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Cross National Studiesof Educational Opportunity
Fernando Reimers
September 2009
Last Week
• History of Comparative Education• Dissemination of ideas about education—influences in practice• Kandel—Education of Teachers• Husen—Consensus in the 1950s• Classification of the field today• Purposes of comparison and link to different professions• Concept of ‘Educational Transfer’
This week• A framework to compare• What institutions are involved• A framework to think about educational opportunity• A discussion of the equity and the relevance gaps (civic education, science
and engineering education, global education)• Using gradients to examine inequality• Comparative education research to advance basic science of education
Imposed
RequiredUnder
Constraint
NegotiatedUnder
ConstraintBorrowedPurposely
IntroducedThroughInfluence
1) Totalitarian/authoritarian rule, etc.2) Defeated/occupied countries3) Required by bilateral and multilateral agreements4) Intentional copying of policy/practice observed elsewhere5) General influence of educational ideas/methods
Source: Phillips and Schweisfurth 2007
The aims of comparative education
• Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by looking at experiences in various countries
• Contributes to the development of education theory
• Supports educational planning• Helps to cooperation and mutual
understanding among nations
• Shows what is possible by examining alternatives to provision at home
• Offers yardsticks by which to judge the performance of education systems
• Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by looking at experiences in various countries
• Provides a body of descriptive and explanatory data which allows us to see various practices and procedures in a very wide context
• Contributes to the development of an increasingly sophisticated theoretical framework in which to describe and analyze educational phenomena
• Serves to provide authoritative objective data which can be used to put the less objective data of others who use comparisons for a variety of political and other reasons to the test
• Has an important supportive and instructional role to play in the development of any plans for educational reform
• Helps to foster cooperation and mutual understanding among nations by discussing cultural differences and similarities and offering explanations for them
• Is of intrinsic intellectual interest as a scholarly activity as other comparative fields.
Level 1: World regions/continents
Level 2: Countries
Level 3: States/Provinces
Level 4: Districts
Level 5: Schools
Level 6: Classrooms
Level 7: Individuals
Cur
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Bray and Thomas
• Expansion of Educational Opportunity
1802, first public office to oversee education
1828 Ministry of public instruction
• Article 26.• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be
free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
• THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, IN BRIEF...
• On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations meeting in Paris. At that time, Unesco’s Director-General, Jaime Torres Bodet, stressed the importance of this event in these words:
• ‘The declaration of 10 December 1948 is more than a historical summary, it is a programme. Every paragraph is a call to action, every line a condemnation of apathy, every sentence a repudiation of some moment of our individual or national history; every word forces us to scrutinize more closely the situation in the world today. The destiny of mankind is an indivisible responsibility which we all must share.’
BIRTH OF THE ‘UNESCO SEMINAR’, SÈVRESDuring the summer of 1947 UNESCO organized its first
Summer Seminar in Sèvres (France). This seminar focused attention on two main areas of interest:
Ways and means of improving the curriculum, within the educational systems of the Member States, as a means of
developing world-mindedness; The influence of differences in cultural environment on the growth and adjustment of adolescents of various countries
Education for All
• The six goals are:• Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and
education • Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary
education for all • Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young
people and adults • Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 per cent • Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender
equality by 2015 • Goal 6: Improve the quality of education
Transnational Space and Actors• Multilateral (Intergovernmental) Organizations
UUNN• Multilateral Development Institutions. World
Bank. UNESCO. Regional Banks.• Bilateral Development Agencies (JICA,
USAID, CIDA, GTZ)• International Non-Governmental
Organizations (Faith based Organizations, Save the Children)
• Consulting Firms, Think Tanks and Universities
• Interest Groups
Levers for change
• Advocacy• Creating a legal framework• Exchange of experiences• Building Capacity• Providing technical assistance• Providing funding• http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=4
Discuss in small groups
• What are some forms of educational inequality?
• What causes them?
Discussion in small groups
• When can we say that an education system is equitable?
An education system is equitable if the legal framework provides for free and compulsory
education AND there are schools close to where children live
1. Yes
2. No
3. Uncertain
Equality of opportunity means…
1. All children have the same opportunity to enroll in school
2. All children receive the same educational resources while in school
3. Disadvantaged children receive more resources
What is equality of educational opportunity?
• Conservative Definition (Position in the social structure determines education chances)
• Liberal Definition (Equality of Treatment)
• Progressive Definition (Equality of Outcomes requires inequality of treatment. Positive Discrimination).
Equality of Educational Opportunity
• The likelihood that any person in a given country can enroll in an educational institution, be supported to learn at high levels, complete and proceed to the next existing level and type of education, independently of characteristics other than effort and ability, and in particular independently of their social class of origin, race, gender and location of residence.
How do we measure progress?
• Initial AccessChildren attend school, ready to learn
• InputsPer pupil Spending
• ProcessesStructures, Curriculum
• OutputsEducational Attainment, Literacy
• OutcomesEmployment and Productivity, Political Participation, Social Capital
Teacher qualifications are
1. An input
2. A process
3. An output
4. An outcome
A particular literacy program for initial reading instruction is
1. An input
2. A process
3. An output
4. An outcome
The level at which a child can read at the end of first grade is
1. An input
2. A process
3. An output
4. An outcome
The rates of grade repetition are…
1. An indication of whether the education system gives students a second chance
2. A measure of educational wastage
3. An indicator of educational effectiveness
4. An indicator of educational equity
5. An indicator of educational inefficiency
6. An indicator of educational inequity
Key Indicators
• Initial Access to School• Gross Enrollment Rates• Net Enrollment Rates• Repetition Rates• Student Flows –completion rates—• School Life Expectancy• Learning• Skills
Student FlowsRepetition
Completion
explain student flow simulation
Repetition.
• Why worry about it?• Isn’t repetition a second chance? An
extension of learning time?• High Levels –probably higher than reported• Consequences to students –time to graduate,
impact on self, leads to dropout?• Under-age and over-age children• Evidence of low levels of academic
achievement?
Why do children repeat grades?
1. Because they are not ready to meet the academic expectations of the grade
2. Because their teachers don’t teach effectively
3. Because their parents do not support their academic work
4. Because the curriculum is too demanding
5. Because there are not enough spaces for them in the next grade
What causes repetition?--modeling education processes--
Household factors. Disproportionately among low SES children.
• Distinction between lower stage repetition and later grade repetition
• Causal paths: poverty—nutrition—absenteeism• BUT demand factors MEDIATED by school factors or in
interactionSchool factors• High prevalence in rural, multigraded schools• Inbalances in class size among early and upper grades• Evaluation standards used by teachers
Trends of Analysis of Repetition
• Automatic Promotion
• Raise opportunities to learn
• Change cultures of repetition
• Role of cultural context “education systems vary enormously in terms of the incidence, causes and consequences of repetition.”
• Repetition Rates have systemic causes
Policy Options
• Comprehensive multipronged strategies home/school
• (e.g. adult literacy, mid-day meals, better school facilities, more textbooks, inservice training, and greater community involvement in schooling or strategies to improve readiness including nutrition, health and pre-school education; involving communities).
Prioritizing interventionsHome based• Increase equity (remove fees and scholarships)• Increase school fit (parental involvement, local control, enforce laws)• Increase school readiness (parent education, community health and
nutrition, infant stimulation)School based• Increase school readiness (early entry, preschool provision)• Increase access (enforce laws, fund school by attendance, eliminate fees,
add grades or cluster schools, incentives to attract teachers to rural areas).• Increase quality (reduce class size, lengthen school year/day, improve
teacher quality, increase supervision, provide free textbooks)• Improve assessment (competency based objectives, criterion referenced
testing, performance based incentives for schools). Need for Systemic Sectoral Interventions.
Equality of Educational Opportunity
• Equality of Outcomes (Social and Cultural Capital) Options in Life.
• Equality of Learning Outputs
• Equality of Processes
• Equality of Inputs
• Equality of Access
Dimensions of educational inequality:
Racial Inequality Gender Inequality Cast Inequality Socio-economic inequality Regional inequality
Equality of Inputs Per-Pupil expenditures
Teacher characteristics
Instructional Resources
Physical facilities
Learning outputs and outcomes from prior levels.
The role of school segregation
Equality of Processes • Instructional Practices
• Teacher responsiveness
• Time on task
• Fit between curriculum and student background
• Language of instruction
Equality of Outputs• Results tied to
curriculum objectives
Academic Skills
Educational Attainment
Using gradients to examine equality
In the previous graph educational inequality is represented by
The
aver
age
leve
l of .
..
The
slope
of eac
h line
The
degre
e to
whic
h ...
33% 33%33%1. The average level of
education of all children in each distribution
2. The slope of each line
3. The degree to which students are clustered around each line
In the previous graph
Ther
e is
more
educa
...
Ther
e is
more
educa
...
The
leve
l of e
ducatio
n..
I don’t
know
25% 25%25%25%1. There is more
educational inequality in Argentina than in the OECD
2. There is more educational inequality in the OECD than in Argentina
3. The level of educational inequality is about the same in the OECD than in Argentina
4. I don’t know
Using gradients to examine equality
Equality of Outcomes
• Equal Freedom• Equal Capabilities
(not functionings)• Equal Social Capital• Equal Cultural
Capital
Cross-national studies of achievement
• International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)
• Work begins in 1958 at Unesco Institute of Education in Hamburg. IEA established in 1967.
• The world as an education laboratory"If custom and law define what is educationally
allowable within a nation, the educational systems beyond one’s national boundaries suggest what is educationally possible."
Arthur W. Foshay in: Educational Achievement of Thirteen-year-Olds in Twelve Countries
IEA Studies
• The very first IEA study was intended to investigate the feasibility of undertaking more extensive investigations of educational achievement. This study, known as Pilot Twelve-Country Study, was conducted in 1959–62 with samples of 13-year-old students in 12 countries. Testing was carried out in five areas: mathematics, reading comprehension, geography, science, and non-verbal ability.
• First International Mathematics Study (FIMS). They collected data in 1964 on two populations-13-year-olds and students at the pre-university year. The study identified several different factors influencing both the learning and teaching of mathematics. 'Opportunity to learn' (that is, the way a subject is actually taught in the classroom as against how its instruction is prescribed in the official curriculum syllabus) was found to be a remarkably good predictor of systematic differences in student performance. The study also showed that all school systems suffer to some extent from lack of equity between different groups of students.
• The Six Subject Study, conducted in 1970-1971 examined six different curriculum subjects: reading comprehension, science, literature, French as a foreign language, English as a foreign language, and civic education. The researchers made two changes to the target population. First, they added a primary school target population — 10-year-olds. Second, they moved the middle school population from 13 to 14 years of age, because by that time nearly all participating countries were keeping children in full-time compulsory education up to the end of 14 years. The Six Subject Study helped to identify several new predictors of student achievement related to interests, motivation and attitudes, methods of teaching and school practices, and others.
• 1980–81 Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS), with 20 countries participating, it incorporated a small short-term longitudinal component.
• 1983–84 Second International Science Study (SISS), a replication of FISS with 24 countries. • 1981-83 Classroom Environment Study adopted the idea of observing student progress over a longer period of
time. • 1986-2003 Preprimary Education (PPP) longitudinal study. • 1985, Written Composition study to complement the data on reading comprehension and literature collected by
the Six-Subject Study. • 1990–91 Reading Literacy Study. Thirty-one countries participated in this study, which tested two populations of
students (9- and 14-year-olds). • 1989 and 1992 the two-phase Computers in Education Study (COMPED), • 1999 Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) in 1999. • 1996-1997 Second Civic Education Study (CIVED) • 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Forty-five countries participated in TIMSS, with
more than half a million students encompassing five grades tested. • TIMSS contributed to stabilization of the IEA cycle of studies in mathematics, science and reading literacy. The
subsequent data collection for TIMSS (at present known as Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) took place in 1999 and 2003.
• 2001 Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). • PIRLS 2006 was initiated in 2003 and TIMSS 2007 was begun in 2005. • 2005 Third Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCES). The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in
which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries.• The IEA cycle of studies attracts an increasing number of countries from all around the world. In TIMSS 2003
more than 50 educational systems participated. Twelve of them, from Arabic countries and Africa, participated for the first time in the assessment of this scale. In PIRLS 2001 there were 35 countries. More than 40 educational systems participate in PIRLS 2006 and more than 60 joined TIMSS 2007. Several of them are also ‘newcomers’ to the international assessment, many are representing low- and middle-income countries whose social, political and economic situation differs much from traditional IEA studies participants. This requires development of new ways of working to ensure that all systems can benefit. In response to this challenge IEA increases its training offered. This includes assistance on a various steps of study preparation and implementation, using the database and assisting researchers to address with the IEA data more fundamental questions, relevant to their educational systems.
• http://www.iea.nl/
Cross-national studies examine
Ach
ieve
men
t of s
tude.
..
Inst
ruct
ional
pra
ctic
e...
Sch
ool org
aniz
atio
n ...
The
rela
tionsh
ip o
f s...
All
of the
above
None o
f the a
bove
17% 17% 17%17%17%17%
1. Achievement of students in standardized tests across countries
2. Instructional practices across countries
3. School organization across countries
4. The relationship of school resources to student achievement across countries
5. All of the above6. None of the above
OECD-PISA StudiesProgramme for International Student Assessment
PISA Literacy Studies
Willms. Learning Divides…
Willms. Learning Divides…
Willms. Learning Divides…
Willms. Learning Divides…
Learning
Willms. Learning Divides…
Where is educational inequality
Am
ong stu
dents
in t.
.
Am
ong sch
ools w
ithi..
.
Am
ong countri
es
All
of the
above
None o
f the a
bove
20% 20% 20%20%20%1. Among students in the same schools
2. Among schools within a country
3. Among countries
4. All of the above
5. None of the above
Does the relationship between SES and reading ability vary across
countries?
Yes N
o
I don’t
know
33% 33%33%1. Yes
2. No
3. I don’t know
