La estrategia Educativa 2020 o las limitaciones del Banco Mundial para promover el "aprendizaje para todos"

La nueva Estrategia Educativa 2020 del Banco Mundial establece las prioridades de reforma educativa en paises en vias de desarrollo para la decada siguiente. El titulo explicito de la estrategia, Aprendizaje para Todos, es un claro reconocimiento de que, mas alla de politicas centradas en el acceso, se debe hacer algo mas para asegurar que la educacion derive en experiencias positivas de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, como este articulo sostiene, las opciones de politicas explicitas y latentes en la Estrategia 2020 no son las mas adecuadas para lograr el Aprendizaje para Todos. El articulo desarrolla tres tipos de argumentos al respecto. El primero se refiere al fuerte apego del Banco a un conocimiento disciplinario y un enfoque metodológico que es insufi ciente para entender lo que aprenden los niños en la escuela y por que. El segundo argumento se refiere al sesgo pro-mercado de la Estrategia por lo que respecta a la reforma del sector publico y a nuevas formas de oferta educativa. En tercer lugar, el articulo senala las principales ausencias de la Estrategia, con especial atencion a las omisiones relacionadas con la compleja relación entre educación y pobreza.The World Bank's 2020 Education Strategy establishes the new education priorities in developing countries for the next decade. Its title, Learning for All, clearly recognizes that, beyond policies focusing on access, something else must be done to ensure that schooling involves positive learning experiences. However, as this paper argues, the 2020 Strategy explicit and latent policy options might not be adequate to achieve Learning for All. This paper develops three arguments on that matter. The fi rst one refers to the Bank's strong attachment to a disciplinary knowledge and a methodological approach that do not suffi ce to understand what children learn at school and why. The second one addresses its pro-market bias when it approaches the public sector reforms and the new forms of providing education. The last argument points out the main omissions of this Strategy, especially in what regards the complex relation between education and poverty

Elusive equity: education reform in post-apartheid South Africa

Elusive Equity documents South Africa's efforts to create a racially equitable state education system from the ashes of apartheid education. Edward Fiske and Helen Ladd describe and evaluate the strategies that South African policy makers have pursued in their quest for equity. They draw on previously unpublished data, interviews with key officials, and visits to dozens of schools to describe the changes made to school financing, teacher allocation, governance, curriculum, and other areas. They conclude that the country has made remarkable progress toward equity in the sense of treating persons of all races equally. For several reasons, however, the system has been far less successful in promoting equal access for all and equity, in terms of the provision of quality, has remained elusive. The book combines the perceptive observations of an experienced education journalist with the analytical skills of an academic policy expert. Richly textured descriptions of how South Africa's education reforms have affected schools at grassroots level are combined with careful analysis of enrolment, governance, and budget data at school, provincial, and national levels. The result is a compelling and comprehensive study of the first decade of education reform in the post-apartheid period