This article describes the social, economic, and political processes that have influenced educational reform in two countries of Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It compares and contrasts the various educational reform initiatives that have occurred in each country, including legal and policy frameworks, curriculum change, decentralization, privatization, finance, structure, and emphasis of educational systems, and the fit between what is taught in educational institutions and demands of the labor market. A sector-wide framework for education reform is presented to facilitate understanding of the very complex set of processes involved.
In Niger the decentralization of the education system and the implication of local communities in the management and financing of education services is the dominant logic of national education policy promoted by international donors. In the article I examine the mobilization of local actors in public education provision. I do this using an ethnographic study of the daily management of a newly established public primary school in peri-urban Niamey. The case study illustrates the diversity of actors, from traditional chiefs to district advisors and international development projects that are implicated in the provision of public education as well as the different logics and stakes at play. It is also revelatory of the limited room for manoeuvre of the âlocal communityâ organized in school committees in ensuring the day-to-day functioning of the school. Finally it is argued that at the same time as education provision is in part taken over by local actors the idea of the state as the ideal provider of public education remains strong.
The purpose of this study is to explore what governance structures and leadership styles enhance community participation in school governance. The study specifically explored community participation and democratic leadership in improving school governance and management. Qualitative research approach was applied and twenty three (23) informants were interviewed for this study. The study sample comprises of Ministry of Education officials, School Management Committee (SMC) and Parent Teachers Association (PTA) members who represent the parents and the community, Head teachers, and teachers. Interviews, documents evidence, and general observation have been employed as a means of data collection methods. This use of interviews is to allow the informant express his or her views based on the subjective school of though. The data collected was analysed inductively. Educational decentralization is the common way through which community can participate in the governance and management of the schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. Governance and community participation, and organization theories which comprises of critical organization theory, bureaucratic theory, stakeholders theory, and Role theory form the bedrock of the study. The study reveals that the schools have formal structures (SMC and PTA) that promotes community participation in school governance, and that these formal structures are an expression of democratic governance that allow the community to participate in the governance and management of the school through democratic practices and democratic leadership that allows broader participation of the stakeholders in the governance and management of the school. The research findings reveal that community through the SMC and the PTA participate in the governance and management of the schools as the community is engaged in resources mobilization, planning, budgeting, school development, policy formulation, administration and financing of the school, but policies on the curriculum and exams is under the government and that the community is also limited with lacks training, and skills. As such the roles played by the community are underperformed and financed. The study concludes that community participation and democratic leadership enhance school governance and management, as educational providers are hold accountable by the community in this democratic school governance and management.
Abstract In 2002 the World Bank issued a US $ 300 million loan to Mexico to finance an education reform project. The loan is the second phase of a threeâpart Adaptable Program Loan (APL). A brief description of the 136âpage World Bank reform project is initially detailed and contrasted with a historical perspective. The Multiple Streams Model is used to determine why this education reform has come to fruition. Finally, the Frank Model is used to assess viability of this phase of the APL. It is concluded that this loan takes great national steps toward modernization, decentralization, and democratization. The adaptability of the loan is quite evident and proactive. Success of this project is promising, but the World Bank must not forget the cultural needs of the indigenous peoples.
We live in a global age. âPromoted by unrestricted mobility of capital and the unfettered freedom of tradeâ (Gray, 1998, pp. 6â7), economic globalization has been a significant trend in our times. The process of globalization has not only internationalized the movement of capital and information, but also has affected the approaches individual nation states use to pursue their economic and social policies. With the rise of economic globalization, accompanied by the collapse of communism and the collectivist ideology, the values of free market capitalism prevail. The processes of decentralization and marketization can be detected even in the social service sectors in many countries (Bray, 1999). Similarly, the financing, curriculum, governance and management of education have been re-oriented and re-shaped by market-oriented approaches and practices (Currie and Newson, 1998; Spring, 1998; Taylor et al. , 1997). This tidal wave has also spilled over into China with the adoption of reform and open-door policies in 1978. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
With inspiration from the educational paradox: how can actors, as external influences, enable human beings to act independently of external leadership? This article will discuss an organizational paradox: how can staff be lead in ways that enable them to become autonomous followers? The educational paradox was originally phrased in the beginning of the Enlightenment epoch and it therefore links education with democracy: âBildungâ was seen as a way to facilitate people in being emancipated, action competent citizens of democratic societies. The organizational paradox is also phrased as a vision of a democratic education in a democratic setting. The article discusses this leadership vision in the light of contemporary trends in society, politics, governance and culture: globalization, decentralization, contingency, neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism, new public management and the efforts to promote and stress the managerial aspects of school leadership.
In the last two decades the Israeli educational system has undergone major changes which have transformed it from a state-controlled, overly bureaucratic and almost fully state-financed system into a decentralized, partly locally controlled and increasingly privately financed system. Advocates of this transformation of the educational system appeal to the ideal of parental choice. They argue that the implementation of parental choice programs in education shows more respect to the children and their unique talents, take their self-realization seriously and promotes equal opportunities in education. The ideal of parental choice is also upheld in relation to value of cultural pluralism. Supporters of educational autonomy advocate the restructuring of schools in a way allow ing them to develop a unique climate and curriculum consistent with respective communities and parents' preferences. The aim of this paper is to assess critically the changes that Israeli educational system has undergone against the background of the principle of equal educational opportunities. The main claim of the paper is that these changes undermine this principle. It will be argued that these changes actually cater mainly to the educational interests of middle and upper middle classes in Israeli society.
The introduction of âfreerâ forms of organization and financing into the Latin American educational systems about 20 years ago parallels similar developments in the contexts of neoâliberal policies in the USA, Great Britain and, more recently, in Eastern Europe. This article will highlight the effects of âschool autonomyâ, decentralization, and privatization in the Latin American educational systems. In so doing, I will focus on the analysis of educational policy development in Chile and Argentina, based in part on my own research results. The results demonstrate that âfreerâ forms of organization and financing have not proven to be positive for the progressive distribution of education, democratization and the consideration of diversityâand also not for the (difficult to measure) categories of âqualityâ and âefficiencyâ of education. These findings contribute to question whether the neoâliberal forms of organization and financing of educational systems in Latin America are important factors in the realization of these goals.
Robert F. Arnove, Alberto M. TorresâCantero, Stephen Franz, Kimberly J. Morse
In this article, we argue that a political sociology perspective facilitates analysis of the potential and limitations of education to contribute to national development in Latin America. Such a perspective enables policy makers, practitioners, and researchers to take into account historical forces, institutional contradictions, and contextual factors, both national and international, that shape the possibilities of educational and social change occurring - and whether such change benefits the least privileged members of a society. We take the position that a political sociology of education in Latin America must begin with an examination of the role of the state in determining what type of development will take place and who will benefit from social policy. There is a need to consider what type of state and political regime supports which kind of education, for whom, and for what purposes (La Belle, 1986). After defining the state and its relationship to education, we make the case that the state in Latin America is further conditioned by the neoliberal economic and social policies being followed by countries in the region in order to gain access to international capital and markets. We examine how the structural adjustment policies recommended by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and national technical assistance agencies like USAID have affected the governance, financing, and provision of education to various populations. We argue that gains made in extending education to previously neglected populations during the period from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s have been substantially eroded by the introduction of market-based policies designed to decentralize and privatize education. We illustrate how these policies have affected equality of educational opportunity in several countries, notably Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. At the same time, we provide examples of grassroots movements that counter education policies that serve elite interests. Such programs provide an alternative to externally imposed and top-down reforms, while equipping individuals and their collectivities with the means to articulate their interests and gain access to needed resources and services. Defining the State and Its Relationship to Education Generally, we view the state as a pact of domination, as an arena of conflict, and a purposeful actor that must select among competing political projects. We agree with Cardoso (1979:38) that the state should be considered the basic pact of domination that exists among social classes or factions of dominant classes and the norms which guarantee their dominance over subordinate strata. As an arena of confrontation, the state displays the tensions and contradictions of competing political projects as well as the political agreements of civil society. Moreover, social class, racial, ethnic, gender, geographical, ethical-moral and religious factors influence the actions of the state in legislating and executing social policies. According to Offe (1984, 1985), one of the central issues confronting the state is the contradiction between the state's need for capitalist accumulation and the need to legitimate the capitalist system itself. For Offe, the state also is a mediator in the central crisis of capitalism, which is the contradiction between the socialization of production and the private appropriation of surplus value. In order to mitigate these fundamental contradictions, the state is forced to increase its institutional functions (also Carnoy, 1984; and Torres, 1989). Although the state in a capitalist society, by its very nature, favors policies that are directed toward the constitution and reproduction of the capitalist system (Offe, 1975 and 1984), it also is the representative of the nation as a whole and, in liberal democratic societies, is a proponent of the extension of personal rights and greater mass participation in the determination of public policy (Carnoy and Levin, 1985; and Bowles and Gintis, 1986). âŠ
Changes in public policy with respect to governance structures require complementary changes in public policy concerning the financing of educational services. Drawing on their findings from studies in Australia, England and the USA, the authors present a framework to clarify what is happening in the restructuring of school governance and to project the implications for public policy concerning the finance of schooling. The political system is represented by a decision matrix which arrays the decisions that have to be made about financing schools (who gets what, when and how) with the primary decision makers (society, the educating profession and families). The decisionâmaking process is shown to be a dynamic one, causing the nature of acceptable decisions to change along with politicalâeconomic environments and with priorities given to policy objectives. Using the model, the implications of alternative centralization/decentralization strategies for school finance policy are examined under varying circumstances.