Teacher incentives in the Third World

Based on Kemmerer's earlier work on teacher incentives, this study examined the extent that teacher incentives (or the type that might be influenced by central ministries of education) were related to teachers' instructional practices and career satisfaction of junior secondary school teachers in Botswana. Results indicated that the level of incentives teachers received was meaningfully related to teachers' career satisfaction, but was not related to teachers' classroom teaching practices. Findings suggest that, while incentives to improve teachers' overall career satisfaction might stimulate teacher recruitment and encourage retention in teaching, those incentives would not necessarily lead to improved instructional practices.     

Combating Poverty: The Third World within the First World

This study addresses issues related to international strategies of lifelong education. The case of the United Kingdom is used to explore the degree to which approaches based on human-capital strategies can contribute to resolving inequalities. It is argued that claims made for the role of education as a means of protecting individual and national economic welfare have become almost hegemonic in nature. Yet these claims conceal stark internal contradictions. New work in the future may actually require less skills than at present; massive high-skill and high-income employment is unlikely. This study takes the view that most current forms of education employ a utilitarian discourse that depoliticises learning and individualises achievement. The author contends that a more appropriate way forward in lifelong education lies in developing a critical consciousness – a feature of education for the dispossessed in all contexts.     

Combating Poverty: The Third World within the First World

This study addresses issues related to international strategies of lifelong education. The case of the United Kingdom is used to explore the degree to which approaches based on human-capital strategies can contribute to resolving inequalities. It is argued that claims made for the role of education as a means of protecting individual and national economic welfare have become almost hegemonic in nature. Yet these claims conceal stark internal contradictions. New work in the future may actually require less skills than at present; massive high-skill and high-income employment is unlikely. This study takes the view that most current forms of education employ a utilitarian discourse that depoliticises learning and individualises achievement. The author contends that a more appropriate way forward in lifelong education lies in developing a critical consciousness – a feature of education for the dispossessed in all contexts.     

试论波普的第三世界理论

本从第三世界的客观性是知识增长的源泉、第三世界的自主性是知识增长的动力、理解的二重性是实现知识增长和人类自我超越的关键这三个方面对波普的第三世界理论在知识增长和人类实现自我超越中的重大作用给以评析，从而揭示出波普的第三世界理论在当今知识经济时代仍具有不可低估的作用。本尤其对第三世界的自主权与知识经济发展之间的必然联系给以详述。     

Teen pregnancies dip in Third World countries

This brief article highlights the decline in adolescent pregnancy in developing countries. Findings are based on an analysis of the Risks and Realities of Early Childbearing Worldwide by the Allan Guttmacher Institute. Declines were evident in Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and some places in Latin America. Historically, the largest proportion of youth is constituted by those aged 10-19 years--20% of the world's 5.7 billion people. Adolescents number nearly 1.1 billion, of whom 913 million live in developing countries and 260 million live in developed countries. There are about 15 million births to adolescents worldwide. This constitutes over 10% of all births. Delayed childbearing is the reason for the decline in adolescent pregnancy. Declines were large in China, where only 8% of women aged 20-25 years had their first child during adolescence compared to 22% among women aged 40-44 years. In Sri Lanka, adolescent pregnancy declined to 16% of women aged 20-25 years and to 31% of women aged 40-44 years, respectively. The declines were from 26% to 21% in the Philippines and from 51% to 33% in Indonesia. Delayed childbearing brings significant health benefits to the mother and the child. Child mortality risk is 2-4 times higher among women aged under 17 years compared to women aged 20 years and older. Infant mortality risk is greater by 30% or more among babies whose mothers are aged 15-19 years compared to babies whose mothers are aged 20-29 years.     

Vocational Education in the Third World: revisiting the debate

Abstract

This article revisits the unresolved international debate, taking place since the 1960s, on the issue of vocational education. Is the introduction of pre‐vocational programmes at the pre‐university levels of the education systems of the developing nations the answer to the growing problem of unemployment among the educated in these countries? It argues that current inflationary economic conditions and the acute dearth of public sector jobs appear to be causing school graduates to be more willing to receive vocational training in order to earn a more secure living. It is therefore suggested that the nature and practice of vocational education be redefined to suit the current needs of both students and society.     

Computers in Third World schools: the example of China

The introduction to this article discusses a dilemma facing many Third World countries: should they place computers in their schools and, if so, for what purposes? The author outlines four common rationales—the Social, Vocational, Pedagogical and Catalytic—and refers to two less common ones—the Information Technology Industry and Cost-effectiveness Rationales. The main text describes policy in China at national level, and analyses policy and practice in Beijing City and Zhejiang Province. The paper is based on an international co-operative study of computers in African, Asian and Arabic- speaking schools, funded by the Harold Macmillan Trust.     

Higher education in the Third World: status symbol or instrument for development?

Southern countries have invested rather heavily in higher education. Yet, their development is severely hampered by problems originating from both national policy conditions and institutional weaknesses. This paper presents an analysis of these problems through a critical analysis of the World Bank Report onEducation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies for Adjustment, Revitalization and Expansion. The paper further highlights the results of a recently published comparative study of higher agricultural education institutions in ten countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. By carefully examining the concrete mandates, expectations and actual possibilities of higher education institutions, this paper tries to explore the academic and societal frontiers of higher education in the South. The paper ends by suggesting ways to improve higher education in the South by using the instrument of South-North university co-operation.     

第三世界与21世纪国际新秩序

未来 10年 ,将是国际政治、经济新秩序的建立并替代旧秩序的关键时期 ,围绕建立国际政治、经济新秩序的国际政治斗争将在世界范围内全面展开。尽管美国和西方国家在国际新秩序的构建过程中不可避免地将居于主导地位 ,但决不是说第三世界国家就可以任人宰割 ,无所作为 ,完全屈从西方的优势。相反 ,第三世界仍然是 2 1世纪国际政治、经济和安全新秩序建设进程中不可或缺的力量 ,具有不可替代的作用。首先 ,尽管第三世界的整体实力较之美国与西方居于劣势 ,但也有所长 ,且呈增势 ,与美国和西方的实力对比差距无疑正在逐步缩小。其次 ,全球化加深了世界各国的相互依赖性 ,美国及西方国家在政治、经济、安全等领域对第三世界的依赖也在加深。第三 ,在政治上 ,第三世界还是制约美国及西方的霸权主张 ,促使国际新秩序臻于合理的中坚力量。第四 ,从国际格局看 ,第三世界还是世界走向多极化的重要政治基础。第五 ,第三世界是解决全球治理问题 ,建立国际安全保障体系的基本力量。在美国和西方国家占居实力优势和主导地位的不利条件下 ,第三世界国家要挫败美国与西方支持的国际新秩序模式 ,争取建立符合自己发展利益要求的、以公平、公正为原则的国际政治、经济新秩序 ,必须经过不懈努力。首先 ,要坚持不懈地发展综     

Training Teachers to Use Computers in Third World Schools

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on research on the use of computers in Third World schools undertaken with the help of a grant from the Harold Macmillan Trust and the assistance of teachers and others in 23 Third World countries. In it we stress tfft importance of training all staff concerned in the introduction of computers into Third World schools, including the policy makers. We discuss training in the early days of introducing the innovation, and how a training cascade may or may not help. We examine the link between motivation to be trained and the prospect of leading change. We point out the virtues of teachers learning about computers in private and the need for software evaluation criteria for teachers to use. We look briefly at the links between training, the curriculum and assessment and at the training of programmers and technicians. We conclude that policy makers need to share with school principals, teachers, teacher educators and computer education specialists or consultants the task of reframing policy while reliable understanding of the state of the innovation emerges and the innovating group matures as a training resource in its own right     

Education data quality in the Third World: A five country study

This study examined the extent to which ministry level decision makers in five developing countries had confidence in the quality of the national level education data available to them, the extent that respondents' judgments of data quality were consistent with more objective analyses of the accuracy of selected national level data, and the reasons to which ministry officials and headmasters attributed inaccuracies in the data. Results indicate that government and school officials assign great importance to numeric data, but that they believe their national data to show error rates ranging from 16 to 40 per cent. There was low correspondence between respondents' perceptions of data quality and the more objective measures of data quality available in three of the countries. The source of error was widely thought to be failure at the school level to make accurate records or returns. Three implications are brought out: the need to provide evidence of quality of data in order to overcome unwillingness to base decisions on data perceived as flawed; the need for a realistic assessment of the level of accuracy required for reasonable decisions to be taken; and the need for training at the school level, together with some incentive for headteachers to make accurate returns.

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Zusammenfassung In dieser Studie werden die folgenden Punkte untersucht: a) wie hoch schätzten Entscheidungsträger der Ministerien in fünf Entwicklungsländern die Qualität der ihnen vorliegenden Daten über das Erziehungswesen auf nationaler Ebene ein, b) wie weit teilten die Schulverwalter als hauptsächliche Informationsgeber ihre Ansichten, c) wie weit stimmten die Beurteilungen der Schulleiter über die Datenqualität mit objektiveren Einschätzungen über die Genauigkeit ausgewählter Daten auf Nationalebene überein und d) die Gründe, die nach Meinung der Entscheidungsträger und Schulleiter für Ungenauigkeiten in den Daten verantwortlich sind. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, daß Regierungen und Schulbeauftragte numerischen Daten große Bedeutung beimessen, sie aber der Meinung sind, daß ihre nationalen Daten Fehlerquoten von 16%–40% aufweisen. Es bestand wenig Übereinstimmung zwischen den Auffassungen der Schulleiter über die Datenqualität und den vorliegenden objektiveren Einschätzungen in drei der betreffenden Länder. Die Fehlerquelle wurde weithin in der Unfähigkeit auf Schulebene gesehen, genaue Angaben und Berichte zu erstellen. Es gibt drei Schlußfolgerungen: die Notwedigkeit, die Qualität der Daten zu beweisen, um die Abneigung, Entscheidungen aufgrund fehlerhaft empfundener Daten zu treffen, zu überwinden; der Bedarf realistischer Einschätzung der Datengenauigkeit, die für vernünftige Entscheidungen erforderlich ist und der Bedarf an Fortbildung auf Schulebene, begleitet von Anreizen für Schulleiter, genaue Angaben zu machen.

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Résumé La présente étude examine le degré de confiance des décideurs du niveau ministériel de cinq pays en développement dans la qualité des données relatives à l'éducation et évaluées au niveau national qui sont mises à leur disposition, elle analyse dans quelle mesure les points de vue des interviewés sur la qualité des données correspondent aux analyses plus objectives de l'exactitude des données du niveau national qui sont sélectionnées et les raisons pour lesquelles les fonctionnaires des ministères et les directeurs d'écoles y voient des inexactitudes. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que le gouvernement et les fonctionnaires des écoles attachent une grande importance aux données numériques, mais qu'ils pensent que les données nationales qui leur sont fournies renferment un taux d'erreur allant de 16 à 40 pour cent. On a trouvé une faible corrélation entre les perceptions que les personnes interrogées ont de la qualité des données et les évaluations plus objectives de cette qualité qui ont été recensées dans trois de ces pays. Cette erreur a été attribuée dans l'ensemble à l'incapacité des écoles à établir des rapports ou comptes rendus exacts. On met en évidence trois implications: la nécessité de fournir des indices de qualité des données afin de lutter contre les décisions fondées sur des données perçues comme erronées; l'importance d'une évaluation réaliste du degré d'exactitude requis pour que les décisions prises soient convenables; le besoin de formation au niveau scolaire ainsi que de récompenses visant à encourager les directeurs d'écoles à effectuer des rapports exacts.