From margins to mainstream: Private school outreach inclusion processes for out-of-school children in India

This paper centres upon understanding processes involved in mainstreaming ‘out-of-school’ children from non-formal education programmes to formal schooling. Three ‘private school outreach’ initiatives in India provide the empirical base for the discussion, with the focal point being a key dilemma faced by their managements: between providing out-of-school children with an education that will give them equality of opportunity, and an education that is appropriate to their needs. The attempted resolutions of this dilemma and their corresponding practices and policies are examined and compared in the three cases and the findings are discussed in the light of literature on ‘inclusive education’.     

Social exclusion,social inclusion and ‘passing’: the experiences of Dalit students at one elite Indian university

The purpose of this paper is twofold; first the paper explores and describes the complex ways in which social exclusion can (sometimes) be reconstituted within policy attempts at social inclusion: the quota policy in India. Second, the paper provides a grounded account of the connectedness of inclusion/exclusion and an illustration of how those positioned as excluded can avoid and manage the ‘problem’ of exclusion by ‘passing’ as the more privileged ‘other’. The substantive focus of this paper is with the caste-based experiences of Dalit students at one elite Indian university.     

Pain without gain?: Impact of school rationalisation in India

Alarmed by declining enrolment in government schools and potentially adverse academic, administrative and fiscal consequences associated with it, policy makers in India have initiated experimenting with closure of government schools with low enrolments (‘small’ schools), an exercise commonly referred to as ‘school rationalisation’. However, the impact of this policy on access to schooling and learning remains empirically unexplored. Utilising ASER 2014 data, this paper asks three key questions: (a) what are the characteristics of villages in which ‘small’ schools are located?, (b) what options would students have if ‘small schools’ were to be closed, and finally (c) what are the differences in characteristics of ‘small’ and non-‘small’ schools? Results indicate that the villages which have ‘small’ schools are more disadvantaged in terms of essential public services such as all-weather roads leading to village, availability of government health facilities or banks and post offices. Additionally, these villages are less likely to have an alternative to the ‘small’ school, either government or private. Results also show that ‘small schools’ are much more likely to have multi-grade teaching. They are less likely to have basic infrastructural facilities. Interestingly, learning levels are unlikely to be different in ‘small’ schools than non- ‘small’ schools even after controlling for child, household and village attributes. Thus, the analysis suggests that school rationalisation can potentially have severe consequences on children’s access to schools without any meaningful impact on learning levels in a ‘business as usual’ scenario.     

‘Oh,she’s so smart’: girls’ complex engagements with post/feminist narratives of academic success

This article explores how six teenage girls talk about being smart in the wake of celebratory discourses touting gender equality in education and beyond. Set against the neo-liberal backdrop of ‘What about the boys?’ and ‘girl power’, it is assumed that smart girls today ‘have it all’ and, therefore, no longer require feminist interventions in the school. Issuing a challenge to these post-feminist assumptions, we highlight complex narratives of girls’ academic success, including post-feminist narratives of individualisation and the ‘supergirl’, alongside feminist narratives of gender inequality in the school and the broader social world. We conclude by highlighting the impossible terms within which post-feminism frames girls, and the dangers that this pervasive discourse poses to girls’ educations.     

Inequality – ‘wicked problems’, labour market outcomes and the search for silver bullets

In recent years concerns about inequality have been growing in prominence within UK policy debates. The many causes of inequality of earnings and income are complex in their interactions and their tendency to reinforce one another. This makes inequality an intractable or ‘wicked’ policy problem, particularly within a contemporary context in which many of the established policy responses from previous eras are at best discussed in muted terms and more normally deemed to be unavailable. This reflects the eclipse of ‘equality of outcome’ models and the concomitant rise of ‘equality of opportunity’ as the new policy mantra from Thatcher onwards. As traditional policy responses have withered, the role of education and training as a ‘silver bullet’ that can address a host of economic and social challenges has come to the fore. This article outlines policy makers’ beliefs that improving the educational attainment of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds can enable them to compete more effectively for elite jobs, and also that increasing the supply of educated employees can transform the level of demand for skills from employers. These beliefs are then critiqued, with reference to occupational congestion, over-qualification and the evidence that skills supply does not always create its own demand.     

Aiming higher: Learning profiles and gender equality in 10 low- and middle-income countries

Global education goals have many aims, among them universal basic schooling, universal literacy and numeracy, and gender equality. We use unique, nationally representative data on adult learning outcomes to examine the link between schooling and literacy in ten low- and middle-income countries. We simulate scenarios of increasing school grade attainment, increasing learning per year, and achieving gender equality, and examine learning outcomes in each. In six of the ten countries only about half or less of younger adults (aged 18−37) with primary completion as their highest schooling can read a few sentences without help. Simulations show that achieving universal primary completion would still leave many adults functionally illiterate: in India nearly a third of adults would still be unable to read. Our simulations further show that, while achieving equality of schooling attainment would produce improvements in women’s literacy, in many countries this would still leave a third of women unable to read. Gender equality of learning per year produces very little gain as, once in school, girls’ learning nearly matches that of boys. In nearly all countries steepening the learning profiles for all students to the best-performing of the ten countries would lead to greater gains in literacy for women than achieving gender equality in both schooling and learning. Achieving learning for all will require both eliminating gender gaps but also improving how much is learned while in school.     

Solving the equity–equality conceptual dilemma: a new model for analysis of the educational process

Background Over the past four decades there have been a number of controversies arising from the discussion of ‘equity’ and ‘equality’. These concepts are often invoked by policy analysts, policy-makers, government officials and scholars in order to justify or critique resource allocation to different levels of the educational system.

Purpose By creating a new equality–equity goal-oriented model, which allows the combination of different dimensions for each concept with different stages of the educational process, this paper aims to achieve two purposes: (1) to clarify among researchers, educators, evaluators, policy analysts, and policy-makers the notions of ‘equality’ and ‘equity’; and (2) to encourage researchers and evaluators to critically examine and synthesize equality/equity-based research.

Sources of evidence A review of the literature concerning the meaning, goals and assumptions of the concepts ‘equity’ and ‘equality’, and their implications for social and public policy, is presented.

Main argument A survey of recent and earlier debates on ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ among scholars and researchers reveals disagreement and confusion about what those concepts really mean and what they involve in terms of goals and results. It is debatable whether we can have ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ in a society that prioritizes efficiency in resource management over social justice. Certainly, such questions have shaped and guided many discussions and theoretical debates among scholars, policy analysts and policy-makers.

Conclusions Most of the definitions of ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ are frequently used by many researchers, evaluators, policy-makers, policy analysts, scholars and educators as if they were interchangeable. Instead of arguing for a unique or simple conception of ‘equity’ and ‘equality’, a set of definitions of those concepts as well as a discussion related to theoretical and policy issues associated are presented. In order to avoid that confusion, the equality–equity model developed in this paper suggests several new directions for analysis and research. It provides some ideas about how ‘equity’ (i.e. ‘equity for equal needs’, ‘equity for equal potential’ and ‘equity for equal achievement’) and ‘equality’ (i.e. ‘equality of opportunity’, ‘equality for all’ and ‘equality on average across social groups’) could be treated and measured in future research in relation to different features of the educational process (availability of resources, access, survival, output and outcome).     

Departing from the beaten path: international schools in China as a response to discrimination and academic failure in the Chinese educational system

International schools are commonly depicted in the academic literature and popular press as offering elite educational credentials to an elite, oftentimes international, student body. In this paper, I draw on a case study of a Canadian international school to argue that a new form of international school is emerging in China – one that offers a haven for domestic students from certain competitive and discriminatory features of the Chinese educational system. Fieldwork was conducted at a Canadian curriculum high school for Chinese citizens in Beijing. Most students at the school were internal migrants or children of China’s ‘new rich’ entrepreneurial class; that is, their families had economic resources but occupied precarious social positions in contemporary Chinese society. Analyses reveal that the international school offers a pathway to obtain baseline academic credentials in the absence of other opportunities for progress in the Chinese educational system. Together with evidence of dramatic growth in international schools and tracks in China, this case study suggests the emergence of a new type of international education programme that departs from a picture of international education as ‘elite’ in terms of student body, academic environment, and expected educational trajectories of graduates. The paper also develops our understanding of class and educational strategies in contemporary China.     

Do private schools really produce more learning than public schools in India? Accounting for student’s school absenteeism and the time spent on homework

Do students attending private schools learn more and have higher cognitive abilities than their public school counterparts in India? Though some recent works have discussed this question, the empirical contours to address the issue remain unclear, particularly in a diversifying school education market in India. This paper examines the factors determining the inequality in children’s learning outcomes (i.e., reading and math scores) in India using the second round of India Human Development Survey data. We examine the effect of a child’s ‘school absenteeism’ and ‘time spent for studying and doing homework’ on learning outcomes, and how these explain the existing learning gap between private and government school children. We provide strong evidence that the children attending private schools have significantly better learning outcomes than their government school counterparts. However, this performance difference between private and government school-going children reduces with the increase in school attendance and the time spent in studying and doing homework by a child. The findings of the study implicate that the cognitive abilities of low performing government school students can be improved by reducing their absenteeism in schools and increasing time for studying and doing homework after school.     

Storylines in the physics teaching content of an upper secondary school classroom

ABSTRACT

Background: Physics is often seen as a discipline with difficult content, and one that is difficult to identify with. Socialisation processes at the upper secondary school level are of particular interest as these may be linked to the subsequent low and uneven participation in university physics. Focusing on how norms are construed in physics classrooms in upper secondary school is therefore relevant.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify discursive patterns in teacher–student interactions in physics classrooms.

Design and methods: Three different physics lessons with one class of students taught by three different teachers in upper secondary school were video-recorded. Positioning theory was used to analyse classroom interaction with a specific focus on how physics was positioned.

Results: We identified seven different storylines. Four of them (‘reaching a solution to textbook problems’, ‘discussing physics concepts in order to gain better understanding’, ‘doing empirical enquiry’ and ‘preparing for the upcoming exam’) represent what teaching physics in an upper secondary school classroom can be. The last three storylines (‘mastering physics’, ‘appreciating physics’ and ‘having a feeling for physics’) all concern how students are supposed to relate to physics and, thus, become ‘insiders’ in the discipline.

Conclusions: The identification and analysis of storylines raises awareness of the choices teachers make in physics education and their potential consequences for students. For example, in the storyline of mastering physics a good physics student is associated with ‘smartness’, which might make the classroom a less secure place in general. Variation and diversity in the storylines construed in teaching can potentially contribute to a more inclusive physics education.     

The Usable Past: teachers (re)playing school

This paper focuses on memory, not as a school subject with which it is still associated for many learners, but as one in which school is the subject and where the question ‘what are some of your earliest memories of playing school?’ can serve as an autobiographical prompt. In what ways do we continue to ‘play out’ early experiences of school long after we begin our teaching careers? What significance should we attach to not remembering? How can early memories of school, of teachers and of particular episodes of playing school become part of what bell hooks describes as ‘the usable past'? (hooks, 1984, Feminist Theory: from margin to centre, South End Press).     

Quality and equality: the mask of discursive conflation in education policy texts

Two key themes of recent UK education policy texts have been a focus on ‘quality’ in public sector performance, and on ‘equality’ in the form of New Labour’s stated commitment to equality of opportunity as a key policy objective. This twin approach can be seen at its most obvious in the concept of ‘excellence for all’. This paper contends that in recent policy texts the vocabularies of quality management discourse and egalitarian discourse have become conflated, serving to mask key issues relating to educational inequality, seen at its most stark in the attainment gap. The paper argues that this has led to a failure to distinguish between the goals of quality management and the ends of egalitarianism. Discursive conflation of this sort risks obscuring the significance of socio‐economic context and the limited impact of within‐school action. The paper also suggests that the focus on equality in terms of school provision paradoxically risks entrenching social inequalities despite the appearance of egalitarian commitment.     

Paid Educational Leave in Scotland

Same language subtitling (SLS) refers to the idea of subtitling motion media programmes (television and film) in the ‘same’ language as the audio. This simplest of additions in existing television programmes, especially film songs and music videos, can make a quantum contribution to the improvement of reading skills of over 325 million neo-literate people in India. Song videos are watched with great passion all over India, in every state and major language. Earlier work on SLS reported that it was found to enhance the entertainment value of televised songs for both literate and neo-literate viewers. This paper discusses a controlled experiment to ‘measure’ the impact of SLS on the reading skills of disadvantaged school children. The results confirm that SLS of film songs leads to reading skill improvement, thus reaffirming the enormous potential of this simple and economical approach for mass literacy skill development in India.     

Girls in Boys’ Public Schools: a prelude to further research

Traditionally Headmasters’ Conference schools have been concerned with both the reproduction of class relations and gender relations and have served an elite group of males. However, these schools are at present undergoing dramatic changes and by 1981, over half of the HMC schools admitted girls as well as boys.

The paper discusses the pressures and processes which led to the introduction of girls and uses interview data from a detailed case study as illustrative material. It is suggested that economic and social changes were important considerations and that the initial phases of the process can be understood in terms of the exploitation of a ‘dual student market’.     

Of Slumdogs and Schoolmasters: Jacotot,Rancière and Mitra on self-organized learning

Abstract

This article argues that the concept and practice of ‘self-organized learning’, as pioneered by Sugata Mitra (and his team) in the ‘Hole-in-the-Wall’ experiments (1999–2005) that inspired the novel Q & A (2006) and the resulting movie, Slumdog millionaire (2008) bear direct, but not uncritical comparison with Jacques Rancière’s account of ‘universal teaching’ discovered by maverick nineteenth century French pedagogue Joseph Jacotot. In both cases, it is argued, there is a deliberate dissociation of two functions of ‘teaching’ that are often conflated: knowledge and mastery. Mitra’s development of computer-mediated learning among the supposedly ‘ignorant’ of India’s slums, and Rancière’s insistence on equality as a presupposition rather than a goal, both emphasize the agency of the student at the centre of learning, but in ways that displace both established pedagogical methods of ‘explication’ and the neoliberal ideology of ‘schooling’ as the harmonizing of individual and social functions of education.     

Exzellenz und Elitenbildung in Gymnasien. Traditionen und Innovationen

Even after the leveling of the three types of German ‘Gymnasien’, there are still traditional ways of gaining excellence: Latin in addition to English from the 5th school year, the bilingual models and the elite schools for particularly talented students in sports, music or art. Accelerated by the ‘PISA shock’ since the upper secondary school system in Germany has been differentiated and hierarchized by highly selective gifted classes, special schools and boarding schools for high performance at a level above the regular secondary schools.This kind of exclusivity generated by the German ‘Gymnasium’s’ performance excellence is supplemented to an exclusivity through school choice in the currently greatly expand of the German private school system. In addition to the church- and denominational-funded ‘traditional schools’ and schools based on concepts of progressive education, new all-day school complexes with bilingual education, international curricula and qualifications are, especially in the “global cities” (eg Frankfurt) emerged. They mainly serve a wealthy and education-oriented parenthood, distinguishing their selves by internationality and contributing to further diversification of higher education by choosing such schools.     

Choosing selves: the salience of parental identity in the school choice process

With the proliferation of choice policies in education, parents are increasingly positioned as ‘consumers’ tasked with choosing the ‘best’ school for their children. Yet a large body of research has shown that the process of selecting a school is far more complicated than policy-makers and researchers often predict. This article uses ethnographic data on middle-class parents in a large city who are considering sending their children to a diverse neighborhood public school to further develop our understanding of school choice. Drawing from sociological research on consumption as a social and cultural process, we examine the intersections between parents’ choice of a particular school (i.e. consumption) and their own identity construction. Our data show that the act of choosing a school can become, for parents, a means of expressing and enacting a particular identity. In this case, the intersections between identity and choice pushed many parents – invested in seeing themselves as liberal urbanites – towards an urban public school. We suggest that similar dynamics could have different outcomes for other groups of parents and that the symbolic nature of the school choice decision has broader relevance and merits further study.