Primary education expansion and quality of schooling

The rapid increases in enrollment seen in many developing countries might further worsen the poor schooling quality found in these countries. I estimate the effect of enrollment growth following the removal of primary school fees in Tanzania and find evidence of a sizeable increase in pupil-teacher ratios and a reduction in observable teacher quality, but rule out a substantial effect on test scores overall. These results are robust to instrumenting enrollment growth using predetermined fertility and migration decisions, and to a number of checks including the use of baseline enrollment rates as an alternative source of variation in enrollment growth. However, when investigating the possibility of heterogeneous effects for urban and rural areas, I find evidence of a deterioration of test scores in urban areas.     

Validating the Course Experience Questionnaire in West Bengal higher secondary education

The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) is a 36-item instrument that is intended to measure six different aspects of students’ perceptions of the academic quality of their programmes. It has been widely used in Western countries, and it has also been used in non-Western countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan and Pakistan. Nevertheless, in the latter countries, it has sometimes not been possible to identify the full range of constructs that were supposed to be measured by the original CEQ. We translated the CEQ into Bengali and administered this to 552 science students at 15 higher secondary schools in West Bengal, India. A confirmatory factor analysis found that their responses provided a poor fit to the original six-factor model of the CEQ. An exploratory factor analysis identified just four constructs, which reflected good teaching, generic skills, student support and appropriate workload. The items with salient loadings on the four factors were used to construct four scales. The students’ scores on three of the four scales showed satisfactory levels of internal consistency. A factor analysis of their scores on all four scales yielded one overarching factor that could be interpreted as a measure of perceived academic quality. A reduced version of the CEQ consisting of the 30 items that constitute these four scales can be recommended as a measure of students’ perceptions of the academic quality of programmes in West Bengal.     

Village education committees in West Bengal,India: Planned vision and beyond

This paper deals with decentralization of educational administration in West Bengal, India. It gives specific emphasis on studying education committees formed with the community members at village level for looking after the management of primary schools in the concerned localities. For the purpose of this study primary data have been collected from four village education committees. The data provides information on the formation, structure and functioning of village education committees. The findings contradict the ideology on the basis of which these committees are formed. The paper ends with an attempt to explore certain future paths of action.     

Needs assessment report for a young people's sexual health project in West Bengal

In collaboration with AIMS Research in Calcutta and with funding support from the West Bengal Sexual Health Project/Department for International Development, UK, the Thoughtshop Foundation conducted a study of the sexual health problems and information needs of young people in urban and rural West Bengal. The study was conducted during March-April 1997, targeting both male and female adolescents in the 12-19 age group, both in and out of school. The study involved a content analysis of letters received by the AIDS, Sex, Knowledge column; focus group discussions; interviews with key personalities who exert major influence on young people; and an institutional analysis of sexual health services available to the target population. The study's findings point to an almost lack of sexual awareness of sexual health issues and knowledge of the human anatomy among the target population and the people who influence them most (e.g., parents and teachers). Very often the very same people discourage young people's access to information about sexual health. While the institutional analysis indicates some progress in the provision of sexual health services to young people (e.g., awareness programs, counseling and condom promotion), access to reliable sources of information, including the mass media, is not available to many of them.     

On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia

This paper examines the effect of age of marriage on women's schooling outcomes for 36 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia. We employ an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of early marriage driven by socio-economic and cultural factors. Our results show that delaying early marriage by one year is associated with an increase of half a year of education in Sub-Saharan Africa and nearly one third of a year of education in South West Asia as well as a lower likelihood of dropping out from secondary school of 5.5% in South West Asia.     

Primary schooling under New Labour: The irresolvable contradiction of excellence and enjoyment

This article aims to provide both an account and an assessment of the most significant policies adopted by New Labour on primary schooling since its victory in the election of 1997. A secondary intention is to determine what these policies reveal about New Labour and its political project. A key policy objective in New Labour’s two terms of office since 1997 has been the retention of the electoral support it received from voters who had benefited from policies pursued by the Thatcher governments.     

Play and Toys in West Bengal: Self-reports of parents of children with cerebral palsy

Play, in the West, is seen by professionals as a crucial context for the transmission of skills, such as problem-solving, language, and communication. As such, it forms the vehicle for much intervention and therapy. Reports were elicited from parents of children with cerebral palsy in West Bengal on the activities they engaged in with their child and on the toys, if any, the child possessed. The majority of parents reported spending time playing with and teaching their child and all respondents named at least two toys belonging to their child. Associations between play and teaching and characteristics of the families are examined along with implications for parent involvement programs in non-Western contexts.     

Home schooling

Conclusion Variation in the way persons receive their education is an evolving process. Cooperation and collaboration proves to be the most effective means of making this change effective and valuable. Examine the world around you and consider how the education of every child stems from the need to flourish and grow. Just as a flower needs nourishment, sun, and water, so a child needs stimulation, security, love, and encouragement to fluorish at home or at school.     

Language and schooling in Morocco

The prevailing language situation in Morocco is quite complex due to the presence and interference of three Berber dialects, three variant forms of colloquial Arabic, two foreign languages (French and Spanish) and one national language, classical Arabic. This article seeks to examine the educational implications of this multilingualism. For this purpose, a three-step analysis is carried out, involving a summary presentation of the linguistic setting in Morocco, an outline of the language situation in the schooling system and an assessment of the pedagogical impact of these factors. Two main conclusions are reached on the basis of this analysis. First, it appears that the language policy constitutes a major source of wastage in educational terms. Second, there is a close relationship between socio-cultural origin and the vehicles of instruction used at school, which introduces an element of social bias in the educational process. The object in which power has become inscribed, in all human eternity, is: language. Roland Barthes     

Economies of scale in schooling

A model of optimal school size is developed which predicts that schools will minimize total costs by operating in a region of increasing returns to school inputs. Two sources of estimates of the economies of scale coefficient emerge from the optimal school size model, and two rich data sets are used to generate estimates of this coefficient. These estimates support the model and are shown to imply sizeable differences in the cost of schooling between urban and rural areas.     

Christian home schooling in China

The literature focusing on Christian home schooling has been entirely ignored in the educational context of China, because practising home schooling is illegal and such families have strong religious beliefs. In particular, in China, studies grounded in empirical research and dealing with the development of Christian home schooling are negligible. The findings of this study were generated by an analysis of qualitative data: they provided in-depth information about the motivation of those who practice Christian home schooling, types of existing Christian home schooling, teaching content, and teaching methods and outcomes. It was found that Christian beliefs and values philosophically support Chinese Christian families in the process of their practice of home schooling.     

Education and schooling

An analysis of the concept of education has been thought necessary by philosophers of education in the past in order to provide a measuring stick against which the genuineness and quality of purportedly educational activities and educated people could be gauged. R.S. Peters and John Wilson have both offered new analysis of education and it is here argued that each fails: Peters' because it will allow too much to count as educational and Wilson's because it will permit too little. The author's position is that the concept of education is too vague to admit of precise characterization, hence further analysis is futile. In its place is offered an analysis of the concept ofschooling. Schooling is less vague and can be divided intotypes of schooling each of which provides criteria for establishing the genuineness and quality of educational activities and educated people.

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Zusammenfassung In der Vergangenheit wurde eine Analyse des Erziehungsbegriffs von Erziehungsphilosophen für nötig gehalten, um einen Maßstab zu schaffen, anhand dessen Echtheit und Güte von beabsichtigten erzieherischen Aktivitäten und der Ausgebildeten abgelesen werden könnte. R.S. Peters und John Wilson haben beide eine neue Erziehungsanalyse vorgeschlagen, und der Autor legt dar, daß eine wie die andere fehlschlagen: Peters Analyse, weil sie erlaube, zu viel zum Erzieherischen zu zählen und Wilsons, weil sie zu wenig gestatte. Der Autor meint, daß der Erziehungsbegriff viel zu ungenau ist, um abgrenzende Beschreibung zuzulassen, und daher weitere Analyse vergeblich ist. Stattdessen wird eine Analyse des BegriffsSchulung vorgeschlagen. Schulung ist weniger ungenau und kann in zwei Schulungstypen unterteilt werden, welche beide Kritieren liefern, zur Feststellung von Echtheit und Güte der erzieherischen Aktivitäten und der Ausgebildeten.

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Résumé On pensait autrefois que l'analyse du concept de l'éducation présentée par les philosophes de l'éducation était nécessaire à l'élaboration d'une échelle de mesure d'après laquelle on pouvait apprécier l'authenticité et la qualité des activités pédagogiques visées et des personnes instruites. R.S. Peters et John Wilson ont présenté l'un et l'autre une nouvelle analyse de l'éducation et l'on démontre dans cet article que les deux échouent: celle de Peters parce qu'elle prend trop en considération l'aspect pédagogique, celle de Wilson pas assez au contraire. L'auteur pense que le concept de l'éducation est trop vague pour permettre une définition précise, ce qui rend tout autre analyse futile. On offre donc à la place une analyse du concept de l'instruction. L'instruction est moins indéfinie et peut être divisée entypes d'instruction, chacun pouvant fournir les critères de détermination de l'authenticité et de la qualité des activités pédagogiques et des personnes instruites.

     

Globalisation and the Cultural Politics of Educational Change: The Controversy over Teaching of English in West Bengal

(Globalisation and the Cultural Politics of Educational Change: The Controversy over the Teaching of English in West Bengal) – This article deals with the articulation of educational policy, cultural politics, and social class in the era of globalization. It analyses the policy of the Government of West Bengal to remove the teaching of English from the primary school syllabus in the state in the early 1980s and its subsequent reintroduction from the beginning of the school year in 2000. The author argues that English is a crucial component of the middle classes' cultural capital and is essential to their future employment success, especially in a globalising work environment. This is supported by interviews conducted during 1998/1999 with middle-class Bengalis. For governments of postcolonial, developing societies, this dispute highlights an essential dichotomy between, on the one hand, the ideal of broad-based educational policies and, on the other hand, the need to prepare children for employment at home and abroad in the context of globalisation.     

The relationship between schooling and migration: Evidence from compulsory schooling laws

I estimate the effect of schooling on the propensity to migrate by exploiting variation in schooling due to compulsory schooling laws (CSLs) in the United States. I obtain negative estimates of this effect among those with relatively little schooling. In contrast, previous research estimates positive schooling effects on migration at higher levels of schooling. I speculate that additional schooling at low levels enhances local labor market contacts and thereby increases the opportunity cost of migration (leaving those contacts behind).     

Discontinuities in schooling and educational attainment

Duncan et al. (1972, p. 224) insightfully pointed out that the timing of events in the process of socioeconomic achievement can be as important as the events themselves. While we know that substantial numbers of people delay their entry into college, and interrupt their college education once begun, no comprehensive national study has established the causes and consequences of these discontinuities in schooling.Using a structural equation model of educational attainment patterned after Featherman and Carter (1976), this article investigates educational discontinuities among American whites and blacks, males and females, using data from a nationwide, longitudinal study of the U.S. high school graduating class of 1972.