The curricular content of primary education in developing countries

This paper examines the curriculum policies for primary schools in a wide range of developing countries in the 1980s and, to a lesser extent, the 1960s. The research covers what subjects are taught, what percentage of instructional time is allocated to each subject, and how much instructional time is available overall in primary education. The results indicate that there is little international debate about primary school curricula. The curricula of mass education systems are increasingly alike all over the world, with surprisingly little regional and national variation. Almost all national educational systems emphasize certain core subjects: language (35%), math (18%), science (8%), and social science (9%).Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Gender and Education,ICT Policy and Strategies

Curricular content, educational expansion, and economic growth

The author explains whether national variations in curricula content and subject area - as distinct from growth in enrollment or qualitative provisions - have a significant impact on economic development. The study focuses on primary education in 60 nations and assesses the economic impact of an emphasis on eight different primary level subject areas, with special attention to mathematics and science. The author found that the curricular content of mass education is directly related to national economic growth. This relationship, however, is not consistent across all subject areas and all types of countries. Countries requiring more hours of elementary science education generally experienced more rapid increases in their standards of living between 1960 and 1985. Whether science education at the primary level is the key casual factor and whether the explicit content of the subject area is the key mechanism remain unclear. The design, reform, and study of national school curricula are increasingly visible in political and scholarly agendas. The economic consequences of emphasizing different subject areas should not be the sole criterion for decision making in designing curricula. However, these consequences can provide one useful element for promoting more informed discussion among parents, school administrators, national and international planners, and educational researchers.Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education

Can we meet the sustainability challenges? The role of education and lifelong learning

Education and lifelong learning are increasingly being mobilised to address the global environmental crisis and accompanying sustainability challenges. This article discusses the many roles of education about and for sustainable development, drawing on evidence and arguments put forward in the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, Education for People and Planet. It highlights specific viewpoints, values and ways of thinking that best characterize effective learning for sustainability. It also emphasises the importance of a 'whole school' or 'whole institutional' approach to education for sustainability.</p

The diversification of secondary education: School curricula in comparative perspective

La Educación Secundaria continúa extendiéndose rápidamente a nivel mundial. Tan importante como su expansión es su diversificación. Este trabajo mantiene que, aunque se reconoce la diversificación de la Educación Secundaria, esta no ha sido bien estudiada. A pesar de la gran expansión de la Educación Secundaria en diferentes regiones del mundo, la información disponible para los investigadores –y los que diseñan las políticas– sobre una comparación informada de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria, ha sido, y continúa siendo, superficial y limitada. Este trabajo compara los elementos principales y contenidos de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria. Intenta ir más allá de la caracterización ya existente de la Educación Secundaria, informando sobre los resultados iniciales patrocinados por la Oficina Internacional de Educación (IBE) sobre estudios transnacionales de programas de nivel secundario, especialidades y currículo. Este estudio, además de estar limitado principalmente a las especialidades de perfil académico, provee una base empírica para comparar la diversificación de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria.Secondary education continues to expand rapidly worldwide. Equally important is its diversification. The present paper contends that the diversification of secondary education, while acknowledged, is not well studied. Despite the widespread expansion of secondary education in different world regions, the information available to researchers—and policy makers—for informed comparisons of secondary education systems has been, and remains, rather superficial and limited. The present paper compares the programmatic foci and contents of secondary education systems. It seeks to move beyond existing characterizations of secondary education, by reporting initial results from an IBE-sponsored, cross-national study of secondary level programs, tracks and curricula. This study, while mainly limited to academic-oriented tracks, provides an empirical basis for comparing the diversification of secondary education systems.Grupo de Investigación FORCE (Formación Centrada en la Escuela). Universidad de Granad

La diversificación en la educación secundaria. Currículos escolares desde la perspectiva comparada

La Educación Secundaria continúa extendiéndose rápidamente a nivel mundial. Tan importante como su expansión es su diversificación. Este trabajo mantiene que, aunque se reconoce la diversificación de la Educación Secundaria, esta no ha sido bien estudiada. A pesar de la gran expansión de la Educación Secundaria en diferentes regiones del mundo, la información disponible para los investigadores –y los que diseñan las políticas– sobre una comparación informada de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria, ha sido, y continúa siendo, superficial y limitada. Este trabajo compara los elementos principales y contenidos de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria. Intenta ir más allá de la caracterización ya existente de la Educación Secundaria, informando sobre los resultados iniciales patrocinados por la Oficina Internacional de Educación (IBE) sobre estudios transnacionales de programas de nivel secundario, especialidades y currículo. Este estudio, además de estar limitado principalmente a las especialidades de perfil académico, provee una base empírica para comparar la diversificación de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria

A participação dos países em desenvolvimento nas avaliações de aprendizagem, 1960-2009

This paper examines annual changes in the participation of developing countries in different kinds of learning assessments over the past three decades. It specifically highlights, and provides initial explanations for, the worldwide spread of national and regional assessments since the mid-1990s. The paper argues that national learning assessments —namely, non-standardized, context-sensitive and non-comparable learning assessments— have become a preferred tool of educational policy makers in many developing countries. The increasing demand for accountability and the relative advantages of national regional assessments, should amplify this trend in coming years, although much depends on the policies of international agencies, NGOs and regional associations that advise and financially support country participation in learning assessments.Este trabajo analiza los cambios anuales en la participación de países en vías de desarrollo en diferentes tipos de evaluaciones de aprendizaje durante las últimas tres décadas. Asimismo, este estudio pone especial énfasis y provee explicaciones iniciales sobre la expansión global de evaluaciones regionales y nacionales desde mediados de los años noventa. El trabajo sostiene que las evaluaciones nacionales de aprendizaje -tales como las evaluaciones no-estandarizadas, sensibles al contexto y no-comparables- se han convertido en la herramienta preferida de los diseñadores de políticas educativas en muchos países en vías de desarrollo. La creciente demanda de agentes educativos por mecanismos de rendición de cuentas y las ventajas relativas de las evaluaciones regionales nacionales probablemente agudizaran esta tendencia en los próximos años, aunque mucho dependerá de las políticas adoptadas por organismos internacionales, ONGs y asociaciones regionales que asesoran y financian la participación de los países en evaluaciones de aprendizaje. Este artigo analisa as mudanças anuais na participação dos países em desenvolvimento em diferentes tipos de avaliação da aprendizagem ao longo das últimas três décadas. Ele destaca especificamente, e fornece explicações iniciais para a disseminação mundial de avaliações nacionais e regionais a partir de meados da década de 1990. O artigo argumenta que as avaliações nacionais de tornaram-se uma ferramenta preferida dos formuladores de políticas educacionais em muitos países em desenvolvimento. A crescente demanda por prestação de contas e as vantagens relativas de avaliações regionais e nacionais, devem ampliar essa tendência nos próximos anos, embora muito depende das políticas dos organismos internacionais, ONGs e associações regionais que orientam e suportam financeiramente a participação dos países nas avaliações de aprendizagem

Los Rankings Académicos

El uso de factores de impacto y rankings para evaluar publicaciones, instituciones e investigadores se relaciona con cuatro movimientos: la racionalización del conocimiento experto, asumido como una característica inherente a la autoridad burocrática; la política en la  regulación y control de la educación superior, que se manifiesta en el nuevo “gerencialismo” y sus intentos de evaluar la investigación; las políticas de precios y finanzas de las editoriales académicas comerciales; y la actuación cada vez más dramática que se espera de los editores y sus revistas, aún cuando éstos se vean a sí mismos más como anfitriones de la convivencia y del pensamiento, que como empleados de línea en una fábrica de currículos

Learning at the bottom of the pyramid : Science, measurement, and policy in low-income countries

In this volume, a diverse group of authors discuss and analyse the scientific tensions in understanding learning among poor and marginalized populations in Low- and Middle-income countries (LMICs). Four broad areas are considered: how to define the BoP; how to measure and assess learning outcomes across diverse populations within a country; variations in learning across the life-span; and the implications for international education policy. Each of the 12 chapters is complemented by two commentaries, thus there are a total of 36 contributions. In the social sciences, learning is defined most commonly as a change – such as in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values – based on experiences of some kind.Thus, schooling is not the same thing as learning. While schooling is usually designed to foster curriculum-based learning in classrooms, research increasingly demonstrates that much of what we presume is learned in school is not, and that a great deal of learning takes place outside of schools. There is a large and diverse empirical research base in the area of human learning. However, much of the available research is limited by constraints of various kinds. Most prominent among these is the limited ability to generalize from findings in one population or context to others. In Chapter 1, Schmelkes considers common elements to human learning, in and out of school, including important cultural variations that are large and often poorly understood. She concludes that much more should be done to improve educational policy and address such contextual issues. A second key priority is to determine what populations are meant by the phrase BoP. How do populations differ in LMICs – both across and within countries? As pointed out by Montoya in Chapter 2, there are at least six prominent dimensions through which populations at the BoP may be described in low-income countries, and each is important for considering the ways that young people can escape from persistent poverty. Building on the first two chapters, Crouch (Chapter 3) lays out a conceptual model, buttressed by data from international assessments, that describes how to flatten the learning pyramid to ensure more equitable learning outcomes for all by focusing on the poorest learners. Overall, these three chapters provide a framework for considering the nature and extent of BoP studies of learning. There are many critiques of the educational assessment enterprise, the beginning of which is sometimes attributed to the French psychometrician Alfred Binet. In order to support the expansion of public schooling in France, Binet famously created assessments through which he could predict which children would have the most difficulty in school. In this section, we consider contemporary approaches to learning assessments, with a specific focus on the socio-cultural determinants of who succeeds and who does not at the BoP. Kanjee, in Chapter 4, takes a broad perspective by reviewing the purposes of international assessment studies, suggesting that assessments have only limited impact on supporting BoP learning achievement. He concludes that assessments can better address the learning needs of poor and marginalized learners by reporting results through formative evaluations that can impact children before learning gaps widen. In Chapter 5, Willms describes a conceptual model for improved learning over the life-course, empirically supported by research in Uruguay among preschool children, and in Canada with young indigenous children. One of his findings is that in order to succeed in school, children need to learn to read with confidence during the primary grades, and use language to think critically, solve problems, and create new knowledge. He concludes that national and international assessments can serve to establish standards, assess the extent of inequalities among various subpopulations, and provide a framework for basic or theoretical research, but that there should be greater focus on changing classroom practice. One way to understand the inner workings of assessments and use them to promote learning at the BoP is provided by Vagh and Sharma (Chapter 6) in their action research project in Allahabad, India. This project sought to develop and evaluate a local language literacy and numeracy programme for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds in government school primary grades, using measurement and assessment to drive programme change. It highlights some of the strengths and challenges of localized assessments. Moreover, it suggests that assessments can be used by teachers to support early reading. Finally, in Chapter 7, Maddox asks a seminal question: To what extent are learning assessments able to identify and include individual and cultural differences, without reproducing relations of disadvantage? These issues are described in terms of test fairness and procedures for anticipating and removing sources of test bias. In a series of ethnographic studies, Maddox advises the reader to pay close attention to how assessments are carried out in situ, and how questions are interpreted by the person tested. Serious problems can and will ensue without such care in local contexts. Another approach to BoP issues is through a life-span perspective. How do measurement tools on learning and learning outcomes vary for young children, students in school, as well as among youth and adults? Three chapters in this section consider such age-related differences. Dowd and Pisani, in Chapter 8, have been deeply involved in the field of assessments of young children before they reach school age. Their chapter reviews the application of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) instrument to explore young children’s skills at the BoP and identify learning gaps in early academic, physical, and social-emotional development. Based on the broad findings from more than 20 LMICs, and closer analysis of particular contexts, the authors make that case that there is much variation in early childhood learning within countries, particularly between urban and rural contexts. They argue that national policies in support of early childhood need to be guided by disaggregated data in order to ensure that children at the BoP receive adequate support. In Chapter 9, Care, Robertson, and Ferido describe how well-designed assessments for school-aged children can provide individualized information that can support school-based learning. These assessments build on the skill levels that children bring to the classroom. Through what they term a ‘learning progression model’, they present data on children in the Philippines who are best able to learn from specifically guided instruction tailored to their particular skill level. They conclude that learning assessments can and should be inclusive of diverse groups within any larger target population. Finally, Oketch (Chapter 10) focuses on youth and adult learning in subSaharan African, pointing out that rapidly changing demographics and economies in the region require significantly greater attention. Further, the population of low-skilled youth is growing dramatically, even though more African children are going to school than ever before. This chapter describes the importance of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and non-formal education as two known methodologies for directly providing instruction and learning outside of the classroom in support of out-of-school youth and adults. The problem remains, according to Oketch, that there is a paucity of research in this domain, and in particular among populations at the BoP. In Chapters 1–10, authors and commentators present multiple views on scientific definitions, measurement tools, and life-span approaches for understanding learning at the BoP. This final section of the volume considers the kinds of educational policy implications that need to be considered by both national and international decision-makers. Benavot (Chapter 11) raises a key issue in supporting learning at the BoP, notably the need to move beyond easily accessible measures of learning – namely, school-based surveys of a narrow range of learning outcomes at the primary and lower secondary level – and engage with the broader and more comprehensive learning agenda proposed in the SDGs. He points out that many of the UN goals contain diverse elements of learning, and the specific targets for each goal may vary a great deal across diverse populations. Further, he notes that many of the key markers of disadvantage in education (such as socio-economic status, SES) are very difficult to change. He concludes that a serious focus on learning at the BoP will require greater clarity of definitions, and a more deliberate approach to building evidence on how best to improve relevant learning outcomes for the disadvantaged. In Chapter 12, Van Damme provides a global policy perspective supported by the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) international learning assessments. He asserts that international educational policies can only be inclusive and sustainable if those at the bottom of the social and educational pyramid benefit from them. To support this perspective, Van Damme presents findings that demonstrate how higher levels of economic growth are driven by more years of education and greater learning achievement within countries. By disaggregating data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 assessment, he reminds us that students with very low proficiency tend to drive down national averages (similar to the findings by Crouch in Chapter 3). He concludes that countries need to focus on raising average learning outcomes to desired national standards while at the same time narrowing the distribution of national learning outcomes

The diversification of secondary education : School curricula in comparative perspective

The paper contends that the diversification of secondary education, while acknowledged, is not well studied. Despite the widespread expansion of secondary education in different world regions, the information available to researchers -and policy makers- for informed comparisons of secondary education systems has been, and remains, rather superficial and limited. Apart from measures of overall participation (enrolment ratios) and compulsory attendance in secondary education, almost all existing data revolves around two simple dimensiones: one hierarchical (i.e., lower vs. upper secondary education) and one programmatic (general vs, technical-vocational). Cross-national analyses based on two dimensiones provide, at best, a rather partial picture of the diversity of secondary school systems worldwide