Biblioteca Digital

This article gives the lineage of education policy decisions, taking comparison as the motive, knowledge and method. A conceptual chain of the world system, internationalization, convergence in education and globalization is briefly outlined. Decision in education policy is discussed in terms of agreeing, mainstreaming, and producing, taking Latin America as the linkage and the European Community as the construction. Reasoning and illustration are gathered in different fields of history: cultural, economic, political, educational. Use is made of a core structuring epistemology, culled from a variety of academic domains and in which comparison and decision underpin a complex rationale in which time, space, materiality, knowledge, ideation, action and evaluation all intersect

Education plays a central role in preparing individuals to enter the labor force, as well as equipping them with the skills to engage in lifelong learning experiences. The objective of this study is to review what is known about the role of education in improving labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on policy considerations for developing countries. The report presents findings from current literature on the topic, which offers new ways of looking at the returns to education, together with evidence from four original data analysis and background studies of education and labor issues in Ghana and Pakistan. Country studies on Ghana and Pakistan are used to substantiate findings of the literature and illustrate the heterogeneity of education labor market linkages across regions. These countries were chosen because they are representative of two of the poorest regions of the world and because their inclusion in the analysis complements ongoing World Bank work on education and labor market issues in those countries. This report offers two types of findings: those relevant to the content of educational policies and those relevant to the framework for educational policy making.

This hands-on, interactive guide to evaluating and revamping education policy is designed to help policymakers in low-income countries identify weakness and make the most efficient use of scarce education resources. Education specialist in the developed world will also find this guide to be an invaluable tool for analyzing priorities and arriving at cost-effective solutions. The out-growth of training workshops held at the World Bank, this book and CD-ROM present relevant policy problems and engage the user in a search for effective education-service delivery options. Users can, moreover, plug in their own data and apply the statistical models to the specific challenges of their own educational systems. Both a self-paced learning guide and a practical assessment tool, this publication will be of interest to policymakers, as well as education researches, teachers, and students.

The main objective of this paper is to outline what matters most for an effective education management information system (EMIS). It presents the conceptual background and operational tools for the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER)-EMIS domain. These tools are intended for use by government education policy makers to assess policy areas of relevance to a country s EMIS against international best practices. This paper begins with an introduction of the domain and the rationale for an EMIS benchmarking tool. Chapter 1 then provides an overview of current data-related demands to improve education, explains how an EMIS meets those data demands, and highlights examples of specific system s in action. Chapter 2 outlines what matters in an EMIS, starting with an explanation of what comprises the construct validity and theoretical underpinnings for benchmarking an EMIS. This chapter shows that the guiding principles behind an EMIS drive actionable policies. A detailed description of four policy areas specifically, the enabling environment, system soundness, data quality, and utilization for decision making then follows in chapter 3. The chapter describes the rubric for the SABER-EMIS Tool and gives a brief overview of an EMIS benchmarking pilot...

Peru has reached a crossroads for education policy at the beginning of the 21st century. The status quo reflects major accomplishments. One direction for policy would, therefore, involve useful but relatively limited improvements in the current situation. This direction, however, may prove inadequate to fulfill the country's goal of having a highly educated citizenry--fully competitive by international standards--to underpin poverty reduction and to facilitate economic and social development. A second generation of reform would be required if this direction were taken. This study explores these issues and lays out options for a second wave of reform. Either of the broad directions for policy will need to identify specific ways of improving educational quality. This report analyzed the factors affecting fourth graders' mathematics achievement levels in 1996 to identify options to improve quality. The findings are encouraging in indicating potential directions where change could make a difference. The analysis found that after controlling for a number of explanatory variables...

This note identifies major challenges facing the Ukrainian education system and suggests policy options for addressing them. It is intended to contribute to the ongoing policy dialogue between the Ukrainian Government and the World Bank about the key issues identified in government education policy development and implementation planning to date, and to offer the Bank's views on these issues for the Government to consider as it elaborates its reform program. The note's structure broadly follows that of the government's policy document. Section two outlines the political, economic, and social environment. Section three identifies some of Ukraine's strengths and comparative advantages in education, on which future reform policy can build. Section four discusses cross-cutting issues and challenges, including equity, relevance, efficiency, and accountability. In section five, the note provides recommendations for reform priorities and some policy options for realizing them. Section six identifies potential risks and threats that could hinder the reform process and suggests way to mitigate them. Annex one offer a brief overview of the education system...

The main objective of this report is to present the Government of Chile with policy options related to the institutional distribution of roles and responsibilities for effective quality assurance in education. Following the introduction, the report is structured as follows. Chapter II presents background information on the evolution of Chile's education system since 1980. This information, together with an analysis of the current situation of the education sector, describes the motivation for the study and demonstrates the urgent need to shift the focus in education policy to quality assurance. Chapter III describes the conceptual framework developed for the analysis of how successful systems carry out education quality assurance. The framework developed identifies education participants, including: students; teachers; principals and school administrators; schools; local governments (districts, municipalities); regional governments (states, provinces); and the national government. Chapter IV applies the framework to the nine education systems selected as comparisons and presents a summary of the quality assurance functions and institutions in each selected education system. Chapter V describes the four alternative instructional visions for quality assurance in education developed as a result of the international review. Finally...

This study is intended for non-Russian researchers wanting to get familiar with the education system of the Russian Federation and more generally for all those involved in education and education policy. It does not represent exhaustive information on the Russian education system and all problems and challenges existing there, but briefly describes its main features. The report has the following structure. The opening chapter provides an overview of the education system in Russia and briefly reviews the most evident emergent trends. Chapters two through five are devoted to description of education system by level. The chapters are arranged by ascending order of educational level and each chapter's present information in a progression from the most general to the most specific. First, data on the current state of education system is provided. They characterize the human and financial resources allocated to education; describe the network of educational institutions across the country, and show regional disparities of spending on education. Next in each section key problems and challenges are examined; the focus is mainly made on access to and quality of educational services. Third...

This note identifies major challenges now facing the Macedonian education system and suggests policies and programs for addressing them. Its primary function is to inform the representatives of the Government as well as other political leaders and stakeholders, in a continual dialogue with the World Bank, about the Bank team's position on the main challenges and policy options, which Macedonian education policy makers may consider. Given the past ethnic conflict and current political situation, Macedonia likely will require a significant increase in donor support in upcoming years to remedy some underlying social and economic problems and to simplify rehabilitating the school infrastructure. It is important that donor activities fit into a strategy and a follow-up policy framework to be agreed upon with the Government. Based on the country assistance strategy signed by the Government and the Bank, the next education project's preparation is underway and is planned to be effective by early 2004. This education policy note therefore intends to offer a coherent policy basis for the government's evolving strategy and to establish a basis for the project preparation...

The Government of Cambodia's education sector program has affected positive change including a marked increase in primary net enrollment rates. Despite improvements, however, the Government faces formidable challenges in consolidating and furthering these gains towards achieving quality basic education for all. To address these challenges, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport has recently revised its Education Strategic Plan 2004/2008. This report aims to contribute and inform the ongoing debate on policy options by providing a comprehensive empirical analysis of the role of demand- and supply-side factors and policy interventions in facilitating access to, completion of, and learning in basic education, especially for the most disadvantaged children. The report is divided into three main parts. The first part presents a profile of the basic education sector. The second part provides a general characterization of how demand and supply factors are related to student outcomes, and draws policy implications from the results. The third part exploits the valuable lessons from past and ongoing demand- and supply-side interventions in Cambodia. The report and its findings highlight the importance of exploiting all existing sources of education data...

Despite a long history of multicultural education initiatives in Ontario (Chan, 2007), Harper (1997) argues that “racially motivated violence, gender and sexual harassment, and cultural and class conflict that continue to occur in Ontario schools” demonstrate the need for new and better ways to respond to student diversity (p. 203). The Ontario Ministry of Education responded to these inadequacies by mandating that school boards develop equity and inclusive education policies, as specified in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 119 (2009) Developing and Implementing Equity and Inclusive Education Policies in Ontario Schools. Still, a considerable and observable gap exists between the goals of policy and the realities of practice in many Ontario schools. A necessary starting point in analyzing this gap is to examine the development of equity education policy in Ontario as documented in PPM No. 119 (2009). Relying on document analysis and policy analysis as the sole methods of data collection, I documented the ideological, socio-cultural, political, legal, and economic context from which PPM No. 119 (2009) developed in order to understand what groups of stakeholders were included in the development of PPM No. 119 (2009) and whose values the policy document ultimately represents. Collected documents that represent both the federal and provincial level of policymaking and a variety of regional stakeholders and policy actors illustrated that...

 In this paper the authors discuss preliminary findings from research on language learning identities of ethnic minority groups for education policy formulation. The research aims to identify and interpret changing language identities, preferences, modes of learning, and discourse affected by the transformation of the economic, social, and cultural environment of Macau since the territory was designated as a Special Administrative Region (S.A.R.) following the return of sovereignty from Portugal to China in 1999. The research is particularly concerned with identifying the perceptions held by ethnic minorities of the determinants for achievement and success in an education system polarized by language preference and priority. The case of the cross-cultural identity of the ‘Macanese’ is presented as a preliminary study to inform education policy and advocate further research on ethnic minorities in Macau.; In this paper the authors discuss preliminary findings from research on language learning identities of ethnic minority groups for education policy formulation. The research aims to identify and interpret changing language identities, preferences, modes of learning, and discourse affected by the transformation of the economic...

A dimensão internacional das políticas públicas de educação tem sido bastante discutida nos últimos anos. Este artigo argumenta que as atividades dos agentes internacionais no domínio das políticas da educação não podem ser compreendidas inteira e exclusivamente a partir da perspectiva nacional e, por isso, devem ser estudadas em um nível distinto de análise. Questionando como melhor conceituar teoricamente esse campo de estudo, o artigo apresenta três abordagens teóricas: neoinstitucionalismo/ isomorfia, externalização e teoria do regime internacional. O foco dessa contribuição está centrado na análise da política internacional da educação a partir do último conceito indicado.; The international dimension of education policies has been widely discussed in the last couple of years. This article argues that the activities of international agents involved in education policy formulation cannot be entirely and exclusively understood from a national perspective and, thus, should be studied as a discrete level of analysis. Questioning how we might best conceptualize this field of study, this paper presents three theoretical approaches - neoinstitutionalism/isomorphism, externalization, and the international regime theory. The focus here is laid on the analysis of international education policy based on international regime theory.

El Programa de Escuelas Focalizadas (antes P-900) es una iniciativa educativa de larga data impulsada en Chile por el Ministerio de Educación tras el retorno de la democracia (1990). Es uno de los programas que tuvo mayor éxito, aunque su rediseño se hace inminente por los resultados derivados de diversos estudios. Su estrategia significó apoyar pedagógicamente a las escuelas cuyos resultados en las pruebas de medición de logros de los cuartos grados se situaban en el 10% con peores valores (actualmente en el 18%). El proceso pedagógico sustentado por el Programa se centra en maestros y alumnos, con una acción positiva en diversos ámbitos. Los resultados dan cuenta de la percepción de los docentes participantes en una de las áreas geográficas con más bajos resultados y mayores índices de pobreza del Chile: la Provincia de Talca. Se trabajó con 249 docentes, aplicándoles un cuestionario estructurado con escalas Likert y Nominal. Los resultados confirman que los docentes conocen el programa, que tienen una percepción positiva pero que sus nuevas prácticas aún no son valoradas como un factor de desarrollo laboral de significación. Desde el punto de vista de una política educativa de acción positiva es indispensable introducir cambios de significación que implican su rediseño...

In South Africa, up to 70% of children of school-going age with disabilities are out of school. Of those who do attend, most are still in separate, "special" schools for learners with disabilities. This situation prevails despite the push for the educational inclusion of learners with disabilities over twelve years ago by the South African policy document, the Education White Paper 6. In this article, we take a primarily top-down theoretical approach to policy implementation and focus on two main factors that hinder the implementation of inclusive education. Firstly, we focus on what we regard as the most significant constraint, namely, the apparent lack of clarity in the policy, i.e. ambiguity about the goals for inclusion and the means through which they can be achieved and, secondly, various issues around the poor implementation of the policy. We argue further that the primary means by which the divide between inclusive policy and practice will ultimately be closed is through the implementation and enforcement of education policy by the South African Department of Education.

The paper examines the extent to which sub-national public officials are efficient in delivering basic education services and argues that technical inefficiencies, especially in the management of public funds for education, could potentially contribute to poor education service delivery in South Africa. A conceptual framework is proposed to show the underlying mechanisms by which these technical inefficiencies can adversely affect education outcomes. The analysis is based on two micro-level surveys that were applied at 175 public primary schools and 13 district education offices (DEOs) in two provinces in South Africa: the North-West Province and Gauteng. The analysis reveals that South Africa has a well-planned decentralised structure to administer education. However, districts have significant human resource constraints. Capacity is often lacking and record-keeping, particularly of financial information, is very poor. Lack of technical efficiency has resulted in misappropriation of funds (leakage) and extensive delays in remitting funds to schools. The paper concludes that these inefficiencies potentially affect education outcomes and therefore should be given due consideration when designing and implementing education policy reforms.

We investigated how education policy was mediated at a representative number of Western Cape schools, from 1997 to 2003, using the structure, symbolic, human resource and political frames of Bolman and Deal (1997) as the basis of the investigation. The investigation produced diverse research findings. At the one end there were a majority of representative councils of learners that received the full support of the main role players. These councils were fully functional and were making a significant contribution to the effective governance of their schools. At the other end there were significant numbers of representative councils of learners that were not receiving the requisite support, and which were merely tolerated to ensure legal compliance. The factors responsible for preventing the development of education policy into praxis, at these schools, are divided into three categories: technical challenges, cultural challenges and political challenges. In conclusion suggestions are made as to how these varied and complex challenges can be met in the interests of furthering the democratic goals that underpin RPL policy.

This article considers the nature and trajectory of the African National Congress's (ANC) education policy discourses from its founding in 1912, until its repatriation from exile by 1992. The broad issue that this article considers is how to explain why the ANC was inadequately prepared to address the educational challenges of a democratic South Africa. The article considers the relationship between its political struggles against segregation and apartheid and the particular educational focus that it favoured during this period. From its inception, the ANC was actively involved in the political arena, with the purpose of opposing racist rule. The article suggests that its involvement in the education arena was subordinate to its political focus, with consequences for the type of educational change and curriculum orientation that it favoured. Employing a historical-sociological perspective, we divide ANC involvement in politics and education into two broad and distinct periods. The first period from 1912 to 1960 examines ANC involvement within South Africa. The second period from 1960 to 1992 examines the ANC in exile. We end the article with some discussion of the ANC's education reform trajectory from 1992 to 1995, in other words...

Higher education has come to be included in the list of items considered to be of priority and of strategic importance for the future of a nation: a generally accepted conviction that development requires an ever increasing level of education in the population. In Brazil, however, only 10.6% of those aged between 18 and 24 manage to enter higher education. How to increase access and obtain greater equity whilst providing quality education is a central issue in education policy. In the last decade solutions have been proposed to provide greater access and equity based on the diversification of the system with the creation of new types of HEIs, new types and modalities of courses, as well as those proposals including affirmative action (PROUNI and the policy of quotas). The analysis of statistical data, interviews, documents, and legislation reveals the current situation: the amplification of access as well as the implementation of social inclusion policies, has, particularly in the private higher education sector, resulted in the production of a socially perverse democratization effect.