World Bank Policy Paper on Secondary Education:

Juan Manuel Moreno

World Bank September 23, 2005

Seminar on Seminar on

““Expanding Opportunities and Expanding Opportunities and Building Competencies: A New Building Competencies: A New

Agenda for Secondary Education” Agenda for Secondary Education”

Secondary Education: From Secondary Education: From

Weakest Link to Cornerstone Weakest Link to Cornerstone

• The Origins as the Weakest Link

• The Change of Partner

• Access – Quality – Equity

The Strategic Nature of The Strategic Nature of Secondary Education Secondary Education

• Within any given education system, secondary education works as the bridging or articulation bond between primary schooling and tertiary education institutions:

• Secondary education can serve as a set of pathways for students’ progress and advancement…

• Or as the main bottleneck preventing the equitable expansion of educational opportunities.

Secondary Education Secondary Education As a Policy ParadoxAs a Policy Paradox

• Terminal - Preparatory. • Compulsory – Post-compulsory• Basic – Post-Basic• Uniform-diverse• Individual needs and interests - Societal/Labor

market needs• Integrate students and offset disadvantages –

Select and Screen according to academic ability

• Common curriculum for all - Specialized curriculum for some

Political TensionsPolitical Tensions

• While there are strong national and international lobbies for primary or tertiary, there are no such thing for secondary education.

• Reaching political consensus for secondary expansion and reform is much more difficult than for primary or tertiary education.

• As a result, policy choices are more ambiguous, risky and complex.

Secondary Education: Why now?Secondary Education: Why now?

• After primary education, What? Surging demand driven by EFA.

• “Youth-quake” The largest ever cohort of young people. A global risk or opportunity? Need to build/harness their skills

• Primary education is not enough Globalization and knowledge society present new challenges to human capital development

Demand for secondary education is

soaring

Confluence of 3 forces:

Twin ChallengeTwin Challenge

• Develop a mass system of secondary education, with quality and equity

• Improve quality, defined as different institutional responses to an increasingly diverse demand

• Generate effective demand for secondary education among youth

Some Regions are Catching UpSecondary GER by World Region

0

20

40

60

80

100

East Asia ECA LAC MNA SouthAsia

Africa

1980 1990 2001

Education Attaintment Gaps GrowPercentage of Population

With at Least Some Secondary Education

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010Year

Per

cent

age

ME & N Af

Sub-Sah Af

Lat Am/Car

E Asia/Pac

S Asia

Developed

E Europe

Pisa Results for Selected Developing Countries and OECD

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

<1 1 2 3 4 5Pisa Proficiency Levels

Cum

ulat

ive

% o

f le

arne

rs

OECD totalPeruIndonesiaBrazilMexicoThailandOECD Average

How the demand for skills is How the demand for skills is changing (I)changing (I)

(Levy and Murnane, 2004)

1.Expert thinking: solving problems for which there are no rule-based solutions, e.g. diagnosing the illness of a patient.

2.Complex communication: interacting with humans to acquire information, to explain it, or to persuade others of its implications for action.

How the demand for skills is How the demand for skills is changing (II)changing (II)

3. Routine cognitive tasks: mental tasks that are well described by logical rules, e.g. maintaining expense reports.

4. Routine manual tasks: physical tasks that can be well described using rules, e.g. counting and packaging pills.

5. Non-routine manual tasks: physical tasks that cannot be well described as following a set of “If-Then-Do rules” – instead, they require optical recognition and fine muscle control.

Demands for Job-Skills is Changing Rapidly

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

Years

Per

cen

tile

Ch

ange

Expert Thinking Complex Communication

Routine Manual

Routine Cognitive

Non-routine Manual

1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1998

Source: Autor, Levy, and Murnane (2003) “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration,” Quarterly Journal of Economics.

PausePauseAsking the right questions!Asking the right questions!

• What percentage of your 16 year old population do you want to master the so-called 21st century skills?

• Which curriculum prepares best for an uncertain future?

Is Sustainable Expansion of Is Sustainable Expansion of Secondary Education Feasible?Secondary Education Feasible?

• Hong-Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Finland, demonstrate that it is possible

• And it can be done in a short period of time. Between 1990 and 2000 these countries increased the average years of schooling by more than 4.5 years

• Finland and Korea did it, by decreasing the fraction of the adult population with only primary education and increasing the opportunities for all to attend secondary education

Finland and KoreaFinland and Korea Balanced Expansion of Balanced Expansion of Educational Educational AttainmentAttainment

K O R E AP o p u la tio n o v e r 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

8 0 %

3 %

1 7 %

4 9 %

4 2 %

9 %

1 8 %

5 5 %

2 6 %

F IN L A N DF IN L A N DP o p u la tio n o ver 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

8 8 %

4 %

8 %

1 1 %

2 4 %

6 6 %

2 2 %

4 8 %

3 0 %

Colombia and BangladeshColombia and Bangladesh Unbalanced Expansion ofUnbalanced Expansion of Educational Educational AttainmentAttainment

C O L O M B IAC O L O M B IAP o p u la tio n o ver 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

8 4 %

1 4 %

2 %

7 3 %2 3 %

4 %

6 3 %

2 7 %

1 0 %

B A N G L A D E SHP opu la tion over 15

19601960

20002000

19801980

96%

0.4%

3%

1%

15%

84%

3%

14%

83%

Financial Gaps and ImbalancesFinancial Gaps and ImbalancesFast-growing economies

Countries succeeding in expanding secondary enrollment

Slow-growing economies

Countries not succeeding in expanding secondary enrollment

Per-student spending on secondary students as a ratio of per-student spending on primary students

Per-student spending on tertiary students as a ratio of per-student spending on secondary students

1.4 1.4 2.2 2.6

3.0 3.2 11.0 9.3

Which curriculum prepares best?:Which curriculum prepares best?: Overall Trends in Curriculum Overall Trends in Curriculum

Reform (i)Reform (i)

• Deferring selection and specialization of pupils

• Ability grouping, tracking and streaming may raise the attainment of higher achievers at the expense of low achievers, which, apart from equity concerns, also raises worries about the loss of human and social capital

Which curriculum prepares best?: Which curriculum prepares best?:

Overall Trends in Curriculum Overall Trends in Curriculum Reform (ii)Reform (ii)

• Increasing the status recognition of traditional vocational education, in part by pushing it to the upper secondary level and then to post-secondary level.

• Departing from the disciplinary tradition of curriculum design and development, thus moving to broader curriculum areas, skill centered-approaches, etc., which amount to a more relevant and inclusive secondary curriculum.

The Challenge is to Build up The Challenge is to Build up Meta-cognitive Capital Meta-cognitive Capital and Creative Capital (i)and Creative Capital (i)

Ability to integrate formal and informal learning, declarative knowledge (or knowing that) and procedural knowledge (or know-how)

Ability to access, select and evaluate knowledge in an information-soaked world

Ability to develop and apply several forms of intelligence, beyond strictly cognitive factors

Ability to work and learn effectively in teams

The Challenge is to Build up The Challenge is to Build up Meta-cognitive Capital Meta-cognitive Capital and Creative Capital (ii)and Creative Capital (ii)

Ability to create, transpose and transfer knowledge

Ability to cope with ambiguous situations, unpredictable problems and unforeseeable circumstances

Ability to cope with multiple careers, learning how to locate oneself in a job market, choose and fashion the relevant education and training

Learning to Think and Learning to Learn

The Shifting – and Fading – Frontier The Shifting – and Fading – Frontier between General and Vocational Curriculabetween General and Vocational Curricula

• Reduction in the fragmentation of secondary school curriculum

• The issue nowadays is not so much how to provide vocational skills but how to add basic vocational content to the general curriculum

• Introducing greater diversity in upper secondary education through the development of multi-faceted programs offering alternative pathways for education and training

The Shifting – and Fading – Tension The Shifting – and Fading – Tension between General and Vocational between General and Vocational

Secondary EducationSecondary Education

• Curriculum-based reform of secondary education is prioritizing skills and competencies that go beyond and cut across the traditional general/vocational divide

• Specialized vocational programs are being upgraded; vocational and specialized training elements are a must in Secondary Education if education systems want to retain students in secondary schools

Converging Agendas in the 21st Century

• Educating the citizen

• Training the worker

Access and Quality are not just Access and Quality are not just twin goals but Siamese Twinstwin goals but Siamese Twins

• No country has expanded secondary education without creating the public opinion perception of a quality drop.

• Unchecked expansion can lead to increased inequality, particularly gender and ethnic inequality.

Is It Just Is It Just More of the Same?More of the Same?

• It is not enough to “open doors”.• Changes in the way education

services are delivered.• The implications of Curriculum

differentiation.• Combination of supply and

demand side interventions.• Need to build political consensus

And The Role of the State is And The Role of the State is More Important than EverMore Important than Ever

• Mobilizing financial resources.

• Ensuring political consensus and providing technical leadership and support.

• Creating conditions for alternative providers

• Targeting the poor and excluded groups.

• Monitoring and evaluating service delivery and system quality.

Looking Ahead: Looking Ahead: 3 Key Challenges3 Key Challenges

• Minimizing the inter-country/inter-regional education gap

• Sustainable financing of the expansion

• Address youth needs of relevant secondary education experiences