Background and methodological note for the Spatial Education Inequalities

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Preschool attendance: a multilevel analysis of individual and community factors in 21 low and middle-income countries

This paper investigates how preschool attendance is shaped by individual and community factors for 71,806 children from 14,303 communities in 21 low-to middle-income countries using a multilevel analysis. We assess how these mechanisms vary by community and country wealth and the extent to which the variation of preschool uptake can be explained by the characteristics of children living in these communities. We find that of the total variation, 36% was attributable to communities and 12% to countries, with childrens demographic and socioeconomics characteristics explaining 23% of the between community variation. Community wealth and health are crucial determinants; in poor communities with high stunting rates, the chances of preschool attendance are at least halved. Our results suggest that the effect of community on preschool attendance is stronger in poorer countries with greater inequality between communities

The effect of early marriage timing on women's and children's health in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia

Background. Age of marriage is a barrier to mother’s health care around pregnancy and children health outcomes. Objective. We provide evidence on the health benefits of postponing early marriage among young wives (from age 10-14 to age 15-17) on women’s health care and children’s health for Saharan Africa (SSA) and South West Asia (SWA). Methods. We use data for 39 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) to estimate the effects of postponing early marriage for women’s health care and children’s health outcomes and immunisation using matching techniques. We also assess if women's health empowerment and health constraints are additional barriers. Findings. We found that in SSA, delaying the age of marriage from age 10-14 to age 15-17 and from age 15-17 to age 18 or above leads to an increase of maternal neotetanus vaccinations of 2.4% and 3.2% respectively, while gains on the likelihood of postnatal checks is larger for delaying marriage among the youngest wives (age 10- 14). In SWA, the number of antenatal visits increases by 34%, while the likelihood of having a skilled birth attendant goes up to 4.1% if young wives postpone marriage. In SSA, the probability of children receiving basic vaccinations is twice as large and their neonatal mortality reduction is nearly double if their mothers had married between age 15-17 instead of at age 10-14. The extent of these benefits is also shaped by supply constraints and cultural factors. For instance, we found that weak bargaining power on health decisions for young wives leads to 11% (SWA) fewer antenatal visits and 13% less chances (SSA) of attending postnatal checks. Conclusion. Delaying age of marriage among young wives can lead to considerable gains in health care utilisation and children health in SSA and SWA if supported by policies that lessen supply constraints and raise women's health empowerment

Climate change and its impact on education completion rates across four sub-Saharan African countries:A non-parametric approach at the community level

Climate change is a leading barrier for SDG4 progress, particular across poorer regions which are more affected by it. This study estimates the impact of climate change on communities’ completion rates across the life-course in four sub-Saharan African countries. Our analysis is based on 2524 communities of four countries (i.e., Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea and Nigeria) using a non-parametric approach to account for heterogeneity of climate change-education linkage. We find that raising temperatures, lower rainfall, aridity and modifications on the quality of vegetation are all related to lower completion rates, with these impacts being more prominent in contextual disadvantaged communities, suggesting the urgent need for mitigating policies

Factors associated with private-public school performance: analysis of TALIS-PISA link data

We use measures of competitive pressure, administrative autonomy and staffing practices to explain the private-public performance difference in Australia, Portugal and Spain using the TALIS-PISA dataset. We employ OLS regression and counterfactual decomposition analysis on matched sub-samples. These school factors do not explain the overall private-public performance gap in the three countries except at the higher-end of the distribution. In other words, these factors appear to benefit only the high-performers in private schools in Australia and Spain. The results point to the potential limits of adopting private school practices for improving learning across the performance distribution especially for low-performing students

On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia

This paper examines the effect of age of marriage on women's schooling outcomes for 36 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia. We employ an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of early marriage driven by socio-economic and cultural factors. Our results show that delaying early marriage by one year is associated with an increase of half a year of education in Sub-Saharan Africa and nearly one third of a year of education in South West Asia as well as a lower likelihood of dropping out from secondary school of 5.5% in South West Asia

Paper commissioned for the EFA global monitoring report 2012, youth and skills: putting education to work: schooling profiles: between and within country differences

This report consists of a large data exercise based upon a household survey, yielding education indicators for an array of countries, at both national and sub-national levels. Specifically, the expected total intake into primary school at different ages, as well as repetition and dropout rates and survival rates for each grade are calculated, allowing the reconstruction of the expected path of children entering the education system. Because schooling profiles may vary significantly by children's background, disaggregated calculations are also obtained for dimensions within a country (e.g., gender, wealth, regions, ethnicity), as well as overlapping dimensions (e.g., wealth and gender). The reconstructed cohort model is adopted for this exercise. Furthermore, a preliminary analysis of the main drivers of expected cohort completion rates is included

What is the place of TERCE data in international agendas? A comparison of the content of regional information on school infrastructure and its use in global reports on education”

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Parental education expectations and achievement for Indigenous students in Latin America: evidence from TERCE learning survey

Though mechanisms of Indigenous’ exclusion in education due resources is well understood, there is a lack of evidence on role of educational expectations as an additional barrier for Indigenous children learning. In this paper, I use a recent Latin American learning survey (TERCE) for sixth grade students covering 12 countries to assess whether Indigenous families have lower educational expectations than non-Indigenous families and whether lower Indigenous parental schooling expectations are also linked to lower learning of their children. I found the that the context (the external channel) matters on the formation and transition of educational expectations for Indigenous children learning

Mothers’ empowerment and children education gender gap in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper provides new evidence on the association between mothers empowerment and educational gender gaps in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), for a range of empowerment indicators related to women’s mobility, violence, early marriage, and power in household expenditures based on data from 34 SSA countries. Also, I investigate the role of community lack of empowerment on educational transfers. Estimates indicate that gender inequality is still a significant barrier in SSA compounded by weak mother’s empowerment for educational access for girls in comparison to boys, with low empowerment at the community having detrimental effects on intergenerational education transfer from mothers to daughters. The analysis underlines the need to tackle different barriers behind weak women agency to boost gender inequality within SDG4