Education in developing countries: the view from Mount Olympus

In a recent issue ofProspects we published a review of the World Bank's recent publication,Education Sector Working Paper. This publication represents a major policy statement by the Bank on the subject of education and significant (not to say radical) departure from previous policies. It is a document all the more important in view of the enormous funding power of the World Bank and the undeniable influence of its policies on national governments and even on international organizations. TheEducation Sector Working Paper, which has been generally welcomed in international circles, is certainly not without its critics both in the developing countries and in the industrialized world. We feel that at a time when there is a push for examining educational policies and concepts on an international level, we can contribute to the debate by publishing some criticism and rejoinder centring around the World Bank publication, much as we did in 1973 and 1974 on the subject ofLearning to Be, the report of the International Commission on the Development of Education. In this issue, therefore, we open the discussion with an article by Peter Williams, originally written for a one-day review meeting to consider the World Bank publication, held on 19 May 1975, at the University of London Institute of Education, and which he revised forProspects. The institute hopes to publish a report of its meeting, together with the papers, before the end of this year. Peter Williams' critique seems to us to be particularly interesting because it is based on the author's disagreement with the prevailing pessimism in the world, reflected by the World Bank, on the state of education in the developing nations. As always, our readers are warmly invited to contribute their reactions in any form they choose.     

Re-visioning from the inside: getting under the skin of the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy

This paper uses the device of imagining Education personnel at the World Bank engaging in study and discussion that causes them to rethink their 1999 Education Sector Strategy document. The Bank’s educators discuss issues that lead them to see that the World Bank’s assumptions of human capital theory are deficient. Having studied the severe limitations in the effectiveness of the education reforms of several countries, they admit not only that the education model being promoted by the Bank is flawed, but also that its preferred paradigm of modernist development is unsustainable. Thanks to the program of study and reflection, Bank educators decide to meet the challenge of reinventing themselves as educators collaborating with their national clients in developing new paradigms in which both creative education and sustainable development can flourish.     

‘Come on girls,let's go to school’: an effort towards gender educational equity in Turkey

In many developing countries, women's education has been a highly prominent issue which is not adequately addressed in their education policies. The participation of female populations in education in most of the developing regions of the world has been much lower than the participation of their male counterparts [UNICEF. 2005a. “Report Card on Gender Parity and Primary Education.” www.unicef.org/turkey]. As a developing country, Turkey engaged in fairly vigorous and determined attempts to address the issues regarding women's education [Aydagül, B. 2008. “No Shared Vision for Achieving Education for All: Turkey at Risk.” Prospects 38 (3): 401–407] owing to the support, incentives, and pressure of the international organisations through various conventions in the last decade. The current paper scrutinises one of these attempts, namely, the campaign called ‘Come on girls, let's go to school’ which was initiated by the Ministry of National Education with the support of United Nations Children's Fund and World Bank, and considerably contributed to the increases in girls' enrolment and attendance rates in rural areas and southeast regions of Turkey. This paper utilises the social equity criteria as its conceptual framework drawing from Levin [1978. “The Dilemma of Comprehensive Secondary School Reforms in Western Europe.” Comparative Education Review 22 (3): 434–451] and Stromquist [2011. Educational Equity [Lecture Notes]. College Park: University of Maryland]. The analysis yields that the girls' education campaign in Turkey addresses to varying extents the criteria of accessibility, probability of enrolment, probability of participation, and length of participation, whereas it fails to meet the standard of educational results.     

Education for freedom: A look at the pedagogy of Freire

In the first two issues of Volume II,Prospects published articles written by Latin American educators for the International Commission on the Development of Education.At a time when several countries of that region are undertaking reforms of their educational systems (see Vol. II, No. 4, the article by Augusto Salazar Bondy), Alberto Silva's analysis, through its emphasis on Paulo Freire's educational methods, seems to be appropriate in order to eopen thought and controversy on this line of thinking. Author of L'École hors de l'École: lÉducation des Masses.     

Ghana’s education reform 2007: A realistic proposition or a crisis of vision?

Ghana’s recent “Education Reform 2007” envisions a system that strives to achieve both domestic and internationally-oriented goals emanating (1) from the Education for All (EFA) initiative, (2) from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and (3) from global trends in education. Emboldened by the implementation of foreign-donor-funded programmes such as EFA, the restructuring of the Ghana Education Sector Project (EdSeP) and the Science Resource Centres (SRC) project, both the education reform of 2007 and recent educational policy debates have reiterated the need to emphasise the teaching of science and information and communication technology to make Ghana’s students/graduates more competitive in the global labour market. However, the bulk of Ghana’s economic activity actually remains domestic or unglobalised. And given a weak economy and declining social spending due to strict adherence to the prescribed structural adjustment policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), there is concern that a focus on international competitiveness may be a crisis of vision. On the basis of the Ghanaian government’s failure to meet the stated goals of previous reforms such as that of 1974, and the education system’s continuing dependence on foreign donor support, this paper argues that the goals of the new reform may be unachievable on a sustainable basis. It also argues that rather than subjugate national domestic priorities to a mirage of international credibility/competitiveness, Ghana should concentrate on capacitating her students/graduates to make maximum impact at domestic and local community levels.     

Compelling diversities,educational intersections: policy,practice, parity

The ninth international Gender and Education Association Conference Compelling Diversities, Educational Intersections hosted by the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University engages with key debates surrounding the interplay between dynamics of education, work, employment and society in the context of crisis, upheaval and cutbacks, which reconfigure axes of intersectional inequalities. In considering diversity in education, this conference looks at the relationship between new equality regimes and continued educational inequalities, exploring organisational ambivalence, change and resistance. Participants will be asking important questions about the role of feminist research at a time when education, and its variously placed subjects (academics, pupils, students, and policy-makers), wrestle with the commitments and contentions in doing diversity and being diverse. This brief commentary piece probes at what – and who – is being compelled into, through and for diversity and explores the promises, pay-offs and pains of diversity when siphoned off from equality, justice and parity as policy and practice goals.     

Some remarks on education policy and planning in Mozambique: A reply to Dr R.A. Carr-Hill

This article is intended to discuss and clarify certain issues raised by Dr Carr-Hill in his article: ‘Education Planning for Scientific Socialism in Mozambique: a View from the Left’ (published in the International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1982). It is argued that Dr Carr-Hill has misinterpreted some aspects of educational policy and planning to Mozambique, and has confused some practical education difficulties with the overall aims of Frelimo policy.     

Education in the network age: globalisation,development and the World Bank

This article reviews the World Bank’s (1999) Education Sector Strategy document as a response to the challenges and the complexities of globalization and development as they relate to education. The article begins with an introduction to the Education Sector Strategy document. It moves on to discuss the nature of the new world economy, particularly its discursive shape, its form and the modalities of its reproduction. In this part of the article, the work of Carnoy and Castells (1999) and other analysts, such as Scott (1997), of what they all the networked economy, is used to show what is at stake for the developing world, and also, by implication, for the world as an interconnected community. Central to the reproductive modalities of the new economy, it will argue, are 1) entirely new education-work requirements and 2) a reconfigured and repositioned state. The article will attempt to show the implications of these for education. The article then moves towards a brief analysis of the developing world and then concludes with an assessment of the World Bank’s sector strategy. In summary, the article will argue that the Education Sector Strategy document is a critically important report but that is underestimates the complexity of the information age economy, particularly its modes of reproduction. The article will argue that the document does not sufficiently address the complexity of the modern developing world, especially the uneven and unequal ways in which its component parts articulate with the globalized order and the role of education in addressing this complexity. Critical weaknesses in the document relate to the relationship between education and work and the role of the state     

Economic growth and the international trade in educational reform

Summary The decline in foreign assistance for eduacation can be considered a tragedy. On the other hand, the elevation of education in domestic debate and the increase in trade of professional ideas on educational reform might be considered a benefit. The adjustment to these new functions on the part of development assistance agencies and international agencies familiar with the traditional rationales for educational investment will be difficult, however, in the end, their successful adjustment will be good for the field of education. Original language: English Stephen P. Heyneman (United States of America) Lead Education Specialist serving countries in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank. After teaching and research in Africa, he completed a doctorate degree at the University of Chicago. He has been president of the Comparative and International Education Society, a member of the board on International Comparative Studies in Education of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at American University and the University of Maryland. On behalf of the World Bank, he has advised senior educational officials in many different countries and other international institutions on educational programmes.     

Contextualising Education in Pakistan,a White Paper: global/national articulations in education policy

This article contextualises Education in Pakistan, a White Paper (2007), an influential education policy paper in Pakistan. The focus is on the ways the White Paper constructs its own contexts as a complement to the policy solutions proffered. Here we recognise Seddon’s point about the discursive work of policy in constructing context. We focus on the way the White Paper constructs its political/ideological context and its global/national context. The White Paper works with the trope of a binary construction of Islam – fundamentalist or moderate – which rearticulates Orientalist Western constructions. The analysis of the construction of the global/national contexts demonstrates the framing of the policy by the Millennium Development Goals, and the Washington and post‐Washington consensus.     

Establish a High-Efficiency System of Higher Education Investment

The current director of the Institute of Higher Education of Peking University is a forty-three-year-old professor, Min Weifang. After receiving a double masters degree in studies in higher education and organizational management, Professor Min was sent abroad by the state and received a doctoral degree from Stanford University in educational management and policy making. He then further undertook postdoctoral studies in the areas of educational economics and educational finance. After returning to China, he has been invited to undertake research work in the headquarters of the World Bank in the areas of educational investment and educational effectiveness. He is a national-level young expert who has made outstanding contributions in his fields of endeavor. At the moment, in addition to serving as an assistant to the president of Peking University, as the director of the Institute of Higher Education at Peking University, and as a faculty adviser to doctoral students, he also serves on the editorial board of the international journal Higher Education and holds the positions of Higher Education Investment Consultant for the World Bank and Group Leader of the Chinese Experts Group for the World Bank's loan program to educational development projects in the impoverished provinces and regions in China.     

Thoughts on the White Paper of 1991 1

The White Paper Higher Education: A New Framework, (May 1992), announced a set of new policies for British universities and polytechnics without offering either argument or evidence. The policies include the end of the binary system, the creation of new higher education funding councils, and a strong emphasis on new mechanisms for quality assessment and control. The White Paper projects rapid enrolment growth, but says nothing about the resources needed for the expansion or the significance for growth of Further Education or the European Community.     

Agent of global markets or agent of the poor? The World Bank’s education sector strategy paper

This article contrasts the official, largely silent, role of the World Bank as an agent of global markets with its professed role as agent of the poor. The failure to make explicit its role as global market advocate creates a policy environment that can be destructive of both global markets and the long-term survival of the world’s poor. The article examines the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy in this light. The article begins by outlining the institutional, policy and education frameworks that emerge from the conflicts of the World Bank’s dual role in markets and poverty. It then shows that the implementation and outcome analyses in The Strategy grow out of these frameworks and are, therefore, limited in scope and effectiveness. An approach that explicitly acknowledges the market roles of the World Bank would have led to a more effective policy document.     

Moral Education or Indoctrination in South Africa? A Brief Response to Potgieter

Abstract

This paper is a brief and informal response to Professor P. C. Potgieter's paper Moral Education in South Africa which appeared in the January 1980 edition of this Journal (Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 130‐3). In response to Potgieter the author attempts to present some of the more obvious philosophical and sociological inconsistencies and problems appearing in Potgieter's paper. He concludes, basically, that Potgieter has assumed a marked consensual model of South African society and, therefore, his analysis serves only to misinform the reader as to the complexities of moral education in South Africa.     

Fear of failure, 2 × 2 achievement goal and self-handicapping: An examination of the hierarchical model of achievement motivation in physical education

In this study, the hierarchical model of achievement motivation [Elliot, A. J. (1997). Integrating the “classic” and “contemporary” approaches to achievement motivation: A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. In P. Pintrich & M. Maehr (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Vol. 10, pp. 143–179). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press] is used to investigate the motivational mechanism behind the relationship between fear of failure and self-handicapping adoption. A cross-sectional design was employed. The participants were 691 college students enrolled in physical education in Taiwan. Students completed the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory (PEAI-S; Conroy, D. E., Willow, J. P., & Metzler, J. N. (2002). Multidimensional measurement of fear of failure: The performance failure appraisal inventory. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 76–90), the Chinese 2 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Physical Education (CAGQ-PE; Chen, L. H. (2007). Construct validity of Chinese 2 × 2 achievement goal questionnaire in physical education: Evidence from collectivistic culture. Paper presented at the 5th conference of the Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology. Bangkok, Thailand) and the Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS; Wu, C. H., Wang, C. H., & Lin, Y. C. (2004). The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of self-handicap scale for sport. Journal of Higher Education in Physical Education, 6(1), 139–148). Structural equation modeling was conducted. Generally, the results showed that mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals partially mediated the relationship between fear of failure and self-handicapping. The results are discussed in terms of the hierarchical model of achievement motivation, and its implications for physical education are also highlighted.     

Modes of discourse about education, peace and human rights in the 1974 UNESCO Recommendation

How do culturally, politically, and economically different actors define education in the UNESCO 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms? This exploration of the document aims to increase understanding of the work of organizations such as UNESCO, as well as stimulating new attention to the area of education for international understanding, peace, and human rights. The text of the Recommendation is analysed discursively, and five repertoires are identified: instruction, principled, factual, stand-taking, and adjusting, as well as a wider discourse of rationality. Repertoires construct positions for the speaker, here the General Conference of UNESCO, and for those to whom the Recommendation is addressed (member states). The adjusting discourse, in which member states are given opportunities to define alternative modes of implementation, is especially important. Identifying the modes of discourse used in the document helps to explain implicit aspects of the normative texts drafted by UNESCO and by international organizations generally. This analysis also provides a basis for reflection on the interaction between international organizations, education policy makers, and educators in this area.     

Reviews

Reviews in this articles: Professionalism and Competence in Higher Education Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence, Michael Eraut A future for quality? Managerialism and the Academic Profession: Quality and Control, Martin Trow International policy patterns Higher Education Policy: an international comparative perspective, edited by Leo Goedegebuure, Frans Kaiser, Peter Maassen, Lynn Meek, Frans van Vught and Egbert de Weert     

From the Washington to the Post-Washington Consensus: The influence of international agendas on education policy and practice in Malawi

Education is receiving ever-increasing priority in the post-Washington consensus era, which views education as both a means to and end of development. However, justification for the attention given to education continues to be centrally focused on the notion of human capital. By consequence, marketisation and privatisation of education are becoming increasingly significant. With the World Bank and WTO joining forces to create a vision for a 'global education industry', emphasis is placed on free trade in educational goods and services. The paper examines critically the implications of this international education agenda for developing countries, focusing on the experience of Malawi.     

The national politics of educational advocacy in the context of global governance: international funding and support for civil society engagement in Cambodia

This paper examines the Civil Society Education Fund’s (CSEF) impact on the non-governmental organisation education partnership (NEP) in Cambodia. With financial backing from the World Bank and the Fast Track Initiative, the CSEF is an initiative that is managed internationally by the Global Campaign for Education. Its goal is to help national networks of non-governmental organizations participate in education decision-making and to serve as a watchdog for progress related to internationally agreed upon goals. Through the CSEF, the deployment of various strategies, and other external factors, the NEP was able to able to achieve recognition, legitimacy and influence at the national level. However, the NEP has had to balance working with the state and working for the state. This case study highlights strategies used by civil society actors to engage state actors, the efficacy of international support, and the conflicts inherent in both.