Can head teacher autonomy mitigate the effects of COVID-19 school closures in India?

This paper uses data from a study of schools in India to examine how headteachers reacted to the COVID-19 school closures. We consider how differences in the decision-making autonomy of school leaders affect their confidence and coping strategies and explore how this may help mitigate the otherwise unequalising effects of the pandemic

Exploring trends in the relationship between child labour, gender and educational achievement in Latin America

Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónTítulo, resumen y palabras clave en inglés, español y portuguésMonográfico con el título: Nuevos datos, nuevos retos: Iberoamérica en las últimas evaluaciones educativasLa participación de menores, tanto en tareas domésticas como no domésticas, los efectos del género y los bajos logros académicos siguen siendo un reto para los países de América Latina. A través del modelaje lineal jerárquico de datos del Programa Internacional de Evaluación de los Alumnos (PISA), se busca explorar las tendencias entre los países en la relación entre los logros académicos, el trabajo infantil y el género. Si bien el trabajo fuera del hogar suele tener un efecto sobre los logros académicos en todos los países de Latinoamérica, la participación en las tareas del hogar es relevante únicamente en dos (Perú y Uruguay). La última parte del estudio busca analizar los efectos de interacción de género y participación en actividades laborales. Los resultados demuestran que el género no es un factor moderador.ES

Countering misinformation with targeted messages: Experimental evidence using mobile phones

Widespread misconceptions can be critical, especially in times of crisis. Through a field experiment, we study how to address such wrong or inaccurate beliefs using messages delivered to individual citizens using mobile phones. We focus on misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in a hard-to-reach population – India’s slum residents. We randomly allocate participants to receive voice and video messages introduced by a local citizen, the messenger, and in which medical practitioners debunk misconceptions. To understand the role of targeting, we randomly vary the signaled religious identity of the messenger into either Muslim or Hindu, guaranteeing exogenous variation in religion concordance between messenger and recipient. Doctor messages are effective at increasing knowledge of, and compliance with, COVID-19 policy guidelines. Changes in misconceptions are observed only when there is religion concordance and mainly for religious-salient misconceptions. Correcting misconceptions with information requires targeting messages to specific populations and tailoring them to individual characteristics. (JEL D04, D80, D83, I10, I15, Z12

Teachers’ Pedagogical Autonomy, Professional Development and Students’ Digital Skills: New Evidence from Italy

In light of the recent education reforms in Italy (La Buona Scuola, Law 107/15) featuring autonomy and digital skills, this paper examines the impact of teachers’ pedagogical autonomy on students’ computer literacy. The empirical analysis is conducted using data from the latest cycle of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2018). Our results show that teachers’ pedagogical autonomy in itself is not significantly associated with students’ digital skills, but that when combined with certain types of professional development, it can positively influence students’ computer literacy. Based on our results, we argue for more localised resources and opportunities to be used for teachers to engage in reciprocal professional development via spontaneous peer support and learning over top-down standardised professional development programmes

Survey data on the impact of COVID-19 on parental engagement across 23 countries

This data article describes the dataset of the International COVID-19 Impact on Parental Engagement Study (ICIPES). ICIPES is a collaborative effort of more than 20 institutions to investigate the ways in which, parents and caregivers built capacity engaged with children's learning during the period of social distancing arising from global COVID-19 pandemic. A series of data were collected using an online survey conducted in 23 countries and had a total sample of 4,658 parents/caregivers. The description of the data contained in this article is divided into two main parts. The first part is a descriptive analysis of all the items included in the survey and was performed using tables and figures. The second part refers to the construction of scales. Three scales were constructed and included in the dataset: 'parental acceptance and confidence in the use of technology', 'parental engagement in children's learning' and 'socioeconomic status'. The scales were created using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Multi-Group Confirmatory Analysis (MG-CFA) and were adopted to evaluate their cross-cultural comparability (i.e., measurement invariance) across countries and within sub-groups. This dataset will be relevant for researchers in different fields, particularly for those interested in international comparative education

Towards Social Justice in Institutions of Higher Learning: Addressing Gender Inequality in Science & Technology through Capability Approach

The focus of the study is to examine and relocate gender equality in higher education using Capability Approach as the background frame. The paper discusses how gender relations are rooted in the socio-cultural matrix in India. It attempts to explore the factors prevalent in the structure which impacts woman’s opportunities and functionalities in the higher education. The database includes faculty from one of the central universities of South India, the study deals with the dynamics of constructs in Science and Technology indicating socio-psychological obstructions faced by women. Based on thorough analysis, the oppressed capabilities are conceptualized thereby enabling the researchers to relocate the gender equality and the capabilities that need to be enriched for women can be contemplated which helps in reducing the existing disparity. The intention of the study is essentially not to quantify the attributes of inequality to make them measurable but to choose attributes which enable an effective comparative basis to address inequality. The empirical study reveals an existence of the element of stereotyping as a single entity and capability approach restores the uniqueness by the fractional combination of capabilities listed

Countering misinformation with targeted messages: Experimental evidence using mobile phones

Widespread misconceptions can be critical, especially in times of crisis. Through a field experiment, we study how to address such wrong or inaccurate beliefs using messages delivered to individual citizens using mobile phones. We focus on misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in a hard-to-reach population – India’s slum residents. We randomly allocate participants to receive voice and video messages introduced by a local citizen, the messenger, and in which medical practitioners debunk misconceptions. To understand the role of targeting, we randomly vary the signaled religious identity of the messenger into either Muslim or Hindu, guaranteeing exogenous variation in religion concordance between messenger and recipient. Doctor messages are effective at increasing knowledge of, and compliance with, COVID-19 policy guidelines. Changes in misconceptions are observed only when there is religion concordance and mainly for religious-salient misconceptions. Correcting misconceptions with information requires targeting messages to specific populations and tailoring them to individual characteristics. (JEL D04, D80, D83, I10, I15, Z12