Educating teachers for the improvement of the quality of basic education in developing countries

In discussions about improving the quality of basic education in the developing countries much focus has been on education functioning to improve the economic conditions of individuals. Basic education as critical literacy which empowers people to improve their social and personal lives by participating politically in decision-making processes relating to equitable distribution of economic wealth appears to be missing from the discussion on basic education. Grounding her arguments in observations of classroom teaching in two developing countries, the author argues in this article that the current ‘socialization’ approach to education in the developing countries needs to be replaced by innovative, critical approaches involving ‘resocialization’ if basic education is to play a role in improving the lives of the masses. What some developing countries are doing in teacher education to achieve this innovation is also discussed.     

The challenge of enhancing inclusive education in developing countries

This paper is concerned with enhancing inclusive education (IE) in developing countries (DCs). It is estimated that the majority of the world's population of people with disabilities live in DCs of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East, some 150 million of them being children, but less than 2% are receiving any form of rehabilitation service. Thus successful implementation of IE could increase the number of those with disabilities receiving educational and other services in DCs. Evidence, however, indicates that IE is not being satisfactorily implemented in most DCs. Factors such as the absence of support services, relevant materials, inadequate personnel training programmes, lack of funding structure and the absence of enabling legislation are the major problems of effective implementation of IE in these countries. The implications for improvements in these areas to achieve meaningful implementation of IE in DCs are discussed.     

The impact of educational policy reforms on the distribution of educational outcomes in developing countries: The case of Botswana

After half a decade of concerted government efforts to provide equal educational opportunity through comparable educational provisions, Botswana's basic education system is atypical of those studied in such developing countries as India, Swaziland, Nigeria, Egypt, Chile, Brazil and Thailand. The system defies conclusions of studies previously conducted in developing countries that, compared to student characteristics, school characteristics account for a relatively higher proportion of the variance in student achievement. Using the organizational approach, and the variance components analytical approach (Hierarchial Linear Models) to the study of school effects, the partitioning of the variance between the school and student characteristics resembles that reported in the United States and Britain. Up to 88% of the variance in achievement lies within schools, while only 12% lies between schools.     

主要发达国家教育立法的基本特色及对我国的启示

主要发达国家十分重视教育立法，其教育立法内容丰富、体系完备、程序严格、技术高明，注重教育投资立法，有广泛的教育法律监督系统，教育立法与教育改革已经形成良性循环。他们的经验昭示我们：必须坚持教育法制化道路，完善教育法规体系，规范教育立法程序，改进教育立法技术，强化教育法律监督系统，搞好教育立法规划，丰富教育立法的表现形式。     

The education of the handicapped for life in developing countries

Conclusion The greatest problems for developing countries, both economically and socially, are the wastage of scarce funds on unrecognised handicapped children in normal schools, the support by their relatives of the unproductive blind, deaf, physically handicapped, epileptic, leprous and mentally retarded children, and the present manpower loss through insufficient pre-planning for the vocational training, employment or settlement in co-operative workshops, of disabled young people coming from special schooling.The role of education for the handicapped child in a developing country should be to develop his abilities to the full, by use of a curriculum which is as demanding as possible, taught by staff who give the children realistic expectations to live up to. His educational experiences should be designed to compensate for what he loses as a result of his handicap and also give him the broad coverage afforded to his normal peers. This education must separate him as little as possible from his normal home environment and be followed by his integration in the community as a useful and socially acceptable member.

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Die Sondererziehung In Den Entwicklungsländern

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l'Education Des Handicapes Dans Les Pays En Voie De Developpement

     

Decentralisation of educational planning in India: The case of the district primary education programme

Decentralisation of educational planning continues to be a major concern in India. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is one of the recent efforts in this direction. This paper closely scrutinises various steps initiated under the DPEP to promote decentralisation of educational planning in India. The analysis in this paper shows that the DPEP initiatives have succeeded in overcoming existing constraints on decentralisation by developing planning machinery and competency and by ensuring resource availability at the district level. The DPEP experience also shows that centralised decision making in certain areas in the initial stages may become necessary to promote decentralisation efforts in the long-run. However, to sustain the decentralisation process, it is important to progressively reduce the domains of centralised decision making.     

The higher education dilemma in developing countries: Thailand's two decades of reform

Many developing countries are faced with the dilemma of whether to expand their higher education systems rapidly, in the face of demand and regardless of the social and employment consequences, or whether to curtail enrolments by some means of cut off or selection at the end of secondary school. This article discusses the dilemma in the context of Thailand. It discusses a variety of higher education models in use in the Third World countries and then shows how Thailand has modified its closed-access European-style universities through expansion and diversification in the 1960s and how it has experimented with open-access institutions during the 1970s. There have undoubtedly been problems but the experiment has eased some of the social pressures and tensions and it remains to be seen if the government can control an ever expanding pool of university students. Other countries faced with a similar dilemma could well learn from the Thai experience.     

Financing public higher education in developing countries

The financing of education has emerged as a major topic of discussion among policy makers in recent years. There is evidence that in many developing countries, governments can no longer continue to increase spending on education at the high rates characteristic in the 1960s and 1970s. The macroeconomic environment has worsened, and there is keen intersectoral competition for public funds. Thus unless educational development moves away from its present heavy dependence on public funds, the expansion of education would be frustrated. One policy option is to increase the private financing of education. In this paper, we evaluate the potential effectiveness of loans schemes as a cost recovery instrument in higher education. Essentially, loans permit students to finance the cost of their education from future income. So the effectiveness of loans would depend on the relation between costs and students' future income. It also depends on the incidence of repetition, dropout, and default, as well as on whether or not a grace period is incorporated in the loan scheme. Our simulations show that in Asia and Latin America, the potential rate of cost recovery is substantial under what appears to be bearable terms of repayment. In Francophone Africa and Anglophone Africa, however, loans schemes are unlikely to perform as well, but they would still permit a shift toward greater private financing of higher education.     

Research on education in the developing countries

Developing countries are in a major educational crisis. Educational opportunity has expanded but quality has been sacrificed. In some instances the quality of education has become so low that one might do well to question whether the costs of expansion do not outweigh the benefits. Research on education has not prepared the developing countries to meet the crisis at hand. The article mentions three examples—in pedagogy, in curriculum and in ‘deschooling’ theory—where educational research has not been helpful. On the other hand, the article points to several areas where there has been useful work, and where new work might make a substantial contribution in the years ahead.     

Policies for teacher education in developing countries

This chapter discusses the context of the 1990 s in which teacher education policy has been formulated. The focus is on three of the areas that are pushing for change: a conceptual shift from teaching to learning, a focus on effective school results, and the implementation in many countries of systemic education reforms. Though reference is made to conditions and constraints affecting teacher education in developing countries, the discussion emphasizes policy in the Latin American region. Consideration is given to conditions for implementation and sustainability of what appears on paper as interesting policy orientations. The importance of networking and interchange is seen as an important factor for broadening policy formulation and learning from experiences in teacher education reform.     

Links in the chain of doing: The ethics of introducing educational technology in developing countries

Conclusion Anyone responsible for introducing educational technology to educators in developing countries needs to understand how limited, and limiting, their choices may be. Only when we consider the cultural values and belief systems embedded within the curricula, hardware, software, and processes that accompany this integration can we fully understand the limitations of these choices and their impact upon students. As responsible educators we must be cognizant of the thought collectives that shape our attitudes toward technology in the classroom. We should acknowledge that every piece of educational technology represents the collaborative effort of people shaped by a technological sub-culture that champions innovation, efficiency, and productivity. Initiation to this subculture means acceptance of a binary system of collecting, organizing, and retrieving information, all of which compels one to perceive the world through technological filters such as databases and Web browsers. This particular thought collective is foreign to many educators from the developing nations of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. They may not fully understand the culture that engendered the technological chain of doing, but their resistance signals a desire to preserve their own culture rather than become yet another link in that chain. Rather than dismiss their resistance to technological innovations, we ought to engage in frank discussions about the ramifications of integrating educational technology. In order to demonstrate sensitivity to world cultures, and introduce educational technology in an ethical fashion, educators need to be aware of the choices that the chain of doing often makes for us, and draw attention to these choices for those who remain most vulnerable to them.