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Partnerships for providing better access to basic education . Richard Maclure Faculty of Education University of Ottawa rmaclure@uottawa.ca.
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Partnerships for providing better access to basic education Richard Maclure Faculty of Education University of Ottawa rmaclure@uottawa.ca
Part 1: BASIC EDUCATION & HEALTH: EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION. Source: L. H. Summers (1994). “Investing in All the People: Educating Women in Developing Countries”. EDI Seminar Paper No. 45, The World Bank, pp. 9 – 13.
Part 2: TRENDS IN BASIC EDUCATION: CURRENT DISCOURSE • Dakar Framework for Action • MDGs • Partnerships • State/Civil society relations • Paris Declaration: The role of international donors • Child rights approaches to education
Dakar Framework for Action A re-affirmation of Jomtien EFA (1990) • early childhood education; • free primary education; • appropriate learning and life-skills programmes; • significant advances in adult literacy; • eliminating gender disparities by 2005, & achieving gender equality in education by 2015; • good quality education & measurable learning outcomes.
Commitments to the Dakar goals • governments to prepare national action plans; • involvement of civil society; • no country to be thwarted by lack of resources / global mobilisation of resources; • annual monitoring report.
The Millennium Development Goals • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education • ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women • eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
Partnerships A. State / Civil society relations Reasons underlying CSO participation in basic education: • limited government capacity to expand & sustain basic education; • trends towards decentralization, democratization, & community participation in social services;
improved economies of scale • better quality and performance outcomes • international support for civil society capacity building & state/CSO collaboration
B. The Paris Declaration: The role of international donors Key indicators of donor agency partnership: • ownership • alignment • harmonization • managing for results • transparency & accountability
Child rights approaches to education • curricular reforms • structural reforms – e.g., healthy schools, violence-free schools, feeding/nutrition programs, etc. • constructivist, child-centred pedagogies (e.g., child-to-child strategies)
Part 2: FALLACIES, LIMITATIONS, & CONTRADICTIONS • EFA or MDGs ? – dilemmas arising from shifting & competing agendas of different international protocols • International & national target setting: flaws & fallacies
Contradictions: Education for . . . . • development of human resources vs. uncertain “use” of human resources • social equity & mobility vs. social selection & reproduction • progressive change vs. reinforcement of the status quo
“success” vs. the fostering of failure • critical thinking vs. rote memorization & indoctrination • peace & safety vs. sites of violence
Diverse participant agendas: • healthy individual cognitive & social growth • employment & family security • human resource (capital) development & economic growth • citizenship and socio-political democatization
Diverse nature & effects of participation • Civil society participation: democratic action or elitist co-optation? • Private sector participation: revitalization of education OR rollback of the state & “marketization” of a public good? • Participation as democratization or de-politicization?
Part 3: Ways Forward • Increased attention & support for local schools and “out-of-school” education linked to local needs / job creation / community health • Greater curricular & pedagogical emphasis on schools as havens of safety and as forums for health education
Greater attention to children’s participation and child-centred pedagogy as foundations of appropriate good quality education • Increased attention to the viability of children as participants in educational policy-making, planning, delivery, and evaluation • Acknowledgment of the limits of education, & corresponding attention to context – to capacity building, transparency in governance, economic investment, & job creation
Unflagging attention to the nexus between gender equity in education and increased community health • Emphasis on inter-disciplinary evaluation & applied research that engages the partnership among health & education researchers, in conjunction with health & education policy-makers & practitioners.