Universalizing Primary Education in Sierra Leone: Promises and Pitfalls on the Path to Equity

What barriers remain in the progress towards achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE), and how does the UPE agenda affect out-of-school children? Through a mixture of historical, quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, this study examines these questions using the developing context of Sierra Leone as a case study. Findings from over 100 interviews show that first of all, the most salient barrier that prevents children from participating in primary school is the fact that school is not free de facto in spite of the national abolishment of primary school fees in 2004. Rather than commonly cited constraints such as a lack of value for education, families are faced with having to pay community teacher stipends, along with miscellaneous school expenditures, which hinders them from enrolling their children in primary school. A multilevel modeling analysis using data from the 2007 National Public Services Survey further confirms the salience of school costs as a barrier to primary school enrollment. Second, the guiding philosophy in the past, as exemplified by the Bunumbu Project which had a statistically significant positive impact on primary completion rates, was to adapt the state’s education to the preferences and lifestyle of the population, for example by localizing the curricular content of education. This contrasts with the current approach where the government is focused on fining and “sensitizing” the population to adopt the existing education system, a system that is largely defined by the international community and its development goals. Third, interview results suggest that an unintended consequence of universalizing education is the problematization of not attending school. According to interviewees, not participating in school is problematic in that it increases the number of “idlers” and “thieves” who “roam about” aimlessly without a “particular place” in the community. Alongside this problematization of the act of not going to school is the stigmatization of those who are out of school. For instance, uneducated children are described as “senseless” “fools” who are “rude and wicked.” These findings highlight how true universal education is more a process than a singular goal that can be realized at once. This means that in the interim, an inequity arises between those who do and do not obtain education. Thus, although education itself does not cause harm, the imperfect nature of implementing universal education inadvertently stratifies society along a different line of an educated class on the one hand, and an uneducated class on the other. In this way, education is facilitating the production of – rather than the reproduction of – a new form of social inequality in rural Sierra Leone. Finally, these results show the need to establish educational identity as a salient construct that is distinct from other domains such as one’s race, class, gender, sexual, religious and occupational identity

Promoting safety and wellness while abroad through continuous reflection and peer education

This article details a case of how engaging students in a process of continuous reflection and peer education can support the safety and wellness of first-generation, community college students of color as they study abroad. In addition to standard risk management and safety orientations for students, our 3-phase study abroad model entails: 1) near-peer pre-trip preparation featuring alumni participants, 2) reflective immersion during the trip, and 3) post-trip peer-to-peer community education using multiple media. Central to all three phases is students’ engagement in continuous, individual and collective reflection through writing, blogging, videos and photography. By reflecting on issues like cultural conceptions, challenges and anxieties, and changes in perspective-taking, students generate a wealth of knowledge that is then shared to promote the well-being of future participants

Particularizing Universal Education in Postcolonial Sierra Leone

This paper presents a vertical case study of the history of universalizing education in postcolonial Sierra Leone from the early 1950s to 1990 to highlight how there has never been a universal conception of universal education. In order to unite a nation behind a universal ideal of schooling, education needed to be adapted to different subpopulations, as the Bunumbu Project did for rural Sierra Leoneans in the 1970s to 1980s. While the idea of “localizing” education was sound, early program success was undermined by a lack of clarity behind terms like “rural” or “community.” This was exacerbated by a change in the scope of the project beyond its original objectives. Only by well defining the specific constituents of a target group and fulfilling their precise needs can myriad small-scale programs ultimately aggregate to meet the diverse demands and desires of society writ large

Characteristics of Effective Postsecondary Advising: How Often to Meet and What to Focus On

Using data from a large-scale senior exit survey administered at public high schools in New York City, this study aims to parse out what quantitative and qualitative characteristics of postsecondary advising are most influential in predicting students’ likelihood to attend college. We apply a broader conceptual framework for postsecondary advisement that includes school-based college advising as well as parental advisement on college and career planning. Results from logistic regression analyses show receiving help in completing college applications, along with talking to a counselor and parents/guardians at least 3 times in their senior year, to be salient predictors of college-going

Creating a Culturally Relevant Statistics Assignment on z-scores

Culturally relevant teaching or pedagogy has become increasingly popular both in practice and in research, but there are still few curricular resources for instructors to use, particularly for a college-level mathematics course. Departing from the question “relevant to whom,” this article illustrates how to design a statistics assignment on z-scores that is culturally relevant to students based on their prior experiences. Ultimately, the author shares design principles—which includes the importance of considering student trauma—that can be transferable to any statistics or quantitative analysis/reasoning class

Reconstructing education in post-conflict Sierra Leone

This study finds that by prioritizing universal development programmes instead of employing a conflict-sensitive approach rooted in attending to the specific inequities present in Sierra Leone, the current education system is ignoring the needs and desires of certain subpopulations of youth. Specifically, although the state has been very successful in increasing overall access to basic education for both boys and girls in rural Sierra Leone, the current focus on improving the quality of academic education has sidelined the growth of technical and vocational education that many youth desire. Instead, sectors such as tertiary education are prioritized above all else. Furthermore, the presence of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) soldiers from Nigeria and Guinea during the war introduced behaviours such as drugs, alcohol, and gambling. These foreign cultural influences are affecting rural youth and turning into social problems that have yet to be recognized by the government or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The establishment of technical and non- formal education to employment pipelines can serve to engage these youth, thereby creating more equity and positive peace

Promoting Well-Being and Safety Abroad: The Role of Continuous Reflection and Peer Education Before, During, and After Travel

This article details a case of how engaging students in a process of continuous reflection and peer education can support the safety and wellness of first-generation, community college students of color as they study abroad. In addition to standard risk management and safety orientations for students, our 3-phase study abroad model entails: 1) near-peer pre-trip preparation featuring alumni participants, 2) reflective immersion during the trip, and 3) post-trip peer-to-peer community education using multiple media. Central to all three phases is students’ engagement in continuous, individual and collective reflection through writing, blogging, videos and photography. By reflecting on issues like cultural conceptions, challenges and anxieties, and changes in perspective-taking, students generate a wealth of knowledge that is then shared to promote the well-being of future participants

Developing a Culturally Responsive Assessment Model for Short-Term Study Abroad at an Urban Community College

The literature on assessing education abroad is dominated by studies using pre-/post-survey instruments to measure student growth across broad dimensions like global perspectives or intercultural competencies. Most studies also focus on study abroad programs in private, four-year or graduate schools. There is limited research assessing programs in community colleges serving underrepresented students, despite the increasing diversity of education abroad participants. This article addresses that gap, and even more important, illustrates the process of how an urban, Minority Serving Institution-designated community college designed a culturally responsive assessment framework—one that that combines quantitative analysis of surveys with qualitative analysis of student e-Portfolios— aligned to their institutional learning outcomes and specific student body needs

Applied Math in Introductory Chemistry

Students, particularly those who are non-science majors, often struggle with college-level science courses required for graduation due to the applied mathematics needed to successfully complete the course. This resource includes four activities on the topics of units and measurements, dimensional analysis, density, and gases. These topics were specifically designed to teach the mathematics embedded in these topics in a culturally responsive way. Throughout the activities, we incorporate these four elements of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2009) in order to engage students in successfully solving basic mathematics in chemistry while promoting their interest in learning chemistry

Comparison of Body Size, Morphomics, and Kidney Function as Covariates of High‐Dose Methotrexate Clearance in Obese Adults with Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154919/1/phar2379.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154919/2/phar2379_am.pd