What is Education Policy?

Last week…

• Introduction to Comparative Education• Use of comparisons to inform policy analysis

with regards to educational opportunities for girls.

• Key concepts and indicators to model an education system.

• Educational ideas have been ‘transferred’ for a long time, including the idea that all should be educated.

Comparative education

Comparative studies Education Abroad International Education

Development Education

Comparative PedagogyIntra-educationalAnd intra-cultural

studies

Internationalpedagogy

Study of work ofInternational organizations

Halls typology of comparative education

• John Amos Comenius 1592 to 1670

Joseph Lancaster 1778-1838

• Article 26.• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be

free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

• What is the number of students in the primary schools in the commune or district?

• What is the proportion of the total number of these students to the total population?

• Approximately how many students are grouped under a single director or teacher?

• At which age are children admitted to the primary schools?• Are children of both sexes admited to the same school and until what age?• How are students assessed and for what purpose?• How are students streamed?• Is there peer education?• How much time is devoted to literacy and math instruction?• At what age do children leave primary school?

Marc Antoine Jullien in 1816

• Systematic comparisons are more recent

The aims of comparative education

• Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by looking at experiences in various countries

• Contributes to the development of education theory

• Supports educational planning• Helps to cooperation and mutual

understanding among nations

• Shows what is possible by examining alternatives to provision at home• Offers yardsticks by which to judge the performance of education systems• Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by

looking at experiences in various countries• Provides a body of descriptive and explanatory data which allows us to see

various practices and procedures in a very wide context• Contributes to the development of an increasingly sophisticated

theoretical framework in which to describe and analyze educational phenomena

• Serves to provide authoritative objective data which can be used to put the less objective data of others who use comparisons for a variety of political and other reasons to the test

• Has an important supportive and instructional role to play in the development of any plans for educational reform

• Helps to foster cooperation and mutual understanding among nations by discussing cultural differences and similarities and offering explanations for them

• Is of intrinsic intellectual interest as a scholarly activity as other comparative fields.

Imposed

RequiredUnder

Constraint

NegotiatedUnder

ConstraintBorrowedPurposely

IntroducedThroughInfluence

1) Totalitarian/authoritarian rule, etc.2) Defeated/occupied countries3) Required by bilateral and multilateral agreements4) Intentional copying of policy/practice observed elsewhere5) General influence of educational ideas/methods

Source: Phillips and Schweisfurth 2007

Transnational Space• Multilateral (Intergovernmental) Organizations

UUNN• Multilateral Development Institutions. World

Bank. UNESCO. Regional Banks.• Bilateral Development Agencies (JICA, USAID,

CIDA, GTZ)• International Non-Governmental Organizations

(Faith based Organizations, Save the Children)• Consulting Firms, Think Tanks and Universities• Interest Groups

Equality of Educational Opportunity

• The likelihood that any person in a given country can enroll in an educational institution, be supported to learn at high levels, complete and proceed to the next existing level and type of education, independently of characteristics other than effort and ability, and in particular independently of their social class of origin, race, gender and location of residence.

How do we measure progress?

• InputsPer pupil Spending

• ProcessesStructures, Curriculum

• OutputsEducational Attainment, Literacy

• OutcomesEmployment and Productivity, Political Participation, Social Capital

Key Indicators

• Gross Enrollment Rates• Net Enrollment Rates• Repetition Rates• Student Flows –completion rates—• Learning• Skills

Dimensions of educational inequality:

• · Racial Inequality• · Gender Inequality• · Casts Inequality• · Socio-economic inequality• · Regional inequality

What is equality of educational opportunity?

• Conservative Definition (Position in the social structure determines education chances)

• Liberal Definition (Equality of Treatment)

• Progressive Definition (Equality of Outcomes requires inequality of treatment. Positive Discrimination).

Equality of Educational Opportunity

• Equality of Outcomes (Social and Cultural Capital) Options in Life.

• Equality of Learning Outputs• Equality of Processes• Equality of Inputs• Equality of Access

Equality of Inputs

Per-Pupil expendituresTeacher characteristicsInstructional ResourcesPhysical facilities

Learning outputs and outcomes from prior levels.

The role of school segregation

Equality of Processes • Instructional Practices

• Teacher responsiveness• Time on task• Fit between curriculum and student

background • Language of instruction

Equality of Outputs

• Results tied to curriculum objectives

Academic SkillsEducational Attainement

Equality of Outcomes

• Equal Freedom• Equal Capabilities (not

functionings)• Equal Social Capital• Equal Cultural Capital

Opportunity to LearnFirst, opportunity to enroll in first grade in school. Second, the opportunity to learn sufficiently in that first

grade to complete it with enough command of basic pre-academic skills to continue learning in school.

Third, the opportunity to complete each education cycle.Fourth, the opportunity that, having completed the cycle,

graduates have skills and knowledge comparable to those of other graduates of the same cycle.

Fifth, that what was learned in the cycle serves the graduate to have other type of social and economic opportunities, to expand their life chances.

Today…1. Analyze a policy document. A Global

Compact for learning.2. Review the Eightfold Path3. Discuss the role of transfer in innovation4. Examine the role of modeling for transfer

A Global Compact for Learning

• Core argument

• What is the problem?

• What are the solutions?

Bardach’s Eightfold Path

• What if we had to develop the global compact, and decided to follow the Eightfold path.

• What would that process look like? • What would we do?• How is that different from the process

followed to produce the ‘Global Compact?’

The Eightfold Path

• Define the Problem• Assemble some Evidence• Construct the Alternatives• Select the Criteria• Project the Outcomes• Confront the Tradeoffs• Decide• Tell your Story

Repetition.

• Why worry about it?• Isn’t repetition a second chance? An extension

of learning time?• High Levels –probably higher than reported• Consequences to students –time to graduate, impact

on self, leads to dropout?• Under-age and over-age children• Evidence of low levels of academic

achievement?

Why do children repeat grades?1. Because they are not

ready to meet the academic expectations of the grade

2. Because their teachers don’t teach effectively

3. Because their parents do not support their academic work

4. Because the curriculum is too demanding

5. Because there are not enough spaces for them in the next grade

What causes repetition?--modeling education processes--

Household factors. Disproportionately among low SES children.

• Distinction between lower stage repetition and later grade repetition

• Causal paths: poverty—nutrition—absenteeism• BUT demand factors MEDIATED by school factors or in

interactionSchool factors• High prevalence in rural, multigraded schools• Inbalances in class size among early and upper grades• Evaluation standards used by teachers

Trends of Analysis of Repetition

• Automatic Promotion• Raise opportunities to learn• Change cultures of repetition• Role of cultural context “education systems

vary enormously in terms of the incidence, causes and consequences of repetition.”

• Repetition Rates have systemic causes

Policy Options

• Comprehensive multipronged strategies home/school

• (e.g. adult literacy, mid-day meals, better school facilities, more textbooks, inservice training, and greater community involvement in schooling or strategies to improve readiness including nutrition, health and pre-school education; involving communities).

Prioritizing interventionsHome based• Increase equity (remove fees and scholarships)• Increase school fit (parental involvement, local control, enforce laws)• Increase school readiness (parent education, community health and nutrition,

infant stimulation)School based• Increase school readiness (early entry, preschool provision)• Increase access (enforce laws, fund school by attendance, eliminate fees, add

grades or cluster schools, incentives to attract teachers to rural areas).• Increase quality (reduce class size, lengthen school year/day, improve teacher

quality, increase supervision, provide free textbooks)• Improve assessment (competency based objectives, criterion referenced testing,

performance based incentives for schools). Need for Systemic Sectoral Interventions.

Transfer and Innovation

• What is the argument?

• What is contextualized transfer?

• Where does it fit in the Eightfold Path?

Modelling Education Systems

• Cause= Effect

1. Commitment to educate all at high levels2. Schools that are themselves democratic communities3. Relationships between schools and communities4. Teachers prepared to value diversity, tolerant and

who can model democratic practices5. Curriculum for democratic citizenship6. Frequent daily opportunities to learn at high levels, to

think, choose and be tolerant

1

2

3

4

5

6

Purposes

Management

Context

Pedagogy

P

Who should be educated?

For what purposes?

Curriculum

Pedagogy

Instructional resources

Assessment

Teacher selection

Initial Training

In-service Training

School Organization

System Administration

School Management

• In small groups, identify a particular country. You are a task force tasked with designing a country approach to implementing the ‘Global Compact’.

• Model the factors that influence the outcome you wish to change?

• How would you use contextualized transfer to stimulate educational innovation in any of the areas mentioned in the report?