Showing papers in "International Review of Education in 2000"

The International Adult Literacy Survey: What Does It Really Measure?

Abstract: The paper evaluates the work of the International Adult Literacy Survey as reported in OECD 1997. It assesses its contribution to understanding literacy in terms of the perspective of the New Literacy Studies. It outlines this perspective as a basis for a critique that is mostly concerned with the validity of the test. Three criticisms of the survey are made: that it provides only a partial picture of literacy; that culture is treated as bias; and that the test items do not represent the real-life items as claimed. Finally, the paper concludes with an overall evaluation of what the IALS achieves in terms of its own aims.

Uneducating South Africa: The failure to address the 1910–1993 legacy

Abstract: This paper analyses various data on the South African schooling system since 1910. The data collected for the study cover a wide range of education indicators, from pupil enrolments, pupil teacher ratios, real expenditure (aggregate and per capita), matriculation pass rates, to some indicators of the quality of matriculation passes. The authors provide an indication of both inputs into and outputs of the educational system. In broad terms, the data indicate that from an educational perspective South Africa followed a modernisation trajectory that, although it drew ever larger numbers of pupils into the schooling system, was partial, distorted and fundamentally dysfunctional. The educational process was strongly affected by racial factors. To the extent that education is an important determinant of long run growth performance of economies, this implies that South Africa's educational policies were inimical to its long run growth.

The Potential of Book Floods for Raising Literacy Levels

Abstract: The problem of raising literacy levels in developing countries is particularly challenging when pupils have their schooling in a non-native language. One promising strategy which has been tried and evaluated in the schools of several developing countries is the Book Flood approach. This article summarises the findings of Book Flood studies in Niue, Fiji, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Solomon Islands, and several other countries.

Constraints to Implementing Educational Innovations: The Case of Multigrade Schools

Abstract: Studies suggest that multigrade schools, ie those with classes that are mixed in age and ability, can be a cost-effective means of raising student achievement and expanding access to education in poor countries Development institutions often recommend them for countries struggling to raise educational quality and coverage in rural areas However, the literature advocating the adoption of multigrade schools avoids discussing the potential difficulties in implementing the system This paper analyses the conditons under which implementation might be successful, focusing on the oft-cited case of the Colombian Escuela Nuela programme The authors conclude that capacity-building through in-service training is an important determinant of the way teachers approach their task However, a great deal of variance in teacher practices is left unexplained The article suggests that teacher will (that is, motivation and commitment) might explain much of the remaining variation in the adoption of the new pedagogies The authors explore several conditions under which teacher will could be lacking

Implementation of school-based management : A multi-perspective analysis of the case of Hong Kong

Abstract: The implementation of school-based management reform is a complicated process involving changes not only in structures and political relations but also in social interactions and cultural elements at both school and system levels. The lack of multi-perspectives in the analysis of school reforms sets a tight limitation on the understanding and implementation of school-based management. This paper aims to apply the structural perspective, the human resource perspective, the political perspective, and the cultural perspective to review and analyse the case of Hong Kong in implementing school-based management. It is hoped that the analysis of the Hong Kong case can provide an useful illustration of the application of multi-perspectives to support development of school-based management and draw useful implications for school reforms in both local and international contexts.

Combining Work and Learning in the Informal Economy: Implications for Education, Training and Skills Development.

Abstract: Although education is identified as a key determinant of economic development and poverty eradication, this relationship is only possible when educationists are able to provide a comprehensive picture of the educational process in working life. In this paper it is argued that if systems of education and training are to cater to both the formal and the informal labour markets, then they need to take into account the traditions and values of the system of vocational learning in working life, cater to the requirements of local development and be based on an understanding of the kinds of competencies people in the informal economy want, need and utilise, the socio-economic and cultural contexts within which they work, and how they cope and sustain their livelihood strategies.

Researching expanded notions of learning and work and underemployment : Findings of the first canadian survey of informal learning practices

Abstract: The paper offers an analysis of the results of the first country-wide survey of the informal learning practices of adults in Canada, conducted in 1998. The survey was based on expanded conceptions of both learning (including informal learning and continuing education as well as schooling) and work (including community volunteer work and housework as well as paid employment). Respondents were found to be devoting unprecedented amounts of time to learning activities, including an average of 15 hours per week in informal learning projects. The patterns and interrelations of all of these dimensions of work and learning are summarized. Multiple dimensions of the underemployment of achieved learning in paid employment are briefly identified. The existence of widespread underemployment suggests that we are living in a knowledge society but not yet in a knowledge-based economy. The paper concludes with possible implications of the empirical research findings using these expanded conceptions of learning and work for policy and program initiatives.

Informal Learning and the Role of Social Movements

Abstract: It is now widely recognised that skills and competences needed for working and living can be acquired in a variety of ways outside the framework of formal edu- cational systems. The author calls for an enlarged view of learning that emphasises the abilities of the individual learner and includes informal acquisition of skills on- the-job. In this kind of learning the teacher has to acquire a different role, becoming more of a partner in a joint educational process. The author argues that in this regard we can learn much from the example of popular educational movements in Latin America, some of which have established successful collaboration with the world of employment. In these examples he sees indications of promising approaches for the future. Zusammenfassung - Es wird heutzutage weithin anerkannt, dass zum Leben und Lernen benotigte Fahigkeiten und Kompetenzen auf vielfaltige Art und Weise auserhalb formaler Bildungssysteme erworben werden konnen. Der Autor ruft zu einem erweiterten Lernansatz auf, der die Fahigkeiten im Job beeinhaltet. Bei dieser Art von Lernen nimmt der Lehrer eine andere Rolle ein und wird eher zum Partner in einem gemeinsamen Lernprozes. Der Autor argumentiert dahingehend, dass wir vom Beispiel der Volksbildungsbewegungen in Lateinamerika, von denen einige eine erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit mit der Arbeitswelt aufgebaut haben, viel lernen konnen. In diesen Beispielen sieht er Hinweise auf vielversprechende Ansatze fur die Zukunft. Resume - Il est a present largement admis que les qualites et competences requises dans la vie privee et professionnelle peuvent s'acquerir en dehors du cadre formel des systemes educatifs et de maintes facons. L'auteur fait appel a une conception elargie de l'apprentissage qui souligne les capacites de l'apprenant individuel et integre l'acquisition de competences "sur le tas". Cette forme d'apprentissage suppose que l'enseignant adopte un role different et devienne davantage partenaire dans un processus educatif conjoint. L'auteur soutient qu'a cet egard, nous pouvons prendre exemple sur les mouvements d'education populaire en Amerique latine dont certains ont etabli une collaboration fructueuse avec le monde du travail. Il decele dans ces modeles les indices d'approches prometteuses pour l'avenir. Resumen - Ya es un hecho ampliamente reconocido el que las cualificaciones y competencias necesarias para trabajar y vivir se pueden adquirir de formas muy variadas, fuera del marco de los sistemas de la educacion formal. El autor reclama una vision ampliada del aprendizaje que enfatice la cualificacion individual del educando e incluya la adquisicion informal de cualificaciones durante la realizacion del trabajo. En este modo de aprendizaje, el docente debe cambiar de papel, enfati- zando el de partner en un proceso comun de formacion. El autor argumenta que, en este sentido, podemos aprovechar en gran medida el ejemplo que ofrecen los movimientos de educacion popular en America Latina, de los que algunos ya han establecido una colaboracion exitosa con el mundo del empleo. El autor considera

On Defining and Developing Literacy across Communities.

Abstract: The paper attempts to raise a few issues relating to the task of defining and operationalizing literacy and literacy development across communities with diverse socio-economic profiles. In particular, the following concerns are raised: (1) Can literacy development be assessed using one set of domains, given that the domains of literacy practices vary across cultures? (2) Does the acquisition of literacy skills mean the same thing to people across different communities? (3) Does illiteracy have the same consequences for people in different communities? (4) Is the process of literacy acquisition and development the same across diverse communities? The paper underscores the importance of considering the diverse socio-economic patterns in different communities in trying to determine present levels of literacy development and in proposing programs to increase levels of literacy skill. It also proposes using the level of community (in addition to the macro-level of nation-state and the micro-level of individual) in analyzing matters relating to literacy development.

"My Ladies Aren't Interested in Learning": Managers, Supervisors and the Social Context of Learning.

Abstract: This paper is based on a research project which examines the opportunities for and barriers to workplace learning amongst low-grade staff in the UK public sector. It examines the key role of managers and supervisors, who make many of the decisions about individuals' access to learning opportunities. Their perception of staff's willingness and need to learn is influenced by factors such as age, gender or the likelihood of career development. It is these managers who control the immediate work environment and the flow of information about learning opportunities. Innovative examples of workplace learning are described, yet the paper concludes that the reality for many low grade manual and routine clerical staff continues to be one of limited opportunities for workplace learning.

Nonformal Education, Distance Education and the Restructuring of Schooling: Challenges for a New Basic Education Policy.

Abstract: This article argues that the present crisis of basic education for young people in Africa reveals problems that are more fundamental than enrollments, inputs and costs. They are related to the very structure and substance of educational provision. Of particular concern is the fact that schools find it difficult to respond to the different needs and circumstances of their pupils and to organize learning experiences that are sensitive to the social, cultural and economic environment. The author maintains that non-conventional approaches to learning, associated with nonformal education and distance education, have important but distinct contributions to make to the reform of mainstream schooling and could help to open up the formal system from within.

Learning and the changing concept of enlightenment: Danish adult education over five centuries

Abstract: A theme running through European cultural history is the notion of enlightnment, with its concomitant metaphor of the search for light. But what is the source of this light? Does it come from above, from the outside, from within, or from below? Over the centuries there have been different traditions or paradigms of enlightenment which have contended with each other, and each country has its own history of enlightenment and education. Based on Danish history over the past 500 years, five different traditions of enlightenment and general education are described, traditions which to some degree can be found in other countries. The five traditions are: Christian enlightenment, civic enlightenment, popular-national enlightenment, workers' enlightenment, and personal enlightenment. Each tradition is described against the background of the history of ideas, institutions and didactics. The article concludes with some reflections on the past 25 years, which have seen an increasing focus on the personal in the search for enlightenment. This is expressed in concepts such as personal growth and personal development. An important question is whether this emphasis upon the personality will result in a weakening or a strengthening of society.

The Vocational Turn in Adult Literacy Education and the Impact of the International Adult Literacy Survey

Abstract: The authors critically examine some of the underlying epistemological and theoretical assumptions of the IALS. In doing so, they distinguish among two basic orientations towards literacy. First, the standard approach (of which IALS is an example) subscribes to the possibility of measuring literacy as abstract, cognitive skills, and endorses the claim that there is an important relationship between literacy skills and economic success in the so-called 'knowledge society.' The second, called a socio-cultural approach, insists on the contextual and power-related character of people's literacy practices. The authors further illustrate that the assumptions of the IALS are rooted in a neo-liberal ideology that forces all members of society to adjust to the exigencies of the globalised economy. In the current, contingent conditions of the risk society, however, it does not seem very wise to limit the learning of adults to enhancing labour-market competencies. Adult education should relate to the concrete literacy practices people already have in their lives. It should make its learners co-responsible actors of their own learning process and participants in a democratic debate on defining the kind of society people want to build.

Working Knowledge: Australian Universities and "Real World" Education

Abstract: Universities are at a pivotal point in their history and are undergoing dramatic changes. One of the more significant of these changes is the move towards instrumental programmes of learning, as manifest for instance in workplace and work-based learning. This paper argues that this trend threatens the existence of the liberal university, where knowledge is pursued predominantly for its own sake. The paper identifies four dominant discourses in higher education and suggests that these discourses co-exist with one another, and are sometimes dominant, at other times recessive. It argues that the trend to a post-industrialised labour market has seen the emergence of a vocationalised discourse in higher education, which stresses the instrumental at the expense of the liberal.

Education and human survival: The relevance of the global security framework to international education

Abstract: The nature of international education as a field of studies has been affected by global changes over the past decade. At the same time, the concept of global security has emerged, bringing together studies related to development, the environment and the understanding of violence. Although much of the education literature reflects the global security approach, it is not a field that has been subjected to much analysis as a whole. This paper provides an assessment of international education as a discipline, and outlines the global security framework. It examines how this framework is reflected in the forms of analysis used by international educationists. Finally it suggests how the central purpose of global security, namely ensuring human survival, could be adopted within international education to provide a clear sense of direction. This has specific implications for such areas as curriculum, assessment, educational provision and planning.

Functional Literacy of Young Guyanese Adults.

Abstract: Functional literacy is interpreted as the ability of the individual to apply skills in reading, writing, calculation and basic problem-solving in those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in his/her own group and community. The paper describes the rationale, development and administration of the test used for measuring levels (high, moderate, low) of achievement in functional literacy in three domains (document, prose and quantitative). An assumption of the study was that a high level of functional literacy was required for the individual to function effectively in his/her own group and community. The context of the study is Guyana the most underdeveloped and impoverished country in the English-speaking Caribbean. The subjects are out of school youth in Guyana aged 14–25.

Knowledge, Informationa and Literacy

Abstract: This paper problematises the notion of the "knowledge society" found in two recent initiatives: the OECD's International Adult Literacy Survey, and the New Zealand Foresight Project. The author supports a broadening of the concept of literacy, as suggested by the OECD reports, but points to some of the limits of "information" as the focus for such a re-definition. The principle of theorising social and economic futures is also endorsed, but the form this takes in the Foresight Project is seen as unnecessarily restrictive. To date, the Foresight Project can be seen as a synthesis of elements of market liberalism and scientific rationalism. Both projects ignore crucial political and ethical questions in their accounts of the "knowledge society" and the process of globalisation, and both are wedded to a technocratic mode of policy development and planning. The author calls for further critical work on changing patterns of literate activity in the information age, and stresses the importance of contemplating futures other than those driven by the imperatives of global capitalism.

Vocational Schools in Turkey An Administrative and Organizational Analysis

Abstract: The data used in this paper were derived from a larger project which had the aim of critically evaluating the Turkish vocational education system on a number of different levels This article examines the administrative and organisational practices in a selected group of secondary vocational schools in Turkey from the point of view of school administrators, teachers and industrial managers The results indicate that the Turkish vocational education system is characterised by a centralised, top-down bureaucracy, which inhibits innovative capacity The authors argue that a degree of decentralisation is necessary at various levels of the system

The Measurement of Adult Literacy in Theory and in Practice

Abstract: The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was designed as a vehicle to directly measure the functional literacy skills of adults across different countries. This survey was conducted as a household-based survey whereby a random sample of adults in participating countries was selected and administered a literacy skill assessment. The IALS theoretical framework was founded upon a solid base of research and statistical theory. Proven statistical methods such as Item Response Theory and Plausible Values Methodology were used in the development and analysis of the literacy test. Likewise, from the practical viewpoint, the IALS has been successfully administered in the household-survey setting. Several quality assurance steps have shown to be effective in this regard. Finally, the resultant national literacy skill profiles have provided useful literacy indicators at both government and individual levels.

The collective that didn't quite collect: reflections on the ials

Abstract: The concept and methodology of IALS obviously represent progress for literacy research. Nevertheless, this survey presents serious limitations. It prioritises the handling of data-based information as opposed to experiential and contextualized information, ranking at a higher position those who handle the first kind of information. The survey ignores how people solve problems in their life context. The competence of people cannot be understood merely through outside observation and a questionnaire situation. In the case of Poland, the interpretation of data manifests an ethnocentric Western attitude, tending to reduce cultural differences to a cultural deficit. Two IALS-inspired surveys conducted in Spain and Portugal mixed quantitative and qualitative methods in order to take into account the social relations in their cultural context. This article questions the role of research, which cannot be limited to the objectivation of reality, but should help to transform and improve it. The alternative model proposed is named "investigation action."

Cultural Transfer in Adult Education: The Case of The Folk Development Colleges in Tanzania

Abstract: This paper examines the issues surrounding the cultural transfer of educational practices and institutions between industrialised countries and developing societies It pays particular attention to adult education, and – using the case study of the Folk High Schools of Sweden and the Folk Development Colleges of Tanzania between 1975 and 1996 – it tries to develop an argument about the conditions under which such transfers may be successful It suggests that there needs to be something of a match between the ideologies, discourse and functions of the educational institution within both societies; that the transfer of more than one element of any educational system would assist take-up; that the issue of whether the transfer is a top-down or a bottom-up one is also important; and that such transfers are most successful when the receiving society takes control of the transfer and comes to own it and to adapt it to their own usages The case study is based on a two year evaluation of the Tanzanian Folk Development Colleges under the aid programme of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)

An Ecological Inventory Approach to Developing Curricula for Rural Areas of Developing Countries

Abstract: The paper describes a curriculum development pilot study in a rural village in India. The purpose of the study was to develop and test application of an ecological inventory approach to curriculum development integrating academic and functional skill training. Ecologically valid curricula teach the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required by students to function effectively in current and future environments (e.g., urban and/or rural, academic, vocational, domestic, community and recreational) in which the students perform. The discussion illustrates application of ecological inventories and describes several related data collection instruments and procedures. The paper also describes an Integrated Core Curriculum Structure (ICCS) as a guide for designing curricula based on ecological inventories. An example is provided of a practical Thematic Unit Plan derived from the ICCS and integrating a variety of functional and academic skills into a guide for instruction and evaluation. The discussion provides a clear insight into many of the problems faced by students, school leavers and graduates in rural areas of developing countries, both in their daily lives and as they plan for their futures.

Social Justice and Job Distribution in Japan: Class, Minority and Gender

Abstract: Japanese schools have a mechanism for helping their students to find jobs, rather than leaving this function to market forces. The system embodies three principles. First, it tries to ensure that every graduating student within a school obtains a job. Second, it gives special assistance to students who are seen as "vulnerable" in the job market. Third, it takes into account individual merit (i.e. academic marks, school attendance and extra-curricular activities). The system recognises that a young person's initial full-time employment is crucial in obtaining an adult identity; that high school graduates are still immature and vulnerable, needing professional adult assistance to find "suitable" employment, and that they have unequal access to such assistance in their families. A key role is played by the teachers, who strive to obtain what they consider to be the most suitable employment for all their graduating students.

Remarques critques à propos de l'enquête internationale sur la litteratie

Abstract: There is no doubt of the necessity and importance of an international comparative inquiry concerning literacy. The difficulties involved in such an inquiry are also incontestable. In France the seemingly improbable results of the survey led to the French authorities – who had no doubt been insufficiently vigilant during the earlier stages of the survey – refusing to make the results public. These results highlight a number of methodological flaws that beset this vast undertaking, drawing attention to the need for better procedural precautions and a more adequate notion of literacy. This article presents a synthesis of the counter-investigations demanded by the French authorities, which justify their doubts on the IALS methods, and opens up a debate on the conception of literacy that was applied in the tests.

The welfare-to-work transition in the united states: implications for work-related learning

Abstract: This paper summarizes the legislation upon which the current welfare-to-work transition in the United States is based and describes characteristics of the former welfare population from which various tiers of employment options have emerged: unsubsidized-employed workers, subsidized-employed workers, subsidized-unemployed recipients, and unsubsidized-unemployed individuals. It also discusses current program emphases, and presents a format for directions for future program development which includes academic programs, situated cognition programs, integrated literacy/occupational skills programs, and integrated literacy/soft skills training.