Panel One: Quality Education in Africa: What are the Issues?

 

Abstract: This panel is the first of a three-part series organized by the Africa SIG to examine the issue of educational quality in Africa. The concept of quality education is multidimensional and contentious. The panels seek to contribute to the ongoing discussions and debates concerning educational quality, and the provision of quality education, in the continent by addressing, in a non prescriptive but critical fashion, issues that remain underexamined in current research, policies, and discourses. This panel brings together experts from various organizations to examine what the issues related to quality education are in Africa in 2006. The panel will provide an overview of learning achievement and current conceptions of educational quality and an in-depth examination of a number of socio-political and policy issues related to quality education. Panelists will address such questions as: What does quality education mean in the contexts of Africa? Should educational quality take on a different definition(s) in Africa or should it be linked and measured in relation to globalized processes? Who determines what educational quality means in Africa? What measures are commonly used to determine educational quality in Africa?

Discussant: Mark Bray, International Institute for Educational Planning

Chair: Joan Oviawe, Washington State University

Panelists:

• Cream Wright, UNICEF
  “Quality Education in Africa, from a Child’s Perspective: Pursuing an Elusive Quarry across Disciplines”
  
   

Abstract: On quality education in Africa, the paper briefly outlines a working definition based on relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. It goes on to examine key indicators of quality in education using selected measures of inefficiency in the education systems of African countries. These include high percentages of over-aged children in all grades of primary school, high repetition rates and poor completion rates for primary schooling. Cost estimates of internal inefficiencies due to repetition and drop out rates are cited in the paper and the impact of this on national education budgets is also reviewed briefly. The main argument in the conclusion of the paper is that investing in ECD can reduce the current levels of inefficiency within education systems in Africa by promoting a timely start or enrolment at the right age for the great majority of children, reducing levels of repetition and drop out, and enhancing performance in terms of learning achievement. The paper concludes with some suggestions on use of a combination of domestic resources and external financing to enable African countries to invest in ECD without compromising planned investments in quality basic education.

• Hamidou Boukary, Association for the Development of Education in Africa

“Education Quality Challenged: HIV and AIDS and the Quest for Quality in sub-Saharan Africa”

Abstract: This paper will place the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic on the education sector within the context of increased national and international efforts to improve the quality of education in Africa. It will look into the emerging theoretical and strategic framework being put in place to address the issue of quality improvement in order to shed light on how the pandemic could undo most of the progress being achieved. This will be done by using data collected in both high and medium HIV prevalence countries.

• Birgit Brock-Utne, Institute for Educational Research

“Quality Education and Poverty Alleviation in Africa: What Has the Language of Instruction Got to Do with It?”

• Lynn Murphy, Hewlett Foundation

 “Improving Educational Quality: Responses from Foundations”

Abstract: For the past few decades, the development community has been primarily focused on getting children into school—that is, the issue of educational access. The Millennium Development Goals signaled a growing concern about how long children stayed in school, with a shift towards universal primary school completion. Increasingly, however, the development community is acknowledging the importance of understanding and improving what students are learning and the quality of a student's experience in school. Two foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, have partnered to address this issue in the field. This paper will discuss how this Foundation partnership conceptualizes quality education, and how they will work to address these issues.

• Albert Motivans, UNESCO Institute of Statistics

“Gaps in the quality of primary teacher forces in sub-Saharan Africa”

Abstract: Globally, the view that the emphasis on access to education has led to inadequate attention being paid to quality has gained considerable ground. Political initiatives, such as Education For All, emphasize the need for monitoring progress not only in terms of measuring quantity (e.g., numbers of pupils), but also in terms of quality (e.g., what they learn). There isn’t a single indicator that policymakers can call on to assess progress towards improved quality but rather a range of indicators that are needed to capture its complex and multi-level nature.

In any education quality framework, all agree on the integral role of teachers. Teacher and teaching quality, broadly defined, have been identified as important organizational factors associated with student achievement. It has long been recognized that progress in education depends largely on the qualifications and ability of the teaching staff in general and on the human, pedagogical and technical qualities of individual teachers.

This paper sets out to describe change in both the quantity and quality among primary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a comparative assessment on the state of teachers and teacher quality based on a wide range of data sources, including school censuses, assessments of student and teacher knowledge, and statutory teacher data. It uses these data to highlight trends in teacher quantity and quality and to explore the policy implications for education systems in sub-Saharan Africa, a region which faces some of the greatest challenges in bridging the gap between the two.

Panel Two: Ensuring Quality Education in Africa: Taking Stock of Policies, Programs, and Practices

Abstract: This panel is the second of a three-part series being offered by the Africa SIG to examine the issue of educational quality in Africa.  Panelists will examine a range of policies, programs, and practices that have been implemented in an effort to improve educational quality, and the effects of these efforts on people’s daily educational experiences. The papers will focus on a number of current “hot topics” associated with educational quality, including language policies, curriculum reform, pedagogical renewal and teacher development, parental participation, and decentralization.

Discussant: Reitumetse Mabokela, Michigan State University

Chair: Martial Dembélé, Université de Montréal

Panelists:

• Cream Wright, UNICEF

“Does the Right Start in the Early Years Ensure Quality Education in Africa?”

Abstract: This paper explores the role of early childhood development (ECD) from the perspective of school readiness and the impact of this on quality of education in Africa. It reviews the research evidence to highlight the extent to which studies indicate that investments in ECD can lead to a range of benefits such as: all children starting school at the right age, progressing through the primary cycle with minimal repetition and with greater likelihood of completing the primary cycle, as well as performing better in this cycle in terms of learning achievement. Against the background of strong evidence for the benefits of investing in ECD, the paper sets out what it argues is an extremely poor track record of serious and sustainable large scale investments in ECD by African countries. It speculates on the main reasons for this lack of serious investment in ECD, even though this is an area that has been shown to hold so much potential benefit for education.

• Ward Heneveld, Independent Consultant

“Local Educators as Researchers: A Methodology for Studying the Quality of Primary Education”

Abstract: Sub-national educators are not often given the opportunity to do analytic work on the quality of primary education in the schools in their region that they know well. This means that when decentralized planning and implementation occur the choices of what to invest in are either not based on empirical evidence or decisions are dependent on analyses done by others. In order to provide local analyses of primary school quality four 20-person teams of school heads, supervisors, and inspectors in regions of Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda studied why some of their primary schools produce better student outcomes than others. The local researchers’ findings, based on analyses of data defined locally and gathered in a sample of 30 schools in each country, corroborate and explain in nuanced detail many of the more general research findings on school factors that influence student learning. Most importantly, the research process and findings have deepened these educators’ own understanding of and commitment to solving problems of learning faced by students in the primary schools they know well. The paper describes the research methodology developed through these teams’ experience, summarizes their findings, and argues that local educators should be respected enough to be given appropriate skills and the authority and support to do their own research and analysis on the quality of primary education.

• Changu Mannathoko, UNICEF

“The Gender Dimension in Quality Education”

• Benjamin Piper, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“From A to C: Teacher Training and Student Achievement in Ethiopia”

Abstract: Improving educational quality through teacher training has been of increasing interest to policy makers in Sub-Saharan Africa since the Jomtien Education for All conference in 1990. Of several options, in-service teacher training (INSET) has become increasingly popular over the last ten years. Questions remain, however, about how much of an impact INSET has on student achievement. We do not know whether INSET increases student achievement, if the effect is mitigated by student, teacher or school characteristics, or whether the training is particularly effective in rural or urban settings or for girls or boys. The literature on these questions is quite sparse in general, and almost nonexistent in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, while the assumption is quite clear, we are not certain of whether and how the learner-centered elements of the program impact student achievement. In order to answer these questions, I examine an INSET program in Ethiopia called the BESO II program.

Using newer methods for causal inference including differences and differences methodology and propensity score matching and exploiting nationally representative 4^th grade student achievement data in 2000 and 2004, I find that the INSET program increased mathematics achievement by nearly .2 standard deviations. I also find that the INSET program is particularly effective for students in rural schools, for students taught by experienced teachers, and students taught by unqualified teachers.

• Martial Dembélé, Université de Montréal & M’hammed Mellouki, Université Laval

“Recent trends in the Preparation and Characteristics of Primary School Teachers in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards universal access to quality primary education?”

Abstract: For many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the drive towards the internationally-set goal of universal access to quality primary education has meant significantly increasing the size of their teaching force while improving its quality. In response, several countries adopted the policy option of recruiting large numbers of teachers on contract basis. Some of the new recruits have not gone through the regular professional preparation and, in some cases, preparation time was considerably shortened. This trend has continued over the years since the early 1990s and in several countries contract teachers now represent a significant proportion of the teaching force (up to 75% in Mali for instance). To understand the situation and its implications for the quality of primary education and the dynamics of the teaching profession, a study was undertaken in four West African countries that had adopted the contractual teacher recruitment policy. Drawing from the national case studies conducted in the framework of this study and on available data on other countries, this paper discusses the trends in the preparation and characteristics of primary school teachers in these countries and contributes to the ongoing debate on the quality, status and professionalism of teachers and learning outcomes in developing countries.

Panel Three: Critical Reflections on Educational Quality in Africa

Abstract: This panel is the third of a three-part series being offered by the Africa SIG to examine the issue of educational quality in Africa.  The panel participants will reflect on current frameworks for understanding and measuring educational quality in Africa, and discuss how their work illuminates new possibilities for imagining the construction of quality education and improving the everyday educational experiences of African children and adults. The papers examine a range of educational levels (from primary to higher education), and a range of experiences and issues (from reexamining assumptions about higher education, quality, and privatization to a call for reanalysis of the effects of HIV/AIDS on schools) in order to reflect on how we might think differently, and perhaps more appropriately about educational quality and quality schooling in Africa.

Discussant: Kimberly King-Jupiter, Auburn University
Chair: Amy Stambach, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Organizer: Nancy Kendall, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Panelists:

• Jonathan Jansen, University of Pretoria

“The Politics of Quality in Unequal Societies”
Abstract: This paper will report on research in Southern Africa over the past decade as discourses of equity were subtly displaced by discourses of quality against the backdrop of highly unequal outcomes by race and class. Where does the push for quality come from? Who funds this agenda? And with what consequences? What are the international origins of the quality agenda and what purposes does such an agenda serve? This paper departs from the routine (and necessary) observation that access is not enough, and that the quality of teaching and learning in developing countries poses a major challenge to the achievement of educational outcomes. But since most of the published research and development assistance works only from such routine observation, this paper casts theory and analysis of quality more broadly by posing questions about power, surveillance and control on the one hand and about inequality, capacity and social outcomes, on the other hand.

• Traci Wells, University of California, Los Angeles

“Revolving Door Reforms and Poor Educational Quality in Africa: The Example of Mali”
Abstract:  Educational reform in developing countries remains enigmatic and poorly theorized due to its complex nature. Reforms in Mali, which are often imported, have been adopted and abandoned so often that teachers no longer believe that change can occur. The sheer number of reforms and the limited resources to train teachers and implement these reforms have led to poor educational quality, according to many Malian teachers. While the reforms may have been promising in theory, the forces that affect educational reform globally become intensified in the context of a developing country. For example, teachers need to be trained, new books purchased, and curricula adapted when a reform is introduced. Training in the latest bilingual education reform in Mali came to a halt in the 2005-06 academic year in order to train teachers in a new method, leaving many teachers under-trained or even untrained in the previous reform. Indeed, some teachers have yet to attend a training seminar in their entire career, while others have received training for multiple reforms. It is thus not surprising that many teachers claimed that the classique schools, closely modeled after the French ones with little visible reform, were achieving better results than the reformed schools.

• Joel Samoff, Stanford University

“Education Quality: The Disabilities of the Aid Relationship”
Abstract: Focus on textbooks, not class size, poor countries are regularly told as they seek to improve education quality. Yet, at the same time, with strong support from professional educators, the voters of the U.S. state of California approved massive expenditures to reduce the size of classes that in global terms were already quite small. What do we learn from these two very different approaches to improving education quality? What does their juxtaposition tell us about international advice on education reform? What are the implications for funding and technical assistance agencies involved in education?

Especially as more countries approach universal access to primary or basic education and as they wrestle with issues of equality and equity, attention to quality will increase. In this analysis focused on the funding and technical assistance agencies rather than on what countries are doing to improve education

quality, a starting assumption is that education quality means something more than scores on national examinations.

The nature of the learning process interactive, locally contingent, negotiated, and continually changing requires funding agencies concerned with improving education quality to reach beyond the usual list of improved inputs. Extending that reach is not easily accomplished, since doing so requires funding agencies to modify their usual practices and reorient their priorities. Indeed, many of the ordinary patterns and decisions of the aid relationship are themselves obstacles to a concerted and effective focus on improving education quality. Equally important, improved education quality and persisting and planned dependence on foreign aid cannot comfortably coexist.

• Kuzvinetsa Peter Dzvimbo, African Virtual University

“Competitive Strategies and Change in African Higher Education: The Use of ICTs in Increasing Access to Quality Education”
Abstract: The possible shift from the physical classroom to the virtual made possible by the digital communications revolution in our flat world has the potential of changing the nature and provision of higher education in Africa. This paper is a discussion of the possibilities and challenges of the role of ICTs in increasing equitable access to tertiary education in Africa using experiences of the African Virtual University It will probe the role of ICTs as a tool that can be utilized in improving outcomes of higher education. The following key issues will be interrogated:

• Conceptual and paradigmatic issues regarding the use of ICTs.
• Curriculum and emerging approaches to learning and teaching in cyberspace.
• Learning objects, open educational resources and free open sources software and content.
• Institutional capacity enhancement and virtual communities of practice.
• The problematic of dual modes of instruction.
• Quality assurance.
• ICT infrastructures and regulatory frameworks.
• The ICT industry in Africa: costs, limits and possibilities of the landscape.

The paper will conclude by discussing the symbolism, change and continuity in the use of ICTs in African institutions. The aim is to posit a way forward in light of challenges posed by costly and unreliable bandwidth and connectivity, lack of resources, sustainability, and institutional innovation in the African academy that hinder equitable access to tertiary education.

• Joy Papier, University of Pretoria

 “Can standards-based curricula ensure quality in teacher education?”
Abstract: In South Africa, recent official norms and standards for educators have attempted to standardize teaching qualifications and regulate teacher education. University faculties of education are required to design teacher education programmes against the national outcomes of new qualifications. A stated policy intention of standards-based education and training across the board since the inception of our National Qualifications Framework in 1995, has been to ensure quality education irrespective of the site of delivery of the qualification. However, diverse institutional histories and cultures in post-apartheid South Africa tend to shape, and limit, attempts at achieving a uniform quality vision. This is borne out in a study of initial teacher preparation programmes in three universities where the intentions of policy are unevenly interpreted and enacted, calling into question the ability of standards-based curricula to ensure quality delivery.