Showing papers on "Compulsory education published in 2010"

Parental Education and Child Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan

Abstract: In 1968, the Taiwanese government extended compulsory education from six to nine years and opened over 150 new junior high schools at a differential rate among regions. Within each region, we exploit variations across cohorts in new junior high school openings to construct an instrument for schooling and employ it to estimate the causal effects of mother’s or father’s schooling on infant birth outcomes in the years 1978–1999. Parents’ schooling does indeed cause favorable infant health outcomes. The increase in schooling associated with the reform saved almost 1 infant life in 1,000 live births. “The one social factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education. It is more important than race; it obliterates any effects of income.” Gina Kolata, “A Surprising Secret to Long Life: Stay in School,” New York Times, January 3, 2007, p. 1. This paper is a contribution to the literature on the relationship between years of formal schooling completed and good health. In particular we investigate whether the positive relationship between these two variables implies causality from the former to the latter. As the quotation from Kolata indicates, there is a large literature, reviewed in detail by Michael Grossman and Robert Kaestner (1997) and Grossman (2000, 2006), that shows that an individual’s own schooling is the most important correlate of his or her health and that parents’ schooling, especially mother’s schooling, is the most important correlate of child health. This finding emerges whether health levels are measured by mortality rates, morbidity rates, self-evaluation of health status, or physiological indicators of health, and whether the units of observation are individuals or groups. Improvements in child health are widely accepted public policy goals in developing and developed countries. The positive correlation between mother’s schooling and child health in numerous studies was one factor behind the World Bank’s campaign in the 1990s to encourage increases in maternal education in developing countries (World Bank 1993). In a 2002 issue of Health Affairs devoted primarily to the nonmedical determinants of health, Angus Deaton (2002) argues that policies to increase education in the U.S. and to increase income in developing countries are very likely to have larger payoffs in terms of health than those that focus on health care, even if inequalities in health rise. The same proposition with regard to the U.S. can be found in a much earlier study by Richard Auster, Irving Leveson, and Deborah Sarachek (1969). Since more education typically leads to higher income, policies to increase the former appear to have large returns for more than one generation throughout the world. Efforts to improve the health of an individual by increasing the amount of formal schooling that he or she acquires or that try to improve child health by raising maternal schooling assume that the schooling effects reported in the literature are causal. A number of investigators have argued, however, that reverse causality from health to schooling or omitted “third variables” may cause schooling and health to vary in the same direction. Governments can employ a variety of policies to raise the educational levels of their citizens. These include compulsory schooling laws, new school construction, and targeted subsidies to parents and students. If proponents of the third-variable hypothesis are correct or if health causes schooling, evaluations of these policies should not be based on studies that relate adult health or child health to actual measures of schooling because these measures may be correlated with unmeasured determinants of the outcomes at issue. In this paper we propose to use techniques that correct for biases due to the endogeneity of schooling to evaluate the effects of a policy initiative that radically altered the school system in Taiwan and led to an increase in the amount of formal schooling acquired by the citizens of that country during a period of very rapid economic growth. In 1968 Taiwan extended compulsory schooling from six years to nine years. In the period from that year through 1973, many new junior high schools were opened at a differential rate among regions of the country. We form treatment and control groups of women or men who were age 12 or under on the one hand and between the ages of 13 and 20 or 25 on the other hand in 1968. Within each region, we exploit variations across cohorts in new junior high school openings to construct an instrument for schooling. We employ this instrument to estimate the causal effects of mother’s or father’s schooling on the incidence of low birthweight and mortality of infants born to women in the treatment and control groups or the wives of men in these groups in the period from 1978 through 1999. The paper proceeds as follows. Section I outlines a conceptual framework, followed by a review of the related literature. Section II provides some background on education reform in 1968 in Taiwan. Section III indicates how we exploit aspects of the reform to construct instruments for parents’ schooling, presents estimates of the effects of the instrument on schooling, and discusses the specification of infant health outcome equations. Section IV contains reduced form and structural estimates of these equations, and Section V concludes.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009: The Story of a Missed Opportunity

Abstract: Much of the discussion on the Right to Education Act, 2009 has ignored the point that the passage of such a law has actually missed an excellent opportunity to address the systemic and fundamental problems of school education in India. Whether it is the question of access to all in a definite time frame, or improving quality with concrete provision of funds, taking education out of the current state of persistent underfunding despite the longstanding commitment to provide 6 percent of the GDP for education, it failed to meet the vision behind the Constitutional amendment that made education a fundamental right in Article 21A. Besides, this law perpetuates the multi-layer discriminating school system in India and reduces the notion of education to functional literacy, excluding a vast number of children in the age group of 0 to 5 at the pre-primary level and 16 to 18 in the secondary level from the ambit of universal and compulsory education. In fact, several of the measures mentioned in the Act may be dev...

School regimes and education equity: Some insights based on PISA 2006

Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the effects of certain characteristics of the educational systems on the social composition of schools. After accounting for significant effects of schools’ social composition on student outcomes (this is confirmed on the basis of a multilevel analysis), we explore the impacts of distinct components of what we name ‘school regimes’ on measures of school social segregation (Hutchens indices) across countries and regions. The PISA 2006 database has been used as the main source of information for such measures. Our analysis considers data for 32 OECD educational systems. Certain characteristics of school regimes are specially assessed: the level of institutional differentiation existing in the educational career; the presence of private schools in compulsory education; the level of school autonomy as regards the process of student admission; and the models and criteria defining public regulation of school access processes. Results of the regression analyses suggest that more market...

Educational Inequality under China's Rural–Urban Divide: The Hukou System and Return to Education:

Abstract: We use microsample data from the 2005 (1%) National Population Sample Survey in southeast China and examine the relationship between the effect of hukou status on income and return to education under China's rural–urban divide. For labor-market return we find that: (1) the influence of hukou status is deeply rooted in an indivdual's other key features (occupation, years of schooling, and working location) in the labor market, and (2) hukou status affects labor-market return primarily through its influence on people's return to education. Assisted by spline regression models, we find that the gap of return to education among people with different hukou status increases as years of schooling decrease, and reaches its peak in primary education. The data overwhelmingly suggest that individuals' human capital was largely determined by the place (rural versus urban) where they were born and received their compulsory education, which highlights the role of China's rural–urban divide in shaping people's labor-mar...

Determinantes del riesgo de fracaso escolar en España : una aproximación a través de un análisis multinivel aplicado a PISA 2006

Abstract: The school failure, understood as the rate of individuals who do not succeed on finishing the compulsory studies, is a major problem in the Spanish educational system. In a competitive and changing ambiance, the consequences of the school failure are terrible since it is considered that one of the main objectives of the levels of the compulsory education is to provide the basic competences required in the labour market. Thus, to find out the causes of the school failure appears to be a desired objective for the application of educational policies. In this paper we aim at identifying the determinants to belong to the school failure risk group in Spain. In this process we use a definition of school failure risk which relates to the probability of scoring below level 2 in the PISA evaluation of competences. In the analysis we apply a multilevel logistic regression, which is an innovative technique called for by the hierarchic structure of PISA data and, also, by the fact that the dependent variable is dichotomous. A two-level model is applied, level 1 corresponding to student variables and level 2 to school variables. Variables included in the model belong to several areas, such as personal characteristics, family characteristics (related to the sociocultural and socio-economic background, household resources and their use); and school characteristics (related to its users, its physical and human resources and the educational processes taking place in it). The estimation of the model shows a range of significant associations between the explanatory variables and the school failure risk. The educational policy implications of the research findings are discussed in the results section.

Determinantes del riesgo de fracaso escolar en España: una aproximación a través de un análisis logístico multinivel aplicado a PISA-2006 Determinants of the school failure risk in Spain: a multilevel logistic model approach to PISA-2006

Abstract: The school failure, understood as the rate of individuals who do not succeed on finishing the compulsory studies, is a major problem in the Spanish educational system. In a competitive and changing ambiance, the consequences of the school failure are terrible since it is considered that one of the main objectives of the levels of the compulsory education is to provide the basic competences required in the labour market. Thus, to find out the causes of the school failure appears to be a desired objective for the application of educational policies. In this paper we aim at identifying the determinants to belong to the school failure risk group in Spain. In this process we use a definition of school failure risk which relates to the probability of scoring below level 2 in the PISA evaluation of competences. In the analysis we apply a multilevel logistic regression, which is an innovative technique called for by the hierarchic structure of PISA data and, also, by the fact that the dependent variable is dichotomous. A two-level model is applied, level 1 corresponding to student variables and level 2 to school variables. Variables included in the model belong to several areas, such as personal characteristics, family characteristics (related to the sociocultural and socio-economic background, household resources and their use); and school characteristics (related to its users, its physical and human resources and the educational processes taking place in it). The estimation of the model shows a range of significant associations between the explanatory variables and the school failure risk. The educational policy implications of the research findings are discussed in the results section.

100 Years of Educational Reforms in Europe: A Contextual Database

Abstract: This report presents the macro data on educational reforms collected for the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) The first and chore part provides an analytical overview of the educational reforms that may have affected the skill level of Europe’s elderly population More specifically, it targets the national institutional plans or movements that have brought (or attempted to bring) systemic change in educational practices during the last century (eg, pedagogical theories, curriculum reforms and operational structures) Furthermore, through a simple application correlating compulsory education laws and the evolution of the number of years of education, this report demonstrates the scope and potentialities of the database Finally, the appendix lists all the data collected by country and level of education

Diversity, choice and the quasi-market: An empirical analysis of secondary education policy in England

Abstract: This article investigates the extent to which exam performance at the end of compulsory education has been affected by three major education reforms: the introduction of a quasi-market following the Education Reform Act (1988); the specialist schools initiative introduced in 1994; and the Excellence in Cities programme introduced in 1999. Using a panel of schools for all state-funded secondary schools in England (1992–2006), we find that only about one-third of the improvement in school exam scores is directly attributable to the combined effect of these three major education reforms. The distributional consequences of the policy, however, are estimated to have been favourable, with the greatest gains being achieved by schools with the highest proportion of pupils from poor families.

Preschool Teachers' Understandings of the National Preschool Curriculum in Greece.

Abstract: In 2003, a new curriculum was enacted in Greek preschool education, replacing the previous one of 1989 and following the development of new curricula for the other rungs of compulsory education. Within this context, the new curriculum development policy aimed at an equal integration of preschool education into the unified design of primary and secondary education. A basic issue in any such educational change is how teachers make sense of the new curriculum and what impact it has on their thinking and daily practice. Considering the need to better understand the relationships between curriculum and parameters that shape practice, the study examines preschool teachers’ perspectives of the new early childhood curriculum and its implementation, as well as the extent to which the new curriculum has influenced preschool practices.

Inequality in educational transitions: the case of post-compulsory education in Spain Desigualdad y puntos de inflexión educativos: el caso de la educación post-obligatoria en España

Abstract: This paper seeks to identify mechanisms that may underpin part of the observed association between class of origin and educational attainment in the Spanish case. In line with a well established strategy in the field of social stratification sociology, we analyze educational attainment as the outcome of a sequence of transitions at each of which a student can drop-out or move on to the next educational level. According to this approach, the paper aims at making three contributions to the study of inequality of educational opportunities by means of an analysis of class inequality in the transition to post-compulsory education in Spain. First, it deals with the impact of social class on academic performance in terms of educational failure in compulsory secondary education. Second, it monitors the case of an educational ‘failure’ during compulsory education and assesses social class effect on retaking rates after failing. And, third, the paper analyzes class differences in the choice of the academic track (bachillerato) versus the vocational training track (FP) among students who have completed compulsory education on time. In doing this, it addresses the «diversion thesis» according to which working class students might be diverted from the academic track, with negative consequences for later access to the university, because vocational training offers an attractive short-term option for them. The empirical analysis is based on data collected from the first quarter of Spanish Labour

100 years of educational reforms in Europe: a contextual database

Abstract: This report presents the macro data on educational reforms collected for the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) The first and chore part provides an analytical overview of the educational reforms that may have affected the skill level of Europe’s elderly population More specifically, it targets the national institutional plans or movements that have brought (or attempted to bring) systemic change in educational practices during the last century (eg, pedagogical theories, curriculum reforms and operational structures) Furthermore, through a simple application correlating compulsory education laws and the evolution of the number of years of education, this report demonstrates the scope and potentialities of the database Finally, the appendix lists all the data collected by country and level of education

Language Skills and Status Attainment in Taiwan

Abstract: This article addresses the importance of language underlying the stratification process in Taiwan within the context of globalization. Specifically, I ask if one's language skills may serve as a key to getting ahead. The Taiwanese government has imposed Mandarin as the official language since 1945 and introduced English courses into compulsory education since 1968. Using panel data, I examine to what extent one's levels of proficiency in various languages help explain the variation in socioeconomic status that is not explained by educational attainment. The results indicate that although education is a major mechanism of socioeconomic achievements, both English- and Mandarin-proficiency make their respective significant contributions as well. More important, I find that people in Taiwan may advance their socioeconomic status more with fluency in English than with fluency in Mandarin. This case study documents how a global language like English may play a role in an East Asian society like Taiwan.

The Transition from School to Vocational Education and Training: A Theoretical Model and Transition Support Program.

Abstract: This study developed a theoretical model of the school-to-work transition and evaluated the effects of a transition support program designed to prepare compulsory school graduates to enter the Swiss dual vocational education and training system. A 13-session program was designed to improve teenagers' views toward the world of work and enable them to sharpen their interpersonal skills. The intervention's effects were assessed through interviews with participants at the program's completion and 1 year later and with participants' teachers. Findings showed that participants improved their readiness to face the world of work. Implications for future research and programs are discussed.

Fundamental elements in examining a child's right to education: A study of home education research and regulation in Australia

Abstract: Home education provides valuable educational and developmental opportunities for children. An examination of Australia’s research indicates many best educational practices, including more informed mediation, contextualised learning, and opportunities to exercise autonomy. Key features include learning embedded in communities and program modification in response to students’ needs. Current state and territory legal requirements are examined within the context of this research and Australia’s obligations to international human rights treaties. All jurisdictions accept home education as one way to meet compulsory education requirements. The extent to which respective laws then reflect understanding of home education research and practice varies. Most jurisdictions allow for a variety of educational approaches. Some oversight regulation could however be modified to reflect a better understanding of home education. Consultation with home educators and reference to research would assist the development of more uniform legislation and policy across Australia, and enable better regulatory practice.

Self‐esteem of adolescents with specific language impairment as they move from compulsory education

Abstract: Background: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are at risk of low self-esteem during their school years. However, there is a lack of evidence of the self-esteem of young people with a history of SLI during adolescence, as they transfer from compulsory schooling to post-compulsory education, employment or training.Aims: To examine the self-esteem of young people with a history of SLI at the transition from compulsory education (16 years) to the first year of post-compulsory education, employment and training (17 years) in England.Methods & Procedures: A total of 54 young people identified as having SLI at 8 years were followed up at 16 and at 17 years. The young people completed two measures of self-esteem: the Self-perception Profile for Adolescents (16 years) and the Self-perception Profile for College Students (17 years). Assessments of language, literacy and non-verbal ability were also conducted.Outcomes & Results: Perceptions of scholastic competence were significantly lower than the no...

Access to compulsory education by rural migrants' children in urban China: A case study from nine cities

Abstract: In this study, we examined the educational challenges faced by the children of rural migrants who have increasingly come to Chinese cities in large numbers seeking employment. Based on large-scale surveys of students in public, licensed private, and unlicensed private schools in nine cities (small, medium, and large), we found that access to public schools was easier for children in small and medium cities than for those in large cities, but in all cities, the children faced discrimination on several levels (e.g., extra fees, difficulty traveling to and from school). To mitigate the problems faced by these children and acknowledge the importance of their parents in sustaining China's rapid economic growth, we propose several solutions that should be implemented by Chinese educational decision-makers. In particular, more resources (funding, teachers, and support staff) should be allocated to meet the needs of these children and their parents.

Access to University Education in Nigeria: A Review.

Abstract: Demand for university education has increased due to the recent innovations of universal, free and compulsory education at the basic and senior secondary education level. Education has been expanding very rapidly at all levels in Nigeria. However, there are serious problems related to quality, equity, unavailable human and material resources and access. Some of these problems are related to the fact that formal education was introduced to the different regions in Nigeria at different time, and the nation’s focus was more on the basic education, without building a strong framework for the higher education that could provide the necessary policies committed to equity, access, quality and efficiency. The data on admissions and enrolments were obtained from the Federal Bureau of Statistics and National Universities Commission and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s websites. The paper analysed the pattern of access based on the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, gender, and academic disciplines using percentage, mean and chart. The impact of some major factors such as admission policy and finance on access to university education were also examined. The findings revealed that access to university education in Nigeria when compared with the number of qualified applicants was low. There was disparity in access across regional zones and there exists differences in the access of male and female all-over the country. Also, there was gap in access across disciplines. In addition, funding of the universities was state-supply model and this has restricted expansion of the institutions for more access. Furthermore, admission policy has impact on the rate of access to university education in Nigeria. Based on the disparity observed in access to university education in Nigeria, it was suggested that a coercive attention and affirmative action in terms of adequate funding and dynamic policy on admission are needed to address the situation. Introduction University education serves as centre for the production of persons with intellectual capacity and high-level work force needed for social and economic development, especially in the 21 approach towards modernization, technological and global advancement. For several decades, great emphasis was placed on primary and secondary education and resources committed to the course, but tertiary education has been neglected. It has been asserted that though primary and secondary education is essential for development, it is only through a strong and an appropriate higher education that learning and training can create people with enough wisdom to be used in advancing the issue of poverty and development in developing countries like Nigerian (Wolfensohn, 2000). Many factors have been identified as determinants of the quantity and quality of higher education any country could offer her citizens among which are finance, academic qualification, available space and so on. The desire to provide equal education opportunities to all, have been mere expression of intentions without accompanied determination and complete implementation and actualization of the desire. The challenge of access to higher education is exacerbated by anticipated increase in demand for higher education that will result from successful implementation of UNESCO (2000)’s goal of Education for All. Presently, (Juman 2007) reported that higher education enrolment rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is lower than 5%. The history of education in Nigeria has been that of educational imbalance due to the difference in the time when education was introduced in the different regions which made up Nigeria. The various measures taken to address the issues such as expansion of access, provision of human and material resources, quality, etc at the tertiary education seem to have failed. Instead of education to be unifying factor, it has widened the gap of education imbalance rather than correcting the problem. Furthermore, the fear of domination of one group over another may be responsible for the emphasis now placed on admission criteria. On the whole, the nation is far from achieving the goal of equal educational opportunity at the university level. In the past, the numbers of universities in Nigeria were few and candidates seeking for admission are equally few. However, the importance placed on higher education by successive governments between 1980s and 2000s, appeared to account for why the demand for university education surged up. Precisely, in 1999, due to political pressure of social demand for access and equal opportunity to education, it became obvious that both federal and state governments could not meet the demand for higher education and consequently, private participation in the establishment of tertiary institutions was encouraged (Nwagwu, 2001). Presently, tertiary institutions in Nigeria are 302 (104 universities;198-university equivalent and enrolment of over 1,937,493 NUC: 2010). But the higher education participation rate (HEPR) defined as the proportion of 18-35 year age group that are enrolled in tertiary institutions in Nigeria is just 8.1%. This very low when compared with the developed countries like USA, Australia, Korea that have 64%, 41% and 51% HEPR respectively (Daniel, Kanwar and Uvalic-Trumbic, 2006). There seems to be much problem that pertains to access to university education in Nigeria and other related institutions. Thus, the problem of this paper is to determine whether all qualified Nigerians have access to university education? To address the problem, the researcher reviewed relevant studies on enrolment and access to higher education. The rate of access to universities in Nigeria was analyzed based on geo-political zones; gender and across various disciplines offered in the universities for three academic sessions. The results were presented below. Table 1: Distribution of Universities in Nigeria by Geo-Political Zones Zones South East South West South South North East North West North Central Total No. of of Universities 16 30 19 08 13 18 104 Source: National Universities Commission News Report (2010). Figure 1: Universities by Region Figure 1 showed the geographical spread of universities in Nigeria. South-East – 16 (15.3%); South-West: 30 (28.8%); South-South: 19 (18.3%); North-East: 08 (7.7 %); North-West 13 (12.5%) and North-Central: 18 (17.3%):

Religious education in Israel

Abstract: The area of religious education in the State of Israel is one of the most complex issues, possibly without comparison to other modern countries. The reason for this complexity is complex in itself. It has religious, national, historical and economical backgrounds and above all political grounds that account for it. The value of education is highly regarded in Jewish tradition. Jewish communities were the first to introduce compulsory education for which the organized community, not less than the parents, was responsible. The rift within Jewish society, starting with the Renaissance and Enlightenment and continuing with Zionism, circled to a large extent around the issue of education. Segments of the Jewish people that were attracted by the Enlightenment Movement changed the curriculum at school. So did the segments that followed Zionism. The Orthodox circles, feeling threatened by these new trends, closed themselves off from the outer world and clung to the traditional teachings. They, moreover, kept their children from being influenced by the outside world. As the State of Israel was established a struggle between the melting pot policy, advocating educational uniformity, and the demand for religious autonomy in the area of education broke out. It ended with a salient triumph of the latter. Israel’s educational system appears as a convincing example of educational autonomy, particularly religious autonomy, and as a model of multicultural education. The education system in the State of Israel includes various school streams, among them several religious chains. These chains include State schools, independent schools and private ultra-Orthodox schools. All of them are supported by State budget yet they do not adhere to the curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education. Continuous struggles go on regarding the teaching of “secular” subjects and the inspection over the schools. The author’s argument is that by abstaining from enforcing a basic curriculum on these schools, the State is infringing its duties towards their students, both under municipal law and under international conventional law. Religious Education in Israel

Inequality in educational transitions: the case of post-compulsory education in Spain

Abstract: This paper seeks to identify mechanisms that may underpin part of the observed association between class of origin and educational attainment in the Spanish case In line with a well established strategy in the field of social stratification sociology, we analyze educational attainment as the outcome of a sequence of transitions at each of which a student can drop-out or move on to the next educational level According to this approach, the paper aims at making three contributions to the study of inequality of educational opportunities by means of an analysis of class inequality in the transition to post-compulsory education in Spain First, it deals with the impact of social class on academic performance in terms of educational failure in compulsory secondary education Second, it monitors the case of an educational �failure� during compulsory education and assesses social class effect on retaking rates after failing And, third, the paper analyzes class differences in the choice of the academic track (bachillerato) versus the vocational training track (FP) among students who have completed compulsory education on time In doing this, it addresses the «diversion thesis» according to which working class students might be diverted from the academic track, with negative consequences for later access to the university, because vocational training offers an attractive short-term option for them The empirical analysis is based on data collected from the first quarter of Spanish Labour Force Surveys for the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Our results find some support in the Spanish case for the three hypotheses put forward in the paper: not only significant class differences can be found among students of different social origins in the probability of completing compulsory secondary education on time, but clear class effects can also be seen in retaking rates after failure and in opting for vocational training track after completing secondary compulsory education

Gendered Post-Compulsory Educational Choices of Non-Heterosexual Youth:

Abstract: Gender and socio-economic background are widely acknowledged factors influencing the educational choices of young people. Following their compulsory education, young people in Finland choose between academically oriented general upper secondary schools and vocational upper secondary schools. Gender and class intertwine in these choices in many ways. This is particularly visible in vocational education, which is highly gender-segregated. This article focuses on the post- compulsory educational choices of non-heterosexual young people. It argues that, in addition to class and gender, sexuality is another relevant factor affecting processes related to educational and career choices. Based on interviews and stories produced with young non-heterosexual people, it analyse how gender, class and sexual orientation were constructed as meaningful in the educational choices these young people made. Young non-heterosexual people take part in processes where they are expected to construct educational and labour-market citizenship. They are often expected to be and act heterosexual; their non-heterosexuality is neither visible nor considered relevant when they consider their educational paths. However, many of these youth resist the gendered expectations forced on them and choose differently.

Time, Space and Young People's Agency in Vocational Upper Secondary Education: a cross-cultural perspective

Abstract: This article is based on ethnographic studies in the context of vocational education: two in Sweden and one in Finland. The Swedish data originate from the Vehicle programme and the Child and Recre ...

Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling

Abstract: This Essay explores the choice many traditionalist Christian parents (both fundamentalist and evangelical) make to leave public schools in order to teach their children at home, thus in most instances escaping meaningful oversight. I am not primarily concerned here with the quality of academic achievement in the core curricular areas among homeschoolers, which has been the subject of much heated debate.1 Instead, my comments focus on civic education in the broadest sense, which I define primarily as exposure to the constitutional norm of tolerance. I shall argue that the growing reliance on homeschooling comes into direct conflict with assuring that children are exposed to such constitutional values. I begin with a brief social and legal history of homeschooling in the United States during the twentieth century and then discuss the dominance of religiously motivated parents among homeschoolers in contemporary America. Section ? shows that homeschoolers make broad claims for exemption from state oversight that are not warranted by the constitutional doctrine on which they rely. In Section ??, I argue that the state's interest in educating children for life in a pluralist democracy trumps any asserted parental liberty interest in controlling their children's education. Finally, in Section IV, I argue that where parents do not live together and share legal custody of their children, the state should articulate a preference for formal schooling over homeschooling when the parents disagree. I urge states to engage in far more stringent oversight and regulation of homeschooling than exists in any state at present, arguing that there is no constitutional bar to doing so and a compelling state interest in additional oversight tools, especially in the arena of civic education concerning normative democratic values about tolerance and diversity. I. HOMESCHOOLING A. A Brief Legal History The rise of formal schools and the adoption of compulsory school laws transformed schooling in nineteenth-century America. Beginning in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the common school movement led by Horace Mann and other reformers resulted in the widespread availability of free public schools.2 Homeschooling virtually disappeared in the United States by the early twentieth century as states (beginning with Massachusetts in 18523 and ending with Texas in 19 15)4 adopted and enforced laws requiring parents to make their children literate and, later, to send their children to a formal school for at least part of every academic year.5 The constitutionality of one brand of compulsory school law reached the United States Supreme Court in 1925. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the Court overturned a compulsory school law that parents could only satisfy by enrolling their children in public schools, barring the use of sectarian or other private schools.6 The Court held that parents must have the right to choose among approved ways of satisfying the compulsory education law, but in doing so it underscored that the case did not challenge "the power of the State reasonably to regulate all schools, to inspect, supervise and examine them, their teachers and pupils; to require . . . that certain studies plainly essential to good citizenship must be taught, and that nothing be taught which is manifestly inimical to the public welfare."7 The Court has never fleshed out the extent of the state's power to regulate independent schools. Today, the vast majority of states impose curricular requirements on private schools, and these requirements appear to be largely unchallenged.8 Similarly, the Court has never had an occasion to consider the reach of the state's authority to regulate homeschooling , which is completely unregulated in states such as Alaska, and in other states subject to minimal requirements, ranging from mandatory notice to the state that the parents intend to homeschool to reporting and testing requirements regarding mastery of core curricular subjects such as reading and math. …

Education For All (EFA): Reaching Nomadic Communities in Wajir, Kenya - Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: This new study examined and discussed the challenges inhibiting nomads from accessing formal education in the light of Kenya’s domestication of Education for All (EFA) which the government committed itself at various world conferences. The research investigated the disproportionate disparity in school enrolment among the different regions in Kenya despite heavy investment and efforts in education. It looked at the programmes geared towards achieving EFA such as Free Primary Education, boarding schools, school feeding programme and bursaries. These and other features of EFA are discussed as they are deemed to provide a feasible route for educating nomads. The research used a mixed methods approach to collect data using semi-structured interviews designed for nomadic parents, focus group discussions with education officials and teachers, and a questionnaire for nomadic students in secondary schools. The research instruments were designed to find out the challenges, perceptions, preferences and policies concerning nomadic education from 78 purposively selected individuals comprising eight interviews, 50 questionnaires and 20 focus group discussion participants. The findings from the field illustrate the continuing under-participation of nomads in education. Informants cite the location of schools, poor facilities, poor transport, attitude of parents and poverty among other issues as the inhibiting factors affecting participation of nomads in formal education. If fuller participation is required, the main issues arising are the need to revamp existing facilities, entrench mobile schools in the Koran schools and strengthen legislation for compulsory education while concurrently improving the infrastructure for nomadic people. In this way, education can be provided that respects the nomadic lifestyle. The research concludes by proposing a multifaceted approach to the education of nomads. However, mobile schools with a non-formal curriculum package may be an especially attractive option due to expected suitability in nomadic setting and their relatively low cost, given expected financial constraints. It is also recommended that further research is routinely conducted to explore nomadic friendly learning programmes before the implementation of any of these recommendations.

OECD Reviews of Migrant Education: Denmark 2010

Abstract: The immigrant population in Denmark is one of the smallest in Western Europe but is made up of highly diverse groups coming from about 200 different countries. Compared to their native Danish peers, immigrant students, on average, leave compulsory education with significantly weaker performance levels in reading, mathematics and science. Immigrant students are more likely to go to the vocational education and training (VET) sector, which qualifies primarily for access to the labour market. There is scope to develop the capacities of leaders and teachers in schools and VET colleges; build on the existing framework for teaching Danish as a Second Language by standardising structure and mainstreaming the language support offered across all municipalities and school types; involve immigrants’ parents and communities as partners in children’s education; and strengthen monitoring and evaluation at all levels of the system to ensure migrant education policies are implemented and effective.