¾ Abstracts for Group Sessions ¾
Acedo, Clementina (University of
Pittsburgh)
Secondary
Education Reform: Global and Regional
Trends and Country Case Studies [Panel]
After a general expansion of basic
education, developing countries in most regions are facing a political and demographic
pressure to expand the access and improve the quality of their secondary
education systems. At the same time
these governments are revising the main objectives and structure of their
secondary and post-basic education in order adjust their systems to the goals
of preparing better and productive citizens, improving the transition to the
labor market or to higher education and reducing inequality. The panel will present the preliminary
findings from a study being undertaken in the context of the USAID-funded
“Improving Educational Quality” project.
The panel will discuss trends in the types of reforms being undertaken
(e.g., organizational restructuring, financing arrangements, curricular change,
teacher education) on a global scale as well as within five UNESCO regions:
Africa, Arab States, East Asia and the Pacific, (Central/Eastern) Europe, and
Latin America. In addition, more
in-depth case studies on specific secondary education reforms in five countries
(currently being determined) will be described and analyzed comparatively. The case studies will illuminate the groups
and contextual dynamics that are involved in shaping whether and how reforms
are proposed, adopted, and implemented.
Ahmed, Manzoor (UNICEF and University
of Pittsburgh)
Basic
Education in South Asia: Challenges of Quality, Equity and Access [Panel]
The South Asian sub-continent, with a
fifth of world’s people, has the dubious distinction of being the home of half
of world’s illiterates and children deprived of basic education opportunities,
as well as almost half of the world’s poor living on less than a dollar a day.
In the last three decades, governments in the region pledged a greater effort
in basic education and committed larger public resources. In the 1990s, South
Asian countries renewed their commitment to “education for all” in the wake of
the Jomtien World Conference on Education for All. But progress during the
decade has faltered and targets have remained far from being fulfilled - especially
in respect of quality of learning and reduction of inequality in opportunities.
The Panel, drawing on members’ involvement in South Asia as well as their
experience in other parts of the world, will assess where individual countries
and the region stand today, critically examine national efforts and
international cooperation in the past decade, and will indicate lessons and
strategies for meeting the challenges of access, equity and quality in basic
education.
Altbach, Philip (Boston College)
Comparative
Higher Education: Issues for the 21st Century [Symposium]
This symposium will bring together
key experts to discuss central trends in higher education in a comparative
perspective. The presenters will deal with issues set forth in a common
framework paper co-authored by Philip G. Altbach and Todd Davis. Among the
issues highlighted are: Expansion and differentiation, the challenge of higher
education and work, technology and higher education, access and accountability,
privatization and higher education, globalization and the universities. These
are among the central issues facing academic systems worldwide. Each panelist
will prepare research based comments focusing on these topics, so that there
will be a commonality of issues presented from a broad geographical framework.
Aoki, Aya (The World Bank,
HDNED)
Partnering
in Adult Basic Education [Symposium]
Adult basic education is
indispensable to attaining the goal of Education for All efforts. Reducing
adult illiteracy, one of the six major goals endorsed in Jomtien in 1990, is
now reemphasized with an expanded vision at the World Education Forum in Dakar
in 2000 as ‘Achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015,
especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education
for all adults.’
To take up this
challenge requires strong commitments and partnerships from both government and
civil society. The symposium would seek effective models and processes of
government – civil society (NGOs, communities, private sector) partnership in
adult basic education, as well as roles of international organizations and NGOs
including the World Bank and ActionAid. Such partnerships are central to
capacity building and professional development to achieve quality basic
education and skills training for adults and out-of-school youth. The
background papers would present various forms of government-civil society
collaboration. The presenters plan to invite a few more partners to share their
experiences and/or comments and critiques at the symposium.
Ardizzone, Leonisa (Teachers College,
Columbia University)
Expanding
the Conversation: Youth voices- An Affirmative Alternative [Panel]
Taken from the point of view of
adolescent Bosnian refugees in New York, Youth Peace builders in New York City
and child museum-goers in Jamaica, this panel considers both formal and
informal aspects of education systems in developed and developing nations. This panel incorporates the fields of
refugee, peace and museum education from a psycho-social perspective. Each panelist will speak to resonance
through the views of very different target populations pointing to alternative
possibilities for policy and practice.
The rationale behind this joint presentation is a shared belief that
policy and reform should be informed by the voices of those ultimately affected
in order to be just and sustainable.
The voices of youth will be brought into the conversation on a local
level as it relates to the global.
Baker, David (Pennsylvania State
University)
Where
are we going? Comparative and International Education in the 21st Century
[Panel]
Where is the comparative and
international study of education
heading in the 21st Century? What are the current theoretical issues, problems,
and practices that need be discussed, reviewed, and debated? How have specific sub-fields fared over the
past decade? Our discipline appears
poised to take a leadership role in policy debates and decisions, as well as
comparative scholarship throughout the
world, but first we need to examine where we have been and where we need to go.
This panel examines specific areas in the field and discusses where they are
headed in the future. The participants will investigate topics ranging from:
distance education, the role of international organizations on human capital,
the validity of cross-national studies of student achievement, education
policies in developing countries and a comparative look at curriculum as a tool
for promoting educational standards.
Balzer, Harley (Georgetown
University)
Global
Policies and Regional Alternatives in Russian and Post-Soviet Higher Education
[Panel]
This panel will examine the acute
crises and attempted reforms in the sphere of higher education in the Russian
Federation and the other states of the former Soviet Union from the perspective
of their relation to global patterns of higher educational reform. Two papers
focus on case studies of reform in Russian higher education. Olga Bain’s
presentation focuses on the effects of the attempted imposition of a
neo-liberal agenda in Russian higher education, and entails a critical analysis
of the attempted imposition of market mechanisms and demand-driven financing.
Dmitry Suspitsin’s presentation is a detailed case study of the admissions
practices at a Russian pedagogical university from the perspective of
organizational theory. Mark Johnson’s presentation will entail a broader
perspective on the attempted adoption of global policies such as marketization,
privatization, and decentralization in higher education in the non-Russian
republics of the former Soviet Union, and will also examine the complex mix of
successful reforms in this sector, together with a critical analysis of the
serious systemic crises that are degrading higher education in terms of both
excellence and equity throughout the former Soviet Union.
Banya, Kingsley (Florida
International University)
Sustainability,
the Environment and Higher Education [Panel]
Development is based on the
premise that certain peoples and societies are less developed than others and
that those who are more developed (modern) have the expertise (knowledge) to help the less developed societies
achieve modernity. This concept is a linear Western definition of modernity and
the rationale for the development enterprise since the 1940’s (Parpart and
Marchand, 1995). This definition of development has recently been challenged by
scholars using post modern critiques of modernity, Western universalism and
dualist/binary thinking. Indeed, some scholars are taking the development
debate in a new direction. Recognizing the relationship between language and
power, they have questioned the language/discourse of development, particularly
the representation of the South/Third World as the impoverished, background
‘other’ in need of salvation from the developed North/First World. This dualist
construction, they point out, has reinforced the authority of Northern
development agencies and specialists, whether mainstream or alternative, and
provided the rationale for development policies and practices that are designed
to incorporate the Southern nations into a Northern-dominated world. This
approach, they argue, is no longer appropriate in an increasingly complex and
interrelated world.
Barcikowski, Elizabeth (The Mitchell
Group)
Measuring
pupil achievement in the context of diversity: Tools for evaluating impact of
school quality improvement programs with an example from Ghana [Panel]
New instructional practices,
professional development for teachers and school managers, improved
infrastructure and community development in education are of little consequence
in achievement is outcome is not positively impacted. However, evaluating
impact on pupil achievement is difficult to do, particularly in the context of
substantial linguistic and cultural diversity and marked pupil differences in
academic and cognitive ability. The panelists will introduce a battery of
achievement tests that have been developed to meet these challenges and at the
same time sufficiently sensitive to evaluate impact of school quality
improvement programs. The instruments assess achievement growth in mathematics,
English literacy, and English speaking and listening among Grade 3 to Grade 6
pupils. Each presenter will discuss on e of there instruments that make up the
test battery and discuss the qualities of the instrument or administration
procedure that have proved to be useful in meeting the challenges of pupil
diversity. The discussant will address the importance of focusing on learning change in longitudinal study
designs as opposed to static performance in cross sectional designs for
evaluating impact of school quality improvement programs in developing
countries, particularly in multi-lingual and multi-cultural nations.
Preliminary findings from USAID/Ghana’s Quality Improvement in Primary Schools
Program will be presented.
Boyle, Helen (Education
Development Center, Inc.)
Interactive
Radio Instruction: Waves That Resonate [Panel]
In the last several years,
Education Development Center, Inc. has expanded its use of interactive radio
instruction in many new directions. In
this session we present these new applications and discuss the implications of
their use for project designers, donors and stakeholders. Specifically, IRI is emerging as an
effective and economically viable means of providing teacher training and
on-going teacher support in the classroom; as a means of ensuring educational
equity, both in terms of gender and rural/urban equity and as a feasible
strategy for reaching hard to reach populations (i.e. AIDs orphans, nomads and
other out of school groups). Using examples from on going projects, panel
members will illustrate how IRI is being applied in the new ways outlined above
and what the practical implications (benefits and disadvantages) there are for
the use of IRI in these new ways.
Boyle, Helen (Education
Development Center, Inc.)
Pursuing
quality schooling through synergistic actions in a resource-lean environment:
The combination of child-centered classroom practice, standards-based system
management, decentralized pedagogical support mechanisms, and evaluation in
Guinea. [Panel]
Following an ambitious push in
educational expansion in the early 1990’s, Guinea began to reorient its reform
efforts mid-decade, to ensure that school quality would also be firmly
supported in further system expansion efforts. In this context, the Ministry of
Pre-University Education and its partners have launched a number of
pedagogical, management, evaluation, and policy initiatives to enhance
educational quality. These initiatives have involved a broad mobilization of actors
at all levels — region, prefecture, district, school, and community as well as
at the center. Observers anticipate that these initiatives (which are taking
place with little fiscal decentralization, although with varying degrees of
donor support) can ultimately lead to appropriate fiscal devolution as well.
Key challenges
ahead for sustainability are clear: (1) galvanizing political will at the
highest levels for effective decentralization of authorities and financial
resources; (2) establishing responsible financial management capacities and
practices at all levels; and (3) consolidating other emerging technical and
management capacities at all levels.
Bray, Mark (University of Hong
Kong)
Comparative
Education in China: The Field and its Evolution [Panel]
The panel will bring together
three scholars who will analyze the changing nature of comparative education in
China. One will focus on the major parameters of the field in its political
context, the second will focus on the contributions of a particular individual,
and the third will analyze the contributions and constraints of a particular
institution. Comparisons will be made between developments of the field in
China and developments in other parts of the world.
Brewster, Andrea (UCLA)
Looking
Forward and Looking Back: A Conversation with the Editors of the Comparative
Education Review [Panel]
In July 1998, the editorial office
of the Comparative Education Review (CER) moved to the University of
California, Los Angeles. This
roundtable discussion will provide the opportunity for the editor of the CER,
John Hawkins, and the associate editors, Val Rust, Nelly Stromquist, and Carlos
Alberto Torres, to share their general vision of the journal for the coming years
and to reflect on the journal’s time at UCLA so far. It will also be an opportunity for the members of the CIES
community to participate in refining this vision and making it more
representative of the views of students, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers
in the fields of comparative and international education. There will be brief presentations by the
editors and audience participation will be strongly encouraged.
Brewster, Andrea (UCLA)
Conversations
with Journal Editors, Academics, and Young Scholars [Symposium]
The editorial board of the
Comparative Education Review will sponsor a roundtable discussion aimed
primarily toward graduate students and young scholars. This workshop will provide information about
publishing in academic journals in the fields of international and comparative
education. This will be an informal
dialogue between experts in the field and participants. During this session, published senior and
junior scholars, and representatives from the editorial board of the
Comparative Education Review will share their wisdom and experience about the
basic tenets of research, writing, and publishing academic articles. Presenters will discuss issues such as
journals in the field of comparative and international education; journal
policies and audience; style and submission requirements; and the review
process. Organizers will also share
handouts, articles, and online resources on publishing with participants. Participants will have the opportunity to
ask questions and express ideas during an informal discussion period at the end
of the session.
Brown, Kara (Indiana
University)
Development
Policy and Mother-Tongue Instruction: Economic and Language Strategies in China
and Estonia. [Panel]
What role do economic and
political concerns and ideologies play in language planning? This panel
explores the intersection of national development plans and local language
concerns in rural China and Estonia. Specifically we examine the use of
minority languages as languages of instruction. We address the struggle of
linguistic and/or ethnic minorities to achieve greater status for their
language in the local and national context.
We further explore the tension that exists because many rural residents
in peripheral regions are keenly aware of their lack of economic opportunity
and find it difficult to support the investment of time, resources, and energy
into a language whose boundaries are coextensive with those of economic
deprivation. Brown investigates how
southern Estonian schools have become entangled in larger debates over language
planning, the strategies devised over the past eleven years to revive Voro (a
regional language) and promote its legal status and cultural prestige in
relation to Estonian (the state language).
Buckwalter considers the prospects for mother-tongue education for
ethnic minorities in western China in light of the recent initiative know as
the “Great Development of the West”.
Hunter examines the use of the mother tongue as language of instruction
in Tibet as a method of reconnecting a population disengaged from its
educational delivery system.
Brown, Katherine (Loyola University)
Alternatives
for Adult Education: Models in the New Millennium [Panel]
As educational leaders strive to
meet the increasing needs and demands for adult education, both in the United
States and around the world, a discussion on models becomes essential. Who decides the content and goals of adult
education? How integral are students in
developing the vision of future adult education programs? Are the programs to be skill-driven or
education experiences that broaden students’ perspectives and aid them in
realizing their individual potential?
This panel will
present an adult educational model that is well over one hundred years old as
well as a developing model based on the needs of today’s students. The strengths and challenges of these models
will be explored, as well as their potential to influence the discussion
surrounding adult education reform. The
final paper in the panel will draw attention to all-important outside forces
often influencing adult education reform.
The panelists hope that the diverse perspectives of the papers will lead
to a lively discussion on the feasibility of future adult education
alternatives.
Buchert, Lene (UNESCO)
The
Global Initiative to Support National Efforts in Education for All [Panel]
The World Education Forum in Dakar
(April 2000) committed itself to wide-ranging goals and targets for Education
for All to be achieved by the years 2005 and 2015. It mandated UNESCO to lead
the global initiative for support to national efforts in Education for All. The
purpose of the panel is to present work in this area by three core partners in
the global initiative: UNESCO, Unicef and the World Bank. The panel will focus,
amongst others, on rationale and strategies for international resource
mobilization and poverty-oriented targeting, and on specific work on the ground
in different contexts, including conflict, post-conflict and emergency
countries. The latter includes a specific focus on what are called flagship
programs.
Buchert, Lene (UNESCO)
UNESCO/Unicef/World
Bank Panel on the Global Initiative To Support National Efforts in Education
for All [Symposium]
The World Education Forum in Dakar
(April 2000) committed itself to wide-ranging goals and targets for Education
for All to be achieved by the years 2005 and 2015. It mandated UNESCO to lead
the global initiative for support to national efforts in Education for All. The
purpose of the panel is to present work in this area by three core partners in
the global initiative: UNESCO, Unicef and the World Bank. The panel will focus , amongst others, on
rationale and strategies for international resource mobilization and poverty
oriented targeting, and on specific work on the ground in different contexts ,
including conflict, post-conflict and emergency a countries. The latter includes a specific focus on what are
called flagship programs.
Camp Yeakey, Carol (University of
Virginia)
Global
Dimensions of Child Poverty and Public Policy [Symposium]
Childhood has often been perceived
of as an age of innocence. Children of the poor, in particular, lack the
political power and will to change the conditions of their lives. This panel provides a unique lens by which
to view child poverty and relevant public policies in national and global
contexts and, in so doing, examines in rich detail the values underlying how
developed and developing countries care for their young. Often lost in much of the posturing of
governments and nation-states as to their support for children’s rights, are the
real policies and programs which serve as barometers and barriers to impede the
social development and human potential of future generations. The papers on this panel examine: the growing controversies surrounding the
exploitation of child labor among global markets; the lives of migrant children
of undocumented workers in America; the global implications of childhood
disease and malnutrition; the increasing racial and class antagonisms among
urban poor males in developed countries, towards ‘newcomers’; and, America’s
increasing failure to educate children of the poor. Each paper is data based
and richly grounded in theory and research pertinent to the topic. Analyses conclude with a discussion of the
intended and unintended social consequences of each study’s findings for the
host society and the inherent values implicit in those social consequences for
future generations.
Chabbott, Colette (National Academy
of Sciences)
BICSE
Town Hall Meeting: Exploring Long-Term Research Agendas for Comparative and
International Education [Townhall Meeting]
The Board on International
Comparative Studies in Education invites CIES members to participate in town
hall meeting to discuss future research agenda for international and
comparative education research that could help inform US education policy
making. About the Board: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences established the
Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) in 1988 to help
analyze and synthesize international and comparative education research in ways
that could directly inform the development of U.S. education policy.
Principally funded by the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics and the
National Science Foundation, for its first 10 years, BICSE focused largely on
issues relating to the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) and
on improving cross-national education indicators. In 1998, however, BICSE
received a new four year grant that substantially broadened its scope of work.
BICSE is now looking for ways to incorporate the findings of smaller scale
international and comparative research on a broader variety of topics.
Chapman, David (University of
Minnesota)
In
rapidly changing times, is looking back a useful basis for looking ahead?: The
Utilization of Evaluation Results in International Organizations [Panel]
International development
organizations are using the turn of the century as an opportunity to review
their performance and reassess their development strategies for the next
decade. To do this, several organizations are engaged in conducting large scale
reviews of individual profect evaluations conducted over the last 5-10 years,
seeking to identify particularly successful interventions and implementation
approaches. At the same time, virtually all observers recognize that the
external circumstances facing the developing world are rapidly changing. The
future of many citizens is already being shaped by forces that were of
relatively minor consequence over the last two decades. Is looking back a useful
basis for looking ahead? This panel will discuss the ways in which (and the
extent that) reviewing the findings of past project evaluations can inform the
decision process of large international development assistance organizations
and issues in the conduct of those types of reviews.
Chinapah, Vinayagum (UNESCO)
Quality
of Education [Symposium]
The human rights to the
achievement and fulfillment of “minimum
and basic learning competencies for ALL”
still remain a far-reaching dream for too many at the dawn of this new
millennium. The world’s poor, the
“marginalized”, the “oppressed” and the
“unreached” who are mostly girls and women of rural villages and urban slums
are increasingly deprived of their rights to a basic education of quality. Being a down-to earth concern and
imperative, the provision of an education of quality for all requires a
holistic approach to teaching and learning and to the development of the human
kind in general.. The environmental
conditions and contexts at home, in the community, at school and in the
classroom have direct bearings on the quality of teaching and learning and
learning outcomes in particular. The
latter are often measured through high-stakes examinations which in turn are
used to screen out, to select and to push out the majority from the elected few
for future educational or occupational opportunities. Monitoring what our
children are learning, how and under which conditions, will be addressed by this panel based upon
tangible results from educational
surveys and studies around the globe, in different regions and from sample of
national cases . Mastering the minimum and basic learning competencies as are
defined for respective relevant and targeted groups has been examined and
assessed since the Jomtien 1990’s World Conference on Education for All. The findings and policy implications were
presented and reported at the recent World Education Forum (Dakar, April 2000)
as follow-ups to regional and sub-regional presentations. The panelists will
take stock of the most recent findings and policy-implications for the
improvement of quality education using international, regional, sub-regional
and national perspectives.
Clayton, Thomas (University of
Kentucky)
The
International Spread of English: Implications for Global Equity [Panel]
Since the Second World War and
particularly in the last decade, the English language has spread into use in an
astonishing diversity of settings internationally. Reasons for the international spread of English are both varied
and mappable. From a functional
perspective, national policy makers explain decisions privileging the use of
English as facilitating the integration of linguistically diverse nations, offering
cost advantages over the development of indigenous languages for use in
multiple domains, and providing opportunities for international communication
within the context of education, science and technology, commerce, the
internet, and other arenas. From a
radical-functional perspective, critics argue that advanced capitalist nations
manipulate language policies in developing countries in favor of English; the
development of a global English language infrastructure provides direct
economic advantage to advanced capitalist nations and, further, provides a
linguistic mechanism for the international transmission of ideologies congruent
with their interests. Against this
theoretical backdrop, authors on this panel present case studies of the
international spread of English in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Thus, authors advance our fund of
descriptive knowledge about the international spread of English, while at the
same time seeking a complex understanding of the implications of this
phenomenon for global equity.
Cleghorn, Ailie (Concord
University)
Science
Literacy, Science Materials and perceptions of Science: A Cross National
Perspective [Panel]
The panel will draw on research
from differing cultural perspectives in Europe, North America and Africa, to
illuminate the interface between (1) ideas of science and science education (2)
the materials used to communicate such ideas and (3) the development of science
literacy. Participants will present findings relating to both teachers’ and
learners’ perspectives. One paper (Cleghorn) will focus on how the nature of
teachers’ views of the nature of science relate to perceptions of culturally
appropriate teaching approaches. A second paper (Peacock) considers the
repertoire of science teaching strategies used in differing cultural contexts,
and how these impact on the use of materials and ideas of science implicit in
such use. The third paper (McEneaney) uses macrosociological perspectives to
address the issue of why scientific literacy as a pedagogical approach has
diffused so widely. The fourth paper (Pillai) reports on children’s science in
Ethiopia through analysis of the indigenous knowledge content of a grade two,
Amharic language textbook. Panel discussion will be directed towards the implications
of the above for the emergence of science literacy, and how these notions can
be brought to bear on global health, environmental and other concerns.
Cornbleth, Catherine (University at
Buffalo)
Climates
and Constraints on US Curriculum and Teaching [Symposium]
In this symposium, we offer
comparative perspectives on climates of constraints and restraints on
curriculum, teaching, teacher professional development, and administration that
have been shown to impede school improvement efforts. We are especially
interested in climates that impede teaching for meaningful learning and
critical thinking that incorporate diverse students and perspectives. In
addition to continuing interest in and effort toward quality schooling, this
proposal has two more immediate sources: a joint profect between Addis Ababa
University and the University at Buffalo to improve distance education,
particularly an AAU curriculum masters program; and an interpretive review of
English language research on constraints/restraints on curriculum and teaching.
Cummings, William (Graduate School of
Education and Human Development)
The
Future of Urban Youth in Big Cities [Symposium]
To greater or lesser degree, big
cities around the world face a common fate. The new industries of the
communications-leisure complex find it more congenial to locate their
workplaces in suburban and rural settings and to erect relatively high
technical entry requirements for employees. The older industries that once
located near the edge of big cities tend to be in decline. In this context of
global neglect, some big cities continue to provide important and even
expanding functions as modes of transport, networking governance, culture,
finance and crime. However, many of the young people who grow up in the big
cities sense a great distance between their upbringing and the opportunities
available in their environs. This may be especially the case in the big cities
such as those in South Africa and the cast coast of the US ,which for different
reasons, have experienced two or more decades of decline, before the recent up
turn of their fortunes. For example, in South Africa, the lost generation of
youth raised under apartheid were deprived of even minimal educational
opportunities and now in the new democratic era are expected somehow to catch
up with the new generation. For a large proportion of urban youth, especially
those raised in poorer homes where parents are weak in social and cultural capital,
the big city as currently structured offers little hope. This study seeks,
through a comparison of several big cities, to gain a deeper understanding of
condition of urban youth, the opportunities available to them, the types of
innovative educational programs that have been developed in some settings to
enable these youth to make connections with the adult citizenship roles of
work, parenthood, community participation and politics and leisure. For the
CIES 2001 conference, a symposium will be convened with representatives to
speak on cross cutting concerns such as demographic, economic, social and
educational indicators as well as on the policy environment and interventions
in the featured big cities of Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Rio de
Janeiro, Moscow, Tokyo, Jakarta, Addis Ababa, and Cape town.
Darnell, William (Academy for
Educational Development)
Post-basic
Education Critical Issues and Forces Affecting Policy Decisions [Panel]
This panel will identify critical
issues for consideration in the development of post basic education policies,
and to identify practical lessons learned from the global experience of the
last decades of reform and reassessment of secondary education. The panel will
also assess the forces affecting the expansion, structure and curriculum of
post-basic education world-wide, discuss the dilemmas that countries typically
face. Particular emphasis is given to the critical issues affecting central
policy reform and will include international comparisons and country-specific
lessons. An overview will set the
framework for policy making in post-basic education by identifying forces
affecting expansion, structure and curriculum of youth education and presenting
the critical policy issues faced by government and families in different
countries. Alternative policies and approaches to these new demands and global
evolution will be discussed as a background for in-depth analyses of the
issues: expansion and equity, knowledge and skills for the new economy and the
contribution of technology.
Darnell, William (Academy for
Educational Development)
Bangladesh’s
Female Secondary School Assistance Project: Expanding the Definition of Quality
[Symposium]
The Government of Bangladesh through
the IDA/World Bank’s Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) has
provided over one million rural Bangladeshi girls access to lower secondary
school. The project has raised girls’
enrollment to parity with boys in secondary school and has brought about a
‘quiet’ social revolution for girls and women in Bangladesh, changing family
and societal expectations for girls and girls’ expectations for themselves and
their futures. FSSAP has been lauded as
one of the most significant reform efforts for secondary school girls
internationally in the last three decades.
As Phase Two of
the project is considered, challenges and conundrums that surfaced in Phase One
come to the fore: What have been the
trade-offs between rapidly expanding access and educational quality and how can
quality be improved? What shifting
roles and responsibilities for ministries of education, NGOs, the private
sector, and individual schools will result in more efficient and effective
project implementation? Since communities
have been involved only in limited ways in FSSAP, can their involvement be
increased to improve girls’ and boys’ achievement in Phase Two? When is an appropriate time for scholarship
and stipend assistance to come to an end?
Draxler, Alexandra (UNESCO)
Which
ICT Solutions for Which Educational Problems? [Symposium]
The benefits of information and
communications technologies for delivery of education and as learning tools are
widely assumed to be obvious. All educational innovations, however, carry
risks, whether they be of failure to deliver the improvement promised, or of
lack of sustainability, or finally of unforeseen negative consequences. In
wealthy societies, these risks are generally viewed as small compared to the benefits
gained from experimentation, diversification, and enhanced experience and
evidence about the various effects on learning when new approaches are
implemented. In the developing world, the risks are greater; implementation
costs are relatively higher compared to overall budgets; systems are less
resilient, making innovation more problematic to put in place; hidden costs and maintenance costs, even
when small; can be impossible to cover and bring innovations to a halt; and a
technology that is comparatively novel in the societal setting can be locked
away, stolen or broken very quickly. These considerations are crucial to making
effective decisions about ho w and on what scale technological innovations can
bring real benefits in delivery, quality, and reach of education in developing
countries.
Epstein, Erwin (Loyola University
of Chicago)
An
examination of Content Boundaries and Standards in the Teaching of Comparative
and International Education [Panel]
Recent national and regional CIES
conferences have hosted various symposia on the content boundaries and
standards in comparative and international education programs and courses
around the world. These discussions have been useful in discerning how our field
might better develop programs, curriculum and coursework for students pursuing
studies in the field. The discussions
also revealed how little attention comparativists have given in the past to
sharing views on classroom instruction, especially in regard to the question of
how the field should be introduced to those being exposed to it for the first
time.
Introductory
course syllabi and other descriptive documents compiled from institutions that
teach comparative education will be presented and discussed. Questions will be raised concerning the
nature of differences and similarities among introductory course outlines. To
what extent do comparative education courses reflect, or should reflect, common
ground? What topics and literature
should be considered essential when teaching comparative education
courses? To what extent do instructors
focus on comparative education as a finite discipline? To what degree is there
conceptual consistency in the teaching of comparative and international
education?
The panel
includes introductory-course instructors who will explain their outlines and
course objectives. It is hoped that by thoughtfully and carefully considering
how others teach the field, comparativist scholars and instructors will gain
insight into their own content delivery.
Epstein, Irving (Illinois Wesleyan
University)
Preserving
Academic Freedom Globally: The Scholars at Risk Network [Symposium]
The Scholars at Risk Network
assists scholars outside the US whose work is threatened by mass or individual
displacement, discrimination, censorship, harassment, intimidation, or
violence. The Network is designed to include universities, colleges, and
research centers that will serve as temporary hosts for qualified scholars who
are in need of sanctuary outside of their home region. Members of this
symposium will examine the assumptions that led to the creation of the Network
in June, 2000, the logistical and operational issues involved in administering
such a program, and the larger implications for comparative educators concerned
with global issues regarding academic freedom, brain drain, and scholarly
exchange. The Network is housed at the University of Chicago and has been
supported with a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. During the 1930s and
1940s, prominent higher education institutions such as the University of
Chicago and the New School for Social Research provided assistance to
persecuted European intellectuals and scholars who contributed to the
reinvigoration of academic life in North America. Whether such a model is transferable to the 21st
century global context is a specific theme that the panel will discuss. Other
themes include the degree to which academicians and public intellectuals are
more deserving of protection than other citizens in conflict-ridden societies;
the degree to which persecution for political involvement coincides with or
departs from the exercise of academic freedom; and the long-term implications
of embarking upon a program that can at best offer temporary assistance to
scholars in immediate danger.
Evers, Michael (International
Institute for Study of Ergonagy)
A
Comparison of Perceptions in Japan and the United States on the Value of
Education and Training Subjects [Panel]
As educators and their
institutions increasingly form linkages in a global society from which they may
develop Affirmative Alternatives for Educational Policy, Practice, and
Transformation, it is essential that input is gleaned from recipients of
education who are now putting into practice what they have learned as a
function of current and past educational endeavors. This panel presentation offers insights, research findings, and
results of surveys conducted in Japan and the United States of workers’ perceptions
as to which aspects of education are proving to be most beneficial to them in
their work and daily life. The impact
of differences in educational concepts, national heritage versus multicultural
globalism, and technological advances are considered in light of the survey
results. The first in a series of studies that will provide input from various
sources that will eventually offer a “360 perspective” of the perceived value
of education and training for work, this comparative glimpse of two countries’
perceptions will hopefully stimulate similar comparative studies. The discussion conducted in this session
should be of interest to educators involved in formulating curricula,
internships, and applied educational experiences.
Fair, Kristi (Macro
International)
Educational
Attainment and the Demand for Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa [Panel]
This panel includes three papers on educational attainment and the demand for schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, using household-based education data from the DHS EdData Activity and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. Anne Genereux and Kim Bolyard present data from the 1999 Guinea DHS, which included an extens