Policies for teacher education in developing countries

This chapter discusses the context of the 1990 s in which teacher education policy has been formulated. The focus is on three of the areas that are pushing for change: a conceptual shift from teaching to learning, a focus on effective school results, and the implementation in many countries of systemic education reforms. Though reference is made to conditions and constraints affecting teacher education in developing countries, the discussion emphasizes policy in the Latin American region. Consideration is given to conditions for implementation and sustainability of what appears on paper as interesting policy orientations. The importance of networking and interchange is seen as an important factor for broadening policy formulation and learning from experiences in teacher education reform.     

Research on education in the developing countries

Developing countries are in a major educational crisis. Educational opportunity has expanded but quality has been sacrificed. In some instances the quality of education has become so low that one might do well to question whether the costs of expansion do not outweigh the benefits. Research on education has not prepared the developing countries to meet the crisis at hand. The article mentions three examples—in pedagogy, in curriculum and in ‘deschooling’ theory—where educational research has not been helpful. On the other hand, the article points to several areas where there has been useful work, and where new work might make a substantial contribution in the years ahead.     

The education of the handicapped for life in developing countries

Conclusion The greatest problems for developing countries, both economically and socially, are the wastage of scarce funds on unrecognised handicapped children in normal schools, the support by their relatives of the unproductive blind, deaf, physically handicapped, epileptic, leprous and mentally retarded children, and the present manpower loss through insufficient pre-planning for the vocational training, employment or settlement in co-operative workshops, of disabled young people coming from special schooling.The role of education for the handicapped child in a developing country should be to develop his abilities to the full, by use of a curriculum which is as demanding as possible, taught by staff who give the children realistic expectations to live up to. His educational experiences should be designed to compensate for what he loses as a result of his handicap and also give him the broad coverage afforded to his normal peers. This education must separate him as little as possible from his normal home environment and be followed by his integration in the community as a useful and socially acceptable member.

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Die Sondererziehung In Den Entwicklungsländern

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l'Education Des Handicapes Dans Les Pays En Voie De Developpement

     

Financing public higher education in developing countries

The financing of education has emerged as a major topic of discussion among policy makers in recent years. There is evidence that in many developing countries, governments can no longer continue to increase spending on education at the high rates characteristic in the 1960s and 1970s. The macroeconomic environment has worsened, and there is keen intersectoral competition for public funds. Thus unless educational development moves away from its present heavy dependence on public funds, the expansion of education would be frustrated. One policy option is to increase the private financing of education. In this paper, we evaluate the potential effectiveness of loans schemes as a cost recovery instrument in higher education. Essentially, loans permit students to finance the cost of their education from future income. So the effectiveness of loans would depend on the relation between costs and students' future income. It also depends on the incidence of repetition, dropout, and default, as well as on whether or not a grace period is incorporated in the loan scheme. Our simulations show that in Asia and Latin America, the potential rate of cost recovery is substantial under what appears to be bearable terms of repayment. In Francophone Africa and Anglophone Africa, however, loans schemes are unlikely to perform as well, but they would still permit a shift toward greater private financing of higher education.     

Quality of education and the demand for education — Evidence from developing countries

The relationship between quality and demand is analysed using data from various countries, with special emphasis on Burkina Faso, Mali, and Tanzania. Four types of educational quality are postulated: value, output, process and input quality. The relative importance of quality compared to external efficiency and costs is assessed. The paper is a reanalysis of existing studies. Qualitative data are complemented by simple analysis of educational statistics. The studies had different though over-lapping foci: one study explored reasons for non-enrolment, drop-out and exclusion from school under the umbrella theme of the quality of education. Another one emphasised social demand in rural areas, with quality one of a number of topics. A third study looked at attitudes towards education and educational strategies, restricting itself to parents. A primary level, the quality of education influences the demand for education. The relative importance of quality varies from one context to another. Quality influences the decision to enrol less than the decision to carry on. However, it affects enrolment to such an extent that moderate correlations have been observed between pass rates and repeater rates on the one hand, and enrolment rates on the other. Value quality is mainly related to enrolment. Output quality is the criterion for selecting a school or a school system. Output, process and input quality affect dropping out and irregular attendance. Repetition, justified on unsatisfactory output quality, is related to input quality. The decision to participate in education combines considerations of educational quality with an evaluation of costs, both direct costs and opportunity costs.     

Training and education of teachers in higher education in developing countries

The article describes our experience and experiments in helping to develop a training programme for academic staff at Universiti Sains Malaysia and the model of staff training associated with this programme. This is used as a basis for proposals for a more general scheme of staff training for universities in the South East Asian region, a special feature of the proposals being the use of distance teaching and of individualised learning materials in teaching and learning in higher education. The ultimate aim of the scheme is to make the region independent of outside assistance.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Open University Conference on The Education of Adults at a Distance, Birmingham, 19–24 November, 1979.     

University science and agriculture education in developing countries

The need for science and agriculture education in developing countries is at least as great as that in industrially advanced nations. To determine whether or not developing countries are devoting adequate resources to university level science and agriculture studies, a number of developed and developing nations were examined. Both student enrolments and awarded degrees in science, agriculture and non-science fields of study were used as criteria for determining the extent of resources being devoted to tertiary science and agriculture education. Generally, the developing countries showed similar enrolment patterns by area of study to the developed ones, although some countries clearly emphasize science and agriculture more than others. Similarly, the pattern for awarded degrees showed that developing countries produced equal or higher percentages of science and agriculture degrees relative to total degrees when compared with developed countries. Nevertheless, when evaluating science and agriculture study on a per capita basis, developing countries produce far fewer graduates than developed countries, due to the relatively restricted access to university study found in underdeveloped nations. It was concluded that the need for more science-based graduates cannot be met alone by greater percentages of students studying science but rather by large increases in the total numbers of students studying at the university level.     

Educating teachers for the improvement of the quality of basic education in developing countries

In discussions about improving the quality of basic education in the developing countries much focus has been on education functioning to improve the economic conditions of individuals. Basic education as critical literacy which empowers people to improve their social and personal lives by participating politically in decision-making processes relating to equitable distribution of economic wealth appears to be missing from the discussion on basic education. Grounding her arguments in observations of classroom teaching in two developing countries, the author argues in this article that the current ‘socialization’ approach to education in the developing countries needs to be replaced by innovative, critical approaches involving ‘resocialization’ if basic education is to play a role in improving the lives of the masses. What some developing countries are doing in teacher education to achieve this innovation is also discussed.     

The challenge of enhancing inclusive education in developing countries

This paper is concerned with enhancing inclusive education (IE) in developing countries (DCs). It is estimated that the majority of the world's population of people with disabilities live in DCs of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East, some 150 million of them being children, but less than 2% are receiving any form of rehabilitation service. Thus successful implementation of IE could increase the number of those with disabilities receiving educational and other services in DCs. Evidence, however, indicates that IE is not being satisfactorily implemented in most DCs. Factors such as the absence of support services, relevant materials, inadequate personnel training programmes, lack of funding structure and the absence of enabling legislation are the major problems of effective implementation of IE in these countries. The implications for improvements in these areas to achieve meaningful implementation of IE in DCs are discussed.     

A case for rethinking inclusive education policy creation in developing countries

This article presents a critical analysis of the development and implementation of the 2014 inclusive educational policy in Samoa. While Samoan culture is traditionally founded on inclusive social practices, rather than reflecting these practices in their policy, Samoan policy developers have been under pressure to adopt or borrow policy from other countries. The findings of this intrinsic case study highlight the complexity of formulating inclusive education policies for small developing countries and why policy developers borrow from other developed countries. The theoretical framework used to analyse observation data in this study is based on the notion that national process of development is a powerful influence in educational policy. The authors argue and advocate for the existing but overlooked strengths of the local knowledge community capacity when policy is borrowed from other countries, and how the findings of the case study contribute to future attempts at policy development. We found that the draft policy needs to and does reflect Samoan culture, values and vision. However, adopting foreign practices such as the individual education plan and placement rules is not relevant to the Samoan context. The identification and development of inclusive education beliefs, skills and practices in schools is a priority.