Direct and indirect effects of education on job satisfaction: A structural equation model for the Spanish case

Empirical literature has traditionally analyzed the effect of education on job satisfaction with single-equation models that ignore interrelationships between theoretical explanatory variables. Their results are somewhat inconclusive. We propose estimating a structural equation model to obtain both the direct effects and the set of indirect effects. Analysis of these effects allows us to explain the apparent contradictions that have existed to date, and to improve knowledge of the economic value of education. The proposed model shows that people with higher levels of formal education are more satisfied with their jobs, because they are more likely to access jobs with characteristics that provide greater satisfaction.     

教育对中国1978～2006年经济增长贡献率的研究

本文采用“人力资本-教育收益率测算法”,来定量研究1978—2006年中国教育投资（即人力资本投资）与经济增长之间的关系。在研究的过程中,本文采用侯风云教授的形成基础法来度量中国人力资本奇量,从而也是对“人力资本一教育收益率测算法”的补充与完善。本文的研究结论表明了1978—2006年间教育对中国经济增长的贡献率为14．48％。     

The Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Human and Social Capital: A Case Study from Ghana

Abstract

Based on a case study of Ghanaian cocoa farmers who attended farmer field schools (FFS), this paper explores the impact of the FFS methodology on farmers’ technical knowledge, experimentation, knowledge diffusion, group formation and social skills as a way of assessing whether the relatively high costs associated with the method is justified. We carried out focus group discussions for exploratory purposes and a formal survey of 70 FFS graduates and 70 non-FFS farmers. The superior knowledge test scores of FFS graduates relative to non-FFS farmers demonstrates the effectiveness of the method for communicating complex knowledge and information to farmers in a way that allows them to understand it and retain it. An assessment of changes in farmers’ experimental capacity showed variable results. On the one hand, a significant proportion of FFS graduates applied some of the principles and practices learned to solve productivity problems with other crops, while others did not perceive any change in their experimentation behaviour. Significantly, an important skill farmers learned in the FFS was making observations on cocoa trees and the wider ecosystem as the basis for decision-making. The case study confirmed that FFS strengthened social cohesion among cocoa farmers and enhanced individual social skills by creating new networks for knowledge exchange and support, promoting group formation and improving farmers’ confidence and ability to work more effectively in groups. The paper concludes by recommending areas for improving FFS and highlights how strengthening human and social capital in cocoa growing communities can serve as a springboard for broader development activities.     

Exploring the drivers of teacher professionalism in Ghana

This research aimed to explore the working conditions teachers in the Ghana Education Service perceived as motivators in their professional practice. The research used mainly a qualitative approach and three focus groups of five members: each were organised with teacher participants drawn from the Ashanti Region purposively selected. The research revealed that the sources of motivation in the participants’ professional practice related to selfless and internal factors rather than external factors. The research concluded that since not all teachers were selflessly and internally motivated, there was the need for the government to do more to improve teachers’ working conditions so as to motivate those that were externally motivated.     

Culture and country choice of international students: evidence from Ghana

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to examine the influence of the cultural elements on international students’ country choice. It also examines whether individual values moderate the influence of cultural elements on the country choice of international students. Drawing upon a sample size of 223, the data was analysed using structural equation modelling technique. Among the five cultural elements, education, language and social institutions were found to have a positive significant influence on the international student’s country choice. When moderated by individual values education was found to be the only key significant value to international students when selecting a country to further their education. The cultural elements should be given much attention by marketers, government and managers of academic institutions. An improvement in the standards of education in developing countries would attract more students from developed countries.     

The effect of grade retention on educational and labor market outcomes

Grade retention is a major issue in the ongoing debate over how to improve primary and secondary education in the United States. This paper examines the retention decision and its empirical effects using an economic framework. Within our model, the retention decision is endogenous with respect to such observables as dropping out of school and labor market earnings and this endogeneity needs to be accounted for in empirical work. In the empirical section of the paper we use the High School and Beyond (HSB) data set to examine the effects of retention on the probability of dropping out of high school and on labor market earnings several years after the student has entered the workforce. We account for the endogeneity of grade retention by using instrumental variables (IV) estimation where the key instrument is based on exogenous variation across states in kindergarten entry dates.     

Immigration and its effect on the college-going outcomes of natives

In this paper, I analyze immigration's effect on the SAT-scores and college application patterns of high school students in California and Texas. The student-level dataset used is longitudinal in nature and is matched via a unique algorithm to the Census 2000 summary tabulation files to determine immigration at the local census-place level. The Census measure of immigration developed here is extremely specific and improves upon existing immigration measures. Using empirical strategies to account for issues of selection, this essay's main finding is that the 1990s immigration did not harm, and possibly benefited the student outcomes of U.S. citizens.     

Economic analysis of World Bank education projects and project outcomes

This paper tests the hypothesis that World Bank education projects have a higher likelihood of being successful if at the time of appraisal, they underwent good quality economic analysis. Analysis shows a strong relationship between the quality of cost–benefit analysis and cost–effectiveness analysis and the quality of project outcomes. Economic analysis of projects is a tool for weeding out potentially poor investments and selecting potentially worthwhile ones. Good practice education projects require good economic analysis—analysis of demand, of the counterfactual private sector supply, of the project’s fiscal impact, of lending’s fungibility—and strong sector work before project design.     

杜威“人”的教育思想

杜威从社会发展的角度论述了人的社会价值,他要求教育要尊重人性,以儿童为中心,培养人的科学精神和道德素养,形成建设社会和改造社会的有用才干,通过教育培养有知识、有道德、有技术、有创造精神的、各种能力和谐发展的社会化的人,改造并创建自由、民主、平等的民主主义社会。     

Overeducation in the labor market: a comment and re-analysis of a meta-analysis

Groot and Maassen van den Brink (International Journal of Manpower 21, 584, 2000a) provide a useful summary of the incidence of overeducation and undereducation. Unfortunately, by combining non-compatible estimates of the impact of surplus schooling (and under schooling) on earnings they potentially bias their estimates downward (upward). This paper bypasses this potential bias by examining only wage estimates that use the “standard” required-surplus-deficit education model of Duncan and Hoffman (1981). The paper also expands the meta-analysis by including approximately 50 additional wage estimates. On average, the literature finds that the premium paid for overeducation is approximately equal to the penalty for undereducation, but lower than the returns associated with an increase in required education. Overeducated individuals earn more than their properly educated co-workers, but less than others with their level of schooling. The paper also examines how different definitions of required education impact the returns from overeducation and undereducation.     

Stories from Lake Volta: The lived experiences of trafficked children in Ghana

Child trafficking is one of the worst forms of child maltreatment and is often difficult to recognize when it happens intra-country. This paper presents the narratives of children on their experiences as victims of trafficking in fishing communities along the Volta Lake in the Volta region of Ghana. The narratives were co-constructed with the children through child-friendly participatory approaches which involved drawings, writing, and in-depth interviews. The stories reflect the magnitude of maltreatment trafficked children suffer, which ranges from physical to psychological and emotional. The authors recommend commitment by the government to the implementation of the Human Trafficking Act to deter child traffickers. Further studies on the living conditions of rescued children and the need to implement strategies to prevent re-trafficking are suggested.     

Math skills and market and non-market outcomes: Evidence from an Amazonian society of forager-farmers

Research in industrial nations suggests that formal math skills are associated with improvements in market and non-market outcomes. But do these associations also hold in a highly autarkic setting with a limited formal labor market? We examined this question using observational annual panel data (2008 and 2009) from 1121 adults in a native Amazonian society of forager-farmers in Bolivia (Tsimane’). Formal math skills were associated with an increase in wealth in durable market goods and in total wealth between data collection rounds, and with improved indicators of own reported perceived stress and child health. These associations did not vary significantly by people's Spanish skills or proximity to town. We conclude that the positive association between math skills and market and non-market outcomes extends beyond industrial nations to even highly autarkic settings.     

Creative arts outreach initiatives in schools: effects on university expectations and discussions about university with important socialisers

ABSTRACT

For youth in disadvantaged schools, university expectations and participation are often limited by access to social and cultural capital that support expectations. This study investigated the utility of creative arts outreach initiatives (CAI) in supporting students’ university expectations and building cultural capital in homes, schools and neighbourhoods in the southwest corridor of Perth, Western Australia. Cultural capital was operationalised as discussions about university with parents, teachers and friends as important socialisers. The CAI provided task-based programs that connected students with industry professionals and university academics to access new social and cultural capital, develop skills that satisfied learning objectives and increase navigational capacity for higher education participation. Multi-group latent growth models were estimated for university expectations across 3 time points and university discussions with important socialisers at time 3 using a propensity-score matched sample comprising 176 students aged between 11 to 18 years from eight high schools (program group?=?88, control group?=?88, females?=?64%). Results indicated stability in levels of university expectations for program participants and increased discussions about university with parents, teachers and friends. Findings support the inclusion of people-rich, co-curricular creative arts programs such as CAI in disadvantaged schools to build social and cultural capital that supports and potentially widens higher education participation in this region.     

Great expectations: a critical perspective on Open Educational Resources in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Nearly two decades have passed since the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement was launched. Its success in Brazil can be illustrated with the establishment of a UNESCO Chair in Open Education in 2014, in one of the country’s most prestigious universities. Crucially, OER were included in the 2014–2024 National Education Plan, a key piece of national educational legislation, as a category of educational technologies framed as tools. Assuming metaphors such as this play a key role in the ways we think, speak and act, this article presents a critical perspective on OER in Brazil. Examining the implications of the main metaphors used to construe OER in local media and academic sources, the text argues that these metaphors reflect hegemonic discourses on educational technology, concealing the non-neutrality of technological artefacts, obscuring issues concerning curriculum and pedagogy, and overlooking actual local needs. The article discusses issues concerning local OER advocacy, positioned in respect to specificities of a context where education, albeit a constitutionally established right, may be poised to undergo radical changes in the near future.     

The effective use of student time: a stochastic frontier production function case study

The relationship between student study time allocation and examination performance is little understood. We model the allocation of student time into formal study (lectures and classes) and self study and its relationship to university examination scores using a stochastic frontier production function. This case study uses unique time budget data and detailed personal records from one university in Spain. The results suggest that, within the formal system of teaching in Spain, both formal study and self study are significant determinants of exam scores but that the former may be up to four times more important than the latter. We also find that self study time may be insignificant if ability bias is corrected for.     

一种新视角:从经济学的角度审视教育技术学

当前中国教育信息化的进程中,教育技术学作为二级学科在高等院校开设和与基础教育学科进行整合。把经济学引入教育技术学并用经济学的原理和方法研究教育技术学,得出教育技术学在中国发展中的误区。本文从经济学中的成本-效益分析法研究教育技术学在应用中的问题,从经济学的劳动力供给和需求原理研究教育技术学科的就业状况。通过这些研究,使教育技术学这门年轻的学科能够健康的发展。     

当前我院大学生的思想政治状况及其教育对策

新时期,我院与其他高校一样,在学生思想政治工作方面面临着许多新的问题和挑战.论文在对我院学生进行思想状况调查的基础上,就这一方面的反馈信息作了综合分析,并以此为参照提出了几点加强与改进我院大学生思想政治教育工作的对策和建议.     

Blocking student performance in high school?

Block schedules have been used in several different high schools in various areas of the United States. Reasons for their use vary from better preparing students for college work to fewer disruptions of the school day. Several studies have examined the impact of changing from a semester system to a block system on the academic performance in specific areas with varying results. This paper examines the impact of a change of schedule on overall academic performance as measured by a student’s Grade Point Average. This study indicates that for the specific case studied, the change in systems did have a positive effect on performance.     

Students’ expectations of the economic returns to college education: results of a controlled experiment

We report the results of an experiment designed to elicit students’ subjective beliefs about the economic returns to college education. An important feature of our experimental design is the inclusion of financial incentives for accurate reporting. We also consider the extent to which individuals’ beliefs about their own returns differ from their beliefs about the returns for others. The evidence shows that students do have a self-enhancement tendency, and this finding cannot be attributed to previously uncontrolled order effects. The evidence also indicates that there is no significant difference between beliefs elicited using hypothetical surveys or real financial incentives in the elicitation procedure. This finding suggests that economists’ reluctance to gather subjective data on earnings expectations may not be warranted.     

Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Response

This is a response to [Jordahl, H., Poutvaara, P., & Tuomala, J. (2009). Comment on education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers. Economics of Education Review 28]. We acknowledge that econometrics have improved since the time our original paper was written, so that the choice of accurate instruments is now more deeply founded. However, in this note, we argue that the differences in the estimates obtained by Jordahl et al. (2009) has been generated not only because the “sensibility of HT estimators to the choice of instrumental variables”, but also to the estimation metholology followed by them, in which rarely changing variables are considered to be time-varying.