Jon Lauglo

Banking on education and the uses of research. A critique of: World Bank priorities and strategies for education

Abstract A critique is given of the World Banks 1995 policy review on education, especially these aspects: its assumptions about the benefits of schooling, the way it deals with basic schooling and basic skills, the short shrift that is given to publicly provided vocational education, the view of pedagogic professionalism that seems implied in the view taken of quality improvement, the assumption that it is possible to protect the poor when fees are raised, the type of decentralization that is advocated, and the reliance on rate-of-return analysis that is recommended. Implications for other donors are commented on. In view of the extensive (but inevitably, selective) use that is made of research findings as arguments for recommendations, the Banks Review raises the question of how far it is possible to base policy prescriptions on research. It is suggested that ‘bankers’ and ‘pedagogues’ tend to look at education through quite different professional lenses.

Vocationalisation of secondary education revisited

List of figures. List of tables. List of contributors. Preface and acknowledgements. Abbreviations. Introduction by the series editors. 1 Vocationalised Secondary Education Revisited Jon Lauglo 2 Setting The Context: An Overview Of Secondary Education Reform With Particular Reference To The Asia-Pacific Region Rupert Maclean 3 Promise and Performance in Vocationalised Secondary Education: Has the baby been thrown out with the bath water? David N. Wilson 4 Pre-vocational secondary education in Botswana Sheldon G. Weeks 5 Vocationalisation of Secondary Education in Ghana Albert K. Akyeampong 6 Vocationalisation of Secondary Education: Kenya Case Study Kilemi Mwiria 7 Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Mozambique: Better than its Reputation Jorgen Billetoft and AUSTRAL Consultoria e Projectos 8 Economic Returns to Vocational Courses in U.S. High Schools John H. Bishop and Ferran Mane Consolidated Bibliography

Vocationalized secondary education revisited

The scope of this study is confined to the kind of vocationalization which comes in the form of subjects. Traditional examples are handcrafts, industrial arts, agriculture, domestic science, and accountancy, or other skills relating to business and commerce. At present courses in computer applications show fast growth in nearly all African countries, implementation has only been achieved in a very small proportion of schools. The main purpose of vocationalization is to improve the vocational relevance of education. However, it is recognized that other means can also be used by schools to this end. A more practical and applied way of teaching general education subjects can also improve the relevance of education for work.

Working Harder to Make the Grade: Immigrant Youth in Norwegian Schools

ABSTRACT How well do immigrant youths adapt to school? A national Norwegian survey of youth, amongst whom a small proportion had immigrant parents, is used to explore this issue. Those with a background from developing countries show more signs of strain, but they spend more time on homework than others and have more positive attitudes to school. After controls for social class, they perform on a level with others—except in the subject Norwegian. Diverse explanations are possible: individuation, social capital—or simply that a stronger ‘agency’ is needed in order to cope.

Education and Civic Engagement among Norwegian Youth.

What role does formal education play in the political socialization of youth? The article presents findings from a national survey in 2002 of more than 11,000 youths aged 13–19 in Norway. Indicators of political socialization are: an index of expressed interest in politics and social issues, participation in membership organizations of a political kind, political activism, and unlawful forms of political protest. Except for unlawful forms of protest, interest in politics and social issues, and actual participation, increase with educational achievement and especially with ambition for higher education. But all forms of political participation (but not mere interest in politics) increase with greater than average conflict with teachers and school authority. These findings persist after controls for social class, parental education, and political socialization in the family.

Political socialization in the family and young people's educational achievement and ambition

Using data from a large‐scale survey of Norwegian youth, the study examines the relationships that the performance in key academic subjects and aiming for higher education have with political socialization at home. The more often adolescents aged 13–16 talk with parents about politics and social issues, the better their performance is and the more often they aim for higher education. These relationships survive controls for, inter alia, parental level of education and other socio‐economic status indicators. The findings fit longstanding ideals in the philosophy of education. It is argued that a widened concept of ‘home background’ is needed in the sociology of education.

Concepts of ‘General Education’ and ‘Vocational Education’ Curricula for Post‐compulsory Schooling in Western Industrialised Countries: when shall the twain meet? [1]

[1] This paper was written as a contribution to the activity of OECD on Policies for Post‐Compulsory Education and Training under the Education Committee programme. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of OECD or of the national authorities in the United Kingdom.

Soviet Education Policy 1917-1935: From Ideology to Bureaucratic Control.

Abstract Drawing on social theory on the stages which social movements tend to go through, an examination is made of early Soviet Education policy. The paper analyses the early expression of Marxist humanist values, popular participation, and the value of productive work for general education. The ‘routinisation’ into a Stalinist pattern of bureaucratically controlled austere utilitarianism which followed is seen as part of a wider policy trend, transcending political and economic systems, of education for social control and economic mobilisation purposes. Recent indications of change in the Soviet Union are briefly commented on. 1I first became interested in this topic two decades ago as a student under the guidance of C. Arnold Anderson, at the University of Chicago. My return to it now is occasioned both by recent Soviet events whose implications for educational policy are at the time of writing yet to be identified, and by an invitation to contribute to a Festschrift for Janusz Tomiak who is a valued ...

Do more knowledgeable adolescents have more rationally based civic attitudes? Analysis of 38 countries

This paper discusses the concept of ‘rational civic attitudes’ and its link to knowledge, using data on eighth-grade students from 38 countries in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement International Civic and Citizenship Education Study to examine these questions: (1) Are country-averages on self-reported ‘Trust in Civic Institutions’ validly comparable across culturally and institutionally diverse countries? (2) Is the relationship between such trust and students’ Civic Knowledge contingent on the extent of corruption in their country, on how effective the government appears to be, and on standards of living, health and education? (3) Are students with better ‘Civic Knowledge’ more supportive than others of ‘Equal Rights for all Ethnic Groups’ and ‘Gender Equality’ and do they have higher ‘Expected Adult Electoral Participation’? The answer to question (1) is ‘NO’. To questions (2) and (3), the answers are ‘YES’. The findings fit the explanation that better knowledge promotes more rationally based civic attitudes.

Research for TVET Policy Development

Following the UNESCO-UNEVOC international meeting on ‘Innovation and excellence in TVET teacher and trainer education’ at Hangzhou, China on November 8-10th 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Education through Tianjin University, UNESOC-UNEVOC and the German government, through InWent, jointly organized a follow-up conference on ‘Development and implementation of a Master Degree standard for teacher and trainer education in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in East and South East Asia’. The conference took place at Tainjin, China on December 9th and 10th 2005. [This paper] is a revised version of the manuscript prepared by [the author] for that conference. The paper points to questions which the author thinks research could address in order to provide guidance to the formulation of national development of policy on TVET. The questions are derived from what the author sees as frequently ‘talked about’ issues in international policy debate on TVET. Research is used in a wide sense, not merely ‘academic’ research. The issues include: labour market monitoring, keeping abreast of technology, national training authorities, national training funds, national qualifications frameworks, financing, private institutions, modularization of curricula, human resource development, coping with management complexity, inducing industry to do more training, dual systems of basic TVET, low dosage TVET in mainstream secondary schools, TVET for illiterate and semi-literate adults, and indicators of performance that relate to effectiveness, equity, cost and efficiency. Especially in the early stages of policy formulation, research on such matters can provide relevant knowledge when major reorganization of TVET is considered by a country.