Aid effectiveness in education: Why it matters

This article introduces the special issue of Prospects on “Aid effectiveness in education”. It brings together case studies of attempts in several very different contexts to improve the effectiveness of the use of aid in the education sector. By drawing on the historical evolution of the new paradigm over the last 20 years, the authors make the case for a closer focus on aid’s effectiveness in education, as well as the need to reform the aid effectiveness architecture. In particular, they identify two major obstacles that need to be overcome to improve aid’s effectiveness in education: the lack of sufficient institutional and staff incentives for coordinated and harmonized behaviour; and factors that lead to risk-aversion and discourage innovation in delivering aid effectively.     

Reflections on the Teacher Education System Overhaul (TESO) program in Ethiopia: Promises, pitfalls, and propositions

In 2003 the Ethiopian education system experienced wide-ranging reform that touches every aspect of the system. This reform is called TESO (Teacher Education System Overhaul). Designed to address educational problems in Ethiopia, TESO introduced significant structural changes and promised to bring a ‘paradigm shift’ in the Ethiopian educational system by engaging teacher education in changing society and promoting democratic, practical, and problem-solving education. This paper examines, through an analysis of the TESO document and an examination of the views of teacher educators, TESO’s assumptions, mission and the coherence among the various components of TESO. It also reveals gaps and discrepancies between TESO’s mission, its reform process, and strategies. The promise and assumptions of TESO are challenged by considering extant realities in Ethiopian schools and evidence from literature on effective teacher education programs and educational reform. The paper reflects on how, by giving priority to equity, TESO compromises on some elements of effective teacher education programs. It is indicated that TESO has been a welcome addition to the Ethiopian education system as it addresses elements that had previously been missing from the system, such as, outlining directions to teacher education, devoting longer duration for practicum, and heeding seriously to the professional preparation of teachers. At the same time, it is contended that the imbalance among program components, its permeability to ill-prepared students and the contradiction between program rhetoric and strategy and reform processes, as described by teacher educators, could be stumbling blocks which prevent TESO from fulfilling its promises.     

Reforms in Philippine Basic Education Viewed from Key Elements of Successful School-Based Management (SBM) Schools

While it is true that SBM shapes and charts the direction of school operations, it is interesting to discuss how a developing country like the Philippines is influenced by this reform strategy as a structural and procedural framework in managing its system of education, particularly, its basic education sector which through the years has been criticized for its alarming state as shown by its performance indicators rates. This paper purports to provide a panorama on how school-based management as a restructuring framework is viewed and interpreted by the basic education sector which constitutes the largest portion of the country’s educational system. Specifically, the eight key elements of successful SBM schools, namely: (1) an active vision; (2) meaningful decision-making authority; (3) distribution of power; (4) development and use of knowledge and skills; (5) collecting and communicating information; (6) rewards for progress; (7) shared leadership; and (8) cultivating resources, were used to serve the purpose of this discourse.     

Curriculum reform in Turkish teacher education: Attitudes of teacher educators towards change in an EU candidate nation

Educational development is one way through which Turkey enhances progress towards its social goals and prepares itself for European Union membership. A major effort to upgrade the Turkish educational system was made through a multi-phased comprehensive reform of the sector introduced during the 1990s. One part of this reform, perhaps most crucial to the long-term effectiveness of other developments in education, was a transformation of the approach to teacher education. This paper utilizes recently conducted research to assess the nature and extent of that reform as well as identifying the factors which enhanced its effectiveness.     

Educational policy trajectories in an era of globalization: Singapore and Cambodia

This paper critically discusses the educational policy trajectories of Singapore and Cambodia in an era of globalization. Drawing upon David Johnson’s five metaphors to describe the historical and political forces that shape educational policy trajectories, the paper argues that Cambodia’s current educational policy trajectory is characterized by the “politics of compelling” while Singapore’s situation is more akin to the “politics of selling”. In Singapore, the politics of selling intersects with the politics of gelling, in which various interest groups are encouraged to work together to strengthen the new economy of knowledge. The paper raises a common challenge for Singapore and Cambodia: to shift from a traditional teacher-centred and textbook-based approach to a more student-centred and ICT-based approach in a globalized world. The last section of this paper explores the possibility of addressing this challenge through gelling, by setting a new agenda for education, one that combines foreign and indigenous sources of knowledge from various interest groups.     

Education reforms in Cambodia: issues and concerns

This paper discusses the key issues and concerns in the Cambodian government’s efforts to implement three priority education policies for 2006–2010: ensure equitable access to education; increase quality and efficiency of the education services; and promote institutional development and capacity building for decentralisation. This paper identifies the prevailing problems of low enrolment, high dropout rates and high repetition rates of students in public schools. The paper further explores some concerns which may hinder the government from achieving the desired outcomes in the priority policies: the high opportunity cost of schooling; the heavy education costs due to teachers charging informal fees from students; and the localised socio-cultural setting where transparency, accountability and meritocracy are difficult to achieve.     

The reform of secondary education in indonesia during the 1990s: Basic education expansion and quality improvement through curriculum decentralization

This case study attempts to examine basic education expansion and curriculum reform policies in Indonesia during the last decade. The study focuses on the context of educational reform to understand its rationale as well as the content and process of the reform policies, and the main barriers to effective reform implementation. The study is based on a review of policy documents and interviews with key participants in the decision-making and monitoring process. The reforms in the 1990s were concerned with providing quality-basic-education opportunities through basic education expansion and decentralizing the administrative structure of curriculum development. The expansion of basic education has been very successful. However there were a number of problems associated with the decentralization of the curriculum and it ’s implementation: the implementation gap between the province and district level, the lack of appropriate teacher training, the teachers ’ passive attitudes toward the policy, and the scarcity of resources and funding. This paper is part of the Secondary Education Reform Case Studies Project directed by professor Clementina Acedo at the Institute for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, sponsored by USAID. We would like to thank Professor Mark B. Ginsburg (University of Pittsburgh), Professor Emeritus Don Adams (University of Pittsburgh) and John Hatch (USAID), who gave us meaningful comments helpful in finalizing this paper.     

Catalyzing country ownership and aid effectiveness: Role of the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund

This article examines the contribution of the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) global partnership in strengthening aid effectiveness in the education sector, and specifically how the implementation modalities of the EFA-FTI Catalytic Fund (CF) have contributed to this strengthening. The empirical findings are based on a review covering the period 2005–2007, when the CF grant was first established. The review includes an assessment of the quality of the education sector plans for 25 countries in the partnership, the implementation modalities of the CF grant in 18 countries, and feedback from countries’ participants. The qualitative assessment of the CF implementation modalities is based on three areas—alignment, harmonization, and managing for results—and uses a good practice checklist based on the Paris Declaration partnership commitments. Progress on the good practice checklist in the education sector is compared to progress at the country level as a whole; the latter is derived from the Aid Effectiveness Profiles prepared by the World Bank. The review of the sample countries finds that in the education sector, alignment was stronger than at the country level, progress toward harmonization was somewhat stronger, and managing for results was the same as at the country level. The article concludes that while the FTI has contributed to improving aid effectiveness, moving forward requires different actions at the two levels—global and country level—on which the partnership operates.     

Impacts of Globalisation on Higher Education Reform in China: A Trend of Decentralisation and Autonomy

By tracing back the historical context of educational changes, this article explores in detail the impacts of globalisation on China’s higher education reform. A trend of decentralisation in both rights and responsibilities is revealed in terms of structural adjustment, human resource exploitation and retention, curriculum development, and education provision. Also some remaining problems and new challenges from the progress of globalisation are discussed to draw a conclusion that there is a need of combining both centralisation decentralisation approaches in China’s both present and future reforms.     

An inspection on the Gini coefficient of the budget educational public expenditure per student for China’s basic education

Using statistical data on the implementing conditions of China’s educational expenditure published by the state, this paper studies the Gini coefficient of the budget educational public expenditure per student in order to examine the concentration degree of the educational expenditure for China’s basic education and analyze its balanced development condition. As the research shows, China’s basic education is undergoing an unbalanced development due to diversified factors, which is mainly reflected as follows: firstly, the budget educational public expenditure presents a four-tiered appearance of the strong, the less strong, the less weak and the weak, which lead to a great discrepancy between the two opposing extremes; secondly, the compulsory education in rural areas is still confronted with great difficulties; thirdly, the general senior secondary education is loaded with the crisis of unbalance. Therefore, it is necessary to construct a balanced development policy framework of the basic education and pay close attention to the benefit and effectiveness of the educational input. In addition, it is also important to clearly stipulate the criterion of the government’s educational allocation and to support the disadvantaged areas in order to promote the balanced development of the basic education. __________ Translated from Education Research, 2005:9     

Education Reform in Hong Kong: The “Through-Road” Model and its Societal Consequences

Although Hong Kong’s education system has long been criticized as lacking in creativity and over-emphasising rote learning, on the whole it has served Hong Kong well in the past years, breeding outstanding business, academic and political leaders who continue to maintain Hong Kong’s competitive edge. The traditional elite schools have played a crucial role in the process. The education reform, which is still on-going, aims to overhaul the entire system by introducing the “through-road” model. To accomplish this, some mechanisms need to be changed. J.P. Farrell’s concepts of equality and equity, C.W. Mills’ concept of elitism, and P. Bourdieu and J. Coleman’s concepts of cultural and social capital will be applied to analyse the consequences of the reform. The paper argues that the education reform may be well-intentioned in eliminating some elements of inequality and inequity in education, but that this comes at the expense of Hong Kong’s cultural and social capital and leads to the development of new forms of inequality.     

The role of education in driving conflict and building peace: The case of Rwanda

This article considers the relationship between education, conflict, and peacebuilding in Rwanda. First, it examines the role that education played in the lead-up to the 1994 genocide, discussing whether and how the low levels of educational attainment, inequalities of access, curricular content, and teaching methods contributed to the conditions for violence. It then looks at approaches to rebuilding the education sector since 1994. Despite significant progress, for example in widening access and achieving gender parity at primary level, three significant challenges remain. First, educational opportunity continues to be unequal in the post-primary sector, with disparities of access between rich and poor, a severe lack of alternative and non-formal educational opportunities, and some ethnic dimensions to the disparities. Second, tensions remain over history teaching due to government attempts to impose a single “official” narrative of Rwanda’s history. Finally, teaching methods remain largely teacher-centred, with little open debate and teaching of critical thinking skills. The article cautions that, despite progress, some dimensions of Rwanda’s current education policy and practice may continue to exacerbate tensions. It concludes by outlining some future priorities and urges the Rwandan government and its international development partners to more rigorously assess the potential impact of education policies on fragile social relations, and to embrace opportunities for education to play a more central role in peacebuilding in Rwanda.     

中周民族地区义务教育扶持制度研究

China’s Western Development is a policy adopted to boost its less developed Western regions, that is, a systematic project and a longterm and arduous task. The development of compulsory education in China’s minority areas is the key to it. This paper attempts to use the beneficial experience of developing compulsory education support system of other countries for reference so as to explore financial support system suitable for the situation of China’s compulsory education in minority areas. __________ Translated from Minzu Jiaoyu Yanjiu 民族教育研究 (Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities), 2007, 18 (2): 16–23     

Comparative study of faculty evaluation of teaching practice between Chinese and U.S. Institutions of higher education

Along with the “massification” of higher education in China since the late 1990s, the issue of quality and excellence appeared at the top of China’s higher education agenda. Since faculty evaluation of teaching is one of the major approaches adopted by China’s higher education sector to pursue quality and excellence, it is valuable to examine the effectiveness of faculty evaluation of teaching practices adopted by the Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). Study of current literature reveals some similarities and differences between the faculty evaluation of teaching policies and practices between Chinese and American higher education sectors. This paper examines the specific practices adopted by some top-tier Chinese HEIs and American elite colleges and universities, summarizes and analyzes the major differences and similarities of faculty evaluation of teaching practices between these two countries’ top-tier HEIs, and discusses the applicability of the American models to the Chinese setting of higher education. Finally, a set of best practices regarding faculty evaluation of teaching are proposed for Chinese HEIs.     

Chinese education policy in the context of decentralization and marketization: evolution and implications

Education policy has been undergoing great transformation in China since the initiation of economic reforms and the open-door policy in the late 1970s. These market-oriented reforms and the pursuit of rapid economic growth in a globalized economy have significantly impacted China’s education policy and development. In line with the development of the market-oriented economy and its increasing integration with the global market, a more pragmatic perception of education has gradually taken shape in the post-Mao era, resulting in the decentralization and marketization of education in China. This article aims to examine the development of Chinese education policy in the context of decentralization and marketization since the start of the economic reforms. It will firstly make a brief contrast between the education policies before and after the economic reforms. Then, the decentralization and marketization in the field of education since the initiation of the economic reforms will be examined. What follows is an assessment of the impacts that marketization and decentralization had on education policy. This paper argues that the weakening role of the state in education provision and the disparity between rural and urban areas are key issues facing China’s education policy following the economic reforms and the open-door policy. It concludes by suggesting that equal and balanced development in education in China entails bringing the state back into the education sector.     

Recent Chinese experiences in curriculum reform

Although it seems obsolete to analyse and criticise a curriculum from the point-of-view of “subject-centredness”, this is the situation we face during the Chinese basic education curriculum reform. This article gives a brief introduction to the ideas behind the development and practice of the Chinese curriculum reform and the progress of the reform since 2001. Several aspects of the reform are introduced: 1. Re-examining and revamping academic courses; 2. Adding general practical courses; 3. Diversifying the curriculum with local and school-based courses; 4. Providing elective courses for all students. We also give two examples to present the idea of the new curriculum and practice. Original language: English Muju Zhu (China) Deputy Director-General of the Department of Basic Education and Director-General of the National Center for School Curriculum and Textbook Development, Ministry of Education, Beijing. She serves as Vice-Chairwoman of the Master’s Degrees Subcommittee of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and is a Permanent Member of the China Pre-School Education Society. Ms Zhu is the chief designer and organiser of China’s basic education curriculum reform, which was launched nationwide in 2001. From 1991 to 2005, she was National Director of several UNICEF projects in China. Author of 10 books and numerous articles. E-mail: zhumj@moe.edu.cn     

Teacher management and educational reforms: Paradigm shifts

In the past 15 years, numerous reforms and initiatives in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have aimed to change education and promote new learning to prepare the new generation for the future. Unfortunately, despite good intentions and huge investments of resources, many of these reforms have been found to be ineffective and unsustainable—if they succeed at all. Reflecting on the trends and waves of educational reform in the Asia-Pacific region, this paper introduces an international lesson on the emerging syndrome of educational reform across the region and illustrates its negative impacts on teacher ecology and teacher management. Then, the paper outlines the implications of this lesson and of a study of the world’s best-performing educational systems, using them to develop a holistic approach to managing teachers and planning for their sustainable professional development. Finally, it highlights the paradigm shifts in teacher management, reviewing the three waves of educational reform in the last two decades, and draws further implications for formulating teacher management policies in ongoing and future educational reforms to support students’ new learning and sustainable development.     

International education as soft power? The contributions and challenges of Canadian foreign policy to the internationalization of higher education

This paper explores the role of the Canadian federal government in two foreign policy areas: overseas development assistance and international cultural relations by providing a brief history of the federal government’s engagement in both policy areas and highlighting the contributions and challenges of Canadian foreign policy to the internationalization of Canadian higher education. More broadly, the paper explores the unique characteristics of the Canadian federal government’s role in higher education policy making, and in particular, its relations with academics and the university community. Ironically in a world increasingly characterized by greater international education flows, in Canada, there has been a narrowing of vision, a focus on more short rather than long term objectives and a limited engagement of dialogue between academics and the government to promote both development assistance and international education as Canada’s soft power.