Education in Pakistan: Are low-cost private schools closing the gender gap?

The focus of this research is to explore the educational outcomes of low-cost private schools (LCPSs) against public schools in Pakistan and whether they have any significant impact in correcting for the prevailing gender biases in the education system. In an attempt to advance the literature on the experience and outcomes of LCPSs and particularly on female students in Pakistan, this research has employed a rigorous quantitative approach by using various statistical tests to build up suitable econometric models. The findings show that boys are more likely to attend LCPSs than girls which further widens the gender imbalances in educational institutes. However, the research also reveals, if given a chance to attend LCPSs, female students academically outperform the male counterparts. The research further point to the fact that educated parents chose LCPS and father’s level of education has stronger impact on the choice of schooling.     

Higher education institutions: as different as chalk and cheese?

Asserting that there is a lack of attention to operationalising and measuring institutional diversity in higher education, this paper attempts to fill the gap. Bearing on the use of the concept of diversity in biology, a model is proposed to conceptualise and measure diversity. The basic principles of three techniques (cluster analysis, ordination techniques, and calculating indices) are set out and examples are given of measurements of the level of diversity of different systems of higher education, such as the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom.     

China's cooperation in education and training with Kenya: A different model?

This is the first detailed study of the character and particularity of China's rapidly growing education and training cooperation with Kenya. Set against the 50-year history of Kenya's engagement with China, it pays special attention to the human resources targets of the Forum for China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from 2000. It argues that the growing popularity of China as a destination for both short- and long-term training for Kenyans, and the increasing interest by Kenyans in learning Chinese, cannot be separated from the wider involvement of China in Kenya's infrastructure development, the growth of Chinese business and foreign direct investment, and Chinese migration to East Africa.     

Are equity and efficiency irreconcilable goals in education?

Lacking guidance of general equilibrium (GE) theories in public economics and the corresponding proper mechanisms, China has not surprisingly witnessed an inequality in educational expenditures across regions as well as insufficiency of funds for education in poor areas. It is wrongly thought that what happens is due to the decentralized financing system of basic education. This essay attempts to demonstrate that such a decentralized system is capable of encouraging local governments to improve the quality and efficiency of basic education. This is possible if the central government is involved in designing specific countervailing policies to reduce the negative impact of unequal access to education and sorting phenomenon on human capital accumulation for low-income families. This has particular significance for growth in a country that has a massive labor-intensive sector. Translated from Zhongguo Shehui Kexue 中国社会科学 (Social Sciences in China), 2005, (6): 47–57     

Self-concept of students in higher education: are there differences by faculty and gender?

Many studies examine student self-concept during compulsory schooling but few have explored the self-concept of students in higher educational settings. The current study examined self-concept by faculty and gender among higher education students in New Zealand. Participants were 929 undergraduate students from a large New Zealand university. The results showed some differences in verbal and maths self-concept by faculty. Generally, students in faculties teaching subjects more reliant on maths skills had higher maths self-concept than those in faculties where facility in verbal skills was important. The opposite results were found for verbal self-concept. No overall gender differences were found for general, academic, verbal and maths self-concept although a statistically significant difference was found for problem-solving self-concept. This finding suggests students’ choice of faculty may be based on perceptions of their skills and capabilities in the various fields, irrespective of gender.     

Teacher education and PK outcomes: Are we asking the right questions?

Recent studies do not find consistent relationships between teacher degree, major, and certification, and PK outcomes (Early, D. M., Bryant, D. M., Pianta, R. C., Clifford, R. M., Burchinal, M. R., Ritchie, S., et al. (2006). Are teachers’ education, major, and credentials related to classroom quality and children's academic gains in pre-kindergarten? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 174–195; Early, D. M., Maxwell, K. L., Burchinal, M., Bender, R. H., Ebanks, C., Henry, G. T., et al. (2007). Teachers’ education, classroom quality, and young children's academic skills: Results from seven studies of preschool programs. Child Development, 78, 558–580), raising questions about the impact of the degrees and certifications of PK teachers on children's learning. The researchers note that these findings do not support the conclusion that teacher education does not matter for children's learning. However, they do not provide specific directions for policymakers who decide on the minimum requirements for teacher qualifications in PK programs. This commentary raises issues for researchers and policymakers about whether PK is part of a K-12 educational continuum, how teachers are prepared to teach, how research is designed to inform policy, and the importance of developmental science in policy-relevant education research. As part of a future PK-16 education system, we propose that the BA be the entry requirement for PK as it is for K-12 teachers, followed by professional education combined with extensive classroom experiences.     

Are boys left behind? The evolution of the gender achievement gap in Beijing's middle schools

Using one cohort of 7235 middle school students in Beijing, China, we examined the evolution of the gender achievement gap in middle school. Our study found a more significant female dominance than in U.S. studies: even though boys gradually caught up during middle school, especially in Math and Science, and the gender achievement gap decreased over the distribution of test scores, girls outperformed boys throughout primary and middle school and in each quartile of the performance distribution. As well, girls had a more positive school experience than boys, and boys had a higher dropout rate by the end of middle school. Despite significant gender differences in various important characteristics that have explained the gender achievement gap in the U.S., in our study, primary school test scores seemed to be the only significant source of the gender achievement gap at the end of middle school, indicating the importance of early intervention.     

Is the math gender gap associated with gender equality? Only in low-income countries

In their seminal article, Guiso et al. (2008) uncover a positive relationship between several measures of gender equality and the math gender gap (which tends to favor boys) by exploiting cross-sectional variation in PISA test scores from 39 countries - the majority of which belong to the OECD - at a given year (2003). Using five waves of PISA data spanning the period 2003-2015 and exploiting variation both across- and within-countries, we find that the positive association between the female-male gender gap in math test scores and several measures of gender equality vanishes in OECD countries once we account for country fixed effects. Interestingly, our analysis also uncovers a positive and statistically significant association between the math gender gap and several gender equality indicators for countries in the bottom quartile of per capita GDP. This association is robust to controlling for country-level time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity.     

Gender differences in primary and secondary education: Are girls really outperforming boys?

A moral panic has broken out in several countries after recent studies showed that girls were outperforming boys in education. Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education, the present study examines the position of boys and girls in Dutch primary education and in the first phase of secondary education over the past ten to fifteen years. On the basis of several national and international large-scale databases, the authors examined whether one can indeed speak of a gender gap, at the expense of boys. Three domains were investigated, namely cognitive competencies, non-cognitive competencies, and school career features. The results as expressed in effect sizes show that there are hardly any differences with regard to language and mathematics proficiency. However, the position of boys in terms of educational level and attitudes and behaviour is much more unfavourable than that of girls. Girls, on the other hand, score more unfavourably with regard to sector and subject choice. While the present situation in general does not differ very much from that of a decade ago, it is difficult to predict in what way the balances might shift in the years to come.     

Concepts and practices of education and adult education: obstacles to lifelong education and lifelong learning?

Over the last half century, in varying degrees and under various names, there has been much interest in learning throughout life for everybody. Although what has been written has stressed its necessity and feasibility, little has been achieved. As is common to all things educational, it has lagged behind the times. Little considered and highly resistant among the obstacles to it are the current concepts, institutions and practices of education. The widespread, systematic study of education in the 19th century grew out of the need to train teachers required by the introduction of universal primary schooling. Concentration by teacher trainers on this task, and their struggle to establish their subject as a coherent discipline to be taught in institutions of higher education was such that the prevailing view of education came to be restricted not merely mainly, as hitherto, but only, to the upbringing of children and young people. Rejecting this view of necessity, adult educationalists have sought for their own field academic recognition as a discipline, emphasizing their differences from initial education. Study of current educational writings from many countries shows that the reconciliation of these two positions, necessary to lifelong education, has not gone very far. Consideration of what might be done to create a process and a habit of lifelong learning for all on the basis of current practice and theory of initial education and adult education, of which lifelong education can only be a contributory element, will require fundamental changes in both. There are few signs so far of the political will and the sense of urgency that will apparently be required.     

Transnational corporations in education: filling the governance gap through new social norms and market multilateralism?

This paper explores the rising presence of transnational corporations (TNCs) in education and their mobilisation of global corporate social discourses to legitimise their private authority in education. The rising presence of TNCs is explored in the paper in two parts. First, through a taxonomy of global corporate social engagement (GCSE) activities and second, through a case study of the World Economic Forum’s corporate citizenship initiatives as a new form of ‘market’ multilateralism in education. Lastly, I critique the GCSE efforts of TNCs working in education and discuss the implications of their seemingly ‘to do good’ activities.     

Adolescent moral motivations for civic engagement: Clues to the political gender gap?

This study explored gender differences in moral motivations and civic engagement among adolescents to add to existing explanations for the gender gap in political engagement in the US. We examined moral motivations for civic engagement in a sample of 1578 high school seniors, using a mixed-methods analysis of survey and interview data. Multiple regression confirmed that girls were more civically involved and expressed greater future civic intention. However, analysis of motivations suggested that differences in moral motivations might impact ongoing political development, as girls were more likely to take political action out of desire to help, while boys were more often motivated to act on values. Case studies of two interviewees—one male and one female—were analyzed to examine how civic commitment emerges in the interaction of desire to help, to act on civic values and another moral motivation that emerged in the qualitative analysis—to empower others.     

Are education and nationalism a happy marriage? Ethno-nationalist disruptions of education in Dutch classrooms

Following Gellner, citizenship education has often been framed in terms of nationalism. This framing is supported by methodological nationalism that legitimizes nationalism as either functional (civic nationalism) or natural (ethnic nationalism). Based on a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data, this study of the dynamics in the classes of a Dutch faculty of social professions highlights the disruptive impact of nationalism on citizenship education, spilling over to other courses as well. Ethno-nationalist discourses in Dutch media and politics as well as in multiculturalism approaches used in citizenship education fuel conflicts between non-migrant students and students with a migration background that disrupt education. It is argued that in globalized settings like these classes, a more viable approach to citizenship education would take an institutional instead of communitarian perspective.     

Quality assurance policies and practices in Scandinavian higher education systems: convergence or different paths?

Because there is close cooperation on quality assurance in the Scandinavian countries, one would expect there to be convergence of quality assurance policies and practices in Scandinavian higher education. Few studies have analysed these quality assurance policies and practices from a comparative viewpoint. Based on empirical evidence produced in connection with studies of recent quality reforms in Scandinavia and an approach based on linking diffusion and translation theories with institutionalist perspectives focusing on path dependency, the paper contributes to the current debate on Scandinavian quality assurance. The debate is compelling with regard to the Swedish case in particular, with its ‘one size fits all’ approach and exclusive focus on outcomes which has been heavily criticised by the higher education institutions and has turned out to be controversial from the European viewpoint.     

A course on gender equity in education: Does it affect gender role attitudes of preservice teachers?

The aim of this study is to investigate if a semester-long course on gender equity in education has an impact on the attitudes of preservice teachers toward gender roles. To this end, a pretest–posttest analysis is carried out in a state university in Ankara, Turkey, employing a sample of 133 preservice teachers; 33 of whom had taken the course and 100 of whom had not. The results reveal that the course has a substantial impact on the attitudes of the preservice teachers. Indeed, the attitudes of the teacher candidates taking the course change considerably at the end of the semester, developing more favorable attitudes toward gender issues.     

Religion in Chinese education: from denial to cooperation†

In China, from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, it was thought that religion would disappear with the development of society and the freedom not to believe in religion was stressed. During the Cultural Revolution religion became the object of oppression. However, from the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s to date, the long‐term existence of religion came to be accepted. Searching for cooperation between socialism and religion, ways in which religion could effectively contribute to modernisation began to be put forward. In comparison with the previous situation, the current period is marked by a much more tolerant policy. If one looks at religion in education, first, at the level of legal codes, the separation of public education and religion is extolled based on the rule of separation of religion and state. And, it is clearly forbidden to engage in activities that use religion to interfere with educational activities. This applies to ethnic minorities as well. Second, be this as it may, religion is touched upon at all levels of education. For example, at the level of high school education, the distribution of the three major world religions is explained and many other religions are introduced. Moreover, the culture and customs of some religions are introduced. In higher education, in universities and graduate schools, the Religious Studies major has been created for the training of those in charge of regulating religions as well as scholars. Third, several of the religions recognised by the Chinese government have developed institutions to train personnel. Furthermore, some of these institutions are working in cooperation with institutions of higher education to offer programmes of study. In this way, especially following the end of the Cultural Revolution, cooperation between socialism and religion was sought. And, coexistence with ethnic minority groups, which believe in a number of different religions, was considered. And yet, within school education, the treatment of religion is strictly limited. Only education that aims at a basic knowledge of religion is conducted. There are significant national differences in the relationship between education and religion. It would be fruitful for China to reconsider this relationship, taking account of developments in other countries, in the present situation where the Chinese government has a more tolerant policy towards religion.     

Challenging gender inequalities in education and in working life – a mission possible?

This article deals with challenging the gender inequalities that exist in education and working life. It contemplates the kinds of discursive power relations that have led to gender equality work in Finland. In today’s conditions where equality issues are being harnessed more strongly to serve the aims of economic efficiency and productivity, it is even more important to understand how people who actively seek change have succeeded in negotiating equality issues. The article also explores the current situation by conducting an analysis that makes clear not only the discursive power relations that shape gender equality work, but also how it has been possible for the work to continue successfully.