jeudi 26 mai 2011

Toward Results-Based Social Policy Design and Implementation

This paper, from the Center for Global Development, analyzes some of the elements that cause the apparent perception in the realm of social policy, and in particular in the case of poverty alleviation and education policies in developing countries, that on the one hand, too little evidence is produced on the impact of specific policies and programs on human development, and on the other, that very little use is made of the available knowledge. We label this the “under use of scarce knowledge” paradox. We argue that, in order to move forward, it is necessary to go beyond looking separately at the supply and demand for evidence, which appears to be the prevalent view, and visualize more integrated approaches. One option for greater integration could be the evolution toward Results Based Social Policy Design and Implementation systems, which, as we propose here, consider incentives for use and production through a set of institutional arrangements that help focus public action on producing better outcomes.

mercredi 25 mai 2011

Après le bac, qui réussit et où?

Un article paru dans le journal "Le Monde" commente une note intitulée « Les bacheliers 2008, que sont-ils devenus à la rentrée 2009 », que vient de publier le ministère français de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche.

vendredi 20 mai 2011

Brown launches new report on education: Education For All; Beating Poverty, Unlocking Prosperity

A new report by the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been released ahead of the G8 meeting. Entitled “Education For All; Beating Poverty, Unlocking Prosperity” it calls on world leaders to tackle the education emergency in the world’s poorest countries that denies millions their right to education. He warns that failure to act will increase inequality, weaken economic growth and slow progress towards reducing poverty.

The report will be presented to political leaders at the G8 summit in France next week. It argues that while the G8 and G20 leaders understand the value of education, there needs to be engagement in education in a more credible and long term way. To address this, the report calls for the creation of an expanded and reformed Fast Track Initiative (FTI) to back the efforts of national governments in Africa and other regions and achieve Education for All.

The report has been launched today in South Africa with Graca Machel where they will also announce plans for the new GCE High Level Panel for Education.

jeudi 19 mai 2011

Child labor and school attendance in Kenya by Peter Moyi

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of child labor in the world and estimates show that it continues to grow. This paper examines the causes and magnitude of child labor in Kenya.this paper includes household chores. Including household chores is important because majority of child labor takes place within the household. The paper finds that socioeconomic status and structure of the household have a strong effect on child labor. Also, a large proportion of working children attend school. If the consequence of working is to hinder educational attainment, then policymakers need to focus to this dimension of educational inequality: Between students who combine work and school and those who do not.

The False Promise of Class-Size Reduction (Center for American Progress, 2011)

Class-size reduction, or CSR, is enormously popular with parents, teachers, and the public in general. The latest poll results indicate that 77 percent of Americans think that additional educational dollars should be spent on smaller classes rather than higher teacher salaries. Many parents believe that their children will benefit from more individualized attention in a smaller class and many teachers find smaller classes easier to manage. The pupil-teacher ratio is an easy statistic for the public to monitor as a measure of educational quality, especially before test-score data became widely available in the last decade. However, the author shows that positive results due to smaller classes are not that frequent.

mercredi 11 mai 2011

Les démarches d'évaluation en question

L’évaluation est de plus en plus souvent intégrée à la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques. Aujourd’hui plus complexes, les démarches évaluatives gagnent en précision mais sont plus exigeantes et demandent un certain nombre de précautions d’usage. L’ensemble des acteurs doit néanmoins se convaincre de leur intérêt, dans l’objectif d’accroître l’efficacité des mesures.

International university rankings: a new approach

University rankings are now a well-established part of the higher education landscape. But they are not without their detractors. Phil Baty, one of the speakers at the 2011 ACU Conference of Executive Heads, considers the issues and explains a new and innovative methodology. (See p. 8)

mardi 10 mai 2011

Teachers and trainers for the future

The ILO estimates that unemployment is up by more than 30 million worldwide since 2007. As the ILO‘s Global Jobs Pact adopted in 2009 sets out, one of the key policy solutions to ending the worldwide jobs crisis will be equipping the workforce with the skills needed for employability. Delegates representing workers, employers, and ministries of labour and education from 43 countries, meeting in Geneva on 29–30 September, suggested policies and measures to be urgently put in place to strengthen technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems worldwide. (See p. 46)