International institutions and educational policy: A review of education-sector policy

In 1974, the World Bank published a study entitledEducation Sector Working Paper which set forth its policy in the field of education. This study, the second the Bank had published, was widely read, analysed and discussed for some time after its publication and had a considerable influence on thinking in education and development at the international level. Prospects devoted four articles to the paper: one book review and three controversies (Vol. V, No. 2, 1975, p. 285; Vol. V, No. 4, 1975, p. 457–78; Vol. VI, No. 2, 1976, p. 209–20). Thus, the discussion in our pages, in which the Bank participated, lasted nearly a year.Now the Bank has brought out another eagerly awaited policy paper on education which is to guide its thinking and action in the coming years. Its publication is an event of international importance and its impact will certainly be considerable.The following article by Martin Carnoy is the first in a seriesProspects will publish reviewing the policies of the Bank as expressed in theEducation Sector Working Paper, and by extension, the foreseeable impact of these policies on the world of education in general. Martin Carnoy's paper is critical: readers familiar with his work (seeProspects, Vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 3–19) will know that his viewpoint on the international aspects of education diverges considerably from that of the Bank and of most international governmental and non-governmental agencies.The debate is open again. Specialist in the economics of education, economic development and political economy. Among his many publications in related fields are Education as Cultural Imperialism, Economic Change and Educational Reform in Cuba, 1955–1974,and Education and Employment.     

Agent of global markets or agent of the poor? The World Bank’s education sector strategy paper

This article contrasts the official, largely silent, role of the World Bank as an agent of global markets with its professed role as agent of the poor. The failure to make explicit its role as global market advocate creates a policy environment that can be destructive of both global markets and the long-term survival of the world’s poor. The article examines the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy in this light. The article begins by outlining the institutional, policy and education frameworks that emerge from the conflicts of the World Bank’s dual role in markets and poverty. It then shows that the implementation and outcome analyses in The Strategy grow out of these frameworks and are, therefore, limited in scope and effectiveness. An approach that explicitly acknowledges the market roles of the World Bank would have led to a more effective policy document.     

Education in the network age: globalisation,development and the World Bank

This article reviews the World Bank’s (1999) Education Sector Strategy document as a response to the challenges and the complexities of globalization and development as they relate to education. The article begins with an introduction to the Education Sector Strategy document. It moves on to discuss the nature of the new world economy, particularly its discursive shape, its form and the modalities of its reproduction. In this part of the article, the work of Carnoy and Castells (1999) and other analysts, such as Scott (1997), of what they all the networked economy, is used to show what is at stake for the developing world, and also, by implication, for the world as an interconnected community. Central to the reproductive modalities of the new economy, it will argue, are 1) entirely new education-work requirements and 2) a reconfigured and repositioned state. The article will attempt to show the implications of these for education. The article then moves towards a brief analysis of the developing world and then concludes with an assessment of the World Bank’s sector strategy. In summary, the article will argue that the Education Sector Strategy document is a critically important report but that is underestimates the complexity of the information age economy, particularly its modes of reproduction. The article will argue that the document does not sufficiently address the complexity of the modern developing world, especially the uneven and unequal ways in which its component parts articulate with the globalized order and the role of education in addressing this complexity. Critical weaknesses in the document relate to the relationship between education and work and the role of the state     

‘Come on girls,let's go to school’: an effort towards gender educational equity in Turkey

In many developing countries, women's education has been a highly prominent issue which is not adequately addressed in their education policies. The participation of female populations in education in most of the developing regions of the world has been much lower than the participation of their male counterparts [UNICEF. 2005a. “Report Card on Gender Parity and Primary Education.” www.unicef.org/turkey]. As a developing country, Turkey engaged in fairly vigorous and determined attempts to address the issues regarding women's education [Aydagül, B. 2008. “No Shared Vision for Achieving Education for All: Turkey at Risk.” Prospects 38 (3): 401–407] owing to the support, incentives, and pressure of the international organisations through various conventions in the last decade. The current paper scrutinises one of these attempts, namely, the campaign called ‘Come on girls, let's go to school’ which was initiated by the Ministry of National Education with the support of United Nations Children's Fund and World Bank, and considerably contributed to the increases in girls' enrolment and attendance rates in rural areas and southeast regions of Turkey. This paper utilises the social equity criteria as its conceptual framework drawing from Levin [1978. “The Dilemma of Comprehensive Secondary School Reforms in Western Europe.” Comparative Education Review 22 (3): 434–451] and Stromquist [2011. Educational Equity [Lecture Notes]. College Park: University of Maryland]. The analysis yields that the girls' education campaign in Turkey addresses to varying extents the criteria of accessibility, probability of enrolment, probability of participation, and length of participation, whereas it fails to meet the standard of educational results.     

World Bank policy on education: A personal account

Based on the author's over two decades of association with the World Bank, this paper reviews the institution's policies and practice on education. It describes why education policy, as revealed by operations, shifted dramatically since the early Bank projects on education and identifies the reasons for such a shift. The paper argues that the multi-agency Education for All initiative is unrealistic and unlikely to be reached in this century. Also, the paper discusses the Bank's lack of concrete policies and priorities, especially regarding the trade-off between primary and tertiary education.     

Re-visioning from the inside: getting under the skin of the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy

This paper uses the device of imagining Education personnel at the World Bank engaging in study and discussion that causes them to rethink their 1999 Education Sector Strategy document. The Bank’s educators discuss issues that lead them to see that the World Bank’s assumptions of human capital theory are deficient. Having studied the severe limitations in the effectiveness of the education reforms of several countries, they admit not only that the education model being promoted by the Bank is flawed, but also that its preferred paradigm of modernist development is unsustainable. Thanks to the program of study and reflection, Bank educators decide to meet the challenge of reinventing themselves as educators collaborating with their national clients in developing new paradigms in which both creative education and sustainable development can flourish.     

Designing educational policy: A mini-primer on values,theories and tools

The paper attempts to clarify the many issues and critiques that have been raised on the occasion of the World Bank's 1995 Education Sector Review, using the example of a country official having to decide how to allocate a new influx of resources to education. It is argued that, pending future scientific developments, human capital theory and estimates of the rate of return to investment in education can illuminate such allocation decisions and even lead to diametrically opposite educational policies relative to more conventional tools. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd     

Globalization of the economy: The implications for education and skill formation

In conclusion The globalization of the economy offers enormous possibilities, but in return demands significant modifications in production behaviour and training policies. Individual countries will have to make hard choices to achieve, in a rapidly changing world economy, both international competitiveness and national welfare. Original language: English Wadi D. Haddad (United States of America) Deputy Secretary, World Bank. Special Adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO on development issues, representative to the financial institutions in Washington and to the academic and development community in the United States. Ph.D. in physics and education from the University of Wisconsin. After a career as a university professor and director of research in Lebanon, Mr Haddad first entered the World Bank in 1976. He was subsequently chief adviser to the President of Lebanon (1982–84), and worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington (1984). He rejoined the World Bank in 1987 and, in 1989, was appointed Executive Secretary of the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien). He is the author of many books and articles on public policy, human resource development and science.     

Establish a High-Efficiency System of Higher Education Investment

The current director of the Institute of Higher Education of Peking University is a forty-three-year-old professor, Min Weifang. After receiving a double masters degree in studies in higher education and organizational management, Professor Min was sent abroad by the state and received a doctoral degree from Stanford University in educational management and policy making. He then further undertook postdoctoral studies in the areas of educational economics and educational finance. After returning to China, he has been invited to undertake research work in the headquarters of the World Bank in the areas of educational investment and educational effectiveness. He is a national-level young expert who has made outstanding contributions in his fields of endeavor. At the moment, in addition to serving as an assistant to the president of Peking University, as the director of the Institute of Higher Education at Peking University, and as a faculty adviser to doctoral students, he also serves on the editorial board of the international journal Higher Education and holds the positions of Higher Education Investment Consultant for the World Bank and Group Leader of the Chinese Experts Group for the World Bank's loan program to educational development projects in the impoverished provinces and regions in China.     

Ghana’s education reform 2007: A realistic proposition or a crisis of vision?

Ghana’s recent “Education Reform 2007” envisions a system that strives to achieve both domestic and internationally-oriented goals emanating (1) from the Education for All (EFA) initiative, (2) from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and (3) from global trends in education. Emboldened by the implementation of foreign-donor-funded programmes such as EFA, the restructuring of the Ghana Education Sector Project (EdSeP) and the Science Resource Centres (SRC) project, both the education reform of 2007 and recent educational policy debates have reiterated the need to emphasise the teaching of science and information and communication technology to make Ghana’s students/graduates more competitive in the global labour market. However, the bulk of Ghana’s economic activity actually remains domestic or unglobalised. And given a weak economy and declining social spending due to strict adherence to the prescribed structural adjustment policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), there is concern that a focus on international competitiveness may be a crisis of vision. On the basis of the Ghanaian government’s failure to meet the stated goals of previous reforms such as that of 1974, and the education system’s continuing dependence on foreign donor support, this paper argues that the goals of the new reform may be unachievable on a sustainable basis. It also argues that rather than subjugate national domestic priorities to a mirage of international credibility/competitiveness, Ghana should concentrate on capacitating her students/graduates to make maximum impact at domestic and local community levels.     

世界银行参与中国职教改革项目专家组作用机制研究

在世界银行参与中国职教改革项目中,专家组以专业知识为项目学校和世界银行提供咨询与服务.结合世界银行贷款职业教育合作项目形成的背景,了解专家组的组成、职责、地位与作用,特别是项目专家组的行动框架和运作机制,有助于国内了解和参与国际教育合作.     

The need for attention to the issue of rural education

This paper argues that strategies for vocational education in Africa, with particular regard to rural communities, which were highlighted as a key aspect of development strategies in the '60s and '70s — such as Education for Self Reliance or the Brigades of Botswana (see Nyerere, J., 1967. Education for Self-Reliance. Ministry of Information and Tourism, Dar es Salaam; Foster, P., 1969. Education for self reliance: A critical evaluation. In: Jolly, R. (Ed.), Education in Africa: Research and Action. East African Publishing House, Nairobi, pp. 81–102) and the World Bank programmes in support of Non-Formal Education (Coombs, P., Ahmed, M., 1974. Attacking Rural Poverty: How Non-formal Education Can Help. World Bank/Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore) — have never been replaced with a viable alternative in subsequent years. Whatever the reasons for the failure or demise of such programmes, which aimed at linking the school curriculum to the world of (rural) work in the past, the need for careful attention to that linkage has increased rather than decreased in the interim given the overall decline in access to secondary and tertiary education and the prospects for finding alternative employment in the formal sector. The paper focuses on recent reform initiatives in South Africa and seeks to make the point that new policy, in so far as it has been shaped by global trends, has failed to engage with the specific interests of the rural poor.     

UNESCO's World Education Report: its evolution,strengths and possible futures

We assess UNESCO's biennial World Education Report. We begin with some basic background information and a discussion of the purpose of this report, its function and intended readership. We describe part of the process by which the report developed into its present form and some details about how the report is put together. We then address issues of scope and content: themes selected, the rationales for their selection, and how they are treated. We place particular emphasis on how the policy-messages are ultimately conveyed (in terms of initiatives to be undertaken, priorities to be set, goals and the recommended means for their accomplishment). The discussion is illustrated by comparing the UNESCO report with those put out by three other major international agencies, namely UNICEF, The World Bank and the UNDP. A final section provides a short summary and concluding remarks.     

世界银行职业教育政策的演变

世界银行是对教育项目资助最多的国际组织,几十年来世界银行的职业教育政策经历了几个阶段性的演变,对世界各国的职业教育政策产生了重要影响.本文梳理了世界银行的职业教育贷款政策演变进程,并对其政策进行了评价.     

Educational research in Latin America

Educational planning specialist at Unesco's Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC). Former staff member of the World Bank and Coordinator of the Latin American educational research exchange network (REDUC), he was also Head of the Chilean Educational Planning Office (1965–70). Co-author of Development of Educational Planning Modelsand of Eight Years of their Lives.     

Economic growth and the international trade in educational reform

Summary The decline in foreign assistance for eduacation can be considered a tragedy. On the other hand, the elevation of education in domestic debate and the increase in trade of professional ideas on educational reform might be considered a benefit. The adjustment to these new functions on the part of development assistance agencies and international agencies familiar with the traditional rationales for educational investment will be difficult, however, in the end, their successful adjustment will be good for the field of education. Original language: English Stephen P. Heyneman (United States of America) Lead Education Specialist serving countries in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank. After teaching and research in Africa, he completed a doctorate degree at the University of Chicago. He has been president of the Comparative and International Education Society, a member of the board on International Comparative Studies in Education of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at American University and the University of Maryland. On behalf of the World Bank, he has advised senior educational officials in many different countries and other international institutions on educational programmes.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: The Designer's Guide to Japanese Patterns Jeanne Allen Curvilinear Perspective: From Visual Space to the Constructed Image Albert Flocon & André Barre (trans. Robert Hansen ) A Guide to First Degree Courses in Fine Art: Public Sector Higher Education National Association FOR Fine Art Education Concise Encyclopedia of Interior Design A. Allen Dizik Time and Light Roger Elsgood Critical Studies in Art and Design Education David Thistlewood (ed) Design and Communication: A Foundation Course Peter Gowers GCSE—Art and Design Bill Read GCSE—CDT Design and Realisation David     

Thoughts on the White Paper of 1991 1

The White Paper Higher Education: A New Framework, (May 1992), announced a set of new policies for British universities and polytechnics without offering either argument or evidence. The policies include the end of the binary system, the creation of new higher education funding councils, and a strong emphasis on new mechanisms for quality assessment and control. The White Paper projects rapid enrolment growth, but says nothing about the resources needed for the expansion or the significance for growth of Further Education or the European Community.     

Crossed looks: globalisations and curriculum in Guinea-Bissau

This article focuses on education in Guinea-Bissau in the context of globalisations, examining the concept of globalisation and its relation to education and the curriculum. It focuses on the relatively neglected area of national education policies in Guinea-Bissau, comparing differences and common points of interference/influence of multilateral (international and regional) and bilateral organisations in these policies. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents – the Education Act, the document of Portuguese Cooperation Programme, the Education Sector Policy Paper, the Education for All National Plan of Action, and Policy n. 3/2007/CM/UEMOA – and field notes collected from 2009 to 2012. The article argues that there is a tendency for the homogenisation of curriculum policies, at least at the macro-level, due to the different types of pressures coming from international/regional organisations.