Adult literacy education and development in Thailand: an historical analysis of policies and programmes from the 1930s to the present

This study of adult literacy education in Thailand analyses the ways in which the Thai state has historically shaped adult literacy education policies for development. For the authoritarian Thai state of the 1940s and 1950s, literacy education was a means of promoting nationalism through an imagined community of Thai citizens. For the developmentalist state of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, literacy education was the means to create a new Thai working class for industrial capitalism and export-oriented growth. For the liberal democratic state of the 1990s, literacy education was re-oriented toward a post-Fordist economy. Most recently, in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis and subsequent IMF and ADB ‘structural adjustment’ policies, state educational policies have shifted to an emphasis on fiscal economics over education. While state ideologies of educational policy are dominant in this historical narrative, they also possess internal contradictions contested by popular movements and social groups outside dominant classes. Literacy education in Thailand is, as such, not only the site of production and reproduction of state ideologies, but also of struggles over their meaning. Thus we find within the authoritarian nationalism of the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for popular democracy through literacy education born of the 1932 Revolution; within the work-oriented literacy programs of the 1970s, a trend towards broader community development inspired by the student revolution of October 1973; and within the neoliberal Thai state's embrace of globalization, a call for further democratization of educational opportunities first promoted by the May 1992 uprising and then embodied in the new Constitution of 1997 and the Education Act of 1999.     

Economic Adjustment,Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

Economic Adjustment, Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

社会化语境下珠三角地区高职教育的缘起与困境探析

社会化语境下的高职教育不仅丰富了我国的教育体系,还体现了区域经济产业结构调整的风向标。珠三角高职教育的发展主要源于珠三角地区的人口城市化、社会管理创新和产业结构转型带来的外部需求。同时,这种实用主义需求带来了高职教育内部的困境,主要表现在内部管理体制结构性失衡、高职教育文化功利化位移、非均衡的内部分配方式及校企合作模式创新困难,这种融入区域经济社会发展带来的内部困境,使珠三角高职教育正面临发展的十字路口。     

Early Investment in Cognitive Development as a Strategy for Reducing Poverty

This paper reviews the possibilities and limitations of programs aimed at promoting early investment in child development programs and early childhood education as a strategy for reducing poverty. It sets modern theories of intellectual development within a broader Eriksonian conception of the whole child. This highlights the links between the cognitive and the affective. Sternberg's "triadic model of intelligence" serves as the organizing framework for this discussion. Having made this case, the paper examines a series of hypotheses regarding essential components of early intervention and educational programs designed to succeed with poor, high risk, underclass families. The results of this review are sobering, and make it clear that superficial efforts and other business-as-usual approaches will not meet with success. Nonetheless, it is also clear that the social and economic costs of the underclass for the community as a whole as well as for those caught within its cycles of poverty and social pathology can justify expensive interventions and still be cost effective and cost efficient. "Succeeding with those who cost the most saves the most in the long run" becomes a principle to complement the well established principle that "those who have the most, gain the most."     

Structural adjustment and education: Adapting to a growing global market

Structural adjustment effects on education have largely been viewed as policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This view overlooks the larger process of structural adjustment in a rapidly growing global economy. This article seeks to locate the structural adjustment implication for education within a global framework. Education's systemic dependence and system influence are identified. Specific educational effects of structural adjustment are discussed, addressing both short-term implications and long-term responses. Educational policy implications and research trends are addressed in the light of the evolving world system of education.     

新形势下高职教育改革的思考

伴随着我国经济结构的不断调整与重组,职业教育的供需关系、人才培养方向都发生了根本性变化,课程改革成为高等职业教育适应社会经济发展新形势的紧迫任务。高职教育的课程改革应该充分结合我国产业状况与教育政策,进行教育目标、教育内容、教育手段、新型师生关系、品牌教育等内容的全方位改革,树立新的高等职业教育观。     

The effects of adjustment on education: A review of asian experience

Summary and conclusions It is difficult to isolate the effects of adjustment policies on education. Even elaborate country studies could not properly assess the definitive effects of adjustment. As Stanley Fischer (1991, p. 526) observed, ‘the evaluation of adjustment lending is not only extremely difficult, but also essential. None of the methods of evaluation are entirely satisfactory’. Here, an attempt has been made to examine the association between adjustment and the development of education. The effects identified can, at best, be treated asprobable effects. While no causal relationship could be found, intense adjustment is generally associated with declines in a variety of indicators on educational development in Asian countries, similar to patterns observed in many other regions. At the same time, it should also be noted that, on the average, while the education sector in Asian countries suffered during adjustment, it also seems to have been relatively well protected from the brutal effects affecting developing countries in other regions experiencing adjustment. The effects of adjustment, however, have not been uniform on all countries of the Asian region, and several economies suffered severely. It has been found that, during the adjustment processes, the proportion of GNP or of total government expenditure allocated to education declined in a majority of the adjusting (including intensely adjusting) countries, even though the corresponding figures also point to a decline in some of the non-adjusting countries. In a large number of the adjusting countries, the relative share of capital expenditure on education declined and that of current expenditure increased. The allocation of resources to primary education seems to have been protected in most countries, except in Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is also true of non-adjusting countries, such an India and Malaysia, where the relative share of primary education actually increased. More importantly, the real expenditure per student in primary education increased significantly in all countries, with the exception of the Philippines and Nepal, during the first half of the 1980s (the only period for which these data are available). Expenditure per student in primary education as a ratio of GNP per capita also increased in all countries, while the corresponding proportion relating to higher education declined in all countris, except in India. All this indicates that concerted efforts have been made by the adjusting as well as the non-adjusting countries in Asia to protect primary education; a remarkable achievement when compared to other developing countries of the world (see Berstecher & Carr-Hill, 1990). Adjusting countries could have protected primary education from budget cuts through social safety-net programmes introduced as a part of adjustment policies in several countries, as in India during the 199s. However, enrolment ratios in primary education declined in two of the intensely adjusting countries, namely in Pakistan and Thailand. Although the gross enrolment ratio in Pakistan is deplorably low (44% in 1990), Bangladesh registered remarkable progress with increases not only in gross but also in net enrolment ratios, which went up from 54% in 1985 to 69% by the end of the 1980s. The number of pupils per teacher in Bangladesh, however, has increased to one of the highest levels in the region, suggesting that quality was traded-off for quantitative expansion. Internal efficiency also increased in all countries of the region. While gender discrimination has been found to have increased as far as the stock of the educated people is concerned, gender discrimination in enrolments has been coming down in all the countries. Lastly, the relative share of the private sector, although limited at present, seems to be increasing. Fees appear to have been introduced even in primary schools in some countries and have had a negative effect on the demand for education and on total enrolments. Increases in the degree of privatization and the introduction/increase of fees in education have been dominant, thought not necessarily explicit, components of adjustment polcies. While, on the whole, the effects of adjustment on education seemed to be mixed, and no striking difference could be observed between adjusting/intensely adjusting and non-adjusting countries in short-term educational development trends in Asia, the tentative evidence from a few countries does suggest a strong association between adjusting policies and a deterioration in educational situations. Such a strong association is clearly discernible with respect to several important indicators of educational development, although not with respect to all. It would be useful to look into this association more closely in one or two selected countries to clearly understand the effects of adjustment on education. Though the problems that will be found and the associations observd in a particular country may be unique, and may not be relevant for others, such country studies would be valuable to draw lessons, not only for the countries concerned, but also for others. The experience of both the Asian (and even other) countries, as well as of international agencies with structural adjustment programmes is short (about ten of fifteen years). As ‘adjustment’ is a long on-going process, analysis of its effects over a short period of time would be premature and problematic, as quick results cannot be expected. More importantly, it is probable that the ‘positive impacts are realized with a considerable time lag, while its adverse effects are immediate and highly visible ... [but these programmes] may not be sustainable, economically and politically, if their immediate [negative] impacts are not mitigated’ (Yanagihara, 1989, p. 319-21). Otherwise, programmes may not be taken to their logical conclusion. Further, gradual adjustment policies have been generally found to be successful in the East Asian economies, rather than a ‘big bang’ approach involving shocks and sudden simultaneous shifts in all policies in an attempt to move forward quickly (Agrawal et al., 1992, p. 182). The latter approach can, in fact, be counter-productive. As a result of the growing research in the area and the interest of international organizations, such as UNICEF, the adverse effects of structural adjustment on social sectors are being monitored by both the donor agencies, such as the World Bank/IMF, and the countries concerned. Accordingly, structural adjustment programmes are being supplemented in a number of countries with sectoral adjustment and ‘social safety nets’ and other contingency programmes, so that the poor are not severely affected. Primary education is one of the important components of such programmes. In general, it is necessary that structural adjustment programmes and education sector adjustment programmes be integrated, and that the adjustment programmes include agreements on increasing public expenditure on education. Structural adjustment policies without such education sector adjustment programmes and social safety-net programmes that guarantee increases in public expenditure on education are likely to cause serious adverse effects. Hence, ‘it is important that structural adjustment agreements recognize the need for countries to commit new resources and reallocate existing resources toward investment sectors, such as basic education, which affect both social welfae and medium- and long-term economic growth’ (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1992, p. 63). Further, it is necessary for the success of the adjustment programmes that the primary responsibility for the concetion of structural adjustment programmes lie with the national authorities that will implement and sustain the programmes; imposed programmes may not work (Malan, 1991, p. 539). The Republic of Korea is a good example of how structural adjustment programmes could succeed because it was undertaken on the basis of its own conviction. This will also help in reducing the political costs of adjustment programmes. With the level of expertise and competence available in the Asian countries one should expect that shifting the primary responsibility to the national governments is perfectly possible, compared to those regions that do not have indigenous expertise. Of late, some flexibility in and softening of the World Bank/IMF’s hard-line views of precisely what an ideal package of structural adjustment reforms should consist of are visible (Ranis, 1987, p. 97), though it may have to be further improved (Tilak, 1992). Lastly, it should be realized by all-the lending institutions and the countries concerned-that education becomes an important input in the success of the adjustment programmes, and hence investment in education is necessary for the very success and sustenance of structural adjustment programmes. Original language: English Jandhyala B.G. Tilak (India) Head of the Educational Finance Unit, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, Ph.D. from Delhi School of Economics. Mr Tilak taught at the University of Virginia, the Indian Institute of Education and the University of Delhi. He was also on the staff of the World Bank. Recent publications includeEducation for development in Asia (1994),Educational planning at grassroots (1991), and several articles on economics, development studies and education. A contributor to theInternational encyclopaedia of education. Editor of theJournal of educational planning and administration and a member of the editorial board ofHigher education policy.     

高等教育与社会就业——一种公共政策的分析

高等教育与社会就业的关系极其复杂,一些研究发现了"就业"与"就学"的相互替代、高等教育发展与经济发展的"反周期"、高等教育调节分割的劳动力就业市场供需关系等现象,这些发现已经具有了公共政策的意义。事实上,很多国家在运用高等教育调节社会就业中取得成功。本文研究了高等教育调节社会就业的理论基础和主要经验,提出了我国现阶段运用高等教育作为公共政策工具调节社会就业的四个方面的政策选择。     

略论20世纪二三十年代中国大学的学科调整--从大学教育与经济现代化的关系的角度看

20世纪二三十年代,国民政府本着“注重实科、限制文法科”的原则,在大学中进行学科和专业的调整,推动了工程教育及其他类实科的发展,初步扭转了清末新教育产生以来大学文、实科比例严重失调的局面,使学科结构实现了相对平衡。这次调整对大学教育产生重要影响,使之与经济现代化的关系更为密切,突出的表现是:一、注重教育与经济和社会需求的紧密结合,从经济和社会实际需要出发进行办学;二、培养了大批经济和社会发展需要的工商业人才;三、针对经济和社会发展中的重大问题开展科学研究,产生一些重要成果;四、注重科研成果的推广和应用,使之转化为现实生产力。由于历史和阶级条件的限制,这次学科调整不可避免地表现出很大的偏颇。     

Connecting Education,Welfare, and Health for American Families

The relationship of education to social mobility, health, and socioeconomic stability is examined in this study. The central question is: how do educational access and attainment reduce poverty and increase social immersion in a system that affords opportunity for quality health care and economic prosperity? An historic perspective, related and compared to current conditions for those who live at or below the poverty line, highlights the extreme difficulties of overcoming the barriers that separate people from consistent quality education, access to quality health care, and the opportunity to move toward economic independence.

The latest statistics showing the significance of socioeconomic status (SES) to cognitive development, educational achievement, healthy living, and social mobility are factors that have and continue to affect large portions of America's poor. The increase of early childhood programs is a beneficial first step in closing the achievement gap, but the physical and mental health problems plaguing the poor must be addressed if we are to reduce the poverty rate and improve educational opportunities for all children.     

秉承使命与权宜应变并行：日本国立教育大学本科专业结构的特征分析

日本高等师范学校遭遇数次“存废”之争,最终以“教育大学”的姿态延续至今。教师培养课程（师范类专业）和新课程（非师范专业）共同组成日本国立教育大学的本科专业体系。作为全国教师教育体系的核心据点,日本国立教育大学始终秉行使命,深耕教师培养课程,全面涵盖与初中等教育和教学科目对应的专业,以培养具备高度专业水准的教师为己任。新课程作为应对少子化造成教师需求量下降问题而采取的权宜之计,改变了日本国立教育大学本科专业的单一结构,其体量相对较小。政府在新课程的开设及其从激增到式微的过程中占据主导地位。由于特定历史根源与社会背景,日本国立教育大学本科专业形成了综合、细分、立体等结构特征。在自主与自律的基础上,日本国立教育大学持续优化专业结构,以寻求自立发展。     

Human Resource Development in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis

Eight examples of East Asian economics/societies/educational systems are examined so that common assumptions about links between investment in human resource development and rapid economic growth may be questioned, and so that the role of formal education in enabling, causing, or shaping economic development may be clarified. The role of education is considered at its interface with events and attitudes in the economic, social, and political domains, during the post-World War II period. Particular attention is paid to the three basic levels of education, to the status of technical/vocational education, and to the nature of the curriculum, in each of these societies.

Basing their thinking on key indicators, not only of economic growth, but also of structural changes and development, as well as on data from country-specific chapters in a recent research publication, the authors cite evidence to cast doubt on the idea of a single East Asian model. They conclude that the differences between and within the eight societies are at least as significant as the commonalities, that their data and findings have more implications for economic than for educational policy, and that it would be dangerous to assume that economic growth and development are likely to be constants.     

反思与批判:新自由主义思潮影响下的西方教育重建

新自由主义思潮在西方国家逐渐流行,对学校教育改革产生了重要影响.在新自由主义思潮的推动下,西方社会寻求走“第三条道路”,不断借助于政府和市场的双重力量推动教育重建,对教育理念、教育制度、学校运作模式、教育评价方式等进行全方位的改革,打破了现代教育制度的固有模式和体制.然而教育变革却使得西方“个人主义”更加泛滥,学校教育远离公平,是资本主义意识形态的全球扩张.反思和批判新自由主义教育思潮为我国的教育改革提供了有益的思考.     

Möglichkeiten außerschulischer Hilfen in der Bearbeitung von Bildungsbenachteiligung: Potenziale und Grenzen ausgewählter Handlungsfelder der Jugendsozialarbeit

Even though social inequalities in education are often dealt with in out-of-school social work programs, this has been largely neglected by educational research in recent years. The present paper therefore presents the different fields of action in youth social work as means of compensatory education and discusses research findings regarding its use and effectiveness. The difficulty of measuring their effectiveness is not only due to a fragmented research field, but also reflects the fundamental contradiction between structural problems and their pedagogical treatment. The paper ends with a reflection on the importance of out-of-school programs to help adolescents with difficult course of lives.     

政府统筹下中高职协调发展的对策研究

随着经济发展方式转变和产业结构调整,很多岗位对人员知识与技能要求越来越高。目前职业教育与社会需求脱节,造成＂结构性失业＂的现象很严重。解决这个问题,就要处理好职业教育与经济社会发展的关系,突破培养层次局限,系统地培养技能型人才,促进中等职业教育和高等职业教育协调发展,最根本的是要营造有利于中高职协调发展的政策环境。     

Childhood,neo‐liberalism and the feminization of education

This paper brings together analyses from childhood and gender studies with macro‐economic analysis to offer new perspectives on current educational debates, including the current role of education within broader discussions. Girls’ recent (supposed) educational success is situated within economic and cultural contexts to explore how discussions of gender, childhood and development both express and, paradoxically, obscure these. Analysis of popular discourses surrounding children and childhood is used to suggest that the sentimentalized (girl) child has come to represent a new neo‐liberal subject, such that contemporary discourses of childhood and feminization typically distract attention from more meaningful structural analyses ‐ that would crucially include further analyses of gender and childhood.     

Education and inequality: The case of Maragoli,Kenya

It is often maintained that mere qualitative expansion of schooling in a fee-paying system tends to increase rather than reduce educational and economic inequalities. Liberal views of education as a social leveller are rejected. Critics of the latter views claim that improvements in educational opportunity gravitate towards already advantaged sectors of society who simply have their advantage compounded. The disadvantaged, on the other hand gradually lose their grip on the educational ladder.In this paper these notions will be criticised on the grounds that they assume a determinate and mechanical relation between educational and economic position. In addition it will be seen, in the light of evidence from Western Kenya, that under conditions in which the bulk of households are closely connected to wage labour markets (which select recruits according to educational criteria) it is the popular social classes which have taken up the slack in increased educational provision. The previously advantaged educational position of the middle class and larger farmers is being steadily eroded.     

Education in the Near East

The educational problem of the Near East is that of all oriental peoples: namely, to adjust the new education of the West to the traditional social structure of the East, and through this adjustment or substitution to create the basis for a modern national state in a unified nationalistic culture; to substitute a realistic education for a verbalistic one which found all of culture in a religious literature; to affect the entire mass of the population through the technique of modern elementary and popular education; to create and develop a technical education which will affect the fundamental life needs of the people as they now exist.     

Changes in Social Capital and Networks: A Study of Community-Based Environmental Management Through a School-Centered Research Program

Social network analysis (SNA) is a social science research tool that has not been applied to educational programs. This analysis is critical to documenting the changes in social capital and networks that result from community based K-12 educational collaborations. We review SNA and show an application of this technique in a school-centered, community based environmental monitoring research (CBEMR) program. This CBEMR employs K-12 students, state and local government employees, environmental organization representatives, local businesses, colleges, and community volunteers. As citizen scientists and researchers, collaborators create a database of local groundwater quality to use as a baseline for long-term environmental health management and public education. Past studies have evaluated the reliability of data generated by students acting as scientists, but there have been few studies relating to power dynamics, social capital, and resilience in school-centered CBEMR programs. We use qualitative and quantitative data gathered from a science education program conducted in five states in the northeastern United States. SPSS and NVivo data were derived from semi-structured interviews with thirty-nine participants before and after their participation in the CBEMR. Pajek software was used to determine participant centralities and power brokers within networks. Results indicate that there were statistically significant increases in social capital and resilience in social networks after participation in the school-centered CBEMR program leading to an increased community involvement in environmental health management. Limiting factors to the CBMER were based on the educator/administration relationship.