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.     

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.     

浅析国内外高等职业教育

高等职业教育已成为中国教育体系的一个重要组成部分,经过二十年的发展,中国的高等职业教育正在迎接二十一世界的挑战。面对世界经济和教育发展的现状,我们深切感到,我们的现代化建设,不仅需要不术型、研究型人才,也需要大批应用型、高级技艺型人才。而学习和借鉴国外的先进经验,对推动我国职业教育是十分必要的。     

Cross-boundary collaboration and knowledge creation in an online higher education course

This study investigated an international, inter-university and multidisciplinary online course with the aim of helping higher education students develop competencies for solving complex problems in collaboration with their peers and stakeholders. The course design was informed by the knowledge creation framework and ideas about cross-boundary collaboration. We attempted to enrich perspectives on knowledge creation by investigating how higher education students (N = 42) from different fields of study and from 17 different nationalities perceived, built and regulated cross-boundary collaboration in the pursuit of real-life problems presented by companies or non-governmental organisations. Drawing on data from 11 in-depth group interviews and team reports of students who had completed this course, we showed the kinds of activities the students considered relevant for cross-boundary collaboration and knowledge creation online. Given this extended context for knowledge creation, the study contributes to the pedagogical development of online learning in higher education.     

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.     

Comparative and sociological perspectives on Third World development and education

Insofar as there has been any coherent theoretical basis for orthodox comparative education during the 1970's, it has derived from American modernisation theories of the 1960's. The weak explanatory power of these theories and the inability of most Third World countries to solve their educational problems have led to a growing pessimism about educational planning and increasing attention to nonformal, lifelong and distance education programs concerned with literacy and rural development.New intellectual currents during the 1970's created several alternatives to orthodox comparative education. The most important of these, based on dependency theory, has partly reduced the ethnocentrism of comparative research, but national traditions are still strongly entrenched. Comparative education based on either modernisation or dependency theories is still ill-equipped to provide Third World countries with either an understanding of the international context of their educational problems or an appropriate set of guidelines for educational planning.Both orthodox and radical varieties of comparative education are forms of cultural imperialism, against which Third World countries need to develop their own, more appropriate, traditions of comparative research.

---

Zusammenfassung Insoweit es während der 70er Jahre überhaupt eine zusammenhängende theoretische Basis für die orthodoxe vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft gegeben hat, leitet sie sich aus den amerikanischen Modernisierungstheorien der 60er Jahre ab. Die schwache Erklärungskraft dieser Theorien und das Unvermögen der meisten Länder der Dritten Welt, ihre Bildungsprobleme zu lösen, haben zu wachsendem Pessimismus gegenüber der Bildungsplanung geführt und die Aufmerksamkeit zunehmend auf nicht-formelle, lebenslange und Fernbildungsprogramme gelenkt, welche die Beseitigung des Analphabetentums und ländliche Entwicklung zum Ziele haben.Neue intellektuelle Strömungen in den 70er Jahren haben verschiedene Alternativen zu orthodoxer vergleichender Erziehungswissenschaft gezeitigt. Die wichtigste, auf der Abhängigkeitstheorie beruhende unter diesen Alternativen hat den Ethnozentrismus teilweise reduziert, doch sind nationale Traditionen noch tief verwurzelt. Noch immer ist die entweder auf Modernisierung oder auf Abhängigkeitstheorien gegründete vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft außerstande, den Ländern der Dritten Welt ein Verständnis der internationalen Zusammenhänge ihrer Bildungsprobleme zu vermitteln und ihnen brauchbare Richtlinien für Bildungsplanung zu liefern.Sowohl die orthodoxen als auch die radikalen Varianten der vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft sind Formen von kulturellem Imperialismus, gegen den die Länder der Dritten Welt ihre eigenen, angemesseneren Traditionen für vergleichende Forschung entwickeln müssen.

---

Résumé Pour autant que l'éducation comparée orthodoxe ait eu une base théorique cohérente au cours des années 70, celle-ci dérivait des théories de modernisation américaines des années 60. La faible puissance explicative de ces théories ainsi que l'incapacité de la plupart des pays du Tiers Monde à résoudre leurs problèmes d'éducation, ont engendré un pessimisme croissant regardant la planification de l'éducation et l'attention accrue portée aux programmes d'éducation non formelle, permanente, et à distance touchant le développement rural aussi bien que l'alphabétisation.Pendant les années 70, de nouveaux courants intellectuels ont ouvert plusiers alternatives à l'éducation comparée orthodoxe. La plus importante, basée sur la theorie de la dépendance, a partiellement réduit l'ethnocentrisme de la recherche comparative, mais les traditions nationales sont encore solidement retranchées. L'éducation comparée fondée sur la modernisation, ou bien sur les théories de la dépendance, est encore trop mal équipée pour fournir aux pays du Tiers Monde soit une compréhension du contexte international de leurs problèmes éducatifs, soit un jeu d'orientations appropriées pour la planification de l'éducation.Les variétés orthodoxes de l'éducation comparée, comme les variétés radicales, sont des formes d'impérialisme culturel et il est nécessaire que les pays du Tiers Monde réagissent contre cet impérialisme en développant leurs propres traditions de recherche comparative qui sont plus appropriées.

     

World education finance policies and higher education access: A statistical analysis of World Development Indicators for 86 countries

This study uses panel data models to analyze international indicators and examines the relationship between education finance policies and higher education access among 86 countries from 1998 to 2009. We find that public expenditure per tertiary student bears a negative association with tertiary enrollment ratios, whereas GDP per capita and public spending on education as a percentage of GDP both have a positive effect on tertiary enrollment. These results imply that for a fixed amount of total budget and rising demands for higher education, various nations have reduced spending per college student and drawn on more private resources to expand higher education access.     

略论合作教育在我国素质教育中的地位和作用

素质教育是提高我国国际竞争力的重要战略措施，但竞争与合作又是辨证的，合作教育可以将竞争与合作统一起来，是推动素质教育之中，要根据中国国情进行吸收和改造。     

《教育世界》与西方教育的传入

《教育世界》是我国最早的教育专业杂志,是第一个向国人系统地传播西方教育的窗口。它积极引入西方的教育制度、教育思想、极大地冲南啊旧的封建教育思想和教育体制,对清末新教育的发展起了重要作用。     

Popular theatre and nonformal education in the Third World: Five strands of experience

Popular theatre is gaining increasing attention in the Third World as a tool for popular education and community organizing. It finds expression in a number of forms including drama, music dance, puppetry and poetry and is performed for — and often by — ordinary peasants and workers. Popular theatre is used as a means of bringing people together, building confidence and solidarity, stimulating discussion, exploring alternative options for action, and building a collective commitment to change: starting with people's urgent concerns and issues, it encourages reflection on these issues and possible strategies for change.Popular theatre, however, is not a unified discipline. It is used by different groups for different interests, ranging from a technocratic, message-oriented domestication theatre at one end of the spectrum to a process of consciousness-raising, organization-building and struggle at the other end. Five main strands of popular theatre can be distinguished: (a) the struggle for national liberation; (b) mass education and rural extension; (c) community or participatory development; (d) conscientization or popular education; and (e) popular education and organizing.At its best, popular theatre is not an isolated performance or a cathartic experience, but part of an ongoing process of education and organizing, aimed at overcoming oppression and dependence, and at securing basic rights.

---

Zusammenfassung Als ein Instrument der Volksbildung und der Gemeinwesenarbeit gewinnt das Volkstheater in der Dritten Welt ständig an Aufmerksamkeit. Es findet Ausdruck in einer Vielzahl von Formen wie Drama, Musik, Tanz, Puppentheater und Poesie. Es wird aufgeführt für — und häufig von — einfachen Bauern und Arbeitern. Volkstheater wird eingesetzt, um Menschen zusammenzuführen, Vertrauen und Solidarität aufzubauen, eine Diskussion anzuregen, alternative Möglichkeiten für Aktionen zu erforschen und um, ausgehend von dringenden Belangen und Fragen, gemeinschaftliche Verpflichtung zur Veränderung der Verhältnisse aufzubauen. Überdies ermutigt es zu Reflektionen zu solchen Fragen und möglichen Strategien für Veränderung.Volkstheater ist jedoch keine einheitliche Disziplin. Es wird von unterschiedlichen Gruppen für verschiedenartige Interessen verwendet. Diese reichen vom technokratischen, Nachrichtenorientierten Domestizierungstheater an einem Ende des Spektrums zu einem Prozeß der Bewußtseinserweiterung, des Organisationsaufbauens und des Kampfes am anderen Ende. Es können fünf Hauptrichtungen des Volkstheaters unterschieden werden: (a) der Kampf um nationale Befreiung; (b) die Massenschulung und Ausweitung in ländlichen Gebieten; (c) die Gemeinwesen-oder partizipatorische Entwicklung; (d) die Bewußtmachung oder Volksbildung; und (e) Volksbildung und -organisierung.In seiner höchsten Form ist Volkstheater weder eine isolierte Veranstaltung noch ein kathartisches Erlebnis, sondern Teil eines weiterführenden Prozesses der Erziehung und des Organisierens mit dem Ziel, Unterdrückung und Abhängigkeit zu überwinden und Grundrechte zu sichern.

---

Résumé Le théâtre populaire jouit dans le Tiers Monde d'un intérêt de plus en plus grand en tant qu'instrument d'éducation populaire et d'organisation de la communauté. Il trouve son expression dans un grand nombre de formes comprenant l'art dramatique, la musique, la danse, les marionnettes et la poésie; il est joué pour, et souvent, par de simples paysans et ouvriers. Le théâtre populaire est un moyen utilisé pour rassembler les peuples, faire naître la confiance et la solidarité, stimuler la discussion, prospecter les options alternatives pour l'action et élaborer un engagement collectif pour le changement.Cependant, le théâtre populaire n'est pas une discipline homogène. Il est utilisé par différents groupes et à des fins différentes allant du théâtre technocratique de domestication orienté vers le message, au début de la gamme, au processus d'élévation de la conscience, de formation de l'organisation et de lutte, pour terminer. On peut distinguer cinq grandes tâches dans le théâtre populaire: (a) la lutte pour l'indépendance nationale; (b) l'éducation de masse et le développement rural; (c) le développement communautaire ou participatoire; (d) la conscientisation ou l'éducation populaire; et (e) l'éducation populaire et l'organisation.Pour dire le mieux, le théâtre populaire n'est pas une exécution isolée ni une expérience cathartique, mais c'est la partie d'un processus continu d'éducation et d'organisation visant à supprimer l'oppression et la dépendence, et à garantir les droits fondamentaux.

     

Knowledge building: aligning education with needs for knowledge creation in the digital age

Educational technology research and development - This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digital age using the Knowledge Building model and...     

New educational technologies: Their impact on relationships of dependence and interdependence for Third World countries

The widening gap between North and South is more than economic: it is a knowledge and power gap. The influence of the present information revolution on education in the West, unprecedented in its rate and scope of expansion, is increasing the information gap at an alarming rate. Should Third World countries use new educational technologies (NET) as a tool for development? Can they afford it? Will borrowing NET perpetuate the present dependency of the Third World? This paper argues that Third World countries will continue to be technologically dependent because of research and development in the West. The solution lies in the balance of power theory — selective transfer of NET appropriate for their level of development, to strengthen their bargaining position. Mass education and the development of indigenous technological capacity are implied. Bargaining capacity would reduce dependency, create greater interdependence and change the equation of power.