'. Sometimes projects m a y concentrate on strengthening existing entities such as a department within a Ministry of Education. At other times, the focus m a y be on the creation of n e w organizations, such as providing a programme of non-formal education for children w h o are not receiving educational services. G e n erally speaking, international agencies have targeted most of their assistance at public institutions although assistance has also been provided to private entities such as co-operatives, farmer associations and local private voluntary groups. Whatever the group, is it possible to take away any lessons learned from our experience in attempting to institutionalize educational projects? W e believe that it is and the purpose of this article is to attempt to identify in a preliminary fashion some of the key elements of that process.

Project design

In the pre-programme planning phase the level of planning efficiency is of central importance. T o the extent that host-country personnel

James Olsen ( United States of America). Consultant for international agencies and

private voluntary groups in educational planning, teacher training, development of

instructional materials and income-generation projects for low-income groups.


James Olsen

are involved in this phase, the project should be better tailored to meet host-country needs and capabilities. W h e n an outside agency already has an extant model it wishes to implement in a country—team teaching, programmed instruction, radio education, flexible scheduling, audio-visual instruction or whatever—the danger is that attention can be deflected away from the realities and needs of the recipient country to the demands of the model. It is not that 'models' or a given communications technology m a y not be appropriate or applicable to a particular national context. However, rather than beginning with a model that implicitly represents a given strategy, it is better to begin with an analysis of the contextual problems within the country and attempt to adduce an appropriate paradigm that fits that reality. In other words, begin with a definition of the problem rather than with the 'answers' represented by the model.

This often gives both outside experts and host-country personnel an opportunity to become familiar with social realities of which they m a y be totally unaware or lack sufficient information. In our project, Radio Educativo Comunitario ( R A D E C O ) , a radio education project designed to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children between the ages of 7 and 14 living in the countryside in the southwest region of the Dominican Republic, w e found that extended visits to the communities and conversations with the people living there were critically important. Direct contact with the clients w h o are to be served provides an experiential basis for both technical and political decisions.

Empirical evidence and ongoing client contact should provide the basic rationale for the project design. All too often strategic decisions regarding programme-planning factors are m a d e in isolation in the capital by politicians, bureaucrats and technicians. A key facet of the indigenization of a project is that it address the needs of the clients as they themselves perceive those needs. There is absolutely no guarantee that because a person is of a particular nationality he or she knows the particularities of a given geographic area or group of people. Indeed there is usually a considerable social distance between, say, a peasant and an official of a ministry.

In the Dominican Republic, for example, w e found that m a n y people w h o live in the south-west region where R A D E C O is based were unaware of what the conditions on the sugar plantations on the coast or the coffee plantations in the mountain were. Sometimes they lived 5 or 10 kilometres away from a plantation but they had no reason to go there and therefore lacked first-hand information. This is also true for people w h o m a y live in the capital and have never visited a more remote area of their country.

In the design phase then, it m a y be necessary for both expatriates

T h e institutionalization of educational projects

and nationals to learn the social conditions together so that they can better define and organize both the parameters and inputs of the project. In the R A D E C O project, for example, w e learned that parents in the coffee-growing regions relied heavily on the labour of their children to harvest and dry the coffee crop. A male child from the age of 5 or 6 works side by side with his father and returns h o m e for lunch at noon and then at about 3 p . m . T h e female child of the same age works with her mother carrying water to the house, taking care of younger siblings, cleaning the house and doing other chores. Based on these observations as well as conversations with peasants, w e decided to schedule the lessons from 4 to 5 p . m . w h e n preparations are started for supper. At the same time, w e also found that parents greatly valued the opportunity for their children to learn some basic skills as long as it did not interfere with the contribution of the child's labour to the survival of the family. H a d w e not learned this at the beginning of the project and had scheduled lessons during the day, w e might have transmitted lessons to a non-existent audience.

A second facet of this educational planning is to observe first hand the child-rearing and socialization patterns of the family and the community. M a n y of us, for example, tend to think of the individual child as the target of our efforts—in other words, the pupil. In our experience, w e noted that until the age of 4, the child was almost constantly cared for by an adult or older sibling to the point of being constantly carried around. T h e Dominican child, like m a n y children from other cultures, lives in an extended family situation in which members of the community care for each other's children. T h e idea that a child would be physically separated for 'school' is inimical to these practices. T h e target then could be the child-cplus' (another older child or adult) and since the learning context is an integral aspect of curriculum development and delivery, w e could incorporate this facet into the lessons and worksheets themselves.

Sometimes educational projects make prior assumptions about the audience. In our experience, it is far better to assume that w e do not k n o w very m u c h about the clients and to infuse the early design work with this heuristic emphasis. W e asked questions such as: W h a t is the oral vocabulary of the peasant child at various age-levels? W h a t are their favourite animals, colours, foods, etc.? W h a t do they actually see when they look at a picture or photograph? This type of baseline data collection about what the clients bring to the learning experience is often overlooked or underemphasized in educational projects. Yet h o w can the technician design instructional materials, training plans or delivery systems that work unless he or she collects such basic data? These in-depth micro data will

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often reveal m a n y of the differences between the target audience and other groups, such as children living in urban areas (who m a y be exposed to television, for instance) or children attending a formal school. T h e availability of such information will help to make the curriculum content consonant with the needs and perceptions of the audience.

A third facet of the planning is to generate data about the social milieu of the learner. Inevitably, one of the central questions inherent in any educational development effort is education for what? T h e purposes of education in certain respects have to be different for different people depending on what ultimate use the skills are to be put. If a person lives in a desert, there is no point in teaching him h o w to fish even though the technology m a y be available to transmit those skills. It is at this juncture that questions of value and philosophy become highly pertinent, not just as abstractions and generalities but as palpable goals. T o what extent are French and algebra actually useful to a peasant w h o is struggling to survive? Even though they m a y be noble aims in themselves, for people living under harsh, difficult and often inhuman conditions, they are fundamentally irrelevant.

W h a t is relevant? T h e answer to this question comes first from asking people what they want to learn and w h y . Secondly, as the investigator learns the problems of the environment, it is possible to incorporate this material into the programme. In the countryside of the south-west region, w e began to observe commonalities a m o n g communities with respect to health and dietary areas. W e saw h o w certain kinds of information and skills could save lives even within the limitations of the locally available resources. Local foods could be used more efficiently and various health precautions could be encouraged. This information assisted us in making the educational project design more realistic and pertinent to the audience. Using the services of a trained expatriate anthropologist working with a team of local Ministry of Education personnel, w e systematically collected data on important aspects of the communities to be served so that there was a high degree of social and cultural congruence between R A D E C O and its clients. Without this planning, the long-range goals of the project could be inhibited. This process also forced on us the discipline of refining the project purposes with a m u c h higher degree of specificity and was therefore useful in identifying some of the key evaluation issues. W e moved in our understanding of evaluation as more than simply the quantification of learning output in literacy and numeracy to asking what type of social impacts R A D E C O might also have and h o w w e might be able to measure them.


Such dialogue between expatriates and host-country counterparts helps mutually to broaden the necessarily limited perspectives all parties bring to a project. It m a y also result in better professional working relationships because the significant social and h u m a n issues which are intrinsic to an educational project are at least elicited if not necessarily resolved. Dialogue of this kind, w h e n coupled with direct experience, can assist in creating a 'mystique' for the work to be done. Such a mystique will motivate people to do more than they normally would, to work harder, m a k e a greater effort, invest unpaid time, and transcend the pettiness found anywhese in the world. Certainly the Cubans and the Chinese have shown us h o w useful a spirit of commitment beyond personal goals can be in transforming some of the basic lineaments of a constricting social reality. T h e C u b a n literacy campaign is one example of mystique. T h e Chinese agricultural co-operatives are another.

It is also at this stage of project design that the staffing pattern is established. It is our belief that most educational projects are normally staffed as research projects as opposed to projects that are to be institutionalized. In our experience, w e could have fruitfully used additional staff from the standpoint of institutionalizing the project to provide the intensive staff training required in all phases of our work. A project that is an 'innovative experiment' does not normally require heavy staffing because the focus of the effort is on identifying research results along specific dimensions. It is not important that all staff m e m b e r s understand the intricacies of the work and the relationships of tasks to one another. However , if a project is to be institutionalized, then all staff m e m b e r s must be able to continue their work after the project has been completed. Therefore, the staff requires a depth of training far beyond the constraints of being able to perform a particular job.

Additional staffing requires more budget for more trained technicians. This m a y also change the time period of the project and require more time for the same amount of work to be produced. T h u s the creation of the staffing configuration and the cost analysis must be perceived and executed differently w h e n institutionalization is an explicit goal and fundamental to the project's success or failure. A n expanded staff and budget m a y also require a more comprehensive administrative framework and greater management c o m petence in programme delivery. T h u s the qualifications for the project team m a y shift from technical competence as the sole criterion to a broader definition involving managerial and administrative competencies as well. T h e point here is that once institutionalization becomes a stated goal, all staffing, budgeting, administration and scheduling functions have to be regarded some-

James Olsen

what differently. This will also affect m a n y of the host government's decisions regarding their o w n counterpart contribution.

T h e role of the host government

Clearly, perhaps the central aspect of the institutionalization of an educational project, or any other project, is the degree of commitment the government brings to the project. Unless the project, for example, is consistent with the government's public policy objectives, the likelihood of institution-building is negligible. There are a number of ways in which the level of commitment can be gauged. Direct cash contributions are one way. T h e number and type of staff delegated as counterparts are a second. T h e attitudes and responses of officials are a third, although m u c h less tangible.

T o the extent that the project represents a departure from long-established practices in the country, its risk for failure is enhanced even though the innovation the project represents m a y be the most viable solution to its educational problems. If a country has set d o w n a path that involves building more classrooms and training more teachers and the project will seriously disrupt this trend, there are generally too m a n y power centres that can retard or destroy the innovation. In this sense, all educational projects have an important political dimension to them because they m e a n that economic resources and power will be transferred from some to others. O n the other hand, if the project complements an overall government strategy, in a given geographic area for example, then the possibility of success is m u c h greater.

In the south-west region, the Dominican Government had already started a development effort in agricultural production, irrigation and the provision of health services. A major highway system was under construction. While some n e w schools had been built, it was clear that there were insufficient funds to continue the linear expansion of the formal system. A non-formal educational system then that sharply reduced future recurrent educational expenses and assisted with the capital investment to produce radio lessons and student activity materials, seemed relevant and potentially useful. While this general understanding was acknowledged by a number of officials, the next step was to estimate the costs not only for the life of the project, but for a five- to ten-year time frame after the project was completed. This exercise was carried out on the basis of a comparison between the costs of the formal system and the radio education system and the results summarized on a


cost per student basis. Naturally everyone knew that there would be some variation in these costs but the provision of this analysis close to the beginning of the project was very valuable because it created a basis for dialogue about what the formal system actually cost, whether the government could absorb those costs over a projected ten-year period with an expanded school population of some 100,000 additional students, and what the possible savings might be.

Unfortunately, m a n y educational projects are implemented without consideration of present and future costs. While projects have budgets for present expenses, they are rarely integrated into the larger educational cost picture. Without adequate macro- and micro-costing, however, there is little likelihood that a project can be transmuted into an institution because institutions cost m o n e y and demand resources—money, people and time—which a government m a y either not have or m a y be excessively oriented towards internal project design criteria rather than towards the more global concerns of public policy in the educational sector.

Economic analysis also helps to m a k e the project design itself more realistic. With the technological explosion in communications and data-retrieval systems, a plethora of teaching methodologies has become readily available. However, w h e n cost considerations are introduced, the list of possibilities becomes considerably shorter which is one reason that educational radio is becoming increasingly popular. W h e n inputs are considered on a more comprehensive institutionalized basis, the host government can more seriously consider its options rather than embrace a costly technology it will not be able to disseminate in the future. W h e n there is over-reliance on unilateral or multilateral inputs to m a k e a project operational, there is little likelihood that the government will be able to pay all of the costs in the future.

Without collaboration between the agency and the host-country sponsor entity, future institutionalization, especially of an innovative project, is not likely. Host-country counterparts should be intimately involved in this phase of the work because their understanding and faith in it constitute the cornerstone of institution-building. In our experience such close collaboration is often absent, with the outside agency providing the 'model' and most of the funds, thereby imperiling the ultimate success of the entire effort. Models should be only as complex as the host country can accept and support. If this means the model has to be modified, redesigned, or even a n e w one developed to fit the reality of a particular country, it is necessary to do so or else little use of project outputs will be m a d e and project aims will not be supported.

James Olsen

T h e consideration of the long-term financial viability of a project will also m e a n that other vital issues, such as reasonable salary levels, adequate time for implementation, realistic staffing requirements and linkages with other organizations, will be taken into account as well. In this context, educational projects do not necessarily have to be linked with the Ministry of Education. Especially w h e n they are non-formal education projects, they m a y better belong to the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Labour. Or if they are placed with the Ministry of Education, an interministerial advisory council m a y be created. This was the case for R A D E C O where participants from various ministries are part of an advisory body which is the policy-making group for the project. Without political support from the highest levels of government, it is almost impossible for project managers to m o v e forcefully in implementing the prog r a m m e . This advisory body, the C R C , reviews all major decisions concerning curriculum content, national budget allocations and counterpart staffing. In effect then, the C R C is the key to the future institutionalization of the project.

O n e of the major responsibilities of the project managers is continually to interpret the project to the C R C . R A D E C O does represent a significant educational innovation in the Dominican Republic as it postulates that it is possible to teach basic reading and maths skills to youngsters without trained teachers. While there is a context of successful experience with radio education through Radio Santa Maria which has been operating for more than twenty years with adults, there has been no comparable programme for children. Moreover, R A D E C O ' s methodology diverges from Radio Santa Maria in the sense that quantitative and qualitative data from the field are systematically collected on an ongoing basis and used as the basis for writing n e w lessons rather than revising old ones. This 'feed-forward' facet of our work requires a very carefully disciplined curriculum design, moreover, through which discrete skills are initially identified, taught, tested and retaught, if necessary. This departure from the traditional field test/revise practice of constructing educational materials naturally creates the need fully to explicate the methodology to those officials on the C R C w h o have the major oversight role.

Another educational policy area is evaluation. Since the Ministry of Education has agreed to give a Certificate of Completion to R A D E C O graduates, thereby enabling them to transfer to the formal school system if they so choose, h o w students are evaluated is a strategic question. This and the compatibility of R A D E C O ' s plan of studies in reading, maths, social studies and science with the official curriculum are also crucial. Moreover, because R A D E C O is


a non-formal educational programme in which the children of peasants have different needs from their more fortunate peers w h o have the opportunity to attend the regular school, there are differences in curriculum content especially in health and nutrition. These factors, plus the use of the audio m e d i u m which imposes its o w n special constraints, have meant that continuous interaction, interchange and critical analysis are required. This explication is a process, not a one-time presentation, and is crucial to the institutionalization effort. A professional and personal relationship must be established and nourished so that there is a climate of confidence. This can sometimes be especially difficult w h e n there are political changes in governments, n e w counterparts appointed politically in place of old ones, and changing social and economic conditions which can m e a n that in this respect the project is beginning again as if it had no prior history.

Sometimes it is not that easy to find local specialists in non-formal education, radio instruction or curriculum development and delays can result. It then m a y be necessary to recruit others with less k n o w - h o w and through constant training and supervision increase their skills. W h e n there are long delays in recruitment, the progress of the project can be severely retarded and either the allowable time period must be lengthened or the goals reduced. R A D E C O ' s project aims are ambitious as they involve the creation of a non-formal primary skills reading and language arts programme, the replication of a maths programme and lessons in science and social studies as well. This effort has necessitated the hiring and training of almost forty in-house staff to prepare, evaluate, disseminate and test the instructional materials. In addition, there are more than twenty-five communities in the first year that will have the programme. This has meant training twenty-five radio auxiliaries w h o will be working with some 1,200 children, m a n y living in isolated, almost inaccessible communities, high in the coffee-growing mountains. In the third year, R A D E C O will have almost 10,000 children and some 200 radio auxiliaries. Yet as far as w e have been able to establish, this enrolment will only represent about 10 per cent of the total potential school-age population of the south-west region. T o extend the programme to the total population will require expanded support from an outside funding source and the commitment of the Dominican Government to meet the increased recurrent costs.

T h e role of the government then is perhaps the key factor in the institutionalization of a project because without this support there is literally no place for a project to go. This support is not something that is in any sense automatic. This attitude can be expressed as follows: ' W h e n the government sees the excellent results, it will

James Olsen

continue the work itself.' This attitude is naive as there can be any number of intervening factors to prevent a government from taking the next steps towards institutionalization such as lack of funds, a n e w government, insufficient technical capability, unclear authority lines, placement of the project under the correct organizational entity, etc.

Training

It is easy seriously to underestimate the amount of time required for training in all areas, especially in the technical areas. W h a t the actual entry level of employees is in a given area is usually not very well k n o w n until the person actually begins to work at a given job. T h e n based on direct observation of the quality and output of the work, it is possible to design an individual or group plan. W e at R A D E C O have found that on-the-job training carried out on an individual basis is the best approach. In the training of the supervisors responsible for identifying communities and candidates for radio auxiliaries, w e saw that this was best done by actual visits to the communities, data collection on the spot, and then the sharing of observations on return. Theoretical expositions and lectures seem to be the least useful methods of training as practical application can eventually lead to the induction of abstract generalizations but principles do not always lead to good practices.

All of the R A D E C O training is action-oriented. In one session, for example, the participants actually performed some of the classic Piagetian experiments to see if they could identify an underlying idea such as conservation of matter. They then observed children perform the activity. Group discussion followed. T h e radio lesson writers actually write the segments that comprise the scripts and these are then reviewed on a one-on-one basis. In this way, w e have also avoided the problems of overseas training where it becomes necessary to reintegrate a returning overseas trainee to rejoin the project. Moreover, this training m a y have been offered in a setting where the available resources far exceed what the trainee would have in his o w n country.

T o provide the intensive level of training necessary to define curriculum objectives, develop learning strategies to meet those objectives, edit scripts, write teachers' guides, exploit the potentialities of the audio m e d i u m and learn its limits, time and staff far beyond the usual estimate need to be available. In addition to teaching technical skills, management and administration need to be


the foci of m u c h of the training effort. T h e management of time, people and m o n e y is central to the successful function of either a private or public institution. In our experience, educational specialists are often called upon to discharge managerial, administrative and financial functions for which they are ill-equipped either by training or personal proclivity.

T o attract good people, it m a y be necessary to change the pay scale and other aspects of the incentive system. Besides 'mystique', competitive salaries, palpable material reward for work well done, and future opportunity in terms of one's career help to attract and keep competent people especially w h e n there are alternative employment opportunities. T h e retention of such qualified staff helps to ensure the long-term viability of the institution.

Under the aegis of the host government, it is also important to build special grass-root constituencies that want to see the activities of the project continue because it is in their best interest. Sole reliance on the government is a mistake because a change in political administration can m e a n the termination of the project. But if there are pressure groups such as satisfied parents w h o want the prog r a m m e continued and expanded, well-trained radio auxiliaries w h o are receiving a monthly stipend and developing professionally, and functioning writers, artists and evaluators making a special contribution to education, then these groups will support the project. In this way , social action and political activities are necessary to any educational project of any scope. For educators to argue that their work is solely technical is to ignore one of the most fundamental facets of institutionalization in its political dimension. Ultimately, public resources must be used to support the work after the donor has withdrawn and the allocation of these resources is a political decision that will bring advantages to a given target group, either not at all previously enjoyed by them or enjoyed to a limited extent. If the host government does not meet its obligations to the project by providing counterpart funds, logistical support services, or promised credit resources, the failure is a political signal that the government does not value the project sufficiently to ensure its advancement.

Training can also be seen as a way of orienting staff not only to the efficient performance of tasks but also as a method of conscientization to the needs of the beneficiaries and the importance of the project in fulfilling those needs. In this light, training is a joining of knowledge and action in which the staff begin to develop a broader conception of their accountability, time, the socio-economic environment of the project and even of their o w n personal identity. T h u s an educational project should incorporate a learning process approach into its o w n training programme. This kind of coherence between behaviour,

James Olsen

values, understanding, knowledge-generation and institution-building is rare in most education projects.

Support a n d monitoring

In addition to the support of the host government, sustained back-stopping by the international agency is absolutely necessary to project progress and success. Continuous contact, information exchange, and critical analysis of the work in progress should be ongoing. In this way, problems such as late recruiting, schedule delays, high turnover of advisers can be solved or at least ameliorated. This type of monitoring makes it also possible to avoid some problems and correct extant ones sooner. T h e agency m a y well have easier access to certain government officials and m a y intervene at various critical junctures.

Visits to the project site can also be helpful. W e found that visits by ministry officials and Agency for International Development personnel were very useful because they had an opportunity to visit the communities and see them first hand. Such direct experience can be absolutely invaluable as there are chances to talk personally with the beneficiaries and to approach the project from a very different perspective.

T h e trips into the communities also helped to show officials some of the locational and access difficulties of reaching people and providing services. After fording several streams and having to walk up narrow mountain passes, it became clear that w e needed mules to reach certain sites. W h e n officials saw the beautiful structures the communities had built in which w e could have the classes, they realized the genuine desire on the part of peasant parents to have an educational programme for their children. These direct encounters with people and places did more to convey what R A D E C O was about than thousands of words in written reports. Little by little, it becomes possible to build the consensual base necessary for future institutionalization because the experience of the project becomes the verification of its achievements. It also helps to make possible changes in the project design and other revisions that m a y be necessary to meet unforeseen conditions. These modifications help the project personnel to respond flexibly to a changed reality thereby increasing the chances for success.

If the project is based in a rural area, for instance, the international agency can send information from the capital which will clarify the changing political spectrum of interests and personalities. Such


information can also have a definite impact on the current timetables of the project or in needed follow-through by project managers. Sometimes aggressive tactics on needed inputs m a y be appropriate, whereas at other times such tactics could prove alienating. T h e agency m a y also be in a position to initiate quasi-social contacts with officials responsible for the success of the project and such contacts are opportunities to interpret the programme and describe actual or potential problems. A delicate problem such as the technical expertise of expatriate or national counterparts can often best be dealt with in an informal private setting.

Throughout the world, most uses of educational media constitute a small part of the total educational effort. In most countries media are used as supplementary and enrichment materials which the teacher can take or leave: a once-a-week radio broadcast, a film which can cgo along' with a book, a filmstrip to supplement a chapter in the textbook, etc. Rarely have media such as educational radio been fully and inextricably integrated into a country's educational system so that their true potentialities can be fully exploited. Yet developing countries everywhere are struggling with tremendous challenges: outmoded curricula and instructional materials, shortages of trained teachers, inadequate physical facilities, lack of needed school supplies such as chalk and paper, insufficient transport vehicles, etc. R A D E C O is the Dominican Republic's response to these challenges. If R A D E C O is to be institutionalized, the considerations raised here will have to be systematically addressed. This also suggests to us that on a worldwide basis there should probably be fewer projects which receive more intensive attention, more comprehensive staffing, a longer time period to accomplish project goals, better long-term financing, a m u c h greater emphasis on managerial and administrative skills, greater participation by the host government in the design of the project, and a more conscious focus on institutionalization as a specific goal. M a n y educational projects today do not address these concerns and w e can expect that w h e n the project is finished and the donor withdraws, the host government will continue its activities as it did in the past prior to the project. But if the project is worth doing in the first place, then it should be worth either incorporating into the structure of activities that are ongoing or institutionalized in the form of some n e w entity. For this to occur various kinds and levels of personal and organizational linkages will have to be m a d e . This activity is not something that can be accomplished on an accidental ad hoc basis. It must be the main emphasis of the project managers and should be perceived in that way by the international agency and the host government. In our experience, it is a full-time

344 James Olsen

job especially w h e n the normal administrative and reporting responsibilities are included. Specialized educational expertise in a given area such as teacher training and curriculum development is necessary but not to the virtual exclusion of other kinds of skills which are just as important, such as financial monitoring and managerial talent. Without this substratum of expertise, the hope for future institutionalization of a project cannot be very great. •

OPEN FILE

Encouraging pupil achievement

Wastage in primary education from 1970 to 1980*

This study is an attempt to compare the main features of the internal operation of primary school systems throughout the world and their development between 1970 and 1980. T h e study adopts an empirical approach and aims to supply a general framework for the quantitative analysis of promotion, repetition and drop-out levels and their implications for educational wastage and efficiency.

T h e interpretation of results relating to wastage levels poses problems of method relating to the quality of statistical data.

It is not intended to go over yet again the technical aspects of the approaches first proposed by Unesco in 1969 at the time of the preparations for the 32nd session of the International Conference on Education.1 W e shall simply provide a brief definition of educational wastage and of the parameters used to reconstitute hypothetical cohorts.

T h e term 'wastage' is used in education to describe the various obstacles which prevent an educational system from achieving its goals. In particular, educational planners and statisticians employ this term to describe the combined effects of grade repetition and dropping out on the progress of a group of pupils within a specific course of education, and they have developed statistical methods to measure these effects. It is assumed for the purposes of quantitative analysis employing these methods that the goal of the pupils admitted to a specific course of education is to complete this course within the prescribed period. This being the case, the repetition of a grade within the course, and dropping out before its completion, are both considered to involve wastage. In this

respect, a 'repeater' is defined as 'a pupil w h o throughout a given school year remains in the same class and performs the same work as in the previous year'. T h e repetition of a class is considered as wastage since those repeating reduce the enrolment capacity of their class thus preventing other children from being admitted, or causing overcrowding, which raises the cost of education. Dropping out is generally defined as 'the case of a pupil leaving school before the end of the final year of the educational course in which he is enrolled'. Dropping out before the completion of a specific course is considered as wastage since the pupil w h o drops out has not achieved the educational objectives of the course. This definition of wastage is somewhat limited, since it does not take into account the gains m a d e by a pupil before dropping out, or the advantage which he m a y derive from the repetition of a grade. At any event, the extent to which dropping out and repetition m a y be considered as forms of wastage depends on the structure and goals of each education system. It also depends on the level of instruction reached by those w h o drop out (for example, whether they have become, and remain, literate) and the extent to which a further year in a particular grade assists the subsequent studies of the pupils concerned.

Generally speaking, the three rates used in

* This text is a summary of a study prepared by the Division of Statistics on Education of the Office of Statistics of Unesco for the 39th session of the International Conference on Education (Geneva, 16-25 October 1984).


348 Wastage in primary education from 1970 to 1980

the analysis of educational wastage are defined as follows:

1. Rate of promotion to the next class for grade i = number of pupils admitted to the next class i + 1

during school year r + 1

number of pupils in grade » during school year t 2. Repetition rate for grade i =

number of pupils repeating the grade during school year r + r

number of pupils in grade i during school year t 3. Drop-out rate for grade í =

number of pupils leaving school in grade i during school year t

number of pupils in grade i during school year î

T h u s in order to calculate these three rates for a given grade and school year, it is necessary to k n o w the number of pupils enrolled in the grade for that school year and what becomes of them in the next school year. O n e of the basic hypotheses of this kind of analysis should be stated at this point: the pupils enrolled in a given grade for a given school year will be admitted to the next class, will repeat the same class or will leave school during the following year. A s a general rule, countries do not collect data on each of these three cases: both the number of pupils promoted to the next class and the number of drop-outs are calculated from the data on the numbers of enrolments and repeaters by grade during consecutive school years.

In the absence of data directly concerning promotions and drop-outs it should be noted that errors in figures for enrolments and repeaters affect estimates calculated on the basis of these figures.

Analyses of educational wastage involve a number of working hypotheses. O n e hypothesis which should be checked is that the chances of promotion, repetition or dropping out are the same for newly enrolled pupils as for those repeating the grade in question. This hypothesis, which w e shall call 'similarity of behaviour', is far from confirmed, and gives rise to controversy a m o n g both teachers and planners.

T h e reconstitution of hypothetical cohorts is also a matter of controversy. S o m e experts

advocate the consecutive use of the rates (promotion, repetition and drop-out) observed during the years under study; others prefer the use of rates observed for a single reference year. T h u s , while the model and the hypotheses are the same, the approaches differ: in the first case, an attempt is m a d e to simulate the 'real movements' of cohorts, with all the limitations implicit in this approach. In the second case, the retention of the rates observed during a single year quantifies the results of stable rates. In short, this is a cross-sectional (or 'instantaneous') analysis comparable to the one used in demography in order to calculate life expectancy and is the approach which has been adopted in this study. Tests conducted for a large number of countries have enabled us to establish that there are usually negligible differences between the results obtained by applying one or other of the two approaches, bearing in mind the approximate nature of the indices calculated.

A s regards the quality of the statistical data, it can be stated that a large number of countries have organized the collection of the m i n i m u m data required for a global analysis (enrolments and repeaters by grade and sex) with relatively acceptable levels of consistency and comparability by comparison with the situation in 1970 (Recommendation N o . 66 on the reduction of wastage, I C E , Geneva, 8 July 1970). However, reservations must be expressed with regard to the reliability of the data. This applies, for example, to the classification of pupils as 'newly admitted' and 'repeating' according to local criteria which are sometimes questionable, particularly in relation to transfers from one school to another.

For the above-mentioned reasons and taking account of some very important qualitative factors (national objectives, valuation methods specific to each system, etc.) any comparison between countries which does not take account of the relative nature of the established indicators should be avoided. In fact, these indicators are less revealing in terms of comparisons between countries than as a means of evaluating internal performance (regions, zones, etc.).

Wastage in primary

Repetition in primary education

THE REPETITION LEVEL IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

AROUND I98O

Table 1 shows the countries of the different regions in order of the repetition level recorded for each of them during the last year for which statistics were available. T h e table indicates the percentage of repeaters for 121 countries and territories, including 42 in Africa, 24 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 32 in Asia and Oceania and 23 in Europe and the U S S R . T h e coverage of the countries and territories considered in this study, indicating the relationship between the enrolments in primary education in these countries and total enrolments was, in 1980, approximately 60 per cent for Africa, 89 per cent for Latin America and the Caribbean, 46 per cent for Asia and Oceania and 87 per cent for Europe and the U S S R (see Table 2). T h e countries not included in this study for lack of data, but which carry great weight because of their populations, are the People's Republic of China, India and Pakistan in Asia, and Nigeria in Africa. It must be emphasized that there are no statistics available for repeaters in Australia, Canada and the United States of America, but the overall level of repetition for these countries is very low, according to a study conducted by the Office of Statistics of Unesco in 1978.2

O n e of the main features which emerges from Table 2 is the very great disparity in the distribution pattern of countries according to region. Whereas in Africa the percentage of repeaters varies between 0.0 per cent (Sudan and Zimbabwe, which apply automatic promotion) and 46.6 per cent (Sao T o m e and Principe), with a median value of 16 per cent, in Asia and Oceania this variation ranges from 0.0 per cent for the countries with automatic promotion (Republic of Korea, Japan, Malaysia and N e w Zealand) to 18 per cent (Bangladesh), with a median of 8 per cent.

from 1970 to 1980 349

Latin America and the Caribbean region comes between these two regions, ranging from 4 per cent (Guyana) to 26 per cent (Suriname), with a median of 12 per cent. T h e region of Europe and the U S S R represents the lowest median value (2 per cent) and most of the countries have less than 5 per cent repeaters.

In Africa, the sixteen countries with over 20 per cent of repeaters are all former French, Belgian or Portuguese colonies. A m o n g the eleven countries of Africa with less than 10 per cent of repeaters three are Arab States (Sudan, Egypt and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) and the other eight were formerly under British administration.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the differences between countries' repetition levels are less than in Africa. Only two countries among the twenty-four studied have more than 20 per cent of repeaters (Brazil and Suriname). There are nine countries with fewer than 10 per cent of repeaters: these countries account for 39 per cent of the total enrolments in primary education within the region.

T h e region of Asia and Oceania covers a group of countries which are very different as regards their development and the organization of their education systems. Moreover, as has already been indicated, the most populous countries of this region were not included in this study due to the lack of data on repeaters. About one-half of the countries examined are in the range below 5 per cent of repeaters. T h e other half have between 5 and 20 per cent of repeaters. It should be noted that four of these countries practise automatic promotion. For the Arab States in the region, the percentage of repeaters varied from 4 per cent in Jordan to 13.9 per cent in Saudi Arabia.

A m o n g the countries of Europe only Belgium and Portugal have more than 15 per cent of repeaters. T h e percentage of repeaters in France (9.2 per cent), Luxembourg (6.1 per cent) and Spain (6.9 per cent) is high in comparison with other European countries. T h e other countries studied in the region either recognize in law the principle of automatic promotion which is enshrined in their legislation, or follow a system

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T A B L I 2. Coverage and median percentage of repetitions in primary education

Africa Latin America

and the Caribbean

Asia and Oceania Europe and the

USSR TOTAL

Coverage1

1980 (%)

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which in practice results in a very low level of repetition.

TRENDS IN THE NUMBER OF REPEATERS

IN PRIMARY EDUCATION BETWEEN I97O AND 1980

Table 3 shows the number of repeaters around the years 1970,1975 and 1980 for the countries in the different regions, arranged in seven groups. T h e analysis is limited to countries where data on repeaters were available around the years indicated above. T h e thirty-six African countries for which data were available have been arranged in three groups: Group I consists of the Arab States of Africa, Group II the 'English-speaking' countries and Group III the 'French-speaking' countries. T h e terms employed to designate these groups refer to the former British and French administrations in these countries. T h e real purpose of this classification is to identify certain c o m m o n features in relation to the level and pattern of repetition in the countries included in each of these two groups and naturally carries no implication for the languages which are actually spoken by the populations of these countries. Similarly, the countries of Asia have been arranged in two groups: Group V relates to the Arab States of Asia and Group V I to the other countries for which data on repetitions were available.

Africa

Table 3 shows that in the thirty-six countries of Africa considered the percentage of enrolments in primary schools formed by repeaters fell from 15.8 per cent to 14 per cent during the period from around 1970 to around 1980. In spite of this, the absolute number of repeaters increased by about 1.474 million (from 3.584 to 5.058 million), that is to say by 41.1 per cent. This m a y be explained by the fact that enrolments in primary education increased considerably, rising by 58.8 per cent during the period 1970-80. In order to take a closer look at trends within each region w e shall consider their component groups.

Arab States of Africa. T h e percentage of repeaters in the five Arab States of Africa scarcely altered (from 13.7 per cent to 14.1 per cent) but the number of repeaters in these five countries increased by 44.5 per cent. T h e contrast between the stable percentage of repetitions and the very marked growth in their number is of course explained by a corresponding increase in enrolments in primary education in these countries during the period under study. In only one country in this group (Egypt) did the percentage of repeaters increase between 1970 and 1980. It should be e m p h a sized that among the other four Arab States, in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Tunisia both the percentage and the absolute number of repeaters declined during the reference

Wastage in primary education from 1970 to 1980 353

period, by 32.4 per cent and 20.6 per cent respectively.

English-speaking African countries. Trends in the percentage of repeaters in the eleven English-speaking countries of Group II were marked by moderate rises or falls. T h e average level of repetition for this group fell from 6.6 per cent around 1970 to 6.1 per cent around 1980, which did not however prevent an increase of 80.9 per cent in the absolute number of repeaters during the same period as the result of a very large increase in enrolments in primary education (approximately 98.1 per cent). Within this group the percentage of repeaters increased in five countries. A m o n g the other six, the percentage and number of repeaters fell only in Ghana and Uganda.

French-speaking African countries. For the group of French-speaking countries, the proportion of repeaters fell by 2.5 per cent (from 25.1 per cent in 1970 to 22.6 per cent in 1980) but their absolute number increased by 31.3 per cent. It m a y be observed that the average level of repetition in this group is m u c h higher than in the group of English-speaking countries (22.6 per cent in comparison with 6.1 per cent for the latter group). In eight of the nineteen countries in this group, the percentage of repeaters fell between 1970 and 1980. In only one country in this group (Rwanda) did both the percentage and the absolute number of repeaters fall during the reference period. In brief, the data available for thirty-six countries of Africa suggest that the level of repetition has not altered greatly in this region between 1970 and 1980. Only in two countries (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Rwanda) was there an appreciable decline during the period under study. T h e level of repetition remained low in the English-speaking countries with the exception of Gambia, Lesotho and Malawi. In the French-speaking countries, on the other hand, it remained high, with the exception of Rwanda . Finally, in the eighteen least-developed countries of the region for which data were available, the percentage of repeaters ranged from 0.0 per cent (in Sudan,

which practises automatic promotion to the next class) to 37.6 per cent (in Chad) , with a median of 17 per cent. T h e percentage of repeaters was above 15 per cent for twelve countries and above 20 per cent for seven countries in this group.

Latin America and the Caribbean

There was a slight decline in the level of repetition in this region during the period observed. For the group of seventeen countries under consideration, the percentage of repeaters fell from 15.1 per cent around 1970 to 14.7 per cent around 1980. T h e absolute number of repeaters nevertheless increased by 45.7 per cent, from 5.693 million around 1970 to 8.295 million around 1980. T h e level of repetition in eleven of the seventeen countries in this group fell during the period under consideration. It should be e m p h a sized that in five countries (Costa Rica, Cuba , El Salvador, Peru and Venezuela), which all altered their promotion policy at the beginning of the 1970s, the number of repeaters around 1975 was 36.3 per cent less than it had been around 1970. But in 1977 repetition was again permitted in all classes in Venezuela, which explains the increase observed from this date. T h e same phenomenon was observed in relation to Peru from the same year. This explains the increase recorded for the percentage of repeaters in this group in 1980 by comparison with 1975. In seven countries (Cuba, Costa Rica, Guyana, El Salvador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina), the absolute number of repeaters dropped between 1970 and 1980. In conclusion, a fairly general tendency towards a reduction in levels of repetition was observed in this region during the period under study.

Asia and Oceania

As previously indicated, there is unfortunately a lack of data on repeaters for several of the most populous countries in the region. M o r e over, there are no consecutive figures for

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Oceania, with the exception of Fiji: this is w h y no other country in this region was included in the group. With these reservations, the available data show, on the whole, a slow but continuous reduction in repetition levels in this region. T h e percentage of repeaters fell gradually from 12.9 per cent around 1970 to 9.1 per cent around 1980. Although the absolute number of repeaters increased during the period observed, the relative increase (7.3 per cent) was appreciably less than that in Africa and Latin America, notwithstanding a very substantial increase in enrolments in primary education (52.3 per cent).

The Arab States of Asia. T h e level of repetition in Group V , which consists of nine Arab States of Asia, fell markedly from 15.9 per cent in 1970 to 9.9 per cent in 1980; but the number of repeaters nevertheless rose by 23.6 per cent during the same period. T h e percentage of repetitions fell in all the countries of this group but the absolute number of repeaters was reduced in only three (Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) between 1970 and 1980.

Other countries of Asia and Oceania. For the eight countries in Group V I of Asia and Oceania, repetition levels fell from 12.5 per cent in 1970 to 8.9 per cent in 1980, with a slight rise in the number of repeaters of 4.8 per cent during the same period. In all countries of this group, with the exception of Brunei, the percentage of repeaters fell but the absolute number of repetitions was reduced in only three of them (Cyprus, Singapore and Sri Lanka) between 1970 and 1980.

Europe and the USSR

General trends in repetition levels in the countries of Europe and U S S R were characterized primarily by a continuous reduction in the percentage and number of repeaters between 1970 and 1980: these fell respectively from 4.9 per cent in 1970 to 2.5 per cent in 1980 and from 2.734 million in 1970 to 1.212 million in 1980. With the exception of Portugal (16.6 per cent), Belgium (19.0 per cent) and France

(9.2 per cent), the percentage of repetitions in the countries of the region around 1980 did not exceed 2.5 per cent.

In conclusion, although the percentage of repeaters in primary school enrolment fell on average in the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia and Oceania between 1970 and 1980, the number of repeaters increased respectively by 41.1 per cent, 45.7 per cent and 7.3 per cent. This is explained by the fact that primary education enrolment expanded substantially in the developing countries during the period under study, whereas in Europe and the U S S R it showed a fall of 13.5 per cent during the 1970s. Be tween 1970 and 1980, primary education enrolment increased by 58.8 per cent in Africa, 49.7 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 52.3 per cent in Asia and Oceania.

DIFFERENCES

IN THE REPETITION LEVEL BY SEX

In this section, w e shall examine the differences in the level of repetition observed between boys and girls around 1970 and 1980. T h e analysis of the data by sex shows that the percentage of repeaters was higher among boys than a m o n g girls in sixty-six of the ninety countries studied around 1980. In only twenty-two of the ninety countries were there more repeaters among girls than among boys, and in two countries there were no differences in the percentage of repeaters.

It will also be seen from comparable data for seventy countries between 1970 and 1980 that the difference in percentage of repeaters by sex, which around 1970 revealed lower levels for girls than for boys (in fifty-two of the seventy countries for which the data were comparable), continued to hold good. Around 1980, fifty-two of the seventy countries still had lower percentages of repeaters among girls than among boys, and in two countries there was no difference by sex for the percentage of repeaters.


T h e analysis of data by region shows that the level of repetition for girls is lower than that for boys in all of the countries studied in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Europe, both around 1970 and around 1980. Only fifteen of the thirty-four countries studied in Africa, and eighteen of the twenty-two countries in Asia and Oceania, had lower percentage of repeaters for girls than for boys around 1980.

PATTERN OF REPETITION RATES

BY GRADE

W e have so far studied the overall repetition level in primary education measured by the percentage of repeaters in total enrolment. In this section w e shall examine the differences which characterize repetition rates by grade, and trends between 1970 and 1980.

T h e results of the analysis of data for 109 countries are summarized in Table 4 , which shows the median rates by region for the first and last grades and the variation in repetition rates within each group of countries for the years around 1970 and 1980.

Repetition rates appear to be lower towards the end of primary education than in the first grade of primary school in Latin America and in Europe. T h e opposite appears to be the case in Africa and Asia and Oceania. This observation is valid for all countries in the group under study for both 1970 and 1980.

In 1980 there was a tendency in twenty-two of the thirty-three countries studied in Africa for repetition rates to reach a m a x i m u m in the final grade of primary school. Between 1970 and 1980, sixteen of the thirty countries for which comparable data are available reduced the level of their repetition rate in the first grade, and twenty-three in the last grade.

T h e repetition rate in the twenty countries of Latin America and the Caribbean for which data are available is at its highest in the first grade (except in Cuba and Costa Rica) and generally drops during subsequent grades to

reach its lowest level in the final grade. O f the seventeen countries for which comparable data are available, ten reduced the repetition rate in the first grade, and eight in the final grade of primary school, between 1970 and 1980.

T h e region of Asia and Oceania includes countries which differ greatly as regards their development, the organization of their education systems and the promotion policies applied in primary education. Four countries or territories in the region practise automatic promotion throughout primary school: Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and H o n g K o n g . Between 1970 and 1980, seventeen of the twenty-four countries for which comparable data are available reduced their repetition rates in the first grade, and eighteen in the final grade.

In Europe and the U S S R , the repetition level is low (with the exception of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Portugal), and the patterns by grade are somewhat similar. Thirteen countries in the region reduced their repetition rates in the first and final grades between 1970 and 1980. It should be noted that D e n m a r k , Norway and Sweden practise automatic promotion.

Survival and drop-out rates in primary education

In this section w e shall discuss two aspects of the analysis of the progress of a cohort of pupils conducted by means of the reconstructed cohort method, namely survival, and its opposite, dropping out, in relation to a hypothetical cohort of 1,000 pupils enrolled in the first grade in a given school year.


SURVIVAL AND DROP-OUT

RATES

IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

AROUND I980

T h e analysis conducted shows that if the flow rates observed for a single school year around 1980 remained constant, there would be marked differences in survival rates between regions and countries in a single region. While 90 per cent or more of the cohort would reach the fourth grade in 51 of the 109 countries studied, the rate would not exceed 75 per cent in 14 other countries and 50 per cent in 10 countries.

Africa

T h e percentage of the cohort reaching the fourth grade would exceed 90 per cent in ten countries of Africa (three Arab States, three French-speaking countries and four English-speaking countries). In fourteen countries the survival rate would not exceed 75 per cent, and would be less than 50 per cent in five countries (one English-speaking country, one French-speaking country and three Portuguese-speaking countries). As Table 5 shows, if the flow rates observed around 1980 for the thirty-eight countries of Africa studied were

maintained, on average, 86 per cent of the cohort would reach the second grade, 82 per cent the third and 74 per cent the fourth. In Africa, the percentage of the cohort dropping out before the fourth grade would vary between almost nil and 76 per cent. T h e countries with a drop-out level equal to or above the median comprise four Arab States, seven of the sixteen French-speaking countries and seven of the twelve English-speaking countries. T h e drop-out rate is particularly high in Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique and Chad, where more than 50 per cent drop out before the fourth grade.


Table 5 shows that, on average, for the twenty countries of Latin America, the maintenance of the flow rates observed around 1980 would mean that 85 per cent of the cohort would reach the second grade, 80 per cent the third and 74 per cent the fourth. In four countries of this region, 90 per cent or more of the cohort would reach the fourth grade. T h e rate would not exceed 75 per cent in four countries and 50 per cent in three other countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua). In Latin America and the Caribbean, the percentage of the cohort dropping out before the fourth grade would vary between 3 and 76 per cent,

T A B L E 5. Unweighted averages for educational survival by region

for the cohorts entering primary education around 1980

Group of countries and region

Africa

Arab States French-speaking countries English-speaking countries Portuguese-speaking countries


Asia and Oceania

Arab States Other countries of Asia

Oceania Europe and the USSR

Number of countries

38 6

16

12

4 21

30

9 16

5 19

i

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Percentage of cohort reaching class:

2

86

92 88

88

69

85 92

96 89

93 98

3

82

90

84 84 55 80

89 95 85 91 97

4

74 84

75 79 42

74 87 94 82 90

96


the median for the twenty-one countries covered being 19 per cent.

Asia and Oceania

In nineteen of the thirty countries examined} 90 per cent or more of the cohort would reach the fourth grade; in one country the survival rate would not exceed 75 per cent, and in two other countries 50 per cent (Bangladesh and Bhutan). O n average, if the rates of flow observed around 1980 were maintained at a constant level, 92 per cent of the cohort would reach the second grade, 89 per cent the third and 87 per cent the fourth. T h e drop-out level before the fourth grade varied between practically nil and 71 per cent. T h e median value for the thirty countries of the region was 7 per cent. T h e drop-out rate before the fourth grade was above 25 per cent in four countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Socialist Republic of Viet N a m and Afghanistan). It should be remembered that some densely populated countries in the region, one of them India, are not included in these analyses because of the lack of available data on repeaters.

Table 5 shows the unweighted averages for survival rates, i.e. they give equal weight to

all countries in any specific region whatever their respective enrolments. Table 6, on the other hand, gives weighted average survival rates for the same regions and groups of countries as Table 5, that is to say taking account of the proportion of each country's enrolment in the total enrolment for each region. It m a y be seen from a comparison of the figures in Tables 5 and 6 that the weighted average for survival rates in the regions of Africa, Latin America and Asia and Oceania are m u c h lower than the unweighted, which implies that certain heavily populated countries have a drop-out level which is m u c h higher than that indicated by the unweighted rates. For example, the relatively low weighted survival rate in Latin America and the Caribbean is mainly due to Brazil, where only some 62 per cent of the 1979 cohort would reach the second grade and 48 per cent the fourth. T h e importance of Brazil in the weighted averages for Latin America and the Caribbean becomes clear when it is realized that in 1980 Brazil accounted for approximately 39 per cent of primary school enrolment in the twenty-one countries studied in this region. It m a y also be seen from a comparison of the two tables that differences between drop-out rates by grade are particularly marked in the first grade.

T A B L E 6. Weighted averages for educational survival rates by region for the cohorts entering primary education around 1980

Group of countries and region

Average for developing countries

Africa Arab States French-speaking countries English-speaking countries Portuguese-speaking countries

Latin America and the Caribbean Asia and Oceania1

Arab States Other countries of Asia Oceania

Europe and the USSR

Number of countries

88 38

6 16

4 12

21

30 9

16

5 19

1

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Percentage of cohort

2

82 83 91

84 57 82

76 88 94 87 95 99

reaching class:

3

76 80 91 82 43 77 69 81 94 80 94 99

4

69 71 83 74 26

72

63 76 93 75 93 98

1. Not including India.


This implies that the number of drop-outs in the most heavily populated countries, which lower the weighted average, is particularly high for the first grade. Finally, it must be emphasized that if India is included in Asia and Oceania (the last year for which the number of repeaters in India is known is the 1973 school year), the weighted percentage of the cohort reaching the second, third and fourth grades would be respectively 80 per cent, 71 per cent and 64 per cent. This indicates a very high drop-out level in India, and India's great importance in the region.

In brief, if the flow rates for 1980 remained constant, then, on average, for the eighty-eight developing countries in Table 6 (not including India), approximately one-third of the cohort would drop out before the fifth grade.

TRENDS IN THE SURVIVAL RATE

IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

SINCE I97O

Since there are few long series of consecutive figures for enrolments and repetitions by grade, the comparison between trends in survival rates will be restricted to countries for which data were available around 1970 and 1980. Table 7 summarizes the changes observed in survival rates by grade between 1970 and 1980 for thirty countries in Africa, seventeen in Latin America and the Caribbean, twenty-four in Asia and Oceania and seventeen in Europe

and the U S S R . It must be stressed that the figures in the table are unweighted averages, that is to say school enrolments fir the countries under study have not been taken into account in calculating them.

T h e average survival rate up to the fourth grade for the countries included in these four regions increases by 6 per cent in Africa, 3 points in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5 points in Asia and Oceania and 2 points in Europe and the U S S R . Between the two cohorts there is thus an improvement in the survival rate for all grades and a reduction in drop-outs between 1970 and 1980. T h e improvement in survival rates during the period studied can also be demonstrated by examining the median survival percentage up to the last grade of primary school. Thus, for the countries included in Table 7, the median survival rate increased from 57 per cent to 74 per cent in Africa, from 59 per cent to 66 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 80 per cent to 90 per cent in Asia and Oceania and from 93 per cent to 95 per cent in Europe and the U S S R .

T h e increase in the survival rate thus appears to have been particularly large in Africa but m u c h less so in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite the fall in drop-outs, the average survival rate up to the fourth grade does not exceed 73 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 79 per cent in Africa, as against 91 per cent in Asia and Oceania and 96 per cent in Europe and the U S S R . Figure 1 recapitulates the findings.

T A B L E 7. Average survival rates for the cohorts entering primary education around 1970 and 1980

Region

Africa


Asia and Oceania

Europe and the U S S R

Number

of countries

30

17

24

17

Percentage of pupils enrolled in first grade around 1970 who reached:

r

100 100 100 100

Grade

2

84 83 92 96

3

80

76

90

95

4

73 70 86 94

Percentage o: in first grade 1980 who rea

G

i

IOO 100 IOO IOO

2

89

85 95 98

pupils enrolled

around ched:

rade

3 4

85 79 79 73 93 91 97 96


Opposite each of the bars are shown the starting dates for each cohort and the duration of primary education for each country. T h e black section of a bar indicates a decline in the survival rate between the two cohorts, the m e d i u m grey section an improvement in the survival rate between the two cohorts. T h e countries are arranged within each region in descending order of their survival rates for the more recent cohort.

Africa

T h e survival rate up to the final grade increased in twenty-five of the thirty countries in the region between 1970 and 1980. T h e improvement in the survival rate during this period can be seen from the fact that in 1970 there were only six countries in which the rate was 75 per cent or more, whereas in 1980 there were thirteen countries in this range. T h e improvement was particularly substantial in B u rundi, R w a n d a , Upper Volta, Zaire, Central African Republic and Mauritania, where survival up to the final grade increased by over 23 points in 1980 in comparison with 1970.

In spite of these gains, in 1980 there were still ten of the thirty countries studied in which the percentage of the cohort reaching the final grade did not exceed 65 per cent.


T h e survival rate improved in eleven of the seventeen countries studied. In two countries, Panama and El Salvador, a substantial decline was recorded between 1970 and 1980. O n the other hand, the percentage of the cohort reaching the final grade increased considerably in Mexico, Ecuador and particularly Cuba during the period under study. With the exception of the above-mentioned countries, variations in survival rates up to the final grade were negligible between 1970 and 1980, as shown by Figure 1. It should be stressed that the survival rate did not reach 90 per cent in any of the seventeeen countries studied in 1980, and that in seven countries it did not exceed 65 per cent.

Asia and Oceania

A s Figure 1 shows, the survival rate up to the final grade of primary education increased in nineteen of the twenty-four countries during the period under study. This increase was particularly large in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Brunei and Iraq. Around 1970 there were only six countries in which the percentage of the cohort reaching the final grade was 90 per cent or more, whereas the number of countries in this range increased to fourteen around 1980. Lastly, it should be emphasized that in 1980 only four of the twenty-four countries studied had a survival rate of less than 65 per cent.

Europe

T h e improvement in survival rates was insignificant, as the majority of these countries have near-maximum survival rates. In ten of the seventeen countries studied the percentage of the cohort which reached the final grade was 95 or more, around 1980. T h e only country showing a significant increase was Malta, which had a relatively low survival rate in 1970. In two countries, Sweden and the Federal Republic of Germany , a slight drop was recorded, but this was too small to be statistically significant.

In short, the survival rate improved in sixty-seven countries, remained stable in four countries and declined in sixteen of the eighty-seven countries studied during the period 1970-80.

Wastage in primary education

In the two major sections above w e examined separately repetition and dropping out in primary education. Here w e shall assess the overall wastage at this educational level and the proportions due to repetition and dropping out respectively.

A system is said to be 'efficient' w h e n m a x i m u m output is obtained on the basis of given factors or when a given output is obtained on the basis of m i n i m u m factors. In order to

Africa

Seychelles*

Burundi

Gambia

Ivory Coast

Senega]

Zambia

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Morocco

Mauritania

Tunisia

Algeria

United Rep. of Tanzania

Upper Volta

Ghana*

Congo

Botswana

Swaziland

United Rep. of Cameroon

Niger

Zaire

Egypt

Benin

R w a n d a *

Kenya

Mali

Gabon

Central African Rep.

Togo

Lesotho

Malawi

First cohort

1970

1972

1970

1971

1970

1971

1970

1970

1974

1970

1971

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1971

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1972

Second cohort

1980

1980

1980

1978

1980

1979

1979

1980

1979

1980

1980

1971

1980

1977

1980

1980

1980

1979

1977

1976

1979

1980

1980

1979

1977

1979

1980

1980

1978

1979

Numbi of grades

6

6

6

6

6

7

6

5

6

6

6

7

6

6

6

7

7

6

6

6

6

6

6

7

6

6

6

6

7

8

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Uruguay

Cuba

Guyana

Jamaica

Costa Rica

Panama

Peru

Venezuela

Argentina

Mexico

Ecuador

Chile

Paraguay

Guatemala

Brazil

Nicaragua

El Salvador

First cohort

1970

1970

1970

1974

1970

1970

1972

1970

1970

1973

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1971

Second cohort

1979

1980

1980

1979

1980

1980

1980

1978

1975

1980

1978

1976

1977

1979

1979

1980

1980

Number of grades

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

7

6

6

8

6

6

6

6

9

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Asia and Oceania

Cyprus

Japan

Qatar

Hong Kong

Kuwait

Malaysia

United Arab Emirates

Jordan

Sri Lanka*

Republic of Korea

Brunei

Fiji*

Bahrain

Singapore

Iraq

Syrian Arab R e p .

Saudi Arabia

Solomon Islands*

Indonesia

Oman

Afghanistan*

Thailand

New Caledonia

Bangladesh

Europe and the U S S R

Norway

Italy

Denmark

Yugoslavia

Sweden

Germany (Fed. Rep.)

Malta

Austria

Netherlands

France

Poland

Chechoslovakia

Hungary

Greece

Luxembourg

Bulgaria

Belgium

First cohort

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1972

1970

1971

1970

1972

1971

1972

1971

•1970

1970

1970

1974

1971

1971

1973

1973

1970

1974

First cohort

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1970

1974

1970

1973

Second cohort

1979

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1979

1980

1978

1980

1980

1979

1980

1977

1980

1976

1981

1980

Second cohort

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1980

1979

1977

1980

1978

1980

1981

1980

1978

1977

1980

1980

Number of grades

6

6

6

6

4

6

6

6

5

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

7 6

5

Number

of grades

6

5

6

4

6

4

6

4

6

5

8

8

8

6

6

8

6

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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1970

1980

1970

1980

F I G . I . Percentage of the cohorts entering primary education around 1970 and 1980 which reach the final grade. (Note: A n asterisk (*) indicates that the country concerned altered the length of primary education between the starting years for the two cohorts T h e shorter period has been adopted in order to obtain comparable figures.)

1980

1970


evaluate 'inefficiency' of 'wastage' the factors involved and the output of the system must therefore be defined in measurable and comparable terms. In the field of education this poses m a n y problems, particularly with regard to defining output, which itself depends on the definition of the system's objectives.

While recognizing the diversity of the objectives of an education system, statisticians and planners are frequently obliged to measure the output of the system in simple terms. O n e approach is to consider the output of a given course of education as the number of pupils successfully completing it (by obtaining a certificate). This is obviously a rather restrictive definition, since there is no doubt that pupils w h o drop out have acquired some of the knowledge which the system was designed to transmit to them. A fuller definition of output should therefore take account of the education acquired by pupils w h o do not complete their studies. This method of measuring output does nevertheless provide an insight into the functioning of an education system.

T h e factors in an education system include the buildings, teaching personnel, textbooks, etc., and their aggregate m a y be measured in financial terms by the annual expenditure per pupil. However, one indicator of factor consumption which m a y be used to measure output by the number of school-leavers is the number of pupil-years consumed by a cohort. A pupil w h o spends one year at school is considered to have 'consumed' one pupil-year. T h e volume of factors used by a cohort is, of course, closely connected to the number of pupil-years consumed by the cohort.

T A B L E 8. Median value of the 'input/output' ratio, 1970 and

1970

Variation

Africa 1.0-5.5 Latin America and the

Caribbean 1.2-2.1 Asia and Oceania 1.0-2.3 Europe and the U S S R 1.0-1.5

Following the approach indicated above, w e shall adopt two indicators of educational wastage in this analysis: the 'intput/output' ratio and the proportion of pupil-years lost through repetition and dropping out.

T H E ' I N P U T / O U T P U T ' RATIO

This is the relationship between the number of pupil-years invested and the normal length of the course. It is well known that if all pupils completed the course without repetition, this ratio would be 1 : 1 . A n y increase represents (in non-monetary terms) the additional 'cost' which m a y be attributed to the poor functioning of the education system. Thus , when this ratio is 1.5, this 'cost' is assumed to be 50 per cent higher than the objective of 1.

T h e following Table 8 shows the results of the calculations for the two cohorts indicated in Table 7, and refers in general to the school years of or around 1970 and 1980. It relates to eighty-eight countries for which comparable data are available, including thirty in Africa, seventeen in Latin America and the Caribbean, twenty-four in Asia and Oceania and seventeen in Europe. A general fall in the values of this indicator m a y be observed during the period under consideration, with the exception of Togo, Kenya, Egypt and Seychelles in Africa; Brazil, Nicaragua and Chile in Latin America and N e w Caledonia in Asia and Oceania.

T h e data relating to each of the regions show that the level of wastage was higher in Africa than in the other regions in 1970 and 1980.

It m a y be observed that the higher values for

1980

1980

Median value Variation Median value

1.7 1.0-2.5 1-5

1.4 1.2-2.3 1-3 1.4 1.0-2.9 1-2 1.1 1.0-1.3 i-i


the 'input/output' ratio continue to be fairly high, even when the reduction is considerable, particularly as in the case of Africa.

T h e fall in median values also provides evidence of the general trend towards the streamlining of 'costs' in non-monetary terms. Attention should however be drawn to the continuing high wastage level for a large number of developing countries.

In short, the general trend towards a moderate reduction in wastage and dropping out observed between 1970 and 1980 is reflected in a corresponding reduction in the wastage level during this period in the large majority of the developing countries studied.

PERCENTAGE OF EXTRA PUPIL-YEARS

This indicator measures the percentage difference between the number of pupil-years invested and the optimal figure which should be obtained for the same number of'leavers' in the absence of repetitions.

Table 9 reveals a fairly widespread reduction in the values for this indicator, even if in m a n y countries the number of extra pupil-years continues to be very high.

All in all, definite and appreciable progress can be observed, which is expected to continue as survival rates improve and repetition rates fall.

Lastly, the reader's attention should be drawn to the limitations of the actual concept of 'wastage' and of the method used to measure it; also to the m a n y difficulties of making international comparisons of the above type. Be

that as it m a y , a high percentage of wastage does indicate serious defects in the functioning of an education system. This does not necessarily imply that countries which have a low wastage rate according to this indicator also have a low level of wastage on a wider definition. For example, automatic promotion does not necessarily improve the results achieved by backward pupils. Furthermore, in countries which have not reached the stage of universalized primary education, the 'efficiency' of education for the children admitted to school benefits those not admitted only w h e n it produces an increase in the enrolment capacity of the system.

Results of the analysis

During the period under study, the problem of educational wastage was a subject of increasing awareness in most countries. T h e spread of schooling in all regions and the relatively high costs have revealed the urgent need to put school-age children through school at less cost, bearing in mind that the marginal costs of providing extra places constituted a very heavy burden on budgets which were seriously strained towards the end of the 1970s.

R E P E T I T I O N A R O U N D I98O

T h e data available concern 121 countries and territories for the years around 1980. T h e proportion represented by these countries within total enrolments for primary education was 63 per cent.

T A B L E 9. Variation and median value for the percentage of extra pupil-years, 1970 and 1980

1970 1980

Africa Latin America and the

Caribbean

Asia and Oceania Europe and the U S S R

Variation

3.9-81.8

16.7-52.3

O.2-56.0 O.I-32.9

Median value

42.6

30.2

27.6

8.6

Variation

8-3-59-5

14-2-57-3 0.0-66.0 0.0-25.6

Median value

31-3

25.8

15.1

4-5


T h e median repetition rate was 16 per cent for the forty-two countries of Africa; 12 per cent for the twenty-four countries of Latin America and the Caribbean; 8 per cent for the thirty-two countries of Asia and Oceania; and 2 per cent for the twenty-three countries of the region of Europe and the U S S R . T h e worldwide rate was 10 per cent.

O f the 121 countries studied, only 62 had a rate lower than 10 per cent; around 1980, 42 of them were developing countries. T h e other 60 countries had rates which varied from 10 to 47 per cent.

T h e disparities were very large. Thus repetitions varied from 0.0 to 47 per cent in Africa; from 4 to 26 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean; from 0.0 to 18 per cent in Asia and Oceania; and from o to 19 per cent in Europe and the U S S R .

REPETITION TRENDS

T h e number of repeaters among enrolments in primary schools throughout the world increased from 15.6 million in 1970 to 18.4 million around 1980, i.e. an increase of almost 18 per cent. At the same time, enrolments rose by 27.1 per cent. T h e repetition rate, which was 10.9 per cent in 1970, fell to 10.1 per cent in 1980 (see Table 3).

T h e decline in the global percentage of repeaters turned out in fact to be an increase in their absolute number in all regions with the exception of Europe. This is explained by the rapid growth in enrolment.

It is worth while noting that in general the percentage of repeaters, which fell fairly rapidly between 1970 and 1975 in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, showed an increase after that date in these regions.

T h e salient features of repetition trends by grade differed widely. Thus , out of eighty-eight countries for which comparable data were available, fifty-six reduced their rate in the first grade and sixty-two in the last. O n the other hand, the rates for the first grade increased in twenty-four of these countries, while for sev

enteen countries the rates increased in the final grade. O n the whole, even if the general trends appear somewhat heterogeneous, the conclusion can be drawn that repetitions fell at the end of the primary course but their number increased slightly at the beginning.

T h e differences in percentages of repeaters by sex, which around 1970 revealed lower levels for girls than for boys (in fifty-two of the seventy countries for which the data were comparable), continued to hold good. Around 1980, fifty-two of the seventy countries still had lower percentages of repeaters among girls than among boys. O n the whole, however, percentage differences were generally small.

DROP-OUTS

T h e general trend observed between 1970 and 1980 is one of improvement. Nevertheless dropout rates before the fourth grade remain very high, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Africa and to a lesser degree in Asia and Oceania.

O n e important aspect of the observed improvement relates to the fact that whereas in 1970 two-thirds of drop-outs occurred during the first grade, the proportion was only one-half in 1980. Accordingly, while the reduction in the number of drop-outs was relatively modest in the course of the decade, there would seem to have been some improvement in the pattern, inasmuch as pupils no longer drop out in first grade, but later on, and therefore remain in the education system for a longer period.

SURVIVAL CAPACITY

It follows from the preceding remarks that survival has generally improved, as can be seen from Table 7. Survival levels have increased, on average, up to the fourth grade in Asia and Oceania and in Europe and the U S S R , while the modest progress achieved in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean has produced relatively low percentages, even if, as has already

Wastage in primary education

been observed, survival patterns indicate improved survival chances in the early grades.

EDUCATIONAL WASTAGE

T h e undoubted reduction in non-monetary 'costs' can be seen from the 'input/output' ratio. This implies that internal efficiency has improved overall. Nevertheless, wastage rates remain very high for a large number of developing countries.

T h e indicator of the percentage of extra pupil-years reveals an almost general improvement in spite of frequently rather high figures.

In conclusion, it is therefore possible to point to general progress in most countries. Levels of repetition and dropping out remain very high, and entail very heavy 'costs' (in money terms) at a time w h e n budgetary constraints weigh heavily on social expenditure. •

Notes

1. See, in particular: The Statistical Measurement of

Educational Wastage, Paris, Unesco, June 1970 (Unesco

doc. E D / I B E / C O N F I N T E D . 3 2 / R e f . i ) ; A Statistical

Study of Wastage at School, Paris/Geneva, Unesco/IBE,

1970 (Studies and Surveys in Comparative Education);

Wastage in Primary Education: A Statistical Study of

Trends and Patterns in Repetition and Drop-out, Paris,

Unesco, April 1979 (Unesco doc. E D / I B E / C O N F I N -

TED.37/Ref .2) ; Wastage in Primary and General

Secondary Education: A Statistical Study of Trends and

Patterns in Repetition and Drop-out, Paris, Unesco,

April 1982 (Unesco doc. C S R - E - 3 7 ) .

2 . Wastage in Primary and General Secondary Edu

cation . . ., op. cit.

School feeding programmes:

myth and potential Beryl Levinger

M a n y countries today are concerned with achieving universal primary school enrolment. Meeting this challenge depends fundamentally on accomplishing two seemingly simple yet extraordinarily elusive goals: getting all school-aged children enrolled, and assuring that once in school, children m a k e satisfactory academic progress (defined here as completing the primary school curriculum in the prescribed number of years). Teacher training programmes, curricular revisions, n e w school construction efforts and enrolment campaigns are typical components of a strategy to provide all citizens with a primary school education, and the literature is filled with analyses and evaluations of their effectiveness. Relatively less attention, however, has been given to another tool that is often employed in these c a m paigns—the school feeding programme (SFP).

T w o principal arguments have been advanced on behalf of SFPs. First, the provision of a snack or meal serves to increase school attendance and enrolment. Food, in this con-

Beryl Levinger (United States). Senior Research

Associate of the Horace Mann-Lincoln Institute,

Teachers College, Columbia University and member of

that institution's Department of Communication, Com

puting and Technology in Education. An educational

planner specializing in integrating educational-sector

planning with overall development, her publications

include T o w a r d the N e w School and School Feeding Programs in Less Developed Countries.

text, is thus seen as a means to offset some or all the costs of attending school, including expenditures for books, fees, uniforms, supplies and transport, as well as a child's forgone earnings. A second argument in support of SFPs is that they improve children's ability to benefit from instruction by removing hunger or nutritional deficiencies as obstacles to learning. Implicit in this argument is the belief that by and large SFPs reach a nutritionally needy segment of the school-aged population with a ration that is nutritionally adequate to overcome these needs.

These arguments lend support for the three objectives most commonly associated with SFPs: first, to increase school enrolment and attendance a m o n g school-aged children; second, to improve the nutritional status of children in school; and third, to improve the cognitive or academic performance of these children.

This study is concerned with two issues. First, through a review of the literature, it examines and assesses the empirical evidence that exists to support the hypothesized relationships a m o n g SFPs , school attendance, enrolment and academic performance. Both the relationships and the methodologies used to posit the relationships are scrutinized. Second, it uses this examination of empirical evidence to distil S F P design recommendations.


370 Beryl Levinger

Impact on school attendance and enrolment

Four principal types of studies have been conducted that assess the impact of SFPs on attendance and enrolment. Examples of each, culled from an extensive literature review, will be presented.

RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS STUDIES

Three studies were identified that looked at the impact of programme disruption or suspension on attendance. O n e found a positive relationship between SFPs and attendance; the other two reported little clear-cut evidence of significant impact.

T h e strongest relationship was presented in the 1982 evaluation by Gall, Eckroad and Stanfield (1982a, 1982e) of a programme operating in the Dominican Republic with c o m modities donated by the United States. This study illustrates the approach used in retrospective S F P research and is also significant in terms of its findings.

T h e authors examined the impact of a sudden S F P termination on primary school enrolment using data provided by teachers from Santiago Rodriguez, a relatively poor region in the northwest of the country. T h e data examined were both impressionistic and quantitative. A sample of teachers of unspecified size provided c o m ments on h o w they viewed the impact of the programme's termination. There seemed to be uniform agreement among teachers that enrolment had been adversely affected. T h e investigators then examined enrolment records over eleven years for four primary schools in and around Santiago Rodriguez, three of which were small and rural. These records covered an eight-year period when the lunch programme functioned and three years (1980-82) when it did not. They found that in the 1980-82 period enrolments had dropped by 23.4 per cent. Teachers were then asked about any possible causes of this decrease. They attributed the

enrolment decline exclusively to termination of the lunch programme. T h e authors conclude: 'In the aggregate, it appears that approximately one-fourth of the children w h o would otherwise be in school have dropped out.'

Their data, however, suggested that the effects of the programme's termination appear to be m u c h greater in rural schools and for females. T h e differential effects of terminating the lunch programme for boys and girls were particularly noteworthy in rural areas. There, in the first grade, for example, female enrolment declined by 43 per cent while the comparable figure for males was only 19 per cent. This suggests that SFPs m a y be an important tool for reducing both rural/urban and male/ female enrolment ratio differences.

COMPARATIVE STUDIES

Six studies were identified that examined the impact of SFPs by comparing data on attendance and enrolment between S F P and non-SFP schools. Most were inconclusive. T w o will be singled out here for particular attention because their methodologies are fundamentally sound and their findings have special significance.

Cotten's 1982 study of an S F P in Haiti (Cotten, 1982), the first part of a longitudinal research project, was derived from a data base of 100 schools and 1,936 primary school children.

Cotten found significant differences between programme and non-programme children with respect to h o m e environment. O n the average, programme children came from a better socioeconomic environment. This rinding confounds many of the relationships examined, including school attendance. There was a strong correlation between home environment and attendance in both S F P and non-SFP schools. Thus, the investigator concluded that the significant difference between high attendance in programme schools and not so high attendance in non-programme schools could be explained by differences in the h o m e environment as well as by differences in programme. H e suggests that

School feeding programmes: myth and potential 371

this finding demonstrates that cross-sectional data are not sufficient for measurement of impact; longitudinal studies would be more appropriate. These data also highlight an important consideration in S F P design—targeting (i.e. selecting the intended beneficiary population). Where sites are selected on the basis of accessibility, parental pressure and availability of kitchen or food storage facilities, inadvertent targeting m a y take place—wealthier communities are selected to the exclusion of poorer ones.

Another significant comparative study on the attendance-related impact of SFPs was conducted by Ellis et al. (1974a, 1974e, 1975). This investigation compared fed to non-fed schools in Colombia, Kenya and the Philippines.

O f the fifteen programmes reviewed by the research team in the three countries noted, three were judged as 'effective on attendance' and ten were considered 'probably effective on attendance'. T h e remaining two were assessed as 'ineffective on attendance'. A m o n g the variables examined were the type of feeding, the age of the programme, h o w high food fees were, frequency of interruptions to the prog r a m m e , whether food was taken h o m e , h o w m a n y days per year the food was served, the sponsoring agency and annual estimates of per-recipient costs. O f all these characteristics, several seemed to distinguish the more effective operations where 'effectiveness' refers not only to school attendance, but also to nutritional status, school performance and food habits (as measured through a student 24-hour recall survey). These traits include: (a) having a large number of feeding days per year and few feeding interruptions; (b) having hot lunches as opposed to other forms of feeding; and (c) having less food taken h o m e . Equally noteworthy are the factors that did not seem to make m u c h of a difference: the age of the programmes, the food fees, programme sponsor or costs.

T h e authors note that, in general, SFPs must be very carefully targeted. Their data suggest that programmes are more effective in stable, poorer, rural areas. They attribute this to the fact that in such zones SFPs m a y be a

relatively greater incentive for increased attendance. A strong structural effect can operate in school programmes, they surmise, so that a population of those on the borderline of then-o w n development scale—the poorer people among those w h o are able to send children to school—are especially likely to benefit. They also found that the best predictor of student attendance was household possessions. Children from the better-off homes attended the most. This provides additional support for the notion that economically borderline children m a y appear to derive the most benefit from SFPs. Interestingly, the next most potent predictor for attendance was nutritional status which, of course, is supposed to be influenced by an S F P . It appears that w h e n SFPs can impact nutritional status, a useful synergy is created so that attendance benefits are also produced.

W h a t then can w e conclude from c o m parative studies? Together, they suggest that SFPs m a y be most effective in meeting their attendance-related objective in settings where attendance is not already high and where children come from relatively low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. In such cases, feeding m a y indeed be an incentive. T h e studies also point to the need for programme regularity to achieve an impact on children's school-going habits. These findings have serious implications for targeting both to need and to the probability that programme regularity can be maintained.

NON-COMPARATIVE STUDIES

Eight studies covering eleven different countries were identified that examined the impact of SFPs on attendance and enrolment using primarily impressionistic data drawn from teachers. Most of these studies failed to provide systematically for control groups. Likewise, data are neither retrospective nor longitudinal. T h e major contribution of these studies, consequently, is limited to what they have to say about the conventional wisdom concerning SFPs rather than the insights they contain

372 Beryl Levinger

regarding methodology or impact. Significantly, seven of the eight noted a positive programmatic impact on attendance and enrolment, while only one drew mixed conclusions. Because of their methodological imprecision, they will not be reviewed here.

DETERMINANTS OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

AND ENROLMENT STUDIES

Unlike the other research reviewed thus far, the two studies identified that fall under this heading do not deal specifically with the impact of SFPs. Rather, they represent an attempt to examine the interrelationships a m o n g a wide variety of SES-related variables. Included in the analyses are important insights into w h y some children are likelier than others to attend school. They also deal very specifically with h o w school enrolment is influenced by nutritional status. Malnourished Children of the Rural Poor (Balderston et al., 1981), one of these works, describes the findings of the Berkeley Project on Education and Nutrition. T h e overall investigation presents findings on: (a) the effects of nutrition and health on school participation and performance; (b) the relationship between literacy and agricultural productivity; and (c) the relationship between w o m e n ' s education and family size. T h e data base for these analyses came from two related research projects. T h e first was a longitudinal study done by the Institute for Nutrition in Central America and Panama ( I N C A P ) and funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development between 1969 and 1978. T h e other was done by R A N D (through Rockefeller Foundation funding) in 1974-75.

T h e investigators found that in Guatemala, decisions to enrol a child in school appear to be affected by parents' need for the child's help, by parental perceptions concerning the value of schooling and by the child's apparent c o m petence. In the one village where work for children was readily available and where parents' educational background was relatively low, school enrolment was affected positively

by family affluence but not by apparent differences in the child's weight, height or verbal proficiency. In the other villages, where parents had relatively more education and work was not so readily available for children, the factors of height and verbal performance at the age of 7 were positively and highly significantly related to school enrolment.

W h e n family economic groups were separated, it was found that for children of semi-subsistence farming families decisions on enrolment appear to be positively determined by affluence of parents, size of child, and by the child's position in the family. Children born earlier in the family order were more likely to attend school than those with older siblings. In general, the researchers concluded that w h e n economic and family background factors were held constant, size and health of children acted as independent, positive determinants of children's school attendance and performance. Size of child is, in effect, a proxy for prior nutrition.

There are several implications of these findings for S F P design. First, it seems likely that where the need for child labour and availability of employment opportunies for children coexist, SFPs are likely to act as incentives for school attendance only when the ration size is large enough so that feeding can be viewed by parents as a significant income transfer programme. In such circumstances, it might even be desirable for children to take part of the ration h o m e .

Second, the impact of any S F P seems to be the function of an interaction between the environment in which it operates as well as the features incorporated into its design. T o have an impact on attendance or enrolment in a very marginal community, an S F P must incorporate special design features that m a y not be needed for a borderline community. A n d , once a threshold is crossed (as in the case of the countries analysed in the Ellis et al. study), impact on enrolment or attendance is likely to be relatively small.

Third, the Berkeley team found very different patterns of school enrolment for boys and girls with girls' work in the household being


highly valued and therefore serving as a significant disincentive to school enrolment. This tends to suggest, once again, the need to look at differential impacts of SFPs on attendance between boys and girls. Even relatively small overall enrolment gains m a y be highly significant if n e w female enrolment accounts for m u c h of the change.

Finally, the finding that size and health of child act as independent, positive determinants of children's school attendance and performance has important ramifications for SFPs. Since size is a proxy for nutritional status, this suggests that where SFPs can be designed to have an impact on nutritional status, impact on attendance and performance will also be achieved. T h u s , proper targeting and the provision of an adequately sized ration become design issues not only related to changes in nutritional status, but to attendance and school performance outcomes as well.

Impact on school performance

COGNITION, NUTRITION AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

W h a t is the potential of SFPs to facilitate cognitive development? Three general observations provide a useful backdrop for this discussion.

First, cognitive function m a y be defined as the ability to learn categories; process and structure information; and to learn and react to social and environmental cues. It includes the ability to ask appropriate questions and give appropriate answers within a given environment and to identify and solve relevant problems. It embraces general conceptual ability, appropriate actions within a given culture, and the mental adaptiveness needed to entertain n e w categories and see n e w possibilities. Mild to moderate malnutrition, while probably not causing primary learning deficits, does appear to alter processes associated with cognitive function. Passivity, apathy, shortened attention span, reduced short-term m e m o r y , failure to

acclimatize to repetitive stimuli, and a lag in the development of sensory-integrative capacity, are all associated with mild to moderate malnutrition. These dysfunctions prevent children from taking m a x i m u m advantage of the learning opportunities available to them in their environments. Not surprisingly, children with protein-calorie malnutrition tend to function at reduced levels of intellectual development and academic achievement. Children appear to adapt to malnutrition by seeking out more quiet and restful activities. T h e contribution of SFPs to cognitive development must be assessed in this context.

Second, mild to moderate malnutrition acts synergistically with social and environmental factors. T h e risks for a malnourished child, living as he does in a culture of poverty, are multiple, interactive and cumulative. However, both h u m a n and animal studies show that a developmentally facilitative environment can alleviate the potentially harmful consequences of early malnutrition. Reversibility and remediation are possible w h e n the child's environment is manipulated to m a k e it more conducive to his cognitive growth. Although improvement in a child's diet alone can lead to cognitive changes, greater intellectual development can be achieved w h e n the child's diet as well as his psychological and social environment are enriched. These findings suggest that SFPs can only reach their full potential for stimulating cognitive development w h e n they are designed as part of a broader intervention to address developmental lags or deficiencies in students.

Third, a school-aged child's nutritional status exerts significant influence on his academic performance. In Wilson's study of Guatemalan children (in Balderston et al., 1981), for example, current diet was the single most significant predictor of classroom achievement. Likewise, hunger seems to cause inatten-tiveness and distractability and thus is likely to influence school performance and learning. Hunger , of course, is not the same as malnutrition. SFPs that are successful either in reducing a child's feelings of hunger or

374 Beryl Levinger

improving his nutritional status are likely to facilitate cognitive development as it has been broadly defined here (i.e. mobilization and maintenance of attention; development of sen-sory-integrative capacity; exploratory, problem-solving behaviours; m e m o r y ) .

STUDIES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SFP PARTICIPATION

AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

Four studies were identified that examined the impact of SFPs on school performance. Taken as a body, they are inconclusive. T w o illustrative efforts will be discussed here. R o y and Rath (1970), in their evaluation of the school lunch programme in Orissa, India, compared the academic performance of fed to non-fed boys. Using examination scores, they found no significant differences between the two groups.

T h e authors note that student performance in examinations and the proportion of failures are indicative of a school's academic standards. T h e y therefore analysed the distribution of student scores on the examination administered nearest to the time of the study. Virtually no difference was observed in the distributions of scores achieved by fed and non-fed children. T h e failure rate for both groups was also nearly equal w h e n data were taken both for entire schools and for individual grades.

These findings, however, are difficult to interpret, for several reasons. First, the authors fail to report whether the examination was standardized or teacher-made. If it was teacher-made, the results are not surprising, given most teachers' tendency to use their o w n classes as reference groups for grades rather than objective criteria. This practice usually leads to fairly constant distributions of students' marks so that a normal curve is maintained even w h e n groups differ quite notably from one another. T h u s the proportion of individuals on the 'honour roll' in a school where students are cognitively advanced is not dramatically different from that of a school where m a n y pupils suffer cognitive deficits. Children tend

to be judged in relation to one another particularly in situations where the teachers are not pedagogically sophisticated.

Even if the examinations were standardized, the scores alone cannot help us judge the efficacy of the S F P intervention vis-à-vis school achievement. T h e fed schools had more tribal students and a smaller number of upper-caste children than non-fed schools. Since S E S exerts a significant influence on school achievement, and since the student bodies in the fed schools had a lower S E S than those from non-fed schools, it would be expected that without the intervention, students from non-fed schools would score higher on standardized tests. Therefore, it can be argued that the S F P was successful by raising the level of academic achievement obtained by the fed, lower S E S students to that obtained by the more advantaged non-fed children. T h e lack of a statistical difference in scores, thus, m a y be one measure of the programme's success in providing equality of educational opportunity for children regardless of their social or economic background. This discussion underscores the need for researchers to control for S E S w h e n comparing academic achievement or cognitive development for fed and non-fed students.

Cotten, in examining S F P impact on cognitive development for Haiti, constructed a 'quality of education' index to compare the educational opportunities offered students in rural and urban areas. In Haiti, as with most other developing countries, the quality of education was significantly lower in rural zones. Cotten found that in the rural environment there was a significant difference between m e a n scores obtained on a test of intelligence (the Raven) by children w h o were well nourished as compared to children w h o exhibited wasting. In urban areas, on the other hand, where the availability of external influences on a child's mental performance is greater, there was no significant difference in cognitive performance between the well-nourished children and those showing signs of wasting. This discrepancy points to the need for intellectual and n u tritional stimulation for children living in en-


vironments that are not developmentally facili-tative in order for SFPs to meet their cognition-related objective.

Cotten also investigated the relationship between hunger (as opposed to malnutrition) and intellectual performance. Citing research by Keys, he hypothesized a relationship between hunger (ca psychological and physiological state resulting from insufficient food intake to meet immediate energy needs') and a classroom behavioural pattern characterized by irritability, apathy and similar dysfunctions. Individual children in the sample survey w h o came to school without breakfast were identified, and their performance on Raven was compared to average performance for the school.

It was observed that within the SFP-schools, there was a highly significant difference between the performance levels of the two groups. Children w h o came to school without breakfast did markedly worse than their less-hungry counterparts. O n the non-programme side, however, there was no significant difference between the two groups. N o explanation of this finding for non-programme schools is offered. Perhaps the inclusion of more private schools (with their attendant higher quality of education) in the non-programme sample is the cause. If so, this, too, would suggest that quality of the learning environment and diet interact in the determination of a child's intellectual ability. W h e n the environment is developmentally rich, the intellectual stimulation available can compensate for some of the effects of hunger and, quite possibly, malnutrition. This finding also highlights the need to research whether school breakfasts should be offered instead of or in addition to lunches.

T w o additional studies, both methodologically sound in all respects, provide strong evidence for the proposition that nutritional interventions can improve school performance: Wilson's work in Guatemala (reported in Balderston et al., 1981) and M o o c k and Leslie's research in Nepal (1983). In the former study, the child's total diet was the largest and most significant factor affecting a teacher's assessment of performance w h e n all other relevant variables

were controlled. This finding lends support to the thesis that current energy levels have an important impact on learning and performance even a m o n g children with comparable n u tritional status and levels of ability. In the latter work, taller children tended to be in higher grades than shorter children of the same age. This led the authors to hold that efforts to improve child nutritional status m a y have educational as well as health and survival benefits for the children involved.

With respect to the design of SFPs , several conclusions emerge. First, w h e n the population to be served has a high incidence of protein-calorie malnutrition and little access to intellectual stimulation, the S F P intervention should be combined with a modest cognitive development programme to have optimal impact. A developmentally facilitative environment can alleviate the potentially harmful consequences of early malnutrition. Teacher training programmes targeted to schools where SFPs operate might particularly focus on simple techniques to help students maintain attention, improve m e m o r y , use the senses to gain n e w information and engage in active learning strategies.

A second recommendation concerns beneficiary selection. Targeting to individual schools or geographic areas is preferable to targeting practices that focus on specific children if more than nutritional outcomes are important. Aside from the fact that targeting within schools tends to promote ration dilution, the practice also dilutes such educational pay-offs as teacher participation or interest in SFP-related training, integration of feeding with cognitively oriented activities and widespread parental involvement or contact with the school through its feeding programme. Inadvertent targeting can be avoided by developing clear-cut criteria for identifying communities that are both cognitively and nutritionally at risk.

A third recommendation concerns ration size. SFPs are often defended on the grounds that they serve to draw students to enrol in school and that they encourage them to attend once

376 Beryl

enrolled. Once again the evidence for the claim is mixed and the methodologies employed in gaining the evidence are not of a uniformly even quality. However, it seems that the degree to which SFPs attract students is a function of m a n y variables. T w o of the most important are: (a) a comparison of the opportunity costs of school attendance compared to the market value of the food; and (b) the probable return on a student's investment in education c o m pared to the revised opportunity cost of schooling (where revised opportunity cost equals fees, books, uniforms and forgone wages minus the market value of the food).

W h e r e the opportunity costs are high and the market value of the food is low, families are better off keeping their school-aged children at h o m e unless it is likely that school enrolment will contribute to an enlarged stream of earnings in the future. Even in countries where fees, books and uniforms are minimal, the opportunity cost of schooling m a y be high if the child's labour can be gainfully used (or if it enables someone else to seek gainful employment, as in the case of a child w h o takes care of younger siblings so that her mother can work as a domestic in the town). T h e implication of this analysis is that ration size m a y be a powerful determinant of an SFP's ability to attract students in those countries where opportunity costs of schooling are high and the probable return on investing in just a few years of primary school is low. Full breakfasts or lunches will be inducements to enrol whereas snacks probably will not draw more students. C o n versely, in cultures where education has a clear economic benefit and where opportunity costs of schooling do not serve as a widespread barrier to enrolment, SFPs are likely to have little impact on attendance and enrolment. In these cases, snack programmes m a y be a more cost-effective intervention than full meal programmes for meeting nutritional and cognitive needs.

Finally, SFPs should be consciously designed to improve a school system's external efficiency by reinforcing more broadly based development objectives. Programmes that encourage

community participation, supplementation and eventual phase-out of donated commodities, local production of foodstuffs and consistency between S F P and nutrition education messages will have the greatest educational impact.

SFPs have the potential to make a significant contribution to h u m a n resource development efforts. Additional research, careful planning and a broad view of both the educational and nutritional aspects of such programmes are needed if this potential is to be realized. •

References

B A L D E R S T O N , Judith; W I L S O N , Alan; FREIRÉ, Maria;

S I M O N E N , Marie. 1981. Malnourished Children of the Rural Poor. Boston, Mass., Auburn House Publishing

Co.

C O T T E N , Joel. February 1982. Evaluation Research on the

PL480 Title II School Feeding Program in Haiti. Port-au-Prince, U S A I D Haiti.

ELLIS, Richard; C L E E M P U T , Diane; C O O P E R , Mark. July

1974a. Child Feeding Programs in Developing Countries: A Comparative Evaluation of Ongoing Programs in Colombia, Kenya, and the Philippines—Interim Report. Washington, D . C . , Checchi & Co.

. August 19746. Child Feeding Programs in Developing

Countries: A Comparative Evaluation of Ongoing Programs in Colombia, Kenya, and the Philippines—Annex A and B. Washington, D . C . , Checchi & Co.

. 1975. Judging the Merit of Child Feeding: A Development Handbook. Washington, D . C . , Checchi & Co.

GALL,Pirie; E C K R O A D , James; STANFIELD, J. David. August

1982a. Final Draft Report: Evaluation of the PL480 Title II Program in the Dominican Republic. Washington, D . C . / A n n Arbor, Mich., International Science and

Technology Institute, Inc./Community Systems Foun

dation. (USAID unpublished report.) . August 1982*. Final Draft Report: Evaluation of

the PL480 Title II Program in the Dominican Republic— Annexes. Washington, D . C . / A n n Arbor, Mich., Inter

national Science and Technology Institute, Inc./Com

munity Systems Foundations.

LEVINGER, Beryl. February 1983. School Feeding Programs

in Less Developed Countries: An Analysis of Actual and Potential Impact. Washington, D . C . , A I D , Bureau for

Food and Voluntary Aid.

MoocK, Peter; LESLIE, Joanne. 1983. Childhood Malnu

trition and Schooling in the Terai Region of Nepal. Washington, D . C . , I B R D .

R O Y , P.; R A T H , R . N . 1970. School Lunch in Orissa. N e w

Delhi, Council for Social Development.

Is failure at school inevitable?

Pierre Laderrière*

Although the Western countries have in the last twenty years taken sometimes very wide-ranging measures aimed directly or indirectly at reducing the educational difficulties and failures of a greater or lesser number of pupils, the problem does not yet seem to have been solved. Both public opinion and the educational authorities concerned are once more highlighting this issue in view of the difficulties faced by m a n y young people in the present social and economic context w h e n it comes to taking their place in the adult world.

T w o areas in which the present trend in the situation has particularly important implications are the policies of equality of opportunity, both at school and afterwards, and the standard of basic education and training for citizens and producers in a period of technological and social change.

Failure at school and quality of education

B y a cumulative process already examined at various times by Unesco, learning difficulties are transformed into academic and subsequent

Pierre Laderrière (France). Principal Administrator in the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Heads the international school improvement project at present. In charge of previous projects on teacher training, recruitment and utilization of teachers as well as the study on failure at school. Vice-President of the Association Francophone d'Éducation Comparée.

social failure, which m a y in extreme cases produce phenomena of individual or collective exclusion. Whole population groups falling into the social categories traditionally regarded as underprivileged are the main victims of such phenomena. Failure at school cannot therefore be seen solely in terms of h o w schools operate and h o w their pupils perform. It is in the broader context of giving young people their place in adult life that this phenomenon needs to be situated, for that in any case is the approach to the matter adopted both by the authorities and by the young people concerned and their families. W h a t is involved then is the actual benefit that each m a y derive from the education system.

During the West's long period of expansion the 'products' of the education system were accepted regardless of 'quality', which tended to minimize the consequences of doing badly at school. But the recent economic difficulties, in both their short-term and their structural aspects, have played a role that some will judge positive, by highlighting an unhealthy situation in which a certain malfunctioning of the education system had previously been able to pass unnoticed. T h e point is that increased u n e m ployment has enabled the various types of employer, through greater selectivity in recruitment, to observe either the low basic educational standard of applicants—particularly among the young—or the impossibility of finding candidates with the right qualifications. For technological change requires the upgrading or

* T h e opinions expressed by the author are his o w n and do not necessarily represent the views of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.


378 Pierre Laderrière

renewal of qualifications, and an inadequate education makes this difficult to achieve.

Hence there can be no separating the problem of poor results at school from the current debate in m a n y countries on the actual quality of education. Although it is methodologically and scientifically difficult to prove either a drop or a shortfall in the educational standards achieved by pupils, it is estimated by cross-checking from various sources that a fringe of 15 to 25 per cent of teenagers do not reach an adequate standard of education on completion of their compulsory schooling. They are thus more prone than other adults to unemployment or d o o m e d to temporary and thankless tasks. With few exceptions, the fact that they lack the m o d i c u m of skills necessary for survival in the adult world rules out any prospect of advancement via the various forms of continuing education available. N o r are these the only pupils w e need to take into account. There are other, more subtle mechanisms as a result of which schools do not always offer the types of educational profile that seem likely to be required over the next twenty or thirty years.

W e might in this respect ponder the conclusions recently drawn by J. Goodlad from his survey of American schools,1 namely that the educational institutions regarded as the most effective in terms of traditional cognitive learning seem to owe that achievement more to the spirit and ethic informing their activities than to any profound change in the teaching and learning processes followed by the teachers. T h e teacher is seen at best as an exceptionally skilful craftsman working on his o w n with a m i n i m u m of outside resources, transmitting knowledge in a traditional classroom manner and leaving little scope for pupils' initiative and self-expression.

It can therefore be deduced that the opt imum results achieved by these establishments m a y in fact conceal a reliance on subject-matter and methods that are inadequate and outdated in relation to the present state of knowledge, the assimilation of such knowledge for practical application (individually and/or collectively) and future retention, and the need to renew and

enlarge it subsequently on personal initiative. This state of education m a y entail, for pupils w h o have not had to face up to any real difficulties at school, a subsequent experience of failure arising from the fact that they lack incentive and the school has been unable to spark off their full potential, with the result that they m a y have splendid paper qualifications but be ill-suited or insufficiently creative in their working lives, and so forth.

W h e n it comes to the quality of the products of the education system, namely the aptitudes and attitudes required of those w h o are to contribute to the development of society in the future, the experience of the last two decades points unequivocally to the need for internal consistency in the actual functioning of schools. In short, w e could perhaps somewhat provocatively assert that schools m a y either produce individuals w h o are passive, docile, irresponsible and cut off from progress as a result of an over-academic education centred on knowledge to be garnered from each of the main traditional disciplines, or turn out groups of active, go-ahead and responsible individuals ready to fall into step with change, by means of individualized and collective learning based on a multi-disciplinary approach overlooking no discipline, including its potential emotional and aesthetic contribution.

W e m a y also note that if the system is managed on authoritarian and hierarchical lines, if it hinges on the individual alone, if it is concerned only with immediate fragmentary knowledge, and so on, such education cannot be expected to 'produce' participative and cooperative pupils w h o will subsequently take an interest in lifelong education, though this is the universally favoured pupil profile given the likely trend of society in the next few years. It will, for example, be difficult to require authoritarian teachers to ground pupils in participation and dialogue, and encourage them to work collectively, if they themselves refuse any real co-operation with their colleagues, the parents or other members of the community.

Postulating a close link between academic failure and the quality of education enables us to

Is failure at school inevitable? 379

determine where education systems are not doing what they were intended to do. This has ushered in a n e w period of reflection on 'the failure of anti-failure measures in education'.

Greater or lesser visibility of difficulties at school

A study of the factors involved—and interacting—in the development of difficulties at school has yielded the conclusion that it is an overall social phenomenon with three dimensions: (a) an individual dimension, the failure forming part of and determining a personal 'history'; (b) a sociological dimension, this being a social mechanism determining status, roles and self-representation; (c) an institutional or local dimension since the school, individual relations formed in it and the concrete practices it encompasses determine the extent of difficulties and failures.

Study of the matter in a number of Western countries reveals that difficulties and failures at school are more or less 'visible' depending on the actual operational forms of education systems.

In a number of countries of continental Europe, often centralistic by tradition, where academic performance meets with social acclaim, failure at school, being the result of the growing academic maladjustment of the pupil concerned, is 'visible'. In this context, where a child's academic success is generally measured against a specific standard that is deemed acceptable, relatively early difficulties at school set in train a cumulative process. In the group of countries in question, this malfunctioning of the education system shows itself, from 2 'visible' point of view, in various ways according to the norms adopted and the actual times of assessment of the pupils, such as: repeating of a class; assignment to 'remedial' sections or classes; an early switch to vocational education and a rapid abandonment of studies on completion of compulsory schooling.

T h e Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries have to be viewed somewhat differently. T h e

Anglo-Saxon countries generally have an education system built on a decentralized model. Since there is no compulsory nationwide curriculum, there is no nationwide yardstick of academic difficulties, or even failures, as related to the characteristics of pupils taken individually. T h e more personal approach of the teaching dispensed in establishments of Anglo-Saxon tradition helps to shift some of the emphasis from sheer factual knowledge. Grading, examinations and tests have also been delayed as long as possible or even done away with in the Scandinavian countries, where strictly speaking there seems to be no such thing as 'academic failure' at the end of c o m pulsory schooling if such failure is narrowly defined as the pupil's inability to attain a standard of performance required under the education system.

A s in the first group of countries mentioned, compulsory schooling is nevertheless marked by the usual phenomena of truancy in the latter years, by the introduction of programmes alternating work and study, by indiscipline and by violence in the major cities. Furthermore, on-the-spot observation of these systems indicates that the absence of clear-cut failure m a y nevertheless cover up a process of premature and irreversible selection, a sort of painless segregation the only advantage of which is not to stigmatize someone w h o elsewhere would be a designated failure. W h e n pupils do have to be assessed, after a course of study, for employment purposes or on entering the armed forces, it is discovered that a substantial group of young people does not possess the m i n i m u m basic skills needed for life in society, as in the case of the first group of countries considered above.

But in view of our earlier emphasis on the need to consider academic difficulties in the broader context of the transition to adult life, it will be as well to note h o w national socio-cultural contexts m a y give rise to different perceptions of the problem. S o m e instances of educational streaming regarded as normal and acceptable in particular countries will not be so viewed in others. A case in point is appren-

38o Pierre Laderrière

ticeship, which is regarded as a positive solution in the German-speaking countries. In other countries, even though the experience m a y ultimately prove to be of benefit to the pupil, it will be regarded as a penalty—which in fact it often is—for failure in formal and general education. In countries with a strong tradition of apprenticeship, it is not claimed that pupils have not had or do not still experience academic difficulties. But inequality of academic performance is not turned into social inequality because the manual trades are highly enough regarded for material satisfactions not to be directly linked to academic performance. A n d for some pupils the switch to working life is even facilitated by the alternation of work and schooling implied by this type of education.

Therefore, though the cause of the pupil's difficulties sometimes needs to be sought outside the school, there is a tendency to focus on the school w h e n examining and dealing with academic difficulties and failure. It is the place where, through mechanisms sometimes as yet little k n o w n , a child m a y fail to assimilate initial basic knowledge and, for that reason, subsequently find it difficult to fit into society. T h e school is therefore considered the ideal place for taking action by applying, in an open, consistent and sustained manner, teaching and learning strategies best suited to the educational needs of the pupils. Since the first, basic grounding is deemed essential for ensuring either a smooth continuation of schooling or rapid access to employment, which m a y be followed by a resumption of studies, it is chiefly compulsory schooling—equated in this case to the individual's basic training—which should first be given the full attention of the responsible authorities. S o m e major lines of possible action suggested by the outcome of development experience and research in a number of countries are given below.

Possible action

In m a n y countries the present situation reflects a fundamental contradiction between stated

targets and actual results after eight to ten years of education. T h e origin of the difficulties is to be sought in the as yet unresolved contradiction between education of the individual and selection, which shows h o w hard it is to reconcile equity and efficacity. M a n y schools are still, either explictly or implicitly, diverted from the basic purpose of preparing their pupils' future by structures, mechanisms, curricula and attitudes dictated by the nature of the various openings available after compulsory schooling.

CONTINUITY IN EDUCATION

Generally speaking, both the structures of the academic community and the attitudes of the different partners involved in it tend to be disruptive of two fundamental types of continuity: educational and pedagogical. T h u s , the potential of educational continuity is not exploited w h e n teachers omit to m a k e use of the educational role of the family, particularly in the early years of study, for example for learning to read. W h e r e such co-operation has been attempted, the interest of parents has been aroused or increased and the commitment of teachers on the whole intensified.

Pedagogical continuity finds expression in two forms: the transition from one academic level to another, and supporting activity. Pupils have been observed to experience learning difficulties due to a break in the style of teaching w h e n changing levels (from pre-school to primary, primary to secondary, etc.). Possible measures range from exchanges of teachers between levels to the actual merging of the different programmes into an uninterrupted continuum, the introduction of n e w , intermediate levels covering the present switch-over periods and a unified system of recruiting teachers. With regard to supporting activity, a highly worthwhile facility in addition to remedial courses in particular subjects is methodological counselling, which m a y be provided by teachers designated for the purpose. C o operation between the supporting teacher and

Is failure at school

the class teacher can play a fundamental part in changing the attitudes of the academic c o m munity as a result of the dual supervision of each child concerned.

REVIEW OF CURRICULA AND TEACHING METHODS

Experience and research show that individual styles of learning differ considerably. It is therefore no good hoping that all children will derive the same benefit from school if subjected to uniform course requirements. This means that some children should be offered patterns of learning which m a y represent a complete break with such traditional practices as full-time school attendance, the observance of a traditional order for imparting specific sequences of instruction, the absence of any early introduction to technology, and so on.

If the true purpose of the system is to achieve a n u m b e r of educational objectives for all, differing teaching and learning strategies appear to be needed. T h e requirements of socialization or even of educational stimulation have often been advanced as justification for the uniformity of subject-matter, the collective aspect of methods and the heterogeneity of pupil groups. Innovatory teaching based on active methods has long since shown that precise educational objectives could be attained, via different routes, while respecting—and sometimes a good deal more than just respecting—socialization objectives. For this purpose, however, disciplines hitherto neglected in some countries as being non-academic must be given their rightful place. These include the 'technological humanities', art subjects, bodily development , and others. In all, an examination of the shifts of emphasis on curricula shows that, for the latter to be truly effective, their subject-matter must focus on helping pupils to find their place in society, while the methods used highlight the importance of pupil participation in the learning process.

TRANSFORMING METHODS OF ASSESSING

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

There can be no reorientation of curricula and methods, particularly with a view to better individualization of education, without a reexamination of the w a y in which schools assess the performance of their pupils. Although the very logic of the system is involved, insufficient thought seems to have been given to the purpose and nature of the assessment tools used and available. This is true both of compulsory schooling and of the ensuing period. It is still too often the case that studies are assessed on the basis of collective standards which are unable to take stock of what pupils have really achieved.

T h e spirit and the style of pupil assessment often depend on pressures from outside the school (the need for certificates, particular objectives of the higher levels of an education system, uninformed parental interference, etc.) and on implicit standards developed by the school itself. If learning is to be continuously monitored and redirected, ongoing evaluation techniques should be given the fundamental importance which at present is often accorded only to intermediate or final examinations. Without denying the importance of the latter at particular stages of schooling, education systems could ensure that some early-identified failures can be used to put the pupil back on the right track instead of dooming h im to definitive failure.

NEW OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE OF TEACHERS

T h e three foregoing items are sufficient to raise a n u m b e r of questions regarding the personnel responsible for applying a different policy designed to reduce academic difficulties and failure. T h e point is that whether they have imbibed the standards of the traditional system and are implicitly committed to it or whether

382 Pierre Laderrière

they attempt to resist outside pressures in order to achieve internal objectives relating to the harmonious development of their pupils, teachers are, sometimes in spite of themselves, centrally involved in mechanisms leading to academic and subsequently to social failure.

This statement rests on the assumption that teachers, like those responsible for co-ordinating their work, enjoy a margin of independence inadequately utilized at present to oppose external constraints that could be detrimental to their educational activity. A different educational approach might induce them to work in co-operation, rather than in an individualistic and compartmental manner, and to lay a firmer basis for the implementation, by them, of alternative teaching and learning strategies. There is room for conjecture whether this reorientation of educational activity should not at the same time be supplemented with a reorientation of personnel recruitment so as to draw m a n y more teachers from a m o n g members of the community, adults with another form of social experience or socio-cultural groups insufficiently represented a m o n g teaching staff. A further underlying issue in this type of debate concerns the status accorded to teachers by society, which perhaps does not take sufficient account of their tasks and responsibilities.

STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES

In terms of strategy, one of the obstacles that remain to be overcome is undoubtedly the state of relations between decision-makers, researchers and teachers themselves. T h e three groups are traditionally at variance, whereas the improvement of educational performance is just the sort of policy that should rest upon interaction between activity in the field, its evaluation and elaboration and the implementation of n e w strategies. Furthermore, there have recently been cases in which the brunt of budgetary limitations was borne by policies or mechanisms designed to help pupils experiencing difficulty in their studies. Elsewhere, in

the face of inadequate academic results, particularly in basic subjects, policies of excellence have been brought back into favour. But this reinstatement of methods and tools of assessment which, w h e n all is said and done, have not changed m u c h (examinations, batteries of tests, etc.) does no more to remove academic and subsequent social difficulties than certain previous bureaucratic decisions making for the automatic promotion of pupils. In the light of the difficulties and subsequent costs, for society, of incorporating adolescents and adults w h o have failed to derive adequate benefit from their basic schooling, w e m a y wonder whether the 'value added' by systematic policies directed towards those in the greatest need of them would not result in a more satisfactory situation than that n o w confronting us.

It would naturally be unrealistic not to recognize that some additional resources are needed to get positive developments in this field off the ground, as it were. In a difficult overall economic situation, such resources might be provided either by a transfer from other types and levels of education in favour of basic schooling and post-compulsory types of education where excessive academic failure has definite social and occupational consequences, or from some of the funds at present allocated by other ministries or public agencies to as yet far from conclusive schemes for accelerating the transition to working life. Considering the amount of m o n e y spent on a variety of special socio-cultural mechanisms intended, during and after compulsory schooling, to offset and remedy the direct and indirect handicaps of academic failure, an investment in the improvement of basic education along the lines indicated might offer a handsome return.

In approaching the problem of the inevitability of academic failure, reference must be m a d e to present policies and their context. T h e situations of some individual countries m a k e it tempting to reply that academic failure seems inevitable. M a n y industrialized countries justifiably wish to raise the standard of basic skills normally offered by compulsory schooling in

Is failure at school inevitable?

order to help both individuals and society itself to overcome a n u m b e r of cultural, social, economic and even technological handicaps. But pressure from parents or employers and with the complicity of the culture propagated by the education system, improved educational standards are intended, in a 'meritocratic' context, to boost the chances of the most highly motivated, ambitious and gifted, including pupils from the humblest backgrounds. Since this competition occurs during compulsory schooling and generally in its second phase, it perverts the very conditions of learning by developing norms of education and selection which are inconsistent with the opt imum assimilation of knowledge and skills by a n u m b e r of pupils. In m a n y countries the education system has never in fact been reorganized to m a k e this competition between all pupils really fair.

There really is, then, a stated political will to remedy the inadequate level of academic performance, but in m a n y cases the philosophy, context and tools behind such action rule out any major impact on failure at school. H e n c e the marked ambiguity of the present situation, in which, while certain countries cannot be accused of not coming to grips with the problem, it has to be observed that the ways and means available are still a far cry indeed from what would be required for adequate response to the real issue. But it is not just the fate of the individuals concerned that is involved. Society as a whole could ultimately suffer serious damage if the basic education of some of the social groups that go to m a k e it u p does not attain a high enough standard to sustain present efforts at technological and social adaptation. •

Note

I. John I. Goodlad, A Place Called School: Prospects for

the Future, N e w York, McGraw-Hill, 1983.

Improving the effectiveness

of schools in the U S S R V. M . Monakhov and A. M . Pyshkalo

In the Soviet Union an effort to develop physically strong and healthy, well-balanced, broadly educated individuals begins before they start to attend school and continues very intensively in the early school years, which are crucial in the formation of a well-balanced, mature personality. It is at this age that basic character traits are formed, such as the ethical basis for behaviour, social values, mental, artistic and other abilities and the bases of a positive general approach to life and of a world outlook. T h e young schoolchild rapidly acquires patterns and methods of thought which lead to an understanding of logic, which in turn enables h im to find his bearings in the world of mental concepts. Once he begins to attend school all the child's activities are centred around his academic activity, which, at this stage, is of crucial importance. Shortcomings in the first stages of education are difficult to

Vad im Makarievitch M o n a k h o v (USSR). Professor,

Director of the Scientific Research Institute for Teaching

Content and Methods and corresponding member of

the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences. Author of more

than 150 publications on theoretical aspects and practical

applications of educational research.

Anatoly Mikhaïlovitch Pyshkalo (USSR). Pro

fessor, Head of the Primary Education Laboratory

of the Scientific Research Institute for Teaching

Content and Methods of the Academy of Pedagogical

Sciences, specialist in pedagogy and educational meth

odology for young children. Author of many books and

articles.

remedy later and have a noticeable effect on the course and success of a pupil's subsequent educational career.

T h e effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of education at this early stage depends on m a n y factors. These include, above all, the selection of teaching content and its structuring, the methods used to inculcate knowledge, abilities and skills, and the fullest possible allowance for the age and individual characteristics of young schoolchildren. T h e assessment and recording of pupils' performance (in the form of marks, a tradition in m a n y countries, or in a qualitative evaluation) provides information enabling each teacher and each school to develop systematic and successful courses of education.

At all stages in the evolution of Soviet education the way in which this problem has been resolved has reflected the school's distinguishing features and its level of development. Naturally all these features, and the level reached, directly or indirectly reflect the Soviet Union's socioeconomic and cultural achievements in its prog r a m m e of socialist construction and not only its achievements in the areas of teaching theory and practice. T h e effectiveness and quality of the teaching of young schoolchildren in the U S S R can thus be examined and explained on the basis of a general description of the initial stages of schooling and its development.


386 V. M . Monakhov and A. M . Pyshkalo

T h e aims and objectives of primary schools

A n extremely important part in this system is played by the initial stage—primary education—which, in the Soviet Union, covers the pre-school period and primary school.1

T h e education given to 7-10-year-olds in a modern primary school is determined by the general aims of universal education and the specific characteristics of pupils in the age-group. In particular, the main aims of the Soviet general polytechnical colleges are to

give the pupil a grasp of the rudiments of science, an understanding of the principles of the communist world outlook, and work-oriented vocational training. In addition, in accordance with the development of science and technology, and taking into account the needs of society and the pupils' abilities and wishes, the school is responsible for the moral, aesthetic and physical education of the younger generation.

T h e primary school is the first step towards the secondary education system.2 T h e selection and structuring of its content have developed in such a w a y as to make this first stage of education an organic part of and a first step in general secondary education. Its previous isolation, which has n o w been overcome, was due to its concentration on the acquisition of knowledge, which dates back to the time w h e n , for most pupils, primary school was the last as well as the first stage in the educational process.3

Changes have thus been m a d e in the formulation of the general and specific aims and objectives of the primary school and particularly noticeably in content and methods and in the aids and approaches used.3-5

T h e main aim of primary schooling is to provide education for the body and mind in conditions which m a k e it possible for learning to be a pleasure and a delight, part of the happiness of childhood. In addition, primary schools provide for active behavioural motivation, the development of social values, the mastery of all forms of visualization and logical

thinking, and spontaneity in the expression of the emotions. Education as the assimilation of a specific body of knowledge, abilities and skills is not an end in itself, nor is it to be isolated from the task of preparing the child, socially and psychologically, for systematic study.

T h e moral education of young schoolchildren (it is at this age that moral awareness and standards develop most intensively) involves the assimilation of standards and rules of behaviour and learning essential moral habits. In the course of their education children learn to respect their elders and their work, to establish comradely relations with children of their o w n age, and to develop feelings of friendship, patriotism and awareness of the need to protect nature. Educating children in the spirit of internationalism is regarded as particularly important.

Education through work is important in the formation of m a n y moral qualities, and in encouraging a sense of responsibility, independence and a community spirit. Its main purpose is to encourage children to be industrious and to inculcate basic skills, self-reliance and the desire to participate in socially useful labour.

In the primary school great attention is paid to improving the children's health, to ensuring correct physical development, improving their stamina and physical competence and increasing their capacity for work.

T h e school performs an important task in forming the child's artistic taste, his appreciation of music and poetry and his ability to admire the beauty of shapes and colours. T h e child's ability to perceive, understand and appreciate the beauty of his surroundings, nature, works of art and literature is developed.

In the primary school great importance is attached to developing the children's ability to observe, compare and identify the essence of objects and phenomena perceived, and to establish and understand the basic links of cause and effect between them. O n this basis, initial concepts regarding fundamental natural and social phenomena are correctly formed, per-

Improving the

ceptions are sharpened and concentration, imagination, m e m o r y , thought processes and speech are encouraged to develop.

T o varying degrees these abilities are developed by every subject studied—the mother tongue, mathematics, environmental studies (nature study), physical culture, practical subjects and design, drawing and modelling, m u sic, rhythm and singing—and also by extracurricular activities (walks, excursions, school concerts and other activities such as visits to the cinema and theatre, participation in sports and other competitions, etc.). These abilities are set out in detail in the syllabuses for the various school subjects, in a list of 'knowledge, abilities and skills' which each pupil should have acquired by the end of each year of study.

Educational approaches and levels of achievement

T h e pupils' performance depends to a considerable degree on the knowledge, abilities and skills used as a basis for curriculum planning, and on their o w n abilities. Naturally, while taking into account individual differences between children of a given age, a standard, compulsory and realistic target level must be set for all the pupils.2» 6>7 For example, at present in mathematics the knowledge, abilities and skills required of a pupil finishing primary school are knowledge of the following: Addition and multiplication tables of single-

figure numbers. Units of length, mass, area, time and speed

and their symbols; relationships between the units; the interrelation between the measurements (speed, time and distance in steady movement; the length, breadth and area of a rectangle, etc.).

T h e order in which operations should be performed in expressions containing more than two operations.

T h e pupils should also be able to: j Read and write numbers up to i million.

of schools in the U S S R 387

Find the value of an expression containing a letter.

Perform written addition and subtraction of numbers containing two or more figures; multiplication of such numbers and division into single- and two-figure numbers.

Perform simple mental calculations. Measure segments and m a k e segments of a

given length. Calculate the perimeter and area of a rectangle. Identify and draw polygons, and, using c o m

passes, circumferences and circles. Solve simple equations involving one or two

arithmetical operations. Solve arithmetical problems involving all four

arithmetical operations. T h e child must assimilate these skills and knowledge at least to the extent of being able to apply them independently, or at a qualitatively higher level (where he is able to use them in similar or more complicated circumstances, etc.). H e will then receive a positive assessment reflecting the level of his skills and knowledge.3' 4»8j 9

Various factors induce qualitative and quantitative changes in the educational level and performance of young pupils, but they can be divided into two main groups. T h e first group would contain general factors connected with changes in the aims and objectives which society sets for education in general, and for the first stage of schooling in particular. These factors affect the whole education system and, in the long term, determine the structure of education and the way teaching is organized (the curriculum). T h e second group of factors directly affecting the pupil's performance and reflecting the extent to which he has assimilated knowledge, abilities and skills contains the following: the general approach to teaching, its content and the methods, resources and techniques used. Changes in educational theory regarding the child's capabilities and the way teaching should be tailored to a child's psychological m a k e - u p , have also come to play an important role. A s Vygotsky pointed out (in the 1920s), it is n o w clear that there are no grounds for the view that young pupils should

388 V. Ai. Monakhov and A. Ai. Pyshkalo

be taught using mainly factual material because their thought processes are assimilative and their capacity for analytical thought and generalization poorly developed. It was assumed at that time that teaching in the first few classes should be based mainly on m e c h anical memorization, since this ability was more developed in children ofthat age. Analysis of teaching based on this principle led Vygotsky to the conclusion that this was a misguided view which, far from encouraging the children's development, actually retarded it. This analysis has been continued and developed in Soviet psychology (Davydov, Gal'perin, Leont'ev El'konin et al.).

Research was carried out along these lines in the 1970s by the Scientific Research Institute for Teaching Content and Methods of the Academy of Pedagogical Science,4'8'9 and basic educational principles were developed. Although currently being updated,8'10'n these form the basis of current syllabuses, textbooks and methods and can be set out as follows: N e w knowledge proposed in the curriculum

should be within pupils' grasp, respond to their perceived practical needs (academic or non-academic), and arouse an interest in learning.

Learning should be a purposeful activity, the technique of which is systematically taught to the child by the teacher.

A n active, independent approach by pupils to their school work is recognized as a precondition for their success, and teachers can encourage this approach. Motivation corresponding to teaching aims and content and the development of children's cognitive abilities is thus being seen as an important factor. This makes it essential to develop and apply n e w teaching methods and techniques and to adopt a systematic approach to educational activity.

T h e early introduction of analytical thought into the teaching process, for which the pupils should be given preparation, is being carried out with the essential m i n i m u m amount of observation of thepupils' organized practical and mental activity. T h e ability

to see the practical implications of theoretical concepts should be regarded as no less important here.

Acquired and already existing knowledge should be used as a basis for the assimilation of n e w knowledge. This repetition plays an important role in the consolidation of knowledge. W i d e use is also m a d e of a variety of unusual drills.

Each lesson should contain something new, serving not only to broaden the pupil's knowledge but also encouraging him to put his knowledge to use in n e w and unusual circumstances and, especially, in practice.

Systematic use should be m a d e of repetition in each lesson, involving not only m e m o r ization but other mental and practical activities too; no special lessons are set aside for repetition.

Full use is m a d e of teaching material for the education of the pupils in communist principles. T h e teacher helps to shape the pupils' world outlook and inculcates social and political, moral, aesthetic and practical knowledge, mostly by means of concrete examples. H e thus encourages a correct attitude towards events, facts and phenomena and trains the children to use this knowledge as a guide for action and for evaluation of this action.

A n appeal is m a d e to the children's feelings, which are used as a basis for the establishment of moral and ethical habits and principles.

T h e application of these educational principles in schools is the basis for efforts to ensure that the knowledge imparted makes the greatest possible contribution to the overall development and education of the child at the present stage of development of the educational system. This is the basis for attempts to increase the effectiveness of education.

Ways of improving teaching methods

T h e principles applicable to the improvement of the methods used in primary education have

Improving the effectiveness of schools in the U S S R 389

been established following theoretical and practical analysis of the restructuring of the Soviet primary school.8' n They form the basis for a systematic approach to work on the future improvement of the academic and educational process in school, which is n o w under way, and for the use of the theory and practice of primary school teaching as a contribution to the developed socialist society.12 Above all, this involves applying the findings of psychological and educational research and enabling all to benefit from the experience of the most forward-looking teachers.

Our approach is based on the idea of comprehensive examination of methodology as a part of educational science. T h e need for such an approach was m a d e clear by the restructuring of the aims and content of education in the primary classes, which had not

changed for several decades.3»8 Important changes in the aims and content of education inevitably raised a number of very serious questions involving structural analysis of all the methods used. This analysis proposed, on the one hand, identifying and defining the content of all the basic components of the current methodology and, on the other, studying the links between them and examining each component in relation to the others.

W e see the methodological system as a structure which can be represented as shown in Figure 1.

W e proceeded from the assumption that the system functioned according to certain laws. First, there are laws connected with the internal structure of the teaching system itself, whereby a change in one or more of the components causes a change in the system as

Teaching aims

F I G . 1. T h e teaching system's basic components and the bilateral and trilateral links between them.

390 V. M. Monakhov and A. M. Pyshkalo

a whole. For example, the appearance of new teaching aids, which make it possible to vary the organization of the teaching process, leads to a review of educational content and methods and can even have an indirect effect on teaching aims.

Second, there are laws which govern the system's external links, since any teaching system has to operate within a specific social and cultural context, whose influence is crucial. These kinds of influences can affect all the system's components as a whole, or any one of them individually. They most obviously affect the system's dominant component—teaching aims.

Given the approach w e have chosen and the dominant position of teaching aims vis-à-vis the other components of the system, any modifications within the system must be connected with teaching aims. F r o m this follows the central principle for improving the teaching system—the principle of goal-orientation: the purpose and results of improvements to the teaching system as a whole and to each component individually should be in keeping with the aims of junior school teaching.

T h e primary school's most important task is to integrate character training with intellectual training. T h e weakening of either of these elements can cause a deformation of the system (malfunctioning of one of its components or of the links between them). It should be stressed that the primary school is distinguished by the pupils' particular sensitivity to educational influences. Here, more than anywhere, methodology must go hand in hand with psychology and educational theory. T h e principle of the integration of mental and moral training is a very important one for the improvement of the teaching system. It presupposes that any attempt to improve teaching must be geared to ensuring the unity of the intellectual and moral aspects of education, taking into account the latest advances in educational psychology.

Improvement of the teaching system must take into account the requirements of the integrated approach. As w e have already noted, any change in one of the system's components

inevitably affects the others. Failure to bear this in mind m a y lead to disruption of the system as a unified structure. F r o m this follows a principle which it is important to observe in attempts to improve the teaching system, and which can be called the principle of interrelation: w h e n one of the system's components changes it is essential to determine the consequences for all the other components and take them into account.

It should be stressed straight away that this principle can be applied not only to the system as a whole, but also to its separate parts. During research which led to the creation of n e w approaches in, for example, the teaching of mathematics to young children, the need to analyse all the system's interrelations was constantly taken into account, i.e. a principle was applied which can be called the principle of integrality: w h e n improving a teaching system, attention should be paid to each element of its structure.

W e should add that this requirement is very difficult to observe in practice. (Among other things, the links between teaching methods and teaching content are not yet sufficiently clear.) W e have tried, as far as possible, to satisfy the requirement of integrality in the sense in which it is formulated above; however the full and unconditional fulfilment of this requirement is obviously only possible on the basis of specialized research to define aims and define and structure content, and to examine teaching methods and improve the various aids and approaches to teaching.

Finally, this methodological system does not function in a vacuum, but within the framework of education in general. For this reason, any plan to reorganize the system should take into account its feasibility and the need to avoid disruption of the process of moral and intellectual training as a whole, or any disturbance of the nature or the rhythm of the school's activity. Improvements to the teaching system should thus meet a requirement which can be called the principle of continuity: they should aim to become an organic part of the existing system.


These principles for methodological improvement can be applied by determining the content of the system's components and 'projecting' the principles into specific methodological situations determining the operation of the methods used. It would, however, be wrong to think that this is a one-way process. It should be remembered that the principles for methodological improvement themselves are based on observation of practical educational and methodological situations.8

A useful basis has thus been created, not only for improving performance in individual subjects and education overall,8'13 but also for the development of the pupils' thought processes. Attention could be drawn to: 1. T h e introduction of n e w material and re

quirements designed to m a k e pupils more aware of the knowledge they have acquired and more able to apply it in new situations.

2. A different organization of teaching content bringing the study of unrelated questions together and thus promoting the ability to compare and contrast.

3. A reduction in the amount of factual material, which was inevitably learned by rote and not assimilated in depth.

4. Greater attention to stimulation of the pupils' cognitive faculties and, especially, to developing the habit of independent work.

A s n e w or improved teaching methods are sought, and as teachers take an interest in the development of their craft, so the set of mental and practical activities to be mastered by young pupils gradually changes, as do the relationships between these activities. This brings about a marked change in the role and place of repetition in the teaching process and also in the role and place of rote learning. In any kind of teaching the process of memorization is extremely important, but this process is no longer regarded as an end in itself (as is mechanical learning by heart or rote learning), but has become a component part of the pupils' goal-oriented mental activity. M o d e r n educational science and, in particular, methodology, have to organize this activity and devise a systematic way of directing it. For example, a

change in the role and place of repetition on the teaching of mathematics to young children led to important changes in the content and arrangement of material in the textbooks, to a change in the form and structure of maths lessons and, finally, to change in visual aids and in their organization, role and place in the teaching process.

Naturally, the principles mentioned above could not all be applied to an equal degree in all primary school subjects. T h e most noticeable changes, in the view of teachers and educational workers, a view which is confirmed by examination of n e w curricula and textbooks,*'8'9' ">1 2

have taken place in the teaching of mathematics.3' 8'12 It is probably for this reason that mathematics has become one of the most popular subjects a m o n g both pupils and teachers.

Changes have also taken place in the teaching of the mother tongue, especially in reading. Here, it was found necessary, first, to introduce lessons (extra-curricular) to develop the pupils' independent reading ability;3'4'9'12 second, as from the second year, to treat natural history as a separate subject; and third, to introduce some differentiation in the material connected with the pupils' social and political education.4'12

A useful attempt was m a d e to base the content of practical subjects on more than just repetitive activity. Considerable work has been done on the most important areas of physical and aesthetic education.12

Care has been taken to avoid overloading the curricula for pupils in the first three classes. For example, in maths textbooks for classes I, II and III, the teaching material is laid out lesson by lesson and systematic instructions provided with the textbooks strictly limit the amount of homework which can be given. All this makes it possible to regulate the work-load more accurately and correctly than previously, while staying within the limits set by the textbook and methodology in use. This is an important factor in improving the pupil's performance without increasing the number of school hours.

392 V. Ai. Monakhav and A. M. Pyshkalo

Problems and prospects

A s the basic task of reorganizing primary education is carried out n e w shortcomings and defects in the school's operation are revealed and n e w opportunities for the future improvement of the whole educational process are being discovered.6»10 It should be remembered that during the first period of reorganization (the 1960s and 1970s) educational and psychological research workers and teachers spent more time identifying the factual content of the various subjects,4' 8>9 and elaborating n e w teaching methods.13 Extension courses to train teachers to work with the n e w curricula were also organized. At that time, theoretical and practical problems connected with education in general were rather relegated to the background. H o w ever, the application of important n e w ideas to the three-year primary school curriculum, the use of m u c h more active methods and the wider use of n e w teaching aids are not only basic prerequisites for improving pupils' performance and the quality of knowledge and skills. They also provide the basis for a better solution to the general problem of developing children's potential and a resource for the future improvement of primary education.3'u

It is n o w generally recognized that, as a result of the review of primary education content and methods 'the level of knowledge and development of pupils in the three classes forms a good basis for their further education. Most indices show this level as higher than that attained by pupils in the four-year primary school.'4'8' •>12

Practical training in language (grammar, reading, oral communication), mathematics, natural history and other subjects is also more advanced than, let us say, in the 1950s.

Primary school pupils' ability to use Russian rose from 93.4 per cent (at the end of the 1960s) to 99.5 per cent (in the mid-1970s) in the R S F S R . Similar increases have been noted on schools in the other republics. In mathematics, for example, in 1967 15.6 per cent of children leaving primary school m a d e mistakes in calculations, while in 1978, only about 3 per cent

m a d e mistakes, i.e. one-fifth of the previous proportion. In our view, however, this does not fulfil the increasingly high qualitative requirements of secondary schools in an era of universal education.6 In particular, indices of the quality of reading ability and skills have risen and are rising more slowly than planned,6' " as confirmed by the insignificant rise in the percentage of pupils attaining high marks.

O n e problem currently faced by educationists is that of setting norms for pupils' work-load; without a comprehensive and in-depth study of this problem it will be difficult to increase the efficiency of primary education. In recent years m a n y causes of overwork have been identified, along with its harmful consequences for physical and mental health.4 In our view, the key to this problem is systematically to improve the methods, organization and means of teaching in the primary school, and to devise more precise standards for the evaluation of pupils' performance.

T h e improvement of effectiveness and quality in primary education is closely connected with consideration of the pupils' individual differences. Therefore, great attention is paid to developing and improving criteria concerning pupils' readiness for school and to introducing 6-year-olds to the learning process in a firm, carefully organized way. 5

T h e scientific interpretation of research findings and the general application of experience accumulated in Soviet primary schools have led to the creation of better curricula, which provide a basis for improving teaching quality and for norms regarding the work-load which affect more than the content of primary school teaching.14

T h e information covered by these curricula, the elaboration of a systematic programme for primary school education and the correct and stringent application by teachers of requirements regarding knowledge, abilities and skills, and of evaluation standards, will not only improve the teaching process itself, but promote the all-round development and training of innate skills and encourage the ability and desire to learn independently. In other words, all


aspects of education—intellectual, practical and moral—can thus be improved.

At the time of writing theoretical and practical research is being carried out into the most efficient ways of organizing the acquisition of knowledge. T h e principal lines of investigation are: T h e search for better ways of organizing edu

cation and structuring its content and the development of approaches which arouse and maintain the pupils' interest and an emotional response to learning which guarantee a steady and overriding motivation to learn.

T h e identification and refinement of methods of encouraging intellectual activity which enable young pupils to assimilate the corresponding operations and techniques.

T h e systematic organization of the links between primary school pupils' intellectual, play and practical activities.

T h e development of such 'across-the-board' approaches as the shaping of general skills and communication skills, etc.

T h e findings of this prolonged and comprehensive fundamental research work1 5 are being applied to reform of the Soviet Union's general and vocational schools.10 O n e of the main aims of this reform is to provide a more solid educational basis for 6-io-year-olds in the areas of reading, writing, arithmetic and elementary manual skills, and to set norms for pupils' work-loads. Education in a four-year primary school from the age of 6 will enable all pupils to attain a higher level of general development and better to assimilate intellectual and practical skills, and will strengthen the educative role of the primary school. Ten-year-olds entering the secondary school will be more advanced, better organized, more observant and healthier than children of the same age doing so at present. As research findings show1 5 this can be achieved by means of better methods making more allowance for the children's age, by changing the structure of primary school curricula and syllabuses and by modern, systematic planning of primary school education. •

References

i. Pedagogika [Pedagogical Science], Moscow, Pros-

veschenie, 1978.

2. A . M . Pyshkalo, Perspektivy razvitiya nachal'nogo obucheniya. Materialy Vsesoyuznogo soveshchaniya Naychnogo Soveta [Prospects for the Development of

Primary Education. Documents of the All-Union

Conference of the Scientific Council], Moscow,

Academy of Pedagogical Science of the U S S R , 1975.

3. M . P . Kashin and A . M . Pyshkalo, 'Nachal'naya

shkola na novom étape [The Primary School at a N e w

Stage]', Narodnoye Obrazovanie [Public Education]

(Moscow), N o . I, 1975.

4. M . S. Vasil'eva et al., Aktual'nye problemy metodiki obucheniya chteniyu v nachal'nykh klassakh [Current Problems of Methodology in the Teaching of Reading

in Primary Schools], Moscow, Pedagogika, 1977.

5. I. D . Zverev, N . N . Podd'yakov and A . M . Pyshkalo,

'Problema obucheniya detei shestiletnego vozrasta v

shkole i detskom sadu [The Problem of Teaching

Six-year-old Children in School and Nursery School]',

Sovetskaya Pedagogika [Soviet Pedagogical Science]

(Moscow), N o . 9, 1983.

6. V . M . Monakhov, Problemy edinogo urovnya obsh-cheobrazovatel'noi podgotovka uchaschikhsya v srednykh uchebnykh zavedeniyakh [Problems of a Standard Level of Education for Secondary School Students],

Moscow, Pedagogika, 1983.

7. A . M . Pyshkalo, 'Nekotorye problemy sovershenst-

vovaniya nachal'nogo obucheniya [Some Problems

in the Improvement of Primary Education]', Sovets

kaya Pedagogika [Soviet Pedagogical Science]

(Moscow), N o . 2, 1982.

8. M . I. Moro and A . M . Pyshkalo, Aktual'nye problemy

metodiki obucheniya matematiki v nachal'nykh klassakh [Current Problems of Methodology in Mathematics

Teaching in the Primary School], Moscow, Peda

gogika, 1977.

9. N . S. Rozhdestvenski, Aktual'nye problemy metodiki obucheniya russkomu yazyku v nachal'nykh klassakh [Current Problems of Russian Language Teaching in

Primary Schools], Moscow, Pedagogika, 1977.

10. 'Osnovnye napravleniya reformy obshcheobrazova-

tel'noi i professional'noi shkoly. Proekt Ts. K K P S S

[The Basic Reforms of the General and Vocational

School. C C S U Central Committee Draft]', Pravda,

4 January 1984.

11. A . M . Pyshkalo, Sovershenstvovanie obucheniya mladshikh shkol'nikov [Improving Primary School

Education], Moscow, Pedagogika, 1984.

12. Sovetskaya shkola na sovremennom étape [The Soviet School Today], Moscow, Pedagogika, 1977.

13. A . M . Pyshkalo, 'Sovershenstvovanie metodov

obucheniya i vospitaniya mladshikh shkol'nikov

—aktual'naya zadacha shkoly [Improvement of

394 V. M. Monakhov and A. M. Pyshkalo

Methods for Teaching Young Schoolchildren—A

Current Task of the School]', Nachal'naya Shkola

[Primary School] (Moscow), N o . 7, 1982.

14. 'Programmy vos'miletnei shkoly [Syllabuses for the

Eight-year School]', Nachal'nye klassy [The Primary

School], Moscow, Prosveshchenie, 1983.

15. Programma nauchno-issledovatel'skoi raboty po kom-

pleksnoi problème 'Vvedenie obsucheniya detei s shes-

tiletnego vozrasta' na 1981-1985 gody [Programme

of Research Work on the Overall Problem of 'The

Introduction of Schooling from the Age of Six'

for 1981-1985], Moscow, Academy of Pedagogical

Science of the U S S R , 1983.

T h e prevention of failure in elementary schools

in Czechoslovakia Miroslav Mach

O u r society is very concerned about each child, his successful development, and his later place in our country. For this reason w e are interested in the problem of slow development and lack of progress in elementary schools which represents a hurdle for the full development of a child's personality.

T h e following problems are solved in the complex of educational and learning processes. W e do not limit ourselves to the analysis of the quality of knowledge which is itself determined by the teaching curriculum. W e are also interested in h o w it is used practically. W e are interested in the development of individual thought, the applications of knowledge, the relationship of pupils to their work, systematic forms of learning and pupils' interests. B y deep analysis w e discover different reasons to explain pupils' poor scholastic results. These reasons have social, economic and health causes.

In tackling these poor results, w e might start by trying to raise low marks, but by doing so, m a y miss the roots of pupils' problems. W h e n w e discover these problems, w e can start some individual treatment and this gives us the op-

Miroslav M a c h (Czechoslovakia). Director of the Department of Elementary Schools and Educational Facilities at the Ministry of Education. Former teacher, headmaster and inspector of primary schools. He is involved in the restructuring of the content and organization of nursery and primary education and has published extensively in this field.

portunity to solve certain problems successfully at the right age.

In Czechoslovakia w e are very interested in the development of the child and reasons for failures, which start at the pre-school stage of development. Therefore teachers and psychologists concentrate their work in the kindergartens.

Both research and practical experience over a long time has shown us the importance of the pre-school period as a time for shaping and modelling the child. H e is developing very quickly at that age. W e have the opportunity to develop abilities and skills. Our research has shown that the largest problems in the first years of elementary school are not intellectual problems within the child, but are due to factors in the external social environment.

O n i September 1978 a n e w programme was introduced in all kindergartens. Educational work is n o w more effective and supports all other activities undertaken by children during the day. T h e quality and effectiveness of educational work is n o w m u c h higher and shows itself particularly in the development of reasoning powers. This work is carried on systematically and increases the creativity, initiative and independent problem-solving ability of children.

Children are then more independent and flexible. B y various activities and contact with adults and other children they increase their vocabulary. At the same time, their characters are developing, as is their relationship to society.


396 Miroslav Mach

Social adaptation to society is improving, as is the relationship between the child and adults. T h e children of pre-school age also improve their physical capacities and manual skills. T h e pre-school system also teaches children h o w to care for their health.

T h e programme, developed since 1978, is comprehensive and covers all areas of the education. T h e large number of aims of the prog r a m m e has meant that demands on children are great but they do have the necessary physical and intellectual reserves to cope with such intense stimulation. This rich programme leads to a growth in satisfaction for both children and teachers while still leaving time for children to develop their o w n creativity.

At the same time there was an increase in co-operation between elementary schools and kindergartens. W e began to develop n e w ways of co-operation, such as mutual visits to gain basic knowledge of curriculum, and both sides also met parents to gain knowledge about children. Research in the first year of elementary school confirms that the good work n o w being done in kindergartens is reflected in the quality of children's intellectual and social development and in the quality of school activities. Children attending kindergartens are in a stronger position in elementary schools than children coming directly from the h o m e .

Finally, some 91 per cent of all children in Czechoslovakia n o w attend kindergartens. For the other 9 per cent w e have to develop other programmes of preparation for elementary school. O n e of the most effective methods is the use of preparatory departments. Most of these departments are located in kindergartens, but they m a y also be located in elementary schools. T h e most important feature is that a qualified kindergarten teacher works there. These departments cover the six months before a child enters elementary school. Children are between 5 and 6 years of age and have not been attending kindergartens. They attend once a week for two-hour sessions. Contents and methods of teaching are parallel to the work in kindergartens.

T h e amount and level of knowledge for

children in preparatory departments is organized so as to give the children coming directly from their homes the same knowledge as children from kindergartens. There is therefore an attempt to ensure that all children coming to the first year of elementary school are equally prepared. This measure speeds the educational process and ensures its quality.

This programme tries to remove differences between children's abilities and it tries to maximize equality in their preparation for school. B y supporting activity, independence, creativity and problem-solving ability, preschool education has become a better and speedier preparation for first-stage elementary school work, and at the same time has become a basis for the regular, harmonious development of a child's personality.

Comenius, in his Informatoria, said that the most advantageous time to enter school is the age of 6, but he also noticed that this age is not valid for everybody. W e can say that he laid d o w n the criteria of the optimum time for going to school. H e said that children w h o are ready for elementary school fulfil three criteria: they have learnt everything they should at kindergarten; they have developed corresponding to their age; they are keen to learn more.

School entry is a very important point in the life of every child. U p to n o w the child has mainly played games, but n o w he has working duties which occupy a large part of the day. At the beginning, learning is very difficult for the child. His preparation for learning is vital. T h e child needs to be prepared both socially and intellectually for school. H e must be adaptable, and his capacities must have reached a certain level. At this point the child is ready for school.

W e have found that pressures on the child at the commencement of school m a y be greater than the child's capacity to cope. This is most noticeable in those children w h o are slow developers in some areas of their personality. These children are not ready for systematic teaching. T h e problems of beginning school m a y be connected with various pressures from

The prevention of failure in

their environment. These children need extra attention from teachers and parents.

Lack of success at the beginning of school m a y negatively influence the development of the child for some considerable time. For this reason w e stress the psychological checking of pre-school children in pedagogic-psychological centres. These centres attempt to identify problems before the child starts school, and they also try to identify those children not yet ready for school.

T o assist co-operation between district paediatricians and the pedagogic-psychological advisory centres, w e have provided a guidance manual on the care of the pre-school-age child.

T h e paediatricians write reports on the child before his entrance to school. These cover health level, somatic development and an estimate of their mental abilities. They reco m m e n d whether the child is ready for school or not.

W h e n the child has some disability such as a psychomotor handicap, mental retardation, sense disturbances, chronic or long-lasting illness, or a retarded somatic development, the paediatricians ask the pedagogic-psychological centre to test the child. T h e centre then decides the type of school necessary for the child.

During the first six months of kindergarten, workers from these centres visit and check all children. T h e teachers and principals of kindergartens co-operate and refer children to the centres. T h e children coming from kindergarten to the elementary school are tested by teachers using informal techniques. They are interested in the level of the child's oral development.

After the start of the n e w school year, the schools are visited by the pedagogic-psychological centre's staff, and children with problems are referred to the centre by the principals of the elementary school. Before referring the child to the centre, the principal has to discuss his concerns with the parents of the child.

T h e pedagogic-psychological centres guarantee the preparation of the child for school from a mental, social and emotional developmental

schools in Czechoslovakia 397

viewpoint. T h e pedagogic-psychological centre checks the child w h e n he is recommended by a doctor or kindergarten principal, as well as the child w h o has not had any pre-school education or comes from a troubled h o m e environment.

T h e workers from the pedagogic-psychological centre use a combination of formal and informal techniques. T h e formal methods used are c o m m o n throughout Czechoslovakia. T h e workers from the centre decide whether the child is ready to go to school, or if the child is not permanently disabled and unable to go to school, they can delay school entry for a year, or they can recommend the child to some special classes or some compensatory classes, or they can send the child to a school offering special care for certain sensual, physical or mental problems.

Even though w e have discovered a way of analysing the child development at pre-school age, and w e have developed n e w forms of screening, there is still a percentage of children w h o are not successful and w h o fail in elementary school. O n e of the main reasons is that some children are still not adequately prepared and ready for school.

W e are determined to find the best means of deciding w h e n a child is ready for school. For certain children it is difficult to find the right age and time for them to go to school, but w e endeavour to find this time so as to prevent later failure in school. W e use various means in this effort. W e have to adapt the criteria which w e have used up to n o w , criteria of ability or lack of preparation for entering schools. In kindergartens w e will try systematically to increase the analytic sensory and cognitive activity of our children. W e encourage children to understand simple mechanical functions which they can see around them, and w e attempt to fulfil the full educational work of kindergartens. At elementary school w e will pay individual attention to the pupils, particularly those in the younger age-groups. W e try to achieve closer contacts between class teachers and the parents of the pupils, especially pupils w h o have some educational problems. It is necessary also to keep close

398 Miroslav Mach

contact with the pedagogic-psychological centre. W e wish to m a k e the co-operation of class teachers and educators of leisure time more meaningful, particularly for those pupils with educational difficulties, so that they can devote individual attention to those pupils.

O n e of the most important features of a person's education is the ability to read. T h e technique of teaching a person to read is very important. If the pupil is not able to read competently and quickly, it is very difficult for him to learn other subjects, such as natural sciences or social sciences, in elementary school.

T h e large majority of children are able to read well having been taught by normal methods. This gives them a basis on which they can build their other education.

Next to the majority of children in schools, roughly 2 per cent of the school population have some brain disturbance which leads to problems in learning the techniques of reading and writing. However they have normal or above-average intelligence. These children are usually suffering from inferiority complexes, and are confused about their surroundings. T h e parents of these children usually react angrily to the children and m a y punish them. These children are not satisfied at h o m e or at school. T h e result is that the children fail in their school learning.

For the slightly dyslexic child, individual attention from the class teacher and special exercises devised by experts are used.

Children with greater difficulties are treated by neurological, psychological and paediatric specialists, and then they are placed in special classes, which are within the elementary school. These specialized classes are for the first to fourth classes of elementary school. These classes have no more than fifteen pupils.

Such children often have uncontrolled reactions, psychomotor disturbances, problems of articulation, problems of concentration and problems of changes in m o o d and learning capacity.

It is possible to achieve a high level of reading in some dyslexic children, but there

m a y still be problems in the pupil's comprehension of what they have read: reading the text takes so m u c h effort, that he has not the chance to understand it.

Teachers of these specialized classes in elementary schools create optimal conditions for maximizing learning and the further development of the children's personality. During the time the pupil spends in a special class, attention is paid to rebuilding a positive relationship to learning, fellow-pupils and to their o w n personality.

W h e n the disturbances have been dealt with, students return to the ordinary classes. It is important w h e n handling a pupil in a special class, to encourage a positive evaluation of his performance by the pupil. Teachers in these classes are helped by special criteria, to evaluate their pupils. They have specific guidance in each subject, and general guidance in forming an overall classification for deciding progress to a higher class, or for return to normal classes.

T h e m a x i m u m number of children in special classes is fifteen. Results in these classes are very encouraging and most pupils returning to ordinary classes produce successful results.

T h e other types of classes are compensatory classes, which are based on individual work with the pupil. B y this individual work, they try to compensate for delayed development. These pupils with such problems are usually intellectually quite normal. Their delayed-learning m a y be because they cannot concentrate on their work, preferring to play. They have a poor attitude to school-work. S o m e of these children m a y be suffering from some neuroses.

These short-term pupils with delayed-learning problems can be helped by compensatory programmes developed in the right conditions, and they can then return to normal classes. Children with delayed-learning problems often come from problem families, although other difficulties m a y develop from health problems of the pupil, or from incorrect teaching methods in a school. Usually, there are a whole variety of reasons working together

T h e prevention of failure in elementary schools in Czechoslovakia 399

in a complex fashion. Teachers of compensatory classes have to be aware of all the différent reasons which m a y lead to these delayed-learning problems.

A commission has been set up to review these problems. (This commission includes teachers, psychologists, defectologists, medical doctors and workers from the pedagogic-psychological centre.) This review will include the family situation of the pupil, health of the child and his mental development. T h e review will take into account all factors which negatively influence the physical and mental development of a child.

Compensatory classes are a therapeutic arrangement, and the teacher should focus on the individual needs of a pupil.

Initially the teacher has to relate sensitively to the child, and later he can introduce his pedagogic demands. H e has the chance to fill the gaps in the pupil's knowledge. If there is not a good relationship between the teacher and the pupil, the pupil will have a tendency to revert to his former habits.

T h e choice of working methods is very important. T h e classes have a more flexible timetable and leisure time is more constructively used, but the teacher still has a duty to complete the normal syllabus.

Evaluation and classification play an important role in compensatory classes. Initially it is recommended that oral evaluation be used to encourage children by stressing positive features. Negative classification of a pupil could detrimentally influence the child's work, and his attitude to learning. At the end of the school year, pupils can be evaluated objectively and be classified into normal categories.

W h e n the child returns to a normal class, specific attention must still be focused on him or her, encouraging participation and progress. This is the only way to reintegrate the child into the normal class. T h e results of these compensatory classes so far are very encouraging, reflecting good individual progress. These classes can be found in the first four years of elementary schools.

Another way of combating failure in schools

is to use the leisure clubs run by educators at schools. These clubs are very advantageous in using the leisure time of children effectively. Activities link in with the school syllabus. Part of the activity of those clubs is preparing children for the next day's school-work. This helps to remove differences in family background and attitudes and the social differences which are created by different living conditions at h o m e . In the club, the children are aware that they are preparing for lessons and they also realize this is the basis of their future contribution to society. Children w h o are weak at school receive more attention from the educator than other children and the educator tries to work on the weak points in their knowledge.

Preparation for lessons in school clubs follows two approaches. O n e is in written preparation, while the second one is more practical, observing theory in practice, for example through walks and excursions.

These activities will give children a greater understanding of the real work around them. This is a very effective way of learning, particularly if presented in an enjoyable way.

T h e educators have to k n o w the school syllabus in some detail, particularly that of classes from which the children come. They have to reinforce basic knowledge, since this is essential for later progress and for children to be able to complete their curriculum.

O n e of the most important features of a well-run club is the close co-operation between school-club educators and class teachers. This co-operation is usually reinforced by mutual written communication. During the time spent on homework , the educator can particularly help the weaker pupils. T h e educators have to instruct children in ways of solving the problems which have been set for homework. Pupils have the opportunity to go over the lessons and reinforce learning. W e often use didactic games in which the pupils repeat the basic elements of teaching material.

In elementary schools it is also possible to deal with some of these learning problems by having small groups of children in 'extra classes' after the conclusion of normal school

400 Miroslav Mach

time. Children w h o attend these 'extra classes' would include children w h o have been absent because of long-term sickness. These extra classes are used for pupils w h o are behind with their work, those with low marks and for those w h o need individual care to increase their knowledge. Individual attention is focused on these children to fill the gaps in their knowledge of individual subjects.

Other pupils attending special classes include those from older age-groups w h o have learning difficulties or where the pedagogic council has decided they need extra care—usually one or two pupils in a class. These 'extra classes' are in the fifth year and higher, and they cover just the major subjects (for example, language and mathematics). Parents of these pupils are kept informed and the pupils have to attend the classes. T h e y can be required to attend these extra classes up to a m a x i m u m of two hours a week. If the pupil is making progress in solving his problems, he can leave these 'extra classes' during the year; these 'extra classes' are for six to ten pupils.

This article on the problem of educational failure and pupils' under-achievement presents a broader view of the Czechoslovak educational system's response to the problem. T h e above-mentioned problems have to be approached from the point of view of the educational process itself. Primarily it involves work with the basic, informative and supplementary teaching materials and the application of interdisciplinary relations.

O f prime importance is the suitability of methods and forms employed by the teacher in connection with a pupil's age. According to the situation and with proper intensity, the teacher has to approach the pupils individually, make use of work in pairs or groups, use laboratory facilities and apply a problem-and-solution approach.

Successful work is dependent on a positive and trustful relation between teacher and pupil. T h e effectiveness of the teaching process is directly proportional to the pupil's attitude towards the learning process. T h e motivation of the pupil's interest in individual activities is

very important and this depends on the experience and capability of the teacher.

Naturally the success of the teacher's work also depends on teaching aids and equipment at schools. In this respect the Czech and Slovak Ministries of Education ensure that for the n e w school reform, institutions are equipped with the necessary material according to the subjects, working methods and forms employed.

In no case can the number of pupils in the working collectives be underestimated. This number varies according to various criteria: the help provided to less able pupils, the teaching of foreign languages, laboratory work, preparation for working life, physical training, free choice, compulsory subjects, optional subjects and so on.

Classification of pupils has to correspond to the criteria of exactitude and should aim to help the pupil. While evaluating the pupil's performance, the teacher cannot relax his demands . H e has to ascertain the pupil's true level of knowledge. T h e n according to his findings, the teacher selects further methods and forms of work with individual pupils to improve their results.

T h e result of the systematic, all-round and long-term care devoted to the failure and under-achievement of the pupils is very successful and w e can say that the constant attention paid to this problem maintains it at the same level, as shown in Table i.

T h e data in Table i show the rate of development of successful elementary school pupils in the school years 1978/79 to 1982/83 given as a percentage of the total number of pupils at elementary schools.

T A B L E I. Rate of school progress among primary school pupils (percentages)

School year

1978/79

1979/80

1980/81

1981/82

1982/83

Passed

98.5

98.4

98.6

98.5

98.4

Failed

1-4

1-4

1-3

1-4

1-5

Not-classified

0.1

0.2

O.I

O.I

O.I

T h e prevention of failure in elementary schools in Czechoslovakia

T h e work of a teacher is very demanding and difficult and the teacher's authority must be supported by the family and the whole of society. This is our society's goal. With university level studies, it enables the teachers at elementary schools to attain qualitative education. Our society appreciates the significance of the teacher's devoted work for the well-being of all.

A changing pattern of assessment

for England and Wales Keith Kimberley

It is not perhaps surprising that anxiety over future economic prosperity and social cohesion should be accompanied by attempts at national and local reconstruction of formal educational provision. Given, on the one hand, the resistance of bureaucratic systems to rapid change and, on the other, the preoccupation of those w h o are most intimately involved with the flaws or virtues of any educational system—that is, the students and their parents and teachers—with getting the best possible out of existing arrangements, it m a y be that only a crisis can generate major changes in perspective and organization. It does not follow, of course, that changes thus brought about will prove desirable. M u c h depends on ideological stance and the effects on practice of any n e w structures which m a y emerge.

T h e set of changes currently proposed, or already in the process of implementation, in England and Wales with respect to the curriculum and public procedures for its assessment are located in just such a crisis of social confidence. Within education, as in the society at large, there are marked différences of opinion on such issues as: the relationship between

Keith Kimberley (United Kingdom). Lecturer in

Education, Department of English and Media Studies,

University of London Institute of Education. The

theme of this article is developed by the author in

Changing English: Essays for Harold Rosen.

what should be learned in schools and colleges and the needs of the economy; the responses which should be m a d e to cultural diversity; and the measures which should be taken to tackle the inequality of outcomes experienced by social groups discriminated against by virtue of sex, race or class.

In this discussion of current debates about what constitutes achievement, w h o should control the curriculum, and what means should be used for the assessment of individual students, I attempt to keep the wider context of political and social division in view. Similarly I attempt to show that the effects of the proposed changes extend across the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of schooling. I examine the changing balance of control between central and local government which provides a backdrop for moves being m a d e to bring education and specifically the curriculum and its assessment under more direct central control and consider some of the purposes for which students are assessed. It is centrally proposed that significant trends can be identified in the search for more enlightened forms of assessment than have been employed hitherto. Namely that: (a) dissatisfaction with grading and the crude uses to which grades are often put has generated a wide range of experiment into ways of describing accurately what students can do, recording strengths rather than weaknesses; (b) the unreliability of judging students, against each other, on evidence gathered during a few days in the s u m m e r of


404 Keith Kimberley

their seventeenth year using measures known to have a high degree of inaccuracy has led to consistent demands for students to be assessed non-competitively, over longer periods of time, and by a range of methods; (c) the difficulties inherent in selecting a small number of aspects of a subject to stand for all-round performance have stimulated demand for students to be assessed across a wide range of skills and competences; (d) problems with reliability and comparability of examinations has generated some understanding that examination grades are only approximate indications of achievement and that evidence based on different forms of assessment can be presented in the broader context of a student's all-round achievement.

Centralization and change in structure

Probably the most spectacular of the structural changes attempted by the present British Government with respect to education is the reshaping of vocational and pre-vocational provision. T h e general intention is to create a reformed and modern set of arrangements for training and to offer everyone under 18, either full-time education or work experience c o m bined with training and education. O n e of the effects has been to create a de facto raising of the school leaving age to 17. Another has been to shift responsibility for the curriculum and finance away from the colleges and schools and into the hands of the M a n p o w e r Services Commission ( M S C ) , which is responsible to the Department of Employment, not to the Department of Education and Science ( D E S ) .

Already, critics of the Youth Training Scheme ( Y T S ) which forms a central strand in M S C provision, are pointing to the government's failure, despite its rhetoric, cto concern itself with the development of education for this age group inside a quality training for all'.1

It seems possible that a period of low-level training (effectively devoid of any broader educational component) m a y , for m a n y 17-year-old students, prove merely a staging post en route

to unemployment. N o r do these changes affect only the colleges of further education and sixth forms. M S C money and influence is being extended into the secondary school through the setting up of technical and vocational courses (TVEI) to run from 14 to 18. These run counter to the existing individual-subject orientation of most secondary students and are the subject of m u c h heated debate since they threaten to create n e w divisions within c o m prehensive schools.

A central government measure which m a y prove to be of equal significance, and which m a y have an immediate effect on curricular-provision, student-attainment and teachers' professional development, is the proposal to limit the freedom of local government to raise money through local taxation. With money being injected by the Department of Employment for training initiatives m a n y institutions m a y find increasingly that changes in organization and curriculum are thrust upon them by means of financial constraints and incentives. Schools are finding it hard to resist the allure of M S C money for T V E I courses even though some fear that the courses m a y , for example, have the effect of discriminating against girls by underlining narrow traditional job choices while, at the same time, they are finding it difficult to retain sufficient staffing from E d u cation Authority ( L E A ) funds to avoid cutting out some subjects from the curriculum.

Financial arrangements to support students in independent schools have also been put into operation by central government from 1981 with the aim of helping bright students from less-affluent backgrounds to go to selective, fee-paying schools. Questions in Parliament have revealed that by 1988 more than half of the 223 schools taking part in the scheme will have at least 20 per cent of students under the scheme and 44 more than 40 per cent.2 This transfer of public money into the private system is the most visible component of an overall strategy which appears to seek to retain existing arrangements in the private and the state systems for the maintenance of an élite, academic route to university and the

A changing pattern of assessment for England and Wales 405

professions. Part of this strategy involves finding ways of giving financial support to the private sector which constitutes approximately 6 per cent of secondary-school places. O f equal importance is the maintenance of the General Certificate of Education ( G C E ) Advanced Level examination system as the strategy's curricular arm. A n Intermediate Level is being considered which m a y be drawn up alongside Advanced Level in an attempt not to effect major reform but simply in order to ameliorate the excessive specialization which dominates the later school or college careers of m a n y able students.

B y contrast, proposals for assessment of the majority involve substantial reforms. T h e speech given by the Secretary of State in January 1984 makes m u c h of the boldness of its objective of raising standards across the whole ability range in examination at 16: It is a realistic objective to try to bring 80-90 per cent

of all pupils at least to the level . . . n o w expected

and achieved by pupils of average ability in individual

subjects; and to do so over a broad range of skills and

competence in a number of subjects.3

T o this end, he argues that of equal importance to changes in examinations will be changes in approach to the primary and secondary curriculum.

At the heart of this strategy is a determination to get curricular objectives specified explicitly for all schools and every subject-area of the curriculum, as to 'what in each needs to be learnt by all pupils and of what should additionally be attempted by some' . 3

This, the Secretary of State argues, will increase both teacher expectation of what students can achieve and the students' motivation. Further, he would like to see these explicit curricular objectives agreed not only between the partners in the education service but also 'those w h o use it and pay for it—parents, employers, and the tax and ratepaying public'.3

It is, at the time of writing, the immediate intention of the Secretary of State to publish for discussion a statement about the objectives of English teaching in primary and secondary schools and it can be assumed that guidelines

for other subjects will follow. This project is mentioned in a discussion document A Draft Statement of Policy: Records of Achievement for School Leavers which indicates that it is intended that schools should compile information and evidence for records of achievement from age 11/12 and include an entry summarizing achievements by the end of the primary phase.4

This same determination to exert influence over the details of the curriculum can be seen in the moves made with respect to examinations at 16. Here despite an amazingly long gestation period, the existing overlapping assessment systems have still not been joined into a single system of examining and in the near future the Department of Education and Science ( D E S ) has to decide on merger or harmonization3 of the General Certificate of Education ( G C E ) Ordinary Level with the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE). However, measures have already been taken to establish that control of content lies very firmly with the Secretary of State. This has been achieved by a series of measures: first, giving responsibility for standards in any n e w system to the university G C E boards; second, by leading the G C E and C S E boards into five regional groupings and probable eventual merger; third, by setting up a nominated Secondary Examinations Council to advise the Secretary of State with a brief to monitor and evaluate examinations and any n e w forms of assessment; and fourth, by placing a high importance on D E S control over criteria against which all future syllabuses will be evaluated.

This last item gives considerable insight into the way in which central government seems likely to control the school curriculum in the future. U p to this point in recent history interest in the curriculum has been expressed primarily in general terms of the c o m m o n core which is summarized in a statement of government policy on the curriculum for the primary and secondary phases, The School Curriculum* T h e task of writing of general criteria against which syllabuses for the n e w 16-plus examination might be judged was first given to the Joint Council of G C E and

4o6 Keith Kimberley

C S E Boards. These 'national' criteria were then passed on to the Secondary Examinations Council for discussion with the brief to make recommendations to the Secretary of State w h o appears to have retained responsibility for final decisions. Eight subjects were chosen for close scrutiny by the Secondary Examinations Council: art and design; craft, design and technology; English; French; history; mathematics; physics; and Welsh. Responses which have created some antagonism have been those, for example, with respect to Physics where the Secretary of State required that all reference to the political aspects of the subject be omitted from the criteria and with respect to English where the Secretary of State doubted whether the section on 'English in a multicultural society' was the most appropriate way of alerting examining groups to the needs of candidates from ethnic minorities.6

In addition to interventions on these broad issues, the Secretary of State has shown assiduity in examining the small print. H e appears to be a convert to the value of course-work in assessing subjects such as history and English and has suggested that the Secondary Examinations Council consider whether the aims of maths at 16 might not be broadened to include carrying out extended pieces of work, mathematical investigations and problem-solving. H e has also m a d e a commitment that the examining system m o v e away from differentiation of students relative to each other.3

Indeed, m u c h of the strategy for the raising of standards is based on a belief in 'grade-specific' criteria as the means of achieving 'absolute' standards.

M u c h excellent and committed work goes into the preparation and teaching of our examination system. Unfortunately the system does not enable us to measure what candidates can do because it does not set absolute standards of competence, skill and understanding which pupils of different abilities are expected to attain.3

At a time of great competition for employment and places in further and higher education, it is extremely convenient to portray the

operation of examining boards as unproblem-atic, consisting of the use of purportedly objective measures in whose rigour and fairness the public can have confidence and assert that decisions of exclusion are based on judgements external to the schools, tied to rigorously defined, even 'absolute' standards, and that the whole business of examining is being kept strictly under review by the Secretary of State.

Taken together, the strands of central government policy outlined above constitute a substantial change in relationship between local and central government with respect to the curriculum and assessment. W h a t have hitherto been indirect and invisible controls are n o w being replaced by direct and visible ones.7 T h e autonomy of local education authorities and teachers, which has been a significant feature of educational provision in England and Wales,8 is being carefully and inexorably restricted. T h e metaphor of this change is that of 'partnership' between teachers, parents, governing bodies, local education authorities, and central government, 'each performing their proper role in response to the needs of the pupils and the country as a whole'.3

In this 'partnership' the 'proper role' of local education authorities and teachers is no longer a privileged one. This is most clearly symbolized in the demise of the Schools Council in which both teachers and local authorities had a powerful voice and which for twenty years had brought examinations and curriculum development together in a single body. O n e half of these concerns is n o w the responsibility of the Schools Examination Council under the eagle eye of the Secretary of State. Curriculum development has a similar body to oversee it and is largely dependent on the willingness of local authorities to allocate funds.

Ends and means

It is an inescapable fact that, however assessment procedures m a y disguise it, the central function of examinations is to differentiate


one from another the students w h o have taken courses based on their syllabuses. This function is performed with varying degrees of arbitrariness and approximation,9 some existing systems accumulating evidence over long periods of time with others confining judgement to an end-of-course timed test. Whatever the methods chosen, the grades given provide the justification for subsequent sorting and grading for various career destinations, including unemployment. Students are, of course, continually exhorted to strive to get the best grades for themselves as they can but, rather than for their immediate personal benefit, the sorting and grading is done primarily in the interest of the economy.

In reaction to this reliance on grades, critics of the government's present policy are making strong arguments for the ending of external examinations at sixteen which, even if they were to become a single system, would still theoretically be designed to cater for only three-fifths of the ability range. Malcolm Skil-beck, commenting on the Secretary of State's Sheffield speech, raises a fundamental objection

to the continuance of an external examination system at all for 16-year-olds. W h y cannot schools issue, for all students, comprehensive records of attainment, validated by an external agency? This arrangement is found in m a n y countries which are not so vastly different from us—except in their readiness to get rid of procedures that have outlived their usefulness.10

In this, he has some c o m m o n cause with two progressive local authorities, Oxfordshire and the Inner London Education Authority ( ILEA), w h o have taken the lead in proposing alternative ways of assessing and recording students' achievement.

T i m Brighouse, the Chief Education Officer of Oxfordshire, has been a key figure in the development of a comprehensive record of all-round achievement for students, the Oxford Certificate of Educational Achievement. For him the most important task is to disengage the assessment of students from their age, thus opening up the possibility of modular courses and graded assessments:

T h e Educational Achievement Certificate could be a combination of success, carefully constructed with real pace and rigour by the students and teacher with due help from the parent or guardian.11

S o m e of the things which this might involve in practice are spelled out in the report of the I L E A ' S Hargreaves Committee, Improving Secondary Schools.12 This review of the curriculum was commissioned in November 1982 and forms part of a series of initiatives to ensure that London school students are not disadvantaged by virtue of their sex, class or ethnic background. In particular the I L E A was concerned to find ways of improving student motivation and, hence, educational achievement. T h e committee propose that students should be given greater control over their learning. They see this as being achievable from ages 14 to 16 by the use of modular, half-term units where, because the syllabus content is small,

pupils can see clearly the knowledge and skills they need to acquire over the next few weeks. Course objectives, instead of existing in the teacher's mind or the course design, can n o w be shared with the pupils. If pupils see clearly where they are going, they are more likely to be motivated for the journey.12

T h e Hargreaves Committee follow the logic of this proposal through into its implications for assessment. Drawing on a range of recent development work, they suggest that some form of assessment be designed for every area of the curriculum to give the student 'something to show' for each unit of six to eight weeks' work.

T h e unit credit m a y take a variety of forms. It might be a certificate which specifies the ground covered and what has been achieved. . . . Alternatively the unit credit might be a graded test/assessment or profile. . . . In a m e d i u m sized or large school it should be possible to allow pupils some choice over the sequence in which units are taken. If the fourth and fifth years are mixed, it might be possible for teachers to offer a wider curriculum content than at present and so allow pupils to exercise choice according to their o w n interests, needs and aspirations.12

4o8 Keith Kimberley

It is apparent that there is some measure of agreement between this position and that set out by the Secretary of State in Records of Achievement1 where Department of Education and Science interest in monitoring and evaluating the n e w forms of assessment which are in progress in different parts of the country is expressed. It remains to be seen whether the idea of unit credits is seen as complementary or as a threat, to Department of Education and Science preoccupation with grade-related criteria. Both central and local government appear to have a similar interest in making available knowledge of what is to be learned. They differ perhaps on whether this specification is best conducted at a national or a local level.

In this respect m u c h is m a d e of the interests of the users of examination results (that is employers and gatekeepers to various forms of further education). Crucially, they are said to need information in the form of grades and to k n o w what each grade stands for nationwide. It is increasingly argued that this m a y not be true. T h e Secretary of State himself has recently written to eighteen business organizations asking that they 'unscramble' their contradictory views on what information they really need to k n o w about the young people they m a y wish to employ.13 In the long term, grades m a y appear less valuable to 'users' than for there to be a combination of two related features: consistent ways of recording and validating students' achievements across the country together with readily available, explicit statements about the school curriculum m a d e at the level of the individual school.

It is also worth noting that the participation of teachers at local level, in school- and college-based schemes, has been a significant feature in the development of current thinking about: (a) graded assessments; (b) a n e w system of examining at 16; and (c) ways of recording all-round achievement. It would be extremely unfortunate if the formulation of national criteria were to cause us to forget that, through development work in schools, and groups of schools, teachers have provided consistent evidence of their ability to m a k e explicit the criteria

on which they consider good practice to be based and have contributed enthusiastically and effectively to curriculum-led assessment procedures. Explicit statements about the curriculum m a d e by the school in consultation with the local education authority, the parents and the community (including employers), m a y ultimately prove of greater value than the specifications of central government. Indeed the all-party Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts, reviewing the government's The School Curriculum, argued that less, rather than more, central control of the curriculum is desirable in a rapidly changing, plural society14 and it is arguable that a dynamic curriculum is perhaps more likely to be achieved if the national guidelines remain broad and space remains for school-level initiatives with respect to content and assessment.

In the classrooms of good teachers, there has always been a core of informal student-teacher negotiation which involves making explicit the teacher's expectations and criteria for success. Similarly, there are a variety of existing forms of assessment in which the student has some part to play; for example in the selection of a portfolio of course-work. There are also readily available models of assessment which are curriculum-led.

Each of these factors seems likely to play an important role in future arrangements, though there m a y continue to be differences in e m phasis between local and national perspectives and between these and those of the teachers w h o have to operate them. O f the three, the first two offer the greatest challenge to the teachers whether at the level of national criteria or school syllabuses since what is required is a principled statement of w h y one aspect of knowledge or m o d e of learning is preferred to another and, beyond a certain level of generality, such consensus is hard to achieve. Moreover, teachers implementing the I L E A proposal will have to meet a challenge to review and, in m a n y cases, reconstruct their pedagogic relationship with the students they teach.

T h e greatest opportunity for creating a dy-


namic curriculum lies with the third; with what appears to be an aim, shared by teachers and m a n y of the others involved, that assessment should follow curriculum rather than lead it. W e should not perhaps be unduly optimistic. It is easier to express a pious hope than pursue it with determination. However, it is at the level of content—changing as the society and k n o w ledge themselves change—that there is the greatest opportunity for developments which show flexibility and imagination.

T h e opportunities available at this m o m e n t m a y , of course, surfer the same fate as those which were offered in the early 1960s. T h e n , too, debates centred round h o w assessment could be made available to a wider cross-section of the ability range and n e w life breathed into an inadequate curriculum. Then , too, there was m u c h discussion of the means required to enable teachers to take on the job of teaching with enthusiasm and enable the students to have a sense of their achievements.

T h e ferment within the Department of E d u cation and Science, the examination boards and the local authorities, which w e are witnessing n o w , has a similar focus but, if history has any lessons for us, w e should not be too optimistic that a n e w dawn is beginning when assessment will be seen to follow rather than determine the curriculum and when assessment will function first and foremost in the interests of the student. In 1965 the consequence of failing to reform G C E Ordinary Level was that the C S E certificate, despite the curriculum development it spearheaded, was thereby limited in its value, particularly in the lower grades. It is possible that, despite good intentions, graded assessments and profiles m a y likewise become irretrievably linked in the public mind with students of lower ability or with low-status courses. Similarly the future 16-plus examination system, whether 'merged' or 'harmonized', m a y remain interwoven with, and diminished by, the traditional, narrowly academic A-level system. Moreover, both developments m a y be m a d e increasingly less important through the establishment of major new education and training initiatives by the Department of E m

ployment and the resultant proliferation of forms of assessment and certification under the control of the M a n p o w e r Services Commission rather than the Secondary Examinations C o u n cil set up by the Department of Education and Science. •

Notes

1. C . Benn, 'Secondary Reform: Time to Move O n ' ,

Forum, for the Discussion of New Trends in Education (Leicester), Vol. 26, N o . 2, Spring 1984, pp. 32-4.

2. The Times Educational Supplement (London), 24 February 1984.

3. Speech by the Rt. Hon. Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary

of State for Education and Science, at the North

of England Education Conference, Sheffield,

England, on 6 January 1984. (Reported in Department

of Education and Science (London), Press Notice 1I84,

15 PP-)

4. Department of Education and Science, A Draft

Statement of Policy: Records of Achievement for School Leavers, 1983, 13 pp.

5. Department of Education and Science, The School

Curriculum, London, H M S O , 1981, 20 pp.

6. The Times Educational Supplement (London), 26 August 1983.

7. G . Grace, Teachers, Ideology and Control, Chapter 11, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978, 264 pp.

8. D . Lawton, The Politics of the School Curriculum, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, 152 pp.

9. Schools Council Forum on Comparability, Standards

in Public Examinations: Problems and Possibilities, London, Schools Council Comparability in Examin

ations, 1979. (Occasional Paper 1); L . Orr and

D . Nuttall, Determining Standards in the Proposed Single System of Examining at 16-plus, London, Schools Council Comparability in Examinations.

(Occasional Paper 2.)

10. M . Skilbeck, ' W h y Sir Keith's Reforms do not G o

Far Enough', The Observer (London), 15 January 1984.

11. T . Brighouse, '16-plus: a Change for the Worse',

The Times Educational Supplement (London), 16 March 1984.

12. D . Hargreaves, Improving Secondary Schools, London, Inner London Education Authority, 1984.

13. Reported in The Times Educational Supplement (London), 23 March 1984.

14. Select Committee on Science, Education and the

Arts, Second Report: The Secondary School Curriculum and Examinations, Vol. I, London, H M S O , 1982,

151 pp.

TRENDS AND CASES

The University of the West Indies

in the 1980s Edris Bird

In this article, the term cWest Indies' refers to the English-speaking independent nations of Antigua, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, D o minica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts-Nevis—a state in association with the United Kingdom, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, and the British colonies of Anguilla, the C a y m a n Islands, Montserrat and the Virgin Islands. T h e independent countries, which were themselves former colonies of Britain, along with the other smaller islands, n o w make up the Commonweal th Caribbean Community . They are at different levels of political, social and economic development. Table 1 will highlight the disparity between them.1

T h e University of the West Indies ( U W I ) is at present going through a process of institutional change brought about by its seeking to adapt itself to the demands of this modern period of West Indian history and the varying needs of its several supporting governments. T h e process is not one that is unique to the University of the West Indies. It is c o m m o n to universities in developing countries as they m o v e from the older paths of the traditional colonial heritage and seek to become universities of the modern developed world, forging

Edris Bird (Antigua). Resident tutor in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of the West Indies. Publications in adult education and the role of women in education and development.

a synthesis between the 'ideal' and the 'idea' of a university, establishing, as a Vice-Chancellor of an African university has put it, 'a correct balance between the imperatives of the so-called "ivory tower" of academic freedom and academic excellence on the one hand, and on the other, the demands of national development'.2

A n examination of the stresses and strains of this adaptation as they affect the University of the West Indies should hopefully offer insights for comparative study.

T h e historical background3

Calls for higher education in the West Indies in the nineteenth century found little support from the West Indian colonial public or the British Government. Short-lived attempts were m a d e to develop universities in Jamaica—Queen's College in Spanish T o w n in the 1870s and Jamaica College in Kingston in 1890. T h e only institution of higher education to survive into the twentieth century was Codrington College (1830) which became affiliated to the University of D u r h a m in 1875 and sent out graduates to fill important positions throughout the West Indies in the Church, law and education. T h e Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture was the only other institution of higher education. Established in Trinidad in 1922, it could be regarded as 'in but not of the West Indies'. Until it became the Faculty of Agriculture of

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T h e University of the West Indies in the 1980s 415

the University of the West Indies in 1962, the undergraduate and graduate teaching that went on there was for Englishmen w h o were trained to fill top posts in agriculture in the colonial world.4

T h e early years of the twentieth century, however, saw more strident calls from the newly emerging local political élites. In this period of growing nationalism, cthe n e w political parties and trade unions were discovering their power'. T h e obvious and dramatic signs of impatience in the colonies over years of neglect, as well as the effects of the Second World W a r , were to bring about a change in the attitude of the British Government. B y n o w the desire for self-government on the part of the colonies was understood and the British Government was ready to concede this claim. T h e establishment of universities was seen as a necessary corollary to the achievement of self-determination:

In the stage preparatory to self-government Uni versities have an important part to play; indeed they m a y be said to be indispensable. T o them w e must look for the production of m e n and w o m e n with the standards of public service and capacity for leadership which self-rule requires.5

T h e result was the appointment of the Asquith Commission in 1943 to consider the principles that should guide the promotion of higher education, learning and research, and the development of universities in the colonies; and to explore means by which universities and other appropriate bodies in the United K i n g d o m might be able to co-operate with institutions of higher learning in the colonies in order to give effect to these principles.

A special committee for the West Indies, the Irvine Committee,6 appointed by the c o m mission, recommended a single, centralized residential university college to serve the needs of the then seven colonies of the West Indies. Its constitution was to resemble that of the universities of Great Britain. It was to be of a high academic standard, with emphasis on teaching and research in the Faculties of Arts, Natural Sciences and Medicine.

Gwendoline Peter-Williams writes:

T h e evidence suggests that the local intelligentsia and the political élite accepted the view that the purpose and function of colonial universities should be based on the principle of elitism. Not only was higher education intended to produce the needed manpower for economic development and national leadership, but it was also to allow for the ushering of the local intelligentsia into the international arena of academia.'

Writing some thirty years after the establishment of these colonial universities, Eric Williams notes, in agreement with Eric Asby,8 the cultural domination of the metropolitan countries to which they were attached, reflecting the basic philosophy of colonialism by serving primarily for the transmission of Western culture and learning and the subordination of indigenous values, customs and languages:

Almost incredibly, notwithstanding the voluminous evidence of the unwisdom of this policy especially in India, the Asquith Commission . . . appointed after World W a r II to consider the question of University developments in those colonial areas, opted for the imitation of British universities affiliated to London University for examination purposes and therefore cribb'd, cabin'd and confin'd within the London curriculum—that is to say, compulsory Latin, and Anglo-Saxon and Middle English in the English Literature curriculum.9

T h e university and the impact of political

independence

T h e decades of the 1960s and 1970s saw the former , larger British colonies of the West Indies m o v e to attain their independence. T h e period was marked by a dramatic expansion of educational opportunities at primary and secondary levels as these countries sought to meet the challenges of the n e w period of independence and to put their claims for egalitarian policies into effect. T h e social and political changes in

4i6 Edris Bird

the society called for changes in the University College which received its charter in 1962 and became the fully independent University of the West Indies: ' T h e absurdity of the non-independent colonial university tied to the apron strings of a metropolitan mother was apparent even to the most dyed in the wool imperialist.'9

With the break up of the short-lived Federation of the West Indies (1958-62), great uncertainty was expressed about the future of the University of the West Indies as a regional institution. T h e year 1963 saw the establishment of campuses in Trinidad and Barbados as well as Guyana's decision to set up a separate university in order to 'promote teaching and research relevant to the needs of a developing Guyana, of a standard of excellence to win international acceptance'.10 In this seeming act of defiance of the traditional colonial model of the university, Guyana was pointing new directions for the modern University of the West Indies. She retained, however, a special relationship with the University of the West Indies for the professional training of her nationals in the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and L a w .

Political changes in Jamaica, as this country experimented with a philosophy of democratic socialism under the Manley Government, also had an influence on the University of the West Indies towards its greater decentralization and democratization of the decision-making process with greater involvement of students, junior academic administrative staff and non-academic staff.

B y this time also the governments of the non-campus territories were demanding a stronger physical presence of the university in their territories in view of the tangible gains which the campus territories were deriving from the university. O n the recommendation of the Antigua Conference on University Extra-Mural W o r k in 1963, University Centres were set up in seven non-campus territories between 1967 and the early 1970s and the number of resident tutors in these territories was increased from two to seven. It should be noted here that from

the early beginnings of the University College extra-mural work, started in 1949, had been considered of'central importance—equal to the teaching and research functions of the Uni versity College'. T h e first Principal of the college, Sir T h o m a s Taylor, wrote: ' T h e days of ivory towers are past. A University institution should be in touch with a population if it is to have its full effect.'11

In the Vice-Chancellor's address to Council in 1972, he hinted at further important developments in his assurance to the people of the territories at the opening of these centres that they would be used for programmes of external studies. These assurances were received with acclaim. It was only in 1977, however, that these programmes came into existence in a limited way. Students can n o w take the 'Challenge Examinations' for the Faculty of Social Sciences Part I programme. Under this scheme, students are allowed to write first-year examinations in four out of six courses, Economic Accountancy, Mathematics and Statistics, Politics, Sociology, History of the Caribbean, over a two-year period. Successful students are allowed to enter a second-year programme at a campus of their choice. T h e programme has, however, received minimal support from the university to date and depends on student fees and donations which resident tutors have been able to raise at the local level.

It is correct to say that the University of the West Indies has undergone a process of evolution from its inception as a small single residential university in 1948. Its initial student target of 500 moved in 1971/72 to 5,678 and in 1981/82 to 9,500. Not only has a greater degree of campus autonomy been allowed, but campuses have developed programmes more suited to their national needs and aspirations with funding from their national coffers.12 In addition, there have been various modifications in the academic and administrative arrangements which have reduced the dependence of St Augustine and Cave Hill on M o n a .

Repeated calls for the relevance of university studies have seen efforts being m a d e to develop programmes with greater Caribbean content.

T h e University of the W e s t Indies in the 1980s 417

In the Faculty of Arts and General Studies, no student m a y graduate without reading and passing a course in the history of the region. Students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and L a w must also take this course. Every student must also pass a final year research paper on a topic related to the Caribbean which he has investigated. There is greater experimentation also with interdisciplinary studies. T h e Institute of Social and Economic Research is concerned with research on local West Indian problems and it publishes a quarterly journal. Similarly, Caribbean Quarterly, the West Indian Medical Journal and other University of the West Indies publications are designed to disseminate research findings in the arts, in medicine and in social, educational and political affairs.

T h e University College of the West Indies was born amidst high hopes of nation-building and personality-building. A n d it is fair to say that the university has produced a creditable number of professionals w h o are n o w in the upper levels of the Civil Service, the teaching and legal professions and in the government. Yet conditions in the West Indies in the post-independence period of the 1970s have failed to live up to the high hopes of the late 1940s. Instead, the period has been marked by bloody conflicts between opposing political and racial factions in some territories. T h e region has shared in the inflation caused by the inordinate increase in the cost of fuel which has jacked up the cost of production while the prices of primary products are falling on the world market. Political self-determination has not been matched by drives for economic self-sufficiency. Food production has decreased throughout the region as import bills for foreign goods continue to assume staggering proportions. T h e problem is compounded by a high population rate of increase of 2.5 to 3 per cent, with all its concomitant problems. T h e Caribbean Contact13 of January 1983 noted that in m a n y of the non-campus countries, 'severe cash flow problems forced governments to virtually scrounge around for m o n e y every month to pay civil servants'.

It is against a background of this nature that

Williams has highlighted three key issues for the future:

(a) the independence of the entire region and its economic integration—the elimination of direct colonialism where it still exists, the resistance of any tendencies to b e c o m e or to be regarded as banana republics, economic independence with greater national control of natural resources;

(b) the search for a Caribbean identity and the struggle against metropolitan cultural domination whether in the form of the American consumer society or the domination of the metropolitan mass media, or the control of the education system still exercised in large part by the Churches, and evidenced today by the international lending agencies whose loans influence and determine the pattern and direction of development;

(c) the fundamental improvement of race relations.14

It is evident that the peoples of the region have expected that the University of the West Indies, as the pinnacle of the education system, should be a major contributor to the solution of the region's problems, but there is evidence that there is disenchantment and disillusionment as to its role and functioning. S a m m y has called for the university in a developing country to act as

a single, cohesive, multipurpose agency, fully related

to those aspects of the national development plan

which require expertise, or the recruitment and

development of trained m a n p o w e r at all levels.15

William D e m a s , one of the main architects of attempts at Caribbean economic integration has seen as a critical role for the Caribbean university in these times

the task of developing and disseminating an ideology of W e s t Indian Nat ionhood and Caribbean Integration as part of a wider ideology of Caribbean development and social change.16

However, he highlights some of the tensions that are evident between the concepts of the 'idea' and the 'ideal' of the university—the conception of the university as an intellectual centre contains within it the implied corollaries

4i8 Edris Bird

of autonomy and freedom from interferences from Church or state and of a high degree of elitism in the student body. O n the other hand, the university can be regarded as a development agency. Is it possible that the two traditions can be reconciled in a Caribbean university?

D e m a s leans to the popular view of all Caribbean governments that in countries where nearly all university expenditure comes from financially hard-pressed governments, there should be a bias in favour of the university as a development agency rather than merely an intellectual centre. Williams has stated in no uncertain terms that he w h o pays the piper must call the tune and has cited international evidence of the increasing tendency of governments to control and direct university education, even in the case of the most liberal British University Grants Committee, in order to enhance the economic and social development of their countries.17

While admitting that the curriculum and orientation of the university should strongly reflect the needs and economic and social development priorities of the Caribbean region, D e m a s supports another very important view of the university community that there should be the right to dissent, exercised in an intellectual manner. This right has been disputed by some politically and economically beleaguered Caribbean governments. Suggestions have been made at one Heads-of-Government meeting that the Faculty of Social Sciences of the U W I is a breeding-ground of malcontents and should be closed down . S o m e governments have considered it necessary to deny work-permits to academics w h o are nationals of other Caribbean countries on the ground that they abuse their academic freedom by indulging in activities inimical to national security.18

Another pressing problem for the University of the West Indies is the question of'standards'. High standards for entry have been consistently upheld by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago which has insisted that it is cheaper to educate a student at high school than at university. They have consistently refused to accept lower entry standards and a four-year uni

versity programme which has found favour with the Jamaican and other non-campus governments whose secondary school systems are not as well developed. At the upper level of graduate requirements, there has been questioning of the need to adopt international standards as opposed to requirements of education relevant to the pressing needs and the goals of the indigenous situation.

T h e problem that is exercising the minds of persons engaged in educational planning n o w is h o w to determine right mixtures of levels of skills for the highly trained professionals and the very sadly needed para-professional personnel—technologists, technicians and craftsm e n , agricultural extension workers, veterinary assistants and supervisors of skilled and unskilled workers. D e m a s warns against running the risk of training for export to the metropolitan countries while Williams highlights the critical nature of this risk by giving detailed statistics of the brain drain from the C o m m o n wealth Caribbean. O n e example is cited: c O f the 425 doctors w h o graduated from the U W I between 1954 and 1968, 133—three out of ten—emigrated: 75 to Canada, 37 to the U . S . , 18 to other countries.'19

W h e n the question of specialization versus a more general broad-based education is considered in terms of their relevance to the needs of the West Indies, there is a growing acceptance of the latter form. If nothing else, the unprecedented expansion of secondary education is calling for creative thinking about n e w ideas of post-secondary education and the integration and articulation of those systems, junior colleges, vocational and technical education in part-time and evening courses, vocational on-the-job training, internship in community-oriented work-study situation and flexibility of transfer from one tertiary institution to the other.

T h e financing of higher education is one of the most crucial questions poor countries can face. There is n o w the challenge to the higher education system to break with the traditional colonial elitist model of high-priced residential accommodation, small classes, light work-loads

T h e University of the W e s t Indies in the 1980s 419

for teaching staff and the intake of young and inexperienced undergraduates.

Thought had been given before to new structures for the University of the West Indies when the Appraisal Committee of U W I , in a recommendation accepted by the Council in 1970, suggested that

the University should accelerate its efforts to include a system of external studies for its degrees, using where possible all the m e a n s at its disposal, such as correspondence courses, radio, television, auto-tutors, itinerant lecturers and vacation courses, and participate m o r e actively in post c O ' Level and technical education in the territories with special reference to the n o n - c a m p u s territories.

Ramesar had called for a reopening of the idea of establishing within the university an additional campus—an Open Campus—to address itself to three distinct areas of activity, as follows:

1. General Adult Education & Training: This would include examinations and non-examination prog r a m m e s ; para-professional (middle-level) prog r a m m e s for University Certificates; and other miscellaneous activities such as occasional courses, seminars, workshops, etc.

2 . External (Extension) Studies: This would include courses in the arts, sciences, humanities, education, etc., for University degrees.

3. Professional Training & Research In Continuing

and Adult Education: Since it is expected that part-time education will continue to g r o w in size and quality, teachers will need training o n the special needs of adults in the classroom. In fact m a n y University teachers m a y also benefit from s o m e sort of training in the teaching of adults.20

T h e restructuring of the University

of the West Indies

It is against this backdrop of urgent socioeconomic problems that the Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government were moved in 1969 and again in 1975 to consider the role,

character and structure of the University of the West Indies and determine whether the existing structure and curriculum were meeting the growing needs of the Caribbean. A n Inter-Governmental Committee was appointed to examine and make recommendations of the role, character, functions and orientation of university education in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Several aspects of restructuring were brought to a head as a result of the committee's findings and of subsequent discussions within the university with a Standing Committee of ministers responsible for education.

B y 1977 t n e Trinidad and Tobago Government was to produce its White Paper on the creation of a National Institute of Higher E d u cation21 with emphasis on research, science and technology under whose umbrella all other institutions operating in these fields, except the university, would fall. T h e White Paper was sharply critical of the U W I :

Substantial resources were channelled into the U n i versity with the hope that its efforts in the medical sciences, engineering, education and m a n a g e m e n t would be adequate to meet the d e m a n d s of the country. T h e industrial sector, dominated by the transnational corporations relied exclusively o n i m ported technology for its o w n needs . . .

T h e existing structure of the U W I including its decision-making machinery would not allow it, even if funds and other resources were m a d e available, to adopt the leadership role in any national effort in science and technology.

While stressing that 'the structure of the University must give the institution in Trinidad and Tobago the flexibility to serve the local community which a State University could have', the White Paper maintained, however, that any new structure of the university would have to:

(a) take account of the need to maintain high academic standards;

(b) plan on a long-term basis to cushion the U n i versity against immediate and short-term pressures;

420 Edris Bird

(c) have a University compatible with Caribbean E c o n o m i c Integration and cater for the needs of the n o n - c a m p u s countries and for inter-campus exchange.

Consensus has n o w been reached on the establishment of separate C a m p u s Councils responsible for managing and developing programmes in consultation with other Campus Councils and separate Technical Advisory Committees.22

There has also been agreement that a Central University Authority should be responsible for

(a) the granting of degrees, diplomas and certificates, the maintenance of c o m m o n academic standards a n d the policy with regard to admission requirements;

(b) long-term overall planning, identification and encouragement of research projects of regional interest; policy on, and co-ordination of Extra-Mural and outreach programmes in the non-campus territories;

(c) the appointment and promotion of Senior A c a demic staff.

T h e process of restructuring must be seen as one of natural growth and development as an institution is required to adapt to meet a multiplicity of different needs in a period of great political, economic, social and ideological changes in its region. There has been strong reaction, however, from the academic c o m munity, the wider public and, even more, the non-campus governments, against the proposal of Trinidad and Tobago that there should be three separate University Grants Committees ( U G C s ) to replace the single central U G C and that the governments of the campus territories should finance all the campus activities in their countries and recover the monies from governments w h o send students to the particular campuses.

T h e Caribbean Contact commented: 'There is precious little evidence to suggest that for all the rhetoric and manoeuvrings, there is today more political will at large to ensure the survival of the regional character of the U W I . ' 2 3

George L a m m i n g , a distinguished Caribbean writer, has lamented: ' T h e language of "restructuring" cannot alter the substance of what is a

clear intention to dismantle the U W I as a regional University.'24

T h e Chancellor of the University of the West Indies in a recent graduation address to students of the Cave Hill Campus of the Uni versity of the West Indies pleaded for vigilance and action to prevent 'campus individuality' making a mockery of a regional institution that has so well served the Caribbean.25

At present the financing of the university is m a d e up of the contributions of each government to an approved U G C budget, based on the economic cost per student. This cost is computed on a university-wide basis for each faculty, then the non-campus countries ( N C C s ) receive a discount which is financed by the campus territories.

T h e main arguments put forward against separate financing is that it would prevent the university from functioning effectively as a regional organization particularly since, up to the present, there is no guaranteed source of funding for the central authority to ensure for it a position of authority and strength. There is also no mechanism to provide cushioning for a campus against temporary economic difficulties in its country. T h e very vulnerable position of most of the countries' economies has been noted. As a result, the worry has been expressed of the possible adverse effects to both campus and non-campus territory of an N C C s inability to pay its contributions. T h e N C C s are clearly worried about the possibility of further increased costs at a time when they are in no position to pay them. Already, as a result of the escalating cost of the University of the West Indies, there has been an increasing trek of N C C students to the United States Virgin Islands and North America in search of cheaper education. There were 239 students from the N C C s attending the university in 1971/72. By 1978/79 this figure had dropped to 139 so that whereas the population of the N C C s is 20 per cent of the region, the latter figure represents only 8 per cent of the student population in a situation where the N C C s are crucially short of trained manpower.26 As the regional university is bypassed, its influence

T h e University of the West Indies in the 1980s 421

on the character and development of education in the regions could be considerably lessened.

There is a feeling that the N C C s have not been adequately served by the campus territories in the light of the benefits that the latter have received from the regional university. These have been spelt out as: (a) employment opportunities for non-academic staff; (b) income tax revenues from employment of staff; (c) the benefits of the research programmes which have, in large measure, been conducted in the campus countries; (d) the brain drain of graduates of N C C s to campus countries while their countries are acutely short of skilled manpower; (e) speedy technical assistance that can be given to campus countries.

Bitter charges have been laid against the campus countries that the fiction of a regional university is being adhered to because (a) regional governments cannot afford to destroy this image on account of the worldwide distinction which the institution has achieved, and (b) the need to reject calls by the N C C s for equity rights to the property of the U W I .

Restructuring is also being viewed by some as ca necessary adjunct to the process of consolidating local state power over an institution which can become a threatening bastion of anti-establishment politics'.2'

In this context, assurances are being asked that ideological differences or political quarrels between campus and non-campus territories should not affect the student intake.

T h e N C C s also fear that given the negligible nature of their financial contribution and the lack of impact of N C C staff members due to their small numbers (5.8 per cent of the total staff is from the N C C s ) their training and development needs could be overlooked. A s a result, they are n o w insisting on positive and tangible guarantees of: 1. A financially strong Central Council of

the U W I . 2 . Finance and advice for the building up of

their tertiary institution. 3. A guarantee of support in obtaining external

financing for tertiary education.

4. T h e establishment of machinery for the purposes of accreditation.

5. A firm commitment on the part of the university that their students will be admitted on a quota system.

N o w that the gauntlet has been thrown d o w n , it seems that if the N C C s are not to be tempted into bilateral arrangements with extra-regional centres of higher education, the University of the West Indies must n o w respond with alacrity to the N C C s ' requests.

T h e future of the regional university n o w hangs in the balance. It rests with both the leaders of the governments and of the Uni versity of the West Indies to rise to the challenge of leadership and for the academic c o m munity, as well as all concerned citizens of the West Indies, through their social and civic organizations, to join in the debate about the future of an institution which has served the region well. •

Notes

1. I am indebted to Esmond Ramesar for this table.

See Esmond Ramesar, 'Recurrent Issues in Higher

Education in the Caribbean', in N . A . Niles and

T . Gardner (eds.), Perspectives in West Indian Edu

cation, pp. 151-71, East Lansing, Mich., West Indian

Student Association, Michigan State University, 1978.

2. A . A . Kwapong, 'Ghana', in J. A . Perkins (ed.),

Higher Education. From Autonomy to Systems, p. 204,

Washington, D . C . , USIS, 1973. (Voice of America

Forum Series.)

3. For a detailed description of the beginnings of higher

education in the West Indies, see L . Brathwaite,

'Higher Education in the West Indies', Social and

Economic Studies ( U W I Institute of Social and

Economic Research), Vol. 7, N o . 1, March 1958,

pp. 1-64.

4. C . H . B . Williams, 'The Faculty of Agriculture

—University College of the West Indies', Caribbean

Quarterly, Vol. 6, N o . 4, i960, pp. 243-5.

5. Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies

(Chairman: C . Asquith), Asquith Report, p. 10,

London, H M S O , 1945.

6. Sir James Irvine, Report of the West Indies Committee

of the Commission on Higher Education, London,

H M S O , 1945. (Cmnd. 6654.)

7. G . Peter-Williams, 'Constraints on Establishing

Credibility in Higher Education: The Case of the

422 Edris

University in Developing Countries', Caribbean

Journal of Education ( U W I School of Education),

Vol. 8, N o . 3, September 1981, p . 282.

8. Eric Asby, Universities: British, Indian, African: A

Study in the Ecology of Higher Education, London,

1966.

9. E . Williams, The University in the Caribbean in the

late 20th Century, 1980-1999, p . 6, Trinidad, P N M

Publishing C o . , 1974 (?). This article was written for

a symposium on ' T h e Role of the University in the

late Twentieth Century', Institute of Extension

Studies, University of Liverpool, 1974.

10. Ibid., p . 5.

11. Sir Thomas Taylor, ' T h e University College of the

West Indies', Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 2, N o . 1,

1951/1952, p . 6.

12. S o m e examples of these programmes are Legislative

Drafting and Biology in Barbados, Land Surveying

and a School of Medicine and Veterinary Science in

Trinidad, and Management Courses at M o n a .

13. T h e Caribbean Contact is a regional monthly news

paper published by the Caribbean Conference of

Churches.

14. E . Williams, op. cit., p. 2 .

15. G . M . S a m m y , ' T h e Role of the Modern University',

Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 15, N o . 4 , December 1969,

p . 49.

16. W . G . D e m a s , ' T h e N e w Caribbean University',

Essays on Caribbean Integration and Development,

Kingston, U W I Institute of Social and Economic

Research, 1976.

17. E . Williams, op. cit., p . 9.

18. Ibid., pp. 21-2.

19. Ibid., p . 20.

20. Ramesar, op. cit., p. 23.

21. Government of Trinidad and Tobago, White Paper

on The National Institute of Higher Education, Research,

Science and Technology, 1977.

22. The Main Stages of Restructuring of the U.W.I. ( U W I

paper.)

23. 'Editorial', Caribbean Contact (Barbados), Vol. 10,

N o . 9, January 1983, p . 3.

24. G . L a m m i n g , ' C o m m e n t ' , Caribbean Contact (Bar

bados), Vol. 10, N o . 7 , November 1982.

25. ' U . W . I . Timely Advice from Chancellor', Caribbean

Contact (Barbados), Vol. 10, N o . 9, January 1983,

p . 5.

26. For a detailed discussion of these issues, see

C . A . Maynard, 'Financial Problems of Contributing

towards the U . W . I . T h e Case of the L . D . C ' s ' , Bull

etin of East Caribbean Affairs, Vol. J, N o . 4 ,

September/October 1981, and K . Anthony, ' U . W . I .

Caught in a Vicious Bind', Caribbean Contact (Bar

bados), Vol. 10, N o . 10, February 1983, p . 2 .

27. Anthony, op. cit., p . 2.

Reviews

Prospects, Vol.

PROFILE:

FRIEDRICH A D O L P H W I L H E L M

DiESTERWEG (1790-1866)

T h e work of Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg, one of the most significant German educationists, greatly influenced the German teaching profession in the nineteenth century, especially in its second half. H e was one of the great inspirers and pioneers of a genuine school for the people, and his impact, which went far beyond the then German boundaries, can be felt even today.

M a n y demands made by this eminent educator have been implemented in the educational policy and science of the German Democratic Republic. The high esteem Diesterweg enjoys is also reflected by the fact that educational institutions bear his name, the medal and box of honour of the Academy of Educational Sciences of the German Democratic Republic show his picture and a Diesterweg Medal is presented to outstanding educators w h o are given the honorary title 'Honoured teacher of the people' at a ceremony held every year. T h e Diesterweg Prize is awarded annually to the best graduates from teacher-training institutions.

Diesterweg was born on 29 October 1790, one year after the French Revolution. Thus he was a contemporary of Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Pestalozzi, Schleiermacher, Comte, Herbart, Fichte, Beethoven, Froebel, Wilhelm von Humboldt, R . O w e n , Spencer and Tolstoy—all these names being of epochal significance, and Diesterweg m a y claim a worthy place among them.

Diesterweg saw the downfall of the Holy R o m a n Empire, Napoleon's victory over Prussia, the Prussian reforms, the wars of liberation of the peoples against Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna, the foundation of the German Confederation, the weavers' uprising, the 1848 Revolution, and Prussia's war against Denmark. It was during his lifetime that capitalism developed in Germany, the working class started gradually to organize and the 'Communist Mani festo' was published.

If w e made an attempt to put his educational work in a nutshell w e could say: F . A . W . Diesterweg, together with Froebel and K . F . M . Wander, was one of the great German bourgeois educationists of the nineteenth century, whose work brought bourgeois classical pedagogics to a supreme climax. These educationists were intellectual followers of K o m e n -sky, Ratke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Basedow, Salzmann and many other educationists of the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Diesterweg most consistently applied the following great bourgeois educational ideas to primary school (the

', No. 3,1984

424 Reviews

Volksschule) and primary-school teachers: all people are originally equal and educable, education must aim to develop an all-round and harmonious personality, and an education must be there for all. H e associated these ideas with all the problems of practical educations which was to be provided to everybody, and thus sought to make them a 'handy' tool for the primary-school teacher in particular.

During his lifetime, problems of primary education and its teachers became more and more the focus of his manifold activities, although his first few professional years took quite a different course.

After graduating from the Latin school in Siegen, where he had received anything but good educational impressions, he studied mathematics and physics in Herborn, Heidelberg and Tübingen. Later he obtained his doctorate with a mathematical-cum-philosophical paper. T h e circumstances of the time prevented him from taking up a technical profession, which had originally been his intention. At first he was a private tutor, then a mathematics teacher in W o r m s and Frankfurt, before he joined the Latin school in Elberfeld as a deputy headmaster in 1818. Under the influence of Pestalozzis ideas, which he came to know through pupils of Pestalozzi's at the Frankfurt model school, and insights into the social position of the proletariat in an industrial area, he gradually resolved to devote himself to primary education. F r o m 1820 he was head of the Prussian teachers' training college in Moers-on-Rhine and from 1832 of the Berlin teachers' training college. Altogether, these were twenty-seven successful years during which Diesterweg trained teachers for the primary school. H e was removed from office by the Prussian educational authorities in 1847 and c o m pelled to retire in 1850. T h e reasons for this disciplinary step against an educator w h o had already become a celebrity in all G e r m a n states were given by the Prussian educational authorities as follows: Diesterweg's 'agitating writings and raising the question of the relationship between school and church',1 'statements and views . . . which contradict the principles followed by the state administration on education', a 'link with party activities'2 and even 'socialist-communist and demagogical tendencies'.3

Such arguments, which also served as a pretext for banning Froebel's kindergartens somewhat later (in 1851) had nothing to do with Diesterweg's and Froebel's real ideas and demands.

T h e real reasons were political ones. Under the influence of the Prussian reforms (started in 1807) and the war of liberation against Napoleonic oppression the primary school and the training of primary-school teachers received a clear impetus during the first twenty years of the nineteenth century. This development was encouraged by Rousseau's and Pestalozzi's ideas and the educational activities of W . V . Humboldt and Süvern. T h e period

following the G e r m a n wars of liberation, i.e. the Restoration and the G e r m a n Confederation with its feudal-state conditions (1815-47) was characterized by stagnation and restriction, which turned into downright reaction after the 1848 bourgeois-democratic revolution. Democratic and national ideas and efforts of the people, especially the petty bourgeoisie, were ascribed by the representatives of the ruling nobility primarily to the primary school and its teachers. A senior official of the Prussian Ministry of Culture, which during the years of the Restoration up to 1848 and the ensuing reactionary period never stopped urging that the educational level of the primary school be kept low, once said: 'It always made a most repugnant impression on m e to see the kind of presumptuous and arrogant teacher, alienated from the Christian faith, w h o came from Diesterweg's school.'4 These trends culminated in the Prussian Regulations of 1854. They strictly limited the programme for primary schools (which were, as a rule, one-class) and primary-school teachers' training colleges to a low level. Education provided to children and student teachers was infiltrated by the orthodox church; primary schools were placed under strict control of the clergy, the living and cultural standard of primary-school teachers was to be kept d o w n . All the ideas of bourgeois classical pedagogics of the importance of a general education for all children were withdrawn. There was no need to take into consideration the demands of a rapidly developing capitalist industry for an improved education of the children of the people, because the existing educational potential—most young people were able to read and write and knew the four fundamental operations of arithmetic—was still sufficient for the time being.

Throughout his life Diesterweg rejected this official educational policy of the feudal state and its ministerial bureaucracy more and more resolutely. Instead he put forward a democratic educational programme which also took the social problems of workers into consideration. These were probably the real reasons for his 'official shipwreck',5 as he himself called it.

Diesterweg pursued this democratic educational programme not only as a teacher's trainer but even more in his comprehensive journalistic work, as a m e m b e r of the Prussian Parliament, a speaker at numerous teachers' meetings, and an initiator and supporter of the G e r m a n teachers' association. His literary work as documented and scientifically c o m mented on in the edition of his collected works6 was very comprehensive indeed. These works will comprise about twenty volumes of more than 10,000 pages and yet be incomplete since only part of Diesterweg's textbooks or excerpts from them will be included. H e wrote fifteen textbooks and nine textbook guides for teachers, which saw a total of 120 editions during

Reviews 425

his lifetime. S o m e of the textbooks were translated into Polish, Russian, Dutch, Danish and other languages. T h e y were mainly written for the subjects of geometry, arithmetic, geography, astronomy and G e r m a n language.

Diesterweg's best-known educational work is his Wegweiser zur Bildung für deutsche Lehrer [A Guide to Education for G e r m a n Teachers] (1835), which went through four editions during his lifetime. T h e purpose of the book, starting out from theoretical considerations and leading to a direct guide to action for teachers, was 'to give instructions on h o w the teacher, or he w h o wants to become a teacher, will be able to improve his knowledge and teaching skills, which method he has to adopt for teaching the individual subjects and which tools he has to use'.' T h e Wegweiser is an excellent example of Diesterweg's belief that 'all theory separated from practice'8 must be rejected in the educational field.

Further, Diesterweg published m a n y small papers such as Ober Erziehung im allgemeinen und über Schul-Erziehung insbesondere [Education in General and School Education in Particular] (1820), Die Lebensfragen der Zivilisation [Vital Questions of Civilization] (1836/37) and Pädagogisches Wollen und Sollen [Pedagogical Intentions and Obligations]

(1857). Diesterweg edited the Rheinische Blätter für Erzie

hung und Unterricht mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Volksschulwesens [Rhenish Journal for Education and Instruction with Special Reference to Primary Education] between 1827 and 1866, where he also published hundreds of articles written by himself. In these articles and in thousands of reviews and annotations of contemporary pedagogical literature he directly took up educational issues of his time. F r o m 1851, he published the Jahrbuch für Lehrer und Schulfreunde [Yearbook for Teachers and Friends of the School], also k n o w n as Pädagogisches Jahrbuch [Pedagogical Yearbook], contributing m a n y important papers himself. During all his life he remained devoted to the natural sciences, and his book entitled Populäre Himmelskunde [Popular Astronomy] (1840), which went through numerous editions, served the enlightenment of the people in an exemplary manner, as it was a scientific book for the general public.

In his writings Diesterweg dealt with all educational fields, ranging from educational aims to methodological details concerning almost all subjects of instruction. A s the years of his life—which was marked by numerous struggles and disputes— advanced, he maintained certain political points of view in a more and more pronounced way.

It would be too simple to assign, without reservations, Diesterweg's political position to the broad spectrum of liberalism of his days, as he did place his hopes in a constitutional monarchy. But in education he went far beyond liberal demands. H e

regarded equality of all citizens in both rights and duties to be the governing political principle. In 1863, s u m m i n g up his political views, he wrote:

T h e nature of democracy contains the following elements —free movement of citizens according to their individual needs and the aspirations of their character; equality of all citizens in rights and duties; participation of the people in legislation, regulated by law, through freely elected representatives.

These are the main elements of the democratic constitution, from this everything else follows: freedom of the press, religious freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, self-government of community matters, free movement and free trade, and many more things the main outlines of which already exist.9

Diesterweg quite early started to deal with social problems and experienced the depressed situation of the proletariat in the W u p p e r and Rhine industrial areas. Full of indignation, he wrote that millions of people lived there ' w h o miserably lack the most essential food, clothing and shelter; . . . a vast n u m b e r of children are deprived in their early youth . . . of the development and training necessary for strengthening the body and developing the mind . . .'.10 But such critical insights did not lead Diesterweg to revolutionary conclusions. Like m a n y eminent progressive bourgeois educationists he believed that social reforms and the 'propagation of correct views',11 especially through education of the people, were the ways to improve the situation and conditions for the free development of individuals, their self-determination and liberty.

H e aimed at such development for all people, having in mind a concept of m a n which essentially was humanist, rationalist, striving towards enlightenment, anti-dogmatic and anti-Church (but not anti-religious). It was largely influenced by Rousseau's views on man' s original goodness and was not marked by the doubts Pestalozzi tended to have. Diesterweg, with respect to his conception of m a n , took up the ideas of his great exemplar Pestalozzi primarily with regard to the latter's idea of development, optimistic basic attitude and confidence in m a n and his powers, in his capabilities of being reasonable and kind and able to lead a meaningful life in the community.

Diesterweg's conception of m a n can briefly be described as follows: m a n is capable of development and improvement; activity as the reason for existence and a condition of development; faith in reason and a dialectical relationship of thought and action; trust in the nature of m a n ; worldly mindedness; taking pleasure in the variousness of the world; m a n ' s aspiration and ability to subject the world, nature and society to his ends and suitably organize them; the law-governed development of m a n ; consistency of the personality, with all its manifold qualities;

426 Reviews

harmony of the individual and the community; development of all h u m a n powers to the benefit of the individual and society; original equality of all m e n ; the predisposition of h u m a n nature to unlimited diversity.

These views of the nature of m a n determined the most general aim of education as formulated by Diesterweg, w h o associated himself with G e r m a n classical ideas: self-activity of m a n devoted to the truth, the beautiful, and the good. In the Wegweiser he wrote: 'Perhaps the expression "self-activity devoted to the truth and the good" should be given preference to any other. It contains a formal principle: self-activity and a material one: the truth and the good, or the truth, the beautiful, and the good.'12

Later, especially after the 1848 Revolution, the idea of self-activity, or a free self-determination, and the development towards it became more and more pronounced in Diesterweg's educational thoughts, in particular concerning schools, and was set against all restrictive political and educational measures of the Prussian ruling nobility and its bureaucracy. Evolution became the central concept of his educational theory. According to Diesterweg the principle of evolution corresponded with the principle of liberty in that it demanded that everybody should be allowed to develop his capacities and individual possibilities and that this should be ensured by social institutions. T o this is related the principle of equality, which calls for society to guarantee all these opportunities to all children. Such reasoning led to the conclusion that schools for the privileged classes had to be abolished and a general Volksschule, a school of the people, be set u p to ensure equal educational opportunities for all children. Diesterweg wrote in the H a m b u r g School Plan:

Nature has provided the child with talents but leaves it to m a n to cultivate them . . . Society takes on the task of developing the talents that are equal in nature; . . . Since nature establishes equality, society follows suit . . . by providing equal educational instruments to all people, who are all equally in need for education.13

This idea of evolution was applied by Diesterweg to the most various branches of education, leading him to details such as:

T h e educational principle of evolution demands in the educational field: (a) respect for human nature and the nature of the individual; (b) its stimulation to development, expression, activity, self-activity; (c) natural, hence joyful, occupation of children; (d) stimulation to develop their senses, strengthen their organs, to explore, see themselves and discover things; (e) feeding their minds with digestible nourishment; (f) steady progress. It forbids: (a) arbitrary assumptions and treatment of h u m a n nature; (b) guidance to act blindly and mechanically; (c) drill of any kind; (d) memorizing stuff; (e) uniformity; (f) feeding with subject-matter that is not understood, etc.14

Diesterweg's demands that general education should be provided to everybody and that the keynote should be the education of the individual to become a h u m a n being rather than a m e m b e r of his class was in line with his principle of evolution. F r o m this position he advocated raising the educational level of the primary school considerably, for example by dealing with good literature, science teaching, physical training and education to work, and he stressed in particular the idea of the development of powers (development of abilities and skills). Diesterweg coined the democratic expression: 'First the education of m e n , then class and professional training', because 'the proletarian and the peasant should also be educated to become h u m a n beings'.15

Thinking about the essence of a general education of m a n — w h i c h means , in modern terminology, a general education serving an all-round development of personalities—Diesterweg arrived at the conclusion that the essential function of general education was to lay the foundations of a personality development which enabled everybody to stand his test in civil life through his activities. This makes it necessary to concentrate the subject-matter of instruction on essential things and to remove all inessential elements from the educational programme; what he wanted was 'to define the genuine fundamentals of knowledge and education'16 'to give each child all the education which makes up h u m a n education'.17 W h e n denning what is essential it would be necessary to demand , not only because of the 'educating power' but also for the sake of 'living conditions',18 m u c h more than the usual educational programmes of his days provided for. F r o m this point of view Diesterweg sharply criticized the sketchy knowledge to be taught in primary schools in accordance with the Prussian Regulations, but also contained in the teaching programmes of other G e r m a n states. In his work entitled Didaktischer Katechismus oder Kurzer Unterrichts-Wegweiser in Fragen und Antworten [Didactic Catechism or a Short Teaching Guide by Question and Answer] Diesterweg attempted to outline the subject-matter 'which must not be missing in a teaching system aiming at a complete basis of h u m a n education'.19 There he denned the aims, the subject-matter and the methods of visual instruction, arithmetic instruction, geometry, physics instruction and astronomy instruction. Even this still incomplete programme shows, with respect to the content of general education for the general primary school, h o w far he went beyond the education the ruling aristocrats were prepared to concede to the children of the ordinary people. Visual instruction was designed to prepare the child by means of surrounding phenomena—ranging from the classroom to the environment in the vicinity—for instruction proper and to help develop his language. In Diesterweg's eyes, geometry was essential for all children because

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the pupil 'does not k n o w the appearance of things, which forms part of their nature, and consequently one aspect of their nature, unless he knows the qualities of space'.20 H e regarded physics and astronomy as indispensable elements of a general education to be provided to all children, as they constituted a value in everybody's life without which m a n would have an incomplete knowledge of nature. In other contexts Diesterweg gave further necessary elements of the general education to be provided by the primary school, for example native language teaching, history, sports, literature, geography and arts. W h a t is important about this is the tendency to design an educational programme for all children of the people, which was amazingly broad and of a high level in those days, and to contrast it with the very few educational opportunities existing at that time.

Already in his Wegweiser Diesterweg had put special emphasis on the idea of power formation. Later on, he said:

The formal tendency or purpose of instruction is to stimulate, develop and strengthen mental powers, in particular the higher ones, judgement, intellect and reason, whose development enables m a n to properly conceive the world and control low instincts using his intellect. It is in this way that m a n , mainly through the intellect, really becomes—man.21

T h e method of development, also called by h im the individualizing or inducing method, was to fulfil this task. This method proceeds from facts, theory follows the facts, from the material world to the ideas, from the experiment to the axiom, from the concrete to the abstract, from views to concepts, from the particular to the general, from intellectual closeness to distance, from variousness to unity. Using this method, the teacher's role is that of a stimulator and the pupil is self-acting. In his work entitled Pädagogische Rück- und Vorblicke [Pedagogical Retrospects and Prospects] Diesterweg explained the method:

O n the basis of attention and illustration the pupils' intellect is developed in an elementary way, and their speaking and thinking powers are released and trained. Formal intellectual talents are trained by means of real objects, and the latter are incorporated in the mind for free use. This is done through stimulation by the teacher and the pupil's consequent self-activity.22

T h e Wegweiser zur Bildung für deutsche Lehrer contains—mainly from the aspect of stimulating the children's self-activity in the educational process—a relatively uniform system of didactic statements. In regard to the educational aim, the conception of m a n and the idea of a general education of m a n , all the essential knowledge of previous bourgeois pedagogics is condensed and arranged in such a way in this Wegweiser as to form a useful and direct guide to

action for the primary-school teacher. This is what Diesterweg intended, as can be seen from the phrasing where the teacher is directly addressed. H e wanted to express didactic rules in the form of instructions for action for the teacher, recommending to him, for instance: Teach naturally—organize instruction according to the natural developmental stages of children—start teaching from the pupil's point of view, proceed steadily, without gaps, and thoroughly—do not teach anything that means nothing yet to the pupil at the time w h e n he is learning it and do not teach anything that will no longer m e a n anything to him later—teach in an illustrative manner—proceed from the close to the distant, from the simple to the composite, from the simple to the difficult, from the k n o w n to the unknown—teach in an elementary rather than academic way (meaning: the lecture-type teaching methods used in higher educational institutions)—always pursue the formal (power formation) and the material (provision of subject-matter) purpose at the same time—never teach anything the pupil cannot understand as yet—ensure that the pupils remember everything they have studied—accustom the pupils to work—take the individual character of the pupils into account, etc.

A necessary consequence of Diesterweg's devotion to the cause of education for the people, i.e. to primary education, was that he attached m u c h importance to the training, further education and social position of its teachers. H e was an outstanding champion for raising the social standing of primary-school teachers in G e r m a n y in the mid-nineteenth century, even though, during his lifetime, his ideas and demands were bound to remain unrealized in view of the policy pursued by the ruling classes.

W h a t mattered to him, he wrote, were three main aspects: the 'educational (didactic, methodical, disciplinary, etc.) competence of the teachers', the 'independence and autonomy of the school', and finally 'a secure position of the teachers, especially with respect to a sufficient income'.23

During all his life Diesterweg championed a thorough and scientific training to be provided to the primary-school teacher. H e stood up against all restrictions concerning their training in training colleges, especially after the Prussian Regulations were enacted in 1854. First of all, he demanded that teacher training should be organized on a scientific basis. H e wrote that m a n y people thought, though, that it was sufficient to train schoolteachers in their o w n narrow, special field24 and that they were unable to 'cotton on' to anything else, if they did learn to 'cotton on' they would break away from the narrow circle assigned to them once and for all, for ever, and there would be no getting on with them any longer.25

In contrast to this, Diesterweg demanded: 'Confidence in education, confidence in progress, confidence in m a n and—preparedness to cope with all the conse-

428 Reviews

quences of education.'26 H e c a m e out strongly for freeing primary school from Church obligations and from supervision by the clergy and d e m a n d e d instead that such supervision of schools and teachers be exercised by educational experts. T h e teacher must be given a seat and vote in local bodies (the school board, membership in elected bodies) deciding on school matters. H e kept fighting for improvement of the teacher's social position and d e m a n d e d in his articles and parliamentary speeches that primary-school teachers should be adequately paid by the state to free them from their degrading material dependency on local despots, especially landlords. H e expected the state to take measures to secure the material position of teachers' widows and orphans. A n d it was Diesterweg w h o kept calling on teachers to organize their o w n teachers' associations, where they together should assert their interests, contribute to their further education and thus serve educational development.

In this struggle for the primary school and its teachers, Diesterweg again and again stressed the main principles of educational policy: the need to dissociate the Church from the school and to regard school as a state institution which is—including the teaching staff—financed and maintained by the state; the need to ensure a unified education system leading from the kindergarten, which he—on the basis of Froebel's ideas—strongly supported, through to university. T h e state was to guarantee cto every child an entire, uncurtailed primary education and in addition, if necessary, education provided by the pre-school and the kinderbewahrschule (day nursery) and the Nachbildungsschule or Fortbildungsschule (further education school)'.27

In 1849, he wrote that the n e w time would open up the prospect of education being no more provided according to the small individual powers but that 'the whole would declare itself jointly committed' to making it possible for the entire nation. H e went on:

Thus the state meets and fulfils a general human right, the right to education, without which a human, moral life beneficial to the public is not possible. Without education neither civic nor human duties within the family and in human society at large can be fulfilled.23

O n the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday Diesterweg received honours and congratulations from all parts of Germany . H e had become an acknowledged pioneer of educational progress and the raised standing of the primary-school teacher. A m o n g the congratulations was a telegram from August Bebel, one of the leaders of the G e r m a n working class which was organizing itself at the time.

Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg died in a cholera epidemic on 7 July 1866.

His work lives on in the education system of the

G e r m a n Democratic Republic and in the teachers' daily work. In our country, his ideas and demands for an all-round education of all children are being realized. •

Karl-Heinz G Ü N T H E R , Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, G e r m a n Democratic Republic

10. äcnnjten una Keaen [wrinngs anaspeecnesj eiectea and introduced by Heinrich Deiters), Vol. 1, pp. 117 et seq., Berlin/Leipzig, 1950.

11. Ibid., pp. 137 et seq. 12. Wegweiser zur Bildung für deutsche Lehrer . . ., op. cit.,

P- 59-13. Rheinische Blätter, Neueste Folge, Vol. 18, 1866,

pp. 266 et seq. 14. Pädagogisches Jahrbuch 1855 [Pedagogical Yearbook

1855], p. 85. 15. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. XII, p. 285,

Berlin, 1974. 16. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. X I , p. 216,

Berlin, 1972. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. 19. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. XII, op. cit.,

p. 151.

Notes

1. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. IX, p. 40, Berlin, 1967.

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p. 45. 4. Quoted from Geschichte der Erziehung [History of

Education] (edited by Karl-Heinz Günther, Franz Hofmann, Gerd Hohendorf, Helmut König and Heinz Schuffenhauer), twelfth ed., p. 269, Berlin, 1976.

5. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. IX, op. cit., p. 17.

6. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works] (edited by Heinrich Deiters, Robert Alt, Hans Ahrbeck, Ruth Hohendorf, Gerda Mundorf et ai.; revised by Ruth Hohendorf), Vols. I - X V , Berlin, Volk und Wissen Bolkseigener Verlag, 1965-.

7. Wegweiser zur Bildung für deutsche Lehrer und andere didaktische Schriften [A Guide to Education for German Teachers and other Didactic Writings] (selected and introduced by Franz Hofmann), p. 68, Berlin, 1962.

8. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. Ill, p. 363, Berlin, 1959.

9. Pädagogisches Jahrbuch 1863 [Pedagogical Yearbook 1863], p. 35.

Reviews 429

20. Ibid., p. 158. 21. Schriften und Reden [Writings and Speeches], op. cit.,

P- 3°3-22. Pädagogisches Jahrbuch 1866 [Pedagogical Yearbook

1866], p. 191. 23. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. VIII,

p. 413, Berlin, 1965. 24. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. V , p. 283,

Berlin, 1961. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 27. Sämtliche Werke [Complete Works], Vol. VIII,

op. cit., p. 42. 28. Ibid., p. 113.

BOOK REVIEWS

Several publications on literacy education

T h e field of literacy education has to date remained over-furnished with idyllic monographs and bland, diplomatic analyses that do not m a k e it possible to extract the m a x i m u m benefit from the successes and failures of the past. Even if detailed comparative studies remain too few in number , some recent publications make it possible to assess the ground covered in recent years and throw light on the uncertainties and contradictions that are characteristic of this complex area.

F O C U S O N M A S S L I T E R A C Y C A M P A I G N S

Whereas a large number of publications in the last two decades have dealt with selective approaches to literacy education, in the last few years several documents have been more concerned with mass literacy campaigns. This development seems to reflect the renewal of interest in such campaigns at the international level following the relative failure of the selective strategy illustrated by the Experimental World Literacy Programme ( E W L P ) . This c o m mitment to mass literacy campaigns constitutes one of the major aspects of the Declaration of Udaipur (1982). Moreover, the Declaration has an ambitious and spectacular objective: a literate world by the year 2000. In a way, the Declaration expressed the conclusions of the international seminar on literacy campaigns, and it is a synthesis of the seminar's proceedings and deliberations that w e are offered in The Promise of Literacy [1]. This stimulating work presents a brief description of seventeen national literacy campaigns. But for a fuller survey of eight campaigns (Burma, Brazil, China, C u b a , Somalia, Tanzania, Viet N a m and the U S S R ) , one must refer to another publication,

Campaigning for Literacy [2], which was used as a reference work for the seminar. This latter document studies and analyses eight historic literacy campaigns and ends by presenting a recommended model for 'decision-makers'.

Unesco for its part has published a collection of four studies on literacy campaigns, conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Viet N a m , Somalia and Algeria [3].

T h e reader is struck by the great diversity of the experiences described in these three works. T h e very expression 'campaign' cannot be taken for granted, some countries having opted for different designations: 'plan' or 'literacy policy' in Algeria and 'programme' in Botswana and in Kenya, whereas elsewhere, as in Somalia, one talks of the national campaign not for literacy but for rural development (of which literacy education is one component). These different designations evoke the particular context in which they developed and the choices (political, ideological and educational) that prevailed at their inception. O f course, the c o m m o n feature of all the operations described is that they took place within a relatively brief space of time and were aimed at a large proportion of the population in the countries concerned. In several instances, actual literacy education constitutes only one aspect of a more global operation to educate or organize the masses. In fact it is interesting to note that these campaigns m a y take place in very different socioeconomic contexts and under very different political regimes—including 'liberal'-type governments. Nevertheless the majority of the mass campaigns appear to have been launched in countries where governmental intervention was very strongly developed, and indeed the three works observe that these campaigns cannot succeed in the absence of clear 'political will'. In this connection, it is regrettable that the studies do not really bring out all the consequences of this type of busy government intervention. In several instances, mass literacy campaigns have adopted a militant or even military tone, and certain coercive measures should give rise to some soul-searching.

Whereas the volume Alphabétisation des adultes: quatre campagnes caractéristiques is content to juxtapose presentations of the campaigns, the accounts in the two works published by H . S. Bhola are followed by attempts at summarization and the drawing of general conclusions and led to the Declaration of Udaipur. At this point, any attempt to generalize about mass literacy campaigns is dangerous, as to date very little is k n o w n about them. T h e principal limitations of the kind of case-study encountered in the three works have in any case been mentioned by Professor Bhola {Campaigning for Literacy, pp . 9-10). Such studies are mainly descriptive and usually express the official government assessment of the

43° Reviews

campaign; too frequently, the reader is presented with a largely favourable evaluation. Furthermore, as regards methodology, none of these publications manages to achieve a sufficiently standardized presentation of the essential elements; this makes c o m parative analysis difficult and uncertain. T h e scientific guarantees that go with objective presentation are not generally provided. Finally, the deliberate decision to select only successful mass literacy campaigns limits the scope of efforts to generalize and extrapolate at the world level.

Considered from this point of view, the Declaration of Udaipur in favour of mass national campaigns is disturbing. T h e syllogistic equation it establishes between illiteracy as a mass phenomenon and mass campaigns as the appropriate solution appears too simple. T h e experience of recent decades in adult literacy education and the very limited successes of over-hastily developed world strategies should establish the need for great caution with regard to the construction of a world model for the eradication of illiteracy. T h e discovery of the persistence of an illiteracy problem in the industrialized countries in spite of the universalization of compulsory schooling demonstrates the essentially unrealistic nature of a goal such as 'Literacy for all by the year 200o\ It is true that in The Promise of Literacy, in particular, the notion of a campaign is defined in a very broad manner, and pragmatism is shown both in the strategy recommended and in the choice of model proposed (pp. 206-7). B u t Üi e over-specific c o m mitment to a 'theory of mass literacy campaigning' (p. 221) will appear premature to some.

Even if the clear bias in favour of mass campaigns m a y be controversial, the works mentioned none the less meet a general need for knowledge about these historic experiments of which too little is yet known. Moreover, several national accounts are worthy of note (for example, the account by Viet N a m in Alphabétisation des adultes (pp. 37-97)). Similarly, the approaches, models and strategies recommended, as well as the general conclusions of the Udaipur seminar, constitute an important contribution to the present debate on the future direction of policy and practice in literacy education.

A GENERAL INVENTORY OF EXPERIMENTS IN LITERACY EDUCATION

T h e International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) was one of the initiators of the two works mentioned above and is one of the principal promoters of the Udaipur Declaration. In World of Literacy [4], which has just been reissued by I D R C (International Development Research Centre), the Council noted discerningly that 'often literacy strategies and decisions have been agreed at international workshops, seminars and meetings where the positions put

forward are combinations of research, philosophy and politics' (p. 6). In that publication, I C A E incorporated the presentation of mass campaigns in the more general context of the study of literacy policy and programmes. World of Literacy, strongly influenced by E W L P , by the assessment m a d e of it and by the Persepolis Symposium (1975), attempts to take stock of the situation with regard to literacy education in the second half of the 1970s.

While recognizing the underdevelopment of research in the field of literacy education, the authors of the document have attempted to produce an overall assessment based principally on the publications that were available at that time. T h e reader therefore gets an overall view of the m a n y experiments in literacy education (conducted mainly during the period 1960-70). This information, supported by numerous specific examples, is initially assembled around certain topics: planning, organization, teachers, students, programmes, content and methods, costs, etc. In the second part the authors go on to make certain observations and conclusions, which they call 'guidelines'.

A LOOK AT AN EXPERIMENT IN FUNCTIONAL AND SELECTIVE LITERACY EDUCATION

Whereas the foregoing works are concerned with adult literacy education in a global perspective, the collective work Alphabétisation et gestion des groupements villageois en Afrique sahélienne [5] deals with a m u c h more limited situation. T h e experiments presented in this volume took place in countries of the Sahel region that have one of the world's highest illiteracy levels (Mali, Niger, Senegal, Upper Volta), but the significance of the interrelated problems and of the experiments in literacy education described in the work extends far beyond the boundaries of this region.

T h e initial concern is global: the need to work towards genuine participation by the rural population in the rural development process is asserted, and educational activities are proposed that—together with administrative reforms—would make possible the effective management of agricultural operations (particularly marketing) by village producer groups. In several regions of the Sahel, however, a decisive proportion of these operations is conducted in French, and they thus elude the control of the illiterate population on two counts: language; and use of the written word. T h e work therefore presents specific cases in which an attempt has been m a d e to conduct literacy education in African languages while simultaneously introducing simplified accounting systems. In each village a small nucleus of people w h o will be taking charge of those economic activities involving writing are taught to read and write. (And it is from this first nucleus that a wider process of

Reviews 431

literacy education m a y develop in each village.) This strategy of functional, selective and intensive

literacy education often comes up against the inertia of the co-operative bodies and the traditionalism of the literacy education services, since both groups experience difficulty in adapting to a process whereby the grass-roots take charge. T h e problem encountered is principally one of power: the administrative, the economic and even the political institutions frequently oppose a transfer of power to the 'insignificant' peasant population.

T h e pragmatism of the approach occasionally runs the risk of reinforcing certain social inequalities. For example, the authors appear to underestimate the danger of an elitist literacy education that would reinforce the power of the newly literate over the rest of the population. T h e fact that w o m e n appear to have played a marginal role in several of the experiments presented is probably significant in this context.

This literacy-education strategy is not regarded as an alternative to larger scale operations; the authors simply note that the political, financial and material conditions that would m a k e the latter a possibility remain absent.

AN EXAMPLE OF FRUITFUL REGIONAL DIALOGUE

T h e Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific has published an initial series of four monographs entitled Literacy Curriculum and M a terials Development [6], dealing with the development of programmes and materials for literacy education. These monographs were produced following regional literacy days, whereas reading seminar reports is frequently tedious, here is a set of interesting documents that guarantees far more profitable results for the study days than would a mere report. T h e four themes of this seminar (curriculum development, motivational materials, instructional materials and support and post-literacy materials) are presented in the form of separate monographs, each comprising general texts, case-studies, summaries of discussions and specific examples. There are m a n y possible uses for such documents: as support documents for training sessions, as reference tools for literacy workers and so on.

A s regards content, it is accepted that there exist differing views about both theoretical approach and practical applications. There is absolutely no attempt to impose the adoption of a given theory or model of literacy education. T h e monographs are more concerned to present the specific character of the different experiments, calling attention to areas of divergence and convergence as appropriate. Moreover, it is observed that theoretical disagreements frequently subside w h e n it comes to methodology and practice.

Certain monographs—for example the one on

curriculum development—prove to be of greater interest than others. But the participants in the study days specifically wished to engage in a permanent process of consultation so that the subjects dealt with could be reviewed or redefined. Meanwhile, the Regional Office is to publish other monographs dealing with the planning and management of literacy operations and with research and evaluation.

This is an initiative in regional dialogue that deserves to be imitated in other regions and by other institutions.

Serge Wagner , Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)

References

1. B H O L A , H . S. (in collaboration with J. Müller and P. Dijkstra). The Promise of Literacy: Campaigns, Programs and Projects. Report of the International Seminar on Campaigning for Literacy, Udaipur, India, 4-11 January, 1982. Baden-Baden, N o m o s Verlagsgesellschaft, 1983.

. B H O L A , H . S. Campaigning for Literacy: A Critical Analysis of some Selected Literacy Campaigns of the 20th Century, with a Memorandum to Decision-makers. Paris, Unesco, 1982. (Unesco doc, E D - 8 2 / W S / 6 7 . )

3. Alphabétisation des adultes: quatre campagnes caractéristiques. Paris, Les Presses de l'Unesco, 1981.

4. World of Literacy: Policy, Research and Action. Produced by the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE). Ottawa, International Development Research Centre, 1983.

5. B E L L O N C L E , G . ; I B O U L D O , P . et al. Alphabétisation et

gestion des groupements villageois en Afrique sahélienne. Paris, Karthala, 1982.

6. Literacy Curriculum and Materials Development. Series I: Four Monographs. Bangkok, Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific, 1981.

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IRAN: Iranian National Commission for Unesco, Seyed Jamal Eddin Assad Abadi Av., 64th St., Bonyad Bdg., P .O. Box 1533, T E H R A N .

IRELAND: The Educational Company of Ireland Ltd., Ballymount Road, Walkinstown, D U B L I N 12; Tycooly International Publ. Ltd., 6, Crofton Terrace, D U N L A O G H A I R E , Co. Dublin.

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ITALY: Licosa (Librería Commissionaria Sansoni S.p.A.), via Lamarmora 45, casella postale 552, 50121 FIRENZE; F A O Bookshop, Via délie Terme di Caracalla, 00100 R O M E .

IVORY C O A S T : Librairie des Presses de l'Unesco, C . N . Ivoirienne pour l'Unesco, B.P. 2871, A B I D JAN.

JAMAICA: Sangster's Book Stores Ltd., P .O. Box 366, 101 Water Lane, K I N G S T O N ; University of the West Indies Bookshop, Mona, K I N G S T O N .

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M A D A G A S C A R : Commission nationale de la République Démocratique de Madagascar pour l'Unesco, Boîte postale 331, A N T A N A N A R I V O .

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M A L I : Librairie populaire du Mali, B.P. 28, B A M A K O .

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M O R O C C O : Librairie cAux belles images', 282, avenue Mohammed-V, R A B A T , C.C.P. 68-74. For 'The Courier' (for teachers): Commission nationale marocaine pour l'Éducation, la Science et la Culture, 19, rue Oqba, B.P. 420, A G D A L - R A B A T (C.C.P. 324-45); Librairie des écoles, 12, avenue Hassan-II, CASABLANCA.

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T O G O : Librairie Évangélique, B . P . 378, L O M É ; Librairie du Bon Pasteur, B.P . 1164, L O M É ; Librairie universitaire, B.P . 3481, L O M É .

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U N I T E D R E P U B L I C O F C A M E R O O N : Le Secrétaire général de la Commission nationale de la République-Unie du Cameroun pour PUnesco, B . P . 1600, Y A O U N D E ; Librairie des Éditions Clé, B . P . 1501, Y A O U N D E ; Librairie St Paul, B . P . 763, Y A O U N D E ; Librairie aux Messageries, avenue de la Liberté, B . P . 5921, D O U A L A ; Librairie aux Frères réunis, B . P . 5346, D O U A L A .

U N I T E D R E P U B L I C O F T A N Z A N I A : Dar es Salaam Bookshop, P . O . Box 9030, D A R ES S A L A A M .

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URUGUAY: Edilyr Uruguaya, S.A., Maldonado 1092, MONTEVIDEO.

VENEZUELA: Librería del Este, Av. Francisco de Miranda, 52, Edificio Galipán, Apartado 60337, CARACAS; D I L A E C A . (Distribuidora Latinoamericana de Ediciones C.A.) , Calle San Antonio entre Av. Lincoln y Av. Casanova, Edificio Hotel Royal—Local 2, Apartado 50.304, Sabana Grande, CARACAS.

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ZAIRE: Librairie du CIDEP, B.P. 2307, KINSHASA; Commission nationale zaïroise pour l'Unesco, Commissariat d'État chargé de l'Éducation nationale, B.P. 32, KINSHASA.

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Contents of preceding issues

Vol. XIII, N o . 4, 1983

Landmarks


János Timar The new crisis in education seen in the developing countries Keith Lezvin, Angela Little and Christopher Colclough Effects of education on development objectives (II)

OPEN FILE

AID STRATEGIES AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Paul Hurst Key issues in the external financing of education Hyung-Ki Kim Lenders, borrowers and educational development Hans Reiff International co-operation in education with the least developed countries Ananda W. P. Gurugé U n e s c o - U N I C E F co-operation for educational development Aklilu Habte and Stephen Heyneman Education for national development: World Bank activities Daniel N. Sifuna Kenya: twenty years of multilateral aid Alexander H. ter Weele China/World Bank: university development Robert G. Myers External financing of foreign study: the Ford Foundation in Peru

TRENDS AND CASES

Andrew A. Moemeka Radio's role in non-formal education Antonina Khripkova Extended-day schools

Vol. X I V , N o . 1, 1984

Landmarks


Czeslazo Kupisiewicz School and the mass media Mary Alice White The electronic learning revolution: questions we should be asking

OPEN FILE

MOTHER TONGUE AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

William Frands Mackey Mother-tongue education: problems and prospects Joshua A. Pishman Minority mother tongues in education

prospects GySrgy Szêpe Mother tongue, language policy and education Chadly Fitouri Biculturalism, bilingualism and scholastic achievement in Tunisia Ayo Bamgbose Mother-tongue medium and scholastic attainment in Nigeria Grazziella Corvaton Education in the mother tongue and educational achievement in Paraguay Miguel Signan Language and education in Catalonia Melanie Mikes Instruction in the mother tongues in Yugoslavia Iris C. Rotberg Bilingual education policy in the United States

TRENDS AND CASES

Wang Yi-shan China's radio and television universities

Vol. X I V , N o . 2, 1984

Landmarks


A. Harry Passow Education of the gifted John Oxenham Educational assistance to the urban informal sector

OPEN FILE

1985, INTERNATIONAL Y O U T H YEAR

Christopher Murray Youth research in the 1980s Dan Mihai Barliba Youth and peace Sibylle Hübner-Funk and Werner Schefold The challenge of youth in the Federal Republic of Germany: no future without peace Benny Henriksson A key problem: the socialization of youth Edgar Montiel Aspects of youth participation in Latin America Ivan Dmitriyevich Zverev Youth and the natural environment: a survey in the U S S R Julia Szalai Youth and employment: the case of Hungary Hans Vermeulen and Trees Pels Ethnic identity and young migrants in the Netherlands

TRENDS AND CASES

René La Borderie Media education in France