Secondary school students who drop out of school in rural Pakistan: The perspectives of fathers

ABSTRACT

Background: The problem of students dropping out of school is one of the barriers to improving educational outcomes in poor and developing countries.

Purpose: This small scale, in-depth study sought to explore the phenomenon of students who drop out from secondary education, through the perspectives of fathers of such students in a rural district of Pakistan.

Method: Primary data were collected through detailed, individual interviews with 14 fathers whose sons had dropped out from secondary education. The study adopted a framework involving push and pull factors to analyse qualitatively the processes and examine the reasons for dropping out that prevailed inside and outside school.

Findings: The analysis suggested that, from the perspectives of the fathers, family poverty, poor academic performance and issues relating to teachers’ engagement with teaching at school were main factors involved in a student dropping out of school.

Conclusions: The findings from this small scale, detailed analysis of data draw attention to the issues arising from a tension in mainstream teachers’ educational roles in and beyond the school. It further highlights the need for greater investment in secondary education, in order to help to reduce rates of student drop out in the remote rural areas of Pakistan.     

中等职业教育:农民工随迁子女初中后教育的重要路径

农民工随迁子女初中后教育是当前社会关注的焦点问题之一。作为初中后教育的重要承载体,中等职业教育对农民工随迁子女接受初中后教育具有重要的现实价值。由于财政投入、职业教育模式、社会观念上存在的不足和偏差,致使中等职业教育尚未成为农民工随迁子女初中后教育的积极选择。因此,明确财政投入主体及其责任、改革职业教育模式、转变社会观念是促进中等职业教育的着力之举,它将成为农民工随迁子女初中后教育的重要路径。     

Young people’s views on choice and fairness through their experiences of curriculum as examination specifications at GCSE

Abstract

This paper presents data that consider ways in which young people experience the curriculum through the lens of subject examination syllabuses (for GCSEs), their associated assessment techniques and structures, and educational policies at national and school level concerning subject choice. Drawing upon an original qualitative dataset from a mixed-methods study of students’ views and experiences of GCSE from Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales, the paper explores students’ perceptions of choice and fairness in relation to studying various subjects at GCSE. Factors of importance are the subjects available to them through subject option selections at the school level and the ways in which GCSE courses are then administered. In relation to notions of choice and fairness, the paper considers how students see access to the curriculum moderated by national- and school-level decisions regarding the assessment of GCSEs; the extent to which assessment techniques such as tiering, controlled assessment, and modularity, as well as school-level policy decisions about timing of entry to GCSEs (known as early entry) all combine to restrict students’ access to the full range of subjects and influence the ways in which they experience these subjects as curricula within their particular school settings.     

中职生的升学选择及影响因素研究——基于全国10660名中职生的调查

基于中等职业教育基础性转向的政策背景,通过对全国10660位中职生的问卷调查,研究了影响我国中职生升学的若干因素。研究发现：中职生具有很高的升学意愿,且以本科为主要期望学历;毕业班和学习自我效能感强的中职生更可能选择升学;学生干部身份和学校生涯教育质量会影响中职生升学意愿;家庭对中职生升学与否的影响主要体现在经济、文化和社会资本,但影响方式和程度与普高生存在差异;对省域中职升学政策的了解和认同会促进学生升学,而对就业市场和本科招生政策的了解和认同会削弱中职生升学意愿。基于此,未来应从职教本科办学规模、高等职业教育招考机制、央地项目设置、公共财政兜底、生涯教育和升学指导等方面优化中职升学环境。     

农村职业学校创业教育现状调查与对策分析

当前,职业院校特别是农村职业学校面临着许多困难和问题,职业教育改革势在必行,创业教育也就成为了职业院校的必然选择。对湖南四所农村职业学校目前开展创业教育的现状调查结果显示:在开展创业教育过程中,普遍存在着学校重视不足、师资力量薄弱、教学方法单一、课程设置不合理等问题,对此提出相应的对策。     

From Desegregation to Privatization: A Critical Race Policy Analysis of School Choice and Educational Opportunity in North Carolina

ABSTRACT

School choice policies and the movement to privatize education have become the currently preferred school reform methods on both the state and federal levels under the guise they will provide equal educational opportunities and access for all students. The 1954 school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education arguably paved the way for equal educational opportunities, including school choice; however, we contend that the present-day school choice and privatization movements may be a part of a larger social, political, and legal cycle of inequality that has established residence in the American educational system for more than a century. We conduct a critical race theory policy analysis using a framework that has been effective in previous work with examining cyclical inequalities, the convergence-divergence-reclamation cycle (or C-D-R cycle). In this article, we are focusing our analysis on the state of North Carolina due to its complex legal and political history with school desegregation and its recent support for various school choice options and privatizing public education. We assert that the push for school choice and privatizing public education in North Carolina demonstrates a broader, recurring problem in American public schools-–creating progressive education laws and policies appearing to promote educational equity and opportunity and then regressing to policies supporting White privilege while maintaining the status quo of inequitable educational opportunities for historically underserved and minoritized students.     

国外农村职业教育发展经验分析及借鉴

国外农村职业教育发展的成功经验主要包括：健全国家相关法制;逐渐转变农村职教功能,完善农村职教培养目标;加大国家财政支持力度,促进农村职教可持续发展;建立科学高效的管理体制;深化农村职教内部改革,提高农村职教办学质量;提高农村职校学生素质,推行职业资格证书制度;创建并完善层次不同、类型多样、学制灵活的农村职教体系等等。这些经验对发展我国农村职业教育有重要启示。     

The influence of the school in the decision to participate in learning post‐16

The primary aim of this study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, was to identify the nature and influence of school‐based factors in the choices of young people about their post‐16 education, training and career pathways. The study also contributes to the wider understanding of ‘choice’, and identifies implications for the development of careers education and guidance and decision‐making awareness amongst pupils and students in schools. It also further enhances the modelling of pupil decision making in education and training markets, and in labour markets. The research is based on a series of qualitative interviews in 24 schools across nine local education authorities. Focus groups were undertaken with young people in years 10, 11 and 12. Interviews were also conducted with head teachers, heads of year and heads of careers. A postal survey of parents was also undertaken. Four key school‐based factors were found to have a very strong influence in the choices and decisions of young people about their post‐16 education, training and career pathways. These were: whether the school had a sixth form or not; the characteristics of school leadership, ethos and values; the socio‐economic status (SES) of the schools' catchment; and the organisation and delivery of careers education and guidance at the school level. In the main, high SES schools see themselves as developing pupils for academic university careers, while low SES schools maintain a rather stronger commitment to vocational pathways. The academic ethos of schools offers a very powerful influence on post‐16 choices and decisions of pupils. The usual interventions put in place to influence choices and decisions appear to have greater impact in schools with a less robust academic vision.     

All against all competition: the incorporation of the International Baccalaureate in public high schools in Canada

ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, education in Canada has been through a process that led to school choice, targeting the improvement of students’ performance through school competition. These policies fostering an education quasi-market became an ideal framework for the expansion of IB schools. Since the Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate (IBDP) offers a differentiated international curriculum and is perceived as a program that contributes to students’ achievements, it has been increasingly adopted in school districts and schools. This paper explores the marketing strategies developed in schools and districts in response to school competition by tracing the incorporation of the IBDP in high schools in different districts in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Based on interviews with school staff, district officials and IB local association representatives, this study analyzes schools’ marketing decisions from a consumer and producer orientation taking into account the macro environment (federal government) and micro-environment (provincial government and districts). Rather than fostering efficiency and improving students’ achievement as intended, marketization policies resulted in an increased focus on the recruitment of high achieving students, which led to a competition between schools, between districts and between other programs in the districts or in other words –an ‘all against all’ competition.     

A Comparison of the Extent of Educational Growth of Mentally Advanced Pupils in the Cedar Rapids Experiment

Abstract

Entering high school freshmen (N-421) during the 1971-72 academic year in a rural Arizona high school were evaluated as to their dropout potential on several criteria. Of the 154 identified as potential dropouts, 36 were randomly selected and received a special academic program and 118 were placed in vocational educational classes. A control group of 94 students was randomly selected from those assigned to the regular classroom. The special academic class was designed to hold potential dropouts in school, as w ell as to modify some of the negative attitudes toward school with which they entered as freshmen. It was found that the special academic group maintained their attitude toward school with no drop in attitude occurring. In contrast, the potential dropouts which were assigned to vocational classes showed a slight drop in attitude toward school while the control group showed a significant decrease. A lower dropout rate also was found among the special academic students than the other two groups, a fact which attests to the effectiveness of the program.     

Bottom of the class? The leaving certificate applied programme and track placement in the Republic of Ireland

Across many countries, young people are differentiated into academic and vocational tracks, a pattern that is closely related to their social class background. The Irish secondary system has been largely undifferentiated, but the introduction of a pre-vocational programme, the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), has brought an element of tracking into upper secondary education. This article explores whether allocation into the LCA track reflects processes similar to those highlighted in international research. It goes further than these studies by explicitly recognising the role of school organisation in influencing student's learning careers and educational decisions. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the determinants of track placement in the Republic of Ireland. Using in-depth qualitative case study interviews with students from Irish post-primary schools, this paper examines the factors influencing students' decisions to enter the LCA programme. This paper explores the extent to which individual agency and school-level factors influence track choice by focusing on the learning careers of individual students within specific school contexts.     

农村高中阶段教育存在的问题与对策

随着农村义务教育的发展,近年农村高中教育呈下降趋势,表现在初中升学率低、办学条件差、高中教学形式单一、职业教育落后。建设社会主义新农村,实现小康社会的宏伟目标,需要培养有知识、有文化、懂技术的农村人才。因地制宜办好农村高中阶段的教育、提高劳动者的素质是一项需要长期坚持、不断进取的历史任务。     

Vocational Education in the Third World: revisiting the debate

Abstract

This article revisits the unresolved international debate, taking place since the 1960s, on the issue of vocational education. Is the introduction of pre‐vocational programmes at the pre‐university levels of the education systems of the developing nations the answer to the growing problem of unemployment among the educated in these countries? It argues that current inflationary economic conditions and the acute dearth of public sector jobs appear to be causing school graduates to be more willing to receive vocational training in order to earn a more secure living. It is therefore suggested that the nature and practice of vocational education be redefined to suit the current needs of both students and society.     

职校生心理发展与职业学校心理教育

促进职校生心理发展是职业学校心理教育的根本目标,实施发展性心理教育是职业学校的必然选择.要正确认识职业学校心理教育与职校生心理发展的关系,在两者之间必须保持必要的张力;职业学校心理教育重在引导职校生学会心理自助,提高心理修养.     

A Window into the Rural Classroom: interactive television and problem‐based activity in Australian pre‐service teacher education

ABSTRACT

This project incorporated live broadcasts of teaching from small, multi‐graded, rural schools into university lecture halls where pre‐service teacher education students in the last semester of their programmes were able to observe ‘best practice’ in a learning context that they would eventually be responsible for during their final practicum session. Interactive observation sessions were immediately followed with opportunities for students to discuss various aspects of planning, classroom organisation and teaching strategies appropriate to multi‐graded contexts with the remote classroom teacher. These ‘reverse distance education’ sessions followed an intensive lecture and tutorial series centring upon topics relevant to teaching in small rural communities. Tutorial activities placed student teachers in small rural school scenarios containing everyday ‘problems’ requiring diagnosis and the generation and analysis of solutions. At the conclusion of scenario discussions, students had networked, collaborated with colleagues and applied current research findings in generating viable solutions and considered school community reactions to these proposed solutions.

The incorporation of interactive video technology with these problem situations consolidated the concept and skill development of student teachers and increased both their real time involvement in their chosen professions, and their access to best practice. This dual focus upon a problem solving approach to teaching immersed the student teacher in situations derived from real school environments, and so encouraged a collegial and open approach to teaching. Extensive evaluations revealed that pre‐service teachers were more thoroughly prepared for rural teaching experiences, displayed competence in effective multigrade teaching skills, and exhibited control during involvement     

Agricultural education in England and the dictates of the market

Abstract

Agricultural education in England is at a crossroads. In line with Government policy to make public-sector service provision more responsive to market forces, the county agricultural colleges were made independent corporations on April 1st 1993. This change in status has coincided with substantial changes in the market that they have traditionally served - the school-leaver seeking to make a career in farming or horticulture. This article describes these changes and considers the main strategic options open to the agricultural colleges at this time in the light of results from a recently-completed survey exploring the use of vocational education/training provision by the rural population as a whole. It concludes that there is scope for the transformation of some agricultural colleges into Rural Business Centres providing vocational education, training and a range of related services to rural business and the rural population as a whole.     

Rural Students in a Chinese Top-Tier University: Family Background,School Effects,and Academic Performance

Abstract

New preferential policies in China promise to increase the number of rural students entering top-tier universities, where there is a wider path to a higher social status. While a substantial body of literature has investigated rural students’ trajectories to university, there is a dearth of systematic empirical studies on the academic success of rural students in colleges and universities. This study seek to address this gap by examining the academic achievement of representative samples of students entering an elite university in China, including their place of origin, family background, school experience, and the characteristics that align with their academic performance. The data suggest no significant difference in academic performance obtained by urban and rural students with respect to average grade point average (over four years). It also suggests that fathers’ occupations may not be associated with the academic achievements of students from different families. However, the data suggest a relatively clear school effect on the academic performance of students at University S.¹For ethical considerations, we use pseudonyms in the article. The study enriches the discussions of the inequality issue in China’s higher education sector. It also enriches the literature in sociology of education by looking at the relative strength of the relationship between the possible causes and outcomes of schooling.     

论市场经济背景下的职业道德建设

职业道德是以职业角色和职业行为为载体,为实现一定的职业价值服务,以协调个人、集体、社会关系为核心的高度社会化的职业行为准则和规范。市场经济对职业道德建设具有双重影响,在社会主义市场经济条件下,加强职业道德建设,不仅是社会主义精神文明建设的迫切需要,是经济建设、文化领域改革和发展的切实要求,而且是公民道德素质提高、全面自由发展的实现途径,更是弘扬社会主义制度本质和现实市场经济改革的需要。     

Rural Communities Lacking Multi-Sector Schooling Options: Indiana’s School Choice Deserts

ABSTRACT

Despite Indiana’s school choice landscape – including private school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, inter-district and intra-district enrollment, magnet schools, and charter schools – not all Indiana communities have reasonable access to options outside of their traditional public schools. This research explores what lack-of-reasonable access differences – defined as greater than a 30-minute one-way drive time to a choice school – exist by locale, with a focus on rural communities. Geospatial analysis is used to identify “school choice deserts” lacking multi-sector schooling options in various communities. These deserts tend to exist wholly or mostly in rural areas, although Indiana students in grades K–8 exhibit greater access levels to non-traditional schools than those in high school.