Student enrolment and educational expenditure in university education: An examination of trends in Nigeria (1980–1990)

This paper attempts a brief analysis of the trends in student enrolment and educational expenditure in university education in Nigeria. It examines the philosophical and methodological foundations on which admission into Nigerian universities is based and investigates the trends in student enrolment and educational expenditure for a period of 10 years. The consequences of the rapid explosion in student enrolments in the university system, amidst scarce and dwindling resources (human, material and financial), on varied educational transactions are highlighted and discussed. The paper concludes with a review of the implications of the inherent trends for enhanced university management in Nigeria.     

Cleaning the slate? School choice and educational outcomes in Spain

Using data from a nation-wide survey on Spanish workers, this paper examines two issues: the determinants of school choice (distinguishing between public and private schools) and the influence of school type on the individual’s educational attainment. For that, bivariate probit models are estimated. The analysis is carried out separately by gender and birth cohort. We find that individuals who have attended a private school come from households with higher socio-cultural level and that having attended a private school does not raise the probability of reaching a higher degree, once potential endogeneity of school choice and educational outcomes are taken into account. However, the latter result depends on the instrumental variable used for observed school type in models of demand for higher education.     

Social and educational modernisation in Spain: the work of Segell Pro Infància in Catalonia (1933–1938)

During the Second Republic of Spain (1931–1939) and within the framework of ambitious social reform, the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia launched a social and educational assistance system. This new system would be independent, modern, and capable of surpassing the traditional welfare system based on religious charity that was predominant in Spain at the time. One of the initiatives performed to obtain funding consisted of the sale of Christmas seals, whose earnings would be allocated to the fight against childhood tuberculosis. The Segell Pro Infància organisation was created for this purpose. This article analyses the origins of this institution within the socio-political context of Catalonia during the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War, in addition to its work and activities during its brief existence. The series of actions financed by Segell were primarily directed at improving institutions that provided a social welfare system, such as crèches and nursery schools. In this analysis, the commitment of early twentieth-century Catalan nationalism to social and educational modernisation, in addition to its development of social justice policies, is revealed. This reform fits into the framework of a broader pro-sovereignty project in which Catalonia would build state structures independent of Spain.     

Inequality of opportunity for educational achievement in Latin America: Evidence from PISA 2006–2009

We evaluate how far away six Latin American countries stand from a normative goal of equality of opportunity for educational achievement in PISA 2006–2009. We work with alternative characterizations of types: gender, school type (public or private), parental education, and their combinations. Following Checchi–Peragine's (2010) non-parametric method, we find that inequality of opportunity for educational achievement in Latin America ranges from less than 1% to up to 25%, depending on the year, the country, the subject and the specification of circumstances. These magnitudes are substantial with respect to what is found in comparator countries. Parental education and school type prove to be important sources of inequality of opportunity, contrary to gender. By means of sensitivity analyses, while most results show small to moderate variation in terms of magnitudes, in ordinal terms (rankings) they remain quite stable. Brazil stands out as the most opportunity-unequal country of the sample.     

Many districts left behind: An individual change analysis of inequity in the Kenyan primary educational opportunities (2001–2007)

The study examined variations in district performance in KCPE national examination in Kenya between 2001 and 2007. The individual change model revealed that district poverty rate was not a significant predictor of either the initial district performance (2001) or the rate of change over the seven-year period. The regional context of North Eastern Province had the lowest initial KCPE performance rates followed by the Gusii districts of Nyanza. However, the model revealed that the KCPE performance rates among districts located in the North Eastern Province are predicted to improve at an annual rate of 10.31 percentage points. The study recommends that educators and policy makers seek ways to address educational under-performance and low participation rates in Kenya without over-reliance on poverty reduction programs alone.     

Inequalities in educational opportunities in France: educational expansion,democratization or shifting barriers?

This paper is concerned with inequalities in educational opportunities in France and presents data collected from cohorts born between 1919 and 1973, a period characterized by educational expansion. Data from large-scale representative French surveys were compiled in such a way as to make accurate historical and international comparisons possible. The paper argues that there has been a shift in social inequalities, from entry into collège (lower secondary school) to entry into lycée (upper secondary school leading to the baccalauréat). Finally, policy implications have been drawn from international comparisons of data on the reduction of social inequality.     

Science in Quarantine: Academic Physics in Spain (1750–1900)

The incorporation of Physics as a subject matter in secondary school and universities was a long and controversial process. First, because of religious tensions; later, due to political tensions that, in some way, also had to do with religious belief. In 1857 the Faculties of Sciences were created in Spain. From that time onward the problems for the teaching of physics diminished considerably. At the same time, the first steps were taken toward the development of research in the physical sciences.     

Participation in Canadian Universities: The gender imbalance (1977–2005)

Females are more likely to attend Canadian universities and their participation rate has been increasing faster than that of males, generating a 15 percentage point gap by 2005. We investigate the determinants of attending university and explore the reasons for the increasing gender gap. As in the US literature, we find that conventional decompositions, averaging over the whole sample, attribute most of the gender gap to differences in variables, notably the University Premium. The average sample approach in these decompositions abstracts from the evolution over time of the participation rates by gender and from important detail at specific points in time, features that we try to overcome. We find that the rising level of the university participation rate for both women and men can be explained by changing societal norms, the dynamic influence of parental education, the University Premium, tuition fees and real income. The 2005 gap between the female and male participation rates can be accounted mostly (9 percentage points) by the gender differences in the University Premium and, to a lesser extent (6 percentage points), by differences in the coefficients in the female and male participation equations.     

Evaluation of educational administration: A decade review of research (2001–2010)

This sequential mixed methods study analyzed how program evaluation was used to assess educational administration and examined thematic trends in educational evaluation published over 10 years (2001–2010). First, qualitative content analysis examined the articles in eight peer-reviewed evaluation journals. This analysis revealed that numerous studies have examined educational topics; however, very few of these studies (5 in total) solely focused on evaluating educational administration. Second, quantitative comparison of articles in three select journals (N = 671) showed that in these educational journals, major foci of the published studies were on teaching and learning (20%) and assessment and achievement (13.9%). In comparison, educational administration and leadership was among the least examined (2.3%), being second only to homeschooling (1.6%).     

Militarising school: militarism in the Turkish educational system (1926–1947)

With the advent of modern states, a mandatory relationship and interaction emerged between compulsory education, military service, and the practices of citizenship. Producing a loyal citizen required a disciplined, central, and compulsory education. In the nineteenth century when greatness was linked to armament, education was considered a vital aspect of social and military mobilisation. For this reason, rituals and practices in favour of military service were included in many education programmes. New applications were introduced and military themes integrated into courses such as physical education, gymnastics, history, and geography. Similar initiatives were seen in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. Thereafter, military education and paramilitary organisations which became popular during the First World War gained another dimension in the republican period that followed the collapse of the empire. Military service preparation was made a compulsory course at every educational level in Turkey in 1926, and included an annual 20-day camping exercise. The programme is a little-investigated topic of Turkish education history but is widely considered to have played a key role in shaping social attitudes in the country. This article reports the findings of an analysis of first-hand sources and archive documents relating to the Military Service Preparatory Programme in Turkey between 1926 and 1947 and its lasting effects.     

Intergenerational educational and occupational mobility in Spain: does gender matter?

This paper explores the changes in intergenerational mobility seen in Spain during the last century. It examines educational and occupational mobility, paying particular attention to the existence of a differentiated gender effect. The magnitude of the historical changes that have taken place in Spain during the twentieth century and the scarcity of studies in this field increase the value of this paper. More specifically, the paper seeks to describe how the situation has changed with the social–economic and education policy developments in democratic Spain, especially with regards to women. The main results show that while educational mobility has improved, there has been no such significant change in occupational mobility.     

The entrance of women into the teaching profession in Spain (1855–1940)

The admission of women to the teaching field was conditioned by many different circumstances that varied depending on time and place. This article will examine the evolution of this process in Spain in an attempt to identify some of the contributing factors: a patriarchal mentality which held that women had a special aptitude for teaching; a segregationist and sexist conception of education; the intention of some of the reformist sectors to broaden work opportunities for women; and the struggle of women themselves to enter the workforce, owing to the lack of opportunities for study and work offered to them. I will also examine some of the resistance they had to overcome to gain access to this profession.     

The difficulties of a Labour educational policy: The failure of the Trevelyan Bill, 1929–31

Abstract

The middle‐market tabloid newspapers in Britain help to shape a perception of teachers and state schools that is mostly negative and derisory. This article provides examples of this bias in newspaper reportage based on a case study of an annual teacher union conference and journalists’ different interpretations of events generally.     

The photography and propaganda of the Maria Montessori method in Spain (1911–1931)

This article analyses photography as a tool for reinforcing textual discourses in the written press and supporting the popularisation of certain methods and practices in the illustrated press and magazines. The photographs will not be analysed as educational documents or testimony to educational activities but rather in an effort to explore the attempts to illustrate a message graphically so as to influence public opinion and change society’s perception of schools’ role and the functions of education. The way in which the Maria Montessori method was graphically disseminated in Spanish illustrated magazines between 1911 and 1931 is the focus of this paper.     

The impact of Western progressive educational ideas in Japan: 1868–1940

Little is known about the impact of Western educational ideals in Japan during the Meiji (1868–1912), Taisho (1912–1926) and Showa (post‐1926) eras, although, in reality, there was considerable interest among Japanese educators in Western thought and practice and there were numerous attempts to disseminate these ideas widely. This article highlights some of the more significant of these developments and attempts to assess their impact and their interpretation in a Japanese context. Translations of foreign philosophical and educational works on the one hand and the publication of teachers' magazines on the other were the two viaducts for what became little short of a Japanese educational movement that was one of the stepping stones to the modernisation of Japan and which has resonated down to the present. In this article this process is described through its chronological phases, during the period which saw Japan's transition from an intellectually isolated, inward‐looking society into one which developed as a democracy and saw the coming of industrialisation before moving into a period of Fascist supernationalism.     

Advancing Equity-Based School Leadership: The Importance of Family–School Relationships

The Urban Review - This narrative inquiry study presents the stories of five urban public school principals who continually enact and engage in praxis around school/family engagement as their...     

Prague as the centre of Russian educational emigration: Czechoslovakia’s educational policy for Russian emigrants (1918–1938)

This article looks at the role played by the Czechoslovakian Republic in the establishment and maintenance of the “Russian education system in exile” in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. No other country supported the educational activities of the Russian emigrants as generously as Czechoslovakia. Thanks to this extensive and targeted support, a well‐developed “Russian education system” came into being in Czechoslovakia, and Prague became the centre of Russian educational emigration in Europe. Czechoslovakia’s support for the Russian emigrants had not only humanitarian reasons, but was to a large extent motivated by political and economic interests.     

Community and the myth of the ideal school: Circulation and appropriation of the Hamburg Gemeinschaftsschulen in Spain (1922–1933)

The progressive education movement was known in Spain from its very inception, and in fact many of its pedagogical theories and practices reached Spain before reaching other European countries. Yet traditional historiography has always maintained that Spain was never integrated in the progressive education movement, a misconception that helps explain the lack of research in the field. Recent historiographical research, however, has shown that numerous Spanish schools served as laboratories for the implementation of progressive education methods in the 1920s and 1930s. The Spanish educational system proved itself to be especially open to international innovation in general and Spain actually enjoyed a privileged position for the study of how innovative pedagogical ideas could be incorporated and appropriated. Proof of this affirmation can be found in the introduction and dissemination throughout Spain of the experimental public school movement of Hamburg known as Gemeinschaftsschulen.

This article will focus on the way this movement was received in Spain. We will examine the phenomenon from a double perspective, corresponding to the different positions that scholars found themselves in within the educational panorama of the time. On the one hand we will examine the role of the “grass-roots” educators who wished to change schools “from below”, starting with classroom practices. On the other hand we will take a look at the representatives of “high pedagogy”, who were intent on formulating a pedagogical theory on which to base a political–ideological model that would serve to change the school “from above”. Tensions arising among the different pedagogical groups, along with the ambiguity of the translation into Spanish of the term Gemeinschaftsschulen, led to the different groups appropriating the concept in different ways. The evolution of the term Gemeinschaftsschulen, from its original identification with a localised school experiment in Hamburg to its becoming a symbol for virtually all European school vanguards, will be addressed at the conclusion of the article.