The successful education sector development in Tanzania – comment on gender balance and inclusive education

In this paper we discuss to what extent the international and national equality goals regarding gender balance and inclusive education have been reached in the education sector development in Tanzania. According to recent reports, the development trend has been generally positive, and the country is close to achieving its primary education targets. More detailed reviews suggest, however, that current monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are too narrow to catch the critical factors regarding equality, particularly in secondary education. Our comment concerns the achievements and challenges, and emphasises the significance of a multidimensional set of information including in‐depth qualitative research on connections between socio‐cultural factors and education.     

Higher education and women’s empowerment in Pakistan

This paper summarises the findings of a 2005 doctoral study by Malik which explored to what extent participation in higher education offers empowerment to women in Pakistan. A survey instrument was used to question female faculty members and female students from 10 public universities in Pakistan; 1290 students and 290 faculty members responded. Subsequently, semi‐structured interviews were held with 10 faculty members and 10 students. Respondents highlighted economic independence and an increased standing within family and society as the main benefits of higher education participation. A major finding is that participation in higher education enables women to impact on a number of discriminatory practices simultaneously and thereby effect change for the better. The main recommendation is that future educational strategies be developed with the aim of further promoting gender equality in all areas of education in Pakistan, but particularly with the aim of increasing female students’ participation in higher education.     

Between returns and respectability: parental attitudes towards girls’ education in rural Punjab,Pakistan

This article focuses upon perceptions of girls’ education in the family context within which decisions around children’s education and opportunities are made. The article presents a framework showing how parental attitudes to girls’ education are shaped by an objective logic framed by the notion of returns, relating to potential benefits of daughters’ education, and respectability, relating to girls’ modesty and threats that education may present to normative expectations for girls. Drawing upon data collected in 2011 in rural areas of the districts of Faisalabad (Jaranwala town) and Chiniot (Tehsil Chiniot) in the province of Punjab, the study highlights how assumptions around the liberating effects of education implicit in global education programmes fail to take into account cultural values around gender norms that are central to informing parental attitudes towards their daughters’ prospects for education.     

‘I was the special ed. girl’: urban working‐class young women of colour

Recent criticism of the over‐representation of minority students in special education do not adequately account for gender, despite the fact that urban special education classrooms in the USA are largely populated by young men of colour. In fact, we know very little about how being female shapes the experiences and understandings of young women of colour labelled disabled in schools. Using an interdisciplinary framework informed by Black feminist studies, disability studies, and class studies, we analyse autobiographical portraits of five young women of colour who received special education services. Focusing on their perspectives of life in and out of school, we examine how they understand and negotiate multiple subject positions and actively and creatively work to resist these constraints.     

Contested womanhood: women’s education and (re)production of gendered norms in rural Pakistani Muslim communities

In a world marred by the fears of religious extremism, Muslim women have become subjects of various global projects that aim to modernize ‘traditional’ Muslim societies through women’s education and empowerment. Embedded in these discourses is an assumption that all educated Muslim women will empower themselves through challenging the ‘oppressive’ structures of their families and communities. This paper challenges these homogeneous narratives of education and empowerment through highlighting the complexities of educated women’s daily lives in rural Pakistan. We situate the lived experiences of rural educated Pakistani women in global mainstream as well as in local historical narratives regarding the role and purpose of education for women. Our analysis reveals how the educated women participants’ lives were shaped by a complex gendered hierarchy that facilitated educated women to take on new roles while simultaneously requiring them to maintain harmonious relationships with family and community members.     

论性别敏感教育

如何认识性别与性别平等,如何对待性别差异是性别教育实施的重要前提.以性别中立与性别化教育为代表的传统性别教育模式,其性别概念认知是片面的,性别平等诉求是模糊的,实施方式是扁平化的,育人成效背离了育人目标.性别敏感教育在反思传统性别教育局限的基础上,结合女性主义对性别分析,认识到性别是由生理性别和社会性别建构而成,强调性...     

基于社会性别平等维度的师范教育

科学的社会性别平等教育对和谐社会的建设至关重要。师范院校因其示范性、人文性、延续性的特点,在加强大学生性别平等教育方面责无旁贷。要从培养学生正确的社会性别意识着手,把科学的性别平等意识纳入课程、教育内容和教学方法改革中,对师范生进行全方位的性别教育,努力做好性别平等工作,推进社会正常、有序、和谐发展。     

对当前幼儿园性别教育的几点思考

时代的发展和文明的进步使人获得了比以往任何时候更多的发展空间和机会。然而,在现代社会的发展中,性别教育并没有受到足够的重视,传统的性别文化仍牢牢的束缚和限制着人的发展,这对现代社会中的幼儿的成长是十分不利的。因此,对在幼儿园进行合理的、适宜的幼儿性别教育提出了一些思考。     

关于幼儿性别认同教育的研究

性别认同教育是幼儿心理健康教育的重要方面,关系着幼儿未来的发展。本文从性别认同的界定开始阐述了其内容,通过对影响因素的分析,最终提出了性别认同教育的策略,其中不断渗透着双性化教育的思想。     

Gaps in management education： A case study of University of Management and Technology

This paper aims to identify the gaps in management education highlighted by 3 primary stakeholders： students, faculty and alumni. The study tries to address the issue of relevance and compatibility of management education and investigates areas of improvement perceived by respondents. The paper assumes that business departments of universities have to bring changes in learning strategies to meet the requirements of stakeholders. This research takes UMT （University of Management and Technology） as a case study and presents gaps in management education. Data are collected from all the 3 stakeholders： students, faculty and alumni of MBA （Master in Business Administration） program offered at UMT. The survey is administered using an exclusively-designed research instrument and the data set of 211 students, 55 faculty members and 145 alumni is analysed using appropriate statistical techniques. The management of business schools should develop an integrated and well-coordinated mechanism to share common vision and strategies among stakeholders. A need to revise current MBA curriculum is identified, which emphasizes on the development of different types of skills among MBAs to make the program compatible with the existing corporate sector. The universities dealing in management education are recommended to redesign their curriculum in a more integrated and coordinated way in anticipation with aspiration of the existing corporate sector, which would then help reduce the identified gaps among stakeholders. The management of business schools should have a continuous assessment mechanism incorporating the feed back of all stakeholders, particularly students, faculty and alumni. The paper makes a fruitful contribution to the existing academic literature through an empirical investigation in Pakistani environment. A critical discussion is carried out, and gaps in management education are highlighted, which may motivate management institutions to revise their curriculums.     

Supporting students with impairments in higher education: social inclusion or cold comfort?

This paper uses a discursive analysis to examine the experience of ‘inclusion’ from several stakeholder groups in one university. The research team included disability support staff at the institution, external disability consultants and academic researchers. A critical focus group investigation centred on four groups: students who were identified as having an impairment (SWIs), academic staff (teachers), administrators and students who did not identify as having an impairment (non‐SWIs). Interviews had facilitators with both research and disability expertise. Groups recounted different experiences of inclusion. SWIs, drawing on a rights discourse, emphasised a lack of resourcing and barriers created by the teaching staff. In contrast, teachers, administrators and (to a lesser extent) non‐SWIs emphasised the importance of social inclusion, reflecting discourses around needs and humanist notions of care and support, which largely seemed to miss the core of SWI concerns about recognition of their technical competence. For all groups, questions around disclosure of disability were of greater concern than tensions between needs and rights or the recent publication of a Code of Practice for the higher education sector. The findings challenged some of the researchers’ own assumptions, with unexpected implications for practice.     

Challenging the myths about madaris in Pakistan: A national household survey of enrolment and reasons for choosing religious schools

There is speculation about madaris in Pakistan as sources of terrorists and about levels and reasons for enrolment, but a dearth of empirical data. We studied madarsah enrolment among 53,960 representative households; 853 focus groups of parents discussed enrolment choices. In 2004, 2.6% of all children (3.8% of school-going children) aged 5–9 years attended a madarsah. Children from urban and less educated households were more likely to attend a madarsah, but there was no difference by sex of the child or household vulnerability. Parents chose madaris because they offered an Islamic education. Our findings challenge misconceptions about madaris in Pakistan.