Financing universal primary education: An analysis of official development assistance in fragile states

At existing rates of progress, fragile states represent those countries most at-risk of failing to achieve universal primary education. It is estimated that around a third of the world's out of school children live in countries where the state faces severe development challenges instigated and perpetuated by weak institutional capacity, poor governance, political instability, or the legacy effects of past conflict. Typically, fragile states have the most difficulty in mobilising domestic resources to finance national education strategies and, consequently, rely heavily on other sources of educational investment. This paper examines the provision of development aid within a group of 52 low-income countries, and concludes that despite the international commitment to universal primary education, the prevailing attitude of selectively allocating aid to ‘good performers’ has led to education in fragile states being sidelined by the development community.     

Education and fragile states

Within the fragile states agendas and policies of development agencies and organisations education is of concern; education is a social service sector in which the impacts of state fragility are significant, in terms of access and quality of provision for children, working conditions and support for teachers, good governance and legitimacy for the society/community as a whole. However, this article argues that education should be at the centre of fragile states discussions as more than a basic service; in relation to fragility, education is at the same time cause, effect, problem and possible solution. Education needs to be part of fragility analysis as well as in the identification of priority stabilising interventions. In education – as in other sectors and domains – gender equality and state fragility are inherently connected and gender equality must be integrated through all analysis and interventions. The article ends with some recommendations for moving in this direction.     

Higher education as the catalyst of recovery in conflict-affected societies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of higher education in the recovery of conflict-affected societies and argues that while the sector is typically a very low reconstruction priority, it has the potential, if addressed strategically, to act as a catalyst for effective and sustainable post-war recovery. The article begins by contextualising higher education within broader debates around post-war recovery and education. It then analyses the relationship between higher education and four core intervention agendas in conflict-affected societies: stabilisation and securitisation, reconstruction, statebuilding and peacebuilding.     

冲突理论视野下环境治理困境与出路研究

由于当前环境污染严重,环境治理效果远远滞后于社会经济的发展,政府面临经济发展与环境治理的两难困境。为此,首先,概述了冲突理论、环境冲突及环境治理,其次,分析了环境治理主体困境、治理事件困境、传播途径困境、治理制度困境,最后提出了环境治理网络模式是有效解决环境治理困境的出路,并详细阐释了环境治理的制度执行、环境治理的政府行为、环境治理的市场行为以及环境治理的社会行为,提出政府、市场与社会三方主体在解决环境治理困境中所发挥的作用及功能,有效推动我国环保事业的健康发展。     

Multi-stakeholder aid to education: power in the context of partnership

This study examines power asymmetries within the largest multi-stakeholder agency in the education sector: the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Drawing from data collected through key informant interviews and document analyses, this research asks if the establishment of the GPE has altered power arrangements in educational aid. The study finds that in spite of efforts to create a more equitable environment via the GPE, bilateral donors and the World Bank in particular retain their hierarchical positions through the maintenance of structures that reproduce their dominant status, thereby countering the principles that underpin the GPE’s mandate.     

Schools and war: urgent agendas for comparative and international education

A focus on conflict and education is one of the most pressing concerns of the current times, and yet the role of education in the perpetuation, or the mitigation, of international conflict is curiously underplayed and under‐researched. This paper looks firstly at the contributions that education makes to conflict, through the reproduction of inequality and exclusion, through perpetuation of ethnic or religious divisions, through its acceptance of dominant aggressive masculinities, through selection, competition and fear, and through distorted curricular emphases on narrow cognitive areas of learning. However, the paper also outlines some ‘possibilities for hope’, such as resilient schools, the impact of peace education initiatives and the rise of global citizenship education. It is argued that comparative and international education has a highly important role in establishing patterns of educational contribution to peace or conflict, and in dissemination of research to act as a lobbying force to influence education policy and practice. The paper outlines eight priorities, including alternative international studies focusing on ‘achievement’ in peace education; cross‐cultural or longitudinal studies of impact of peace education and war education; and tracer studies of why young people join fundamentalist organisations.     

Education in the twenty‐first century: Conflict,reconstruction and reconciliation1

This paper is an attempt to map out an emerging, and increasingly important field of study concerning the relationship between education and conflict. The field has two main parameters. The first involves the variety of contexts within which education systems are required to operate. Distinctions are drawn between education that is provided within relatively peaceful and stable environments; during times of violent conflict; as part of reconstruction following conflict or political transition; and as part of longer term peace and reconciliation processes. Educational priorities and concerns may be quite different depending on each of these circumstances. The second parameter concerns different levels of action within an education system. These include the political and policy environment, administrative and structural features and various aspects of educational practice. The paper argues that actions through various ‘entry points’ at each of these levels carry the potential to exacerbate or ameliorate conflict and suggests that a systemic analysis of investments in education systems from a conflict perspective should be a routine part of educational planning.     

略论我国补习教育发展中的和谐与冲突问题

伴随着我国基础教育改革的进一步扩大和加深,补习教育呈现出了前所未有的发展趋势。补习教育的兴盛是由社会、学校和家庭等多方面原因所引起的。因此,我们有必要对补习教育存在和发展的合理性作出客观的分析,对所存在的问题加以科学的规范,促进其更健康地发展,成为推动教育改革的原动力。     

A digital platform for supervised self-directed learning in emergencies: the case of the Syrian crisis

The well-known Syrian crisis has made it very challenging for thousands of Syrian children to have access to education. In this article, the authors propose a framework for designing a digital education platform to allow children inside Syria as well as in the refugee camps in bordering countries to have access to education. The authors start by looking at the efforts performed in the field of education in conflict-affected regions, and they extract from them the lessons learned and recommendations. They provide four main characteristics of war impacting children’s education: (1) insecurity, (2) instability, (3) lack of resources, and (4) lack of adult supervision. They then use these four characteristics, along with the extracted recommendations, as the grounds for drafting three design considerations for the implementation of a digital education platform. The three design considerations are: supervised self-directed learning method, context-aware education and children-oriented design. Finally, the authors use these design considerations to provide design recommendations for the four main elements of a digital education platform: hardware, software, curriculum and supporting services. They conclude by discussing the validity of the digital platform, its implementation feasibility, and challenges facing the implementation.     

Designing an internationationalised curriculum for higher education: embracing the local and the global citizen

In this article, differing interpretations of the internationalisation of higher education curriculum are explored analysing the structural and cultural aspects of the curriculum. Voices of tertiary staff from around the world taking part in a four-week, fully online course, entitled ‘Internationalising the curriculum for all students’ contributed to stimulating discussions that raised many questions about whose perspectives were being privileged in defining an internationalised curriculum and what constituted a transformed curriculum. In this analysis, the framework illuminates the varied theoretical and practical stances towards an internationalised curriculum. It highlights that indigenous knowledges and the positionings of marginal and diaspora peoples have been widely overlooked in internationalisation of curriculum practices, and these perspectives need to become integral to discussions of future tertiary education policies and curricula.     

Responding to diversity: the challenge of expanding basic education for young people in the south

This article explores the extent to which and how non-formal education (NFE) contributes to the development of a more diversified basic education system and thus to the achievement of EFA. It outlines the current nature of NFE, the frameworks provided by the EFA movement, and the evolution of reflection, policies and practices in NFE in relation to basic education as a whole. Based on significant developments in various countries across the South, the article also discusses some key challenges that ministries of education and their partners need to face in moving towards relevant and equitable diversity in education. The article posits that, despite the many problems faced by NFE, there is justification for building on its experiences and integrating these within a larger policy and systems framework that responds more effectively to needs and circumstances of children and young people.

Making global connections: The knowledge,understanding and motivation of trainee teachers

This article begins by noting some of the global concerns that young people have today and highlights the crucial role of global education in responding to such concerns. It then considers the importance of teacher training in such matters and reports on a preliminary study relating to the initial training of teachers in England. In particular this raises questions about the knowledge and understanding that such students bring to their courses. It concludes by identifying some of the consequent dilemmas faced by teacher trainers working in this context.     

Golden relics & historical standards: how the OECD is expanding global education governance through PISA for Development

ABSTRACT

Setting this paper against the backdrop of scholarly research on recent changes in the OECD’s approach and workings in education, I analyse how the OECD has reinforced its infrastructural and epistemological global governance through the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Development (PISA-D). Drawing on qualitative data, this paper makes three arguments. First, there has been a reinforced effort at the OECD to align national and international large-scale assessments; second, the OECD-ensured PISA-D was enhanced only in so far as it remained comparable with PISA, with a view to joining up lower- and middle-income data infrastructures with the global PISA infrastructure; and third, the OECD has bound together the aims of PISA, PISA-D, the Education and Skills Directorate, the Organisation’s Strategy on Development and the global education agenda (Sustainable Development Goals), thus strengthening its global education governance potential. With a note of concern, I suggest these recent changes in the OECD’s work in education may be spreading a very narrow framework of educational values, which does not sufficiently recognise the complexity of learning and teaching.     

Inclusive education in Eastern European countries: a current state and future directions

ABSTRACT

Inclusive education is key to the development of civic democracy. Its role is to transform schools into platforms of excellence and equality for all students. This literature review aims to summarize the current state of inclusive education in Eastern European countries and former Soviet states and to identify conditions necessary for their educational systems to become more inclusive. The review: (a) discusses the concept of inclusive education as a platform for civic democracy; (b) conceptualizes how historical contexts affect societal attitudes and values towards difference and disability; (c) explores the extent to which available research captures the current state of inclusive education in Eastern Europe, and (d) describes the barriers to inclusive education implementation in these countries. The results of the review show the majority of studies examined attitudes toward inclusive education and people with disabilities. In this regard, although most of participants surveyed accept inclusive education initiatives in principle, they identify a range of barriers that need to be addressed to secure its meaningful implementation in the region. The review situates the possibility of inclusive education in the region’s historical context, identifies the structural and cultural barriers to its meaningful implementation, and suggests directions for future research.     

Higher education, internationalisation, and the nation-state: Recent developments and challenges to governance theory

The new phenomenon of European integration has again challenged ourconceptual and empirical tools for higher education studies tointegrate the international dimension into frameworks that tendto concentrate on the single nation state and domestic policieseven where international comparisons are made. It drives as wellthe awareness of certain blind spots: namely (1) the concentrationon policy effects, neglecting the input side of policy formation,and (2) the concern with macro level policy-making and meso levelorganisational adaptation, neglecting to some extend the microdynamics and effects in the actual practices and performances ofacademic work. This paper makes an attempt to contribute from acertain perspective on governance studies to the ongoing debate onthe challenges ``internationalisation' or ``globalisation' bringup for higher education policy analyses and especially for comparativeresearch in that area. The development of governance theory towardsa multi-level and multi-actor approach is discussed and its strengthsand weaknesses for higher education studies in an internationalisingenvironment are addressed.     

Problematizing global educational governance of OECD PISA: Student achievement,categorization, and social inclusion and exclusion

Abstract

This study problematizes the global educational governance of OECD PISA and its statistical data as a governing technology in contemporary discourses of education reforms. The study examines principles that order the discourses and practices of the international comparative assessment. The effort of analysing the impact of an education reform regime led by OECD PISA reveals how statistical reasoning defines problems in educational systems and forms social discourse surrounding educational reform to solve such problems. In doing so, this article focuses on standardization, classification, and normalization for measuring and comparing student achievement and national effectiveness. The study also offers an alternative way of considering the politics of inclusion and exclusion embedded in practices of education reforms propelled by the international comparative assessment.     

Early childhood education for all: a mixed-methods study of the global policy agenda in Tanzania

This study considers the extent to which access to basic education and student learning outcomes have become more equalized or more disparate in Tanzania following the implementation of the international Education for All (EFA) initiative, and whether early childhood education access and performance follow similar patterns. To answer these questions, we apply a mixed-methods research design, which includes a longitudinal analysis of changes in educational opportunity and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of key education policy documents in Tanzania. Findings from our quantitative analysis suggest that social inequality is persistent across time and consistent across access and learning outcomes at the early childhood and basic education levels. The implication is that, to date, the EFA agenda has only served to reproduce social inequalities in Tanzania, with the exception of increased opportunity for girls. These results align with CDA findings assessing the global and national policy discourse, which find educational inequalities to be prioritized in language but not adequately in final targets and strategies. Given the resiliency of such education inequalities, it would appear that policy capable of removing social barriers to educational opportunity requires more attention to specific at-risk student populations.     

Envisioning an alternative to the neoliberalization of education in the global south: the Aga Khan's philosophies of education

Studies in education over the past decade highlight the hijacking of educational agendas by neoliberal rationalities and logics. I illustrate these processes in relation to transnational campaigns for girls’ education, where the purpose of ‘education’ is reduced to producing wage-based labor and an accumulation of skills that enhance labor flexibility. ‘Girls’ are primarily articulated as economic actors: potential consumers, labor, and/or entrepreneurs. This reduction of individuals and social projects to economic logics calls for counter-discourses. I delineate one (among many possible) alternate framing of education by foregrounding muslim epistemologies. I present the views of the Shi'i muslim leader, His Highness the Aga Khan, about education, its purpose, and its entanglement with international development. Through a close reading and coding of over 30 public speeches and interviews of the Aga Khan between 1994 and 2015, I outline three salient themes pertaining to self, community, and meaningful life that cast doubt around the reduction of education to economic logics.     

A critical review on studies of relationship education in the gender equity education of Taiwan: 10 years and beyond

With discourse analyses, this paper attempts to review the research development of relationship education in Taiwan for nearly a decade after the Gender Equity Education Act was announced in 2004, including the research topics generated, the knowledge accumulated, and the results achieved. This paper focuses not only on how the power and impacts of the academic institutions evolves through the production process of knowledge from the research, but also on how the gender perspectives are placed or filled into the discourses. Tracking and reflecting on the discourses and the development of relationship education researches in Taiwan, this paper aims to examine the interwoven effects and influences that social cultures, structures, and institutional power play on the knowledge production and research development of relationship education. The trajectory of Taiwanese experience illustrates a good example for policy making and legislative initiatives in legislative procedures in regard to certain gender knowledge and subjects. It is essential to utilize and coordinate the national resources and academic institutions with further awareness for the direction and promotion of gender knowledge in order for the education and research to root, grow, and prosper.     

On global absences: Reflections on the failings in the education and poverty relationship in Latin America

This paper explores some of the aspects of the relationship between education and poverty as it has been constructed by international organisations and national governments in Latin America. The analysis is carried out from two separate angles. On the one hand, the paper highlights the main failings that underlie the positive and hoped-for relationship between investment in education and the reduction of poverty. On the other, it demonstrates how a good number of these failings can be attributed to an underestimation of the inverse relationship, i.e. the effects that poverty has on education. Though this analysis can be understood from a general perspective, evidence from Latin America is used to illustrate the consequences of these global absences.