Girls claiming education rights: Reflections on distribution,empowerment and gender justice in Northern Tanzania and Northern Nigeria

The article considers the analytical connection between two approaches to discussing girls’ schooling and gender justice. One trend considers injustice primarily as a question of inequalities in distribution and raises few questions about the nature of the gender norms associated with inequitable distribution. A second approach looks at issues of empowerment, the ways in which structural gendered inequalities in the political economy and socio-cultural formations constrain the capacity of girls inside and outside school to claim the rights promised by education, but tends to underplay issues of distribution. The article considers what the relationship between these two approaches to gender justice might be though a detailed discussion of baseline data collected in 2008 for the NGO led TEGINT (Transforming education for girls in Nigeria and Tanzania) project. Girls’ identification of the obstacles to claiming education rights and possible solutions are used as proxies for empowerment, while different features of distribution are examined with regard to gender parity in access and progression, governance and management, and teacher qualifications. Quantitative data based on responses to a survey allows for correlation between aspects of distribution and empowerment to be considered across different contexts. The strongest association between empowerment and distribution is found with regard to the levels of teachers’ qualifications, although there is not sufficient data to explain the reasons for this. The conclusion highlights the importance of contextual factors in understanding the relationships between distribution and empowerment evident from the data and the importance of designing future studies to look more closely at the dynamic two way relationship of distributional and empowerment aspects of gender justice in education.     

Web-Based Student Assessment for Program Evaluation

As part of an overall evaluation of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, (GLOBE) program, we designed a Web-based assessment environment to measure students' environmental awareness and data analysis skill. It was expected that students who were identified as high implementers in the GLOBE program would outperform low implementers in their ability to construct environmental inferences and the degree to which they could analyze environmental data. Seven high and middle school classrooms were identified as either high or low GLOBE implementers depending on the amount of atmospheric data they had collected during the year. Within each classroom students were assigned into smaller learning groups of three students per group. A total of 32 groups participated in this study. Analysis of students' responses to the tasks revealed that the students differed in their performance. Overall, the results showed that students in the high implementing classrooms were more likely to construct higher-level environmental inferences than students in the low implementing classes. Contrary to expectations, middle school students were more likely than high school students to solve the data analysis problem correctly. However, upon further analyses, high school students constructed more data graphs and were more skilled in providing correct evidence to support their decision making than were middle school students in GLOBE. This study confirms the viability of using technology-based assessments for measuring students' environmental awareness and data analysis.     

Match or Mismatch: The perceptions of parents of nursery age children related to those of the children's main nursery workers

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which shared aims, values and understanding exist both between parents and professionals and among professionals. Of particular concern was the impact that any differences in perspective might have on a given child. For each of seven case study children, one parent and two key nursery workers were interviewed and asked to complete rating scales. Thus, there were seven parent and 14 nursery practitioner interviews carried out. Interviews were analysed on a thematic basis with a particular focus on attributional analysis. It was found that, where there were differences between parents and practitioners in the attributions that they made for children's behaviour and learning that these had a significant influence on how children were understood and, in some cases, could lead to nursery practitioners underestimating or 'blaming' children and their families for perceived deficiencies. Cette étude avait pour objectif d'explorer s'iI existe des objectifs, des valeurs et des visions communes entre les parents et les professionnels et parmi les professionnels. On a examiné tout particulièrement l'impact potentiel de toute différence de perspective sur un enfant donné Pour chacun des 7 enfants ayant fait l'objet d'études de cas, un parent et deux enseignants-clés ont été interrogés et ont eu à remplir des questionnaires avec échelle d'évaluation. Il y a donc eu 7 entretiens avec des parents et 14 avec des enseignants de maternelle. Les entretiens ont été analysés sur une base thématique, en mettant un accent particulier sur 1'analyse des attributions. Il en est ressorti que lorsqu'il existait des différences entre les parents et les professionnels dans leurs attributions du comportement et 1'apprentissage des enfants, ces différences avaient une influence considérable sur la manière dont les enfants étaient compris et que, dans certains cas, elles pouvaient entraîner les professionnels à sous-estimer ou e blâmer f les enfants et leur famille pour des lacunes perçues.     

Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits

Background: Somali Bantu refugees, with unique health information needs, created challenges for health and social service providers. Objectives: A service innovation was developed (i) to raise awareness, especially among local health and social service providers, about the Bantu refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and their information needs and (ii) to deliver needed health information, emphasizing child health, to the Bantu mothers in their homes. Methods: The project consisted of: (i) a community conference targeting local health and social service providers, describing the refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and information needs. (ii) Focus groups conducted with members of the Bantu population elicited additional information needs. (iii) Curriculum was developed based on identified needs, and (iv) the curriculum was delivered to the refugees in their homes. A clinical informationist and MP3 technology enhanced the project. Findings: Conference attendees’ evaluation responses indicated improved understanding of Bantu culture. Focus groups’ identification of health information needs provided a framework for the health education curriculum. A project website made educational materials available to other healthcare providers. Conclusions: The project raised awareness of the Bantus’ presence, culture, and information needs. Identification of other unmet needs demonstrated that additional support for refugees is required.     

Who's In Charge Of Quality? The Governance Issues In Quality Assurance

Tertiary Education and Management - This essay, exploring the general question of how quality assurance has changed the relationship between government and higher education, discusses two important...