Girls' secondary education in Uganda: assessing policy within the women's empowerment framework

This paper makes the case that policies, such as the National Strategy for Girls' Education in Uganda (NSGE), intended to achieve gender equity in education for girls in developing countries, have limited relevance to, and impact on girls' actual educational experiences. Recent considerations of girls' education acknowledge that gender equity within education is more than access to schooling; it entails the cultivation of capabilities necessary for girls to participate fully, actively and equally in all aspects of their societies. Drawing on a longitudinal, ethnographic policy research case study with 15 Ugandan schoolgirls in rural Masaka District, Uganda, from August 2004 to September 2006, I explore the girls' educational experiences in relationship to the NSGE. I employ the Women's Empowerment Framework (WEF) to evaluate the NSGE with respect to the extent to which its interventions are ‘empowering’ for girls.     

Case studies of integrated pedagogy in vocational education: A three-tier approach to empowering vulnerable youth in urban Cambodia

This paper starts with the real-life issues pertaining to the educational, economic and socio-cultural vulnerability of young Cambodians; and the latter in turn has called for greater integrated stance in vocational education. A multiple-case study of nine educational NGOs located in four cities was conducted, whereby what constitutes an integrated pedagogy of vocational education is explored and, accordingly, a context-appropriate three-tier approach to empowering vulnerable youth is developed. I argue that the young people's vulnerability in urban Cambodia could not be overcome, unless vocational education has a more positive effect on their employment and empowerment.     

Is vocational education a good alternative to low-performing students in China

This paper focuses on upper secondary technical and vocational education (TVE), which accounts for 41 % of total enrollment at upper secondary schools in China. Using a nationally representative sample and a propensity score matching research design, this study has found large relative private return to TVE compared with general academic high schools, specifically for academically low-performing students, a group that is particularly vulnerable and in need of attention from policymakers. The difference in private returns is most profound for females. In light of the lower cost of attendance, these results can offer additional support, at least qualitatively to other countries that are contemplating the use of TVE as a viable and sometimes better alternative to academic education for select students.     

An examination of the vocational education and training reform debate in Southern Africa

This paper explores the role that vocational education and training (VET) can play in Southern African responses to major socio‐economic challenges. It argues that this role will be most pronounced if it is articulated within a broader educational and economic vision that is shared by a range of stakeholders in society and supported by an adequate funding base, effective information systems and qualified and motivated planners and implementers. However, it cautions that it is also important to remember that VET reform will not in itself transform economies or societies. The paper argues that there is considerable convergence within Southern Africa around 10 themes of VET reform. It argues that there is much that is of merit in the current broad package for VET transformation but that it is essential that it is carefully critiqued and that elements are adapted to national circumstances and visions.     

Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education: Challenges to vocational educators

This article analyses the dilemmas and practical tensions in implementing competence-based vocational education. Eleven case studies were conducted, including observation of lessons and interviews with teachers and students. The results show that schools meet various fundamental issues in realising this approach. A crucial question is how to stimulate the acquisition and use of a way of knowing and thinking that is based on vocational theory. Reflection, authenticity and coaching are relevant characteristics that are hardly put into practice yet. To understand these results the article reflects on factors that account for the distance between promising concepts and actual teaching practice.     

Becoming a teacher: Experiences of female trainees in initial teacher education in Nigeria

This article foregrounds the experiences of female trainees on a scholarship programme for initial teacher education aimed at increasing the number of qualified female teachers from rural northern Nigeria, and boosting female pupil enrolments. Challenging conditions in colleges of education, including curricular shortcomings, overcrowding, limited resources and inadequate learning support were compounded by non-academic factors – especially financial, and gendered constraints. Collectively, they threatened student retention, learning and attainment, and the programme’s gender equity goals. Findings highlight the need to move beyond increasing numbers of female student-teachers, to improving quality in teacher education, paying attention to out-of-college conditions too.     

Second-generation non-formal education and the sustainable development goals: operationalising the SDGs through community learning centres

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that Non-formal Education (NFE) has seen a remarkable revival of interest across both developing countries and the more highly developed countries. Among the factors causing this revival is the search for alternative educations to meet the needs of different groups in society. But in the process, NFE has been relocated – not so much as ‘outside’ formal educational institutions but as a different kind of learning programme within a continuum of lifelong learning covering formal, non-formal and informal learning. It argues that the adult learning targets contained in every one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be met by formal learning programmes alone and require a much expanded non-formal education programme. To deliver this, the paper suggests that the current movement for community learning centres (CLCs) can provide a base for operationalising NFE for the SDGs. It takes a case study, the Folk Development Colleges of Tanzania, as an example of the kind of national system for NFE which can be built. It ends by looking at current redefinitions of NFE and at where such an NFE system might fit into the governmental architecture of educational planning.     

浅谈高职教育的办学目标定位

高等职业技术教育是我国教育体系中的重要组成部分,与经济社会发展联系最直接、最紧密。已基本走过规模发展阶段后的高职教育如何步入规范发展轨道,文章从学生就业目标定位、办学层次与办学方式定位到为地方经济服务的取向定位作了多角度的讨论。     

Rebuilding higher education institutions in post-conflict contexts: Policy networks,process, perceptions, & patterns

This research explored the rebuilding of a public university, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, in the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire, destroyed as a result of a highly contested Presidential election. We began by viewing rebuilding as the result of policy networks, a pantheon of interdependent actors cooperating and competing to address policymaking. Then we investigated the characteristics of these efforts, focusing on the policies that result from the complex interplay between university stakeholders and government bodies and the subsequent implementation of policy into practice. The study resulted in a preliminary understanding of one institution’s rebuilding efforts.     

Buzzwords at play: gender,education, and political participation in Kenya

The discourse around development is full of buzzwords, including gender and a myriad of variants that underscore the importance of development policies addressing gender imbalances. Despite their prevalence in development policy and research, terminology related to gender is often used broadly, inappropriately, and without nuance. For international education policy in particular, discussions related to gender equality and equity in education are engaged in such a way that assumes shared meanings between policy designers and policy recipients. Using Kenya as a site of analysis, and in the spirit of a vertical case study for data collection, this study explores how the abstractness of a buzzword functions in the microcosm of the school classroom. In comparing gendered representations in textbooks with students' perceptions of those representations to explore how development discourse plays out in Kenyan schools, findings here demonstrate that there is minimal impact due to textbooks' mixed messages, reinforcing women's marginal position in community and political engagement and demonstrating that broad-based understandings of gender empowerment are not always translated in application.     

From special tasks to extensive roles: the changing face of special needs teachers in Finnish vocational further education

Following the development of inclusive education in vocational education and training (VET), the discussion about the prevention of marginalisation and dropouts has increased. At the same time, the formal education system has strengthened the position of support services, such as special educational needs (SEN) teachers, social workers and counsellors. However, a confusion of roles in the work of SEN teachers seems evident. The changing work of SEN teachers has not been of great research interest in Finland. The focus has been mainly on SEN teachers at the secondary school level (Kivirauma and Kuorelahti, 2002; Ström, 1999). The work of vocational SEN teachers has been studied by Kaikkonen, 2010 and Hirvonen, 2006. SEN teachers comprise two groups in the field: one group supports vocational subjects and the other group supports general subjects. The aim of this study is to determine how SEN teachers of general subjects define the objectives of their work and how they organise pedagogical support. Ten SEN teachers in vocational colleges were interviewed. A qualitative analysis was performed. The main findings showed, on the one hand, an autonomous position and, on the other, a work model that can be described as a ‘traditional special needs education model’. However, the findings showed that the autonomous role was contradictory. SEN teachers did not emphasise the connection with the VET community or college‐based guidelines and directions. Moreover, although the consultative role exists, the findings showed that it is not a regular part of the work of SEN teachers.     

Making it real: The benefits of workplace learning in upper-secondary vocational education and training courses

In OECD countries, ‘real world’ upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs are used to engage less academically oriented youth in learning, while helping to prepare them for post-school work and/or further education. In general terms, VET programs with high employer involvement, such as apprenticeship schemes, are considered to be superior to classroom-based VET programs that are typically found in many English-speaking countries. In this study, we examine outcomes from a potential ‘third way’: classroom-based VET with a short-term structured workplace learning component. Using propensity score matching and PISA data linked to information from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, we find this model is associated with higher school completion rates and better employment transitions.     

Socialisation and citizenship preparation in vocational education: Pedagogic codes and democratic rights in VET-subjects

ABSTRACT

Previous studies of citizenship preparation in upper secondary school, including studies on vocational programmes, have primarily focused on general subjects. Potential and actual roles of vocational subjects in this context have received little attention, so we have little knowledge of what is likely a significant part of the citizenship preparation that occurs in vocational programmes. Drawing on the work of Basil Bernstein and ethnographic data, this study presents an analysis of socialisation processes in vocational elements of three vocational programmes in Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis addresses the formation of pedagogic codes in various vocational programmes and subjects, and how these codes condition students’ practice of citizenship at individual, social and political levels. The results show how different pedagogic codes have different implications for the students’ practice of citizenship, and thus raise questions about factors and processes that may either constrain or strengthen, this aspect in vocational subject classes.     

Dialogue conferences and empowerment: transforming primary education in Tanzania through cooperation

In this article we present and discuss experiences developed through a dialogue conference which we organised as part of a three-year participatory action research project related to primary education and agricultural education in Tanzania. We explore how dialogue conference as a research method can fill a gap between traditional ways of mutual problem-solving in Tanzania and research. Talking and sharing ideas is important for problem-solving, but the research demonstrated the need for a concrete base for the dialogue. After direct exposition to the local school practice, participants became more responsible and responsive to their environment. The participants agreed upon an action plan and distributed the responsibilities to implement the plan between themselves. The results show that the method opened up for uniting cooperative learning and research among participants and enabled the democratisation of knowledge creation and sharing. We argue that taking cultural conditions and concretisation of local challenges into consideration is important for harnessing the potential of the method in community development-oriented research.     

Developing a systemic approach to teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa: emerging lessons from Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda

While many countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are on track for meeting the Education for All targets, there is a growing recognition of the need to improve the quality of basic education and that a focus on pedagogy and its training implications needs to be at the heart of this commitment. By drawing on three East African countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which are at different stages of development with regard to the reforming of teacher education, this paper explores the challenges and the lessons learned from each of the countries with regard to the development and strengthening of pre- and in-service training. The tension between quality, breadth and cost-effectiveness is explored together with a broader discussion of key principles to be taken into account when enhancing teacher education in the region as a whole.     

Nurturing quality of higher education through national ranking: a potential empowerment model for developing countries

This paper reviews the recently introduced National Higher Education ranking system in Indonesia in order to evaluate its potential as a sustainable model to improve the quality of higher education in the country. It is a scaffold towards an established world-universities ranking system that may prove formidable for a developing country. This ranking system is based on four quality criteria, namely quality of academics, of management, of research and of students, each with its own weighting factor and scale. It is found that the actions and inactions of institutions vis á vis their continuous quality improvement may reflect their ranks. In countries where the thirst for higher education is high such as in developing countries, institutions’ ranks play a decisive competitive role. A rational, transparent, bona fide and dependable national ranking system is realistic in helping to improve the quality of higher education in the country.     

探索校企合作长效机制 搭建工学结合育人平台

探索校企合作长效机制,搭建工学结合育人平台,是石家庄职业技术学院教育教学改革的重要内容。近年来,学院将企业引入校园,建设校内生产性实训基地;校企共同投资,建设校外顶岗实训基地;引入企业的真实项目,开展项目引导的教学组织方式改革;了解企业需求,建立稳定的顶岗与就业基地。提出了“人才”供给与需求是校企合作的纽带,技术更新与应用是校企合作的动力,校企双方合作框架的构建、组织机构及制度的完善是合作成功的有力保障的基本构想。对工学结合人才培养模式下的课程体系构建、教学组织、教学团队建设、学生学习能力培养等方面进行了探索。     

Trends in ethnic inequality in the attainment of vocational degrees: a cohort study in Germany

The present article analyzes the development of the ethnic gap—with respect to the attainment of vocational degrees—over the immigration cohorts 1960–2001 by examining how social integration indicators and general secondary school education may help to explain the trend. It was found that the gap between natives and migrants increased. Above all, the large increase in the gap over cohorts between Germans and Turks is alarming. In contrast to that the gap and its increase between the group of immigrants from Central-/Eastern-/Southeastern European countries as well as from other former recruitment countries and German natives is comparably small and can to a large extent be explained by a growing gap regarding the level of general secondary education among the newer immigration cohorts and native Germans due to educational expansion and to a growing impact of the secondary school education for the achievement of vocational education. The effect of social integration plays a smaller role compared to general secondary school education and it even decreases over immigration cohorts.     

Fostering educational participation in pastoral communities through non-formal education: the Ghanaian perspective

This paper is an investigation of the impact of the Shepherd School Program, a non-formal basic education program implemented in seven pastoral communities in northern Ghana. The paper argues that non-formal basic education programs can have an important impact on the educational development of a community. However, for this to be possible, the context of such programs must answer to communities’ social, cultural, economic and other immediate needs.