document resume ed 320 790 so 020 737 …document resume ed 320 790 so 020 737 author farrell,...
TRANSCRIPT
DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 320 790 SO 020 737
AUTHOR Farrell, Joseph P., Ed.; Heyneman, Stephen P., Ed.TITLE Textbooks in the Developing World: Economic and
Educational Choices. EDI Seminar Series.INSTITUTION World Bank, Washington, DC. Economic Development
Inst.
REPORT NO ISBN-0-8213-1219-7PUB DATE 89NOTE 228p.; Edited selection of background papers
presented at a seminar of the Economic DevelopmentInstitute of tne World Bank (Washington, DC, April9-25, 1986).
AVAILABLE FROM Publications Sales Unit, The World Rank, 1818 HStreet NW, Washington, DC 20433.
PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Collected Works - ConferenceProceedings (021) -- Reports - Descriptive (141)
EDRS PRICE MFC1 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.DESCRIPTORS Comparative Education; Cross Cultural Studies;
*Developing Nations; Economic Development;*Educational Development; *Educational Policy;Educational Research; Foreign Countries;International Education; *International EducationalExc iange; *Textbooks; World Affairs
ABSTRACT
This book is a collection of 16 papers that focus onwhat has been learned in two decades of developing and implementinglarge-scale national textbook programs. The seminar was designed tohelp participants make sound policy decisions about their ownnational textbook programs and to facilitate discourse among a wideraudience of parties working to improve the quality of education indeveloping nations. Organized into four parts, the part headingsinclude: (1) The Design and Implementation of Textbook Programs: AnOverview; (2) Policy Issues in Textbook Program Development; (3)Provis5.on of Textbooks: Developed Systems and Infant Industries; and(4) The Future: Will New Electronic Media Make the Textbook Obsolete?Many figures and tables are included and several of papers contain alist of references or a bibliography. (DB)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.
AIL**EWA Economic Development InstituteVi vii of The World Bank
Economic and Educational
:Joseph P. FarrellStephen P. Heyneman
EDI SEMINAR SERIES
/voices
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLYHAS BEEN GRANTED BY
feo_y1/2
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
U I DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educatory! Research and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER tERICI
document has been reproduced as!Keyed from the person or organization
originating it0 Minor changes have been made to improve
reprodu. (lushly
Points of via* of opinions stated on this docu-ment do not necessarily represent officialOE RI posoton or policy
BEST .COPY AVAILABLE2
Textbooks in the Developing World
Seminar Series
Economic Development Instituteof The World Bank
1.a
Textbooks in the Developing World
Economic and Educational Choices
Editors
Joseph P. FarrellStephen P. Heyneman
The World BankWashington, D.C., U.S.A.
4
C 1989The International Bank for Reconstructionand Development / THE WORLD BANK
1818 H Street, N.V., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.
All rights reservedManufactured in the United States of AmericaFirst printing July 1989
The Economic Development Institute (EDO was established by the World
Bank in 1955 to train officials concerned with development planning,policymaking, investment analysis, and project implementation inmember developing countries At present the substance of the EDI'S work
emphasizes macroeconomic and sectoral economic policy analysis.Through a variety of courses, seminars, and workshops. most of whichare given overseas in cooperation with local institutions, the EDI seeks tosharpen analytical skills used in policy analysis and to broadenunderstanding of the ciperience of individual countries v ith economicdevelopment. Although the EDI'S publications are designed to support itstraining activities, many are of interest to a much broader audience. EDImaterials, including any findings, interpretations, and conclusions, areentirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in anymanner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to membersof its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent
The backlist or publications y the World Bank is shown in the annualIndex of Pubhcattons, which is available from Publications Sales Unit,The World Bank, 1818 H Street, N W . Washington, D C. 20433. U.S.A.or from Publications, Banque mondiale, 66, avenue diena, 75116 Pans,
France
Stephen P Heyneman is chief of thc Human Resour:es Division,Economic Development Institute, World Bank.Joseph P Farrell is professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education, Ontario. Canada.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Textbooks in the developing world : economic and educational choices /
editors. Joseph P. Farrell. Stephen P. Heyneman
p cm (EDI seminar series)Based upon a seminar held at the Economic Development Institute of
the World Bank in Washington, D C , April 9-25, 1986
Bibliography: p.ISBN 0-8213-1219-7
1. TextbooksDeveloping countriesCongresses 2. TextbooksCross-cultural studiesCongresses 1 Farrell, Josepn P
H. Heyneman, Stephen P. 111. Economic Development Institute
(Washington, D C.) IV. Series
LB3048 D44T47 1989
379.116de20 89-9144CIP
EDI Catalog no. 135/031
5
Contents
Preface
Definitions
1 IntroductionJoseph P. Farrell and Stephen P. HeynemanWorld Economic Crisis 2
Macroeconomic Effects on Education 2
Reading Materials and Learning 4
Key Issues and Choices 8
Summary 12
Notes 13
References 13
ix
xi
1
PART I THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTBOOKPROGRAMS: AN OVERVIEW 15
2 The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 17
Barbara SearleWhat the World Bank Has Financed 17
Alternative Mechanisms for Providing Books 18
Evidence from Ongoing Projects 25
Recommendations 28
Note 35
References 35
3 The Design of Textbook ProjectsAnthony ReadPreparation for Project Design 36
Institutions and Management Capacity 40
The Development of Books 42
Decisions for a Publishing Program 44
Book Selection, Distribution, and Storage 48
Book Use 49
Other Considerations 51
Reference 51
4 iising Textbooks to Improve the Quality of EducationAdriaan M. VerspoorWorld Bank Assistance for Improvement in Quality 52
Textbooks and Stages of Educational Development 53
Designing the Implementation Strategy 55
Management Systems 56
Conclusions 56
References 57
il
36
52
vi Contents
PART II POLICY ISSUES IN TEXTBOOK PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 59
5 And Shall the Twain Meet? Public -nd Private Textbook Publishing in theDeveloping World 61Savaranan GopinathanThe Importance of Textbooks in Education 61
The Relation between Textbook and Generul Publishing 65A Typology of Public-Private Relations 68Conclusion 70Notes 71
References 71
6 Textbook Development in the United States: How Good Ideas Become BadTextbooks 72Harriet Tyson-BernsteinSome General Concepts 72Historical Background of the textbook Enterprise 74Textbook Manufacturing Standards 77Scientific Management of Curriculum 77
Readability Formulas and the English Language 78The Textbook Selection and Adoption Process 79Positive Trends 86
Annotated Bibliography 87
7 Copyright in the Developing World 88Philip G. AltbachThe Concept of Copyright 88Histcrical Perspectives 89
The International Copyright System 91
Current Issues and Compulsory Licensing 91The Context of Inequality 92The Issue of Piracy 94Technology and Copyright 95Textbooks and Copyright 97The Future of Copyright in an Unequal World 98Notes 99References 99
8 The Raw Material: Paper
Paul EastmanWorld Paper Supply :03World Paper Demand 105
Prices and Marketing 107
Tapping International Sources of Paper 109References 112
PART III PROVISION OF TEXTBOOKS: DEVELOPED SYSTEMSAND INFANT INDUSTRIES
9 Publishing foi Schools in the Federal Republic of Germany, France, theUnited Kingdom, and the United StatesPeter H. NeumannGermany 118
France 120
The inited Kingdom 122
The United States 125Sources of Additional Information 129
10 The Indian Textbook IndustryNarendra KumarNew Educational Policy 130
Current System for Publishing Textbooks 131
102
113
115
130
Contents vii
University Books 134
Handicaps and tne Future of ?rivate Publishing 135
11 Mexico's Free Textbook Program 137
Peter H. Neumann and Maureen A. CunninghamInvestment in Education 137
General Principles 138
Criticisms 139
Bibliography 139
12 The Philippines: A Textbook Case 141
Alfonso de Guzman 11The First Phase, 1978-81 141
The Second Phase, 198;' -85 142
Why Textbooks? MSThe Government as Publisher 143
Impact on the Private Sector 145
The Future of Government Publishing 146Institutional Icsues 147
Publication Planning 148
Manuscript Origination and Preparation 148
Editorial Functions at the ms 150
Problems in Textbook Development 151
Production of Books 153
Manufactunng of Books 157
Distribution of Textbooks 164
Teacher Training 166
Evaluation of the Project 168
Summary 170
Notes 171
References 171
13 The Textbook Project in LesothoAlbert Aime and John OvertonBackground and Planning 173
The Educational System 173
Planning for the Textbook Project 174
Implementation 176
Choice of Textbooks 177
Production and Manufacturing 179
Distribution 180
Finances: the Revolving Fund 183
Achievements of the Project 184
173
14 Regional Development of Textbooks: The English-Speaking Caribbean 185
Pat E. MaloneBackground 185
Evolution of the Project 186
Process 188
Contact with Ministries of Education 190
Publishing Process 190
Distribution 191
Use of Books 191
Conclusions 192
Ghana Twinning Project 193
PART IV THE FUTURE: WILL NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA MAKETHE TEXTBOOK OBSOLETE?
15 Will Textbooks Be Replaced by New Information Technologies?
L. R. Fernig, J. F. McDougal, and Herbert OhlmanMass Communication Techniques 198
Electronic Media 199
195
197
viii Contents
Strategies fur the Future 204Bibliography 205
16 Computers in the ClassroomPaul Olson and Edmund SullivanComputer Technology in Two Canadian Schools 208Conclusions 213Note 214References 214
206
Participants in the Seminar 215
Consultants to the Seminar 217
Contributors to this Volume 219
Preface
This book is based on a seminar sponsored by the Eco-nomic Development Institute of the World Bank whichmet in Washington, D.C., April 9 -25, 1986. The sem-inar was directed by the coeditors of this book; the bookconsists of an edited selection of the background papersprepared for the seminar and records the main out-comes of discussion among its participants. The sem-inar, which lasted seventeen days, brought togethertwenty-five participants from twenty-two developing na-tions, eighteen consultants, eight members of the WorldBank staff, and many observers to consider what hadbeen learned from roughly two decades of developingand implementing large-scale natio :al textbook pro-grams. The immediate objective of the seminar was tohelp the participants make economically and pedagog-ically sound policy decisions about their own nationaltextbook programs. The longer-term objective was tosharethrough this book and a slide-tape presenta-tionseminar discussions with a much wider audienceof national textbook officials, international agency staff,and educational officials and scholars who are workingto improve the quality of education in developing na-tions. This was the first seminar on this broad themeheld by the Economic Development Insitute for to ourknowledge any other agency), and this book thus is arecord of what we believe to have been a unique andimportant event.
The names of the twenty-five participants attendingthe seminar are listed at the end of the book. They wereall senior officials of governments or parastatal agencieswith large responsibilities for their national systems toprovide textbooks. The twenty-two nations representedranged from small (such as Honduras and Lesotho) tovery large (such as Brazil and China) and from verypoor to middle income. Both market economies andcentrally planned economies were represented, as wellas all regions of the developing world. The depth andbroad experience of the participants was one of the mostimportant resources available to the seminar. The con-sultants who prepared material for the seminar are alsolisted at the end of the book. Four of themAlfonso
de Guzman, Peter Neumann, John Overton, and An-thony Readwere present throughout most of theseminar and helped lead the discussions.
During the seminar, all aspects of textbook provisionwere examined, from obtaining raw materials for paperproduction to delivering tested texts to remote schoolsand from training teachers to establishing a system forevaluating, revising, and resupplying books. At eachstep, seminar participants and consultants examinedalternatives and their consequences and drew upon theirown experiences and the background papers.
Participants were first provided with an overview ofthe total textbook provision process which identifiedthe primary decision points and issues to be discussedduring the remainder of the seminar. At this stage,participants also shared information about the mainfeatures, accomplishments, and problems of each na-tional system to provide textbooks. Next, papas whichdealt in detail with many of the specific issues anddecisions were discussed. Several national case studies,written to highlight the consequences of different setsof decisions in real situations, were then considered.Finally, participants worked through two decisionmak-ing simulation exercises designed to reflect conditionsin a small, very poor nation and in a large, middle-inconr, nation.
The chapters of this book follow the general flow ofthe seminar curriculum. Chapter 1 provides the eco-nomic and pedagogical context in which textbook de-cisions are made and an overview of the main issuesand policy choices identified during the seminar. PartI (chapters 2-4) is an overview of the complex, inter-related issues and decisions involved in the design andimplementation of a national textbook program. Inchapter 2 Barbara Searle outlines the characteristics ofthe textbook projects with which the World Bank hasbeen involved and identifies their main problems. Inchapter 3, Anthony Read provides a detailed account ofthe alternatives available at each step in the textbookprovision process and notes th elements to be consid-ered in making each decision. In chapter 4 Adriaan
.10
x Preface
Verspoor looks at textbook programs from the point ofview of the theory of implementing large-scale educa-tional innovationsand especially discusses the abilityof teachers to use textbooks at various stages in thedevelopment of an educational system.
Part II (chapters 5-8) is a detailed dis:ussion of fourparticularly difficult policy issues in the developmentof textbook programs. in chapter 5 Savaranan Gopina-than deals with the complicated and often conflicting re-lations between private firms and the public. Althoughhe draws primarily on his experience with book devel-opment in Asian nations, he raises issues that are salientthroughout the world. In chapter 6 Harriet Tyson-Bern-stein illustrates how in a rich nation such as the UnitedStates the political conflicts that inevitably accompanytextbook programs have led to unsatisfactory books.This is a cautionary tale of problems which developingnations must try to avoid if they are not to invest inproducing textbooks which are politically acceptable butpedagogically unsound. In chapter 7 Philip Altbach ex-amines national and international copyright provisionswhich, if not carefully attended to, can create severeproblems. In chapter 8 Paul Eastman looks at how theseemingly simple task of acquiring the paper for bookshas created serious problems for many programs. Heanalyzes the causes of the problems and possible so-lutions in varying national circumstances.
Part III (chapters 9-14) is a series of national casestudies to illustrate the problems which have been en-countered in textbook programs and the solutions whichhave been devised. Peter Neumann's comparison of thetextbook provision systems of France, the Federal Re-public of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the UnitedStates (chapter 9) shows the variety of options that rich,free-market states have. He demonstrates that althoughthere are common issues among nations, there are nouniversal prescriptions. Authorities in each nation mustdevise solutions according to tkii own particular cir-cumstances. The Indian textbook industry is the subjectof chapter 10 by Narendra Kumar. This very large butvery poor nation has developed a domestic book indus-try which serves not only its national market but also
exports to other nations in the region. The argumentis advanced, however, that a powerful state presence intextbook provision has inhibited the development ofprivate publishing. The Mexican case, discussed by PeterNeumann and Maureen Cunningham in chapter 11, isan excellent example of how a carefully developed com-bination of public and private initiatives has producedan unusually successful national textbook provision sys-tem. The textbook project in the Philippines is one ofthe most complex, large-scale, and well-known pro-grams in the developing v,orld. In chapter 12 Alfonsode Guzman provides a detailed account of the problemsencountered, the solutions devised for them, and thesuccesses and failures of this massive effort. In chapter13 Albert Aime and John Overton analyze the devel-opment of a successful textbook program in small,very poor nation, Lesotho. Of particular interest is theeffective implementation of a revolving funl throughwhich parents pay to support the long-term continua-tion of a program which the government could notpossibly finance from its normal revenues. In chapter14 Pat Malone describes regional cooperation amongvery small states in the West Indies to develop textbookswith low-cost assistance provided by a nongovernmentalorganization. This unusual model, which relies heavilyupon volunteer effort, is being adapted for use in WestAfrica.
Part Pi (chapters 15 and 16) locks to the future. Moreand more, one hears claims that soon new technologies,in particular the computer, will render the textbookobsolete. If these claims turn out to be correct, currentexpenditures on the development of large-scale textbookprovision systems could turn out to be very bad in-vestments of scarce resources. In chapter 15 L. R. Fer-nig and others present the case for the new technolo-gies. In chapter 16 Paul Olson and Edmund Sullivan,drawing upon ethnographic work in schools in Ontario,Canada, suggest that the effect of computers on text-book use will be minimal.
Finally, we thank Hugh Oliver and Linda Perry fortheir valuable contribution in a preliminary editing ofthe papers.
Definitions
Billion equals 1,0000 million.
All dollars are U.S. dollars.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) comprises Aus-tralia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Ger-many, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand,Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and UnitedStates.
The World Bank consists of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(Ino) and the Internat:onal Development Association (IDA). The Bank has one centralpurpose: to promote economic and social progress in developing nations by helpingraise productivity so that their people may live better and fuller lives. IDA providesassistance to the poorest developing countriesthose with per capita incomes of lessthan $400 a yearon terms that would bear less heavily on their balance of paymentsthan IBRD loans. The International Finance Corporation (IK) is a World Bank affiliatethat works specifically with the privatq. sector in developing countries. The MultilateralInvestment Guarantee Agency (MICA) is also a World Bank affiliate.
xi
Introduction
Joseph P. Farrell and Stephen P. Heyneman
The contribution of education to economic growth haslong been recognized, although its specific effects arestill subject to debate. The demand of parents for moreeducational opportunities for their children, coupledwith the economic and political incentives for author-ities to provide them, account for the recent unprece-dented expansion of schooling.
Since World War IL universal primary school en-rolliant has been achieved in thirty-five of the richerdeveloping countries, including Argentina, Gabon, Ma-laysia, and Trinidad and Tobago. In the thirty-six poor-est countriesthose with a per capita gross nationalproduct (GNP) of $265 a year or lessaverage enroll-ment in primary education increased from 48 percentof the school-age population in 1960 to 70 percent in1977. Moreover, about 50 percent more children areenrolled in grade 1 than in grade 4, so this 70 percentenrollment figure significantly understates the propor-tion of children who begin school. Indeed, school en-rollments in developing centries have been growingso rapidly t's.,, 'he balance of the "educational enter-prise" has shitted from developed to developing regions.In 1950, about a third of the world's school populationwas in t!12 industrial countries; by 1975 this proportionhe slipped to a quarter; and by the year 2000, it willhave slipped again to about a fifth (figure 1-1). By 2r00,there will be 6.2 billion students in developing coun-tries.
Maintaining this rapidly expanding enterprise i3 ex-pensive. In the typical developing country, educationusually accounts for 15 percent of recurrent public ex-penditures but can be as high as 30 percent. There aretwice as many elementary school teachers today in de-veloping countries as there were in 1960. There are 2.5times as many secondary school teachers and almost4.5 times as many tertiary-level teachers. Each teacherneeds to be trained, placed, paid, retrained periodically,
1
and eventually maintained in retirement. A correspond-ing increase has been required in school furrnure,equipment, and reading materials. For instance, be-tween 1960 and 1980 the number of book titles availableincreased by 15 percent in Latin America and by 33percent in Africa. But despite such signs of progress,there are problems of such magnitude that the stabilityand productivity of these cour.'-ies are at risk.
Figure 1-1. The Expanding World of Learners
2.5 billion
Developingregions
66 percent
Developedregions
34 percent
1950
4.0 billion
75 perent
25 percent
Source: United Nations (1981.
13
1975
6.2 billion
80 percent
20 percent
2000
2 introduction
World Economic Crisis
In deveicping countries, government resources havebeen severely strained by tiie fluctuation of oil and en-ergy costs, slumping commodity prices, recession-plagued
export markets, high interest rates, and the inflatedvalue of the U S. dollar. This confluence of factors hasgenerated a severe economic crisis. In 1982, fer in-stance, 62 percent of the foreign exci,ange earningsfrom Brazilian exports had to be allocate' to servicingthe national debt. In Chile. the correspon:fing figurewas 53 percent; in Ecuador, 48 percent; in Morocco,43 percent; in Cate d'Ivoire, 32 percent; in Zambia, 22percent; and so on throughout most of the developingworld. And in many developing countries the situationhas deteriorated since 1982.
The reaction to this crisis has beet one of "adjust-ment." Developing countries have begun to reform theireconomies, often with surprisingly quick results. Forinstance, in 1981 the balance of payments as a propor-tion of GNP of the oil-importing developing countriesstood at about -5.1 percent (table 1-1). Three yearslater, this deficit had been cut in half-to -2.1 per-cent. Similar changes can be observed with nationalaccounts-from -3.9 percent in 1981 to -2.1 percentin 1984.
These fiscal improvements, however, do not comefree of cost. They are the result of sacrifices across alllevels of government and across all sectors. Highwaysare no longer maintained as they once were and as theyought to be. Pharmaceuticals can no longer be foundin rural health centers. Subsidized fertilizers and pes-ticides are no longer available to farmers. Hardest hitof all is the largest public sector-education.
Macroeconomic Effects on Education
Because of fiscal pressures, the proportion of the GNP
allocated to education has been on the decline, as hasthe share of education spending in government budgets.In one study of Latin America, for instance, spendingper student fell by about 45 percent in real terms be-tween 1970 and 1978 (table 1-2). Spending on elemen-tary education fell from $90 to $50 per student, a dif-
Table 1-2. Average Real Spending per Student inLatin America, 1965-78(dollars)
Year Primary Secondary Tertiary
1965 71.8 168.4 1133.51970 90.2, 166.1 970.41978 50.2 1.8 361.2
Source: Heller and Cheasty (1984).
ference of 45 percent; spending per student for secondaryeducation fell by 51 percent, and for tertiary educationby 63 percent. Declines have been even more precipi-tous in Africa. In Somalia, the share of governmentspending on eduction had to be halved between 1975and 1983, falling fro:n 12 to 6 percent of the nationalbudget. During that p. rlod, Nigeria was forced to cutits education budget from 16 to 9 percent and Kenyafrom 19 to 15 percent.
Between 1970 and 1980, spending per student in theleast developed countries fell by an average (4'34 percent(figure 1-2). Because of the relative prosperity of coun-tries in East Asia and of those belonging to the Orga-nization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),spending per student among middle-income countriesactually rose by 25 percent. And in countries belongingto the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De-velopment (oEcD), spending per student rose in thatsame decade by 46 percent-from $1,229 in 1970 to$2,257 in 1980. In other words, the gap in educationalspending between the world's richest and poorestcoun-tries has widened (figure 1-3). In 1960, OECD countriesspent loth-teen times more on each of their elemental),school students than did the world's poorest countries.By 1970, however, that gap had grown to twenty-twotimes more. And because of the fiscal crisis between1970 and 1980, the gap became a gulf, increasing tofifty times.
Where have educational reductions occurred? Al-though salaries of teachers often have not kept up withinflation, salaries have not been the main source ofreductions (table 1-3). In Latin America, for instance,salaries of teachers were almost constant with infla-tionary trends between 1960 and 1979. In other middle-income developing countries, teacher salaries were about
Table 1-1. Current Account Balance as a Percentage of Gross National Product in Selected Countries,1981-84
Basis Countries 1981 1984
Balance of payments All developing 4.9 -1.8Oil-Importing developing 5.1 -2.1
National accounts All developing 3.9 -1.8Oil-importing developing 3.9 -2.1
SOlere World Bank (1985).
14
Figure 1-2. Total Recurrent Expenditures perStudent
Constant 1980 U.S. dollars
2.500
2,000
1,500
1.000
500
$225770 Low-income$1.229 Middle-income
A Industrial
$135
$122
1970
Source. Fuller and Heyneman (forthcoming).
$180
$81
1980
three times the national GNP per capita in 1960 andabout 3.5 times in 1979, a rise of 15 percent.
Reductions have largely been imposed on that cate-gory of the education budget nonsalary expendi-tureswhich cannot as easily defend its interests: moneyfor chalk, maps, furniture, laboratory equipment, andtextbooks. As a share of education budgets, nonsalaryitems fell in half of the Latin American countries be-tween 1965 and 1970 and in all (non-oPEc) Latin Amer-ican countries between 1970 and 1978. By 1979, non-salary expenditures in elementary education representedonly 4 percent of recurrent expenditures in Africa andonly 9 percent in Asiacompared with 14 percent inthe OECD countries (table 1-4).
In the 1980s, Bolivia has spent only 80 U.S. cents onnonsalary inputs for each of its elementary school stu-dents (figure 1-4) and Malawi has spent only $1.24. This
Figure 1-3. Education Spending Gap
Ratio of spending per year per student
Ell International DevelopmentAssociation countries
MI Organisation (or Economic Co-operationand Development countries
2214 1
50
1960
Source: Heyneman (1983).
1970 1980
Introduction
Table 1-3. Average Salaries per Teacheras a Percentage of Per Capita Income
3
Region 1960 1979
ActualLatin American and Caribbean 29i 298
Other middle-income developing countries 303 349
Indexed (1960 = 100)Latin American and Caribbean 100 100
Others 100 115
Source: Lee (1984).
contrasts with such highly developed countries as Swe-den, which can afford to snend $300 annually on equip-ment and reading materials for each student.
In Uganda, in 1970 there was an average of one bookfor every three elementary schoolchildren. But over thenext ten years, there were no new reading materialsavailal-::., and by 1980 the ratio had slipped to one bookfor every twelve students. In 1960, the United Statespublished five times more titles (per million inhabit-ants) than Africa (table 1-5). Twenty years later, theUnited States published seventeen times more titles thanAfrica, eight times more than Asia, and five times morethan Latin America.
What will be the outcome of this crisis? What effectis it having on the schools? First, students in developingcountries are learning significantly less than studentsin those countries where reading and other materialsare more abundant. Figure 1-5 presents elementary stu-dent academic achievement in general science in nine-teen countries. The figures represent percentages of astandard deviation above or below the international av-erage (Z scores). Indian and Chilean children are almost2 standard 6-viations below the mean; Bolivia is morethan 1 standard deviation below. This compares unfa-vorably with Japan and Hungary (2 standard deviationsabove the mean) or the Federal Republic of Germany(1 standard deviation above) or the United States andSweden (0.5 standard deviations above).
Levels of available reading material strongly deter-mine the kind (,f educational experience a country isable to provide. Countries able to spend about $1 perstudent on classroom materials are at the lowest levelin the quality of their education. Their students are
Table 1-4. Allocation for Nonsalary Resourcesas a Percentage of Total Recurrent Expenditures
Region or country group Primary Secondary Tertiary
Africa 3.8 12.7 13.1
Asia 8.8 13.8 22.7
Countries in Organisationfor Economic Co-opera-tinn and Development 14.4 14.8 25.5
Strce. 0,;esco (1982).
15
4 Introduction
Figure 1-4. Spending on Classroom Materials andOther Nonsalary Recurrent Expenditures per StudentEnrolled in Primary Schools
(dollars)
Bolivia (0.80)
Malawi (1.24)
Indonesia (2.24)
Thailand (4)
Brazil (4)
Mexico (5.64)
Algeria (8.36)
Jordan
Venezuela
Spain
Malaysia
Italy
Hungary
Yugoslavia
io<
United States
Japan
Finland
Denmark
50 100
Source: Heyneman (1984).
150 200
Sweden
250 300and over
likely to be limited to rote memorization of simple,often inaccurate information (table 1-6). Countries ableto spend about $3 per student are able to provide sig-nificantly more versatile and capable educational ex-periences. Countries able to spend from $40 to $300per student may anticipate producing students who typ-ically are able to investigate new ideas, recognize strongand weak supporting arguments, and become fully pro-ductive participants in a rapidly chang'ng economy.
What then is to be done? How can developing coun-tries stem the decline in educational quality? Hew canthey acquire more materials for classrwni use? Howcan they diminish the increasingly wide educational gapbetween themselves and OECD countries?
It is not clear whether there is a single solution tothis crisis, but if so, it is unlikely to be a major economic
Table 1-5. World Book Production by Rcgion,196040
Titles permillion
inhabitants
Titles permillion
inhabitants,ratio of UnitedStates to other
regionsRegion 1960 1980 1960 1980
North America 91 468Africa 19 28 4.8 16.7Asia 53 56 1.7 8.4Latin America 79 93 1.2 5.0Not applicable.
Source: Unesco (1982).
recovery in the near term. With few exceptions, com-modity prices are in a semipermanent slump; prices ofindustrial necessities do not ;' Near to be on the decline;the U.S. dollar is still very strong; and the world appearsto be heading toward an era of protectionism ratherthan greater free trade. All in all there is little likelihoodthat more resources for education will come from in-creased levels of public spending.
If countries are going to halt the decline in the qualityof education, they will likely have to find the resourcesfrom within the education sector itself. They are goingto have to spend more wisely than in the past, and theyare going to have to challenge some widely held tra-ditions in attempts to achieve their most importantobjectives.
In textbook production and distribution, there willbe new challenges. Authorities will have to find waysof producing more materials for less cost. This maymean getting suppliers through (sometimes interna-tional) competitive bidding, rather than using publicmonopolies, and adopting a more realistic range of sub-ject matter. Specific cost-cutting measures could alsoinclude seeking a different means of financing, accept-ing fewer local languages, using fewer colors in illus-trations, and using thinner covers. Textbook authoritiesshould recognize one basic principle: out of adversitycomes invention. That the macroeconomic environ-ment is adverse is incontestable. Whatever inventionwill be displayed by de-- loping countries in textbookproduction remains to be seen.
Reading Materials and Learning
Evidence from the United States suggests that theinputs of a schoolincluding quality of physical facil-ities, availability of educational materials, and levels ofteacher educationare not strongly associated withstudent achievement (Coleman and others 1966; Jencksand others 1972). A growing body of data from the
16
Introduction 5
Figure 1-5. Primary School Science Achievement inNineteen Countries
Source. Heyneman and Lox ley (1"3;.
developing world, however, indicates that the situationthere is different. Variations in inputs appear to be re-liable predictors of student achievement. The correla-tion between variance in science perfor.nance explainedby classroom quality and national per capita income isapproximately 0.37, which suggests that the poorer thecountry, the higher the impact of classroom quality onstudent achievement.' This finding may be explainedby a much higher variance in the quantity and qualityof school inputs in low-income than in high-incomecountries.
What inputs can be expected to raise student achieve-ment in the developing world? Information is relativelyscarce. A careful search of the literature located fewerthan thirty studies on the cognitive impact of teachertraining in low-income countries compared with almostfour hundred such studies published in the United Statesin one year.2 Similar imbalances of information existwith respect to textbooks, duplicating machines, audio-visual aids, radio, televisionin fact, with respect toall school resources. Furthermore, results from avail-able studies are ambiguous. Smaller class size and longerteacher-training programs are not always associated withhigher levels of student achievement.
One of the more consistent indicators of higherachievement is the availability of textbooks and otherprinted materials (see Heyneman and others 1978;Heyneman and Jamieson 1980). Among nineteen recentassessments of the relation between the availability ofprinted material and student outcomes in developingnations, sixteen reported a positive relation. Textbooks,
it seems, are an important and consistent contributorto improved quality in schools.
Responses
As evidence about the importance of textbooks to theeducational process has accumulated, more and morenations have mounted major textbook development andprovision programs. For example, in the 1982-83 schoolyear, just over 4 million textbooks covering 94 titleswere produced for the schools of the Yemen Arab Re-public; three years later, the figures had risen to over11 million textbooks covering 275 titles. In the mid-1970s, the Philippines embarked on an ambitious mul-tiyear program to produce roughly 150 million text-books, aiming to provide une book for every two primarystudents in each of the core curricular areas. Over twodecades, Mexico has carefully built up a system for pro-viding free textbooks to all of its primary school stu-dents. Even a nation as poor as Ethiopia managed, be-tween 1975 and 1985, to print and distribute almost 40million school textbooks. At the top of the scale. themost populous nation in the world China producesand distributes more than 2 billion school texts eachyear.'
International agencies have also been :ncreasing theirsupport for textbooks. The United Nations Educational,Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has beensustaining a major international effort through its Di-vision for Book Promotion and International Ex-changessee, for example, the works published in their
6 Introduction
Table 1-6. Stages of Develonment in School QualityAnnual cost per primary
student m classroommaterials Indicator Product
Less than $1
$3
$40
$200
One textbook per class. With someexceptions, the teacher has the onlyavailable book. Pupils expected to copythe text from the blackboard andmemorize.
One textbook per student. Eachstudent has access to one book ineach subject. Comparatively littlerequired teacher skills beyond thoserequired at the above stage.
Several different textbook titlesavailable for each student. Pupils inlower grades work on locally designedexercises. Teacher picks and choose.,from among the best or mostappropriate available materials.Requires significant intellectualindependence on the part of teachers.
Fifteen tities per student insupplementary reading material orforty books total per student inaddition to a wide variety ofcurriculum packages, reference books,maps, dictionaries, film strips, lessontapes, documentary films, andcomputer-assisted instruction.Significant managerial skills requiredon the part of teachers at all levels ofeducation.
'-'ote memorization of unsophisticateuand poorly interpreted information.
Major expansion of information andthe efficiency of presentation. Littleprogress on self-generated skills ofinvestigation.
Liam,*
Uganda. Liberia,Haiti
Philippines. China
Latitude of educational programs Malaysia
based upon individual student ability.Significant increase .n the mastery ofcognitive skills.
Self-generated habits of learningAbility to investigate new ideas and torecognize strong and weaksupporting arguments. Majorimprovement in cognitive creativity.Wide exposure to culture as well asscience.
Japan. lnitedStates. Sweden
Source: Stephen P Hevneman (unpubhshedt
series "Studies on Books and Reading." In a recentreport prepared by the World Bank, it was noted thatbetween fiscal 1979 and 1983, one out of three Bankeducation projects (29 of 90) had textbook components.In fiscal 1983, almost half the education projects in-cluded textbook components, with total costs of about$50 million (Searle 1985: 3).
In some cases, textbook provision is one part of amajor educational reform effort. In others, provision oftextbooks is the project. In almost all cases the contri-bution of the international agency represents only asmall proportion of the total cost of a textbook program,and where the international contribution represents ahigh proportion of the total cost, the project is in anearly stage of developin' - provision system which thenational government is committed to sustaining fromits own resources over the long term.
over the past ten to fifteen years, nationsthroughout the developing world have been investingscarce resources in providing textbooks with assistancefrom international agencies. As a result, billions of text-
books have been produced, and millions of schoolchil-dren who would previously have had to learn withoutbooks now have access to them. This is a considerableaccomplishment. Nonetheless. millions of schoolchil-dren in the developing world still have no textbooks atall, or an insuricient number of books, or books whichare inapprn.,,riate for their age level. Furthermore, manyof the existing programs to provide textbooks have en-countered serious problems. It has become apparentthat mounting and sustaining a national textbook pro-gram is far more complex than had been imagined adecade ago. Much has been learned. however, and it isa major purpose of this book to review and systematizeexperience to date so as to improve the provision oftextbooks in developing nations in the future.
The Complexity of the Task
It has become evident that mounting a large-scaleprogram to provide textbooks in a developing nation isan extremely complicated and risk-prone venture, with
18
implications well beyond the educational sector itself.Creating, producing, and distributing textbooks in-volves many parts of a nation's infrastructure, includingthe publishing industry, the educational establishment,writers, and government departments. International or-ganizations and multinational publishing corporationsare frequently involved. Copyright laws seldom wellunderstood or obeyed--further complicate matters. Theproduction of textbooks requires substantial amountsof imported paper and technologically advanced print-ing facilities. It also requires planning, development,funding, testing, and distributing, as well as the coor-dination of educational, governmental, publishing, andprinting resources. As Philip Altbach (1983) has noted:
The keys to effective textbook development are notmassive fiscal expenditures or crash programmes, butrather careful co-ordination, attention to the artic-ulation between the educational system and the pub-lishing industry, linking curricular development andthe expansion of enrollments to textbook require-ments, and the involvement of the necessary expertisein the development of relevant and high-quality text-books. The textbook situation in any country dependson the state of the publishing industry (includingprinting capacity, the availability of paper, and thedistribution network), the presence of competent au-thors (and the research and testing facilities to ensurerelevant textbooks), and the educational system (Alt-bach 1983: 316).
Developing a sustainable textbook provision systemis much like developing a complex new industrial sec-torand the complexity is equally forbidding, whetherthe system is managed by the public sector, the privatesector, or a combination of the two. One must establish,train, and administer (or hire) separate teams of peopleto undertake each of the following general classes ofactivity and establish an administrative system to co-ordinate them:
Design and write booksstarting with curriculumguidelines and finishing with copy ready for man-ufacture.
Manufacture books including acquisition of rawmaterials (such as paper, ink, film, binding ma-terials), printing, and binding.
Distribute booksgetting them from the point ofmanufacture to all the classrooms in the nation,even the most remote, on time and in good con-dition.
Provide ancillary support including complemen-tary teaching materials (for example, chalk, labsupplies. and so forth) and training teachers howto use the books.
Evaluate and resupply or revise books as required.
Introductrw? 7
What has proven to be critical is a view oi textbookprovision not as a one-shot arrangement but as a long-term investment in a total system. The range of issueswhich have to be addressed and for which responseshave to be coordinated is indicated in the following listof questions which we sent to the authors of each ofthe national case studies included in this book.
1. On what grounds (financial, pedagogical, philo-sophical) was the decision taken to mount a major pro-gram to provide textbooks?
2. What provisions have been made to ensure thatthe program continues beyond the first round of bookdistribution? Is there a permanent organizational entitywithin the Ministry of Education or within another partof the government? Why was this particular structuralarrangement chosen? How is the program financed toensure its long-term sustainability? Is there an annualappropriation from general revenues, a spec. nro-tected fund, or a revolving fund based upon par,:.... orstudent payment for books, foreign assistance, or somecombination of the a5ove?
3. How are textbook manuscripts developed and ap-proved for use in schools? What mechanisms are usedto ensure correspondence between curriculum guide-lines and textbook content? Who sets the guidelines andhow are they communicated to textbook developers?Who are the textbook authorspracticing teachers,university faculty, curriculum specialists, or others? Whatare the mechanisms for editing, field-testing. and eval-uating manuscripts? What are the mechanisms for finalapproval of manuscripts for publication?
4. What is the language (or languages) of publication?If there is more than one, which books are publishedin which languages and why?
5. Was the decision made to (a) import hooks, (131publish locally, (c) print locally, or some combinationof a, b, and c? If a combination, which books are im-ported, which are published and printed locally. andwhy?
6. For locally published or printed hooks, is the workdone by a state agency, a parastatal agency. privatecommercial firms, or a combination of the above? Onwhat grounds were these decisions made?
7. How are books distributed to students? What werethe physical transport and storage problems, and howhave they been resolved? Is final dim.ribution throughschools, commercial outlets, or some other entity?
8. Who pays for the books? Are they supplied free bythe government, paid for of rented by parents, or isthere some other arrangement?
9. What evidence is available about the use and ef-fectiveness of books in classrooms? Are students ahleto take books home with them or are they kept in theschool? What is the expected lifetime of the hooks?
10. What is the program's management structure?
1:i
8 Introduction
What is the range of responsibilities of the central co-ordinating office, and where is it located administra-tively? What provisions are there for coordination andcontrol between the central office and other agenciesinvolved in textbook design, production, and distribu-tion? What problems have been encountered in man-agement, coordination, and control, and what has beendone to solve the problems?
11. What provisions are there far training classroomteachers, textbook authors, editorial staff, publishingstaff, graphic artists, designers, manufacturing staff, andother staff?
12. How are paper supplies obtained? Have there beenany serious difficulties obtaining paper?
13. What is government policy about copyright onlocally produced textbooks and on copyrighted materialfrom other countries? Have there been any serious prob-lems or conflicts over copyright?
14. What provision is there for regular evaluation andrevision of textbooks? Who evaluates and how often?What kinds of evaluation are used? How are the resultsfed back to textbook developers?
Given this complexity, it is not surprising that majorproblems have been encountered in many textbook pro-vision programs. A review of World Bank experiencenoted the following general classes of difficulty (Searle198):
) Inadequate attention to the financial feasibility ofthe systems for providing books
Providing support for book purchases or printingwithout concomitant support to ensure suitableeducational content, adequate teacher training, oreffective distribution
Failure to establish appropriate insttutional ar-rangements for managing the full system for pro-viding books.
In a review of textbook publishing organizationsthroughout the developing world, a Unesco study notedthe following common shortcomings (Pearce 1982: 20-21):
Underestimation of the size and complexity of thetask
Lack of adequate publishing advice in planningoperations
Inadequate management resourcesConfusing the iunctions of printer with those ofpublisher
Lack of understanding of the difficulties and timerequired to produce educationally satisfactorymanuscripts related to prescribed curriculumsFailure to consider textbook publishing as an in-tegral and basic part of a total national book pub-lishing industry.
Another Unesco study concluded that there was a lackof awareness of basic economic facts of book publishingin many developing nations, sometimes even amongpublishers themselves (Smith 1977: 7-8).
One central lesson can be derived from all the ex-perience to date: providing books to school where thereis little or nothing to read may seem like a simpleundertaking, but it is not. Every developing countryfrom China to Guineais concerned to design, man-ufacture, and distribute its own textbooks. But this con-cern needs tc be analyzed carefully. Instead of produc-ing books locally from scratch, it may be much cheaperto import technical experience, equipment, and rawmaterial (particularly paper) fi )m Western Europe orNorth America. The publication process demands sub-stantial experience in editing, production, printing,testing, and distribution. Six to ten years iE normallyrequired to develop a new generation of textbooks forprimary school grades 1 to 6. Given the necessary skills,this may be economical for books on local history, civ-ics, and literature; but in mathematics and the sciencesit may be cheaper to adapt already published materials.Furthermu,e, it is often more economical for countriesto publish their own textbooks than to print them.Printing in large quantities requires specialized and ex-pensive machinery, a constant supply of raw materials,and various maintenance skills; publishing requires ed-itorial and design skills, but the hardware for manu-facture need not be local.
Key Issues and Choices
In the course of the seminar upon which this bookis based, a set of major issues and choices were identifiedand discussed. Brief consideration of them a this pointwill provide the reader with a conceptual roadmapthrough, and a context for, the varied papers whichfollow.
An Overriding Constraint: Readership Size
A fundamental condition which constrains almost allother choices is the size of the prospective readershipfor a given textbook. In private commercial publishing,this is referred to as "market size." but we have useda more general term because the basic principles applyequally to government publishing in a nonmarket set-ting. Simply put, the larger the readership for a par-ticular book, the greater will be the total cost of pro-ducing it, but (all else being equal) the smaller will bethe cost per book (unit ccst).
Readership size is itself influenced by a number ofdistinct factors. First, obviously, is the total school-agepopulation of the nation. Second is the enrollment ratioat any given grade level. Even in developing nations
20
which enroll almost all age-eligible children in firstgrade, there is typically a high dropout rate duringprimary schooling; thus the readership size for a sixthor seventh grade text may be half (or less) that for afirst grade text, and the readership for secondary leveltexts may be very small. Added to this is the degree ofspecialization of the book. In most nations, the curric-ilium is common throughout primary schooling andofien through at least part of secondary schooling. Insuch cas...s, the readership for a given textbook is thetotal enrollment at the particular grade level. But atsome point the curriculum becomes diversified--dif-ferent students study different subjectsand then thereadership for a given book becomes a fraction of thetotal grade-level enrollment. This frequently producesserious difficulties and hard choices at the upper sec-ondary level and even more serious difficulties at theuniversity level. At this point, the total population ofthe nation becomes very important. For example, a uni-versity-level physics textbook servs a very specializedaudience, but in a large nation such as Brazil or Indiathe total readership may still be large enough to justifylocally produced texts; by contrast, a small nation mayhave no choice but to use imported texts.
Another factor affecting readership size is languageof instruction. Clearly, the greater the number of lan-guages in which books must be produced, the smallerthe readership for any given language version, and thegreater the cost per book. Small multilingual nationsface very difficult choices from the early primary levelon. But even large multilingual nations frequently findthat at the secondary level, where enrollment ratios arelow and the curriculum diversified, a switch to single-language publishing is the only economically viable op-tion.
The problems created by failing to consider reader-ship size ate illustrated by the case of Lesotho in theearly 1970s. This nation's total population is less than3 million. The government set high-quality specifica-tions for textbooks, which were published and manu-factured by local private firms. Because of the smallma-at and the high standards, the book prices werehigh, beyond what most parents in a poor nation couldafford. Consequently, few schoolchildren had books.Dropout rates were high and enrollments declined.Moreover, because sales were low, the commercial pub-lishers could not recover their costs. The chapter byAime and Overton describes how in Lesotho a subse-quent textbook program, which has taken readershipsize into account, is successfully overcoming theseproblems.
Generally, the larger (or more affluent) a nation, theless difficult are the constraints imposed by readershipsize. In some cases, however, even very small and verypoor nations have found imaginative ways to work withinthese constraints, such as pooling resources across na-
Introduction 9
tional boundaries and adapting foreign texts. For ex-ample:
Three small West African nationsCote d'Ivoire,Senegal, and Togoshare textbook pi dishing andprinting costs. Their Nouvelle Editions Africainsare used in all three nations.
Several Commonwealth nations have negotiatedwith an international publisher to provide historytexts. The books for all of the nations contain astandard set of chapters dealing with internationalhistory, combined with chapters which deal witheach nation's history. The resulting books are bothlocally relevant and low cost, even in very smallmarkets.
Malone's chapter demonstrates how the small is-land states of the English-speaking Caribbean com-bined efforts to produce economically manageabletexts even in so specialized a subject as home eco-nomics.
Many small ations (Sierra Leone is an example)have successfully combined local development andproduction of general primary texts with adapta-tion of foreign texts for more specialized subjectswith small readerships at higher schooling levels.
A Basic Macroeconomic Decision: State versusPrivate Sector
In all nations, government tends to intervene stronglyin the textbook provision process. Even in the mostmarket-oriented economies such as the United Statesand the nations of Western Europe, government andgovernment agencies (whether at the central, state orprovincial, or local level) attempt to regulate and con-trol textbook provision. In other words, in the area oftextbook provision there is no such thing, empirically,as a wholly free market. Nations differ in the degree ofstate intervention, the locus of state intervention (thatis, centralized or decentralized), the mechanisms of stateintervention, and the extent to which the state formallyowns (directly or through parastatals) the various agen-cies of textbook production and distribution. The rangeof choices available to a nation regarding private andpublic sector participation is very wide. In her reviewof textbook provision programs assisted by the WorldBank, reported in the following chapter, Searle notes"the diversity of patterns in which alternatives are com-bined. This diversity is an important finding becausethe existence of such a variety of possibilities compli-cates the task of designing or modifying a book provi-sion system." Even more significantly, this diversityindicates that there are few predeterminable choicesbetween the private and public sectors.
Table 1-7 describes the patterns of state and privatesector participation in the preparation, printing, and
2i
10 Introduction
Table 1-7. State and Private Sector Participationin Three Stages of Primary School TextbookProvision among Twenty-one Developing NationsPreparation Printing Distribution Number of cases
State and State and State andprivate private private 5
State State State 4Private Private Private 1
State State and State andprivate private 1
State State andprivate
State 2
State State andprivate
Private 1
State Private State 1
State andprivate
Private State 3
State andprivate
State andprivate
State 2
State and Private State andprivate private 1
Source Country reports from seminar participants.
distribution of primary school texts in twenty-one na-tions represented at the seminar. There are ten distinctpatterns among these nations. The most common pat-tern (five nations) is a combination of state and privatesector participation in all three stages. The next mostcommon pattern (four cases) is exclusive state partic-ipation. In only one case was the private sector exclu-sively involved in all three stages, and here the govern-ment exercised considerable control through regulationof the private sector. These three patterns account forjust under half (ten) of the twenty-one nations. Theremainder are scattered across seven other patterns orcombinations of state and private sector participation.
Clearly. the empirically viable policy questions haveto do with the appropriate degree of, locuses of, andmechanisms for state control or regulation in a givenset of national circumstances. Thus understood, thequestion of the appropriate balance between state andprivate sector in textbook provision was a central themeof the seminar. No universally applicable pattern wassought or found. Cases were examined in which thestate presence was overwhelm ng, either because a po-litical-economic decision had been made which disal-lowed the development of a private sector or because aprivate sector textbook enterprise was not seen as viable.Where the two sectors coexist (as happens most fre-quently), there are many instances in which a strongstate presence has clearly inhibited the growth of theprivate sector. In many nations, the development of aviable local general publishing industry is dependentupon private sector access to the textbook market. Thereare other instances, however, in which strategically or-
ganized state intervention has assisted the developmentof the private sector. It was noted that private sectorpublishing is frequently cheaper than government pub-lishing (although government Publishing sometimesappears cheaper necause accounting systems disguisesome costs), but in other cases government publishingwas clearly the cheaper alternative. Again, one mustjudge in terms of the real alternatives available at agiven time and place. In short, pedagogical and eco-nomic pragmatism should be the guide rather thanideological predisposition toward either the private orthe public sector.
Local versus International Publishing: Tc Protect orNot?
All nations insist upon state influence on school cur-riculums and consequently on teYt_.-Jok content. A nat-ural extension of this normal public prerogative is oftento assume that textbook design and manufacturing shouldbe done by local firms.' The line of reasoning is similarto that for any other enterprise in which there is per-ceived to be a national interestnamely, that local jobsare at stake; that a local enterprise has a comparativeadvantage; that local capacity (not currently extant) re-quires experience and therefore "protection" in its in-fant stages; and that foreign contracts consume scarceforeign exchange. Such arguments are put forward inmany domains of manufacturing and commerce, oftenwith great passion: the nation's future "depends" onhaving these products manufactured locally; its cultureand its pride are at stake; and so on.
It became clear during the seminar that local controlis distinguishable from local ownership. Many nationshave opted on economies ounds for offshoi e publishingor printing of textbooks (indeed much of the manufac-turing of both textbooks and general books for devel-oped nations is done in developing nations) while main-taining a satisfactory degree of control over textbookcontent and design. Given such experience, the choicebetween local or international publishing and printingshould be based upon economic analysis. In some cases,full originat,on or adaptation by an international firmis the most sensible alternative. In others, the use oflocal ublishers and printers is either the economicallymost sensible approach or the only available alternative,especially when the language of instruction is ur.!;,-ueto a nation. If the decision is made to use local industry,the question of whether or not to protect that industryinevitably arises.
Protection can take many forms: taxes on foreignimports, incentives for !ocal production (contractualadvantages and the like), subsidies (for instance, use ofgovernment postal services for distribution), or outrightprohibition of foreign products. If protection is re-
22
wired, it implies that local sources are not competitivewith international sources. Whatever form protectionmay take, and however good the reason for it, protectionhas a monetary cost. The relevant questions are: Howmuch is that cost? Who is asked to pay? Is the justifi-cation for the additional cost accer ible? One othergeneral principle needs mention: there is 'lever enoughmoney in an economy to accept all claims for protectionsimultaneouslythose from industry, manufacturing,agriculture. services, and so forth. If all claims for pro-tection were to be accepted, it would bankrupt any econ-omy. Consequently, when is protection justified in theproduction of textbooks in developing countries:
In addressing this question, countries are likely tofind that the case for protecting local publishing is usu-ally stronger than that for protecting local printing. Insome countries, local printing is above internationalmarket costs because of the separate protection of localpaper manufacturing industries. In these instances, theclaims of the Ministry of Education for permission touse international printing can be pitted against the claimsof the Ministry of Agriculture or of Industry in favor oflocal manufacturing. It doesn't matter which ministrycauses the protection: what matters is the magnitudeof its effectnamely, the increased cost of the text-books.
In other cases, particularly small economies, the pur-chase of international paper is in such small quantitiesand the cost of maintaining expensive equipment is sohigh compared with its level of utilization that a com-parative advantage is unlikely in relation to an inter-national printer. Therefore the two procedures (pub-lishing and printing) should always be analyzed separatelyfor their costs and benefits.
Even local publishing is not always the most cost-effective. There are more Bahasa authors in Jakarta thanin London, and so hoks in Bahasa are more likely tobe cheaper, as well as better, if published locally. Butthis is not inevitable. International publishers in Lon-don can also find good Bahasa authors, as can goodlocal publishers in neighboring countries. And it is oftenan open question whether design and layout experts,also necessary for publishing, are at a comparative ad-vantage simply because they are local.
There is also the question I subject matter. Certainsubjects (such as science and mathematics) "travel"better than others (such as local history or geography).Readership size is important. There is more likehhoodof developing a local publishing capacity (and thereforemore "infant industry" justification) with large read-erships. Some nations, such as Colombia, India, andMexico, have developed such a thriving publishing in-dustry that books have become an export product. Itwould be in the interests of these developing countriesto reduce protective barriers on the importation of in-
Introduction II
ternational textbook manufacturing. To protect or notto protect is not simply a north-south issue.
The most problematic question is that of "culturalcontrol"the assumption that to control content, theproduct must originate locally. If it is a question of thquality or appropriateness of the product itself, inter-national firms, whether in other developing countriesor in industrial countries, can be responsive to demandsby curriculum authorities. But sometimes the productis declared unacceptable for political reasons. The ques-tion then becomes one of expediency. If the educationbudget is fixed or in decline, how muc) of a sacrificeare locally produced materials worth? If the unit costof a textbook is increased by 30 percent, is it worth 30percent of the children not having access to a book?
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Copyright
Although national and international copyright pro-visions are an essential incentive to the production anddissemination of knowledge, they are viewed by manypeople in developing nations as symbols of existing in-ternational inequalities and as impediments to theiracquisition of knowledge. National attitudes toward co-pyright change over time, however: as a nation developsits own publishing industry, it tends to view copyrightprovisions more favorably. Empirically, the number ofnations which do not belong to an international co-pyright convention is decreasing, but at the same time"piracy" of books is increasingthat is, fewer nationsengage in piracy, but they are doing so on a greaterscale. International copyright law is extremely complex.In any international negotiations about textbook pro-vision, developing nations should acquire specializedlegal advice.
Who Pays?
In most developed and many developing nations, itis assumed without question that textbooks should beprovided free to students. However, it was discoveredthat in many nations (including, to the surprise of manyat the seminar, China) students or their parents areexpected to pay for their books and that in some coun-tries even very poor parents are willing to pay at leasta small sum for textbooks. Indeed, in some nations arevolving fund or student fee is the only possible wayto finance a sustainable textbook provision system. Em-pirically, experience with revolving funds has been mixed:some appear to be working well, others have failed.Investigation of the conditions necessary for success iswarranted. However, the questions of equity remains:what does one do about children whose families are sodesperately poor that they cannot afford cen a verymodest book fee? Partial subsidization may be appro-
2 t)
12 Introduction
priite. Thus, some nations successfully operate com-bined systems, selling or renting books in wealthierareas and providing them free in poorer regions.
The Politics of Textbook Content
Educators tend to regard their work as apolitical. Thisis far from the truth. Decisions about curriculum con-tent, and therefore textbook content, frequently reflectdeep-rooted political conflicts within a nation. In rel-atively open political systems, textbook content oftenrepresents delicate compromises among groups withdifferent ideological positions, different religious beliefsand practices, or different ethnic and tribal back-grounds. The U.S. experience documents the pedagog-ical and economic difficulties this an create even in avery rich nation. Inappropriate or insensitive decisionscan provoke political conflict or lead to rejection oftextbooks by some groups. In one-party states, textbookcontent is usually carefully shaped to reflect the pre-vailing ideology. In such cases, sudden political shiftsor changes in regimes can render suddenly obsolete alarge part of a nation's stock of textbooks, requiringmassive and expensive rewriting and production.
Potential Conflicts between Curriculum Developersand Textbook Publishers
Although curriculum development and textbook pub-lishing are distinct enterprises, there is a general needfor closer collaboration between them. Those respon-sible for curriculum development often have little ideaof the cost implications of the specifications that theydevelop for textbooks and other teaching materials. In-stances can be found in which the formal specificationsfor types and quantities of texts, exercise books, and soforth are way beyond what the nation could possiblyafford. Frequently, specifications are laid down for booklength, paper quality, hook size, and type and quantityof illustrations which greatly magnify the cost of pro-ducing the textbooks or which require technology un-available locally. Early and continuous collaboration be-tween curriculum developers and textbook publishersis required to produce books which are both pedagog-ically sound and economically affordable.
Paper Supply
Contrary to what was believed a few years ago, thereis no worldwide shortage of paper, nor does it appearlikely that one will develop. Compared with prices forother products, paper prices over the past several yearshave tended to remain stable or decrease slightly. None-theless, developing nations frequently pay more for pa-per than do customers in developed nations, even after
differences in shipping costs are taken into account:furthermore, there are times when certain types of pa-per are very difficult to find on the into: national market.Careful planning of paper acquisition could result insignificant cost savings and so help to reduce book prices.Particularly important is to buy in large lots. Someexperiments are under way with "paper buyers' clubs"to realize the savings that arise from bulk buying. Sav-ings from such buying, however, can sometimes besquander ed by increased warehousing costs or by lossesdue to improper warehousing. In some nations, localpaper production has proven to be an economically vi-able alternative, but in a few cases has resulted in priceshigher than those on the international market. Devel-oped nations may be able to play a useful role in as-sisting with paper acquisition by jointly establishingsome form of paper bank, perhaps along the lines ofthe Paper Support Programme financed by the CanadianInternational Development Agency and managed by theCanadian Organization for Development through Ed-ucation.
Textbooks as Part of a Package of Interventions
Although an adequate supply of textbooks is essentialfor effective learning, simply placing books in schoolswill have little effect if teachers have not been trainedhow to use them and if there is a shortage of ancillarylearning materials (for example, workbooks, exercisebooks, pencils, chalk). An effective system for providingtextbooks must take into account all of the elements ofa total instructional package. Beyond this, it is clearthat if children learn to read effectively school buthave nothing to read when they leave school, literacywill soon decline; consequently, the investment in text-books, and indeed much of the total national investmentin education, will be lost. Programs to provide textbooksshould be conceived as part of an overall "reading ma-terials development strategy." In the words of a spokes-person from one of the nations which has successfullypursued such an overall strategy: "We have created anation of readers." Those responsible for textbook pro-vision systems should never lose sight of the fact that"a nation of readers" is the ultimate goal.
The Future of the Textbook
Despite claims of the more optimistic proponents ofcomputers and other new teaching technologies, theevidence examined during the seminar (including care-ful studies of schools in which computers are exten-sively used) suggests that for the foreseeable future,textbooks will continue to be the principal mechanismfor instruction. Applications will be found for corn-
24
puters, but they will he limited compared with the usemade of textbooks.
Summary
Coupled with population growth and with expandingeducational opportunity, the decline in national finan-cial resources has had a double impact on the class-room. Students are increasing in number at a timewhen resources per student are declining. Salaries ofteachers and other educational personnel, while notlavish, are often the only part of the education budgetbeing maintained. Decline in student resources is par-ticularly evident in the nonsalary budget categoriesin other words, just those ingredients which have provento be most effective in the achievement of learningobjectives. The availability of reading materials may bethe single most consistent correlate of academicachievement, and yet the availability of reading mate-rials appears to be the category of the educational budgetmost at risk. So what is to be done?
In any such fiscal or management crisis, there arebasically two options. One is to generate additional re-sources by instituting savings elsewhere. Since in-cr_ases in national revenues are unlikely and the reor-dering of intersectoral priorities tends to be idiosyncratic,perhaps savings can be found within current educa-tional allocations. Can they be found within educationalsalaries? Can parents or communities finance a higherproportion of the revenue? Can the curriculum be nar-rowed down so that it includes only the most importantsubjects? Can the time in school be reduced or the classsize increased? These are possibilities.
The other option is to seek savings within the budgetcategory at risk. To do this requires an analysis of theway in which textbooks are conceived, developed, man-ufactured, and diqributed. It requires that previouslyheld assumptionsfor example, about the appropriaterole of the public sectorbe questioned if other alter-natives are less costly. It requires questioning whetherlocal production is a necessity and whether readingmaterials should be distributed free. It requires that allphases of the process be open to scrutiny and profes-sional debate.
Before such questioning occurs, agreement needs tobe reached on the normal objectives of the textbookenterprisenamely, that all students should have ac-cess to effective materials which were (as far as possible)developed locally and delivered on time at an affordablecost. But there are tradeoffs within these objectives,and their implications need to be clarified.
The point is that developing countries have a scarcityof reading materials not only because of economic crisisbut also because current policies toward textbook de-
Ir'roduchon 13
velopment are not always the most cost-effective. Al-though improvements can be made in developing andOECD countries alike, it is our contention that solutionsto the crisis in educational quality in developing coun-tries cannot be restricted to seeking resources fromontside. Solutions must come from within as well asfrom without. This book is an exploration of the areasof textbook policy which require examination in thelight of this crisis.
Notes
1. There is. moreover, some evidence that in developingcountries, the quality of a primary or secondary school is agood predictor of a person's success in the labor marketsubstantially better, for example, than an individual's sccio-economic status. These studies, however, are too recent andtoo few to generalize from the results with confidence.
2. The Educational Resources Information Center systemlists 388 titles published on this subject in the United Statesin 1977. A recent review of he evidence from low-incomecountries located 23 studies Published between 1963 and 1977(Husen and others 1978). A subsequent review. which madea specific effort to locate studies published in non-Europeanlanguages, found a slightly higher number; see Avalos andHaddad (1981).
3. All figures are taken from background papers and dis-cussions ^t the seminar on which this book is based.
4. Although they are related, the issue of whether pub-lishing and printing should be local or international is sep-arate from whether they should be public or private. Here weare referring only to the decision on whether to protect alocal private industry. We are assuming that the public sectorhas already made the decision not to monopolize and thatlocal private enterprises exist.
References
Altbach, Philip G. 1983. "Key Issues of Textbook Provision inthe Third World." Prospects (United Nations Educational,Scientific, and Cultural Organization quarterly review ofeducation) 13, no. 3: 315-25.
Avalos, Beatrice, and Wadi Haddad. 1981.A Review of TeacherEffectiveness Research. Ottawa: International DevelopmentResearch Center.
Coleman, James S.. Ernest Q. Campbell, Carol J. Hobson.James McPartland, Alexander M. Mood, Frederick D. Wein-feld, and Robert L. York. 1966. Equality of EducationalOpportunity. Washington, C.C.: U.S. Government PrintingOffice.
Fuller, Bruce, and Stephen P. 4eyneman. Forthcoming. "School
Quality in Developing Countries: Current Collapse. FuturePotential." Educational Researcher.
Heller, Peter S., and Adr'enne Cheasty. 1984. "Sectoral Ad-justment in Government Expenditure in the 1970s: The
i4 Intnadqction
Educational Sector in Latin America." 14brld Development12, no. 10 (October): 1039-49.
Heyneman, Stephen. 1983. "Improving the Quality of Edu-cation in Developing Countries." Finance and Development4 (March): 18-21.
. 1984. "Research on Education in Developing Coun-tries." International Journal of Educational Development4: 293-304.
Heyneman, Stephen. Joseph Farrell, and Manuel SepulvLia-Stuardo. 1978. Textbooks and Achievement: nat We Know,World Bank Staff Working Paper 298. Washington, C.C.
Heyneman. Stephen, and Dean Jamison. 1980. "StudentLearning in Uganda: Textbook Availability and Other Fac-tors." Comparative Education Review 24. no. 3: 206-20.
Heyneman, Stephen, and William Loxley. 1983. "The Effectsof Primary School Quality on Academic Achievement acrossTwenty -nine High- and Low-Income Countries." AmericanJournal of Sociology 88 (May): 1162-94.
Husen. Torsten. Lawrence Saha, and Richard Noonan. 1978.Teacher Training and Student Achievement in Less De-veloped Countries. World Bank Staff Working Paper 310.Washington, D.C.
Jencks, Christopher, Marshall Smith, Henry Alland. Mary Jo
Bane, David Cohen. Herbert Gintis. Barbara Heyns, andStephen Michelson. 1972. Inequality: A Reassessment ofFamily and Schooling in America. New York: Basic Books.
Lee, bye Woo. 1984. "Structural Adjustments in the Educa-tion Sector in Latin American and Caribbean Countries."World Bank Education C ivision, Latin America and theCaribbean Region. Processed.
Pearce, Douglas. 1982. Textbook Production in DevelopingCountries: Some Problems of Preparation, Production andDistribution. Paris: Unesco.
Searle, Barbara. 1985. "General Operational Review of Text-books." World Bank Education and Training DepartmentDiscussion Paper EDT1. Washington, D.C. Processed.
Smith, David. 1977. The Economics of Book Publishing inDeveloping Countries. Pans: Unesco.
Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization). 1982. Unesco Statistical Yearbook, 1979.Paris: Unesco Office of Statistics.
United Nations. 1981. Population Estimates and Projections,1980 Assessment. New York: United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs.
World Bank. 1985. World Development Report 1985. NewYork: Oxford University Press.
26
Part I
The Design and Implementation ofTextbook Programs: An Overview
As noted in chapter 1, the World Bank has recentlybecome a worldwide force in developing systems to pro-vide textbooks in the developing world. As part of itsnngoing review of this work, the Bank commissionedBarbara Searle to evaluate the textbook projects in whichit has been involved and to prepare an operational re-view of textbook programs. Chapter 2 is an edited ver-sion of that evaluation. It identifies the difficulties whichhave been encountered and the lessons which have beenlearned by Bank staff and officials of borrowing coun-tries as they have w:rked together to design and im-plement national textbook provision systems.
Designing a satisfactory textbook program is a verycomplex undertaking. Many separate decisions must bemadeeach in itself complicated and most of ther ,interrelated. In chapter 3, Anthony Read draws uponyears of experience in designing and evaluating textbookprograms in developing .rations. He provides a detailedoutline of each step in the chain of decisions and dis-cusses the relative advantages of the major alternate,_at each step, the kinds of information required to ti..csensible decisions at each step, and the ways in whichdifferent sets of decisions constrain each other. His pa-
per is a practical planning and decisionmaking guidefor those who wish to avoid the difficulties and pitfallshighlighted in chapter 2. It can be viewed as a checklistof issues, information, and decisions that must be takeninto account.
Although textbook projects are internally complexand difficult to design and manage, they are also partof a broad set of educational innovations to improveeducational quality. There is a considerable researchliterature and much practical experience regarding ed-ucational innovations generally. In chapter 4, AdriaanVerspoor draws upon that general literature, plus theexperience of the World Bank in implementing edu-cational innovations, to demonstrate how the type, size,and scale of a textbook program is constrained by thelevel of development of a national educational system;and how the size and scale of textbook programs con-strain possible strategies for implementation. An im-portant lesson is that although different nations requiredifferent types of textbook programs and different strat-egies for impleme.,tation, some form of textbook pro-gram is appropriate at all stLf, of educational devel-opment.
2"15 4
2
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank
Barbara Searle
Teachers and other school personnel have long recog-nized the important role of the textbook in providingeducation of good quality, and recent research has pro-vided empirical support for this view. Altbach (1983),in reviewing crucial issues, notes:
Nothing has ever replaced the printed word as thekey element in the educational process and, as a re-sult, textbooks are central to schooling at all levels.Yet textbooks are seldom taken into account by thosewho plan educational reforms or expansion of schoolsystems . . . In situations where there is a shortageof teachers and where teacher training is sometimeslimited in scope, textbooks are crucial in maintainingstandards of quality and [giving] direction to the cur-riculum.
Textbooks began to be included in projects financed bythe World Bank almost twenty years ago. Since 1973,about forty-five projects have financed some aspect ofthe provision of books (see tables 2-3, 2-4, and 2-5 atthe end of the chapter). But the textbook enterprise hasturned out to be far more compli lted than envisioned,for it involves:
Specifying learning objectives
Establishing curriculum content and organizationPreparing, pilot testing, and editing manuscriptsDesigning book formats
Making decisions about paper and binding qualityManufacturing or procuring booksDistributing and storing hooks
Ensuring proper use of the books in the classroomReplacing books as necessary.
Considering the numbers of books provided, Bankfinancing has had a substantial impact. Most projectsexceeded production targets, and in just three projects(in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and the Philippines), more than
17
350 million books have been printed. Many projects,however, have experienced one or more of the followingshortcomings:
An incapacity to supply books continuouslyAdequate provision for only a part of the textbooksystem (usually printing), i..td neglect for otherparts of the system (such as distribution or teachertraining)
Inadequate attention to the quality and appropri-ateness of the books providedUnderestimation of the difficulties associated withprocurement of paper or booksPoor distribution because of insufficient flow ofinformation between the periphery and the centerInadequate institutional arrangements and systemcoordination
What the World Bank Has Financed
From 1965 to 1983, the World Bank helped to financeforty-eight projects involving the preparation, provi-sion, or distribution of textbooks. Three of theseonein the Philippines and two in Indonesiawere exclu-sively textbook projects. In addition to these forty-eightprojects, the Bank has financed activities that have hada peripheral association with textbooks: textbook fea-sibility studies, buildings that housed textbook offices,related technical assistance, and the production of sup-plementary educational materials. This chapter focusesexclusively on the core group of forty-eight textbookprojects.
The proportion of textbook projects has been increas-ing steadily, from about 6 percent of all education proj-ects before 1974 to 32 percent in the period 1979-83;in 1983, almost half the education projects (43 percent)included textbook components, with total costs of about
2E3
18 Barbara Searle
$50 million. Four regions have been responsible foralmost all the textbook components: East and West Af-rica, Latin America and the Caribbean, and East Asiaand the Pacific) With the exception of the three text-book projects in the Philippines and Indonesia, textbookcomponents have been only one component among sev-eral. Many have been relatively smallthe textbookcomponents accounted for less than 10 percent of costsin half the projects, and between 10 and 40 percent inthe other half. The size of components has increasedwith time, but not dramatically. Almost all textbookcomponents still represent less than 25 percent of proj-ect costs.
Grade Levels Supported
Projects have supported the provision of texts at allgrade levels, but most commonly at the primary level.Most projects (thirty-seven of forty-eight) have targetedsupport to one level of schooling. The exceptions aremostly projects that supported institutional develop-ment rather than the provision of texts for specific sub-jects and grade levels; in the case of Uganda, whichreceived a recc ;traction loan, the project involved thepurchase of replacement texts for the entire system.Frequently, when support is provided for only one level,no coordination is established with entities producingbooks for other levels.
Subcomponents
This chapter identifies seven subcomponents of proj-ects for the provision of textbooks that have each receiJed substantial financial support: development ofmanuscripts; manufacture or purchase of textbooks;distribution of textbooks; training of teachers; policychange; strengthening of institutions; and monitoring,evaluation, and special studies.
Development of manuscripts. Entails writing, ed-iting, field-testing, revising of textbook manu-scripts, and development of curriculums specifi-cally !elated to textbook production.Manufacture or purchase of textbooks. Includesthose projects that supply only equipment or paper,as well as those that supply a wider range of itemsessential to the provision of books.
Distribution of textbooks. Includes constructionand renovation of warehouses and other storagefacilit s, provision of vehicles, and developmentof distribution systems.
Training of teachers. Includes ail pre- and in-ser-vice training activities for teachers and supervisorsrelated to the use of texts.
Policy change. Includes innovations in control overcontent (including copyright issues); regulationsregarding book utilization, replacement, and con-ditions of use; language of instruction; book pric-ing and financing.
Strengthening of institutions. Includes the crea-tion of new institutions and the reorganization ofexisting ones, staffing, provision of specialist ser-vices, and training for technical staff.
Monitoring, evaluation, and studies. Includes thedevelopment of management information systems,monitoring book utilization in classrooms and bookdistribution processes, evaluation of the impact oftextbooks on student achievement, and assess-ments of systems to provide textbooks.
Projects differed widely in how many of these subcom-ponents they included. Ninety percent of the projectsunder review financed the provision of textbooks (pur-chase or printing), but fewer than half included teachertraining, monitoring, evaluation of texts, or policy change.Half the projects that provided books also financedmanuscript development and book distribution, but onlyhalf of these (eleven projects in all) financed teachertraining. Only ten projects dealt explicitly with the in-stitutional structure of the system to provide textbooksand modified it in some way.
Alternative Mechanisms for Providing Books
The objective of a system to provide textbooks is toprovide books that are suitable and effective for bothstudents and teachers on a timely and sustainable basisthrough mechanisms that support the growth of bothnew and existing ventures for publishing and sellingbooks. Even a cursory examination of systems to providetextbooks indicates the wide variety of alternative mech-anisms countries adopt to attain this objective. Here Iconsider some of the reasons for choosing among thesealternatives.
Key Participants
The provision of textbooks involves a diversity ofgroups: the children and their families, teachers andother school personnel; the Ministry of Education andrelated institutions; the government and political or-ganizations; private publishers, printers, and authors;and booksellers. Table 2-1 identifies major concerns ofeach of these groups. The effect on private publishersand booksellers, often neglected, is critical because inmany developing countries textbooks provide the salesvolume that supports what is usually a small marketfor general books.
29
Table 2-1. Major Concerns 31 Participantsin Textbook Provision
Group Major concerns
Students and Availability of booksfamilies Cost (if any)
Appropriateness
Availability of booksAppropriatenessEase of use
Availability of support (guides, training)
Management demandsSkilled labor requirementsRecurrent cost requirementsSpecialized equipment requirements
Political acceptability of contentEquity in distributionServicing the needs of special groups
ProfitabilityImport restrictionsQuantity of services, products neededSkilled labor requirementsSpecialized equipment requirements
ProfitabilityLiteracy rateLevel of demand for general booksOpportunity to sell textbooksSize of secondary market for textbooks
Schooli ersonnel
Ministry
Government,political groups
Privatepublishers,printers, andauthors
Booksellers
Source: World Bank.
The Alternatives
Table 2-2 focuses on four aspects of the provision ofbooks: book preparation (preliminary punlishing tasks),manufacturing, distribution, and financing. The table
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 1"
lists the major alternatives in each category and givesthe frequency of occurrence in the twenty-five countriessurveyed.
In most cases, book preparation was carried out eitherby the ministry of education (Mot:) or by private pub-lishers or by both (in that some books were preparedone way, some the other). Overwhelmingly, printingwas contracted to private printers. Distribution was usu-ally carried out or managed by the MOE. Most govern-ments distributed books free.
Much more interesting than the commonalities, how-ever, wan the diversity of patterns in which these mech-anisms were organized. For the twenty-five countriesexamined, there were nineteen different patterns of thefour aspects under consideration. Only two patternsrecurred:
Preparation by the private sector; printing by aprivate firm; delivery to schools by the MOE; booksfully subsidized by the governmentfound in theCentral African Republic, the Comoros, the Solo-mon Islands, Tanzania, and Uganda
Preparation of some books by the MOE, some byprivate publishers; private printing; delivery toschools by MOE; books produced under the project(or by the moE) fully subsidized; others for salefound in Brazil and Colombia.
In these latter two countries, the books financed bythe project are being given to schools free, while otherbecks must be purchased. Such a dual system also existsin Botswana and Malawi. In Paraguay, books are givenfree to rural schools, but students in urban schools mustpurchase (different) books from private publishers.
Table 2-2. Alternatives for Implementing Textbook ProvisionPreparation
Ministry of Education (moe)or within its jurisdiction (9)
Planaged by ri0E; part or allcontracted to private sectir(1)
Private publisher, local orforeign, without MOE
participation (8)
Private publisher, local orforeign, in collaborationwith MOE (1)
Parastatal (1)
moe for some books, privatepublishers forother books (4)
Printing
UniUdepartment within MOE
jurisdiction (4)
Other government printingfacility (0)
Private printers, local orforeign (17)
Combination of public andprivate printers (2)
Parastatal (1)
Distribution
Delivery to schools by mop:(16)
Delivery to schools managedby moe, partially or fullycontracted to private sector(3)
Delivery to schools oroutlets by or through othergovernment agency (3)
Delivery to outlets for saleto individual:, (1)
Parastatal (1)
Book financing
Books completely subsidizedby government (14)
Books produced by projectfully subsidized, others forsale (3)
Books produced by projectpartially subsidized (4)
Books sold by governmentfor profit (1)
Books sold by publishers forprofit (21
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate how many countries. out of twenty-five. had adopted each alternative at the time of projectappraisal.
Source: World Bank.
30
20 Barbara Searle
Three countries have similar systems except for or-ganization and distribution. In El Salvador, Guatemala,and Papua New Guinea, manuscripts are prepared by abureau associated with the MOE; books are printed bythe private sector (in Papua New Guinea, printers are'both local and foreign); and schools receive books free(in a ratio of one book to two students in El Salvador,one to one otherwise). In El Salvador, the ministry itselfdistributes books; in Guatemala, this is contracted tothe private sector; and in Papua New Guinea, respon-sibility rests with the National Department of Worksand Supply. These may appear to be minor variationson a theme. Each of these alternatives, however, posesdifferent problems of coordination and control. In par-ticular, the Papua New Guinea arrangement requiresinterministeml collaboration, which is often difficultto achieve. (The difficey may not show up until thereis a conflict of schedule,, until books have to be de-livered at the same time as a high-priority activity ofthe other ministry is expected to take place.)
Three countries have similar schemes except for costrecovery. In Benin, Burundi, and Ethiopia, all publish-ing and distribution is handled by the MOE or its agen-cies. In Burundi, books are free; in Ethiopia, studentsare charged a lending fee, which only partially recoversbook costs; and in Benin, books are sold at slightly abovecost. In Haiti and Liberia, books are sold to students ata profit: in Liberia, books are sold by the government;in Haiti, books are published and sold by local privatepublishers. In Haiti, the ministry purchases additionalbooks (one for each four students) to be used by poorchildren in project schools. Lesotho also charges a lend-ing fee that is meant to cover the cost of books.
These brief descriptions convey some sense of thediversity of patterns in which alternatives are combined.This diversity is an important finding because the ex-istence of such a variety of possibilities complicates thetask of designing or modifying a system to provide books.
Issues
The issues to be addressed in establishing or im-proving a system to provide books are legion. For pur-poses of discussion, it is useful to classify them intothree groups: policy issuesincluding the choice be-tween publishing and purchasing books, standards ofprovision, and book ownership arid financing; institu-tional issuesincluding coordination of the system,management of resources, and staffing; and educationalissuesincluding the language of instruction, bookquality, and the effective class use of books.
Policy Issues
To Publish or Purchase. Of tne tasks comprising theprovision of books, those at either end of the process---
the specification of learning objectives and the super-vision of book useare handled by public eOucationagencies. For the remainder, every combination of al-location of tasks to the public or private sector occurs.A government seeking to establish or strengthen a sys-tem to provide books must decide whether to manu-facture books itself or to purchase them locally or abroad.Usually the lack of adequate locally published booksleads the government into the publishing business. Foexample, in the Philippines in the early 1970s, the localindustry produced books judged to be of low quality.In response, the World Bank financed government pub-lishing, rather than strengthening the local industry.This decision resulted in conflicts with local publishers,which the Bank is striving now to resolve.
Regardless of whether the books are published orpurchased, decisions must be made about the source ofmanuscripts. They may be written completely by localauthors, either in the public or in the private sector;written essentially by foreign authors, perhaps with mi-nor modifications (usually changes in vocabulary andillustrations) to suit local needs; written through a col-laborative process, across national boundaries, as oc-curred under the auspices of the Regional Organizationfor Central America and Panama; or written through ajoint effort by a government and a foreign publisher,as is happening in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Swaziland.
Decisions about publishing or purchasing are ex-tremely difficult to make. Government publishing maybe more or less expensive than purchasing; externallyproduced books may or may not be suitable: govern-ment publishing may smother private sector publish-ing; and so on. There is relatively little knowledge orsystematically gathered comparative experience to as-sist governments in making these decisions.
A promising strategy for a country lacking an existingpublishing capacity is to proceed in stages. The im-mediate need for books can be satisfied by purchasesfrom abroad (perhaps with some adaptation) while localcapacity (perhaps in collaboration with the foreign pub-lisher) is built up to handle the variety of publishingtasks, with the possible exception of printing. Lesotho,Liberia, and Sierra Leone, with Bank support, are pur-suing this strategy.
Regardless of how books are procured, the govern-ment must decide whether books are to be availablethrough only one source (for example, bookstores orschools) or through multiple sources. In Haiti, privatepublishers sell books, but the government also buys anddistributes them to needy children. In Sierra Leone, theproject plans free distribution and use in schools as wellas sales through bookstores; this will allow parents topurchase books for their children to use at ;come.
Standards of Provision. Decisions about provision ra-tios have crucial cost implications. A two to one ratio
3i
of books to students is a highly effective cost-reductionstrategy with apparently little adverse educational ef-fect. Research in the Philippines showed that in thelower grades, student achievement was about the camefor book ratios of one to one and two to one and sub-stantially higher than for a ratio of ten to one (Heyne-man, Jamison, and Montenegro 1984). Four recent Bankprojects (in the Comoros, El Salvador, Philippines, andSierra Leone) have adopted a two to one ratio on thebasis of the Philippines research.
Whether a single text (for a grade and subje-A) isadopted or whether schools and teachers chose from alist usually depends on whether books are producedpublicly or privately. The number of texts at each gradedepends on the level. Few (two to three) are requiredat lower grades. Attempts to combine subjects in onebook have generally been unsuccessful. Texts for lowergrades frequently contain too much material, which istoo densely arranged on the page. Evidence from re-search does not indicate that there is an educationalpayoff for elaborate production standards. When stu-dents purchase books, one year can be planned for (al-though books may be reused'. Otherwise, the tradeoffbetween initial book costs and replacement costs (whichincludes distribution) must be considered. When booksare allowed to be taken home, they provide a visibletoken of government support; however, book life is muchshorter.
Book Ownership and Financiny.. The situation is clearwhen students purchase books privately. Otherwise rulesmust be established about whether books are to be givenor lent to students and how los:, and damage are to behandled. All combinations are possible. Students canpay book fees, yet the books can remain the propertyof the school. Sometimes fees are deposited in a dedi-cated account. Some countries have a self-defeating pol-icy of requiring teachers to finance the replacement ofbooks (or equipment), a substantial disincentive to theiruse. Other countries shift this burden to the studentor, more commonly, make no provision for replace-ment.
Institutional Issues
Most developing countries lack trained and experi-enced people to run a system to provide books. There-fore, in these countries it is particularly important toestablish institutional frameworks to make efficient useof these scarce human resources. Rather than severalinstitutions, authority should be centralized in a singleinstitution, which should supervise and schedule alltasks; allocate tasks to implementing agencies (publicor private, according to their capacities to produce onschedule; and shift resources as necessary to meetschedules.
The Provision of Tertbooks by the li orld Bank 21
Lack of coordination is a common pitfall. It seemsto occur most frequently between the development ofcurriculums and the preparation of manuscripts, inmeshing the book procurement schedule with teachertraining and supervision, and in distributing books. Aneffective distribution system depends on reasonably re-liable transportation and a flow of accurate and timelyinformation between schools and central authoritiesboth of which are very difficult to organize in manycountries. Implementing a workable system is a seriouschallenge.
Book pubiishing requires many specialities. Man-agers must determine which tasks to contract out; howto share resources between training and technical as-sistance; whether to grant authors fixed fees or royal-ties; how to retain start* and build staff capacity; andhow to structure information gathering, analysis, anduse so that the organization learns from experience.
Finally, a crucial issue is the permanence and legalstatus of the institution providing taoks. Because of theinstitution's unique status in relation to the public andprivate sectors, establishing an appropriate degree ofautonomy often has political implications.
Educational Issues
Key educational issues are concerned with the lan-guage of instruction and its relation to other languagesused in the country, the quality and suitability of thebooks, and teacher capabilities leading to effective useof books in the classroom. In many countries, the in-structional language is not the mother tongue of thechildren. This is a complex issue which requires reex-amination in each particular setting. The implicationsfor the provision of textbooks are often overlooked. Booksin all subjects, and especially for teaching languages,must be appropriate to the language facility of the chil-dren using them. In countries where some childrenspeak the language of instruction at home and othersdo notfor example, Ethiopia or Nepalearly lan-guage textbooks which may be suitable for the nativespeake-s will be completely inappropriate for the others.
Anot, er issue that is rarely raised :c the suitabilityof the instructional strategy embodied in the textbooksunder consideration. Some books are prescriptive, withhighly structured text, exercises, and activities. Othersare more loosely constructed, on the assumption thatthe teacher will use the book as a resource to be fittedinto his or her own instructional program. Inadequatelytrained or inexperienced teachers are likely to makebetter use of the first type of book.
The support provided to teachers through trainingand supervision can be crucial in assuring the effectiveuse of books in the classroom. If teachers have beentrained to use textbooks, short sessions to familiarizethem with new content may suffice; otherwise training
3Z
22 Barbara Searle
in how to use books will also be necessary. Teachers'editions that have on one page a copy of the studenttext page and suggestions to the teacher on the facingpage are effective.
Two Case Studies
In this and the next section of this paper, completedprojects and projects still under way are respectivelyconsidered.
A review of World Banksponsored textbook devel-opment suggests that the likelihood of a textbook com-ponent attaining its objectives is directly related to theextent to which the project design addresses all aspectsof the system to provide textbooks. It is not crucial thata project finance every component. The analysis of thesystem must, however, include all aspects to make surethat the entire supporting system is in place and func-tioning well.
Two Bank-sponsored education projects in Indonesiaand the Philippines represented major early efforts tofinance textbook publishing. Each included, at least tosome degree, all the important subcomponents. Bothhad significant successes and significant problems. TheIndonesia project was approved in 1973. Its objectivewas to better the quality of primary education in In-donesia through an integrated program of textbooks,teachers' guides, in-service teacher training courses,and special courses to upgrade supervisory personnel.The project in the Philippines, approved three yez.rslater, had a slightly different objective: to develop theinstitutional capacity for the continuous developmentand supply of relevant textbook material in the Phil-ippines. The difference in objectives is significant. ThePhilippines project was much more successful, and mostof the difficulties in the Indonesian project can be tracedto inadequate organizational arrangements.
Both projects exceeded their quantitative targets forprin*Ing books and training teachers; however, bothprojects (to differing degrees) had difficulty with insti-tutionalization, quality of book content, physical stan-dards of books, and coordination and scheduling.
Institutional Aspects. In Indonesia, a center was es-tablished as a separate entity within the MOE to managethe publishing activities financed by the project. Theproject was one of twelve to fifteen publishing entitieswithin the ministry, and it was staffed at the seniorlevels with ministry personnel who had other respon-sibilities and were not able to give consistent attentionto textbook production. (It was supposed to have full-time top managers, but these were not provided.) Al-most all the remaining staff were technical. Thus therewere three problems: too few staff, absence of full-timetop managers, and absence of middle-level managers todirect the day-to-day work of the technical staff.
The Indonesian project recognized the need for co-ordination among diverse groups with an interest intextbooks. The project established a high-level com-mittee with representatives from teacher training in-stitutes, universities, and teachers associations as wellas the ministry. The committee was expected to approvemanuscripts and program plans; however, It was dis-banded in the first year of the project, and its approvalfunctions were subsequently performed by ad hoc com-mittees. In summary, the Indonesian project. while rec-ognizing the need to integrate textbook production andteacher training, failed to establish an entity with theauthority and resources to manage this integration.
The Philippines project, by contrast, supported a muchmore integrated organizational arrangement for text-book production, partly because a coherent structurealready existed and also because the project was ap-proved three years after that in Indonesia and no doubtbenefited from the experience gained by Bank staff thee.Prior to the project, the Philippines had a TextbookBoard that was responsible for approving manuscripts,which were then published by the private sector. Underthe project, the board was given responsibility for man-aging all textbook development activitiesfrom initialplanning of textbooks through the manufacturing anddistribution of books to schoolsand was provided witha secretariat to carry out the work. The board was rec-ognized as the single entity in the Philippines respon-sible for textbooks and was given sufficient resourcesto carry out its work.
The organizational differences between the projectswere important. Both projects encountered similarproblems with scheduling, quality control, and so on;but in the Philippines the Textbook Board (with itsgreater independence, staff resources. and full-timemanagers) was better able to diagnose and respond tothe problems. As a result, performance improved sig-nificantly during the life of the project. By contrast, inIndonesia performance did not improve significantly asa result of experience gained during implementation,and despite persistent efforts, the staffing and manage-ment issues were never resolved.
Although the Philippines project made significantprogress in establishing an appropriate structure, therewere three problems still unresolved. First, the Text-book Board's authority did not extend to curriculumdevelopment, and there were serious mismatches be-tween curriculum specifications and the content of text-books produced under the project. Second, the distri-bution system, consisting of a central warehouse and152 provincial warehouses, was financed with theunderstanding that support would be gradually assumedby re6ional education authorities. By the closing date,however. this had not occurred, and more than 400fie:d staff were still functioning on a temporary basis.
Finally, although the Textbook Board and Secretariat
3 3
(ms) functioned well, its status and future role had notbeen decided by the time the project was completed.Two organizational studies recommended the transfor-mation of the TBS into a governmental corporation toenable it to run more efficiently and effectively on along-term basis, protected from the political atmo-sphere of the ministry It was expected that the TBS
would be transformed into the Instructional MaterialsDevelopment Corporation. But the presidential direc-tive to establish the new body was still pending as of1983. One particularly difficult issue that remains to beresolved is the relation of private sector publishers tothe new corporation.
Quality of Book Content. Both projects struggled withthe problem of producing books of good quality. Theyrecognized the need for providing information to writ-ers to serve as the basis for revision, but both initiallymisunderstood the kind of information needed and es-tablished elaborate programs for testing studentachievement. The result was large amounts of data whichdid not provide clear guidelines to writers about whatto change. In the Philippines, the TBS recognized thatinformation was needed instead on such things as ap-propriateness of the reading level, adequacy of contentfor one full year, difficulties teachers encountered inusing the textbooks, and their suggestions for improve-ment. As a result, the TBS substantially revised the field-testing procedures: they asked teachers to make mar-ginal notes on an extra textbook; they interviewed teachersfrequently; and they assisted teachers in sending com-ments to the TBS between visits. This redesigned feed-back system generated information directly about spe-cific lessons and pages and put manuscript revision backon schedule.
Another problemthat of effecting editorial im-provements late in the production schedulewas solvedby involving the textbook editor in the production ofthe book from the planning stage so that changes couldbe mrde chapter by chapter early in the writing cycle.Building on experience, the TBS was able to develop,over the years, publication criteria governing textbookcontent, readability, book length appropriate for theschool year, legibility (including size of type, phrasegrouping, word spacing), and type of illustrative ma-terial. They determined that three years was the abso-lute minimum time for properly producing a text-bookone year for research and preliminary writing,one year for tryout, and a year for revision and printing.
The Indonesian project was far less successful. Thetextbooks produced were criticized, and there is noevidence that book content and quality improved overtime. Among the defects noted in Indonesian bookswere inappropriate levels of vocabulary and difficulty,poor integration of illustrations with written text, andinadequate teachers' manuals. The Indonesian project
The Provision of Textbooks by the Wo-1d Bank 23
did not have textbcok editors and did not establish ef-:ective procedure:, for gathering and using feedbackinformation.
Physical Standards of Books. Difficulties with phys-ical standards of books included problems with paperprocurement, storage, and inadequate quality controlprocedures exercised by private printers. In the earlystages of the Philippines project, printers were expectedto handle the purchase of paper. Most paper was im-ported, however, and had to be consigned to the projectto qualify for tax exemption. This system proved un-workable. As a result, paper procurement was separatedfrom printing. In the Philippines
TBS was totally unprepared in staff, equipment, ex-perience, and expertise for the complex managementof thousands of tons of paper shipped in from foreignports for distribution to various printers. Further,delays in editorial and art activities and also in pro-cessing printing contracts, from bidding throughevaluation, award and Bank and presidential approv-als, resulted in the project's having to house up to10,000 metric tons of paper . . . printers often com-plained of delays in paper releases, damaged ai ;d un-usable paper released to them, shortages, or issuanceof wrong stocks. The question of accountability fre-quently arose, as printers used more stock than es-timated, claiming spoilage, and as they returned un-used stock and spoilage. (World Bank ProjectCompletion Report 1964)
Ultimately, the TBS used its own staff to supervise pro-duction work at individual printing plants.
The Indonesian project had even mole severe prob-lems. The project's preparation document did not clearlyspell out technical specifications for paper weight,strength, opacity, and brightness. Nor did it have properspecifications for binding (type of wire or quality ofadhesive). As a result, uncertainty prevailed aboutstandards to be used in monitoring. Other problemswere that procurement control was inadequate, inven-tory control was rudimentary, subcontracting by print-ers diluted quality control, and paper was damaged inforage.
The Philippines project seems to have been moresuccessful at establishing quality control mechanisms,but neither project was able to solve adequately theproblems of paper procurement, storage, and distri-bution to printers.
Coordination and Scheduling. Both projects facedsevere problems with late delivery of books to schoolsand to teacher training programs, and both sufferedmismatches between the official curriculum and bookcontent. In Indonesia, book distribution was first theresponsibility of the printer; subseqt ently the project
24 Barbara Searle
employed private distributors. These were reasonablyefficient, but inadequate storage facilities at the pointof delivery caused damage. The Philippines project es-tablished a network of provincial warehouses and alsoused commercial freight forwarders. The system for fi-nancing the transfer of books to schools was, however,ill-suited to the somewhat erratic delivery schedule (it-self a result of production delays). In both countries,field visits revealed substantial mismatches betweenschool enrollments and the number of nooks delivered.The TBS in the Pnilippines ultimately established its ownsystem for collecting and maintaining enrollment databecause ministry data proved inaccurate. It should benoted that both countries were up against exceptionallydifficult distribution problems because they are largeand comprise many islands. Perhaps the most importantconclusions are that schedules should pay more heedto these difficulties and that more effort is needed toimprove the efficiency of the flow of information fromthe periphery to the center and the flow of books in theother direction.
Late delivery to schools was not the only problemassociated with distribution. Both projects at first de-veloped schedules for teacher training on the basis ofplanned delivery dates for books, but book delivery wasfrequently late by as much as two or three years.Indonesia maintained its schedules and trained theteachers without the books, because they wanted theteachers trained before the books reached the class-rooms. The Philippines eventually took the other tackand did not train teachers until books were actuallydelivered to schools. This approach missed opportuni-ties to train before use but made sure that the bookswere available for the training exercise.
Both projects had difficulty coordinating curriculumand book content, but the problems were better doc-umented and analyzed in the Philippines. Among thecomplicating factors in that project were:
An advisory body that was supposed to coordinatebook content across subjects and grades did notfunction because it was not given legal status
Manuscript development was handled by Curric-ulum Development Centers, which had no officialconnection to the Curriculum Department of theministry
Development of curriculums was undertaken bythe ministry without any kind of coordination withtextbook development and essentially in competi-tion with the teacher training activities of the TBS.
Lessons from the Two Projects. The shortcomingsreviewed here became increasingly apparent through-out the implementation of the project, as evidenced byboth formal evaluation efforts and informal information
gathering by project and Bank staff. As already noted,the projects differed in tf- ?ir ability to deal with theinformation. In Indonesia, no corrective action was takenbecause temporary staff assignments made it difficultto build on experience and part-time managers wereunable to devote their attention fully ,o project activitiesand problems. The Philippines project tells a differentstory:
The learning gains by project institutions involved intextbook development were considerable. By 1981,the various CDCS (Curriculum Development Centers)had identifiable working groups, counting specialistsamong them for research and writing. The TBS hadevolved by then the basic publication criteria . . . Thetextbook development cycle had been tested . . . Re-sponsibilities had been carefully delineated amongauthors, editors, copy editors, graphs artists, andother production specialists. The project progres-sively produced books, each better than that preced-ing it: the first book produced by the project was astraightforward, single-color elementary science bookwith text and simple line drawings; the last was acomplex high school teacher's edition, with two-colortext and full-color cover, featuring the textbook pagesreproduced in facsimile and integrated with instruc-tive material and photographs for the teacher's con-venience. (World Bank Project Completion Report1984)
The Bank's Project Completion Reports (Pens) clearlyindicate that the two project implementation organi-zationsthe TBS in the Philippines and the projectimplementation unit (Pm) in Indonesiadiffered in theircapacity to manage change. It is evident that this dif-ference was related directly to differences in the qualityof the books they produced and in their capacity tomaintain themselves as viable organizations. Beyondremarks about levels of staffing and other resources,the PCRS do not help us analyze why the 'His was a"learning organization" and the Piti was not. One can,however, speculate that. staff shortages apart. some ofthe crucial elements were:
Degree of managerial competence at the outsetThe expectation that operating procedures wouldbe codified, reviewed, and changed as necessary
Flexibility with regard to procedures so that man-agers could make changes they considered nec-essary
Sufficient stability of staff so that both individualsand the institution could learn from experienceMechanisms to upgrade the professional qualifi-cations of staff as such needs emerged.
The PCR for the Philippines does not discuss these
elements explicitly, but the text provides clues that some,if not all, existed. In particular, it is clear that proce-dures were regularly reviewed and changed, that train-ing was provided when an apparent need arose, and thatat least some flexibility existed. It is also clear that someproblemsfor example, difficulties with distributionor inadequate coordination with the Curriculum De-partment oc the ministrypersisted because the man-agement of t" e TIN did not have the authority to takecorrective action.
Conclusion
The Bank has been providing serious support for text-books for ten years. This chapter makes clear that atleast some of the early projects recognized that textbookpublishing is complex and highly technical; that it re-quires professional competence in many specialties; andthat developing a good textbook takes time (three yearsat a minimum). Yet even with this recognition, projectsunderestimated the difficulties (see table 2-3). Of thenine projects surveyed, only three (two in Ethiopia andone in the Philippines) left behind functioning systemsto provide textbooks. Beyond this, the completed proj-ects provide evidence of shortfalls in every aspect of theprevision of textbooks: poor quality bocks, inadequatedistribution sy ,tems, inability to establish and maintainproduction schedules, inadequate procedures for han-dling paper procurement, teacher training activities outof phase with book publication, poor coordination be-tween curriculum and manuscript development, andabove all, failure to establish institutions able to con-tinue to provide good books after project completion.While ten years is a short time in Bank life and therehas been, until now, no systematic attempt to sum-marize the project experience with textbooks, one wouldnevertheless expect some institutional learning sJ thatthe design of new textbook projects could address theseproblems more effectively. The next section examinesrecently appraised projects and documents both sub-stantial improvements and continuing shortfalls in thedesign of projects.
Evidence from Ongoing Projects
Between 1919 and 1983, there were twenty-six proj-ects that financed provision of textbooks for the primaryor secondary levelsthirteen financing book pur-chases, eleven financing book publishing, and two both(see tables 2-4 and 2-5), Seventeen of the projects wereapproved before 1983 and therefore have at least a yearor two of implementation history. Information on theprojects has been gathered from appraisal 'worts, su-
The Proms on of Textbooks by the Itorld Bank 25
pervision reports, and in some cases, conversations withBank staff.
Common Pitfalls
There follows a discussion of some of the more com-mon pitfalls that the projects have come up against inthe provision of bookswith suggestions as to howthey might be avoided, combined (where possible) withexamples of helpful procedures. On the whole, projectsthat finance book purchases deal less well with problemsthan projects that finance publishing.
Failure to Frnnide for the Sustainable Provision ofBooks. Schools in the developing world are littered withodd copies of books that are the result of externallyfinanced projects that provided books for one time only.This chapter takes the view that such an outcome isnot acceptable in this period of scarce resources, thatprojects must aim for the sustainable provision of books.Providing books on a continuing basis requires appro-priate institutional arrangements and feasible financialsupport. Of the projects under review, those that financepublishing are more than twice as likely to address theissue, but most projects consider either institutionalarrangements or financing but not both.
Usually, sustainability is not mentioned, although oneStatus Appraisal Report (ma) points out that if the gov-ernment wants to ensure continued provision of booksafter the project ends, it will have to seek further ex-ternal assistance or start charring for books. Anotherproject, through a covenant, required the governmentto prepare a plan for financing textbooks after the proj-ect. According to supervision reports, the covenant issatisfied. But the report prepared by the government tosatisfy the covenant provides only projections of thenumbers of books needed and estimated costs. Regard-ing financing, it says, "a problem in accounting hasarisen because, as textbooks have been paid for on thedevelopment ~.,count since the beginning of the IDA[International Development Association] textbook proj-ect, all school fets have been released for consumableitems otner than books, hence releasing pressure on anotherwise static income." In other words, the fundsfrom the recurrent budget (collected as school fees) thatused to be spent on texts have now been allocated else-where and so not even these are available for sustainingbook purchase after the project ends.
The textbook component of Lesotho has addressedboth the institutional and the financing issues. A BookSupply Unit has been established in the ministry whichis responsible, in the short term, for purchasing anddistributing books. Lesotho expects to develop its ownbooks within a decade, and under the project the ex-isting instructional Materials Resource Center and the
31
26 Barbara Searle
Figure 2-1. Organization Chart for a Textbook Agency
Minister
Approval of national textbook policyApproval of budgetApproval of contractAppointment of staff
Advisory council
Executive director
Management of textbook programFormulation of operating policyManagement of budgetPreparation of contract
Education coordinator
Training of teachersand coordination of evaluationof impacts
Formulation of textbook policyApproval of manuscriptRevlon of budget and contractRecommendations for staffing
Administration
I
Preparation of budgetProcurementAccountingCashiering
Manuscript development
Planning of textbooksContracting of authorsSupervision of writing
and field-testingRevision and editing of
manuscripts
(Three editors)
Production
Typesetting, art, page makeupSpecification of paper and printingPrinting for tryoutSupervision of printing contract and
quality control
(Two production specialists)
existing National Curriculum Development Center arebeing reorganized to start on this task. By 1986, threebooks had been produced. Finally, a procedure for col-lecting book rental fees has been designed that, if suc-cessful, will make the provision of books self-support-ing.
Poor Coordination of Constituent Activities. Earliersections discussed the importance of coordinating thedifferent pieces of a system to provide books and thevariety of means countries adopt to do this. The moststraightforward is to assign all the functions to a singleagency. Figure 2-1 displays the organization and func-tions of a textbook agency similar to one being estab-lished in a Bank-financed project. In this structure, the
Distribution
Management of statistical filesOperation of central warehousePreparation of delivery listsDispatching and field inspectionInventory control
(Two distribution specialists)
three major functions of manuscript development, pro-duction, and distribution are under one roof, managedby an executive director. Teacher training falls withinthe purview of the director as well, but the mechanismfor coordinating curriculum development with manu-script preparation is less well spelled out.
Poor-Quality Books. All textbooks for use in class-rooms should be reviewed by experts and by teachersand should be field-tested in classrooms. The purposeof field-testing is to determine whether the books aresuitable for the children who will use themwhetherthe language, the illustrations, and the level of difficultyare appropriate. These are judgments that are not al-ways made satisfactorily by experts.
Perhaps field-testing of purchased books is neglectedbecause of pressure to get books into classrooms. Thismay be acceptable in the short term. but a longer-termplan. even for book purchases. should survey the ex-perience of teachers and children using the books.
Breakdowns in the Book Distribution System. Dis-tribution failures are of at least three types: delivery ofthe wrong number or type of books because of inade-quate information from schools or mistakes in pack-aging: damage to books because of the absence of stor-age facilities at transition points: and bottlenecks(stoppage of book flow) because of wrong assumptionsor inadequate financingfor example. an assumptionthat district education officers will. without a budget,deliver books to schools. Projects should plan for suc-cess (by meticulously organizing the distribution sys-tem) and plan against failure (by installing a monitoringsystem to report to the center timely and accurate in-formation about breakdowns).
Virtually all projects have recognized the importanceof distribution, but not all have appraised the details,and fewer still have included arrangements or moni-toring. Thus it seems unlikely that many in this groupof projects will avoid this common pitfall.
Schedule Slippages. The problem of schedule slip-page seemed to be universal in the earlier projects.lodonesia took an important step forward in allocatingfour years for the development of each book title, buteven this has not proved adequate because the com-mittee responsible for approving manuscripts held upthe first batch for over a year. Current projects do notseem to be handling the problem much better.
Procurement Problems. The three types of procure-ment that cause difficulty are books, paper, and print-ing. Frequently the argument is made that because oftheir specialized nature, textbooks cannot be procuredthrough international competitive bidding. In SierraLeone, however, books are being procured competi-tively on the basis of weighted scores for six criteria:conformity to curriculum, pedagogic suitability, pres-entation and design. local content, production quality,and cost. The first four criteria are weighted approxi-mately 20 percent, the last two 10 percent. Books areassessed against the first four criteria using question-naires completed by specially trained local experts.
Paper and printing procurement are problematic chieflybecause they involve many technical details, some ofwhich are specific to regions (for example, varieties ofink and paper specifications) and about which little isknown by most of the active participantsBank staff,borro,ver staff, and even many publishing consultants.Bid evaluation, in particular, requires these scarce skills
The Proetston of Textbooks by the Itorld Hank 27
but only for short periods, so that it is difficult to hirepeople who have them. Printing in nonstandard lan-guages is difficult to supervise because the printingexperts do not have the requisite language skills. Test-ing that paper, inks, and other supplies meet specifi-cations requires both instruments and knowledge thatare in short supply. Most of these problems are beyondthe expertise of the Bank's procurement specialists andto date have not been dealt with systematically.
Insufficient or Poorly Organized Teacher Training.All too many projects ignore teacher training or fail toaddress the potential pitfall identified in the projects inIndonesia and the Philippines: namely, the (likely) cir-cumstance that books will not be ready as scheduled.Here, above all, contingency plans are necessary so thattraining can be delayed until the books are available.But the SARS under review do not leave one optimisticthat effective and timely teacher training will be pro-vided to help teachers use the textbooks in ways thatenhance student learning.
Project Design. Available evidence suggests two im-portant factors of project design: whether the projecthas been preceded by another project supporting text-books and whether there was a textbook expert on theappraisal mission. In this context, one can also findevidence (in the details presented in sARs) that therehas been sharing of experience within regions but littlebetween regions. Clearly, the adequacy of textbook com-ponent design could quickly be improved if regions didno more than share their experiences. But even greaterimprovements can be anticipated from the participationof experts, especially those from borrowing countriesthat have been successfully executing project textbookcomponents.
Conclusions
This review of recently approved projects suggeststhe following:
On the whole, textbook components are more thor-oughly and carefully designed in these later proj-ects than in the early projects reviewed in the lastsection.
Although components that finance publishing orpurchasing differ in detail, they share many po-tential pitfalls. Project components approved re-cently vary greatly in the extent to which theyguard against these potential pitfalls through care-ful design.
Experience, even unsuccessful experience, is a goodteacher. First textbook components should not betoo ambitious and should be regarded as the first
28 Barbara Searle
step in a long-term effort to create capacity for theprovision of textbooks through either publishingor purchasing.
The provision of textbooks is highly technical. Usu-ally neither borrower organizations nor Bank staffhave the requisite skills to ensure that the tech-nical aspects of the provision of books are beingadequately addressed. Thus consultant expertise maywell he crucial.
Implementation
The seventeen projects appraised since 1979 providea good basis for examining implementation. The text-book components, however, are covered poorly in su-pervision reports, making it difficult to track progress.Only six projects regularly report the number of booksprocured or printed.
Nevertheless, information gathered from supervi-sion reports and from project staff suggests thatmost components are being implemented without sub-stantial difficulties or delays. The following projects areexceptions:
Project
Indonesia X
Philippines VII
El Salvador IV
Paraguay IV
Benin H
Difficulty
The textbook approval committeetook more than a year to approvemanuscri As.
The government has not yet estab-iiahed the Instructional MaterialsCorporation.
Difficulties were experienced withthe bidding process for printingcontracts.
There is a shortage of counterpartfunds.
The contract with the cofinancieris not yet signed.
Interestingly, four of these five projects are ft Ilow-on projects which were identified earlier as likely tohave good design. In fact, both Indonesia X and Phil-ippines VII took what must be considered adequate pre-cautions against the very problems they have encoun-tered, including getting explicit government agreement.In Indonesia, however, there was a change of minister,and in the Philippines a general law against the estab-lishment of any new public corporation has superseded(he earlier agreement regarding the establishment ofthe Instructional Materials Corporation. Of the five proj-ects, only El Salvador IV is suffering from a designfailure, and it is the only first effort on the list. Anothercommonality in the list (which may be coincidental) isthat all these projects are financing publishing, notpurchasing, of books.
Conch4Jions about Implementation. A first conclu-sion is that a desk study cannot give an adequate pictureof how a textbook component is faring. Routine doc-umentation available in the Bank simply does not pro-vide enough information. Conversations with sector staffsuggest that failure to document often reflects lack ofknowledge; when information in supervision reportswas sparse, follow-up convPrsations rarely provided sub-stantially more data.
A second conclusion is that pitfalls await even well-designed components; it may even be the case that themore comprehensively the project attempts to addressthe provision problem, the more likely it is that diffi-culties will occurbecause the more comprehensivethe solutions, the greater the coordination required andthe more high-level involvement and approval needed.Thus a serious attempt 'w establish a well-functioningsystem to provide books, particularly when it involvespublishing, should be seen as a long-term effort, prob-ably lasting a decade or more.
Recommendations
This chapter has surveyed experience with textbookcomponents in Bank-financed projects, both those thathave been completed and those still under way. Thechapter has provided evidence of solid achievement andof substantial learning and increased sophistication onthe part of both the Bank and its borrowers. It has alsohighlighted the technical and complex nature of thesystems to provide books and the importance of adopt-ing both a comprehensive and long-term perspective inproject planning and design. And, finally, it has iden-tified weaknesses and problems that need specific at-tention during the course of project preparation andimplementation. The major recommendations arisingfrom the study are presented here, with some discussionand justification for each.
To Publish or Purchase
The most difficult decision facing governments seek-ing to improve the provision of hooks is whether topublish books or to purchase them. I noted earlier someof the considerations that affect this decision: the levelof existing publishing and printing capacity in the coun-try, special requirements such as language. and therelative cost of books under the two possibilities. Thepresent state of knowledge regarding the tradeoffs is,however, inadequate. Therefore:
Recommendation la. By sponsoring case studies andplumbing the experience of experts in the field. theBank should gather information on the costs andbenefits, both monetary and nonmonetary, of alter
native schemes for providing books, taking into ac-count both political considerations, such as the driveto attain self-sufficiency, and financial considera-tions, such as the economies of scale for book pro-duction.
In the meantime, project justifications should explicitlyaddress the choices supported by the project. Hence:
Recommendation lb. Alternative mechanisms for ob-taining books or services (including printingpri-vate or public, national or foreign) should be costedout, and explanations should be provided in projectbriefs or appraisal reports justifying the alternativechosen.
The Period of Investment
Whereas purchase arrangements must be entered intocarefully, a ministry is likely to gain the necessary ex-perience relatively quickly. Publishing new titles is quitedifferent. As the chapter has documented, publishingis a complex enterprise. Above all, establishing appro-priate institutional arrangements is difficult and lengthy.Publishing a single title takes at least three years; closerto seven or eight years is likely to elapse from initialdevelopment until the first cycle of revisions is com-pleted. A publishing enterprise cannot be consideredfully experienced until it has handled the entire cycleof development and revision. Hence:
Recommendation 2. Projects that finance the pub-lication of textbooks where no publication capacityof this kind has existed before should plan for severalfollow-on projects.
Adequacy of the System to Provide Books
Many of the projects surveyed, especially (but notonly) the earlier ones, financed one aspect of th- pro-vision of books but failed to achieve the ultimate ob-jective because the system was inadequate in some otherregard. Therefore:
Recommendation 3a. Preparation and appraisal of aproject component that finances any aspect of theprovision of textbooks should include a survey of thestatus of the entire system and measures to overcomeimportant bottlenecks.
Frequently diagnosed problems include lack of co-ordination between the agencies responsible for differ-ent stages of the provision of books, lack of managerialauthority to reallocate or otherwise marshal resources,inadequate numbers of specialist staff, and so on. Thus:
Recommendation 3b. Particular attention should hegiven to institutional arrangements for managing the
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 29
provision of textbooks, and changes that appear nec-essar' should be made with the government duringthe processing of projects.
Significant efforts at producing and distributing bookshave been unaermined because the books were too farremoved from the mandated curriculum or too difficultfor students or suffered from poor paper. In conse-quence:
Recommendation 3c. Whether books are publishedprivately or publicly, locally or abroad, specific at-tention should be given to quality controlin par-ticular to monitoring the adequacy of book content,the quality of paper, and the adequacy of printingand binding. When necessary, appropriate correctiveaction should be taken.
Replicability of the Scheme to Provide Textbooks
Regardless of the funding agency, the most frequentlyencountered shortcoming of textbook projects is thatbooks are produced and distributed under the projectbut never again. This is not the intention, and projectagreements always include clauses about the govern-ment's continuing to provide books. But repeated fail-ures require that lending agencies become more real-istic about what the provision of books entails and morecautious ; bout what they finance. Therefore:
Recommendation 4a. Recurrent cost estimates forthe proposed scheme and for its nationwide imple-mentation for a period of at least a decade should bepresented in the SAR and reviewed with the govern-ment during project processing.
Recommendation 4b. Apart from exceptional circum-stances, the Bank should finance a scheme to providebooks only if appraisal indicates that at the end ofthe period of support (which may span more thanone project), the institutional arrangements will bein place, and local funding arrangements will be ad-equate, to continue supplying books without externalsupport.
Several projects reviewed here financed the free dis-tribution of texts in one region or in selected schoolsubjects or in particular grades while the books suppliedoutside the project had to be purchased either by stu-dents or by schools. The SARS for these projects rarelydealt adequately with the implications of such proce-dures, including the cost to the government of extend-ing the scheme beyond the selected groups or the po-litical problems likely to arise from maintaining a dualscheme. This situation suggests that:
Recommendation 4c. The Bank should not supporta dual scheme (usually free distribution only of proj-
4 0
30 Borbcra Searle
ect-financed books) except as a transitional measurein the context of an agreed long-term, financiallyfeasible plan.
One mechanism for assuring book replacements isto recover costs. Except for selling books on the openmarket, cost recovery schemes are relatively new in thecountries surveyed. Experiences have been mixed. Inone country, 90 percent of the books published underthe project remained undist, ated because an (appar-ently) inappropriate cost recovery scheme had beenput in place. Furthermore, collection of book-lendingfees may be administratively difficult. Bank-financedprojects do not yet provide evidence about cost
Table 2-3. Summary of Completed Textbook Components
recovery, but many in the Bank see it as an essentialingredient of a sustainabie scheme to provide books.Therefore:
Recommendation 4d. The feasibility, both adminis-trative and political, of any cost recovery scheme shouldbe carefully assessed, and where cost recovery is tobe employed, the details of the scheme should beagreed with the government.
Recommendation 4e. Projects that finance cost re-covery should provide for monitoring the implemen-tation of the scheme and for assessing its financialimpact on families and on the education budget.
Rica!year
1965
Propel
Philippines 1
1967 Jamaica I
1973 Thailand III
ResourcesTargets prorded
Develop textbook adapted to needs Apparently noneof country and region
Prepare and lest textbook adapted Noneto local needs
Establish a National CurriculumDevelopment Center to designpublish. and di c textbook.among other v,s
1973 Indonesia III Strengthen existing arrangementsfor preparation and testing of textsand learning aids produce anddntrobute 138 million textbooks.train 350.000 teachers and 28.000supervisory personnel
1973 Ethiopia III Produce 3 5 million textbooks ayear by 1980
1975 Ethiopia IV Produce revisal more appropriatetextbook
1976 Liberia II
1977
Preparation of plan for textbookproduclion establishment of areplenishment fund bookdistribution system
Paraguay I.. Total of 300.000 books printed.sold
1976 Philippines 11 Develop institutional capacity forcontinuous development andsupply of textbooks. produce anddistribute 27 million textbooks,establish a national distributionsystem with 107 warehouses, train250,000 teachers and supervisors
S09 million 13 percent of basecosts) for civil works technicalassistance
531 million 1100 percent of basecosts) Operating costs paperprinting vehicles equipmenttechnical ass stance
S095 million 19 percent of Ioasecosts) for civil works vehieles
SI 37 million 17 percent of basecosts) for onerating expenses forn script development andto err training
Total of S072 million 113percent of base costs) 2 manyears foreign 6 man-monthslocal specialists. 7 man-yearsfellowships equipment minorcoil works
Total of $041 million 13 percentof base costs) b man-monthstechnical assistance, paper ink.materials
Total of 530 million 18 percentof base costs) civil works,operating costs, equipment.paper, technical assistance,vehicles
Accomplishments
Textbook development did nottake place
Intended local program fortextbook production notdeveloped However, someprocurement undertaken
New materials, including lessonplans. textbooks, supplementaryreaders, flip charts, and teacher'sguides developed, tried beforenationwide use No quantitativedata provided Total of 70.000teachers and others trained
Printed 280 million books. trainedi 5 million teachers andsupervisors
Total of 39 million books printed.II million in 1980. 175 new titles,teacher training improved, newfield-testing mechanisms adopted
Total of 156 new titles producedTotal of 20.000 teachers attended2-week seminars 5.000 teachersattended shorter workshops Newcurriculum an nooks used inpreservice training
No progress in preparing plan. fewtextbooks produced preparation ofplan made condition (or WorldBank financing of textbook infourth project
Total of 300.000 books printed. 90percent unsold no technicalassistance used
Printed 33 million booksdistributed 32 million, established152 provincial warehouses, trainedabout 320.000 teachers. 50 000supervisors
Comments m World Bank projectcompletion report or audit
Halted because of shortage offunds
No specific comments
Audit says only 'efforts attextbook production need to bestrengthened
Textbook publishing was assignedto a PII , quality control ofprinting and binding was poor.pilot testing of books wasinadequate problems w tidistributior system Thecomplexity of book productionprocess was underestimated
"Adequacy of budget providedattests to government s seriouscommitment to textbookproduction
Curriculum development wassystematic and took Into accountneeded complementary es such astraining of teachers. developmentof tests. and provision of physicalfacilities Revisions were madebased on tryout of texts inexperimental schools
When implementation of acomponent requires appropriatepolicy decisions such policiesshould be promulgated beforeproject is launched
World Bank should haveaddressed distribution problem atappraisal
1131 Bank should have insisted onuse of teennical assistance
Problems have arisen withestablishing a permanentinstitution for textbook provisioncurriculum reform and textbookproduction remainedunsynchromzed throughout thelife of the pre,rzet. difficultiespersist with integrating theprivate-sector into the system,paper procurement and storagewas a problem and remains so
Source World Bank
41
Staffing and the Use of Consultants
Project experience makes clear that the provision ofbooks is a highly technical enterprise and that adjustingthe details of project design to a particular country'scircumstances is usually outside di: capacity of gen-eralists in the education sector. Therefore:
Recommendation 5a. A specialist with processionalexperience in the relevant aspects of the provision ofbooks should be included in the preparation and ap-praisal of projects with textbook components.
Even with specialist assistance, however, sector staffwill still be involved in identifying the need for textbooksupport and in supervising projects under way. There-fore the capacity of the staff to handle these more gen-eral functions must be increased.
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 31
Recommendation 5b. The World Bank Education De-partment should organize a systematic training pro-gram and prepare support materials to upgrade thecapacity of sector staff involved in the provision oftextbooks.
Finally, some publishing enterprises established withBank financing have acquired substantial experiencethat is directly related to the problems of developingcountries. The nationals who manage these enterpriseshave a uniquely valuable set of qualifications for advis-ing others. Therefore:
Recommendation 5c. The Bank should make greateruse of experts from developing countries who havehad extensive experience with implementing text-book components in Bank-financed projects, drawingupon them as consultants for project preparation andappraisal.
Table 2-4. Fiscal 1979-82 Projects that Finance Provision of Primary and Secondary TextbooksFiscalyear Project
1979 Malawi III
1979 Swaziland III
1979 Pakistan N
Targets Resources AccomplishmentsComments and
problems
Provide 2.2 milliontextbooks over threeyears.
Prokiuce and dis-tribute 1.1 milliontextbooks alid 78,000teacher's guides to110,000 primaryschool students overfour years.
Provide about150,000 zxtbooksand teacner's guidesto selected targetareas over 1-3years.
$3.32 million (16percent of basecosts) for purchaseof bunks from local.
Total of $0.66 mil-lion (5% of basecosts) for publishingof books by localnational publishinghouse under anagreement with aprivate internationalpublisher, and distri-bution. (Teacher in-service trainingwould be financed byalternative mecha-nism.)
Total of $0.4 million(37 percent of basecosts) for local pur-chase of textbooks.
As of March 1984,most students werereported to havetextbooks.
As of December1983, 70 percent oftextbooks had beendistributed.
As of September1983, 45 percent ofbooks had been pro-cured.
As requested, theborrower prepared a"plan for financingtextbooks after theproject." The plangives only projectedcosts, however, anddoes not indicatehow the governmentwill cover thesecosts.
The borrower isexpected to preparea plan for financingtextbooks after theproject is complete.This covenant hasnot yet been com-plied with.
Neither SAR norsupervision reportsprovide details aboutwhere books comefrom. They are asmall component ofa large experimentin primary schoolreform.
(Table continues on page 32.)
32 Barbara Searle
Table 2-4 (Continued)Fiscalyear Project
1979 El Salvador IV
1980 Brazil IV
1980 Bangladesh IV
Targets Resources AccomplishmentComments and
problems
Provide adequatefacilities for theTextbook Division ofMinistry of Educa-tion; produce anddistribute about 1million texts andteaching guides overfour years. Trainteachers in theiruse. Evaluate theeffect of inputs onstudent perfor-mance.
Produce and distrib ate about 4.8million textbooks,workbooks, andt....cher's guides andabout 2 millionteaching/learningmaterials packagesover four years;strengthen schooland teacher supervi-sion system.
Supply books to stu-dents.
1981 Papua New Guinea II Develop an institu-tional capacity forcontinuous supply oftextbooks; prepare,field -test, print, anddistribute about 0.5million textbooksover seven years.
1981 Philippines VII(sector loan)
Establish theInstructional Mate-rials DevelopmentCorporation (Nix)as the successor tothe TextbookAgency; produce anddistribute 110 mil-lion textbooks over
Total of $3 million(12 percent of basecosts) for civilworks, equipment,furniture, technicalassistance, and oper-ating costs.
Total of $11.7 mil-lion (17.5 percent ofbase costs). Nobreakdown ofexpenses p.esented
in SAR. Funds can beused by states todevelop and printbooks or to purchasethese from FENAME
(Federal LearningMaterials Agency).
Total of $3.5 nallion(9.8 percent of basecosts) for book pur-chase.
Total of $5.4 mil-lion, which includesrelated components(16.8 percent of basecosts) for civilworks, furniture,equipment, paper/printing, and tech-nical assistance.
Total of $18.4 mil-lion plus paper costs(6 percent of basecosts) for operatingcosts and materials,civil works for pro-vincial warehouses.
43
As of December1983, plans for inte-rn of textbookbuilding had beenreviewed. Construc-tion was scheduledto start January1984. Printing oftextbooks had notyet started becauseof problems pre-paring bidding docu-ments.
As of February 1984,about 41 percent ofbooks produced hadbeen distributed.Percentage of targetreached, by state,ranged from 8 to17° 'ercent.
As of October 1983,1.2 million bookshad been distributed.
As of December1984, manuscriptsfor field trial wereunder preparation;writing teams hadbeen organized a:idmoved into newfacilities: detailedproduction plan hadbeen prepared.
As of November1983, plans wereunder way for ware-house construction;7 million books wereprinted and distrib-uted in 1982.
Slow progress is dueto lack of organiza-tional and manage-rial experience intextbook unit.Because of compli-cated procedures,only two of seven-teen printing firmseventually submittedbids. Coordinationbetween Piu and
other project weak.1'.S. Agency forInternational Devel-opment is financingprimary school text-book independently.Coordinationbetween the tworecently established.
Supervision reportsdo not describe howbooks are being pro-cured, whetherrequirements forfield-testing arebeing met, whatroles states andFENAME are playingin procurement.
Some staffing prob-lems still exist: pro-duction scheduledelayed by difficul-ties created by move.
Delay in establishingimoc because of con-flict with presiden-tial decree banningnew governmentcorporations.
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 33
Table 2-4 (Continued)Fiscalyear Project
1981 Paraguay IV
1981 Ethiopia V
1981 Lesotho III
1981 Tanzania
Targets
10 years (time slicefinanced by WorldBank); improve dis-tribution system.
Print and distributeabout 230,000 pri-mary textbooks andabout 85,000 sylla-buses and guides forprimary and sec-ondary teachers overabout three years;prepare manuscriptsfe: lower secondarytextbooks
Provide adequatefacilities for NationalCurriculum Develop-ment Center; field-test manuscripts andprepare prototypematerials for tensubject areas overthree years.
Establish a perm-nent textbook supplyinfrastructure; pur-chase and distributeabout i.9 millionhocks over four
1
Provide textbook,and other teachingmaterials to sixteenrural districts (about448,000 pupils);improve the systemfor distributingschool materials.
Resources AccomplishmentsComments and
problems
Total of $0.54 mil-lion (3 percent ofbase costs) for mate-rials and technicalassistance.
Total of $2.5 million(6 percent of basecosts) for civilworks, equipment,furniture, and oper-ating costs.
iota' ot $2.63 mil-lion (28 percent ofbase costs) for pur-chase and distribu-tion ot textbooks andabout $0.25 millionfor technical assis-tance. As of October1983, civil works.field-testing programproce .dingaccording to
hedule.
Total of $4 million(includes furniture)for purchase ofbooks; $3.5 millionfor civil works, fur-niture, equipment.vehicles, technicalassistance forimproving distribu-tion system (19 per-cent G. ease costs).
As of November1983, curriculumand textbook manu-scripts had beendeveloped as plannedand paper procured.Prequalification ofprinting firms wa.,under way. Con-sultant in textbookswas in place.
As of October 1983,civil works and field-testing programwere proceedingaccording toschedule.
As of December1983, regulations forthe establishmentand operation of theBook Supply Unitwere finalized; policystltement prepared;revolving find esbb-lished; pilot phasecomplete (90 percentof fees collected);lockers distributednationwide, nation-wide book distribu-tion under way.
As of December1983 procurementof edGcational mate-rials was proceedingsatisfactorily. Ware-house had not beenbuilt.
Implementation ofentire project behindschedule because oflack of counterpartfunds. Printing con-tracts cannot beavmded until fundsavailabic
This project buildson earlier projectsthat '.ave helpeddevelop a govern-ment capability formeeting Ethiopia'stextbook needs. Mostof the importantdevelopmentsoccurred ;n earlierprojects.
Nationwide imple-mentation was pre-ceded by a pilotphase in one district.Many potential prob-lems were identifiedand solved. Enroll-ments in pilot dis-trict grew fasterthan predicted (7-14percent rather than2-3 percent), per-haps because cost ofbooks was lower.Some teachers, how-ever, asked studentsto purchase addi-tional hooks.
Project is two yearsbehind schedulebecause of lack offunds. It is beingrestructured. Ware-houses will probablybe retained, butreduced in scale.
(Table continues on page 34.)
34 Barbara Searle
Tablas 2-4 (Continued)Fiscalyear Project
1982 Botswana III
1982 Comoros I
1982 Benin II
1982 Indonesia X
1982 Solomon Islands I
Targets
Provide 200,000textbooks and teach-er's guides over fiveyears.
Provision of about59,000 textbooks,(one book for eachtwo students), 4,000teacher's guides, and235,000 workbooks,ovcr five years;100,000 workbookswould be preparedlocally.
Produce and dis-tribute about970,000 textbooksand teacher's guidesper year. Establishthe textbook unit asa legal entity.
Strengthen the Inte-grated TextbookProject (ire) as aperma ent organiza-tion; strengthencurriculum develop-ment center; developor revise 112 manu-scrints. Print anddistribute 82 milliontextbooks over fiveand a half years.
Purchase 150,000textbooks and teach-er's guides, and sup-plementary teachingmaterials, over fiveyears.
Resources
Total of $0.5 million(2 percent of basecosts) for purchaseof books.
Total of $0.57 mil-lion (12 percent ofbase costs) for pur-chase of books,paper, and printingmaterials.
Total of $3.54 mil-lion (16 percent ofbase costs) for con-struction, furniture,equipment, and con-sumable materials toestablish a printshop: technicalassistance and salaryallowances and fel-lowships; construc-tion, furniture, andequipment for ware-houses.
Total of $80 million(100 percent of basecosts) for manu-script preparation,book manufactur(including paper .1dprinting), distribu-tion (includingwarehouses), moni-toring, evaluation,and studies.
Total of $0.4 million(6 percent of basecosts) for book pur-chase.
Accomplishments
As of December1983, procurementof about half thebooks had beenapproved.
As of February 1984,about half the bookshad been ordered,and procurement ofthe remainder wasunder way. Localproduction of work-books was to beginsoon.
As of December1983, manuscriptpreparation wasunder way; six manu-scripts were beingfield-tested, and fourwere being prepared.The textbook unithad been officiallyestablished as theCentre National deManuels Scoiaires.
As of April 1984, 29manuscripts hadbeen prepared; gov-ernment had estab-lished the ire as apermanent organiza-tion within the edu-cation ministry.
As of March 1984,about 20,000 books,also dictionaries andatlases, had been
ordered. Remainingprocurement was tooccur after curric-ulum review.
Comments andproblems
Consultant advice onbook tendering isbeing sought.
Consultant advice onbook tendering isbeing sought. TheFrench are financinga substantial portionof the textbook pro-curement.
The textbook com-ponent will befinanced by theGerman govern-ment, but the agree-ment has not yetbeen signed.
Approval of manu-scripts by the Coor-dinating Committeeon Textbooksdelayed over a year.Hence, printing notpossible and bookswill not begin toflow to classroomsuntil 1985.
Remainder of pro-curement notexpected to beginuntil after July 1985.
Source: World Bank.
4 t-0
Table 2-5. Fiscal 1983 Projects with Textbook ComponentsProject Targets
Burundi III
Uganda III
Central African Republic II
Guinea II
Liberia IV
Sierra Leone III
Colombia V(subsector project)
Guatemala III
Haiti III
The Provision of Textbooks by the World Bank 35
Resources
Produce 800,000 textbooks, 120.000 teacher'sguides; upgrade printing.
Replace primary and secondary books; quan-tities to be established to provide balanceamong subjects and text, auxiliary and librarybooks.
Supply books, guides to 54,000 students and800 teachers.
Print 1.2 million textbooks and teacher'sguides.
Establish a national textbook program. Pur-chase and sell to students about 1.8 milliontextbooks.
Procure and distribute about 1.3 million textsand teacher's guides; establish a task force tomanage textbook provision.
Provide about 0.3 million textbooks to allschools qualifying for assistance under sectorproject.
Develop an institutional capacity for textbookproduction and distribution; produce and dis-tribute about 6 million texts, workbooks, andteacher's guides over five years.
Produce and distribute about 3 million textsand workbooks.
Total of $1.95 million (13 percent of basecosts) for paper, printing materials, equip-ment, and vehicles.
Total of $9.1 million (31 percent of basecosts) for book purchase.
Financing for book purchase: costs for text-book components not broken down in SAP.
Financing for civil works, furniture, equip-ment, consumable materials, specialist serv-ices. fellowships, and incremental operatingcosts for textbook components not brokendown in SAR.
Total of $2.9 million (15 percent of basecosts) for book purchase and distribution.
Total of $2.0 million (9.8 percent of basecosts) for civil works, specialist services, hookourchases.
Total of $0.98 million (3.5 percent of basecosts) for purchase of existing local books.
Total of $8.5 million (37 percent of basecosts) for book development, paper, distribu-tion, teacher training and civil works, equip-ment, and specialist services.
Total of $0.8 million (10.8 percent of basecosts) for development costs including staff,specialist services, equipment, materials, andoperating costs.
Source. World Bank.
Note
1. Most of the countries in Nor4h Africa and the MiddleEast have established relations with European publishers whichproduce books adapted to local requirements. Quite recently,some Middle Eastern countriesfor example, the Yemen ArabRepublic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemenhave opted to develop their own textbooks, and the latestproject is financing part of this effort.
References
Altbach, Philip G. 1983. "Key Issues of Textbook Provision inthe Third World." Prospects ('Jnited Nations Educational,Scientific, and Cultural Organization quarterly review ofeducation) 13, no. 3: 315-25.
Heyneman, Stephen P., Dean T. Jamison, and Xenia Monte-negro. 1984. "Textbook.; in the Philippines: Evaluation ofthe Pedagogical Impact of a Nationwide Investment."Ed-ucational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 6, no. 2: 139-50.
The Design of Textbook Projects
Anthony Read
The experience of the World Bank outlined in the pre-vious chapter, as well as the experiences of many othernational textbook development programs and projects,clearly demonstrates the need to plan very carefullyacross a wide range of technical and policy issues if oneis to avoid the common pitfalls and problems of de-signing textbook projects. This chapter is a detailedpractical planning and decisionmaking guide. It startsby discussing preparation for project design and thenanalyzes institutional and management capacity, bookdevelopment, book production, and book use. For eachof these major steps in the decision chain, it brieflyoutlines the salient policy issues and technical consid-erations, the main alternatives available, the advantagesand disadvantages of each, and the information require-Ito make informed choices among them. The chaptercan be read as an extensively annotated checklist of theelements which must be considered in designing a sys-tem to provide textbooks.
Preparation for Project Design
Essential preparation for the design of a textbookproject includes consideration of the environment, es-tablishment of clear agreement on policy issues, col-lection of essential statistical information, and appraisalof the existing textbook provision system.
Environment
Rainy seasons affect distribution schedules, the choiceof transportation, storage requirements, and even onoccasion the timetable of the school year. A severe rainyseason immediately before school opening (as, for ex-ample, in Sierra Leone) poses a problem when bookshave to be moved up-country to rural areas in prep-
i ration for the opening.
36
Humidity, dust, and proximity to salt water can affectthe operation of printing equipment. Book ste, age atcentral, district, and school levels should be designedwith three problems in mind: dust (as in Burkina Fasoand Niger); humidity, which can cause fungal damageunless adequate ventilation is provided; and dampness.which is a major cause of book destruction.
Insects frequently attack paper and are attracted tosome kinds of glue. The correct choice and treatmentof raw materials and the choice of design features andmanufacturing processes are thus very important. Ter-mites are a major problem in some areas (for example,Ghana), and although there are chemical treatmentsavailable, the best solution is good warehouse manage-ment, including the frequent cleaning and moving ofbook stock.
Topographical featuressuch as river crossings, is-lands, and mountainsand transportation networksdetermine the choice of warehouse locations and thenature of a distribution system. In Indonesia, for ex-ample, the large number of islands and the difficultaccess cause special problems.
Policy Issues
The choice of language for the texts, funding, andtextbook requirements are issues on which clear agree-ment as to policy must be established. Legal issuesrelated to copyright and contract should also be care-fully considered.
Choice ofLanguage. The choice of language will beaffected by decisions related to the language of instruc-tion. These decisions will be determined by political,cultural, pedagogic, economic, and sometimes techni-cal criteria. Political and cultural issues are internal togovernment and are not necessarily a direct concern ofa textbook project. Nevertheless, government prefer-
ences must be recognized and taken into considerationat the earliest possible stage.
Learning is most effective in a mother tongue. In a
multilingual situation, however, there will probably bea need at some point to switch from the mother tongueto a more widely accepted language of instruction. Thepedagogic, financial, and organizational problems as-sociated with this should be taken into account.
Except where individual language groups are largeenough to carry the cost of textbooks economically,single-language production is cheaper than multi-lingual production. Each language edition has to beindividually typeset and incurs additional film and platecharges. This is less significant for highly illustratedbooks: at the lower primary level, for example, one setof illustrations can normally serve for all lanpagevariants, and the proportion of text to illustrations isusually low. But where there are widely differing cul-tural backgroundsfor example, Islamic and Chris-tianillustrations may not carry across to differenteditions, increasing artwork costs suostantially.
Other cost factors favoring single-language produc-tion include size of print run, authorship costs (eitherunique language authorship or translation), editorialcosts, and warehouse and distribution requirements.
The conclusion to be drawn is that whereas mothertongue editions of textbooks are usually preferable onpedagogic grounds, they can create--if there are sev-eral different editions involvedeconomic, technical,and management problems which are particularly se-vere in low-income, heterogeneous countries withunderdeveloped educational and publishing infrastruc-tures and small populations (for example, Guinea). Butthese problems are not necessarily inhibiting when lan-guage groups are large (as in India and Nigeria).
Possible compromises for sma.1 countries may meanmother tongue editions in lower primary grades onlyor a reduction in design and production standards; ora higher cost of books may simply be accepted as nec-essary to implement a mother tongue policy.
Funding. The provision of textbooks may be fundedin four ways: by the ministry of education (MOE), bycommercial outlets, indirectly by loan fees, or as partof school fees. Mixed funding is both possible and com-mon. Parents may purchase books from the MOE atsubsidized prices. Or elementary schoolbooks may beprovided free and secondary books purchased by par-ents.
There are a number of problems associated with MOEfunding. Financial resources available for textbooks canvary widely from year to year, so that book supply canbe unreliable. MOE funding may be too limited to supplya whole system. Only a token number of books may besupplied to each school, and supplies may be limited to
The Design of Textbook Projects 37
particular locations. Purchases and subsidies can belimited by grade or by subject.
Distribution, storage, management, supervision, andtransport may be neglected because MOE funding is con-centrated on book purchase and subsidy. The result isthat books are available but are not distributed. In themidst of an acute textbook shortage, Sierra Leone hadquantities of books deteriorating in storehouses for wantof an effective distribution mechanism.
Textbook costs can sometimes be so high that theMOE cannot provide adequate quantities or parents enoughmoney to purchase them. Book costs may be high fora number of reasons. The content and design specifi-cation may be tc sophisticated. The production spec-ification may be too ambitioustoo many pages, toomuch color, or an unnecessarily high quality of paper.
High costs may result from too much choice amongmany titles, so that economies of scale in bulk purchaseand large print runs are lost. High costs are also in-curred by poor management of production usuallybut not necessarily associated with locally published andmanufactured titles. Poor management of procurementof commercially produced titles and high profit marginscan also result in expensive books.
Frequently no provision is made by the MOE for reg-ular book funding, even where income is generatedfrom book sales, loan charges, or school fees. Incomethus generated may be used for other purposes. In LatinAmerica, however, textbook projects have been designedto include legislative provision for minimum levels offunding for books and materials.
The basic funding objectives of any textbook projatshould be to keep prices down and to move towardcontinuity of provision. Prices should be kept down asfar as is consistent with predetermined standards ofeditorial and production quality. This can be achievedby appropriate selection criteria (of which price shouldbe a significant feature). sensible quality specifications,and professional procurement and production manage-ment. As regards continuity of provision, if ministryfinancing is unreliable, continuity can be achieved onlyby some form of specifically protected revolving fund.
Many textbook projects require some form of impor-tationfinished books, raw materials, or film. Projectscannot work unless specific provision is made for thisrequirement by the project or the government in theform of foreign exchange allocations. Postproject con-tinuity requires long-term recognition of this ' 4uire-ment.
In Liberia, an international Development Association(ODA) project reduced textbook prices by approximately50 percent but even so. prices were still beyond thereach of most parents. Prices must be calculated intams of price rer student per year for all books requiredin a gradenot as prices per book. For example, a
4F;
38 Anthony Read
parent may be able to afford $5.00 a year for all booksbut not six books at $5.00 each. The average cost perpupil per year to provide five textbooks in Sierra Leonewas approximately $0.75 in 1985. Market research onacceptable pricesparticularly in rural and poor urbanareasis an absolute prerequisite for the identificationof production specifications, formulation of fundingpolicy, all "parent purchase" type projects, and any re-volving fund operation.
A revolving fund is a system whereby income gen-erated from MOE book provision plans is used to fundfuture book requirements and cannot be used for anyother purpose. The income should be sufficient to coverthe costs of purchase or production (and freight), pro-curement, distribution, accounting, supervision, andmanagement. It should also take account of deprecia-tion, inflation, and likely replacement costs. Thus retailprices, fees, and loan charges can only be fixed oncerealistic estimates of these costs have been made.
Loan charges or school fees can be calculated to re-coup costs over a two-, three-, or four-year period, de-pending on estimates of book life and replacement pol-icies. These in turn are related directly to productionspecifications and to distribution and storage facilities.The cost of books sold to parents must he recouped infull because the MOE cannot reissue or resell them inthe following year. Book sales do, however, create sec-i;ndhand book markets which reduce costs to parents.
There are a number of common difficulties with re-volving funds. Prices and fees may be incorrectly cal-culated to cover costs. In Liberia, for example, priceswere cut because books were too expensive, but incomewas then insufficient to maintain the fund. Sales (andthus income) may be overestimated and be insufficientto cover the cost of purchases. Stock remaining unsoldis thus a loss to the fund. Parental purchasing and fee-paying ability may be overestimatedbecause booksare too expensive or too many books are prescribed pergrade. Saks may be lost and no income accrue to therevolving fund because poor distribution has kept booksfrom arriving at the point of sale. Poor cash collection,especially in rural areas, can be a major problem. Otherproblems include stolen, lost, or damaged books, baddebts, and school fees which are stolen. And sometimesthe revolving fund is used for purposes other than bookpurchase.
Revolving funds (which can also be extended to ma-terials such as pencils and paper) work best when theyare tested and established on a small scale first. Re-volving funds based on sales income are frankly com-mercial operations, requiring high-level skills in pro-motion, sales, distribution, cash collection. accounting,and management. Revolving funds based on fee collec-tion require no entrepreneurial skills and are generallymore straightforward to operate. In both cases, the cost
to the consumer is the major limiting factor and mustbe carefully considered and calculated.
Textbook requirements. At the primary level, a book-student ratio of 1:2 for course books produces economicsavings for poorer countries without drastically affect-ing achievement. For reading texts, a ratio of 1:4 to1:6 has been chosen in some countries (Sierra Leone),with decreasing ratios at the upper primary level. Ref-erence books such as dictionaries and atlases can beprovided at minimum levels of one or two per class atlower primary levels, rising to four or five per class attop primary levels. Ratios of more than one textbookto three students present usage problems. Three stu-dents can have a reasonable view of a book simulta-neously; four cannot. At the secondary level, there isno available evidence on minimum ratio requirements.There is, however, a widespread assumption that 1:1ratios are desirable and necessary. Books distributed bya ministry can better achieve desired book-student ra-tios. Commercial sales by and large cannot, for theratios are then a matter of the effectiveness of salespenetration.
Where teachers' manuals are produr:ed, it is impor-tant that copies are available for every teacher, for teachertraining institutes, for inspectors, and for subject ad-visory staff. Many projects based on parental purchaseof books make provision for teachers' manuals to beprovided free to teachers, teacher trainers, and inspec-tors. Regardless of book shortage, efforts should be madeto ensure that every teacher has a copy of all the stu-dents' and teachers' books recommended or prescribedfor his or her grade or subject.
Textbook replacement varies according to productionstandards, environmental conditions, and storage ar-rangements. Assuming that adequate product' n stan-dards have been achieved and that students and teachershave been given basic information on book care, astudent's book in tropical Africa would reasonably lastthree years if loaned and perhaps longer if purchasedby the student. Loss, accidental damage, and theft aresignificant, however. Sierra Leone and Burkina Fasoare both working on a 30 percent replacement allow-ance over three years. Replacement allowances areusually much lower in parental purchase projects be-cause parents are unwilling to buy a book twice if it islost or damaged. Making teachers financially respon-c:hle for replacing lost or damaged copies has led tosevere untk.ruse of textbooks, even when adeqtotelyprovided (as in Indonesia). This practice is therefore notrecommended.
Other ci item for deciding ;he suitability of textboti;%sineludc conformity to curriculums, pedagogic suitabil-ity for local conditions, the level of content. and theattractiveness of design.
4!
Legal Issues. Copyright is a complex and frequentlyemotional issue involving concepts of ownership andexploitation rights. For a brief introduction, see de Frei-tas (1984). The existence of adequate local copyrightlegislation could affect the contract. la! relationship be-tween the author and the mor: in a local publishingproject and between the MOE and the local or foreignpublisher in a joint publishing venture; it could alsoaffect the ability to exploit financially a successful localor foreign publication.
Contracts involving copyright and publication rightsalways need scrutiny by a professional. This does notnecessarily mean a government legal department: wher-ever possible, lawyers specializing in copyright mattersshould be used. Agreements on matters such as pro-curement, printing, and distribution are usually lessproblematic, but if possible professional advice shouldbe sought.
Statistical Information
Statistical information is needed to establish printruns, distribution schedules, transportation networks,,.arehouse location, storage in schools, and systems forinspection, supervision, and management. For any text-book or education project, it is essential to collect sti-tistical information on student enrollment by class, age,sex, and by the smallest available administrative sub-division. Growth rates in enrollment levels over a rea-sonable be period and the proportion of the availableor target catchment population actually enrolled arealso essential. Future nrojections must be based on pastevidence, on agreed g,wernmental assumptions aboutthe future development of the school (and school-age)population, and on agreed targets.
Information is required about the numbers, sizes,and types of school; their religious denomination; andwhether they are public or private, main or feeder. Theirlocations should also be recorded in terms of time anddistance. Information should also be collected aboutschools that are difficult to reach. Schools that are ac-cessible by head porterage or canon only, or those cutoff by rains at key distribution periods, must be iden-tifiedand at the district rather than central govern-ment level.
False or incomplete declarations at school and districtor provincial levels and incomplete compilation meanthat much educational statistical information fromunderdeveloped systems is very inaccurate. This canalso be due to poorly str.ictured questionnaires and tothe extrapolation of statistics from old and out-of-dateinformation. Sometimes no reliable information isavailable. A simple school visit questionnaire can beused to compile a subjective view of the system and tocheck the accuracy of much statistical information.
The Design of Textbook Projects 39
Textbooks distributed by the MOE are frequently or-dered and delivered on the basis of information providedby the system. A normal channel for statistical infor-mation on book requirements would be as follows: Theschool prepares schedules of the requirements. Theseare collated at the district level and passed to the re-gional office, where they are collated and passed to thecentral office. Having been collated at the central office,they are adjusted for available funds and supplies, andthe books are then ordered and supplied. All the stepsup to ordering and supplying the books can be efficientlyperformed in a few months but do depend on a well-managed school system with adequate communica-tions. The sequence described above can equally takeseveral years to operate and still provide distorted in-formation.
Demand-inspired book provision occurs where theMOE identifies class by class the requirements of everyschool and attempts to satisfy these precise demands.It is effective only if the information provided is accu-rate, fast, reliable, and repeatable year after yearandif the system has sufficient money to meet require-ments. Frequently the cost of discovering demand soprecisely is very high, and the information is returnedso slowly that the demand pattern has changed whenthe supplies actually arrive.
Supply-inspired book provision is based on sensibleestimates of requirements by the central office, targetratios agreed to by the MOE, and available finances, ILis usually adjusted annually on simple feedback fromthe district office. It is easier to operate, manage, andmaintain, and it has not been demonstrated to be sub-stantially less effectiveparticularly in systems with-out the finances to maintain full supplies. In simpleterms, this approach does not attempt to meet actualdemand but concentrates on equitable distribution ofwhat can realistically be supplied.
Existing Systems to Provide Books
An evaluation of the system to provide books in op-eration before the launching of a textbook project isessential as a foundation for any future decisions onnew or upgraded systems. Key information requiredcomprises book titles in use at each grade; method,procedure, and criteria for selecting books; the originof titles in use; and the method of distribution andfunding. Information on the method of selection shouldindicate whether there is free choice or a list recom-mended or prescribed by the MOE. (See section belowon selection, distribution, and storage.)
There are four broad categories of selection proce-dure: commercial submission to an institutionalizedselection system, lobbying, mor; publication (where thereis no choice), and tendering. The origin of titles in use
50
40 Anthony Read
may be state publication, local commercial publication.imported commercial publication, or a mix of state andcommercial copublication. Information on the methodof distribution should show whether this occurs throughthe commercial book trade or through direct distri-bution by the MOE or other government agency.
If funding is based on parental purchase, there is aneed to know whether supply is from booksellers orfrom the MOE, what the costs to the parents are, andwhether there is any subsidy. Information is also re-quired as to whether the network of outlets gives suf-ficient geographical coverage and whether prices aregeographically uniform and acceptable.
Free MOE distribution may take several routes: directfrom central warehouse to school, from central ware-house via district warehouse to school, or from centralvia provincial and then district warehouse to the school.Information on storage arrangements should differen-tiate between books owned and maintained by studentsand those owned and maintained by the MOE.
It is important to identify actual as well as officialfigures relating to book-student ratios and book life.The coverage of the system should give the number ofcopies of each title distributed and available as well asthe proportion of market coverage targeted and achieved.Caps in coverage should be noted by reference to sub-ject, level, area, or socioeconomic group.
In relation to parent purchase, prices should be as-sessed by reference to the average retail price per gradeand the total retail price per student per grade. Esti-mated target prices considered affordable should alsobe known.
Institutions and Management Capacity
The Ministry of Education
Within a ministry of education, management func-tions are frequently spread over different departmentsand divisions. Understanding how these departmentsare interrelated and identifying the precise location ofeach function is essential if a project's managementstructure is to take account of the complexities. Im-portant in textbook projects is the management of geo-graphic areas, levels of education, and subjects, Togetherwith curriculum detrelopment. Equally important arethe functions of the inspectors, particularly those re-lated to procurement and storage, distribution, And ac-counts
Management of geographic areas is frequently scaledout via regional or provincial and district or even sub-district offices. Responsibilities are usually administra-tive but could include distribution, transportation, fee
collection, teacher supervision and inspection, buildingmaintenance, and statistics collection.
As regards levels of education, ministries are oftendivided into primary (elementary), secondary (highschool), and higher education (college and university)sections, These sections may be interrelated with geo-graphic management or may be virtually separate. Re-sponsibilities could include teacher training, recruit-ment and employment, curriculum development,publications, recommendation or prescription, pur-chase of materials, inspection of teachers, and buildingmaintenance.
Subject management can be part of level manage-ment or separate (if there is a separate curriculum de-velopment department). Responsibilities could includesupervision, teacher training, curriculum development,selection and purchase of materials, or staff develop-ment.
Proc irement and storage can sometimes be outsidethe MOE completely. At least one textbook project hasrun into problems because it failed to spot that bookprocurement was not a function of the ministry withwhich it was working and accidentally created two par-allel and competing systems. Distribution and trans-portation can also be in another ministry.
Related Institutions
Ministries other than the MOE may have considerableimpact on policy development. Only specific countryexperience can provide answers, but the common sourcesof external policy influence are as follows. Informationon policy related to budgets, the availability of finance,and foreign exchange allocation should be sought fromthe ministry of finance and central bank. The ministryof trade can provide information on tariffs and duties.Political party officers are engaged in lobbying for con-stituency preferences. Religious agencies are often re-sponsi, 'e for a significant proportion of school fundingand management. University departments of educationare frequently outside the authority of the MOE but aresometimes responsible for secondary teacher trainingand for curriculum development. Other aid agenciesmay be financing alternative textbook projects or proj-ects which may be related to textbook provision (forexample, the U.S. Agency for International Develop-ment, International Efficiency of Learning in Liberia,the Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, andCultural Organization) Bunumbu project in Sierra Leone,the Educational Development Foundation in Uganda.the Canadian International Development Agency in Li-beria and Uganda, and the Swedish International De-velopment Agency in Tanzania). The views of parents,of parent-teacher organizations, and of village and tribal
5./
and ethnic associations should also be assessed. Thetiming of the school year can often be related to externalexamination dates. The interrelation of curriculum andexaminations should be taken into account by referenceto examination boards and systes.
Administrc ,ive Effectiveness of the MOE
Evaluating whether an MOE is capable of taking onand running a complex management activity such as atextbook project is always necessary even when a specialtextbook unit is proposedbecause that unit will stillhave to use the existing systems of the MOE. Thus themanagement effectiveness of the MOE has to be assessed
in terms of its resources (including staffir g), organi-zational structures, management systems and proce-dures, and inspectors and supervision.
Resources. Budgetary provision for staffing buildingsand maintenance, equipment and vehicles, :.upplies, in-spection, and supervision should be assessed. Becausesalaries are usually the last elements in the budget tobe cut back, if a growing proportion of an educationalsystem's total budget is being spent on salaries, it isusually a clear indication that the system is comingunder financial pressure. Similarly, a lack of transpor-tation facilities and traveling expenses that are delayedor seldom allowed are frequently signs of the ineffectiveoperation of the system. The physical mobility of theinspectors is vital both in the supervision of the systemand in the implementation of a textbook project.
Institutional memory is critical to the success of atextbook project. The qualifications, training, experi-ence, commitment, and permanence of key staff aretherefore all crucial elements. Two key ratios in theclassroom should be noted: the number of students perteacher and the proportion of untrained to trainedteachers in the system. There is an increasing dispo-sition in many countries to allow student-teacher ratiosto rise to a level of about forty-five students per teacher.In situations where there are significantly high student-teacher ratios or where the number of untrained teach-ers in the system is increasing, the quality and theregularity of inspection, supervision, and the deliveryof supplies are crucial in maintaining the effectivenessof the system.
Management Systems and Procedures. The effec-tiveness of the MOE can be Judged by its control offinance and resources and the way in which it respondsto construction or maintenance needs. Clearly, basicstatistical information, which should already exist inthe system, must be up-to-date and accurate.
The effectiveness of the MOE'S monitoring and control
The Design of Textbook Projects 41
of finance, the process of budgetary formation, and thecash collection systems should be assessed. Senior linemanagers' knowledge of the quantity and whereaboutsof physical supplies and equipment is an important gaugeof resource control. Effective management also de-mands a clear knowledge of school and classroom con-ditions and outstanding maintenance requests. Thereshould be a system for prioritizing construction deci-sions.
Inspectors and Supervision. The inspectors shouldhave clearly defined job descriptions and terms of ref-erence, and the split between pedagogic support andschool and classroom management needs to be speci-fied. It will be necessary to determine whether there isa clearly stated and operable system of school and class-room management covering attendance, student rec-ords, stock and supplies, cash transactions, and schoolhistory. The collection of such information will demandregular visiting of the system, even at the most distantand isolated points, and will require in turn sufficientqualified staff.
If there are substantial areas of deficiencyfor ex-ample, lack of classroom management systemsthetextbook project must make provision for the basic up-grading of this deficiency before implementation. Thereis, after all, no point in providing relatively expensiveresources if they cannot be adequately looked after,managed, and used in the classroom situation.
Curriculum and Syllabus. The existence, age, andrelevance of curriculum and syllabus b.neuid be checkedand qualitatively assessed. Pedagogic requirements shouldcoincide with existing expertise in the classroom. Con-tent should be satisfactorily covered in the time allo-cated. The curriculum may be in the process of revisionor updating or there may be more than one curriculum.The project should ensure that it is concerned with thecorrect curriculum.
The School. The project needs to assess the schoolmanagement system, the staff, and the school's contactwith the inspectors, the districi office, and headquar-ters. The physical condition of the school and factorssuch as weatherproofing, storage facilities, security, andaccessibility all need attention. The number and ade-quacy of desks, chairs and benches, blackboards, and(in secondary schools) laboratory equipment are all im-portant elements. (The average desk-top space per childcan affect the design of textbook format, so that schoolfurniture has implications for both book design andpedagogy.) Clearly, the availability of basic resourcesand equipmenttextbooks, armboards, paper, pencils,
42 Anthony Read
chalk, exercise books, and (in secondary schools) chem-icals and apparatusmust be noted.
Information concerning the training, qualifications,and experience of staff is necessary to assess the ped-agogic practicability of materials. Staff-student ratiosshould be noted, together with attendance and admis-sion records.
Contact with the inspectors, district office, or head-quarters may be a monthly visit to collect salaries (whentextbooks could also be collected). The frequency ofcurriculum and pedagogic contact may provide oppor-tunities for training in the use of new books. Frequentinspection of school management systems indicates,among other things, whether book storage and fee col-lection can be managed by the schools.
Management of Textbook Projects
The organizational location of textbook project man-agement is a vital decision. Project management maybe located in an existing ministry department. Somecaution is needed, however, together with considerabledetailed knowledge of local ministerial organization.Several projects have suffered because the textbook ele-ment had been misplaced within the MOE and was eithersubject to competition from existing ministry depart-ments or placed at the wrong level (usually too low sothat key decisions took too long to achieve) or wasisolated from support it desperately needed.
Because a textbook project requires diverse MOE in-puts, all parties must be aware of the overall plan, bein agreement with it. see their own role in it, and haveagreed on management systems to cope with the nec-essary liaison. Thus an average textbook project willfrequently require the cooperative working of a curric-ulum unit, a supplies department, a finance depart-ment, teacher training institutions, subject and re-gional inspectors, a legal department, and the governmentprinter. This is a complex set of interrelations, all ofwhich must be examined and tested for effectivenessbefore implementation.
Because of the problems involved in complex inter-relations in textbook projects across departments of anMOE, a common solution is to establish a special text-book unit. This textbook unit, because it cuts acrossexisting MOE activities, is frequently deeply resented. Ifin addition it is provided with buildings, facilities,equipment, and financing which are not available else-where in the MOE, jealousy and demotivation can fre-quently develop.
Effective project management requires the correctnumber of staff having adequate seniority to make de-cisions and with sufficient experience and qualifica-tions. Project staff need to be sufficiently well rewardedto be permanent, and senior members need detailed
terms of reference. A sufficient lead-in time for projectstaff is needed for preproject training. The technicalassistance required throughout the life of the projectshould be correctly assessed and acquired in advance.Detailed, well-designed management systems are neededfor controlling and monitoring progress. Suitable prem-ises, equipment, and transport are fundamental. Properfinancial systems are important, together with clearlyunderstood financial accountability. The project mustestablish good communications with all other ministrydepartments through regular meetings. Clearly under-stood limits of authority go hand in hand with clearobjectives (including the timing and sequence of events)understood by everybody. Moreover, all policy shouldhave been thoroughly discussed and agreed in advanceby all parts of the ministry of education involved in theproject and confirmed in writing by the minister orsenior official.
Ideally, every project should be run by an experiencedprofessional capable of supervising and managing allthe aspects of publishing described below. Whether theunit is a state publishing organization, a parastatal, acommercial joint venture between local and foreign ele-ments, or an independent commercial publisher, theexistence of experienced publishing management isprobably the single most important factor in makingcertain that good books are delivered on time withinthe budget. The choice of organizational approach de-pends on government policy (for example, whether gov-ernment requires monopolistic state publishing or pri-vate enterprise, and whether the government will allowforeign investment and involvement), local publishingcapacity, the size of the market, and the reliability ofprocurement funding.
The Development of Books
The development of a book begins with its writingor adaptation and ends with its publication. Many spe-cialized skills are involved.
Methods of Developing Materials
Origination. Originating a book requires artwork, de-sign, color separation, filmmaking. plate making. andso on in addition to the writing and is the most expen-sive way to provide teaching material. It is frequentlynecessary for such subjects as primary social studies,local history, geography, politics, and similar subjectsfor which adaptation is not feasible. It is less necessaryfor subjects of more universal application such as math-ematics and science. Fully original works require allpublishing skills and should not be attempted unlessthese are available or the MOE Cs willing to acquire them.
53
Origination is more likely to be needed where nationalor local languages are the medium of instruction orwhere local elements are a dominant requirement forcontent.
Adaptation. Adaptation of an existing work is a re-alistic option when the language of publication is thesame as that of the original text. Adaptation c(--r.binedwith translation is possible but is more expensive andrequires sophisticated skills. Depending on whether ad-aptation is heavy (changes to more than 30 percent ofthe original text and artwork) or light (about 10 per-cent), there are considerable cost savings in adaptingexisting course material for local u. when no languagechange is required. Cost savings can be used either toallow higher production specifications (more color, bet-ter per and binding) or to reduce the price. Adaptationis particularly suitable for relatively universal subjects(for example, mathematics and science) and at the sec-ondary level (for which print runs are smaller and con-tent is likely to be less locally specific). Adaptation al-lows smaller countries to redesign materials to suit localcircumstances. Adaptation can include local names, dress,customs, and examples, and if done properly is rarelyobvious. The main savings occur on authorship, art-work, typesetting costs, and film. 'I he level of publishingskill required locally is less than hr full origination butis still considerable. Adaptation provides useful trainingopportunities for local staff to wort with professionalpublishers.
Special Editions of Existing Texts. If a suitable textis available, an edition can be negotiated with no con-tent alterations but with different production specifi-
tions suitahle for local usage (for example. paper coverrather than case binding, lower paper weight, differentformat, and so on). Special reprints can be done eitherlocally or overseas depending upon available manufac-turing facilities. Substantial cost savings can be achievedby this method, with the disadvantage (should this mat-ter) of loss of local application if an overseas text isused. This method requires no particular local publish-ing skills, but some production knowledge is required.
Commercial Purchase of Existing Text. In countrieswith small populations, the free choice of available textscan lead to splintering of print runs and unnecessarilyhigh costs. If the ministry prescribes texts, it can ne-gotiate bulk deals either for its own distribution or foronward sale to commercial outlets. Obviously prescrip-tion restricts free choice, but this can be advantageouswhere the qualifications and experience of local teachersare limited and in turn limit the pedagogic benefits ofteacher involvement in text decisions. Although localpublishing skills are not required, some procurement
The Destgn of Textbook Projects 43
and negotiating ability is necessary. Many countries (forexample, Jamaica and Nigeria) have a considerable bodyof commercially produced material by local authors andbased on local curriculums, but this material is oftenunavailable because of financial problems. In these cir-cumstances, the initiation of a completely new projectonly adds to the sum of locally available material with-out attacking the crucial issues of funding and financ-ing.
Materials can usually be purchased from commercialpublishing sources (either local or foreign) if there isa large enough market and if reliable funds are available.(Some foreign exchange is almost certain to be requiredfor almost any textbook to pay foreign publishers, for-eign printers, or foreign suppliers of raw materials.) Ifno specific materials exist, they can be commissionedfrom commercial sources by negotiation or by ten-dering, developed as a joint venture between the MOEand a commercial publisher, or developed by commer-cial suppliers hired by the MOE on a service contract.
Local Publishing Capacity
Commercial Publishing. The involvement of localcommercial publishing in school materials is importantin developing wider publishing ability. If local com-mercial publishing is excluded from school publishing,all publishing development is restricted and in smallercountries is probably killed off completely.
The exact size of a market at which competitive com-mercial publishing becomes possible is a function notso much of population but of the amount of moneywhich a government makes available to sustain com-mercial interest. Thus countries with small populationsbut high per capita incomes (for example, Denmark)can sustain commercial publishing activity, whereascountries with large populations but low per capita in-comes have found the task much more difficult. Inbroad terms, a total disposable primary school expen-diture of a, proximately $1 million per year returninga net profit margin of about 10 percent probably pro-vides sufficient inducement for a commercial publisherto maintain a minimum permanent staff and developsome editorial expertise and skills. This, of course, is apurely theoretical calculation that could be influencedby numerous other factorsfor example, outside com-petition, requirements for state-dominated publishing,lack of foreign exchange, and the unreliability of pro-vision of funds by the MOE.
Local companies (private or state) should be surveyedto see whether their list of publications includes goodeducational texts of the type required. If so, the exactlevel of involvement I the local company should bechecked. It is also worth noting text publication datesto make certain that they were undertaken recently and
54:
44 Anthony Read
that current staff were involved. Staffing should be in-vestigatedin particular, the number, length of ex-perience, qualifications, and permanence of editorial,design, and production staff.
The costing and estimating department should bechecked. and samples of previous quotations requested.These quotations should be compared with knownprofessional samples. The availability of local authorsshould be noted, together with their subject mastery,r!equacy of language, past experience, and commit-ment. The production quality of books, price, and re-liability of delivery should all be checked. If there areno existing publishing organizations, it is unli';ely thata local publishing capadty could be brought into ex-istence quickly and without substantial professionalguidance.
State Publish, v . State publishing normally impliesa monopoly, but if ' , possible for state and commercialoperations to ex,-A side by side. It is argued that statepublishing prom des local book development, lower prices(because of lower profit requirement), and economiesof scale. The disall , stages of state publishing includem -F. control over content and productic n, the adverseh.:Act on other local book development, lack of com-petition (resulting in the perpetuatio s. of bad books,high costs, and poor-quality production), and the factthat the real costs of operation are frequently hidden.Local state publishing doer not necessarily imply localprinting or manufacture or ministry distribution or evenfree distribution.
Parastatal Publishing. If textbook publishing skillsare not available to a state publishing organization, itcan form a partnership with commerciai companies thathave the skills. Parastatals can be formed with local orove eas commercial companies (most examples are withoverseas companies, although Nouvelles Editions Af-i-c%ines in Senegal is an exceptic ). The parastatal isnormally operated for profit and as a result can be morecost-effective than state publishing. Parastatals in-tended to help develop local publishing should alwaysrequire expert staff to be based in the country. andspecifically identified training functions should be builtinto the terms of partnership.
Joint Ventures. If the market is large enough to sup-port local commercial publishing, joint ventures be-tween local and foreign publishing companies can injecthigh-level skills and rapidly upgrade local industries.Indigenous requirements (for example, in Nigeria) orrequirements that school textbooks be published by lo-cal companies (for example, in Mexico) can be used toensure the creation of local publishing skills.
An argument in ',Ivor of local commercial publishir g
or joint ventures is that the profits from school businesswill stimulate other kinds of publishing. Competitionwill increase quality, ane publishing skills will be de-veloped locall Against this, development of local com-mercial or joint ventures may seem mor- expensivethan state publishing because of the profit margin. Lo-cal commercial or joint venture publishing incurs rel-atively high costs in small countries where competitioncreates costly small print runs.
Decisions for a Publishing Program
Printing and publishing are not the same thing. Pub-lishing is the ability to create books. Printing is one ofthe manufacturing processes in their production (seenext se'.'ion on production). The existence of local man-Liacturing does not guarantee that of local publishing.Books are not necessarily cheaper if local manufactur-ing facilitic i are used. (All too frequently they are con-siderably more expensive.) Many countries with sub-stantial international publishing industries (for example,Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Spain) do muchmanufacturing in other countries where it is cheaper.Most school publishing in the United States takes placedomestically because of national preference legislationwhich overrides price factors.
Although it is desirable to be able both to publishand to manufacture in home territory, the two activitiesshould not be confused. It is much more important todevelop local publishing which reflects the cultural,educational, intellectual, and scholarly life of a coun-trythan an arbitrary manufacturing ability. A pub-lishi'v industry depends upon a steady flow of activity,ano this in turn depends upon regular funds to purchaseexisting books and develop new books, supplementarymaterial, teachers' guides, and so forth. For example,a local publishing capacity cannot survive on the basisof a major effort completed ten years ago. Since then,the staff, which acquired much experience in author-ship, editing, design, and production, have most likelypassed on to other activitic. and their experiencethus has been lost. A Central American publishingproject in the 1970s was reported to have lost the vastmajority of its staff and institutional memory by thetime a new development program was considered in themid-1980s.
An ongoing program requires considerable planning,a long view of the benefits to the country by both gov-ernment and funding agencies, and a reasonable cer-tainty of regular funding. If all these conditions exist,the foundation of a publishing program can be laid. Thetextbook projects of the past ten years, however, suggestthat at least two project periods (that is, ten years) arenecessary before a full publishing capacity is likely to
55
develop Iron, scrz :ch. 1`...:: ;lig this time, professionaltraining, regolar technical assistance, and high-gradesupervision are required to develop good publishingskills.
Acquiring Publishing Skills
A country that lacks adequate publishing skills mayac.iu ire them in a number of ways: by providing profes-sional training; by hiring people with the required skills;by developing joint ventures or parastatal arrangements(as described above); or by contracting for a publisherto provide finished books.
Professional training and attachments are not rec-ommended as the primary way to acquire skills. Few(or no) courses can adequately provide the full rangeof publishing skills. Publishing skills in general andschool publishing skills in particular are heavily de-pendent on practical experience over, say, five to tenyears. Formal training (and related professional attach-ments) should therefore be regarded as a supplementto on-the-job training rather than as a main method ofskill acquisition.
Contracting with a publisher to undertake servicesfor a fee is well established. All costs of authorship,editing, raw materials, and manufacturing can be paiddirectly by the local MOE so that all financial interestin the outcome of the project is in their hands. Thedisadvantage of contract publishing is that it is unlikelyto attract the interest of suitable publishers becausamost of them would be reluctant to extend services ata reasonable price with so little control over the project.In addition, because the professional work is identicalfor both large and sm:11 print runs, the fee for smallcountries could be disproportionately large. The essenceof contracting for finished books is that the MOE awardsa contract to a chosen publisher (the choice could bevia organized tender) to deliver finished books, film, orcamera-ready copy. The MOE maintains ownership andcontrols decisions over content, presentation, format,cost, and authorship. The contract must specify thedelivery date, quanti.y, quantities and procedures forreordering, price (or price formula), agreed des'--content, and authorship approval conditions (such ilbthe amount to be paid to the author, who will holdthe cop, tight, and whether the MOE or the publisherhas the right to approve prospective authors). The con-tract can also include training requirements for localstaff.
Publishing Functions
The four basic publishing functions are authorship,editing, design, and production. The first three are dis-cussed below; production, a large topic, is discussed in
The Design of Textbook Projects 45
the next section. Dis ribution, another function of pub-lishing, 13 discussed Lica in conjunction with book se-lection and storage.
Authorship. Textbook authors at both primary andsecondary levels must have not only writing ability butalso teaching experience. They must of course knowtheir subject, and they should be able to make a realisticassessment of teacher abilities and requirements. At theprimary level in particular, they should be able to workwith illustrators and within cost and design constraints.
Good writing either by individual nr committee israre. Manuscripts are often too long or pitched at toohigh a level. An overly pedagogic approach may placetoo many demands on the teacher. Illustrations andtext may not be properly integrated. Authors may betoo rooted in good urban rather than in poor ruralconditions. Some authors are unable to accept adviceor criticism. It is um ?.alistic to expect a high proportionof good manuscripts from teams of new and untriedauthors. Furthermore, the occasional nature of muchoriginal writing for textbook projects means that thewriting skills developed by a project are frequently wastedbecause of the lack of an ongoing program. For example,the Ghana textbook project of 1974-75 had lost a highproportion of the original writing team when the revisededitions were undertaken in 1984 because there hadbeen little or no work for the authors in the interveningperiod.
Editing. Various editorial skills are required inschoolbook development. Editorial policy must be for-mulated in such a way as to keep materials in line withthe MOE curriculums and with pedagogic and economicrequirements. 'ibis policy must be communicated tothe individuals involved. Editors must identify and com-mission illustrators and authors and brief them on thepresentation and content of the work. They must eval-uate the work and give advice and guidance on writingand rewriting. They must supervise work load and main-tain deadlines. They must check copy for content, style,consistency, accuracy, level, and presentation. They mustliaise between authors and illustra" -rs, and coordinatedesign and production specifications. Editors are re-sponsible for obtaining nermission to use quotationsand art from other sources, and they also negotiatecontracts and fees with authors and artists.
Schoolbook editors must have broad publishingknowledge and experience in editorial, design, and pro-duction work. They should have the relevant educationand pedagogic background and possess detailed knowl-edge of and experience with target students, teachers,and school conditions. Good editors are rare, and pre-vious schoolbook experience is essential for major orig-ination or adaptation of textbooks.
46 Anthony Read
Design. There are two interrelated but separate as-pects of schoolbook design: physical design, coveringformat (size and shape), length (number of pages andwords), choice of raw materials, and binding; and lay-out, covering choice of typeface, number of colors, typeand cp ntity of illustrations, appearance of the page(inclucong chapter, sunning, lnd subsidiary headings),and so on. In the adverse conditions in rural schools,physical design elements which determine the durabil-ity of a book deserve (but often do not receive) the sameweight as page layout. Textbook &sign is a highly spe-cialized activity and cannot be undertaken by inexpe-rienced graphic designers.
Book Production
In large publishing projects, separate production de-partments are responsible for monitoring work withmanufacturers, maintaining work flow, meeting dead-lines, checking for quality control, and so on. In smallerprojects, an editor is frequently required to undertakethese functions. In this situation, there is a danger thatproduction control passes from the publishing unit tothe manufacturer. Inexperienced editors frequently donot know whether the delivered books are of acceptablequality or whether additional charges are valid. Thusgood production management, either as a permanentpart of the textbook project or as a consultant skill, isessential to maintaining standards, meeting deadlines,and operating at optimum costs.
The production specifications and associated produc-tion decisions arise out of design decisions. These inturn are the function of a difficult mix of pedagogic andeconomic requirements. The production specificationsshould cover format, length, binding, paper weight,number of colors, origination processes, choice of sup-pliers, choice of raw materials, layout (see above underdesign), print run, production timetable, and deliverydeadline.
Format. The life of a book is likely to be longer if itsformat is compact (a maximum of 220 by 140 milli-meters) and of portrait type (that is, bound down thelong edge). Where numerous students crowd aroundtoo few desks, they find it easier to use small portrait-shaped books than large landscape-shaped ones. Thisease of use also applies when there is no classroomfurniture and students sit on the ground. Compact booksare also more easily carried by students, fit more easilyand with less damage into bags, and are more easilystored.
Unfortunately, this format limits designs and page-layouts. As a result of curriculum pressure, larger andwore vulnerable page formats are used in the mostadverse physical conditions, which unacceptably shorten
book life. But the effectiveness of a textbook is notnecessarily limited by its format.
If books are sold to students and are thus transportedfrom home to school each day, cl durable format is moreimportant than if books are provided on loan and arekept in school. Parental purchase often generates bettercare of books, however and this can offset the greateramount of handling. Books for secondary schools, whichgenerally have better physical conditions and standardsof book care, have much more flexible requirements forformat.
Length. Books should be short rather than long. Theamount of work that an inexperienced schoolteachercan get through is generally overestimated, and shortbooks are cheaper (a significant factor in schoolbookprovision, which can be measured in millions of dol-lars).
Binding. Properly bound paperback books will last atleast three years with good care, even in quite adverseenvironmental circumstances. Hardbound books areconsiderably more expensive, and it is doubtful whetherthey are cost-effective. Some production specialists evenbelieve that the weight a1id rigidity of hard bindings areunsuitable in tropical rural areas and may shorten booklife. For primary schools, wire-stitched bindings aregenerally acceptable on compact books of up to ninety-six pages. For longer books, sewn bindings are desirable.Glued-only bindings are considered unreliable in hot orhumid climates.
Water- resistant covers (which are laminated or var-nished) are desirable where books are likely to be storedor used in damp conditions. In Liberia, where varnishedand unvarnished books were stored side by side in dampconditions, books with varnished covers suffered sub-stantially less damage. Some laminations lift and bubblein tropical climates; mechanical varnish can stick inhumid climates. Chemically bonded (catalytic) or ul-traviolet varnishes are slightly more expensive but prob-ably best.
Paper Weight. There are two schools of thought aboutpaper weight. The use of 48-55 gsm (grams per squaremeter) newsprint reduces production costs consider-ably. It also shortens book lifeespecially in damp orwet climates where many types of newsprint will notsupport even their own weight. Wood-free book paperof 70-80 + gsm is widely used and stronger, and itprovides greater probability of acceptable book life (pro-viding that sensible binding and format decisions aremade). There are plenty of examples of sewn paper-cove; ed books using this paper weight lasting up toeight years, even in adverse conditions. An average lifeof three years is therefore not unrealistic. Good book
57
paper is also more opaque and will take type and illus-trations (particularly color) very much better. It thushas distinct pedagogic advantages.
Color. It is generally accepted that color is an im-portant ingredient in books for children, particularly atlower primary levels where an attractive presentationcan considerably improve learning. Nevertheless, four-color books cost much more both to originate and tomanufacture than one-color ones. Good design can makecost-effective use of one or two colors or can combinefour-color with one- or two-color printing.
Origination Processes. Origination processes includetypesetting, drawing of artwork, separating colors, andfilmmakingthe production stages up to the pointprinting begins.
Typesetting consists of retyping (or converting froma computer diskette) all the text of a manuscript in aselected typeface of a specified size and line length.Artwork denotes all the illustrative matterpho'o-graphs and drawingstreated or redrawn b:' artists :erthat it will be suitable for reproduction. Color separa-tion must he performed on all color artwork, includingcolor photographs, in order to be able to print in morethan one color. Filmmaking is necessary tz; make platesfor lithographic printing. To prepare the plates, theentire typeset text and all the pieces of artwork (withany colors separated) must be arranged exactly as theyare to appear on the pages of the finished book andthen be photographed.
All these processes are separate and can either becontracted to separate organizations or be done by oneselected printer. The quality of the finished book willdepend heavily on the skill with which these processesare performed and combined. And a cost-effective choiceof suppliers will materially affect final costs. The costsof the origination processes described above, plus allresearch and development costs, constitute "first costs,"which are costs incurred whether or not a copy of thebook is ever printed. First costs are less significant forlarge print runs than for small oneshence the first-cost savings of adaptations (described above) for projectsin smaller countries.
Choice of Suppliers. Th, choice of a particular sup-plier or process for origination and for printing andbindingthe two basic manufacturing processesisa skilled production function. The simple existence ofa local printer does not mean that there is suitablemachinery for a particular book job os that the ma-chinery is effectively maintained and run.
The criteria for selecting manufacturing and origi-nation suppliers are quality, capacity, reliability, andcos.. Factors to consider are whether `he supplier is
The DesIgn of Textbook Projects 47
capable of producing the specified quality of work andhas the right equipment to handle the quantity of workin the time available.
The supplier must be able to guarantee delivery whenrequired. When local suppliers are under consideration,access to raw materials, availability of spare parts, re-liability of power source, availability of necessary main-tenance facilities, and the priority given to the task areall key factors. When suppliers in another country areunder consideration, the regularity, reliability, and costof freight services are additional factors.
A "request-for-estimate" pro forma should be usedboth for accurate project costing and budgeting and forputting together preliminary information to enable broaddecisions to be made on local "ersus overseas origina-tion and manufacture. Wherever possibi,, the suppliershould be asked to break down estimates into raw ma-terials costs and process costs, and with many localpotential sources it is often useful to ask for a scheduleof essential spare parts and maintenance necessary toguarantee on-time delivery.
Estimates should always be requested from state orparastatal sources, domestic commercial manufactur-ing sources, and reputable international manufacturingsources. International sources should always ilclude aCIF (cost, insurance, and freight) estimate in additionto the job quotation.
Choice of Raw Materials. The basic raw materialsrequired for book production are text paper, cover board,binding material (wire, glue, or thread), ink, laminateor varnish, film, and plates. The cost of raw materialsis affected by five main factors:
The quantity purchased. Countries with small pop-ulations that have low-level requirements probablypay considerably more for paper than large coun-tries or large multinational publishers.The source of purchase. Large quantities of papercan be bought at cheaper rates direct from papermills. Smaller quantities are usually bought throughpaper merchants and may be restricted to availablestock in standard sizes.The regularity of purchase. Regular customersusually get bette' terms than occasional cus-tomers.Creditworthiness of the customer. Long delaysin payment while waiting for foreign exchangeallocation are not conducive to negotiating betterprices.
Storage facilities. The effective cost of raw mate-rials is considerably increased when storage facil-ities are poor nd there are stock losses eitherthrough inadequate security or deterioration.
5E3
48 Anthony Read
Book Selection, Distribution, and Storage
Book Selection
Then! are four methods of book selection: by pre-scription, by recommendation, by free choice, and byministry of education issue.
Prescription. If books are selected by prescription,the MOE decides which course will be used. This impliesa single course adoption. Decisions are frequently madeon a cycle (every three to five years) by a formal selectionprocess, an me committee, or a curriculum panel. Pre-scription implies "es to parents through MOE or com-mercial outlets. It c, -nore common at the primary thansecondary level.
Recommendation. If books are selected by recom-mendation, the me provides a list of approved courses.Selection can be annual or periodic, and both formaland informal selection procedures are equally common.The recommendation process involves sale to parents,usually by the school from limited options. This methodis more common at the primary level in larger countriesand at the secondary level in small and medium-sizedcountries.
Free Choice. If books are freely chosen, there is nomoe intervention at all. This is rare at the primary leveland more common at the secondary levelparticularlyin larger countries. Texts at the secondary level areusually selected by 5chools depending upon their avail-ability.
Ministry Issue. If books are issued by the MOE, theremay be either a single set or several alternative sets (as,for example, in the Philippines). The major differencesbetween this option and those cited above is that min-istry-issued texts are distributed by the ministry ratherthan by th° commercial sector, and generally remainthe property of the ministry rather than of the parentor student.
Book Distribution and Storage
Implications of Parent Purchase. When books areowned by parents and students, they normally will bestored at home Thus there is less need for classroomstorage, and me involvement in distribution and stor-age normally will be greatly reduced. Distribution willbe either entirely through commercial outlets or toministry distribution points. The need to dish ibute toindividual schools exists only if books are supplied flschools for sale to students. The MOE loses control overthe level of book provision in schools because this will
be determined by access to book-sale outlets and by theparents' ability to pay. Mandatory book ownership gen-ei ally has not worked as a requirement of primary schoolattendance. Mandatory ownership is easier to enforceat secondary schools because the motivation _o attendis higher.
Purchase by parents depends upon good national cov-erage by sales outlets. At the primary level in ; al areas,
this can be very difficult. With limited purchasing power,foodstuffs and basic hardware are more attractive in-vestments to petty traders than books, and markupswill tend to be very high. Commercial wholesalers arcfrequently unwilling to extend credit because of diffi-culties of collection. Under these circumstances, MOESmight have to consider direct involvement to achieveequality of opportunity.
Implications of Ministry-Controlled Distribution.Costly storage facilities are required for moE-controlleddistribution. Stock control and stock movement sys-tems are needed, requiring trained storemen. A distri-bution system must be capable of moving supplies fromcentral stores to individual schools. Distribution to ru-ral primary schools is, in many countries, a major un-dertaking. The assumption that a distribution networkexists already for other supplies may only be theoreti-cally true and always needs to be checked.
School management systems need to maintain andrecord supplies permanently issued and loaned to stu-dents. Other school supplies are usually consumable;only books are normally subject to issue and return.
Elements of MOE Distribution Systems
Warehousing. All warehouse premises should be se-cure, with ceiling bars, steel window bars, cement floors,steel doors with interior hinges and locks rri day andnight watchmen. Warehouses should be wea,. srproofand w;;11 ventilated to prevent fungal damage. Racksshould be used to keep the stock off the floor. Clearly,warehouses must be large enough to cope wall fore-seeable maximum usage and growth.
Most systems will need permanent c entral ware-housing so that stock can be accumulated a id organizedfor onward dispatch. But except in very SIM il countries,the number of primary schools to be served makes directdistribution from a central warehouse expensive andimpractical. It is common to have a "two-link- system(central-district; district-school). It is rare to have four-link systems except i.i the very largest countries (forexample, China and Indonesia). The number of links isa function of both the size of population and the ac-cessibility of schools. The number of links increases thecomplexity of the distribution operation, and the costper unit distributed therefore increases with the num-ber of links built into the chain.
59
Distribution from district to primary school (nor-mally the last link) is often done by teachers becausetransport is costly and many primary schools are ex-tremely inaccessible. It is probably realistic to rely onteachers to collect supplies if stores are located at aplace which teachers visit regularlyfor example., dis-trict offices where salz.i ;es are paid. Secondary schoolsare frequently supplied via MOE distribution systems. Itis common for secondary supplies to continue efficientlythrough an MOE system even when primary supply sys-tems have broken down. This is because secondary schoolsare larger, not as numerous, and generally in relativelyaccessible locations.
Transportation. Two basic options for transportationexist: MOE .owned-and-operated vehicle fleets or hiredcommercial transport. The disadvantage of the formeris that the transportation systemand therefore thedistribution systemfrequently ceases if MOE vehiclesbreak down or are not available. The disadvantage ofthe latter is often the lack of a regular budget for hiringvehicles. Even with ministry fleets, there can be prob-lems with budgets. Some commercial trucking com-panies are also unwilling to provide services to ruggedareas or at difficult seasons.
An overriding advantage of a commercial truckingoperation (assuming such an operation exists) is thatdistribution is unaffected by vehicle maintenance andoperational problems. Additionally, commercial truck-ing companies are generally more experienced and re-liable in up-country distribution.
Control Systems. Two basic control systems must beoperationally effective: stock record systems (for quan-tity and location of stock) and record systems ior stockmovements. No stock should enter, move around within,or leave any warehouse, storeroom, or school withoutan effective record of movement. There are numerousother relevant but subsidiary control systems to coverreordering, payment, returns, damages, and so on. Allcontrol systems should be as straightforward as possibleand geared to the ability of the staff who operate them.Regular monitoring and random checking of systemsshould supplement detailed annual reports of govern-ment auditors.
School Storage. Some form of storage space is neededin all schools whether books are owned by V-- MOE orpatents. In general, secondary schools are more likelyto have adequate storage space for books and otherschool supplies. Actual conditions do, however, needchecking in every country, and newly established schoolsin remote .)reas need particularly careful checking. Well-develonzd primary systems traditionally have store-rooms attached to head teachers' rooms, and cupboardsare commonly provided in every classroom. Ghana, for
The Design of Textbook Projects 49
example, has basic storage facilities at this level in mostschools; Sierra Leone does not.
Basic school storage problems likely to be encoun-tered are poor weatherproofing and nonexistent secu-rii.i. Loss can be caused by fungus, insects, weather,and theft. Poor storage conditions endangef the pro-vision of physical resources, which is expensive. Heavyloss dramatically increases the cost of such provision.A solution is the construction of school storage systemsand the provision of cupboards and lockers.
The construction of school storage systems is likelyto be a major construction undertakingboth expen-sive and slow. Cupboards and lockers can be providedcheaply (at the end of 1984, a steel locker measuring 6x 3 x 1 feet cost about $75) and quickly. The deliveryand erection of lockers in large numbers of primaryschools is, however, a substantial logistical problem andshould not be underestimated.
Distribution via Commercial Outlets
The commercial sector can distribute books on behalfof the MOE, with payment for distribution made whenconfirmed delivery slips are produced. Or th MOE can
sell books to the commercial sector at fixed discountand resale prices. The commercial sector can then sellto the schools.
There are arguments in favor of commercial involve-ment in MOE distribution. Increasing the book marketincreases the number and quality of bookshopsthroughout the country. A competitive element can alsolead to faster and improved service. The MOE will berelieved of a substantial administrative burden and willsave on distribution, warehousing, storage, transpor-tation, staff, and record-keeping costs.
There -re also several arguments against commercialinvolvement. The existing commercial networks areconcentrated in urban areas and do not reach inacces-sible rural areas. Additional inducements have to beoffered to encourage commercial operations to servedifficult areas, and there are enormous problems inmonitoring and controlling activities. An alternative tothe commercial supply for difficult areas is a mixedsystem whereby commercial operations are supple-mented with MOE operations.
Book Use
Training
Any program for improving the availability of booksand materials in schools dearly has Important impli-cations for teacher training, The most obvious of theseis that teacher trainees must be given the opportunityto become fully conversant with the materials which
G()
50 Anthony Read
they will be using in the schools. It is thus essentialthat relevant textbooks be either free or provided ascheaply as possible to all trainees. In many projects,free sets of books, particularly at the primary level, arecosted against the whole project. In addition, provisionof books to libraries of teacher training institutionsshould be seen as an essential feature of every project.
Beyond tht provision of resources, however, specificunits need to be built into preservice teacher trainingto make certain that the curriculum ideas contained intextbooks and the management skills involved in usingthe textbooks are provided on a continuing, long-termbasis. Preservice training, of course, is slow to takeeffect. A more immediate and widespread impact re-quires sustained programs of in-servicc training for ex-isting teachers. In large countries, this can be a daunt-ing task, but there are nuni yous examples of effectivehigh-density training programs being developed and ex-ecuted quickly and relatively cheaply (for example, inIndonesia, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone). A con-venient and relatively cheap procedure is to run a lim-ited number of seminars for central inspectors, advisers,teacher college lecturers, and district education officers.A second series of seminars can then be organized bythe inspectors and district officers for key teachers andteacher supervisors at the district level. The final stagewill be the organization of a large number of school-based seminars, grouped according to accessibility.
In-service training should concentrate both on cur-riculum and pedagogic issues as well as on the man-agement of books and materials. All training programsshould include the subject of basic book care, partic-ularly for rural environments. Very substantial sums ofmoney can be saved for the education system if booklife is extended by even one year.
Teacher training as a support for book use is muchless developed in the secondary sector. This position isunacceptable, and an increased Lommitment to in-ser-vice training for secondary teachers should receive highpriority in any textbook project for secondary schools.Experience indicates that this increased co nmitmentis frequently best achieved L." concentrating on man-agement training for head teachers. Preservice trainingshould, however, also pay specific attention to the cur-ricular, pedagogic, and managerial aspects of books andmaterials used in the classroom.
School Management
The improvement of school resources is the ultimateaim of any textbook project, and the person with finalresponsibility for managing these resources day to dayis the head teacher. He or she must organize the school'sdeliver; of the curriculum, motivate the teachers, helpthem to develop professionally, and constantly monitor
the quality and performance of the school. This is anextremely difficult task when standards of accommo-dation and materials provision are low. Declining stan-dards in school and classroom management lead to thedeterioration of education and unacceptable wastage ofphysical resources. The first priority in upgrading themis to design and establish a clear and effective systemof school management.
Once a system is designed, it can be explained in asimple booklet distributed to every teacher and traineein the country and to relevant administrative staff. Unitson school management can be included in all teachertraining at both the primary and secondary levels andin the training of educational administrators (usuallythrough a series of high-level seminars). An in-servicetraining program can be developed to transfer the schcmanagement system to teachers in the field. Adequausupervision by the inspectors is desirableto makecertain that management systems are being maintainedand to provide help, encouragement, and assistance toteachers in the early days.
The development and maintenance of a system ofschool management at the secondary level is every bitas important as at the primary level. But as with teachertraining, it is frequently ignored. Several projects haverevealed that the perceptions, priorities, attitudes, andadministrative style of the secondary school principalare crucial in determining what facilities and resource-are allocated to a given academic subject. Such allo-cation in turn influences the quality of the work inthese subjects.
The use of books in classrooms, their physical main-tenance in schools, and their effective distribution canbe maintained efficiently only through MOE supervisionand regular inspection. Transportation availability andthe mob:lity of inspectors thus are key factors.
Editorial, Pedagogic, and Curriculum Feedback
Continuous contact between editors. authors, anddesigners, on the one hand, and inspectors, teachertrainers, teachers, and schools, on the other, is partic-ularly necessary when courses are being introduced forthe first time. Specific evaluation schedules should bedeveloped. A combination of structured interviews, sim-ple questionnaires, and classroom diaries is recom-mended. Writing and editorial teams (or, at the sec-ondary level, textbook selection boards) can build up apicture of the strengths and weaknesses of particularmaterials in the context of a particular country situa-tion. This will enable revisions and corrections to bemade and will assist in the selection of ,:commendedor prescribed texts. Attention should also be paid to thephysical durability of books, and this should be includedin evaluation schedules.
6i
Other Considerations
Procurement, Tendering, and Evaluation
There is typically a variety of procurement require-ments in textbook projectsincluding producing fin-ished books, securing licensing rights for the adaptationof basic texts, providing editorial services, developingmanuscripts, procuring origination services, supervis-ing printing and production, and getting raw materials.In addition, related services frequently need to be pro-cured. These are international freight consolidationservices (when a variety of materials coming from avariety of overseas sources requires bulking-up or pack-aging), internal distribution services, and construction(of warehouses, other storage facilities, and schools).
The exact procurement requirements for each projectwill often vary considerabiy, and professional assistancemay be needed to distinguish precisely what servicesare required. Thus in Uganda a procurement exercisewas delayed for almost a year because the lowl man-agers did not have the expertise to perceive the differ-ence between a printing tender for books for which theMOE owned the copyright and an adaptation tender forbooks for which the MOE was trying to acquire the print-ing rights.
The basic methods of acquiring services or goods aredirect negotiation, limited competitive bidding, and in-ternational competitive bidding. Direct negotiation canfrequently be allied with a requirement that the sup-pliei s seek competitive prices in the manufacture oftheir product. Thus in the procurement of finished books,the MOE may have decided on pedagogical grounds whichbooks it requires, but the final price it negotiates maywell depend on evidence that the suppliers have soughtcompetitive printing quotations either for the stock cur-rently available or for any reprint which might be pro-duced for the project.
Limited competitive bidding is used foi local sup-pliers, for suppliers with known specialist services, orfor suppliers with particular local knowledge and con-tacts. One of the fundamental problems with all bookprocurement projects is the many variables to be takeninto account and the fact that some of the variablesproduce contrary effects. For example, it is fairly ob-vious that although low price is attractive, high (butnot expensive) production quality will lead to longer-lasting books. The book with the best value in produc-tion terms may not necessarily be the book most suitedto the local curriculum. The balancing of these variablesin the procurement of finished books is a skilled profes-sional task.
The Design of Textbook Projects 51
The evaluation of negotiations or bids is again a com-plex process. As a basic principle, all bid documentsshould be matched by an evaluation schedule.
Other School Supplies
This chapter has been concerned primarily with text-books. It should always be borne in mind, however, thatschool classrooms also require exercise books, pens,pencils, chalk, and other basic supplies. Distributionand storage problems for these supplies are very similarto those described for books. In other aspects, however,their procurement and funding are significantly differ-ent. All projects concerned with supplying books shouldtake into account the availability of other related sup-plies.
Provision of Libraries
In countries where even . ie most basic textbooks areunavailable, the first priority must always be to supplytextbooks. As soon as a textbook project has been de-veloped, however, there is pressure to develop sensibleschool-based library systems. Encouraging the readinghabit requires additional supplementary material, andthis in turn implies provision of basic libraries. In manycountries, a national school library service providingsupplementary materials to rural schools on loan hasworked very well. School library services, however,whether national or school-based, are not susceptibleto easy cost-recovery systems and must always be seenas a charge on education budgets.
Library development at all levels is crucial for everysecond stage in a book development project and can beused as an effective emergency measure, particularly atsecondary and vocational levels, in severe cases of bookstarvation. Library loan schemes (book banks) whichuse multiple textbook sets and are costed to recoupinvestment out of loan charges or school fees can alsobe satisfactorily initiated.
This final point is most important. Those responsiblefor textbook projects must continually bear in mindthat their objective is not simply to get satisfactorybooks into schools but also to assist students to developa habit of reading which they will carry with thembeyond their school years.
Reference
de Freitas. D. 1984. Copyright and the Developing Countries.London: Commonwealth Secretariat.
6,ti
4
Using Textbooks to Improve the Quality ofEducation
Adriaan M. Vet:moor
Educational investments in developing countries havebeen successful in achieving their quantitative objec-tives. Two decades of World Bank lending for educationhave provided 4 million school places in the developingworld. The record for qualitative objectives is not sofavorable, however. The evidence is less concrete, butthe impression is that many projects have experiencedconsiderable difficulty attaining their anticipated quzl-itative performance levels. Recent reviews of Bank-sup-ported projects highlight these concerns.
Romain (1985), in a review of World Bank lendingin primary education, found that "little is known of howeffectively the new curricula are being applied . . . im-plementing large-scale national reforms of primary ed-ucation, especially in regard to practical subjects, hasproven to be quite risky . . . The search should thereforebe intensified for reforms which are replicable." Hawk-ridge (1985) reviewed the World Bank's experience withdistance education projectsusually for informal adulteducation projects. He found no convincing evidenceof the cost-effectiveness of these add-on projects, 2ndthe experiences typically were not replicated. Haddad(1985) reviewed the Bank's experience with teachertraining: "Most of the teacher training components withqualitative objectives were not assessed. The few thatwere fell more on the unsatisfactory, Ade, either becausehuman and physical resources were not adequate orbecause the attitude of trainees was negative." Searle'sreview of World Bank textbook projects in chapter 2found substantial achievements and significant short-comings.
The questions raised by these reviews are cr,:cial.Without improvement in quality, many of the potentialbenefits associated with the tremendous growth of en-rollment in developing countries may never reach fru-ition. Research evidence and Bank experience indicate
52
the considerable contribution that textbooks and otherinstructional materials can make to effective teachingand to improving the quality of education.
In this chapter, the textbook issue is explored fromtwo anglesfirst, the choice of intervention strategy;second, the choice of implementation strategy. Con-straints imposed by a country's stage of educationaldevelopment are vital considerations in both choices.This chapter suggests a typology of projects and sketchesbriefly the key features of an implementation strategyfor each. A close fit between the stage of educationaldevelopment, the nature of the intervention, and theimplementath,r strategy is essential if textbook projectsare to contribute to the improvement of educationalquality.
World Bank Assistance for Improvement inQuality
Nearly 80 percent of the education projects financedby the World Bank between 1964 and 19E4 includedcomponents designed to improve the quality of edu-cation. The total cost of these components amountedto $6.3 billionnearly 60 percent of Bank lending foreducation during that period.
A review of programs to improve quality supportedby the World Bank found that a number of methodswere effective in increasing students' success both inacademic performance and in the employment market.The principal method of improving quality was curric-ulum change, which figured in 85 percent of the changeprograms. Teacher training was recognized as the nextmost important method, figuring in 65 percent of thechange programs. Other important strategies to im-prove quality were organizational strengthening (50
63
percent), the provision of textbooks (32 percent), andinstruction through distance education.
In the first decade of Bank lending for education,textbooks and educational materials were consideredrelatively insignificant and were rarely linked to broaderprograms to improve quality. Often the provision oftextbooks was an isolated, unsupported input. Such un-supported inputs have now virtually disappeared, andat present textbooks are almost always provided in con-junction with other elements of educational change suchas curriculum modification, organizational strength-ening, and teacher training.
Textbooks and Stages of EducationalDevelopment
Textbook projects vary tremendously in their specificeducational objectives. For example, in a country suchas Sierra Leone where there are no books in the class-rooms and where many teachers have no professionalqualifications, the immediate objective will be to intro-duce simple, relatively structured books and teachers'manuals. Considerations of curriculum and content willbe secondary in these early stages of improving quality.By contrast, in a comparatively advanced country suchas Malaysia, the provision of diversified reading mate-rials is a key element of a comprehensive program toimprove quality by improving both curriculum contentand teaching methods. In short, the design ofa textbookproject reflects a country's level of educational devel-opment.
Beeby (1966, 1986) has conceptualized educationaldevelopment as a four-stage growth process. His modelcan be adapted and broadened to include the role oftextbooks and educational materials as ingredients inimproving quality. Table 4-1 illustrates the four-stagegrowth process in which Hall's (1978) empirical re-search findings and the suggestions of Heyneman (1984)are combined with Beeby's model (1986).
Improving educational quality is a comprehensive de-velopmental process. Beeby (1966) estimates that "itmight take .. . a decade or two to make the most ofnew buildings, new equipment and hardest of all, newfreedom." World Bank experience confirms this view.In Haiti, the Bank has been supporting reform of pri-mary education since 1978, and the reform is expectedto continue until well into the 1990s. In Ethiopia, theBank has been supporting continuing primary educa-tion reform programs since the early 1970s.
All elements of a programteachers, texts, curric-ulums, and teaching methodsmust be congruous andat the same developmental stage. It is a certain recipefor failure to expect unskilled teachers to use textbooksdesigned for use by teachers who are full-fledged profes-
Using Textbooks to Improve the Quality of Education 53
sionals. Bank experience clearly demonstrates that suc-cessful interventions to improve quality have nearly al-ways resulted from comprehensive programs addressingmost, if not all, the change elements in table 4-1. Suchinterventions are designed to begin at the existing stageof educational development and to progress throughmore advanced stages.
Size and Scale of Textbook Projects
The fit between a textbook project and the devolop-mental stage of the educational system depends on anumber of variables. Textbook projects can be classifiedaccording to the size of the innovation and scale of theprogram. The size of the innovation is the extent of thedeviation from routine classroom procedures and prac-tices. The scale of the program refers to the number ofschools affected by it. Table 4-2 illustrates differentcombinations of size and scale.
The high-low distinctions in table 4-2 do not repre-sent clear-cut divisions but rather a continuum alongwhich projects can be placed. A low-scalelow-size casesuch as equipping n project institutions is verystraightforward; but although this size and scale of op-eration present few problems, such efforts cannot achievebroad improvements in quality. The low-scalehigh-size case is often used as a first step toward more am-bitious high-scalehigh-size operations. The high-scalelow-size will ofteit be appropriate in desperate situationswhere supplying the scilgols with textbooks is the toppriority.
The Role of Textbooks in Improving Quality
Stages of growth relate to both size and scale of change(see table 4-1). For programs designed to move an ed-ucation system from the unskilled to the mechanicalstage, the high-scalelow-size variation is otter appro-priate. Such an approach fits the situation of manyAfrican countries, where teachers are often untrainedand poorly motivated, isolated in rural areas, and lack-ing any kind of professional support. There even themost minimal resources of textbooks and materials areconspicuously absent, cur; Iculum subtleties are irrel-evant, and teachers have no experience with either ex-perimentation or innovation. In these situations, deliv-ery of even the fundamentals is a step towardimprovement in quality.
Once the fundamentalsa minimum of teachertraining, essential instructional materials, and a basicoperational structure for discipline and supervisionhave Len taken care of, the system has moved into themechanical stage. At that point, attention can be paidto introducing some diversity in instructional tech-niques. Textbooks and teachers' manuals are essential
64
54 Adriaan M. Verspoor
Table 4-1. Stages of Improvement in Quality
Trailers
UnskilledIlbeducated, untrained.questionable mastery ofsubject content orteaching techniques,often isol.ted anupoorly motivated
MechanicalLower secondary education. little profes-sional training.moderate subject mas-tery incidental contactwith colleaguesthrough in- servicetraining, some interestin professionalimprovement out easilydiscouraied
RosinSecondary educationtrained. adequate sub-ject mastery incidentalcontact with col-leagues. interested inimproving student per-formance if adequateincentives are provided
Profess:onalWell-educated, well-trained, good subjectmastery, frequent con-tact with colleagues,reader of professionalpublications, interestedin improving studentperformance
(umculurs
Narrow subject content. emphasis on 3Rs, low standardshigh wastageaccepted
Highly structuredemphasis on three Itsstandards imposed byexaminations, repeti-tion attepted as ameans to maintainuniformity
Curriculum goalsbegin to broaden butsyllabus still heavilydominated by examination in principleopportunities foradaptation and expenmentation exist littleattention to emo-tionahcreative devel-opment of childconcern is preventionof failure
Meaning and under-standing stressed inwider curriculumallowance for varietyof content andmethods, considerableattention to emotionaland creative develop-inent of students
Textbooks and othermatertali
One textbook per classused by leacher neartotal absence ofinstructional mate-rials
One or two textbooksper student in coresubjects
Several textbooksailable des lations
and selective use ofavailable text suppltof materials adequatesmall .,chord libran
Broad availabilitt oftextbooks supplementare reading materialsand reference bookswell stocked schoollibrary. v, tv ofinstruct) aa) mate-rials
Teal hmqtechniques
lieLitatio.i, rotelearning and memonzing students copsoff blackboard noindividualization
bupenlitonrapport
Teat her reactton toInfo, atton
Pot Wileharm'
Memorization slavishadherence to turretilium short termat tivities and objettoes rigid applicationof one instruttuinaltet hnique
Memorization still butincreasing attempt, tointroduce learning lwdoing medium termplanning using textbooks and materials ina more goal-orientedway broiled variationsome tracking of stu-dents
Selt-generated habitsof learning abilitt toinvestigate new ideaslonger-term instructional planning allowsteacher to adapt useof materials and curnculum sequence to
student needs old'vidualized or multigroup instruction
Sporadit focused onadministrative controland compliance withregulations
Occasional focused oncompliance in-senitetraining infrequentfocused on dissemina-tion of structured programs, emphasizes
standardized applica-tion of curriculumsand materials
Supemsion more Ire-quent and less ori-ented towardcompliance in-servicetraining more fre-quent. emphasizes theapplic. gin ofteachiiii, role of prin-cipal as source ofknowledge becomesmore important
The principal becomessource of pedagogicalsupport external sup-port and assistanceare available on a con-tingent basis, trainitigemphasizes the devel-opment of professionalskills. allowingteacher to selectappropriate instructional approach ineach situation
Ignorance contusionand nonapplication
t'ncerta.n about usetocused on personalmastery. dilution ofinnovation to adapt topersonal, professionalcapacity and motiva-tion
Skeptical about imme-diate effects willingand able to makehonest effort, will toto adapt innovationfor ease of classroommanagement andstandardized applica-tion
Needs of students iscentral locus willingto try and test alter-native approachestontident about ownability to master andadapt innovation to titneeds of particulargroup of students
structure andprovide strut luredteachers guides texthooks and minimalinstructional matenals 'rain leathers insuhjett matter and alew bask teachingtechniques helpteachers perceive needfor improvement
Broaden curriculumincrease sublet' mas-tery training introduce a few' simpletechniques tractor,guides and textbooksset standards entortedhs exams increasetonlidente ()I teachersthrough training andschool cod support
Teaching morefocused on understanding some doersits and ilexibilitt tanbe introduced to theurriculum ()hie% twes
tan he broadened toinclude attention toemotional and treatisedevelopment promoteprotessional est hange
between teachers
Innovation becomespermanent teatureleathers t:_m heencouraged to hehaseand perceive themseises as protessionals
Sources Adapted from Berhy 11966) Hall (Pitti and itetneman (NM)
instruments in helping teachers overcome their un-certainty and become more confident about their mas-tery of the subject and their dealings with students.Gradually, more ambitious innovations can be tried,
Table 4-2. Innovation Profiles
Scale ofinnovation High
High Textbooks producedand distributed to allschools as part of newnational curriculum.
Low Books and materialsdeveloped for newcurriculum as a pilotin a few schools.
Source: Author.
Size of innovation
Low
Textbooks supplied toall schools, using anexisting curriculum.
Textbooks supplied toa few schools, usingan existing curric-ulum.
V
diversity can be considered, and multigrade teaching(probably not more than two or three grades) can beintroduced.
When the teachers have developed sufficient subjectmastery and self-confidence to attain the upper levelsof the mechanical stage, objectives to improve qualitycar become more ambitious. As the basic teaching tech-niques become increasingly routine, the focus of effortsto improve quality can shift from the teacher to thestudent. Within the constraints of a system that tendsto be heavily dominated by examinations, the intro-duction of flexibility and variety in the teaching processallows teachers some latitude in adapting to the needsof groups of students. At this stage, teachers will havebecome sufficiently self-confident to handle diversity inthe classroom. The availability of textbooks and instruc-tional materials will also need to become much more
r",)
diversified. A small school library meets the instruc-tional objectives of this stage very well.
At the higher levels of the routine stage, curriculumobjectives shift gradually from memorization and pas-sive learning to investigation and the discovery of mean-ing. Instruction in the classroom can become increas-ingly individualized, with teachers demonstratingprofessionalism in diagnosing individual learning po-tentials and problems, providing learning opportuni-ties, and helping students overcome difficulties in wayssuited to the particular needs of each. A large supplyof textbooks, reference books, and instructional mate-rials from which the student acid teacher can choosehas to be available at this stage to accommodate a varietyof immediate learning needs.
Clearly, textbooks make an important contributionto improving the quality of education in all stages ofeducational development. They can be effective acrossthe size-scale continuum and can be designed to fit thespecific stage of educational growth prevailing in eachcountry. To move from the unskilled to the mechanicalstage, a low-sizehigh-stale type of project will oftenbe the most appropriate. To move from the routine stageto the professional stage or to make progress withinthe professional stage-- i ligh-size high-scale opera-tions must be envisaged. A pilot is often necessary totest the effectiveness of a particular intervention in aparticular setting. Teaching is a very idiosyncratic ac-tivity .t every stage of educational development, andthere are few general recipes for effective teaching thathave universal applicability.
Designing the Implementation Strategy
A well-designed implementation strategy addressesfour issues:
Delivering the programSustaining the programDealing with uncertaintyProcuring the inputs.
For each type of project discussed above, the strategywill be different, as summarized in table 4-3.
The twc critical elements for implementing a text-book project are funding and commitment. As dis-cussed, a noninnovative program that simply providestextbooks is often appropriate in countries in the earlystages of educational development. Such a project ischaracterized by careful operational planning and thedissemination of detailed instructions to local imple-menters. Because the technical details of the tasks areclear-cut, the process can be standardized and is rep-
Using Textbooks to Improve the Quality of Education 55
licable. A few test runs will ofter be sufficient to getthe bugs out of the system, and supervision focuses onfollowing standardized procedures. Nevertheless, un-foreseen local complications often crop up and obviatethe implementation of the best-made plans. When thelocal task environment is particularly unstable, an ef-fective response is the creation of an autonomous agency,with a stable source of funding to sustain the program.Furthermore, the achievements of the program need tobe effectively communicated to decisionmakers to de-velop and maintain commitment. Actual textbook pro-curement can be carefully scheduled and handled inlarge volume through international competitive biddingin order to reduce costs.
At the other end of the spectrum are the textbookprojects which are integral parts of ambitious educa-tional reforms (high-sizehigh-scale). Such projectstypically mace considerable demands on the profes-sional capacity and motivation of teachers and are usu-ally feasible only at the higher levels of educationaldevelopmenttoward the upper end of the routine stageor into the professional stage. For such projects, de-tailed operational planning at the central level is seldompossible, and the field experience of local implementersmust be incorporated into the project design. Super-vision is largely performance-oriented. Both the taskenvironment and the effectiveness of the educationalintervention are specific to the local setting, and theyvary accordingly. The design of such projects will usu-ally have to be open-ended and flexibie, with consid-erable learning by doing and extensive testing of cur-riculums and supporting materials.
Management of such projects will need to be closeto the implementation process, and local institutionswith real authority to adjust resource allocations arevital to success. Central management can monitor stra-tegic issues and should be informed of the progress ofimplementation by simple and rapid feedback systems.As in the low-sizehigh-scale project, sustainability willbe heavily influenced by effective communication ofachievements. In this type of project, obtaining the text-books can present complex problems. Many attemptsto implement programs to improve quality have falteredon the rocks of textbook procurement. Bulk procure-ment is often difficult, ant: the adjustments and changesduring project implementation call for frequent ten-dering and contracting.
Progress in both the mechanical and the routine stagesmakes new demands on teachers. Evaluating the impacton student achievement and the reaction of teachers tonewly developed curriculums is essential in every pro-gram of any substance. The educational professionalsmanaging the projects are typically in close contact withthe local implementers. Uncertainty is high, and pro-
66
56 Adriaan id. V spoor
Table 4-3. Imp mentation StrategiesProject type
Low size-high scale High size-low scale High size-high scale
Project type. Providing textbooks forexisting curriculums.
Implementation task ofdelivering the program.
Implementation task of sus-taining the program.
Dealing with uncertainty.
Input procurement.
Management system.
Centralized; dissemination ofwell-structured directives tolocal implementers; supervi-sion of compliance withwork procedures.
Developing competent cen-tral agencies: building grass-root support with rewardsfor compliance; publicity forachievements.
Insulating project fromunstable environmentalinfluences; more detailedplanning and instructionshandled by local imple-menters.
Standardized, large-scaleoften done by specializedstaff; dominant task ofproject implementation unit.
Mechanistic.
Testing new textbooks forinnovative curriculums.
Intensive central manage-ment by specialized profes-sionals; monitoring andevaluation crucial; less directsupervision of local imple-menters.
Increasing cost-efficiency ofprogram; piloting larger-scale applications; attentionto stability of commitmentto project goals of key sup-porters; building professionalsupport group.
Solve problems as theyoccur; frequent personalcontact between managersand implementers; readinessto revise objectives andimplementation strategies.
Small scale and cost mar-ginal to project success.
Organic.
Providing new textbooks,introducing innovative cur-riculums.
Operational managementdecentralized, allowing forparticipation of local imple-menters.
Developing competent cen-tral and local implementingagencies; building supportsystems for local implement-ers; frequent pu'ul. of
results.
Open-ended design; flexibleimplementation strategy;local-level authority to adjustresource allocation; rapiddata feedback system;learning by doing.
Crucial precondition forproject success; batch pro-curement with changes as-nplementation proceeds;specialized staff nearlyalways required.
Input procurement: mecha-nistic; prcgram manage-ment: organic.
Source: Author.
gram revisions are frequent and expected. The cost ofthese experimental and pilot operations is often modest,and so procurement problems are less problematic.
Management Systems
Implementation strategies are important in the de-sign of management systems. (Verspoor 1985 discussesissues relevant to the management of quality-improve-ment proj acts.) Table 4-4 illustrates the main featuresof two organizational prototypes: mechanistic and --
ganic. The low-size-high-scale project is typically mai.aged by an organization with heavily mechanistic char-acteristics; the small-scale-high-size project is typicallymanaged by a strongly organic organization; and thehigh-size-high-scale project has features of both.
Conclusions
Textbook projects represent a flexible and effectiveway of improving the quality of education in developingcountries. Texts serve a variety of objectives under avariety of conditions and at all stages of a country'seducational development. Textbooks are familiar andnonthreatening to teachers. They are relatively inex-pensive and require little or no maintenance. They areideally suited to progressive diversification and individ-ualization in the classroom, which is the dominant ob-jective of most programs to improve quality (yet theone presenting teachers with the most difficulty). Im-provement in quality is a gradual and continuing pro-cess. Textbooks play a critical role in supporting thisprocess at the classroom level. Ultimately, stable fund-ing and strong institutional management of textbook
6 "'
Table 4-4. Mechanistic and Organic FormsAlecha:listk Organic
Tasks are broken down intospecialized, separate tasks.
Tasks are rigidly defined.
Strict hierarchy of authorityand control. Many rules.
Knowledge and control oftasks are centralized at topof organization.
Communication is vertical.
Source' Author.
Employees contribute tocommon task of depart-
t.
Td , are adjusted and rede-fined through employeeinteractions.
Less hierarchy of authorityand control. Few rules.
Knowledge and control oftasks are located anywherein organization.
Communication is lateral.
development, manufacturing, and distribution are nec-essary to support the process of improving educationalquality.
References
Beeby, Charles E. 1966. The Quality of Education in Devel-oping Countries. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
. 1986. "The Stages of Growth in Educational Sys-
Using Textbooks to Improve the Quality of Education 57
tems." In Stephen P. Heyneman and Daphne Siev White,eds., The Quality of Education and Econonu Develop-ment. pp. 37-44. A World Bank Symposium. Washington,D.C.: World Bank.
Haddad, Wadi. 1985. "Teacher Training: A Review of WorldBank Exp, rience." World Bank Education Department Ed-ucation and Training Series Report EDT21. Washington,D.C. Processed.
Hall, Gene E. 1978. "Concerns-Bawd Inservice Teacher Train-ing: An Overview of the Concepts, Research and Practice."Paper presented at Conference on School-Focused InserviceTraining, March 2-3.1978. Bournemouth, U.K. Processed.
Hawkridge, David. 1985. "General Operational Review o; Dis-tance Education." World Bank Education and Training De-partment. Washington, D.C. Processed.
Heyneman, Stephen P. 1984. "Improving the Quality of Ed-ucation in Malaysia." World Bank Education and TrainingDepartment. Washington, D.C. Processed.
Romain, Ralph. 1985. "Lending in Primary Education: BankPerformance Review, 1962-1983." World Bank Educationand Training Department, Education and Training Series,Report EDT20 Washington, D.C. Processed.
Searle, Barbara. 1985. "General Operational Review of Text-books." World Bank Education and Training Department,Education and Training Series, Report EDT1. Washington,D.C. Processed.
Verspoor, Adriaan M. 1985. "Project Management for Edu-cational Change." World Bank Education and Training De-partment, Education and Training Series, Report EDT12.Washington, D.C. Processed.
11.=1 Part II
Policy Issues in Textbook ProgramDevelopment
The four chapters in this part analyze in more detail aselected set of the policy issues or problems outlinedin part I.
As noted in chapter 1, ,in overarching policy choicerelates to the balance between public and private activityin textbook development. In chapter 5, Savaran Gopi-nathan discusses the complex and often conflicting re-lations between private and public textbook publishing.Although the illustrative material is drawn from Asiannations, the general issues and patterns appear to becommon throughout much of the developing world.Gopinathan notes the historical reasons for the greatincrease in public activity in recent years in developingnations and the problems and constraints that this hasproduced among private publishers. He discusses theadvantages and disadvantages associated with each kindof publishing and printing, and he argues for a balancebetween the two.
In the United States, textbook publishing is the re-spor-.ibility of the private sector. As Harriet Tyson-Bern-stein points out in chapter 6, however, even in thisstrongly market-oriented and wealthy nation, indirectgovernment control of textbook content and design ispervasive. Because cf the highly decentralized, multi-layered U.S. educational system, private textbook pub-lis'iers are caught in the middle of social and ideologicalconflicts which are played out in the political arena.This, along with the misapplication by educators and
59
legislators of "scientific" educational principles (for ex-ample, readability formulas), has produced a situationin which seemingly good pedagogical and social ideasare often converted into educationally inferior textbooksby publishers who, if they are to remain in business,have no choice but to bow to all the conflicting pres-sures. Chapter 6 describes patterns ,,ihich poorer na-tions would be well-advised to avoid as they developtheir own textbook systems. It also iodicates that thechoices and problems discussed in this book are notunique to the developing nations; they must be facedat all levels of development.
One of the most complex and least understood prob-lems in textbook development is national and inter-national copyright. In chapter 7, Philip Altbach thor-oughly discusses the current status and historicaldevelopment of international copyright arrangements,which are seen by some developing nations as imped-iments to the free flow of information and a means bywhich the already powerful creators of knowledge main-tain control over its production and distribution. At thesame time, participation in and respect for internationalcopyright conventions are important for the develop-ment of viable domestic publishing operations. Altbachnotes that nations; attitudes toward copyright tend tocharge over time, that there are several distinct :-. . Jz
of copyright legislation with different unkterlyil.2, unua-standings of the appropriate balance between private
60 Part II
and collective rights and obligations, and that fewer andfewer nations are ignoring copyright provisions. At thetechnical level, Loth domestic and international copy-right laws are highly complex and evolving. Specializedlegal advice should be sought about copyright law whenembarking on a textbook development project.
Paper supply problems have seriously interfered withthe schedules of many textbook programs or signifi-
cantly increased their costs. In chapter 8. Paul Eastmanreviews the current and predicted world supply anddemand for paper, notes the difficulty that many de-veloping nations have encountered in acquiring ade-quate, timely, and least-cost supplies of paper for theirtextbooks, and outlines several strategies for overcom-ing these problems.
7 o
5
And Shall the Twain Meet? Public and PrivateTextbook Publishing in the Developing World
Savaranan Gopinathan
In developing countries, thf. relation between the pri-vate and public sectors in the production and dissem-ination of textbooks is a complex one.' The increasingparticipation of governments, in some instances withthe support of r "Iti lateral agencies, is an importantforce in the provision of textbooks. This participationhas not been universally welcomed, however, and insome countries there exists a state of misunderstandingand even confrontation between public and private of-ficials. A more collaborative effort is requii ed to meeteffectively the enormous challenge of providing text-books.
This chapter addresses three topics. The first sectionfocuses on the various factors that influence textbookproduction and distribution in developing countries. Itis not possible to understand present-day publishingproblems without reference to historical, educational,cultural-political, and economic factors and, more im-portant, how they interact. Naturally, these factors dif-fer from country to country, and recommendations forchange must be sensitive to this variation.
The second section is concerned with the relationbetween textbook publishing and general publishing.Broad policies related to publishing need to considerboth domains, bearing in mind that the needs, require-ments, and forces impinging on each domain differ (forexample, the government is far more interested in text-books than in general publishing). Yet the two domainsare linked, and policies proposed for one will likelyinfluence the other.
The third section providos a scheme for analyzingpublic-private relations together with a typology of re-lations and the consequences likely to flow from them.Illustrative examples are drawn from different coun-tries.
61
The Importance of Textbooks in Education
In spite of the changes in educational - lilosophy,aims, and pedagogy that have permeat NI school systemsin the developing countries, the central importance ofthe textbook has not been seriously diminished. Indeed,there appears now to be a renewal of interest based onempirical evidence of the importance of textbooks inacademic achievement. As Heyneman, Farrell, and Se-pulveda-Stuardo (1978) stated. "From the evidence sofar, the availability of books appears to be the mostconsistent factor in predicting academic achievement.It is positive in 15 out of 18 statistics (83 per cent).This is, for example, mom favorable than the 13 out ofthe 24 (54 per cent) recently reported for teacher train-ing." Aprieto (1983) cites a Philippines Textbook Boardstudy indicating that children who use books achievemore than those who do not, and children who useproject textbooks consistently achieve more than thosewithout this advantage.
Governments know that history and civics textbooksare valuable for promoting national identity. In manydeveloping and some developed countries, the govern-ment has assumed control over the publishing andprinting of textbooks so as to ensure that they serve anationalistic purpose.
Several developments in the recent past have thrustthe preparation, printing, and distribution of textbooksinto the forefront of educational debate. Education hasattained the status of a universal human right, and inthe developing world, educational systems have greatlyexpanded. As a consequence of such expansionofswelling numbers and curricular diversificationcon-siderable pressure has been imposed on textbook pro-duction. And because governments are more and m , e
7i
62 Savaranan Gopinathan
concerned with qualitative improvements in education,they must also be concerned about textbooks.
Clear policies must be developed about textbooks andtheir place among other educational resources. Ir manycountries, lack of coordinated planning has left the text-book industry in a sorry state. The textbook has beenchallenged by instructional innovationsradio andtelevision, programmed learning, multimedia packages,and language laboratories, among others. All these in-novations have failed to hold their own against the text-book as the prime pedagogical tool in the classroc .As Pearce (1982) has noted, they "have stimulated fur-ther the demand for textbooks rather than replacingthem."
The advent of the computer, however, poses new ed-ucational challenges. In some city schools in the de-veloping world, .omputer-assisted instruction is beingintroduced and computer studies have become part ofthe curriculum. Funds earmarked for the library arebeing redirected to purchase computer systems andsoftoare. The computer's versatility in both educationaland recreational contexts presages an even greater fu-ture impact on the classroom. What consequences willthe computer have for the textbook? Will ti ,loppy diskultimately provide a cheaper meaium than paperboundmaterials? Is t' is the time for heavy investments inprinting capa ty or software production to meet futureeducational needs? Developing countries must makerealistic long-term plans and keep their options open.(These questions are considered in detail in chapters15 and 16.)
Finally, the new infusion of funding from multilateralagencies for textbook production needs to be carefullyexamined. For example, between 1979 and 1983 theWorld Bank funded twenty-nine projects with textbookcomponents. World Bank loans to the Philippines fortextbook projects exceed $100 million and have resultedin the manufacture of 33 million copies of eighty-fournew titles. The funding of government agencies at thesemassive levels, together with the importation of print-ing equipment and the development of new distributionnetworks, naturally has considerable impact on nationalpublishing and printing infrastructures. Few countrieshave contingency plans for coping when the aid pro-grams come to an end.
The textbook production and distribution .r:dustry inthe developing world is confronting major changes andchallenges. Goverment involvement is not always wel-come and is not automatically efficient. Although manyimprovements have taken placemost impressively thedevelopment of an indigenous capacity to write, edit,publish, and distribute textbooksmany serious prob-lems remain, particularly in the relation between publicacid private publishing.
In atten.pting to solve these problems, there are fewanalytical studies that offer guidance. hardly any em-pirical data to draw upon, and no appropriate modelsto bor.w from.2 (The textbook publishing industry inthe United States and the United Kingdom evolved underdifferent historical conditions an.' sociopolitical as-sumptions from those pertaining in developing coun-tries.)
Textbook production has many dimensions histor-ical, educational, cultural, political, economic, tech-nological, and international. At the same time, the healthof the publishing industry is of consequence far beyondthe education sector. The process of providing booksfor a population depends on what is administrativelyfeasible ana nationally acceptable.
The Historical Contest
In most colonial territories, particularly the Britishand French, textbooks became important with the in-troduction of the colonial educational system. This sys-tem required the mastery of a body of knowledge con-tained in textbooks and measured achievement by annualexaminations. The annual examinations regulated pro-motion to advanced grades where new content had tobe learned, and new textbooks were required. The in-troduction and adoption of this educational system isthe historical basis of the modern textbook industry inthe developing world.
The coionized territories possessed little capacity forwriting or producing textbooks, especially because mostavailable presses were devoted to printing newspapersand religious tracts. Almost all the textbooks for use inthe system had to be imported. In many of the Britishcolonies, such publishing houses as Oxford UniversityPress, Longman, Heinemann, and Macmillan were es-tablished essentially as impoi rs of the textbooks usedin Britain. With some vari. on, many of the Britishtexts of the early 1950s like Durell's General Math-ematics, Ridout's English Course, or Mckean's Biol-ogywere used without adaptation well into inde-pendence. There were several reasons for their continueduse: the inferiority of texts produced indigenously, thelack of text writing expertise, the continuance of theCambridge University Overseas Examination system, andthe use of ,:patriate personnel at the ministry of ed-ucation (Gopinathan 1976). Foreign publishers (gen-erally branches of publishers based in the first coloniz-ing countries) continued to dominate and control thetextbook market, even when school curriculums wererevised, often with the aid of expatriate educational ad-visers. For an it dinate period, British textbooks adaptedwith scissors and paste were promoted and eagerly ac-cepted. The links between expatriate curriculum advis-
7Z
ers and foreign textbook publishers were often very close,and these links could be and often were exploited forcommercial gain.
Although foreign publishers reaped vast profits (eventoday, major British textbook publishers depend for theirsurvival on exports), they were also responsible for in-troducing the needed expertise in the indigenous pub-lishing industry. These publishers trained the early writ-ers, editors, illustrators, and printers in the finer pointsof textbook production. In addition they initiated bothgeneral and academic publishing w'th childrens' booksand postgraduate dissertations. Such was the role ofOxford University Press, Heinemann, and Longman inboth Malaysia and Singapore. But few publishers paidmuch attention to general publishing and even fe' :erto publishing in indigenous languages.
The entry of government and commercial publisherinto textbook publishing was determined by other con-siderations. After the departure of the colonists, inde-pendent governments became involved in providing booksto schools, preparing teachers, establishing national ex-aminations, and revising curriculums. National prior-ities included encouraging enrollment, sustaining ex-pansion, and maintaining quality. In the early phase,there was little textbook production, because the fundswere not available. At first, the concern was to imposesome form of supervision over textbooks used in theschools. One result was approved book lists, which citedboth imported and local titles that had been vetted andfound suitable for schools.
Several factor triggered more extensive governmentinvolvement. Among these were the introduction of ase...-nd-language curriculum to reflect the changed so-ciopolitical circumstances and ethnic or regional pres-sure for educational representation. Textbook prices,availability, and distribution to rural tegions becamepolitical issues. Commercial publishers made few effortsto improve quality, and some were seen as indulgingin corrupt practices. There were many motives for greaterpublic involvement--some honorable, some forced bypolitical and economic expediency. In most instances,government decisions addressed the immediate prob-lems rather then the long-term implications.
Indigenous commercial publishers entered the text-book market largely for profit, encouraged by the suc-cess of the foreign publishers and seeking to carve outlucrative niches for themselves. Many Indian publish-ers, for instance, began business as printers or bookimporters. Typically, they began in primary -level pub-lishing, with practicing teachers as their authors andwith sympadietic consideration from their gol. ern-ments. Many of them were also involved in library andstationery supplies or in running the school bookshop.The d .inction between book publisher and bookseller
And Shall the Twain Meet' 63
is more blurred than the distinction between printerand publisher. Many indigenous publishers remainedsmall and undercapitalized, whereas a few went on todevelop considerable expertise.
This pattern of evolution has contributed to the trou-bled relation between government and commercial pub-lishing. Essentially the foreign publishing houses havethe most to lose from government intervention. A sur-vey conducted in India found that at least half the pub-lishers surveyed felt they could survive without textbookpublishing (National Council of Applied Economic Re-search 1976). In Malaysia, even when the Dewan Bahasadan Pustaka (Language and Literary Agency)' controlledthe core textbook market, many enterprising indige-nous publishers developed strengths in peripheral areas(for example, teacher manuals, test materials, work-books, and supplementary readers). In general, how-ever, the few indigenous publishers in developing coun-tries serve only limited markets, and any loss of marketshare has serious consequences for them.
The Educational Environment
The provision of textbooks is affected by changes inthe educational environment. In the last two decades,education has been dramatically transformed in the de-veloping world. By the early 1960s, many r-wly inde-pendent countries recognized the inadequacy of the lib-eral arts curriculum and introduced technical-vocationaleducation. Because training had to relate to the partic-ular country's emerging industrial infrastructure, toavailable materials (timber, cane, and so on), and to theequipment in school workshops, curriculums and text-books had to be country-specific. In Malaysia and Sin-gapore, some of the early textbooks for industrial artswere written by local teachers. Equally significant werethe changes in history and civics, depending upon thecircumstances under which independence was won.Where independence came as a result of struggle, as inIndia and Indonesia, the changes were more extensive.Understandably, the ministries of education were closelyinvolved, and manuscripts were locally written andprinted.
An-ther element in currictillr change was the rec-ognition of widespread inadequacy in the structure ofthe curriculum. This recognition was the result of sev-eral factors. new guidelines from examination author-ities, major cu) riculum reform projects in foreign coun-tries (as with the reform in science education followingSputnik), changes in methodology in traditional sub-jects such as English language teaching, and the grad-ual introduction of a national literature. Sometimes,too, new subjects were introduced to accommodate neweducational needsfor example, domestic science was
64 Savaranan Gopmathan
introduced to cater to the large numbers of girls whoentered the educational system from the 1960s onward.Although such changes were often introduced beforethe textbooks were available, they provided an oppor-tunity for local writers and local publishers to enter thetextbook market.
Another filamentous curriculum change reflected thenew )proach to language education. In some countries(for example, Malaysia), the indigenous language cameto be used as the medium of instruction, whereas inother countries (for example, Singapore), it was taughtas a second language. In countries such as the Philip-pines and India, decisions involved a number of indig-enous dialects as well. In countries such as Thailand(where the indigenous language was always the mainmedium of instruction), recognition of the importanceof English led to the demand for relevant English lan-guage texts. Although there were many national vari-ations, the common factor was the need for new ma-terials.
New markets were created for publishers, but thesegenerally were small (for example, the market for Tamillanguage book? II Singapore). Producing books in theselanguages presented both pedagogical and technicalproblems. In some instances, scientific vocabularies hadto be developed in these "new" languages and new type-faces created.
Cultural-Political Influences
The desire to set history straight and to utilize in-digenous languages represents the outward manifes-tation of a new nationalism in education. In many de-veloping countries, independence presented a hugepolitical challenge, with governments having to fashiona unified political and cultural identity out of disparateethnic groups. Political leaders sought to control ed-ucation as a means of creating a national identity. Inmany countries that meant control over private andethnically separate schools. Textbooks were seen as ameans of instilling common histories and experiences,and nationally administered examinations as a meansof ensuring uniform quality and standards. For in-stance, in India and Malaysia, the concern was not (asin the West) to maintain choice and plurality but ratherto emphasize the commonalities of the national expe-rience and to promote unified national goals. (In manycountries, this is something that has yet to be achieved.)Concern is heightened by he fact that high book prices,late delivery, or (in the case of outlying regions) nodelivery can become political embarrassments. Suchfacts have to be considered when questioning govern-ment involvement in textbook publication.
Economic Constraints
The capacity of a nation to provide adequate textbooksto meet the needs of its educational system depends onits level of economic development, in particular thecapacity and sophistication of its printing Industry. Al-most all developing countries need to Import paper,printing equipment, and inksa drain on foreign ex-change. Financial resources also determine how muchwriters are paid for preparing manuscripts and whetherpub:'s1-. --s and booksellers can secure adequate creditfacilities. Only in the larger countries, or those withbetter than average economic growth, do publishersexist in strength, and there only a handful of companiesare capable of producing an adequate range of titles.
The recent decade has not been kind to textbookproduction efforts of developing countries. As enroll-ment has increased, the priorities have been schoolsand teachers. Government involvement in textbook pro-duction belongs to a later stage of educational devel-opment. Malaysia, for example, has schemes to makefree textbooks available to large numbers of students toovercome the major problem of their high cost. Thereis understandable reluctance to allow commercial pub-lishers and printers to profit from such a policy.
The Intonational Factor
With the adoption of colonial educational institutionscame one-way commercial and ideological traffic in ed-ucational materials from the center to the periphery,from the former colonial power to the former colony.Such traffic has only slightly diminished in intensity.Although developing countries have been able to sub-stitute locally written materials at the elementary andsecondary levels, t'-ie growth in literacy and the expan-sion of higher education have sustained demand forimported books. In addition, developing countries con-tinue to rely on the educational expertise available frommore advanced countries, and often when educationalinnovations are transferred (for example, modern math-ematics or science), educational materials are trans-ferred as well.
Other examples of internationalism in the productionof curriculum materials are the efforts of the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.S.R. to sub-sidize inexpensive editions for higher education in thedeveloping countries. The U.S. scheme has resulted inthe publication of 12 million copies of U.S. titles infifty-seven languages. In 1g83, the Soviet Union ex-ported 24 million copies of books in English, and itcurrently prints more than 2 million hooks a year inthirteen regional Indian kngtiages. Though such schemesresulted in a variety of cheaply available books they
74;
were criticized for their impact on the development ofan indigenous publishing industry.
Recent World Sank initiatives in assisting textbookschemes in selected countries have led to the intro-duction of new elements in pi oduction and distribution.The issues of copyright and book piracy have triggeredconfrontations between publishers of various nations.Finally, there is the concern of U.S. establishment cir-cles to make books a major tool in the ideological warbetween the capitalist and socialist political systems.4
The Relation between Textbook and GeneralPublishing
Both cultural and economic factors are pertinent totextbook and general publishing. In countries such asMalaysia and Indonesia where cultural identity and in-tegrity have been ra "aged by the colonial past and bycontemporary cultural neocolonialism, the publishingindustry is a vital aspect of cult' ral recovery and na-tionalistic sentiment. In Malaysia, for instance, the de-cision to make Bahasa Malaysia the national languageand major medium of education led to several otherconsequences. The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka was es-tablished to help develop the natismal language, producetextbooks and reference materials, and promote liter-ature in the national language. As a result, both text-book and general publishing have benefited. The De-wan's language development work has influencedscholarly discourse, and its dictionaries have helpedstandardize the languagea boon to textbook writers.Many of the textbook writers and editors who were firstemployed by the Dewan have gone on to other pub-lishing houses to develop both textbook and generalpublishing programs. The conscious effort to promoteliterature has had an enormous effect in both educa-tional and literary spheres. The best literary works soonbecame recommended school literature texts, and theexposure of a large number of young Malaysians to suchworks created a demand for other works in their Ian-guagr. Writing, reading, and publishing in the nationallanguage in Malaysia is on the increase, and both ed-ucational and general publishing are benefitit g.
National economic limitations apply to the develop-ment of general publishing. The need to publish text-books in quantity led to the d_velopment of the infra-structure for general publishing. It was textbookpublishing that provided the writers, editors, illustra-tors, printers, designers, and so on to the industry.General publishing, more demanding of skills in writingand production, at acted the best of them. When for-eign publishers dominated the textbook market, tl- eyseldom used tl- en profits to develop general publishing.
And Shall the Twain Meet' 65
In the few instances where such investment was made,it was marked by hesitancy and abandoned when prob-lems arose.
The constraints in publishing textbooks drive somepublishers in developing countries into general pub-lishing. But general publishing has its problems too: itrequires a high level of skills; markets are small; goodmanuscripts are few; and general books lack a clearlydefined market.
In free-market or semisocialist economies, it is theprivate publishers who venture into general publishing.There the government generally confines its direct pub-lishing activities to textbooks and a small range of of-ficial publications. Such ventures can be successfulin Singapore, for instance, a Ministry of Culture pub-lication entitled Singapore: An Illustrated History, 1941-1984 sold more than 20,000 copies within a year. It is,however, generally the private publisher who is attunedto market needs and willing to take the plunge. Oftenthe contacts established with school librarians whileselling textbooks and reference materials alert the pub-lisher to market needs and the profits to be made byimported books. A monolithic government publisherlacks the flexibility to produce a small but varied rangeof titles on diverse topics in response to subtle markettrends. It is the commercially oriented publisher whotranslates the broad cultural objectives of the govern-ment into books on history, politics, religion, fine arts,and biography.
Library facilities are another important factor. In de-veloping countries, institutional purchases are vital togeneral publishing, and here government support isessential. Once again government and private interestsand actions are closely interwoven.
Features of Public and Private Publishing
The prime reason for government involvement intextbook production is control over the educational sys-tem. The ministry of education is responsible for theeducational goals of the nation. The deficiencies in someprivate efforts prompted greater government involve-ment in textbook production. In Singapore, greater gov-ernment involvement in education resulted from 2 ma-jor report which recommended comprehensive changes,new textbooks, and retraining of teachers in order toachieve the revised education goals. In Malaysia, theintroduction of an indigenous language created chal-lenges that the existing publishing infrastructure couldnot meet. In the Philippines and Indonesia, the expan-sion of the educational system caused massive demandsfor textbooks which could not be met without govern-ment involvement. Beeby ( I:779) has noted that in In-donesia, L ven in Grade 6 where textbooks would seem
l)
66 Savaranan Gopinathan
to be completely essential, only 40 per cent of the stu-dents in the poorer provinces had a book of any kind."Aprieto (1983) comments that a review of textbook pro-vision in the Philippines found:
Supply was irregular, insufficient and the qualPy oftenpoor. Development of new textbooks for pu3licationtook an average of six years. It was estimated that inthe public schools in any subject, there was only onebook for every 9.8 pupils in Grades 1-4, one for every11.5 pupils in Grades 5-6, and one for every 8.5pupils in secondary school . . . Most available text-books were substandard physically and pedagogically
. illustrations were often more than 10 years old.
Furthermore, the greater demands on the educa-tional system and the poor economic growth in the1970s combined to make the situation worse. What wasneeded was a coordinated response to the problem: in-tegrated planning and the systematic growth of pro-duction, printing, and distribution infrastructures. Boththe printing and the distribution of massive numbersof textbooks are large logistical problems. For example,India's yearly requirement of 200 million textbooks callsfor immense paper stocks, high-speed printing andbinding capacity, and an efficient distribution system.In many developing countries such capacity simply doesnot exist. In the Philippines, the Textbooks Board Sec-retariat had to establish separate provincial warehousesin addition to th ntral Metro Manila warehouse toensure that the L ,ss were efficiently distributed.
There are, however, disadvantages to government in-volvement in the publishing and distribution of text-books. A large bureaucracy tends to be slow-movingand cumbersome. Linking publishing to the nationaleconomic plan can make it vulnerable to fluctuatiorin the budget. It may become necessary to adhere strictlyto govemment rules on expenditure (for example. tendersystems). Although certain economies of 6cale favor thecoordination of printing and distribution, there are manyhidden costs to government involvement. For example,the wages and overhead of government employees anddepartments employed in publishing, printing, and dis-tribution may not be included in the cost accounting.Another limitation is that government publishing of-ficers are remote from their colleagues in the com-mercial sector and may be ignorant of current trendsand realities. Pearce (1982: 6) has summed up the lackof integrated planning in government publishing:
It appears that government Tl'OS (textbook publishingorganizations) have not always been planned as acomponent of a program to produce all the booksneeded for life-long education, or as a well-definedintegrated part of the book publishing industry as awhole. Often enormous resources have been poured
into school textbook schemes by governments in Locsbut insufficient thought has been given to how schoolleavers would maintain their literacy, how librarieswould be established, what the effect of the textbookprogram would be on private-sector publishers, andwhat the role of the bookshops is in the community.
Conversely, commercial publishers are small scale, ableto be flexible and responsive to changing needs, andable to handle small runs for specialized markets, main-tain low overheads, and keep prices down. Their profitmotivation gives them a strong inc "ntive to be efficient,and their diversity ensures a varied output.
Successful commercial publishers often discover andexpand an export market for their books. Several pub-lishers in Singapore and Malaysia have turned multi-national in just this way. One Singapore publisher whobegan as a bookseller and small-time Chinese publisherwas later successful at English-language publishing andhas been involved overseas through branch offices inMalay- and Tamil-language publishing. Such expansionis possible for private companies able to establish le-gitimate branches in another country, whereas govern-ment-sponsored books tend to travel poorly.
The Interaction between Public and PrivatePublishing
The interactions among many elements and insti-tutions make the relation between public and privatepublishing very complex. One way of mapping textbookpreparation, production, distribution, and use is indi-cated in figure 5-1, which identifies nine processes andfifteen stakeholders.
The relative influence of the stakeholders depends onthe peculiarities of the national context. In Singapore,for example, parent-teacher associations and subject as-sociations exert little influence, whereas the influenceof educational administrators and curriculum devel-opers is considerable. In MalP;Kia, where the mediumof instruction is both an educational and a politicalissue, institutions like the Oman and the universitiescan exert considerable pressure. If figure 5-1 is adaptedto the particular national context, it can be useful inanalyzing the situation and teasing out the linkages.
The textbook provision process can be disaggregatedinto four core stages and two supplementary ones. Thefirst stage involves the establishment of educational pol-icies and guidelines for curricular materials. Suchguidelines could be related to the use of various lan-guages in education, teaching methods, schemes to pro-vide textbooks free or on loan, funding levels for schoollibrary purchases, and procedures for the vetting andapproval of textbooks and supplementary materials. Inaddition to official specifications for curriculum ma-
7C
Figure 5-1. Factors and Processes in Textbook Preparation, Production, Distribution, and Use
Administrativefactors
Textbook publishingelements and processes
Educationadministrators
Schools/
teachers
Parent-
teacher
associationSubject
associationTeacher
trainers
Writers,writers'association Illustrators Pupils
Printers,printers'association
Research
findingsAidagencies
Publislwrs'association Libraries Booksellers
Language
association.creative writers'association
1. Establishment of education andcurriculum policies. for example. me-dium of instruction. sel'int of text-books. pupil-textbook atm book loanschemes.
2. Specifications for curriculum mate-rials
3 Preparation of core and supplemen-tary materials
Selection of content. approaches.formatSelection of writersand illustratorsEditing
4 Printing. quality. delivery dates.technical expertise. printing supplies
5. Pricing
6 Vetting
7 DistributionCentralized
Decentralized
8 Evaluation. revising, updating
9 Teacher training
p-I P...1
i
68 Savaranan Copinathan
terials (in some countries there are detailed physicalspecifications), there are concerns about their utiliza-tion. The orientation and retraining of teachers are sig-nificant matters involving the ministry of education(MOE) and curriculum development committees. Train-ing in the use of the new materials is generally theresponsibility of teacher training institutions.
In chronological order, the four core stages in theprovision of textbooks are preparation, printing andpricing, distribution, and evaluation and revision. Prep-aration entails the selection of content to meet curric-ular goals, the choice of methodology, the recruitmentand supervision of writers and illustrators, and decisionson format and final editing. This stage, like the eval-uation and revision stage, is concerned with issues ofeducational quality and appropriate, up-to-date peda-gogy. In countries that do not have a large and devel-oped educational infrastructure, foreign consultants maybe used. At the preparation stage, cultural and educa-tional issues dominate. Disputes over examples, illus-trations, fair representation of minority groups, or thequality of language in the texts typically occur.
In the printing and pricing stage, economic concernsdominate. In mary countries, printing is more efficient,perhaps because some of the basic skills can be learnedon the job and because equipment has been upgradedfer commercial printing. There are often more trainingopportunities for printing industry personnel than forillustrators or writers. Even so, the huge demand fortextbooks and high cost of paper stocks are beyond thecapacity of most printers in developing countries. Text-book pricing depends on both guidelines from the MOE
and printing costs. The vetting stage varies from coun-try to country; most MOES must approve all texts forschool use. In some countries, the fully printed text isrequired; in others a sample printed section and manu-script is sufficient. In some instances, there is a chargefor review, depending on the education level.
The printing stage is followed by distribution. Themagnitude of the distribution problem is determinedby the size of the country, difficulty of access, and thetransportation network. Because printing presses aregenerally located in the urban centers, distributing booksto outlying areas may present a problem. The distri-bution system is also affected by schemes to lend books;when the books are not sold through bookstores, theycan be shipped directly from printer to school.
Finally, there is the evaluation-revision stage. Thisis without doubt the most neglected. Very few publish-ers, public or commercial, recognize the value of sys-tematic evaluation. When books are replaced, it is usu-ally because the curriculum has changed rather thanbecause evaluation has indicated flaws.
The complexities of the book provision process are
influenced by the roles, needs, and wants of a largenumber of institutions and associations. To take justone example, decisions about the role of the privatesector in education influence the roles played by variousother institutions. Where the government alone deter-mines the curriculum, a tender system is used to selectpublishers. Often both the individual publishers (ascompetitors) and their trade association (representingthe members' interest) will be involved in regulatingthe tender system. Similarly, the price constraints onpublishers will influence printers or printers' associa-tions where large quantities are required. The pat icularnational context determines the optimal public-privaterelation.
A Typology of Public-Private Relations
Three broad types of public-private relations existpublic monopolies, private monopolies, and a combi-nation of the two. Table 5-1 displays the complcx re-lations in a small sample of countries. Most countriestend toward greater rather than lesser public involve-ment in textbook production, with Viet Nam being thebest example of extensive government involvement. Mostcountries fall into the mixed category, with differentpatterns of interaction at different stages.
Public Monopolies
In a public monopoly, the government controls theproduction of textbooks. Almcst complete control islikely to be exercised over curriculums and curriculummaterials. Printing and distribution are also likely tobe centralized, but some private involvement may bepermitted under strict supervision and cost controls.Teachers and schools in the educational system will berequired to take on such additional responsibilities aswriting and illustrating textbooks (with little prospectof royalty) and assisting in their distribution. There islittle scope for professional or industrial organizations,such as teacoers' unions and writers', printers', andpublishers' associations.
Public control has both benefits and disadvantages.Benefits are great in the development of textbooks. anddisadvantages are great in printing and distribution.Close control over the curriculum and content of textscan lead to a closer fit between educational objectivesand teaching materials. A systematic program to trainteachers in the use of new pedagogy and curriculummaterials is more likely. The public sector draws onmore specialistscurriculum specialists, Leachers.teacher trainers, evaluation sped4lists, and the like.
Although lower costs may result from economies of
And Shall the Twain Meet? 69
Table 5-1. Range of National Practices in Selected Countries for Publishing of Primary TextsCountry Supervision Publication Distribution Implementation Evaluation
Bangladesh National Curriculum NCTB NCTB
and Textbook Board(NCTB)
Maldives EducationDevelopment Centre(Ea))
Nepal Curriculum, Textbook
Republicof Korea
moe, Board ofEducation, a.Korean EducationalDevelopment Institute(Km)
Viet Nam Department ofGeneral Education
Sri Lanka
Thailand
EducationalPublicationsDevelopment (EPD)
Office of NationalPrimary EducationCommission (oisipt.c)and Office of PrivateEducationCommission (opEc),MOE
Malaysia Central CurriculumCommittee (ccc)
Singapore CurriculumDevelopment Instituteof Singapore (cDls),Ministry of Education
ECD
CTSC and JanakEducationalMaterial Centre
MOE, KEDI, andNationalTextbookCompilationCompany(wrcc)
EducationalPublishingHouse
Publishers, EPD
Department ofCurriculumand InstructionDevelopment(um) andKurusabhaPrintingEnterprise
Publishers
ECU, MOE
Governmentprinter,Department ofEducation
TextbooksDistributionAgency
Chief editor,distribution unit
Kurusabha anduciu
Publishers
cols, publishers Publishers
NCTB DirectorateGeneral of PrimaryEducation accordingto policies laid downby MOE
ECD, MOE teachers
School AdvisoryServices Departmentinspector
Department ofGeneral Education,teachers
Circuit educationofficers, principals,teachers
DCIC, OPEC, andCNPEC
Laid down by MOE
CC C
NCTB (DirectorateGeneral of PrimaryEducation) subjectcommittees(including teachersand headmasters)
ECI; (Principals,headmasters,teachers)
Inspectorate. moESubject Specialist
Textbooks EvaluationBoard of theMinistry ofEducation
CurriculumDevelopment Centre(coc)
OCID
Textbook Bureau andsubject specialists
MOE MOE. C111S
Source. Adapted trom Unesco (1985).
scale and centralized purchase of paper, in many de-veloping countries public printing capacity is grosslyinadequate. Bureaucratic rules, competing governmentpriorities, and general mismanagement cause delays andresult in insufficient book quantities, all of which canoutweigh the cost advantages of centralized printing.The same problems are likely to arise in distribution.Government transportation facilities are prey to con-flicting needs and cannot always be relied upon. Wherethere is a public monopoly, private facilities will bepoorly developed and unable to take up the slack.
Private Monopolies
Because education is so important to the state, com-pletely uncontrolled private textbook production doesnot exist. Within each stage of textbook publishing,there are areas of most and least private enterprise. Inpredominantly private situations, the government con-tinues to control curriculum decisions while commer-cial publishers make the major editorial and productiondecisionswhich levels (primary, secondary, postsec-ondary) to concentrate on, which languages to publish
8t)
70 Savaranan Gopinalhan
in, and the range of supplementary materials. Teachers(as writers), illustrators, and designers are recruited ona competitive basis, and a free market in the offer andpurchase of skills exists. However, commercially pro-duced materials need to pass vetting boards before beingaccepted in schools. In some instances, governmentallyimposed price ranges constrain commercial publishers.Active participation by professional and industrial or-ganizations in the whole process of textbook productionis characterized by more finely tuned decisionmakingstructures.
With private dominance, printing and distributionoperations and facilities are decentralized anu are dis-tinct from (although still controlled by) the publishingoperation. A competitive free market in printing ser-vices exists. Though the printing capacity of single com-panies may not always be adequate, flexible commercialarrangements can be made. Distribution is likely to takeplace through both school bookshops and othe- retailoutlets.
The greatest benefits of avoiding extensive govern-ment involvement in the textbook process are the avail-ability of a range of curricu'um materials, less curric-ulum orthodoxy, and a lack of heavy-handed bureaucraticinvolvement. An efficient private publishing industryresults in a variety of supplementary reading materials.The private sector demands efficiency and innovationand must respond to markets. Publishers, printers, andbooksellers may need to develop a leaner, more cost-effective operation.
There is, however, no guarantee that private pub-lishing always has such happy consequences. The pur-suit of profits can lead to high book prices so thatalthough a variety of titles is available, they may costmore than individuals Lan afford. Printers can pursuemore lucrative commercial options. and demand canescalate general printing costs. There is also less sys-tematic pilot testing of materials and revision based onfeedbackoften because schools under governmentcontrol will not cooperate.
Mixed Patterns
In the middle of the continuum between completepublic control and private dominance are a range ofintermediary models. Three such combinations are de-scribed in the following paragraphs.
1. The government is responsible for both curriculumand the preparation of manuscripts; however, the gov-ernment does not print or distribute the books. Instead,publishers tender for the editing, publishing, and sellingof books within a predetermined price range. There isan opportunity for shared involvement in running work-shops for teachers to use the new materials.
2. A government agency prepares, prints, and may
distribute books; however, private publishers may com-pete with the government agency. Private publishersmust still run the gauntlet of the vetting process andprice their books in relation to subsidized governmentpublishers. Often the competition is not equal becauseschool administrators tend automatically to choose booksprepared by the government agency.
3. A government-sponsored board uses cc mmitteesto prepare, print, and distribute books up tf, a cei taingrade level (usually lower grades are of most concernto governments). Commercial publishers are allowed toprovide materials for grades 8-10, but the governmentreceives a 7.5 percent royalty and also vets manuscriptsbefore publication. This is the system in Bangladesh.
The mixed private-public model is the norm. Thedegree of government involvement varies according tonational circumstances but may change with the intro-duction of new policies (as in Singapore) or with theinvolvement of multilateral agencies (as in the Philip-pines and Indonesia). in the mixed model, both sectorsneed to work together, acknowledging their respectiveroles.
Conclusion
Public-private relations in the textbook productionprocess vtly considerably. In India, the pattern evenvaries from state to state. There are, however, six gen-eral principles:
1. National textbook production should provide ped-agogically sound, attractive, well-printed books onschedule and in sufficient quantity. Agencies respon-sible for textbook policy should recognize the value ofa variety of supplementary materials and enable themto be produced.
2. In each country, different sociopolitical principlesgovern national policy. In all countries, however, thereis ced to make short- and long-term plans for thepublishing and printing industries within larger eco-nomic plans. Textbook agencies should be staffed withpersonnel a'ul: to undertake the complex estimation andplanning required.
3. Where national policy includes private textbookpublishers, clearly defined areas of responsibility arenecessary. Given the power and resources available tothe government, private firms are at a disadvantage.The government should strengthen private firms (in-cluding printing firms and booksellers) rather than re-place them. Where it is necessary to establish govern-ment-run units, ample time and opportunity should begiven to private companies to shift to other areas of thetextbook industry.
4. Government control and superman is compatiblewith private involvement. Professional standards of service
81
can be achieved by strict controls, rewards for goodperformance, and assistance to weaker participants.Governments should abandon the hostile view thatcommercial publishing is flawed because it is profit-driven and should encourage more collaborative efforts.
5. Large government investment in publishing andprinting can lead to expansion from education into otherareas. Government then encroaches on the private pub-lishing domain. Where a government agency has ful-filled its original mandate and there are private insti-tutions capable of continuing the service, the governmentagency should either be disbanded or undertake newresponsibilitiesfor example, providing model texts,performing evaluation services, or researching5 text-books.
6. Where government has a large role in textbookproduction, it should maintain high standards of effi-ciency and be responsive to its impact on the privatesector. Government textbook agencies ,hould combinethe virtues of both public and private organizations.
The public sector has emerged as a powerful force intextbook production. Rather than dwelling on inade-quacies in the public and private sectors or adopting aconfrontational attitude, there is an urgent r:ed foreach side to acknowledge the differer+ capacities of theother and to work out long-term, stable arrangementsto promote collaborative achievements.
Notes
1. The chapter uses the term "developing countries" in ageneral way. Much of the data and many of the examples aredrawn from the Asian experience, and although the commentsmay well be generahuble, there may be important exceptionsin the African and Latin American contexts
2. An exception is National Council of Applied EconomicResearch (1976).
And Shall the Twain ,"feet' 71
3. The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka was established by theMalaysian government in 1957 to promote the developmentand use of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, in allspheres of national life, but especially educationally and cul-turally. The Dewan is today a major publisher and printer andis involved in research, journa: publication, preparation oftextbooks, dictionaries and glossaries, and translations, andpromotion of literature in the national language.
4. See report in the Bookselb , March 16, 1985.5. The term is used loosely. Quite clearly, research findings
are not in themselves a factor; it is the use made of them byvarious stakeholders that makes research potentially signifi-cant.
References
Aprieto, Pacifico N. 1983. "The Philippines Textbook Project."Prospects (Unesco quarterly review of education) 13, no. 3:351-59.
Beeby, Charles E. 1979. Assessment of Indonesian Education:A Guide in Planning. Wellington: New Zealand Council forEducational Research and Oxford University Press.
Gopinathan, Savaranan. 1976. "Publishing in a Plural Society:The Case of Singapore." In Philip G. Altbach and SheilaMcVey, eds., Perspectives on Publishing. Lexington, Mass.:Heath.
. 1983. "The Role of Textbooks in Asian Educal.:';:n."Prospects 13, no. 3.
Heyneman, S. P., J. P. Farrell, and A. Sepulveda-Stuardo.1978. Textbooks and Achievement: What We Know. WorldBank Staff Working Paper 298. Washington, D.C.
National Council of Applied Economic Research. 1976. Suneyof Indian Textbook Industry. New Delhi.
Pearce, Douglas. 1982. Textbook Production in DevelopingCountries: Some Problems of Preparation, Production andDistribution. Paris: Unesco.
Unesco. 1985. Textbooks and Related Teachtnglearninc Ma-terials for Primary Classes. Bangkok.
6
Textbook Development in the United States:How Good Ideas Become Bad Textbooks
darriet Tyson-Bemst,.
The quality of pu; lie schools in the United States hasbecome the subject of an intense national debate in thepast several years. Although there have been other eraswhen the U.S. public was dissatisfied with its schoolsand when reforms were made, the present debate seemsmuch more intense than those in the past.
The current movement for educational reform is fo-cused on the quality of teaching and the standards forentry into the tezzhing profession. As more is learnedfrom resea. ch about the factors that help children leap nor that hinder them from learning, textbooks come tcthe forefront in the national debate about how to im-prove education.
Thic chapter describes how the U.S. textbook enter-prlse has developed over the pat 130 years, how thepresent system works, and why it is producing textbooksthat students find boring and confusing. Despite tt ,egod intentions of all the parties invo'vedpublishers.leg:slatures. state and local boards of education, com-mittees of teachers and parents who select textbooksfor students -good intentions have p. ,duced bad text-books.
The story is very wmplicated because the United Stateshas a complicated system of government and is large^d diverse. Although both largeness and diversity are
blessings. they are also the cause of many difficulties.
Some General Concepts
Although man), wi' familiar with the system ofschcol governance in the United States. it is worth re-viewing the seven impo !ant concepts that delineate thepolite it and geographical structures of its public schools.The first important concept is that the U.S. Constitutiondelegates responsibility for the schools to the fifty states.
72
Although the federal government has intervened to pro-tect the civil rights of children who were unserved be-cause of local prejudices and has sometimes offeredmoney to states as an incentive for some kind of im-provement, it has been careful to refrain from dictatingcurriculums or rrescribing textbooks.
The second important concept is that the s ates haveless direct control than local school districts. Althoughthe U.S. Constitution gives the authority to the states,that authority has been delegated, by long and cherishedtradition, to local school districts. state departments ofeducation may pay for some portion of the costs ofrunning the schools. but generally each loul schooldistrict taxes its own citizens for most of the cost. Stateboards of education are usually appointed by state gov-ernors, but the local boards tend to be elected by thecitizens in that district and are therefore m, re powerfulbecause they have the support of a large number ofpeople. Americans are generally proud of their localschools, even if they complain about them, and they) esist mandates from remote gove.nment officials. Buttextbooks are anoti. r matte. and an important excep-tion to the tradition of local control.
The third important concept is that in the UnitedStates twenty-two of the states assumed direct controlover the selection arid purchase of textbooks for all theirlocal districts (see figure 6-1). These states, most ofth .n in the South. are called adoption states. The othertwenty-eight states are called open territories. In openstates, the state authorities honor the tradition of localcontrol and permit local school districts to select theirown textbooks.
The fur th important concept is that textbook pub-lishing in the United States is a profit-making. free-enterpi ^se system. Publishers receive no subsidy f: omgov nrr nts at any level. They produce whatever will
8 3
Textbook Development in the l'utel Skit s 73
Figure 6-1. Methods for Selecting Textbook and Instructional Materials, by State
Ore n
Idaho
Montana
Nevada
Ml'
UtahM
elliforma
Wyoming
Colorado
North
Dakota
south Dakota
Nebraska
Nlinnesota
Wisionsin
Kansas
New Hampshire
Vermont Maine
West Virginia
Michigan
Iowa
Illinois
Missouri
North Carolina
AlaskaHawaii
Source Author
return a profit. Although most executives of textbookpublishing companies are former educators, they arenot free to pursue their highest educ...tional ideals. Mostcompanies are owned by larger companies, and the ex-ecutives of those parent comp .ties insist on profit, notacademic excellerze.
The fifth concept, and a key one, is that the typicalidea of free enterprise does not apply to the producticnand sale of textbooks. Most industries produce products,and many individuals decide whether or not to buy theproducts. With textbooks, pure market capitalisn. isdistorted by the state monopoly in the twenty-two adop-tion states. Three of those twenty-two adoption statesCalifornia, Texas, and Floridaare large and populous.Winning or losing an adoption in tho.se three states canmake or break a textbook company. Instead of pleasingmany individual teachers, the companies must pleasea political committee which has been given the powerto choose textbooks for an entire state. Elected andappointed bodies in those powerful states can dictatethe content of textbooks and can even force publishersto submit drafts of books before publication. So great
Mississippi
0 Local selection
State adoption; local choice from list of textbooks
Dual selection, state and local
M State adoption. local choice limited
Carolina
Florida
Massachusetts
Rhode IslandConnecticut
New Jersey
Delaware
District of ColumbiaItlaryland
is their economic power that if statewide authorities donot like a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter,foey can force publishers to make revisions.
Fallowing on that point is the sixth concept, whichis crucial to understanding te.. ,ok production in theUnited States. Publishers cannot afford to produce aseparate edition for Texas and California and Florida.They operate on a thin margin of profit and must sellin as many markets as possible. They produce one text-book designed to please as many states and localities asthey can. Thus if Texas wants something removed andCalifornia wants something added, those deletions andadditions appear in the textbook offered for sale in allparts of the United States.
The seventh concept is that the United States is anation in the process of profound cultural change. It isstill emerging from the political turmoil of the 1960sand 1970s concerning the civil rights of blacks, His-panics, women, and the disabled. It is in the grip of anintense struggle between liberals and conservatives, be-tween a secular vision and a religious vision, betweennationalism and internationalism. At the moment, there
84
74 Harriet Tyson-Bernstein
is no national consensus about what kind of nation theUnited States is. All these hard-fought issues are re-flected in the schools and in the content of textbooks.Politicians at the national, stale, and local levels, fromgeneral government as well as school government, wanttheir beliefs reflected in the school curriculum. Thus,textbooks have become part of the national struggleover cultural identity.
Historical Backgroundof the Textbook Enterprise
3efore 1850, students in the United States broughtwhatever books they had at home to school. Most students attended a one-room schoolhouse, and inst, uc-tion was ungraded and was individualized according tothe books at hand.
After 1850, educators began to pressure local gov-ernments for graded, group instruction. Local author-ities passed laws and regulations which authorized localschools to determine which books were needed and todirect parents to buy a particular school textbook.
In the 1850s, the United States was still a developingcountry. Families moved from one place to another insearch of land or jobs, and most families were poor.When a family moved from one place to another, theparents found that the textbooks they had bought fortheir children in one school district were not the sameas those required by the school in another district. Be-cause a family usually could HI afford to buy new text-books every time it moved, students often came to schoolwithout books. Educator then began to demand fromlocal authorities uniformity of textbooks across largergeographical and political boundaries. The state was thelogical and legal unit for that expansion.
The Free Textbook Movement
At the same time as educators were demanding uni-1, -m textbooks across political boundaries, they wereaiso asking local authorities to provide free textbooks.In 1818, in Philadelphia, the first free textbook legis-lation was passed. By 1884, the Commonwealth of Mas-sachusetts and 19 of the largest cities had enacted freet, ;book legislation. By 1902, 93 of the 150 largest citieswere providing free textbooks, probably because thosecities had the highest rates of student mobility. By 1915,15 states had enacted free textbook laws, and in otherstates, there were laws which required local school dis-tricts to provide free textboiks for poor parents. By1940, 60-65 percent of the students in the United Statesreceived free textbooks, and by 1950, 34 sta.. had freetextbook legislation. As in any democracy, these changesdid not come easily. There were arguments for and
against free textbooks, and there were arguments forand against uniform textbooks.
Arguments for Free Textbooks. Those who favoredfree textbooks offered the following arguments:
If edi. -ation is free, then textbooks should be freeas well because they are essential to good educa-tion.
Free textbooks remove the stigma from poor chil-dren whose parents cannot afford to buy the books.(One scholar speculated in 1891 that 10-20 per-cent of the population was excluded from educationby the cost of textbooks.)
Free textbooks allow the school district to changethe curriculum when necessary. When the school-owned books are out of date, the district can buyrevised editions without placing a financial burdenon the parents.
Free textbooks make possible a uniform startingtime at the beginning of the school year. (Whenparents had to buy the books every fall, it tookweeks for them all to get around to it.)The textbooks cost let,:: because of volume pur-chases and the reuse of ' Joks fwm year to 'ear.
Arguments against Free Textbooks. At the time thatfree textbook legislation was being debated by local schoolboards and state legislatures, the idea was opposed withthe following arguments:
Free textbooks deplete tax dollars.
Students do not taKe proper care of books that areowned by the school because their pride of own-ership is removed.
Reused books might be unsanithry and lead to thespread of disease.
The handling and distribution of books is burden-some to teachers.
Arguments for Te -tbook Onformity. Because the ideaof free textbooks went hand in hand with the idea ofuniform textbooks, there were also arguments on bothsides of the uriformity issue. The advocates of uniformtextbooks made the following points:
Statewide uniformity addresses the needs of a mo-bile population. When childrea move from one placeto another within a state, their education is notinterrupted by a change of curriculum.
Uniform textbooks make for a uniform course ofstudy and, therefore, cultural unity.
Uniform textbooks compensate for the weaknessesof teachers.
8.5
Statewi le selection is more expert than selectionsmade a the local level.
Statewide purchasing reduces the costs of text-books because of volume purchasing.
Argumerts against Statewide Uniformity. Opponentsof statewide uniformity offered these arguments:
Textbook uniformity violates the principle of localcontrol.
The stature of teachers is reduced when they areno longer in control of the tools of their trade.
No single course of study is best for all students.
6 The span of time that state-owned books are sup-posed to lastusually five or six yearsmeansthat local districts are unable to cnange to a newbook when they consider it necessary or desirable.
These were t:-.P arguments advanced at the time muchof the statewide legislation was being debated. In moremodern times, new arguments against statewide uni-formity are being advanced, and scholars have disputedsome of the assumptions on which statewide adoptiono; textbooks was originally based. These new argumentsare:
Statewide uniformity of textbooks does not reallyprotect mobile students because most of the mo-bility patterns in the United States a. e betweenstates, not within a state.
For two lasons, the arg invent about rec'uced costsno longer makes se nse..ks time has gone on, citiesand towns in the open-territory states have passedregulations requiring publishers tc sell books tothem at the lowest price charged anywhere else inthe 'Anted States. These regulations, called mostfavored- natioc provisions. have forced publishersto charge the same price to everyone, negating theadvantages of volume purchasing. The other ar-gument against the cost-savings claim was firstadvanced by John Dewey, who pointed out thatcost had nothing to do with the educational meritof the book. The difference in cost between a goodand a mediocre one is usually a matter of pennies,ai,d such trivial savings are irrelevant to the qualityof textbooks and to the quality of education.
The argument that statewide uniformity allows statesto enforce curriculum standards has also beenchallenged in modern times. In the early days ofstatewide adoption, states would pick just one text-book for each grade or subject, but as time wenton state authorities yielded to proliferating de-mands from local educators for books with variousphilosophies, pedagogics, and information. Statesbegan to approve several books, or even dozens ofbooks, and local boards could then choose the hook
Textbook Development in the Crated States 75
that suited their particular needs. According to criticsof the system, the enforcement of state standardsof uniformity overlooked specific locai needs andconcerns.
The laws that developed in the twenty-two adoptionstates have also shaped d.S. textbooks. Once the stateshad decided to adopt textbooks for all the local districts,they began to develop a mechanism for bringingadoption about. Although there is some variation amongthe twenty-two states, the following summary helpsexplain how seemingly good ideas have created badtextbooks.
State legislatures in the adoption states give stateboards of education the power to define the cur-riculum.
Every adoption state delegates textbook approvalto some group. Alabama, for example, gives thepower directly to the appointed State Board of Ed-ucatioi.. Texas, on the other hand, allows its StateBoard to choose members for the State AdoptionCommittee, thus providing them with the oppor-tunity for political patronage.
The state legislatures specify the composition ofadoption committees. For example, some statesappoint a member of the statewide adoption com-mittee from each federal congressional district.Other states specify that the textbook committeebe composed of a certain number of teachers, ad-ministrators, and parents.
The laws in these twenty-two states also specify thenumber of years that an adopted book should beused caned an adoption cycle. The length of L,ucha cycle is usually five or six years.
Many adoption states provide for public partici-pation in the textbook adoption process. Publishersare required to establish a depositoryone or morelocations within the statewhere interested cit-izens can insnect the books being considered. Also,many states , mit citizens or representatives oforganizations to give public testimony about booksunder consideration.
Many states have what are called social criteria fortextbook adoption. Books must not portray U.S.heroes in an unfavorable light; books must men-`ion all minority groups in U.S. society and avoidnegative stereotypes. California insists that un-healthy foods not be mentioned in textbooks andso publishers avoid stories about a child's birthdayparty because these stories would necessitate hav-ing to mention ice cream and cake, both consid-ered by California to be unhealthy foods. Then,with the growing awareness of the importance ofprotecting the physical and natural environment,
76 Hamet Tyson - Bernstein
liberal states like California insist that publisherstry to reinforce positive ideas about environmentalprotection and treat topics like acid rain from anethical standpoint. Conservative states such as Texaswant females portrayed in traditional rolesmother,wife nurse, and teacherand resist books which,-,ortray women in unconventional occupations.Often, the social criteria of the various states con-flict with one another--what is required by onestate is prohibited by another. Publishers have beenforced to make textbooks increasingly bland andneutral so that no one in any state will find real onto criticize ttiem.All the adoption states have some kind of legisla-tion which attempts to control textbook publishers...nd their sales people. There are restrictions onthe amount of time that o salesperson can spendwith an adoption committee or with individualteachers. There are limits on entertainment of cus-tomers, although such limits are difficult to en-force. There has been a lcng history of bribery andkickbacks which continues to the present day.
Many adoption states have laws requiring publish-ers to post bonds. This provision was designed toprotect the state from unscrupulous publishers who,having been awarded a contract, failed to deliverthe books. In modern times, this requirement hasforced small publishers out of competition for anadoption because they cannot afford to pay thebond costs. Only large puhlishers can afford thecosts of doing business in the major adoption states.In addition, some states iequire publishers to pro-vide hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of freesamples before the adoption, and this provision toohas fog ced small companies out of these majormarkets.
All these typical laws in the adoption states seemedgood ideas at the time they were enacted. Originally,posting bond was essential to protect school districtsagainst sharp business pr Ictices. Now, however, theprovision eliminates healthy competition.
It may have seemed, at the time, that there were nospecial knowle ige requirements for service on a text-book adoption committee. Adoption committee mem-bers were seen in the same light as a jury in a court oflawa numb..r of representative citizens who wouldrender a commonsense judgment. But now, with theenormous advances in educational theory and with agreat expansion of knowledge in a variety of subjects,comm' n sense and political representativeness are nolonger adequate credentials for the selection of text-books,
The fact that adoption committees ar_ chosen more
on the basis of politics and geography than on the basisof scholarship and pedagogical expert .1. has promptedmany researchers and textbook critics to question thewhole system. In short, why is a state committee anywiser or smarter than a local committee when the basisfor their selection has little to do with their knowledgeof instructional materials? At the time it began, andeven today, parental participation in education seemeda good idea. But when so much money is involved ina major adoption state's decisions, the parents who tes-tify about textbook choices are no longer simple parentsbut re: esentatives of powerful, national organizations.Textbook adoption has become subject to the veto ofpowerful special interest groupsminority groups,women's organizations, religious groups, and politicalgroups representing the extremes of left and right. Surelythe judgments of experienced educators would be pref-erable to the opinions of those who do not teach and..e not held accountable for children's learning. Yet the
statutes of only three adoption states require that theadoption committee be comprised either totally or pre-dominantly of educators, and only f ;e states requireeducators on these committees to have subject matterexpertise.
The overall effect of the adoption state laws has beento politicize the selection of textbooks, to depnve in-dividual teachers of the professional responsibility fortextbook selection, and thus to contribute to the cyn-icism of teachers about the political process and toweaken the pride of tea:hers in their professional re-sponsibililies. The educational needs of school districtsin the open-territory states have been held hostage tothe decisions of the major adoption states. And becausethe costs of doing business in the large adoption statesare so great and because the loss of business in thosestates has caused many publishers to go out of business.there are fewer publishers and fewer choices available.Most textbooks look just like all the competitors' text-books, and adoption committees must choose from amediocre selection that has been designed more to avoi..criticism from special interest groups than to educatechildren.
California, an adoption state, is the largest singlepurchaser of textbooks. Texas, also an adoption state,is the third largest purchaser. Even though New Yorkis second in volume purchases, it has little or no influ-ence on textbook content because it is an open-territorystate (see table 6-1).
It can be said that the U.3. textbook is truly thecreation of public agencies, not of individual authorswho set out to write an excellent hook. Although thereare exceptions to this general rule, these are few. Theproblem has been further complicated by two morerecent developments, as discussed hely iv.
Textbook Development in the United States 77
Table 6-1. Estimated Industry Sales of Elementary Textbook Manufacturing Standardsand High School Textbooks by State, 1983
StateEstimated
Industry salesPercentage
of total sales
California $110,698 10.10New York 78,922 7.20Texas 65,139 5.94Illinois 64,226 5.86Pennsylvania 48,558 4.43Ohio 47,753 4.35Florida 46,092 4.20Michigan 43,435 3.96New Jersey 43,020 3.92Missouri 28,096 2.56Georgia 26,013 2.37Virginia 25,695 2.34North Carolina 23,760 2.17Wisconsin 23,720 2.16Indiana 23,661 2.16
Massachusetts 23,281 2.12
Minnesota 21,972 2.00Oklahoma 2),(130 1.92
South Carolina 20,797 1.90
Kentucky 20,298 1.85
Louisiana 19,717 1.80
Arizona 19,355 1.77
Oregon 19,013 1.73
Washington 17,458 1.59
Maryland 16,812 1.53
Iowa 15.924 1.45
Connecticut 15,117 1.38
Colorado 14,728 1.34
Tennessee 12,917 1.18
Kansas 12,670 1.16
West Virginia 11,095 1.01
Mississippi 10,999 1.00
Alabama 10,290 0.94
Arkansas 9,438 0.86Nebraska 8.696 0.79New Mexico 8,287 0.76Utah 7,457 0.68South Dakota 5,539 0. itMaine 5,486 0.50
Hawaii 5,458 0.50
Rhode Island 5.070 0.46Montana 5,007 0.46District of Columbia 4,454 0.41
New Hampshire 4,440 0.40North Dakota 4,408 0.40Wyoming 4,083 0.37Nevada 3,885 0.35Alaska 3,783 0.34
Idaho 3,336 0.30Delaware 3,240 0.30Vermont 2,219 0.20
Source: Association of American Publishers. Industry atattshcs,1983.
In each of the twenty-two adoption states, there is aperson in the state education agency called the textbookofficer. This person is responsible for overseeing themechanics of the textbook selection and adoption pro-cess, for re!, Ping the bid specifications of each of thestates to the publishers, and for executing the purchaseorders. This person is the state business agent for text-books. The twenty-two states once had many differentstandards for the physical characteristics of books-thequality of the binding, the quality of the paper, the typeof print, and the pictures and illustrations. Publisherscomplained bitterly ;.bout the cost of meeting so manydifferent standards. These twenty-two officers have la-bored lung and hard over many years to arrive at acommon standat... In recent years, they have developedthe Manufacturing Standards and Specifications forTextbooks. The standards are so stringent that the bookscan withstand an avalanche. Paperback books cannoteven be considered in the adoption states.
In recent years, a lot of people have proposed thatinexpensive paperback books could be the solution tomany problems. Cheaper books could be developed forstates and cities with different curricular standards, andall the books would not have to be alike. Students c...uldwrite in the margin, underline, and keep some of thebooks at the end of the year. In rapidly changing dis-ciplines like the physical sciences, textbooks could bekept up to date because the school district could affordto replace tnem quite frequently.
All such suggestions, however, have failed to pi oduceany change in textbooks. No publisher would dare risksales by putting out a book that would not meet therigorous standards of the twenty-two adoption states,and no publisher wants to bear the cost of putting outtwo separate editions-one hardback and one paper-back. Furthermore, teachers and administrators gen-erally prefer the ten-pound hardback book to any al-ternative. Hardback books are easier to store, and theschool does not have to cope with ()Hering new bookseach year.
Scientific Management of Curriculum
Another recent development, one which has had amore devastating impact o^ the quality of textbooks. isthe concept of scientific management of curriculum.For the last two decades, there have been increasingpressures from the U.S. public for evidence that stu-dents in school are really learning what they are in-tended to lea) n. The scores on the Scholastic AptitudeTest (SAT) declined for many years, and an eNrtuation
78 Harriet Tyson-Bernstein
of the U.S. school system on the basis of those scoreswould conclude that the schools were losing ground.Certainly that is what the public concludedlargelyon the basis of test scores reported in the newspapers.So the decline in test scores, particularly the SAT, hasincreased the pressure on schools to produce betterresults. But the more deeply educators looked into de-clining test scores, the more they became aware of thissimple fact: students do better on tests if they studywhat is going to be tested. So if the schools were toimprove their test scores, the curriculum had tc matchthe tests. And because textbooks generally turn out tobe the curriculum, educators began to insist on text-books that covered all curriculum material. This is called"scientific management of curriculum" because it leavesnothing to chance.
States and cities recently have tried to ensure a matchbetween curriculum, textbooks, and tests by makinglong lists of goals and objectives for each subject andgrade level. These lists are strongly influenced by thenational tests. The listswhich are called curriculumguides or scope-and-sequence chartsthen become thebid specifications for textbooks. Publishers receive thesebid specifications from school districts all over the UnitedStates, Each political jurisdiction will adopt only thetextbooks that match its curriculum.
Over time, the lists have gotten progressively longerand longer. As new social crises have emerged, curt ic-ulum leaders have experienced pressures from citizengroups to add more material to the curriculum. Asscience has expanded its knowledge, scientists and busi-ness people have insisted that students learn newly dis-covered material. As technology has advanced, citizenshave come to expect students to learn about new tech-nologyparticularly computers.
The curricular demands of school districts differ. Eventhough each district cons'lers the tests when makingup its curriculum, there are many differing interpre-tations of what students need to know in order to scorewell on the tests. In addition, there are regional differ-ences. For example, a large state like California caninsist that textbooks for junior high school science cm-tain information about the fauna and ,lora of the Stateof California. And because California is suci an impor-tant market, this regional information is included innational _Jitions of junior high science books. Thuschildren in Maine will be studying about the seal andthe ice plant rather than the moose and the potato.
When a group of chemistry professors was assembledin the State of Tennessee to help educaLon officialsdecide what should be in the first-year chemistry cur-riculum, one local professor thought that every studentought to know something about molds, and out of good-wil' the other professors did not object. Thus the chem-istry books used by all students across the United States
have a chapter on molds in order that the books canbe sold in the State of Tennessee. Even though othermore reputable chemists and science educators mightsay that such a topic has no place in a first-year chem-istry book, the publishers wig pay little attention aslong as Tennessee's bid specifications for chemistry booksinclude that topic.
The idea of a scientifically managed curriculumthe notion that students should he tested on what theyhave studiedis a good idea in theory. But when itcomes to textbook publishing, it has been a disaster.Publishers simply add up the topics on every state andcity's curriculum list and pack all the required topicsinto the confines 4 a textbook of about 600 pages. Aspressures continue to add more topics to the curricu-lum (and vvith nobody willing to delete any), the bookshave become so overstuffed and so little space is devotedto each topiceven to very important ciesthat thestudents often fail to understand the point. Facts havecrowded out concepts. Concepts are the glue that holdthe facts together, but they have had to be sacrificed tomake nom for everybody's required tidbits of knowl-edge.
Researchers who have analyzed current textbooks callthis problem "mentioning"because each idea or factis barely mentioned. There will be one sentence devotedto the Thirty Years' War and one sentence about theNixon presidency. The facts have no surrounding con-text. There are few examples or explanations. Not sur-prisingly, the researchers have found that stuaents re-member very little of what th,. read in textbooks. Sowhat, in effect, state and school districts are buying aretextbooks that read like laundry lists and that studentscannot understand.
Readability Formulas and the English Language
Another more recent development that has had a verynegative impact on the quality of textbooks concernsthe level of reading difficulty and the way in whichteachers and adoption committees decide whether abook is too hard or too easy for students at a givengrade or age. More than fifty years ago, in a time whenit was generally believed that science could be appliedto all human problems, educational researchers beganto look for an objective way to estimate the readingdifficulty of textbooks. Their intention was noble. Nochildren should be given books so easy that they arebored or so difficult that they arc ..rated and giveup. At that time, the researchers believed that longwords and long sentences were the primary cause ofreading difficulty. So if the words were short and werefamiliar to the average child at a given age and if thesentences were simple and did not have too many words.
8,e)
then children would be able to understand the material.On this premise, formulas were developed to measurereading difficulty. Syllables in words were counted andaveraged. Words in sentences were counted and aver-aged. A numerical score could be derived from thesecalculations, and books could be assigned grade levelsand given to students at the appropriate grade.
This was a harmless enough activity fifty years ago.When educators were selecting books, they might per-form a readability calculation, but they would also usecommon sense and experience If a book's readabilityscore was a little too high but the teacher knew fromexperience that the book was so interesting ate chil-dren would love reading it, then the teacher 'night notpay much attention to the numerical score. But as timepassed, there were more and more hard-V1-teach chil-dren in U.S. schools. There were waves of !mmigrantswhose children did not know English very well and whotherefore had difficulty reading textbooks. And as blackchildren were integrated into white school systems andbegan to stay in school longer, white teachers began tocomplain to policymakers that the books were too hardfor disadvantaged black children.
Teachers comprise a substantial voting block in anyschool district election, and school boards are usuallylooking for ways to please the teachers. When electedpolicymakers began looking for a way to ensure thattextbooks were easy enough for all students to read,they found readability formulas. One state and city afteranother began to require textbooks to pass a readabilitycheck and to yield the proper score before it could beadopted for that jurisdiction. As can be seen from atypical textbook rating sheet, readability is the first hur-dle for a textbook to negotiate (see figure 6-2). Whatrad once been an informal evaluation procedure becamea ival requirement. Before a book could be consideredor. its merits, its content, and its capacity to interestccudents, first had to pass over the hurdlr . a read-ability formula.
When enough important states and cities had legis-lated the use of formulas, publishers responded in theonly possible way. Instead of using the writings of theirauthors, they began to edit text according to the rulesof readability formulas. Long sentences were choppedin two. Long words, even if they were necessary to thesense of the material, were el;minated, and short wordswere substituted. Instead of reading the beautiful, tra-ditional stories which have stood the test of time andwhich repr sent our heritage and culture, young chil-dren were reading contrived, "scientifically" designedstorks.
Scholars know much more today about language andreading than they did fifty year, ago. It is now very clearthe_ the premises of the readability formula are naive.It is also clear that when publishers use readability
Textbook Development in the United States 79
formula', to write or edit text, it has the paradoxicaleffect of making the material harder, net easier, tounderstand. To give a jmple example:
John didn't buy Mary a birthday presentbecause he didn't have any money.
That sentence might exceed the readability score be-cause it is longer than the average number of wordspermitted for a third-graae book. Thus, the editor wouldprobably change it to read:
John didn't buy Mary a birthday present.He didn't have any money.
The child who reads the second version does not havethe benefit of the word "because" to signal cause andeffect. He or she has to infer the cause, and being youngand inexperienced might not get the connection. Thus,in this example, the easier version (according to theformula) is really harder to understand.
The use of readability formulas to write and edit texthas done violence not only to good sense but also togood English styL. And style, according researchers,
nLt a trivial matter. It turns out that children preferreading we'-written pose to badly written prose, andthey remember iiiote of what they read if it is bothbeautiful and interesting. Formula prose is choppy, stilted,and extremely monotonous. The cadence goes Ta-da,Ta-da, Ta-da, period. Ta-da, Ta-da, Ta-da, period. Itwould put even a highly motivated adult to sleep, notto mention children who often do not want to be atschool at all.
Combine the effects of the "mentioning" problemtoo many topics covered too superficially and the in-fluence of readability formulas on language and one cansee why children do not profit much from the expensiveand beautiful textbooks producea In the United States.
You cannot judge a book by its coveras the oldsaying goes. And yet judging a book by its cover, andmany other superficial features that have little to dowith good teaching and good reading, is exactly whatis happening. The mechanics of the textbook review andselection process focus od these superficial character-istics rather than on the ones that ensure the selectionof good thinking and writing. That is the next part ofthe storyhow educators in the United States selecttextbooks, what they look for, what is important tothem, and why they are willing to purchase books whichhave been demonstrated to ne poor by the most re-spected scholars.
The Textbook Selection and Adoption Process
In the twenty-two adoption states, after statewidecommittees have selected several books on a particular
t)
80 Harriet Tyson-Bernstein
Figure 6-2. Rating Form for Textbook or Textbooks Series
Name of Textbook or Series
Author(s)
Publisher Copyright date(s)
Price of book(s) Cost of supplementary materials
A. Readability
1. Approximate reading level(s)
2 Formula used to determine level(s)
3. Reading level 's realistic for students using the book(;)
B. Authority Yes No N/A1 Author is well - qualified and reliable in the field 0.2 Publisher has reputation for high-quality publications
C. Vocabulary
1. Key vocabulary is punted in bold or italicized print for easy detection
2. Key vocabulary is listed before or following the chapter
3. Words are defined either within the text or in the glossary.
4. Definitions are readable and easily understood
5. Students could be expected to learn vocabuiary with a reasonable amount of preteaching by the
teacher
D. Concepts
1. Mn a; concepts presented support instructional objectives of the school district
2 Major concepts are presented logically and skills are sequenced.
3. Major concepts are sequenced at a pace appropriate for most students
4. Format of the text separates main concepts with headings or in sections
5. Text provides sufficient dotal to make concepts and ideas meaningful.
6. Concepts are appropriatechallenging but not frustratingfor students using the text.
7 Text is not so limited in scope as to be inadequate. Li8 Text seaports instructional management concept of the school
9. Study guide questions accompany text 010. Material and concepts can be related to student needs
E. Presentation of material
1. The book is well-organized and deals with materiel:
chronologically by units by category by topic sequentially
2. Bibliography of supplementary material is presented at the end of chapters or at the end of the book
3. Material can be related to other content areas and supports the total instructional program. CI
F. Ancillary material
1. Exercises relate to basic concepts and are not "busywork
2. Directions are clear and easy to follow.
3. Pre- and poststudy questions stimulate thinking and are not all at literal level.
4. Practice exercises follow the sequence of skills. E5 Enrichment matelals are available for superior and gifted students.
6 Appropriate materials are provided for average and below-average students.
7. Most students can do the practice mater als with a minims n of teacher help
(.1
L, Li
Textbook Development 'n the United States
Figure 6.2 (Continued)Yes No
G. Graphics
1. Graphic materials are sufficient in number to help students understand materials
8!
N/A
2 Illustrations, charts, maps, and graphs are clear and meaningful. 03 Photographs and pictures help clarify the text.
4 Illustrations help motivate student reading and stimulate class discussion
5 Illustrations help students in thinking and problem-solving
H. Freedom from bias
1 Text presents minorities (races, religious groups, nat'onalities, sexas) without stereotype or bias.
2. Materials portray racial, religious, and ethnic groups in a way that will build understanding,
appreciation, and accept...ice 01. Parts of text
1. Table of contents is complete, easy to use
2. Glossary definitions and pronunciation key are simple and understandable.
3. Index is easy to use
J. Teacher's guidebook
1 Teacher's guidebook it available.
2 Teacher's guidebook provides needed assistance
3 Answer key is available.
4. Goals and objectives of text are clearly stated in guidebook
5. Alternative materials are suggested for use with students. 0K. Formal
1. Binding is durable and soil-resistant
2 Paper is of good quality
3. Print is appropriate size.
4. Pnnt is clear and readable.
L. Cost
1 Cost is realistic for school district
2 Cost of supplementary matenals is reasr nable
topic for inclusion in the state-approved adoption list,the local school districts choose from among the ap-proved books. Many districts will purchase only onebook for each grade or subject, and so a similar processof screening is repeated by local textbook adoption com-mittees in each school district.
Although they do not have as many alternatives tochoose from, the local adoption committees neverthe-less face a daunting task. Not only must they choosefrom among the textbooks; they must also make deci-sions about all the extras that come with a textbook.In recent years, publishers do not just sell the studenttext; they sell a teachers' manual, workbooks, maps,slides, sample letters home to the parents, tests, andall kinds of other supplementary material. The publish-ers no longer provide textbooks but textbook programs.
So there is a bewildering array of materials to examine.Just choosing an elementary reading series for kinder-garten through the sixth grade coted be a task tl. itwould take weeks of concentrated analysis if the jobwere to be done conscientiously.
But if teachers work overtime, they expect to be paid,and few school districts have the money to pay for muchovertime. What happens, then, is that a committee ofteacher.; is assembled after a full day of teaching. Theysit down at a table with an enormous pile of books andother materials. They are given a checklist with hundredsof items. The checklist, intended to help them remem-ber all tlle points they should consider, has usually beendeveloped by some other committee of teachers andadministrators, sometimes with the help of parents orrepresentatives of political pressure groups. Everyone
0 ....i .0
82 Harriet Tyson-Bernstein
wants the points he or she considers most importanton the checklist.
Just as the lists of curricular objectives are really toolong for any student to accomplish reasonably in a schoolyear, so the lists of criteria for textbook selection arereally too long for any adoption committee to accom-plish in an afternoon, which is usually the time allottedto this i.rocess. Even worse, the checklists, like thereadability formula, concentrate on things that can becounted or observed. A book might get ten points on aratin;.! 'wet just because it has a table of contents, evenif the table of contents is inappropriate or misleading.For the most part, the checklists fail to register anyqualitative differences. And even if it were possible torecord differences in quality on the typical rating sheet,there would not be the time to do a serious, qualitativeanalysis of four or five different textbook programs.
What happens, then, is that the teachers on the localadoption committees make their decisions on the basisof factors that have little to do with textbook quality.They tend to put a lot of faith in pictures and illustra-tions. A typical question on a rating sheet will be, "Arethe pictures and illustrations attractive?" This is thehind of question that can be addressed between threeand five in the afternoon. The teachers literally flipthrough the pages of the book, looking at the pictures.Publishers know how the system works, and so theyput all the most attractive pictures on the right-handside of the book so that it will pass what they call theflip test.
Another standard question on rating sheets is, "Is thebinding sturdy?" Now there is no way in the world thatschool teachers can tell by thumping the cover whetherthe binding will last for six months or six years. Thatis a technical and scientific question, and they do nothave the knowledge to answer it. Yet teachers enjoyanswering the question because it is one that can beanswered quickly. In fact, the question (and answer) isirrelevant because the twenty-two adoption states haveestablished technical standards for book bindings, andall publishers abide by those standards.
In figure 6-3 (a typical checklist), the first item"Fits our curriculum needs"is really (mite important.To respond to that item thoughtfully, the curriculumguide must be matched point by point against the ma-terial in the textbooks. Ont n. port was that it took fivehours of serious work just to go through one volumeof a textbook series.
Clearly, adoption committees do not have that kindof time when they are ranfrntzd with a stack of text-books. So what do they really do? They ask tht publisherto provide a document called a correlational analysis.In other words, the publisher is expected to do the laborinvolved in proving that its wok matches the curric-
ulum specifications of the cities of Detroit, Sioux City,and Houston and the whole state of North Carolina. Yetthe bid specifications from those different places arealmost certainly quite different. Detroit might have athousand objectives for elementary mathematics andNorth Carolina might also L.ve a thousand objectivesfor elementary mathematics, but they will not be thesame thousand.
So what does the publisher do? It hires peop'e to sitdown with the district's bid specifications znd the text-book, and those people look for th., merest shred ofevidence that the publisher's book "covers" all the pointsrequired by the state or city. These documents some-times involve hundreds of pages, and according to pub-lishers nobody in the school district actually reads themor checks to see whe,er they are accurate. Yet pub-lishers freely admit that the correlational analysis is amatter of smoke and mirrors. A single word or sentencein the textbook, the teachers' guide, or the workbookwill justify a citation that the topic has been covered.One publishing executive told me that he regarded cor-relational analysis as "merely an exercise to be per-formed." Some central requirements of the curriculumhave been met, and the document provides symbolicproof.
Further down the list of items under section I, figure6-3, is item E"suitability to maturity level and read-ing level calling the readability formula into play.Adoption committees will sometimes send their mem-bers home with the books to calculate the "readabilitylevel" according ,o the formula. In general, teachersare no longer willing to exercise their personal judg-ment on this matter because they have been convincedthat something "objective" is better than their subjec-tive opinion. Publishers know how the world works,and they will use the readability formula for writingtexts as long as adoption committees use it to judgetextbooks. If a single passage or page should fail toootain the proper score, an adoption might be lost.
Item L in figure 6-3"Up to date"is typical. Judg-ing whether the book is really up to date requires agreat deal of specialized subject- matter knowledge whichteachers typically do not have. They are after all teach-ers, not scholars. They do not have time to keep upwith changes in their own subject disciplines. So thequick and easy way to judge up-to-dateness is to checkthe publication date. There was a time many years 4gowhen a current publication date meant that the pub-lisher had produced a new, revised edition with up-to-date content. But for some time publishers have beenallowed by law to change only a few pages in an entirebook and still qualify for a current publication date. Soa current date no longer means that the knowledge hasbeen updated. it may mean that the publisher has changed
Textbook Development in the United States 83
Figure 6-3. Textbook Rating Checklist
Name of book'senes Author(s)
Publisher Date of publication Price
Name of person making evaluation Total of oants awarded
I. Organization and contentA. Fits our curnculum needsB.CD.E.F.G.H.I.
JK.L.M.N.0.
Adapted to specific needs of studentsQuality of contentAdequate coverage of materialSuitability to maturity level and reading levelVocabulary levelNot enough or too much stress on detailTeaching of valuesInterest levelCorrect standards and ideals in use of EnglishMethod of presentationUp to dateUse of sequential developmentInclusion of chanter summariesAdaptable to time limit of course
Maximum credit: 60 pants Examiners credit
II. Physical featuresA. AttractivenessB. IllustrationsC. Dimensions of bookD. Durability of bookE Size and style of typeF. Arrangement of page
Maximum credit. 10 pants Examiner's credit
III AuthorsA. Experience with this age group
EducationI.; Training
Maximum credit: 10 points Examiner's credit
IV Teaching aidsA. Suitable aids to learning (maps, pictures, charts)B. Suitable helps and aids to instructionC Suitable end-of-chapter activitiesD. Suitable testing materialsE. Index (quality and usefulness)F. Table of contentsLi References and bibliographyH. GlossaryI. AppendixJ Teachers edition
1 Background information2 List of activities to lead student beyond textbook3. Concepts and generalizations of and clearly stated4 Suggestions for methods of motivation
Maximum credit. 20 points Examiners credit
V Resources already available in district resource center
Comments: Descnbe special features of the book you liked and/or objectionable features which might prohibit adoption of of thebook
some pictures or titlespictures and titles that mightplease adoption committees. Thus this method of as-suring up-to-dateness is not up to date and has not beenso for many ye:rs.
Another anachronism that still has a firm place inthe adoption process can be seen in the third category"Authors." Adoption committees are asked to judge thecredentials of the authors, and so publishers print thosecredentials at the h-ginning of the book. The truth is,though, that those authors are not really the authors.They E.e selected for their credentials so that the bookwill have a better chance of selling, but they are not inmost cases the people who actually wrote the book.Because Texas and California are so powerful, publisherstypically select an education professor from the Uni-versity of Texas, the University of California, or both to
be the titular authors. And because both of those stateshave large Hispanic p....lulations, publishers like to se-lect a professor with a Spanish last name. There arealso lists of "consultants" who have supposedly helpedthe authors by reviewing the books. and those mustnow include women, rank and file teachers. and edu-cators with national recognition.
What really happens, though, is that the authors listedon the title page do not very often really write the book.They are not really writers, and they are busy. Oftenthey fail to deliver a manuscript, or when they do it isunusable. Young people hired by the publishers do thewriting, or else the publisher resorts tc,, a productionshop. Often, the production shop receives the assign-ment at the last minute. A publisher might find out afew months before the publication date that the named
84 Hamet Tyson- Bernstein
authors cannot produce the material, and the produc-tion shop will he expected to come up with text in avery short time.
Not only are the real writers limited by time, but theyalso must follow outlines provided by the publishers.The outlines consist of the combined topics that alljurisdictions insist upon and the social issues that mustbe included or avoidedusually avoided. These realwriters have very little freedom to write a coherentbook, They are tied in knots by all the requirementsand prohibitions, and they are constrained in their useof language by readability-formula requirements. Thusalthough innocent teachers across the land are readinginformation about authors of textbooks and makingjudgments based on that information, the publishersare creating illusions thlt will enhance sales.
Pressure Groups and Bias
"Freedom from Bias" (item H in figure 6-2) raisesanother issue. Because of the struggle to overcome prej-udice against minority groupsparticularly black peo-ple and more recently womentextbooks have becomethe target of those gr .ps wt lich want society to becomemore fair and those which do not.
There has been progress. Only ten years ago, someU.S. textbooks portrayed blacks, women, or ethnic mi-norities in stereotypical ways. For the most part, thesestereotypes have been eliminated because publishersunderstood that they risked loss of sales. But the re-quirements of minority-group representatives have gonefar beyond the removal of negative portrayals. Fairnessis the main consideration, and often the method ofassuring fairness is quite mechanical. Thus each picturemust have equal numbers of blacks and whites or malesand females. Three seated females are not consideredequal to one active male. Minority-group membersfor example, female Hispanics--must not be shownalways as peasants or mothers but also as professionals.The thought behind such a requirement is that studentswho are female Hispanics need role models of womenof their own kind who have achieved status in thissociety.
Although every reasonable American knows that text-books once treated minorities and women unfairly andnearly everyone is glad that textbooks no longer presentsuch negative images, there has been an enormous priceto pay as a result of the mechanical way in which fair-ness has been interpreted. California, for example, saysthat elderly people cannot be shown in a negative way.And yet one of the great classic writers of the Englishlanguage, Charles Dickens, portrayed a number of oldpeople as bad tempered and selfish. One of the greatclassic storiesand one that is entirely appropriate for
childrenis Dickens's A Christmas Carol. No prudentpublisher would include that story in an anthology ofchildren's stories, however, because some group of se-nior citizens in California could appeal to the adoptioncommittee to reject the book. In Shakespeare's Mer-chant of Venice there is the miserly Jewish merchant,Shylock, and Jewish pressure groups in California andelsewhere have tried to get that play eliminated fromthe public school curriculum.
In literary classics from the last century, women areoften portrayed as helpless, uneducated people whoseonly function is to serve their husbands and raise thechildren. Powerful groups of feminists have often triedto get textbook adoption committees to reject literaryselections, however great, because those selections werewritten at a time when women were not considered theequal of men.
Publishers have been caught in the cross fire betweenblack pressure groups with different viewpoints on howblacks should be portrayed in textbooks. On one sideare those black Americans who object to lengthy dis-cussions of slavery because they believe that such ma-terial contributes to a negative image of blacks. On theother are those who believe that white Americans needto be confronted with the cruelties that slavery imposedon black Americans.
Curiously, conservative 1-rotestants in Texas do notwant textbooks to mention death because they think itis too depressing for young children to know about. Thepower of these groups was so great about ten years agothat publishers dared not present any stories that in-volved death. The religious fundamentalists also do notwant textbooks to contain stories that show conflictbetween parents and children, and yet such conflictsare the stuff of great fiction. For nearly a decade. Texasforced publishers to eliminate the theory of evolutionfrom biology books because the fundamentalists believeit undermines Christian belief.
Publishers have tried to avoid such controversies andprevent their books from being rejected by school dis-tricts responding to pressure groups by contriving happy,bland, empty stories that have no conflict, no sadness,and no imperfect people. But it is dear that childrendo not like to read such stories. Stories; that lack con-flict, that do not present life as It really is, are boring.Even worse, the great literary works of the past havehad to be set aside, and history and biology books havehad to be severely edited.
Although the bias item appears to be a simple andreasonable part of the checklist, the way in which it isinterpreted has been a mixed blessing. Although chil-dren are no longer exposed to biased textbooks. theyare also no longer exposed to the common culture ofthe English-speaking world. And fear of militant. con-
servative Christian groups has blocked children fromimportant scientific knowledge as well.
There are now counter-pressures from cultural criticsand reading experts to include more natural literature,true history, and good science in children's books. Eventhough publishers have begun to respond to thosecounter-pressures, they are still afraid of the anger ofspecial-interest groups and still aware that most adop-tion committees continue to judge books by politicalstandards. As long as powerful adoption committees inmajor states continue to count races and genders andto eliminate good material because of sentences or pic-tures that offend them, publishers will continue to pro-duce books that avoid the deepest issues of the humancondition.
The basic cultural issue at stake is the historic strug-gle between those who want children to know aboutlife as it is and those who want thL m to know aboutlife as they wish it were. The curre. conflict is moreexaggerated because the media seek out controversialissues and publicize the angry, crusading, colorful lead-ers of pressure groups.
Other Choices
In item F of figure 5-2, "Ancillary Material," the re-viewers are asked to consider some aspects of quality.This calls for a judgment about whether the workbookexercises -re just busywork or related to basic conceptsthe children should be learning. It asks whether thedirections are clear and easy to follow.
Those particular questions a-re there because of thedeterioration in the quality of workbooks. A recent anal-ysis of workbook, showed that most workbooks weremerely busywork. Furthermore, her examples, drawnfrom the leading publishers' workbooks, showed thateven a skillful adult would have trouble understandingthe directions. The publishers, to save money, had beenhiring other companies to compile the workbooks. Oftenthe people who compiled the workbooks neither readthe student textbook nor collaborated with the author.They wrote workbooks in complete isolation and undersevere time pressures, and often they produced essen-tially the same workbook for several major publishers.Because the publishers have been so embarrasse-2. bythe scholarly criticism of their workbooks, they hay.,begun to take them more seriously. and the workbooksare beginning to improve.
Few checklists take account of important new knowl-edge about effective textbooks. They seldom ask thereviewers to consider seriously either the quality of w rit-ing or the depth of treatment required for studentunderstanding. The emphasis in most checklists onreadability actually reinforces bad writing, and the em-
TeAtbook Development in the United Stales 85
phasis on curriculum reinforces the problem of "men-tioning" or too many topics.
In practice, because th;, task of textbook selection isso overwhelming, people usually select books on thebasis of w' at they do not want rather than what theydo want. '1 eachers skim through the pages to find evi-dence of bias or inaccuracy or lack of coverage of somepoint, and that is the basis of el' nation.
Once in a while, a conscientious publisher takes abig risk. The publisher will put out a textbook that meetsa high standard and that reflects modern knowledgeabout sound textbooks. But in nearly all cases, theserisky ventures have been very costly. When those high-quality books have been put through the current se-lection process, their virtues have not even been no-ticed. Sometimes principled publishers have been forcedout of the business. Few are willing to take such risksanymore. Until they believe that quality is a seriousissue with those who purchase books, publishers willcontinue to place emphasis on coverage of topics, evenat the expense of good writing; on pretty pictures, evenif the plc ires bear little relation to what is written inthe book; and on the sensitivities of political groups,even if knowledge is falsified.
In summary, the textbook enterprise in the UnitedStates has become a comedy of errors. The economiclure of the large adoption states has distorted the free-enterprise market, and in the process the c,: rectiveeffc-ts of free competition have been stifled. Further,the la\ 's designed to solve the problems of a bygone erain U.S. history have remained and have had an unin-tended and negative impact on the current .extbookmarket. State legislatorsgenerally less concerned abouteducation than other public issueshave passed lawswhich have had the opposite effect of those intended.For patical gain, they have yielded to pressures fromspecial-interest groups, and in the process they havemade laws which have helped in some ways but doneharm in others.
Publishers, in their pursuit of profit, have sacrificedacademic integrity and literary quality because buyersare concerned about other matters. The salespeople whorepresent publishing houses have wined and dined teacher
committees, bribed adoption committees with free text-books or workbooks, flattered influential teachers bypitting them in charge of pilot studies of new textbooks,and generally promised everybody to make teachingeasier and easier. Teachers are told that the book willproduce amazing results on tests, that lesson plans areincluded in the teacher guide, that the tests are self-sc Avg, and that the workbooks will help them managethe class by cutting down on discipline problems.
Teachers are becoming more and more dependent ontextbook programs. The ready-made lesson plans and
9
86 Harriet Tyson-Bernstem
tests mean that they do not have to spend their eveningspreparing for the next day at school. The teacher guidetells them exactly what to say and even provides alter-native plans for students who do not understand orthose who understand too quickly and need somethingelse to do. Although some of these features may helpbeginning teachers or correct the weaknesses of poorones, they threaten to deprive all teachers of their pride,their creativity, and their autonomy as professionals.
Positive Trends
In the last several years, textbook quality has sud-denly become a political issue. The press has been put-ting the spotlight on research findings related to thequality of writing, the depth of treatment, and the dis-tortions brought about by the political process. A fewstates have begun to train their adoption committeemembers and to allocate more time for the review ofbooks. Some states are beginning to rewrite their adop-tion codes. California recently refused to purchase sci-ence textbooks because non: of them pal' enough at-tention to evolution, human reproduction, or ethicalissues related to the environment. California has alsodemanded that elementary reading books contain morehigh-quality literature.
It is too early to tell whether any of these changeswill spread to other states and school districts or whetherthey will be lasting. The forces keeping the presentsystem in place are very powerful. Of more importance,the enterprise has become so absurdly complicated thatfew people fully understand it When legislatures treatthe symptoms without fully diagnosing the disease, theyoften make things worse, not better. Florida, for ex-ample, recently passed a law that all textbooks adoptedthere must be on grade level. The legislator who intro-duced the bill believed he was going to revel se the trendtoward "baby-talk" in textbooks and ensure that stu-dents got books that were challenging instead of boring.He failed to understand that his law would have theopposite effect.
Florida also recently passed a law that textbooks mustmatch all the items in Florida's curriculum. Unfortunately, Florida's curriculum is highly specific, withthousands of bits of knowledge and skill included inevery subject area. Publishers will now have to stuffmore and more tidbits and gimmicks into already over-crowded books in order to attract Florida sales. Thusthrough failure to understand cause and effect and un-willingness to understand how selection committeeswork or why publishers respond to laws in an exagger-ated fashion, the Florida legislators have made seriousproblems even worse.
Nearly all efforts to improve textbooks have been well
intentioned. But the curious effects of this fragmentedsystem of school governance as it comes up against thenational free-enterprise production system has causedgood intentions to become bad textbooks.
The developing countries are concerned with a muchmore basic set of problems: how to get enough text-books produced; how to get the textbooks to the stu-dents; how to protect the books from moisture, mold,and insects; and how to find the money to buy them.But only 130 years ago, the United States faced manyof the same problems. In that short span of time, Amer-icans have managed to create 1 system that is too con-cerned with trivial matters and not enough concernedwith culture, scholarship, or student understanding.
Every country has its unique problems, and everyculture and language requires its own special consid-eration. But I would offer the following advice to anynation on what not to do as it moves fm-ward in thedevelopment of textbooks:
Do not try to regulate authors and publishers tooclosely. Good books are written in an atmosphereof relative freedom.
Do not use checklists to tell publishers what towrite or teachers what to buy. Checklists and otherbureaucratic rituals have a way of crowding outthought.
Do not allow modern ideas to deprive children ofthe myths, stories, and historical events that arepart of their cultural heritage. Maybe it is onlyAmericans who would do such a silly thing, but itis worth noting that the education of any peoplesuffers when it tries to cut its ties with the past,even if the past is less than beautiful.
Do not take all the decisions away from the teach-ers. Even if those teachers are not as well trainedas they should be, they will not become strongerif they are not trusted to make important decisionsabout the tools of their profession.
In the total costs of schooling, tex..rooks form arelatively small item. Too much attention to costand not enough attention to effectiveness is short-sighted. The difference in the price of a mediocrebook and a good book is small and not worth thesaving. Old books are both better than no booksand better than bad new books.
The student should be seen as the ultimate userof the book. If the book appeals to politicians, pro-fessors, administrators, or even teachers but stu-dents find it too simp:c, too advanced, boring, frus-trating, or unclear, then the book is not a goodbook, regardless of what anybody else thinks.
Schools should provide free textbooks to all stu-dents. When students have to buy their own books,
97
the poor are penalized and the goals of a publiceducation system are defeated.
Annotated Bibliography
Recent Critiques of Textbooks
Brewer, J. A., L. Jenkins, and B. Harp. 1984. "Ten Points YouShould Know about Readability Formulas." School Admin-istrator, June. An excellent overview of the uses and abusesof readability formulas in textbooks.
Elliott, David L., Kathleen Carter Nagel, and Arthur Wood-ward. 1985. "Do Textbooks Belong in Elementary SocialStudies?" Educational Leadership, April. A revitw of tenrecently published elementary social studies series that raisesquestions about the adequacy of content and skills instruc-tion.
FitzGerald, Frances. 1979. America Revised. New York: At-lantic-Little Brown. A stinging and convincing critique ofhigh school history textbooks as bland and unexciting.
The Publishing Industry and Textbooks
Bowler, Michael. 1978. "The Making of a Textbook."Learning6. A discussion of the economics, politics, and pressuresthat go into producing a textbook and that hinder the pub-lishing of innovative materials.
Bragdon, H. W. 1978. "Ninth Edition, Adventures with a Textbook." Independent School 7, no. 3. A noted textbook au-thor describes the compromises and changes he made inwriting his popular high school history.
Broudy, Eric. 1975. "The Trouble with Textbooks." TeachersCollege Record 77. The inside story of textbook publishingby a former editor of a major textbook company.
Davis, Barbara H. 1985. "Scholastic Work: Many Forces ShapeMaking and Marketing of a New School Book." Wall Street
Texthook Development in the United States 87
Journal, January 3. Houghton-Mifflin and Columbia Uni-versity historian Henry F. Graff s efforts to create a "block-buster" high school history textbook.
Textbook Selection
Bowler, Michael. 1978. "Textbook Publishers Try to PleaseAll, but First They Woo the Heart of Texas." Reading Teacher,
February. The crucial role of the Texas state adoption indetermining the content and quality of textbooks.
English, Raymond. 1980. "The Politics of Textbook Adoption."Phi Delta Kappan, December. Political factors contributingto poor textbook quality.
and M. A. Tully. 1985. "Do Adoption CommitteesPerpetuate Mediocre Textbooks?"Phi Della Kappan, March.Recommendations for improving textbook selection.
Kirst, M. W. 1984. "Choosing Textbooks. Reflections of a StateBoard President."American Educator, Summer. The pros,cons, and pitfalls of state versus local adoption of textbooks.
Textbook Reform
Bernstein, Harriet Tyson. 1985. "The New Politics of TextbookAdoption." Phi Delta Kappan, March. Overview of the dif-ferent forces influencing textbook reform.
Doyle, D. P. 1984. "The 'Unsacred' Texts: Market Forces thatWork Too Well." American Educator, Summer. "As a so-ciety, we have lost sight of what it is we want our childrento know"and consequently the bland, simplistic text-books now published.
Honig, Bill. 1985. "The Educational Excellence Movement."Phi Delta Kappan, June. General discussion of educationalreform and the need to improve textbook quality.
Osborn, J. H., B. F. Jones, and M. Stein. 1985. "The Case forImproving Textbooks." Educational Leadership, April. Whatresearch tells us about instructionally sound textbooks.
7
Copyright in the Developing World
Philip C. Altbach
The distribution of knowledge requires a complex setof relations among publishers, journals, multinationalcorporations, governments, educational and academicinstitutions, and individual scholars. A controversial andimportant element in those relations is copyright. Itaffects ev -ry aspect of the knowledge business, from therewards available to an individual author and the con-trol exercised over intellectual works internationalrelations among large corporations and nations con-cerning the distribution of knowledge.
International copyrightthe control over the inter-national distribution of knowledge and the rules thatgovern the flow of printed materials across bordersis a key concern because developing nations use knowl-edge from abroad and are generally dependent on for-eign books. Copyright necessarily has an impact on howknowledge is distributed, on who controls it, and ontke development of the publishing industry. I am con-cerned here largely with books, the most traditionalmeans of distributing knowledge, and .ot so much withthe new nonprint modes,* distribution and commu-nication, although copyright has significant implica-tions for them as well. The impact of copyright onknowledge in the developing world is my main concern,along with the related theme of the relation of textbooksto copyright in both national and international frame-works. To discuss these themes, it is necessary to con-sider the context of copyright in the modern world.
What follows is not a discussion of the legal aspectsof copyright, although the bulk of the literature oncopyright is related to copyright law and its applica-tions. Copyright law, a recognized specialty within legalstudies, has become increasingly important as a resultof the reinterpretations necessary to deal with the com-plex issues raised by the new technologies such as re-prography (photocopying), advances in computer-basedcomposition, and new techniques of printing. Althoughlegal issues will be mentioned, my concern is with thepolitical, economic, and intellectual implications of
98.6)
copyright in the context of the distribution of knowl-edge. The issues raised here have deep philosophicalimportance and go to the very heart of the control ofknowledge and creativity, to the right of the individualover his or her work, and of course to the sometimesconflicting needs of society to have access to knowledgewhether for school textbooks or for advanced scientificresearch. There are no easy answers. What seems philo-sophically clear in one context may raise problems inanother. Definitions are also a problem. As photo-copying has grown into a major industry, the conceptof "fair use" has Lecome a matter of considerable con-troversy in the industrial nations (Weiiiberg 1975; seealso Leavens 1981).
The Concept of Copyright
There are at least three basic approaches to copyright.The first stresses the morel right of the individual tohis or her creative property and to his or her essentialcontrol over that property, be it a work of ?rt, an in-vention, or a book. This approach is reflected in mostof the European copyright laws and in the Berne Con-vention, the oldest and largest of the two major inter-national copyright arrangements. Copyright might besummarized as either a natural right or an inherentmoral right of the individual (Ploman and Hata ion1980: chap. 1). The second approach, nicely summa-rized in the U.S. Constitution, holds that copyright isintended to stimulate creativity and invention and thatit is a privilege granted to individuals for the benefit ofsociety (Ringer 1974: 19-28). The U.S. approach canbe summarized as a commercial view of copyright and,in general, as a way of encouraging intellectual crea-tivity. The third approach is the societal theory exem-plified by the Soviet copyright system. In this system,the society has certain basic rights over creative work,and the copyright laws reflect a compromise between
personal rights and the rights of the collective enter-prise. The concept of copyright as property, which isthe key to the market economies and is basic in boththe U.S. and European approaches to copyright, is ab-sent from the societal theory (Ploman and Hamilton1980: 123; for a broader perspective, see Walker 1978).
Not everyone, of course, agrees that copyright is agood thing. One of the classic anticopyright statementsis Thomas Macaulay's that copyright is "a tax on readersfor the purpose of giving a bounty to writers."' Philo-sophical arguments have raged over the centuries con-erning the nature of copyright, the justification for it,
71nd the appropriate limits when balancing the interestsof the individual with those of society. The controversyhas grown more complex in the past few decades ascopyright has been applied to nonbook products suchas computer programs. The argument concerning reg-ulations governing photocopies is a good example ofthe complexity of copyright in recent years. The ar-guments revolve around tae rights of individuals andpublishing firms, on the one hand, and those of thepublic, on the other, to knowledge and to the dissem-ination of photocopied material.
Copyright stems from particular historical and so-cioeconomic circumstances. It emerged and ga:nedstrength in Europe as printing and distribution grewmore sophisticated, industry developed, and a massmarket for cultural goods assumed importance. As lit-eracy became widespread, newspapers. magazines, andbooks became artifacts of contemporary culture. Themode of economic organization was capitalist, and ar-tistic creatioi. was increasingly linked with an emergingindustrial revolution and the attitudes and 'nstitutionsthat grew up alongside this key transformation of thenineteenth century. The role of the artist and writerthat copyright protects is based on a capitalist relationbetween culture and profit. The idea of the artist andwriter as an individual creator who profits from his orher work and who is engaged in a competitive enterprisewith other individual creators is the key to the Europeanand U.S. ideologies of copyright. This concept of copy-right functions in a market system where intellectualgoods can be bought and sold and are assigned a mon-etary value. Edward Ploman argues how surprising itis that copyright has gained such wide acceptance insocieties with quite different economic orientations andvalue structures (Ploman 1985: 27; similar themes arediscussed in Mattelart 1983 and in Mattelart and Sie-gelaub 1979). Stripped of its idealistic claims, copyrightis a way of bringing the world of intellectual creativityinto the world of contemporary commerce.
Historically, most developing nations inherited theEuropean approach to copyright, because most of thecopyright laws were patterned on the colonial regula-tions that were in place at the time of independence.Given other development priorities, developing nations
Copyright in the Developing World 39
have moved slowly to make their copyright laws indig-enous. Furthermore, there has been a good deal of con-troversy concerning the appropriate orientation tocopyright. Current thinking in developing countries oncopyright reflects elements of all three of the basic ap-proaches discussed above and may in the long run con-tribute to a synthesis of theoretical perspectives oncopyright and the distribution of knowledge.
The emergence of the developing nations since WorldWar II has added a dimension to the concept of copy-right. Discussions in developing countries of the cre-ation, dissemination, and use of information in the globalvillage have stimulated debates in meetings of Unescoand other organizations on the "New World InformationOrder" and on issues of equity and control over themeans of dissemination (Olian 1974:81-112; see alsoMcFarland 1982:100 and Bortnick 1981). But virtuallyeveryone who writes about copyright accepts the basicpremises on which the concept is based; the debatesare predicated on a common understanding and ac-ceptance.
Textbooks have not been considered as a separateissue in copyright debates. It is generally assumed thattextbooks can be treated as other publications and besubject to the same copyright regulations as other books.in the international context, however, textbooks havebeen recognized as belonging to a special category thatshould not be limited solely to commercial considera-tions and should be permitted to cross borders withoutthe same restrictions as other books. Textbooks aretherefore considered to be partially exempt from rigidcopyright protection because of their importance to ed-ucation in developing countries.
Historical Perspectives
Although copyright has a long history, it did notemerge as an important concept until nations began tobuild up their own cultural infrastructures and felt theneed to systematize and protect authors, publishers,musicians, and the panoply of new knowledge indus-tries. The United States, as will be illustrated, was oneof the world's first major pirates until it securely de-veloped its own cultural industry in the late nineteenthcentury. The needs, concerns, a "4 indeed the issueswhich are now of concern to t' ..eveloping countrieshave become only very recently part of the discussionof copyright aid the distribution of knowledge. As Ed-ward Ploman succinctly put it ( Ploman and Hamilton1980: 8):
Copyright evolved in response to specific changes. Itsorigin is Western and its parentage multiple: the in-vention of the printing press and the advent of theIndustrial Revolution, the philosophy of the market-
loo
90 Philip C. Altboch
place and that of natural rights, the rise of bourgeoissociety and the spread of literacy, new social attitudestoward art and the artist. The resulting notion ofintellectual property is a European invention but isnow used in diverse economic and social systems tostructure the flow of information and cultural prod-ucts.
Historically, copyright developed in !''ngland in thesixteenth centurynot as a means of protecting au-thors and intellectuals, but as a means of maintainingorder and discipline in the emerging book trade (Pat-terson 1978: 222; see also Whale 1970). As Englandbecame a key center for intellectual products and forpublishing (not only for its colonies but also for theUnited States), the evolution of copyright there followeda rather twisted path and was informed by the concernsof the marketplace, of book publishers, and eventuallyof the British book trade to protect its export interests(Parsons 1974). Copyright in England was also linkedto the laws of press control and censorship, and it func-tioned for more than 150 years as a means of main-taining a monopoly in the book trade. Thus in Englandthe rights of authors and artists had relatively little todo with the early development of copyright; such con-cerns emerged later and were in some respects stim-ulated by thinking in France and elsewhere in Europe.Despite this rather murky beginning, the world's firstcopyright law (the Statute of Anne, passed in 1709) didrecognize the right of the author to his or her work aswell as regulate the printing trade.
Early copyright discussions were remarkably similarto those heard today. There was a concern about howto deal with revolutionary technological develop-mentsin this case, the printing press and its immenseimpact on culture and commerce. How to control thenumber of copies and keep track of distributic n werealso topics of considerable concern in the eighteenthand nineteenth centuries. The rights of authors, on theone hand, and the control of knowledge, including cen-sorship, on the other, entered into the equation. Finally,the rights of others involved in ale business of culture,including both booksellers and publishers, were verymuch part of the debates. Each of these concerns hasits analogy in current discussions of copyright.
Nations have always used copyright for their ownpurposesa fact that is easy to ignore in the idealisticrhetoric that has characterized copyright discussionssince Woid War 11. The fact is that the nations whichbasically control the world system of knowledgetheWestern industrial powershave convinced the rest ofthe world that their version of contemporary copyrightis the correct and universal standard. This was not al-ways the case. Nations historically have been most con-cerned with first developing their own culture and pub-
lishing industries and only later observing the nicetiesof copyright. Both of the world's current superpowers,the United States and the Soviet Union, were quite latein joining the international copyright system. ImperialRussia did not strictly adhere to copyright rules, andthe revolutionary Soviet regime followed that tradition,joining the internatioi, it copyright community onlyin 1974 (see Cramer 1965; Lottman 1975; Schwartz1975). The U.S. attitude toward copyright is in manyways a classic example of how copyright has been bothfloutedand utilizedin the process of developingan independent literature, culture, and publishinginfrastructure.
The United States in the nineteenth century was adeveloping nation and looked to Europe for culturaland intellectual cues.2 The first U.S. copyright act, passedin 1790, specifically permitted pirating of foreign pub-lished works (Patterson 1978: 197). The general thrustof the 1790 act was that copyright was a privilege andnot a right and therefore could be significantly re-stricted. The U.S. printing and publishing industriesgrew up with the practice of freely printing foreignworks and selling them in the United States withoutobtaining permission trom the overseas authors andwithout paying any royalties. Some of the best-knownU.S. publishers prospered by obtaining popular fictionalworks in England and quickly printing copies in theUnited States. Charles Dickens, among many other Brit-ish authors, frequently complained about his economiclosses due to U.S. pirating. In many ways, the U.S.printing and publishing industries benefited signifi-cantly from a system that depended on freedom to pub-lish, without payment, the unprotected works of foreignauthors (Tebel 1975). It is also significant that evenwhen the United States began to offer copyright pro-tection to foreign authors and to participate in inter-national copyright activities, it retained in its copyrightlaw a manufacturing clause that demanded books byU.S. authors be printed in the United States in orderto enjoy U.S. copyright protection. This clause was thesubject of considerable controversy in the debate con-cerning the 1968 copyright revision; in 1986 it wasallowed by the U.S. Congress to expire, thus removingone of the last special provisions in the U.S. copyrightlaw (Ringer 1968: 1054).
The first significant U.S. participation in intt. ma-tional copyright was in 1891. But the United States didnot formally participate in any of the established inter-national copyright conventions until the UniversalCopyright Convention (ucc) was established in 1952and the ucc was, in fact, set up largely to bring theUnited States and most Latin American countries whichfollowed the U.S. lead into the fold of internationaltreaties. In some respects, the unwillingness of the UnitedStates to offer protection to foreign authors until quite
101
recently contributed to the buildup of independent U.S.publishing and printing industries (Olian 1974: 93). Inother respects, it retarded the growth of U.S. authorshipand made it difficult for Americans to earn a living bywriting, because publishers could easily publish foreign(mostly British) authors without paying royalties. It isquite clear that the United States used copyright for itsown purposes and that the Americans in the nineteenthcentury were the worst pirates in the world.
The International Copyright System
International copyright protection is a recent devel-opment, and it too resulted from the growth of tech-nologies, from more international use of such languagesas English, French, German, and Spanish, and from theemergence of international centers of book publishingand scholarship (Ringer 1968: 1051). By the mid-nine-teenth century, the web of copyright treaties in Europewas so confusing that an international conference wascalled, resulting in the International Convention for theProtection of Literary and Artistic Works, popularly knownas the Berne Convention, in 1886 (Unesco 1981; seealso Ploman and Hamilton 1980). It is the oldest copy-right treaty in the world and has gone through severalrevisions, the mcst recent of which directly concerneddeveloping nations and aroused a good deal of contro-versy. As of 1979, there were seventy-one states in theBerne Convention, with the notable exceptions of theUnited States, China, and the Soviet Union (de Freitas1983:5). The Berne Convention is administered by theWorld Intellectual Property Organization (wieo), whichhelps to solve disputes, provides interpretations, andkeeps records and statistics. It reflects the Western Eu-ropean concept of copyright and was developed to pro-tect the interests of the European nations as publishingand printing became major industries because of theindustrial revolution, mass literacy, and public educa-tion. The national copyright laws of the European pow-ers were altered to place them into conformity with therequirements of the Berne Convention.
The basic commitment of the Berne Convention isto protect the rights of individual authors, and its philo-sophical orientation is toward the "natural-right" ap-proach to copyright. The treaty set a minimum standardof copyright protection that was tl- en binding on all thesignatories. Countries can provide .-nore protection thanstipulated by Berne, but they cannot offer less. In 1948a revision of the convention gave it even stronger pre-cedence over national copyright regulations. The BerneConvention requires its participants to conform in con-siderable detail to its rules, and it has been generallysuccessful in obtaining this conformity. Under the BerneConvention a work (written, artistic, or other) has pro-
Copyright in the Developing ISorld 91
tection from its date of creation whether or not it isformally registered with a national copyright office. Thisprotection is offered only to nationals of the signatoriesof the convention. The length of copyright protection,an issue of considerable controversy, has been graduallyextended so that it is now the author's lifetime plus fiftyyears.
The second major international copyright treaty wasestablished in 1952 under the auspices of Unesco, whichcurrently administers it.3 The Universal Copyright Con-vention was developed largely to bring the UniteL Statesand a number of Latin American nations into the in-ternational copyright system. It was, simply stated, acompromise between the Berne Convention and theU.S. view on copyright (Ploman and Hamiltrin 1980:58). U.S. copyright law traditionally has offered signif-icantly less protection to copyright holders than Eu-ropean rules, and the ucc similarly is less inclusive thanthe Berne Convention, although both treaties providebasic rights and mar., countries are members of boththe Berne Convention and the ucc. The ucc Lees copy-right in a larger context that includes such issues asthe development of literature and the dissemination ofknowledge. As a result, factors other than simple pro-tection of the rights of authors enter into the equation.Unlike the Berne Convention, which stipulates that alloriginal works have basic copyright protection regard-less of whether they are formally registered, the uccinsists that nations have registration procedures andspells them out. The ucc also offers a shorter term ofcopyright protection: the life of the author plus 'twenty-five years.
Current Issues and Compulsory Licensing
The copyright agencies, international organizationslike Unesco, and the major publishing nations havepressed for the widest possible adherence to the copy-right system. They have also been quite successful inconvincing ,nany developing nations to draft orstrengthen their own national copyright legislation andto adhere to one or more of the international treaties.There has also been press are from developing countrieson the copyright agencies to make it easier for them toobtain rights to translate or reprint books from abroad,and they have had some success (Krishnamuidii 1968).In addition, there is constant litigation and &bate con-cerning the scope and meaning of copyright, the defi-nition of "fair use" in the age of the photocopying rev-olution, and the appropriate limits to copyright protectionin the face of pressures for equity in the internationalsystem. The copyright agencies have sponsored a num-ber of full-scale conferences on copyright revision andhave in fact made some substantive changes.
10 2
92 Philip G. Altbac,',
Some of the most heated debates on internationalcopyright after World War II were the Stockholni con-ference of 1967 and the follow-up Paris meetings in1971, when developing nations demanded significantalterations in the copyright system. They stressed aloosening of copyright protection in the interests ofequity in the distribution of knowledge and to permitspeedy reprinting and translation of books related toeducational and scientific development. The end resultwas a compromise. As one observer put it: "The majorpublishing nations recognized the needs of the devel-oping countries for inexpensive textbooks and measuresthat would enable them to publish such editions. Butthey regarded the proposals of Stockholm as too drasticand refused to go along with them. The conflict endangered the very existence of the international copy-right system" (Unesco 1981: 23).
The developing countries were attempting to loosencopyright protection for educational and scientific booksby introducing a mechanism of compulsory licensingthat would permit publishers in developing countriesto reprint or t anslate material at a specified time afterits original publication once permission to reprint hadbeen sought from the original publisher, :yen if thatpermission was not in hand (India 1967; see also deFreitas 1983, Olian 1974, and Unesco 1973). They werealso forcing a debate about the meaning of copyrightin the context of North-South inequalities and in theface of the domination of the copyright system by themajor industrial nations. The heated Stockholm dis-cussions resulted in an agreement which provided sig-nificantly liberalized rules for developing nations. Thisagreement proved to be quite controversii I. Britain re-fused to g9 along with it; other major Western pub-lishing nations erpressed reservations. After furtherprotracted discussion and another conference (underUnesco auspices in Paris in 1971), which included rep-resentatives of both the Berne Convention nations andthe ucc, a solution was founa which provided someliberalization but which prevented books obtained undercompulsory licensing procedures from being used forcommercial profit and from being exported from thecountry of publication (Unesco 1981: 23).
Although it is now possible for developing nations toobtain compulsory licenses to reprint or translate text-books and other educational books, there are still sig-nificant limitations that reflect compromises betweenthe industrial book-producing nations and the devel-oping consuming ^ountries. For example, it generallytakes at least three years for a compulsory license tobecome available for publication in English, French, orSpanish; less universal languages require only one year.Each licease is issued only for the country in which itis to be used, and the books are not to be exported (deFreitas 1983: 61ff.). Thus developing-country interests
were in the end successful in establishing the basicconcept that there must be some flexibility in the in-ternational copyright system; but the major copyrightpowers wen:. also successful in limiting the scope of thereforms and in binding the developing world to theinternational copyright system. They were able to limitthe reforms to educational books and books used foradvanced scientific purposes. General books, fiction,magazines, and the like are not subject to compulsorylicensing at the present time.
Although there were serious debates about the basicnature of the copyright system before the reforms, vir-tually everyone is now committed to the system and iswilling to work within it. Those countries which arecurrently outside the international copyright system(such as China and Malaysia) are moving, albeit slowly,to join. Copyright is a curious amalgam of ideology,belief, and pragmatism (Barker 1970). Copyright, withkm exceptions, protects the haves; it is a form of mo-nopoly that gives basic control over knowledge to thecreator of that knowledge or the designee (usually apublisher or, these days, a software company) (Chafee1945). Indeed, it was developed more than three cen-turies ago in England precisely to protect monopolisticpractices (Parsons 1974). Copyright has also been usedfor censorship, and in its early days it was seen by theauthorities as a means of controlling knowledge.
The Context of Inequality
Copyright functions in an interdependent interna-tional system of intellectual and commercial relations.There are specific problems in developing indigenouscultural and educational systems and the infrastructurethat goes along with them. The nations of the devel-oping world find themselves a considerable disad-vantage when building their own kricwledge systems inthis network of inequality. Copyright is but a small partof a much larger international system that controlsresources, trade, foreign assistance, and many otherfactors. By looking at copyright as a microcosm of thelarger system, it is possible to see in some detail thenature of the disadvantages iaced by the developingworld.
The international network for distributing knowledgeis one of considerable complexity. Book publishers, filmdistribution enterprises, news networks, and (recently)data bases and computer firms are all part of the systemby which knowledge is distributed throughout the world.4Academic and scientific institutions play a role not onlyin the creation of knowledge but also in its distribution.Individual scholars and intellectuals are themselves verymuch a part of the system.
The fact of inequality is clear. The bulk of the world's
103
scientific research is done in a few o:. the industrialnationsnotably the United States, the United King-dom, Japan, France, the Federal Republic of Germany,and the Soviet Union. It has been estimated that closeto one-quarter of the world's expenditures for researchand development are made in the United States. Themajor uriversities, with their well-equipped librai iesand laboratories, are located in a handful of industrialnations. These institutions attract the best scholars and,incidentally, train a significant portion of the highlyeducated personnel from the developing worid.5 By everymeasure, the bulk of the world's productivity it re-search and scientific development is to be found in theindustrial nations.6 This fact has many implications.The research needs of the industrial nations are natu-rally those strved by this research, and the channels ofdissemination are geared to the producing nations. Mostof the markets for scholarly books and periodicals arein the industrial nations, and this fact further skewsthe network for disseminating knowledge. The largestacademic libraries are located in the industrial nationsand constitute the main purchasers of scientific bool,sand journals. A large academic profession and studentpopulation are a further source of both the productionand consumption of intellectual material.
Language is a key factor in the international knowl-edge network.' English is the first language o; 345 mil-lion people and the second language of another 400million, ani it is the native language of twelve nationsand the semiofficial tongue of another thirty-three na-tions (U.S. News and World Report 1985). This givesEnglish a considerable advantage as a language of schol-arly communication and research. Along with Spanish,French, and (to a much lesser extent) Russian, Englishdominates the network for distributing knowledge. Alarge majority of the world's major scholarly journalsand academic booksthe key means of distributingknowledgeare in English, and most of the :est arein the other three major international languages. Evenin Europe, scholars in countries such as the Nether-lands, Sweden, and even Germany frequently publishtheir work in English to achieve the maximum inter-national exposure.
Developing countries are dominated by the majorinternational languages, and this dominance places afurther strain on limited publishing and other re-sources. It also makes these countries dependent on thenations which publish in the major international lan-guages. The vast bulk of the world's translations aremade from the major international languages into avariety of other languages, including such widely usedbut scientifically less-developed languages as Chinese,Hindi, Bengali, and Portuguese. The necessity to trans-late material from English or the other internationallanguages into a variety of developing-country Ian-
Copyright in the Developing World 93
guages creates problems of finding the technical ex-perti.e to do the translations, mustering the ability topublish those translated works, and functioning in theframework of the international copyright system so asto secure permission to do the translations in the firstplace.
The infrastructure for disseminating knowledge isbasically controlled by the industrial nations. The prom-inent publishing firms are located in those nations, andthey control the production and the distribution of booksaround the world (K. Smith 1975). There is a largetrade in the export of books from the industrial nationsto developing countries. The major publishers havebranches throughout the developing world and are infact multinational enterprises. Indeed, about half thesales of the British publishing industry are dependentcn overseas trade, much of it to the developing world,and the French have a similar export market. The Amer-icans, with only 10 percent of their publishing outputexported, are more insular; but they too have had agrowing interest in export salesfor political and cul-tural as much as for commercial reasons. Book exportsand the impact of books from the industrial nations onthe developing world are not only matters of profit butalso directly linked to the foreign policy goals of themajor industrial nations (see Benjamin 1984). It isthe 'fore very much in the interest of the major book-exporting nations to continue their role as centers forthe creation and distribution of knowleuge.
Not only are the physical means of book creation anddistribution (that is, publishing) in the industrial na-tions but also the decisionmaking apparatus for sci-entific and educational knowledge in general. The majorjournals are edited in a few nationslargely the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom, and, for the francophoneworld, France. Much of the rest of the world is in aperipheral relation to these major intellectual centers.The decisions made by journal editors, book publishers,and others who are gatekeepers of knowledge reflectthe intellectual and scientific environment in whichthey function (Coser 1975).
Although the basic technologies of book nroduc-tion typesetting and printingare widely dissemi-nated throughout the world (in fact, several developingnations, including Hong Kong, India, and Singapore,do a significant amount of printing and typesetting forpublishers in the industrial nations, sometimes withthe latest technologies), the basic technological inno-vations and developments occur in the industrial na-tions and are in general controlled by them. Developingnations must import (often under license) these newtechnologies or purchase machinery abroad, which makesthem dependent on the industrial nations. Even sucha basic element of book production as paper, the tech-nology for which is simple and widely disseminated, is
104
94 Philip C. Altbach
basically controlled by a few industrial nations, with theconsequence that prices are high (Becker 1982).
The impact of the very newest technologies on thedeveloping world will be considerable, and the devel-opment and control of these innovations are also in thehands of the industrial nations. Data bases in the Westare tied into the major international languages and usematerial generated from Western sources. Satellitetransmission systems for international communicationare similarly centralized, although several developingnations, including India and Indonesia, have their ownsatellites for educational and other purposes. The hard-ware for the new technologies, such as the newest re-prographic machines. is manufactured in the industrialnations and is usually expensive to buy and difficult torepair. This situation, too, creates problems for devel-oping nations.
The network for creating and disseminating knowl-edge is both complex and unequally structured. Thecopyright system is very much a part of this system ofrelations. In part, the sheer weight of market forces,the major languages of publication, the location of thebasic infrastructure, and the nationality of most sci-entists and authors dictate that the industrial nations,and particularly the major publishing nations such asthe United States, the Soviet Union, the United King-dom, and France, are the major centers for creatingand distributing knowledge. The structure of the in-ternational network also plays a role. The multinationalpublishers are well established, and their vested interestin maintaining the status quo is considerable. Finally,the policies of the industrial nations protect the statusquo because frequently it is in the interest of thosenations to maintain control over the structures for dis-seminating knowledge.8 It is hardly surprising thatcopyright should be enmeshed in this powerful systemand that those nations on the periphery, the nations ofthe developing world, should wish to extricate them-selves from it.
The Issue of Piracy
Piracy is big business. It is estimated that $1 billionworth of books and another $1 billion of tapes andcassettes are pirated annually (Alikhan 1984). Thesealarming statistics do not include unauthorized pho-tocopying, which is also a major problem for copyrightholders. Piracy is usually defined as the unauthorizedpublication of a book, tape, cassette, or (recently) com-puter software for commercial sale. Piracy occurs it allcountries, but it has become a key issue among pub-lishers in tlation to the developing world because thebulk of large-scale commercial piracy occurs in devel-oping economies. The publishers of the industrial na-tions are very disturbed about piracy and have applied
pressure not only on developing-economy pirates butalso on their own governments in an effort to link fa-vorable foreign trade terms or economic aid to the erad-ication of piracy. Sometimes this effort has been effec-tive. For example. the government of Singapore iscurrently revising its copyright law and stepping upenforcement in response to pressure from the UnitedStates, Singapore's largest trading partner. Book piracyhas its ups and downs in the major pirating economies(currently located mainly in South and East Asia), butlargely for economic reasons, the practice continues.Taiwan, for example, has been probably the largest bookpirate and still engages in the practice, but the scopeof the piracy has declined significantly. This decline ispartially due to external pressure but perhaps more tothe Taiwan economy's growing sophistication, whichmakes it in its interest to respect copyright, patents,and the other legal regulations of the transfer of knowl-edge and technology (Kaser 1969; Bookseller 1970).
What is piracy and literary theft from the point ofview of the industrial nations is something else to pub-lishers in developing countries. Although few in thedeveloping world are currently willing to support pub-licly the violation of international copyright laws, thereare some arguments to be made against copyright reg-ulations in general and as they apply to the developingworld in particular. There is of course a line of argumentin opposition to the concept of copyright which claims,among other things, that a system that creates a mo-nopoly and limits access to knowledge on the basis ofwho originally produced the knowledge is unfair andunwise.9 As one spokesperson for the developing worldput it: "We in South-east Asia and the Third World arethe ..;ountrysides of the urban-industrial publishing cen-ters of the West. And just as with most countrysidepopulations, we are perennially treated to avowals ofconcern for our development from the metropolitanpourers to no avail" (Valdehuesa 1980). There is aclear difference of opinion concerr ing piracy, althoughat the present time few openly espouse violation of copy-right rules. What is not discussed, however, is done inmany countries on a large scale. As one Western pub-lisher stated, a large number of economies (includinga few industrial ones) are known to be pirates. In 1980,the following were among the economies mentioned assignificant violators of copyright: Taiwan, Korea, andthe Philippines (as the three largest), China, the Do-minican Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, HongKong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Singapore,and Thailand Countries in which piracy occurs occa-sionally include Colombia, Germany, India, the IslamicRepublic of Iran, Iraq, Japan, the Netherlands. and Syria(Asser 1980).
Book piracy occurs in many different ways. In Taiwan,for example, unauthorized reprinting of books fromabroad is a significant part of the publishing business.
105
Taiwanese pirates specialize in producing English-lan-guage book titles and selling them in East and SoutheastAsia and occasionally in the West. Popular trade books,reference books (including the Encyclopaedia Briton-nica), key medical books, university texts, and manyothers (in editions looking exactly like the original butgenerally printed on poor paper) are widely sold at priceswell under half the original cost.'° Publishers, or oftenfree-lance printers, reprint a few titles which they thinkcan be sold quickly. These books are frequently best-sellers from the West, which have a brisk sale in manydeveloping nations.
There is also the business of unauthorized transla-tions from Western languages. Either through lack ofeffort or because negotiations with Western publishersbreak down or costs are too high, many publishers indeveloping countries fail to obtain formal permissionto publish translations of Western books. There are nostatistics on unauthorized translations, but the volumeissued must be significant. All kinds of titles are trans-lated, but especially educational books. There is a readymarket for translations of school and college textbooks,and the Western publishers of such books are some-times the least informed about the needs of the devel-oping-country book industry. Indeed, the call by de-veloping nations for compulsory licenses stemmej fromthis dilemma, and the campaign proved to be mostsuccessful with regard to school and college textbooks.
A recent development in piracy, stimulated by therapid growth of technology and the increasing sophis-tication of a number of developing economies, is theunauthorized reproduction of computer programs, soft-ware of all kinds, and microcomputers and computerparts. A mini-industry related to computer technologyhas developed in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.The pirating of tape cassettes and phonograph recordshas long been a problem in Southeast and East Asia.
It can be argued, on the one hand, that pirated booksrob the original publishers (and of course the authors)of their fair share of royalties and prevent the authorsfrom controlling when and where their work will bepublished. On the other hand, the editions brought outin developing countries constitute a very minor shareof the world market for most books: the profits earnedby the original publishers from such editions or fromexport sales to those countries represent a tiny fractionof the total. It can also be argued that the pirate isfrequently creating a market for the book, because animported version would be too costly for local bookbuyers. Publishers in the developing world have fre-quently complained that Western publishers are slowto respond to requests for reprint rights, that they chargetoo much, and that they are uninterested, preferring toexport a small number of copies at high prices ratherthan to grant rights for a larger, low-cost edition. It isoften said that U.S. publishers are not sufficiently at-
Co wright in the Developing World 95
tuned to the export market to be able to handle it ef-fectively and that British publishers, dependent on themarket, prefer to export their own books rather thangrant rights.
The issue for textbooks and scientific books is some-what different because, in gene al, mass markets arenot involved. Book people in developing countries haveargued that the West already dominates the creation ofknowledge and should not be able to prevent its dis-tribution. It should therefore be possible to reprint freelyor to translate educational books in the developing worldwithout undue deiay from Western publishers or thepayment of high fees. Furthermore, many developingnations lack foreign exchange to pay for book importsor reprint rights, and this is another reason for an openmarket for reprinting books, particularly for educa-tional purposes.
The discussions of compulsory licensing revolvedmainly around the need for educational books in thedeveloping world. It is probably the case, although sta-tistics do not exist, that since the liberalization of therules for compulsory licenses, the amount of unau-thorized reprinting or translating of educational andscientific books has diminished significantly. Westernpublishers have been engaged in a major campaign toeliminate book piracy, and although there has not beencomplete success, there has been a definite increase incopyright consciousness in the developing world.
It is also the case that what is piracy to one nationis fair use to another. China does not now belong toany of the international copyright agreements and thusis not bound by tnem. The Chinese engage in extensivetranslations of books from the major Western languages(and from Japanese) and publish them without payingroyalties or obtaining permission. Such actions are notillegal under current Chinese law. China, however, isin the process of drafting a copyright law and will joinone of the international copyright treaties. A numberof other developing nations have enacted far-reachingcompulsory licensing laws which permit them to usematerials published in other countries fairly freely. Pub-lishers in industrial nations claim that this is piracy,but under local laws it is not. Although it is likely thatbook piracy is on the decline as a result of liberalizedcopyright rules and a greater spirit of compliance inthe developing world, the phenomenon of computerbased piracy is no doubt on the increase.
Technology and Copyright
One of the most important challenges to copyrightin a long time is posed by contemporary technology.For the developing world, the new communicationstechnologies hold both promise and problems, but itcan be argued that the problems outweigh the promise.
106
96 Philip C. Altbach
It is not possible to discuss all the technological chal-lenges facing the dissemination of knowledge here, butit is useful to focus on those aspects of the technologicalrevolution that directly affect copyright and that havespecial implications for the developing world."
The new technologies, such as data bases, computer-assisted composition and printing techniques, and therapidly growing field of reprography, are all developingin the context of the global inequalities described ear-lier. Although developing nations may be able to makeuse of some of them, these innovations originated inthe industrial nations and are, with few exceptions, pro-duced in them and controlled by them. The developingworld is a consumer of the new technologies, generallyon terms set by the industrial nations. The innovationsare frequently but not always expensive, and they areinevitably "high tech," meaning that developing nationsdo not have the infrastructure to manufacture theseitems and frequently have problems in assimilating theminto 'he existing technologies. One commentator re-cently argued that the new technologies will permit thedeveloping nations to leapfrog the traditional technol-ogies and move directly into the twenty-first century.Certainly the new technologies are a continuation ofthe pattern of inequality and keep the developing worlddependent on the industrial nationseven er.cerbat-ing the situation by introducing very complex and ex-pensive technologies that are difficult to assimilate (D.Smith 1975).
Virtually all the new technologies have implicationsfor improving the distribution of knowledge and forcopyright (see Rodwell 1985). The development of databases, for example, has the potential to bring the latestknowledge from sources all over the world to develor ingcountries, but it also will inevitably tie users to theprincipal international language for the disseminat ionof Western knowledge (English), to the hardware pro-vided by the corporations which have developed andown the data bases, to the concepts of knowledge andresearch which are used by the owners, and to th highcosts of obtaining material through the data bases. Thistechnology also will exacerbate the split between theurban centers in the developing world, which are morelikely to have access to these new technologies, and therural peripheries, which are not. The copyright systemmeans that the collectors and disseminators of data-base knowledge will have control over it. The developingnations will be consumers of knowledge created anddistributed by Western sources in the English language.Indeed, large parts of the developing world will simplybe cut off from data-base knowledge systems altogetherbecause of the cost or because the local infrastructureis inadequate to absorb and use the new technologies.
Technological innovations in printing and composi-tion also have mixed, though generally more positive,implications for the developing world. Although these
developments are products of West( rn technology andare for the most part manufactured in the industrialnations, they give developing natior s with small-scalepublishing industries the possibility c f building up theirlocal capability at relatively low cost. Computer-assistedphotocomposition of text material has stimulated small-scale publishing and has lowered the cost of producingshort-run Publications and books in tl- e West. This tech-nology can also help the developing world. where print-ings for scholarly and educational materials may besmall.
Offset printing, a widely used printing innovation,has also been a boon to pirating and to reprinting ma-terial in general. This fact, of course, has major impli-cations for copyright because it reduces the cost, andtherefore the economic risks, of piracy. It is unlikelythat the Taiwanese printers would have been so activein reprinting Western books if the technology for quicklyrut roducing material without setting it into type didnot exis...
One of the most significant technological challengesto copyright is the photocopying revolution--a revo-lution that continues to improve ways of quickly, in-expensively, and expertly photocopyi ig printed materialof all kinds. in the United States, photocopying of pub-lished material now run, nto billions of pages annually,and a significant part of this photocopying takes placein clear violation of the copyright laws. The concept offair use, included in the new U.S. copyright law, is beingconstantly defined in the courts, tut nevertheless it isignored by most individual copier; and by many insti-tutional users as well (Weinoerg 1975). The intrlcate,yet very important, issues involved in photocopying li-brary copies of journals are beyond the scope of thischapter; but as recent litigation in the United Statesindicates, the issues are at the heart of the survival ofacademic journals (one of the key means of distributingknowledge), the role of libraries, and the implicationsof dissemination networks in a technological age (Henry1975; see also Ladd 1983). In a number of countries,copyright authorities and the courts have been tryingto accommodate copyright protection to the rapidly ad-vancing techniques of photocopying, thus far with onlymodest success.' Technological developments have faroutstripped the capabilities of the copyright system,both within nations and internationally, to control thesituation. Some have argued that authors and publish-ers would survive perfectly well without strict controlsover copying and that in fact. photocopying contributesmore to society by giving easier access to knowledgethan it takes away by limiting the economic benefits tothe producers of knowledge (Leavens 1981).
In many ways, photocopy ing has been a boon to de-veloping nations. The basic i.echnology is not very com-plex. Some developing nations produce machines; othersimport them. Although there are no adequate data, it
1
seems that there are fewer controls on the use of pho-tocopying and that users of knowledge have easier ac-cess to photocopied materials than in many industrialnations. It is possible, for example, to obtain photo-copies of books in a number of developing nations atprices well under those of the original publications.
The technological innovations in communications,printing, and copying of the past few decades have comeat the same time as the efforts of many developingcountries to build up a basic knowledge industry (O'Brien1980; see also Bell 1969). The possibilities of using thenew technologies to develop an efficient and cost-effec-tive knowledge industry are considerable and have beenexploited by several countries--mainly those with highlytrained personnel capable of mastering the new tech-nologies, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, whichhave become major printing and publishing centers.Other developing nations have combined old technol-ogies with elements of the new. But many nations havefound entering the new age of the production of knowl-edge to be very difficult; they have remained dependenton outside agencies, usually the Western-based multi-nation publishers, for their book needs, including quiteoften school textbooks.
The international system that tries to control thedissemination of knowledgenamely, copyrighthasstruggled to keep up with the new technologies es wellas with the other challenges that have been discussedin this chapter, and the result has been confusion. Thebasic protections provided to authors and publishersunder the copyright agreements are difficult to interpretin the light of some of the technological innovationsand are even more tricky to enforce.
Textbooks and Copyright
The production and distribution of textbooks forschools and postsecondary institutions is an importantbut specialized part of the total process of distributingknowledge. In the developing world, textbooks consti-tute the dominant segment of the publishing enterprise.In some smaller developing countries, textbooks arevirtually the only indigenous books published. In manynations, as already discussed, textbook publishing per-mits other kinds of publishing to occur because it pro-vides the economic base for the industry. Even whereprimary-level text publishing is in government hands,which is increasingly common in the devcloping world,secondary-level text and educational publishing is amainstay of commercial publishing. In the United States,textbook publishing is the largest single segment of thepublishing business, accounting for 30 percent of theincome of U.S. publishers.
Textbooks are not only a key element in the publish-ing industry but also crucial for a nation's educational
Copyright in the Derelopmg tiorld 97
system. Without adequate textbooks, the effectivenessof the school is hampered. Many researchers argue thattextbooks are an'ong the most important elements inenst . ing success for students (see Heyneman and others1978; see also Wagner 1979). Most nations recognizethat textbooks must meet the educational needs of schoolstudents and that they should reflect national valuesand orientations. This presents special problems for anumber of small countries that import textbooks, fre-quently from the former colonial power.
Who should produce and distribute textbooks is alsoa key issue in the developing world. Textbooks werefrequently imported during thP colonial era and afterindependence were published by local affiliates of mul-tinational publishers (or imported). The traditional fa-cilities for production and distribution continued to beusedperhaps to the detriment of any indigenous pub-lishing ind.istry. Later, many governments in devel-oping countries moved to nationalize textbook publish-ing by establishing agencies to write, edit, produce, anddistribute school texts. Although this arrangement didproduce indigenous books, it also created problems.Very frequently the efficiency of these operations waslow and the cost high. Furthermore, when the mostlucrative and steady part of the publishing business wasremoved from the private sector, independent publish-ers found it very difficult to build a business by tappingonly the general and library markets in their countries(see Altbach 1975). Thus unanticipated consequencesof the nationalization of the textbook business includedweakening the indigenous publishing industry andcausing unnecessarily high production costs for schooltexts.
Copyright plays an important role in developing-country textbook publishing. The international aspectsof copyright are relevant, because many books or seg-ments of books include imported materials. Nationalcopyright regulations are also important because theygovern the publication of all books within a country.On the international level, the provisions of the BerneConvention and the Universal Copyright Conventioncover all books, including texts and educational books.Thus educational publishers are covered by the samerestrictions that affect publishers generally. The oneimportant exception to the broader copyright coverageis compulsory licensing, which permits publishers andeducational agencies in the developing world easier ac-cess to books and journals published in the indL ;trialnations. The specific regulations governing compulsorylicensing are complex and do not permit completelyfree access to overseas material, but the arrangement,which is now part of the international copyright system,permits easier access and also, in some instances, re-duces the cost of using foreign materials for educationalpurposes.
Many developing-country textbooks are adapted, in
10
98 Philip G. Altbach
whole or in part, from educational materials developedin industrial countries. The legal copyright protectionafforded to such adapted material is less clear than forother material. The copyright treaties deal with thebroader questions of appropriate quotations from copy-righted works, but the free adaptation of material is notcovered. Furthermore, national copyright laws vary onthese issues, and it is sometimes difficult to understandthe ramifications of the legal restrictions. There is wide-spread adapting (and sometimes simple reproduction)in developing-country textbooksbecause the pressureto publish textbooks is intense and there is frequentlya dearth of qualified local writers and curriculum ex-perts. It is particularly common for textbooks publishedin some of the less widely used developing-country lan-guages to adapt or copy foreign materials freely withoutregard to copyright restrictions. The legal, as well asthe moral, political, and educational consequences ofsuch i1liag2tiDn and reproduction are issues which havenot been fully addressed.
National copyright regulations also have a consid-erable impact on textbook development. Textbooks, likeother books, are subject to national copyright laws.Developing-counuy copyright regulations stem largelyfrom the laws put into place by the colonial powers orborrowed from the major Western copyright laws. Tilosthere is no special approach to copyright in the devel-oping world, and the laws found in developing countriesresemble one of the three major ideological currents inthinking about copyright. Few developing nations havemodified their copyright laws to reflect their specificnational needs. Textbook development must thereforef`, into the context of national laws patterned on foreignmodels.
Textbook publishers must be aware of the copyrightrules that apply to their work. Legal restr. :tions on theuse of copyrighted mater_.: . .or example, illustrations)in books, on the length and use of quotations, on theduration of copyright protection, and on translationrights must all be kept in mind by textbook authorsand publishers. in general, national copyright laws doP.A provide any specific rights to educational publishes sor educational bock... Copyright laws protect authorsand publishers and make the use of copyrighted ma-terials subject to the interests of the copyright holders.It is usually possible for textbook publishers to observenational copyright laws and stil. publish good textbooks.Of course, such compliance may add to the cost oftextbook development because copyright holders mayrequire payment for permission to use or adapt mate-rial. Copyright also adds a layer of bureaucratic pro-cedure as well, because materials can be used only withappropriate permission.
The development of textbocz in developing coun-tries is handled in many different ways. Where a mM-
istiy of education is responsible for text developmentand publication, it is often easy to surmount copyrightproblems, because rns.,h of the needed local educationalmaterial is very likely in ie hands of other governmentagencies. Where the p.:vate sector is involved, restric-tions may be greater. In most developing countries,copyright problems stem more from the need to adaptand use foreign materials than from national copyrightregulations.
Textbook publishers in the developing world have hadto weigh the advantages and disadvantages of reprint-ing, translating, and producing locally written texts(which are frequently based on foreign material) or im-porting books. Copyright considerations enter into thisequation in a significant way, because the flow of knowl-edge is controlled by the international copyright system.Multinational publishers, officials of the ministry of ed-ucation, private publishers in developing countries, andfrequently school officials have important roles. Bothcost-related issues and questions related to educationaland social policy enter into the equation concerningdecisions about textbook production. Copyright is verymuch part of the situation as well. It is an ?coed whichfrequently delays textbook production and means thattextbook authors and planners must modify their ed-ucationally generated plans to meet commercial andlegal mandates.
The Future of Copyright in an Unequal World
Copyright is well-entrenched. It is powerful as an ideaand as a se" of legal mechanisms for controlling theinternational flow of knowledge. There seems to be astrong international con..nsus, wi-i ..h includes mostdeveloping nations in favor of the basic internationalcopyright system as it has developed since the late nine-teenth century a, d particularly as it has been modifiedsince World War II. The adherence of the United Statesin the nineteenth century and of the Soviet Union inthe mid-twentieth century (after both nations floutedcopyright as they built their own national publish' 'gindustries) means that all major publishing nations,except China, are part of the system. After considerablecontroversy during the 1960s, the industrial nationshave provided some of the modifications that the de-veloping nations demanded and a workable compromiseseems to have been struck.
The problems facing copyright, however, are quiteformidable and can be summarized as follows:
Technological. The adaptation of ti.e concept of copy-right and of the international copyright system to un-authorized pht,tocopying and to data bases is perhapsthe most difficult problem facing copyright now and inthe coming decades.
1O
Legal. The drafting and implementation of nationaland international codes to regulate the copyright systemin the face of new challenges are a considerable task.
Control. An issue frequently ignored, but particularlyimportant to developing countries, is who controlsknowledge and what this control means. Copyright inmany respects works to the advantage of the haves overthe have-nots. At the present time, most developingnations have decided not to pursue this question, ine-ferring to work in the context of the copyright systemas it exists and recognizing that the control over theflow of knowledge rests with the industrial countries.
Size. Knowledge is expanding at an ever-increasingrate and, assisted by the new technologies, is beingdisseminated ever more widely. Both the expansion ofknowledge and the new means of disseminating V- createproblems for copyright.
Equity. The North-South arguments over the controlof and access to knowledge are continuing the heateddebates of the 1960s concerning the developing world'sunequal access to knowledge in all its forms. This in-equality is an underlying contradiction in the inter-national copyright system.
Critics of arrangements for controlling the flow ofknowledge made their major thrust in the 1960s byapplying pressure on the international copyright systemand sounding their opinions through agencies likeUnesco, where calls for a New World Information Orderwere heard (McBride and others 1980; see also O'Brienand Helleiner 1980). The debates within the interna-tional copyright system and the departure of the UnitedStates and the United Kingdom from Unesco seem tohave silenced the critics, at least for the present.
There is an international consensus, regardless ofpolitical ideology, economic organization, or positionin the knowledge hierarchy, that anarchy in the creationand distribution of knowledge must be avoided. For thepresent, most people agree that the internationalcopyright system, despite its inequalities, provides thebest means of controlling the situation, especially inthe light of massive technological change. Whether thesignificant internal contradictions in the copyright sys-tem will stimulate dissent and questioning at some fu-ture time is not clear. Despite the stresses, some piracy,and the lukewarm adherence of some developing na-tions, the international copyright system appears to beaccepted as the basic structure to regulate the inter-national flow of knowledge.
Notes
1. Breyer (1970: 281). Breyer's is one of the best contem-porary analyses of copyright, and his arguments are, overall,not sympathetic to copyright. See also Strong (1981).
Copyright in the Developing World 99
2. For a general elaboration of this point, see McVey (1975).For a broader perspective, see Lipset (1964).
3. With the recent def,arture of both the United States andthe United Kingdom from Unesco, the future of the UniversalCopyright Convention's administrtion is unclear, as is theimportant statistical work done by Unesco in the field of booksand copyright.
4. For a broader discussion of these issues, see Altbach(1977). See also Altbach (1976).
5. For further discussion of the implications of foreignstudy, see Altbach (1986).
6. There are some significant, although as yet fairly minor,countertrends as some developing countries build up indig-enous scientific capacity and use it for local purposes. SeeCopinathan (1984).
7. See Mazrui (1975). For a different perspective, see Quirkand Widdowson (1985).
8. These controls are not only evident in the area of booksand publishing but also in such fields as mass communica-tions. See, for example, Fenby (1968) and Tunstall (1977).
9. Macaulay stresses the monopoly argument in his classicanticopyright treatise. See also Leavens (1981) and Breyer(1970).
10. David Kaser states that more than 4,500 titles werepirated over a twenty-year period in Taiwan (Kaser 1969: 123).
11. For two informative overviews, see Schiller (1981) andNordenstreng and Schiller (1979).
12. The reproduction of videocassettes, tape recordings, andcomputer software raises the same issues related to the controlof unauthorized copying of written material from books andjournals. There is if anything more pressure on nonbook copy-ing because the demand for such material is greater and thepotential profits higher.
References
Alikhan, Shahid. 1984. "The Problem of Piracy." In 0. P. Chaiand N. Kumar, eds., International Publishing Today. Delhi:Bookman's Club.
Altbach, Philip C. 1975. Publishing in India: An Analysis. NewDelhi and New York: Oxford University Press.
.1976. "Literary Colonialism: Books in the Third World."Harvard Educational Review 45 (May): 226-36.
. 1977. "Servitude of the Mind?: Education, Depen-dency and Neocolonialism." Teachers College Record 79(December): 197-204.
.1986. "The Foreign Student Dilemma." Teachers Col-lege Record 87 (Summer): 589-610.
.tsser, Paul Nijhoff. 1980. "Piracy, 2nd Part." STM Newsletter53 (April).
Barker, R. E. 1970. "Copyright Concessions for the DevelopingCountries." Bookseller 3364 (June 13): 2598-602; 3365(June 20): 2678-84.
Becker, Jorg. 1982. "The Geopolitics of Cultural Paper: In-ternational Dimensions of Paper Production, Consumptionand Import-Export Structures." Background study for theUnesco World Congress on Books, London.
1 1 0
100 Philip G. Altbach
Bell, Daniel. 1969. "Communications Technology: For Betteror for Worse." Harvard Business Review (May-June): 1-8,
Benjamin, Curtis G. 1984. U.S. Books Abroad: Neglected Am-bassadors. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Library of Congress.
Bookseller. 1970. "In Taiwan, a Cool Look at the CourteousPirates." No. 3358 (May 2): 22(1'2-06.
Bortnick, Jane. 1981. " International Information Flow: TheDeveloping World Perspective." Comet! International LawJournal 14 (Summer): 333-53.
Breyer, Stephen. 1970. "The Uneasy Case for Copyright: AStudy of Copyright in Books, Photocopies and ComputerPrograms." Harvard Law Review 84 (December): 281.
Chafee, Zachariah, Jr. 1945. "Reflections on the Law of Copy-right-I." Columbia Law Review 45 (July): 503-29.
Coser, Lewis. 1975. "Publishers as Gatekeepers of Ideas."An-nals of the 4merican Academy of Political and Social Sci-ence 421 (September): 14-22.
Cramer, Allan P. 1965. "International Copyright and the So-viet Union." Duke Law Journal: 531-45.
de Freitas, Denis. 1983. The Copyright System: Practice andProblems in Developing Countries. London: Common-wealth Secretariat.
Fenby, Jonathan. 1968. International News Services. New York:Schocken Books.
Gopinathan, S. 1984. "Intellectual Dependency and the In-digenization Response: Case Studies of Three Disciplinesin Two Third World Universities." Ph.D. diss., State Uni-versity of New York at Buffalo.
Henry, Nicholas L. 1974. "Copyright, Pubic Policy and In-formation Technology." Science 1963 (February): 384-91.
.1975. Copyright: Information Technology and PublicPolicy. 2 vols. New York: Marcel Dekker.
Heyneman, Stephen P., Joseph P. Farrell, and Manuel A. Se-pulveda-Stuardo. 1978. Textbooks and Achievement: WhatWe Know. World Bank Staff Working Paper 298. Washing-ton, D.C.
India. Ministry of Education. 1967. International Copyright:Needs of Developing Countries. New Delhi.
Kaser, David. 1969. Book Pirating in Taiwan. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press.
Krishnamurthi, T. S. 1968. "Copyright: Another View." Copy-right Society of the USA Bulletin 15 (April): 217-34.
Ladd, David. 1983. "Copyright and the International Tech-nologic Environment." Copyright Bulletin 17, no. 3: 17-24.
Leavens, Thomas R. 1981. "In Defense of the l'nauthorizedUse: Recent Developments in Defending Copyright In-fringement." Law and Contemporary Problems 44 (Au-tumn): 3-26.
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1964. The First New Nation. London:Heinemann.
Lottman, Herbert R. 1975. "Inside VAAP." Publishers Weekly(September 8): 28-34.
McBride, Sean, and others. 1980. Many Voices, One World:Communication and Society Today and Tomorrow. Paris:Unesco.
McFarlane, Gavin. 1982. A Practical Introduction to Copy-right. London: McGraw-Hill.
McVey, Sheila. 1975. "Nineteenth Century America: Publish-ing in a Developing Country ." Annals of the American Acad-
emy of Political and Social Science 421 (September): 67-80.
Mattelart, Armand. 1983. Tam-tat:Limas and the Third World.The Struggle for Culture. South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin andGarvey.
Mattelart, Armand, and Seth Siegelaub, eds. 1979. Commu-nication and Class Struggle 1: Capitalism, Imperialism.New York: International General.
Mazrui, Ali A. 1975. The Political Sociology of the EnglishLanguage. The Hague: Mouton.
Nordenstreng, Kaarle, and Herbert I. Schiller, eds. 1979. Na-tional Sovereignty and International Communication.Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
Brien, Rita Cruise. 1980. "Technological r actors in Inter-national Communication." Communication 5:89-106.
O'Brien, R. C., and G. K. Helleiner. 1980. "The Political Econ-omy of Information in a Changing International Order."International Organization 34, no. 4 (Autumn): 445-70.
Olian, Irwin A., Jr. 1974 '.ntemational Copyright and theNeeds of Developing Countries." Cornell International LawJournal 7 (May): 81-112.
Parsons, Ian. 1974. "Copyright and Society." In A. Briggs,ed., Essays in the History of Publishing, pp. 29-60. Lon-don: Longmans.
Patterson, Lyman. 1978. Copyright in Historical Perspective.Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press.
Ploman, Edward W. 1985. "Copyright: Where Do We Go FromHere?" In P. G. Altbach, A. Arboleda, and S. Gopinathan,eds., Publishing in the Third World: Knowledge and De-velopment. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
Ploman, Edward W., and L. Clark Hamilton. 1980. Copyright:Intellectual Property in the Information Age. London: Rou-tledge and Kegan Paul.
Quirk, Randolph, and H. G. Widdowson, eds. 1985. Englishin the World: Teaching and Learning the Language andLiteratures. Cambridge, Eng Cambridge University Press.
Ringer, Barbara. 1968. "The Role of the United States in:nternational Copyright: Past, Present and Future."Georgetown Law Journal 56:105( -58.
. 1974. "The Demonology of Copyright." PublishersWeekly 206 (November 18): 19-28.
Rodwell, Susie. 1985. "World Communications Crisis)" Com-pare 1:53-66.
Schilier, Herbert I. 1981. Who Knows? Information in the4ge of the Fortune 500. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
Schrader, Dorothy M 1971. "Armageddon in InternationalCopyright: Review of the Berne Convention The UniversalConvention and the Present Crisis in Into-national Copy-right." Advances in Librarianship 2:309.
Schwartz, Alan U. 1975. "Publishing Détente: The Time ofthe VAAP." Publishers Weekly (March 3): 28-31.
Smith, Datus, Jr. 1975. "The Bright Promise of Publishingin the Developing Countries." Annals of the AmericanAcad-emy of Political and Social Science 421 (September): 130-39.
Smith, Keith. 1975. "Who Controls Book Publishing in An-glophone Middle Africa ?" Annals of the American Academyof Political and So. ;ai Science 421 (September): 140-50.
Strong, William S. 1981. The Copyright Book: A PracticalGuide. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
1 1 1
Tebel. John. 1975. A History of Bonk Publishing in the UnitedStates. Vol. 2. New York: Bowker.
Tunstall, Jeremy. 1977. The Media Are American. London:Constable.
Unesco. 1973. Records of the Conference for Revision of theUniversal Copyright Convention, 5 to 24 July, 1971. Paris.
1981. The ABC of Copyright. Paris.U.S. News and World Report. 1985. "English: Out to Conquer
the World." February 18: 49.Valdehuesa, M. E., Jr. 1980. "Need to Stop and Listen: Copy-
right and Piracy at the 21st IPA Congress." Asian BookDevelopment 12 (October): 11.
Copyright in the Developmg World 101
Wagner, Susan. 1979. "Textbooks and Third World Education:The World Bank's Changing Role." Publishers Weekly 215(March 26): 41-43.
Walker, Gregory. 1978. Soviet Book Publishing Pohcy. Cam-bridge. Eng.: Cambridge University Press.
Weinberg, Louise. 1975. "The Photocopying Revolution andthe Copyright Crisis." Public Interest 38 (Winter): 99-110.
Whale, R. F. 1970. Copyright: Evolution, Theory and Practice.London: Longmans.
112
8
The Raw Material: Paper
Paul Eastman
The manufacture of reading materialstypesetting,printing, and bindingcan be the most costly part ofthe complex publishing process. The cost of paper, inturn, is the single largest manufacturing expenseandoften places the greatest demand on foreign exchangereserves. Table 8-1 provides a typical breakdown of man-
turing costs.Paper quite commonly accounts for about 30 percent
or more of the total manufacturing cost. As the numberof copies per title increases, the proportion of the totalmanufacturing cost attributed to paper also increases.For example, when 10,000 copies are printed, the papercosts account for more than 50 percent of the manu-facturing costs. Although many experts consider ex-penditures for authorship and physical plant to be large,even when they are included, paper costs account for7 to 15 percent of the total cost of a publishing venture.Furthermore. after the initial costs of writing, editing,typesetting, and layout are paid by the first printing,the cost of paper becomes an even larger proportion ofrecurrent expenditure for reprintings. At an informalgroup meeting with several Unesco officials, it was agreedthat paper supplies represent probably the major hin-drance to book production in the developing world.
Despite their importance, paper supplies are over-looked in most organizations. In a survey of approxi-mately ten agencies in developing countries, it was foundthat paper costs rarely accounted for more than 1 to 3percent of total spending (including capital costs, sal-aries, and so forth). Quite understandably, 1 to 3 percentof a total budget pales beside the 60 to 70 percent whichis commonly allocated to salaries. Yet the trainir.gmethodologies of all the surveyed organizations werepredominantly based on paper. None of the organiza-tions could function, let alone exist, without paper. Yetnone of the surveyed organizations had anybody on staffwith a sound understanding of paper terminology, spec-ifications, or prices.
Nationally, and particularly in countries where for-eign exchange reserves are limited, the importance ofpaper takes on broader implications. The value of im-ported paper (for writing and printing only) rarely ex-ceeds 1 percent of the total import bill of most devel-oping countries. Although 1 percent may seemimmaterial, when translated into currency terms itsimportance becomes more meaningful. For example, in1984, Jamaica spent more than $9 million of foreignexchange for paper destined for printing and writing.Such an expenditure is equivalent to approximately 15percent of total public spending on education. Fur-thermore, Jamaica also has a current account deficit ofmore than $337 million (World Bank 1983).
In summary, paper is an important ingredient of eco-nomic, social, and political development. It is the foun-dation for many educational methodologies and strat-egies. Paper is a significant cost in any publishingventure and often requires the use of scarce foreignexchange. Yet despite the facts, the need for a guar-ante low-cost paper supply is often overlooked. Paperusers therefore should have a basic working knowledgeof paperand more specifically of how to get the bestpossible product at the lowest possible price.
Table 8-1. Breakdown of Manufacturing Costs forPrinting 5000 Copies of 200-Page Booklet
( 9mpottent Percottlage of total cost
Editorial servicesTypesettingLayout and assemblyFilm and platesPrintingBinding (saddle-stitched)Paper
Text (offset)Cover (one side coated)
9
16
17
16
13
234
Source: Personal correspondence and analysis.
1021 1 3
World Paper Supply
Current Situation
The most comprehensive estimates of world papersupply can be sound in production, import, and exportfigures made available through the U.N. Food and Ag-riculture Organization (FAO), Unesco, and industry pub-lications. The statistics on supply for cultural paper (aterm which includes newsprint and other printing andwriting paper as opposed to paper for packaging, san-itary, or construction nurposes) are comparatively re-liable. In 1984, world industrial capacity was estimatedto be approximately 31 :nillion metric tons of newsprintand 51 million metric tons of printing and writing pa-per; actual outpue was 11 to 13 percent less.
Production of cultural paper is concentrated in a fewcountries. Fourteen countries are responsible for al-most 90 percent of global newsprint production; sixteencountries account for about 90 percent of all output ofprinting and writing paper. Canada and the United Statesalone produce more than half of all newsprint and about40 percent of all printing and writing paper (FAO 1984;Pulp and Paper International 1985). The major paper-producing countries and their respective outputs aregiven in table 8-2.
Canada's dominance of the newsprint market is ex-plained largely by its free access to the U.S. economy-high tariffs have in part meant less investment in, anda smaller market share for, the fine paper industry. TheU.S. industry ca. .s mainly to the domestic market. For
The Raw Material: Paw 103
the most part, growth is dictated by n itional demand.One reason the Scandinavian countrie; have been ableto retain a significant market share i.; that they haveencouraged the production of high-value papers whichtend to have a greater profit margin, which in turnallows significant investments in more cost-efficientequipment. Production levels of cultural paper in theSoviet Union have been comparatively stagnant, withthe output catering to the domestic market. Exportsfrom the U.S.S.R. are limited and tend to be confinedto Eastern Bloc countries and other allies. The relativelylow Soviet output is caused by competing demands onforest reserves, the severe chi-I.:4. (which results insmall tree species and hence greater unit costs), higherpriorities on other industries, and inefficient opera-tions.
The leading pulp and paper companies in the world(on the basis of sales figures) are given in table 8-3. Inmost Western countries, paper-making industries haveundergone major changes during the past decade. Thetrend has been toward increased vertical and horizontalintegration. For example, 80 percent of the timberconcessions in Quebec are controlled by only five com-panies. A Swedish corporation produces paper and ownsthe world's largest axe factory-both of which rely onforest reserves. Very close links between publishing housesand paper concerns are commonplace, particularly be-tween U.S. newspapers and Canadian newsprint com-panies. In Canada, there has been a tendency for largepaper-making companies to acquire smaller paper-con-verting and -marketing operations. Many companies arediversifying their product lines and geographical bases
Table 8-2. Production of Newsprint and Printing and Writing Paper, by Country
Country
Newsprint (1984)
Country
Printing and writing (1978)Thousands ofmetric tans Percent
Thousands ofmetric tons Percent
Canada 9,015 33.0 United States 13,374 34.6United States 5.030 18.4 Japan 3,416 8.8Japan 2,550 9.3 Germany, Fed. Rep. 2,525 6,5Finland 1,543 5.6 China 2,270 5.9Sweden 1,533 5.6 Finland 1,906 4.9U.S.S.R. 1,400 5.1 France 1,886 4.9Norway 799 2.9 Italy 1,718 4.4Germany, Fed. Rep. 714 2.6 Canada 1,316 3.4Australia 383 1.4 U.S.S.R. 1,205 3.1South Africa 301 1.1 United Kingdom 1,034 2.7New Zealand 1.1 Sweden 907 2.3France 267 1.0 Brazil 633 1.6United Kingdom 235 0.9 Austna 598 1.5Korea, Rep. 227 0.8 Spain 585 1.5
Netherlands 541 1.4India 540 1.4
Totals 88.8 88.9Sources: Canadian Pulp and Paper Association (19851 and FAO 119841.
114
104 Paul Eastman
Table 8-3. Leading1984
World Pulp and Paper Producers,
Company
Georgia PacificWeyerhaeuserChampion
InternationalInternational PaperBoise Cascade
Kimberly-ClarkCrown ZellerbachScott PaperReed InternationalMeld Corporation
James RiverCorporation
Oji PaperFletcher ChallengeUnion CampContainer
Corporation ofAmerica
Great NorthernNekoosa
Jujo PaperHammermill PaperWestvaco
CorporationBowater Industries
Abitibi PriceMacMillan BloedelDomtarHonshu PaperStora-Kopparberg
Country
United StatesUnited StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited States
United StatesUnited StatesUnited StatesUnited KingdomUnited States
United States
Japan
New Zealand
United StatesUnited Stales
United States
Japan
United StatesUnited States
United Kingdom
Canada
Canada
Canada
Japan
Sweden
Sales(millions of dollars)
6,682.05,549.75,121.1
4,715.63,816.8
3,616.23,094.52,847.32,826.72,720.2
2,492.0
2,252.32,001.01,973.71,900.0
1,873.3
1,862.71,854.9
1,766.3
1,692.4
1,650.21,642.8
1,578.5
1,547.3
1,520.1
Note- To help compare the relative size of some pulp and paperproducers, 1981 Los for a selection of develoi ng countries (in mil-lions of dollars) are. Bangladesh. $11,910. Burkina Faso. $1,080;Ethiopia. $3,870; Haiti, $1,590, Indonesia, $84,960; Jamaica, $2,960,Nicaragua, $2,590. Peru. $23.260; Sri Lanka, $4,120; and Tunisia,$7,100.
Source World Bank cl:aa.
of operation through mergers, acquisitions, and internal growth. Several large companies dominate and willlikely increase their domination of the world paper mar-ket. The intensity of the industry has been the objectof several legal cases: cartel and merger investigationshave been debated both before the European Commis-sion and within specific countries (Federal Republic ofGermany, Canada, and so forth). In recent years, merg-ers rarely have been outlawed and cartels rarely havebeen proven to exist.
Trends in Supply
Regional production trends are shown in figures 8-1and 8-2. Since 1967, developing countries have slowly
Figure 8-1. Regional Trends in the Production ofPaper for Printing and Writing, 1967-79
Millions of tons40 World
30-
20- ---."' North America
Europe
10-Asia
South Am, vita
0Africa
,1 I 1 I
1967 1970 1973 1976 1979
Source. Unesco 11983).
captured a greater share of the world output of news-print and printing and writing wtper. It is estimatedthat the developing market economies will be respon-sible for about 8 percent of the world's capacity to pro-duce newsprint in 1988, compared with about 4 percentin 1978. Similarly, it is estimated that the developingcountries will increase their share of the world's ca-pacity to produce printing and writing paper from about7 percent in 1978 to about 9 percent in 1988. Much ofthe increase in the production capacity of developingcountries has come from large expansions in SouthAmerica. Recent forecasts predict stagnant growth inAfrica, Asia, and Latin America.
In the major producing countries, expansion planshave been numerous and of considerable magnitude.Following a three-year decline in announcements of theconstruction of new mills, plans to increase newsprintcapacity in North America doubled between 1984 and1985. Even larger expansions are expected for printingand writing paper. European capacity is scheduled toincrease at an even greater rate. Hence over the nextfew years there will be a significant increase in the
Figure 8-2. Regional Trends in the Production ofNewsprint, 1967- 79
Millions of tons30
20
10
World
North America
EuropeAsiaSouth America
0 I I 1
1Africa
1967 1970 1973 1976 1979
Source. tinesco (1983)
11 1;
world's capacity to produce cultural paperfor someexperts an excess capacity. Other experts suggest thatthe apparent overcapacity is simply part of the usuallong-term cycle and will disappear in about five yearsor as soon as demand catches up.
Proauction Potential in Developing Countries
Predictions differ on the importance of developing-country production potential. Some experts suggest thatnew investment in the developing market economies islimited because the industry (primarily controlled byWestern nations) is more concerned about increasingproductivity per unit of investment. Generally, this hasresulted in larger and faster machines with a very highcapital cost, requiring that plants run at full capacityunder very controlled conditions and turn out a limitedproduct range. Such characteristics are often at oddswith needs and conditions in the developing world.
By contrast, some experts suggest that, because ofeconomic constraints, the drive for import substitution,and pressures to create employment, more developingnations are contemplating the construction of their ownmillseven if the cost per unit of paper is higher fordomestic than for imported products. Some countrieshave introduced protective tariffs to encourage localindustry. India is a prime example. More recently, Ar-gentina, to encourage its own paper industry (based onbagasse and willow fiber), has banned imported news-print. Other nations are forging ahead with new mills.Argentina and Mexico each expect 100,000-metric-tonmills to begin producing this year, whereas Brazil willcommission a 130,000-metric-ton mill and Nigeria willstart up a plant capable of producing 50,000 metric tons.India has plans for a 50,000 metric -ton mill, and con-sideration is being given to more new mills in Brazil(70,000 metric tons), Indonesia (100,000 metric tons),the Republic of Korea (140,000 metric tons), and Thai-land (100,000 metric tons).
India is now virtually self-sufficient in printing andwriting papers and is making considerable efforts toreduce its reliance on imported newsprint. The mostsignificant increase in output from the developing worldis in Brazil. Brazil's success is tied to the availability oflow-cost timber reserves (large plantations of fast-grow-ing eucalyptus trees) and the recent discovery of sub-stantial deposits of relatively inexpensive oil supplies.Between 1975 and 1984, paper production doubled toapproximately 3.5 million metric tons. In 1985 alone,five new paper mills came onstream.
In some developing countries (Bangladesh, China,India, and Peru), considerable progress has been madein the utilization of nontraditional sources of fiber. Ba-gasse, agricultural wastes (straw), rice, bamboo, andeven banana fibers can be and have been incorporatedinto pulp and paper making.
The Raw ..1aterzal. Paper 105
The use of waste paper also is receiving increasingattentionalbeit more often for the production of in-dustrial alid sanitary paper. In fact. many small millsin India depend on imported waste paper as their pri-mary source of fiber. Although a recycling plant is ..
viable first step in a new paper-making industry, sig-nificant obstacles remain to making greater use of do-mestically available waste papers. For example, an ex-tensive collection facility must be available. In thedeveloping world, with some notable exceptions, thereis simply not enough waste, and that which does occuris widely dispersed, making collection prohibitively ex-pensive. Furthermore, in the developing world wastepaper has important alternative uses such as packaging.When it ultimately does become available for recycling,the fibers often have been so seriously damaged that itis no longer a viable raw material.
An abridged version of the Fi.to survey of projected(1983-93) pulp and paper mills in the developing worldis shown in table 8-4. Although the number of entriesin the survey is reassuring, the total anticipated increasethroughout Africa or South America is similar to theplanned increase in output in Canada alone.
Obviously, some individual developing countries arestriving to become self-sufficient in the production ofcultural paper. But after the most optimistic projectionsfor developing-country production are compared withcurrent and predicted increases in capacity in Europeand North America, the output of the developing worldis and will continue to be relatively modest. With fewexceptions, there appears to be limited opportunity forthe developing world to break into the internationalpaper market. Most industry experts agree that over thenext five to eight years the world will likely experiencesufficient capacity both for newsprint and for printingand writing paper. Because of the large investmentsrequired for a pulp and paper industry, the lack in somecases of an acceptable and accessible source of fiber,the competing demands on national economies, andthe presence of strong international competition, de-veloping-country consumers likely will continue to de-pend on imported paper products for some time intothe future.
World Paper Demand
Although figures for world production levels are bothavailable and reliable, actual and forecast figures fordemand are more difficult to find and are often suspect.On occasion, a country's official data contain unex-plained inconsistencies. For example, one governmentdocument gave newsprint imports as 28,000 metric tons;in another official publication, the total was 14,500 met-ric tons. The price per metric ton also varied from $600to $474.
111
106 Paul Eastman
Table 8-4. Projected Paper Output in the DevelopingWorld, 1983-93
Region and countryTons of newsprint and printing and
writing paper produced
Africa 512Algeria 50Egypt, A.R. 180Ghana 50Kenya 15Madagascar 38Malawi 11Morocco 100Sudan 35Tanzania 30Zambia 30
Cenral America and theCaribbean 325
Cuba 70Honduras' 100Mexico 150Nicaragua 5
South America 859Argentina 110Brazil 426Chile 151Colombia 87Ecuador 50Peru 35
Asia 3,093Afghanistan 5Bangladesh 15Burma 30China 6India' 1,180Indonesia' 523Iran 270Korea, Rep. 198Malaysia 178Nepal 43Pakistan 72Philippines 158Sri Lanka' 75Thailand 120Turkey 175Viet Nam 45
Total 5,011
Canada 729a. Includes a small but identified amount of noncultural paper
products.Source: FAO (1984).
Current Situi Ilion
Consumption levels in most developing nations arebelow the levels set by Unesco as the minimum amountconsidered necessary to maintain educational and socialdevelopment (that is, 40 kilograms per capita). Both
total and per capita consumption of cultural paper islow in the developing market economies.
World consumption in 1983 (versus production andcapacity given above) was 25,300 million metric tonsfor newsprint and 41,400 million metric tons for print-ing and writing paper. Ncrth America and Europe ac-counted for more than two-thirds of the intake of cul-tural paper. Although developing countries account formore than half the earth's population, they consumedonly 7 to 9 percent of all cultural paper. The UnitedStates alone consumed 50 percent of the world's news-print. Each year since 1974, Japan has consumed morenewsprint than all developing market economies in Af-rica, Asia, and Latin America combined.
Globally, consumption is about 5 kilograms per capitafor newsprint and 8 kilograms per capita for printingand writing paper. There are huge disparities in percapita consumption between developing and industrialcountries (table 8-5). The significance of such discrep-ancies is unknown.
Consumption Trends
Over the past decade, the rate of growth in con-sumption of cultural paper in Europe and North Amer-ica has been slowly easing because of recent economicdownturns and changes in data-processing methods.Thus the rate of overall growth in newsprint consump-tion is greater (5 percent a year) in developing marketeconomies than in industrial economies (3 percent).Despite rather modest global growth rates, there hasbeen a significant increase in per capita consumptionof newsprint only in Japan and, to a lesser extent, inthe centrally planned economies and in the Far East.In addition, total newsprint consumption in the UnitedStates increased significantly (8 percent) in 1984 as aresult of a strengthening economy.
Although world newsprint consumption has qua-drupled since the 1940s, the magnitude of international
Table 8-5. Cons dmpti m of Cultural Paper(kilograms per capita)
Region orcountry group Newsprint
World 5Developed market
economies 35 54Developing market
economies 1
North America 45Western Europe 22Africa t Less than 1Asia 2Oceania 25
Printing andwriting paper
8
1
61
501
3
15
Source: Unesco data.
trade has remained relatively stable. The primary reasonfor such stability has been the large and guaranteedsupply of newsprint from Canada to the United States.
One industry expert (Graff 1984) has predicted thatthe United States and Europe will reach their newsprintconsumption peaks in or slightly before 1990-95. Inthe centrally planned economies (particularly those be-longing to the Council for Mutual Economic Assis-tance), consumption reached its maximum in 1980 andhas been on a plateau or even decreasing since. Growthin consumption in the developing world is strongest inAsia and to a lesser extent Latin America. Restrictedconsumption is expected throughout Sub-Saharan Af-rica. Thus over the next fifteen years, world newsprintconsumption is expected to increase by no more than1 percent a year.
The rate of growth in consumption of printing andwriting paper is also greater in the developing (11 per-cent) than in the developed market economies (7 per-cent). Of all regions of the world, the most significantrelative growth in total consumption is in Sub-SaharanAfrica, yet in absolute terms the region is responsiblefor only a very small part of world paper use.
In summary, despite a few cyclical variations, therehas been a continuous and unbroken growth in theworld's consumption of paper and paperboard. The av-erage annual growth in the consumption of culturalpaper throughout the world ranges from 2.5 to 3.5percent. Over the past twenty-five years, consumptionof newsprint has grown at a slower pace than that ofprinting and writing paper. Total and per capita con-sumption levels in the developing world are substan-tially lower than levels found in the industrial econo-mies. Although the rate of growth in consumption hasincreased (due in large part to increases in South Amer-ica and Southeast Asia), little of the world's stock ofcultural paper is consumed by the developing world.
Predicting Consumption of Cultural Paper
Although it is difficult to predict precisely future lev-els of consumption of cultural paper, various attemptshave been made. In Europe and North America, dataon historical trends and elaborate mathematical modelsare available to help forecast future market prospects.For the most part, factors which havc been used toexplain levels of paper consumption are often relatedto the state of a nation's economy (gross domestic prod-uct, income per capita, and so forth). For example, inindustrial economies, as national income grows so usu-ally does paper consumption. In buoyant economies,manufacturers invest in advertising, thus increasing pa-per use. In the developing world, however, the corre-lation between national income and paper consumptionis not so straightforward, and in several instances it has
The Rau' Material. Paper 107
been shown that national income has no effect on con-sumption.
Because there are few substitutes for cultural paper,price changes are thought to neither encourage nordiscourage consumption over the short termat leastin the industrial countries. But price plays a very sig-nificant role in smaller countries which have limited(or no) production and are dependent on imports. Priceincreases (and associated importation costs such asfreight, insurance, customs, and so forth) can hive aserious dampening effect on consumption, especially inlow-income countries. In some developing countries,lack of foreign exchange has an identical effectlow-ered consumption.
Obviously, in many developing countries, the extentof literacy is a very significant indicator of paper con-sumption, especially for printing and writing paper. AUnesco report states that a correlation between news-print consumption and literacy cannot be proven. Butwith the increasing use of newsprint in mass literacyand education programs (in Ethiopia, Jamaica, and thePhilippines) and with the increasing number of newlyliterate people and their demand for reading material,certainly a linkage must exist.
In summary, the factors which seem to influence theconsumption of cultural paper in the developing worldare price (including the availability of foreign exchangein importing countries) and literacy rates. Althoughincome is significant in the industrial countries, ap-parently it is not important in the developing world.Similarly, price and. especially, literacy indicators arenoteworthy in the developing world but are of minorimportance in the industrial economies.
Most predictions now suggest that up to 1990, thegrowth in consumption of cultural paper will be slowerthan in the past. Still, the growth rate of the developingworld is expected to be about twice the rate anticipatedin industrial countries. Demand prospects are strongestin Asia and to a lesser extent in Latin America and NorthAfrica and the Middle East. Modest increases in con-sumption are expected in Sub-Saharan Africa. By 1990the FAO predicts that the developing market economieswill consume between 11 and 15 million metric tonsof cultural paperor about 12 to 13 percent (versus 7to 9 percent at present) of total world output. Figure8-3 depicts anticipated levels of world consumption to1990.
Prices and Marketing
Prices
Between the 1930s and the 1970s, the price of mostpaper prbducts increased three to four timessimilar
108 Paul Eastman
Figure 8-3. Outlook for Consumption of Newsprintand Printing and Writing Paper, 1973 -75, 1980,1985, 1990
Millions of tons8070605040
30
20
10
a
........11Printing andwriting paperNewspaper
Printing andwriting paperNewspaper
////////////////////////
07a*
I:// A.accF.. , ,c,o0, cZ ve
1
1980I
1985Ia '
1990
i1973-75
Source Unesco (1983).
to price increases for most commodities. After deduct-ing inflationary effects, the FAO has concluded that formost trades of paper, absolute prices have actually de-clined over the past twenty-five years. Yet a price surgedid occur in the mid-1970s because of escalating energycosts: newsprint prices increased by 27 percent andprices of printing and writing paper increased by 33percent as measured in constant dollars. Since the en-ergy-led increase, paper prices have tended to resumetheir traditional pattern of rising, on average, 3to 5percent a year.
Although paper manufacturers are often accused ofacting as a cartel, there is little concrete evidence ofthis. Yet one cannot completely dismiss suspicions thatworld paper prices have little to do with the cost ofproductionthat they are not determined by marketforces and instead that prices are set through informalagreements among the major mills.
For newsprint at least, regional pricing seems to becommonplace. FOB mill prices given to paper users inNorth America are usually different from prices quotedto consumers in other parts of the world, despite thefact that the same paper satisfies both markets. Regionalpricing works both for and against consumers in de-veloping countries.
Actual selling prices routinely fluctuate. In a recentsale to a Caribbean consumer, the CIF price was ap-proximately $460 a metric ton (ex-mill $315 a metricton) compared with the published North American mar-ket price of $515-40 a metric ton. Rarely do publishedprices apply, and as noted below it is quite common tofind domestic North American newsprint prices in therange of $450-500 a metric ton. The variation in pricefrom destination to destination is evident in table 8-6.
Although disaggregated information is not available,some of the variation must be due to the size of the
Table 8-6. Examples of Average Prices of Newsprint.1984(dollars per metric ton)
Destination' Price
JamaicaDominican RepublicBarbados
Windward and Leeward islandsCentral America
United KingdomUnited States
532356
417
566483
435
450
a. Exported from North America.Source. Canadian Organization for Development through Educa-
tion data.
individual orders which make up each totalthat is,if a national total consisted of only a few large orders,the average price would be considerably lower than ifthe national totals included numerous small purchases.Another possible explanation for relatively high costsmay be the absence of competitive bidding. For ex-ample, in one case, a Caribbean buyer continued toplace orders with a traditional supplier in the UnitedKingdom, despite the fact that much better prices couldbe obtained from a North American source. Also, highcosts may be due to import taxes.
The market for printing and writing paper is muchmore fragmented than the market for newsprint. Ma-nipulation of the market seems less apt to occur. Aswith newsprint (but to a lesser extent), there is a sig-nificant amount of variation in price between one coun-try and another (see table 8-7).
Unfortunately, disaggregated information is notavailable, but it must be assumed that the reasons forthe price variations are similar to those given earlier:the size of individual orders, the lack of competitivebidding, and the imposition of tariffs. A wide array ofprinting and writing papers is available, however, andeach paper has a corresponding price. Sources of dataoften do not distinguish one quality and grade of print-ing and writing paper from another. Hence with the
Table 8-7. Examples of Average Prices of Printingand Writing Paper, 1984(dollars per metric ton)
Destination' Price
Jamaica 794
Dominican Republic 719
Barbados 800
Windward and Leeward islands 732Central America 1,023
United Kingdom 400United States 672-832
a. Exported from North America.Source: Canadian Organization for Development through Educa-
tion data.
11
information on hand, it is impossible to explain theprice differences fully.
Despite industry statements, it must be concludedthat the price paid for cultural paper depends on threefactors:
The negotiating ability of the buyer
The size of the current inventory held by the sup-plier
The volume of the order.
Paper i.; one commodity for which price is very de-pendent on volume. For exampL, as a relative measure,if the wholesale price is set at 100 units, a minimumbulk order of, say, 18 metric tons may cost 105 units;an order of 4 or 5 metric tons may cost 150-160 units;whereas a carton may co:,t 200-300 units.
Paper Marketing
Paper products are marketed in a number of ways.The most important channels are paper manufacturers,company representatives or agents, brokers, and im-porters.
Although it cannot be proven, there is evidence tosuggest that some paper manufacturers have introducedmarketing territories whereby one mill has influencein a given country while a competitor assumes respon-sibility for a neighboring country. Some buyers there-fore find it difficult to obtain comparative quotationsfrom a variety of suppliers. For example, it is knownthat a North American supplier brought pressure to bearon a competitor to withdraw from a tendering processin a Caribbean countrythe implication being that thepreviously agreed-to marketing jurisdictions would bethreatened. Although it might be suspected, there is noLuncrete evidence that the lack of competition has causedexcessively high prices. Because markets are small inthe developing world, the existence of selling territoriesmay be an efficient allocation of resources for the sup-pliers and may have a neutral effect on the buyers.
Given the limited demand in the developing world,some producers (particularly those of North Americanorigin) have not been greatly interested in developingoffshore markets. The United States is a net importerof cultural paper and has been more concerned withthe domestic market. In Canada, 70-75 percent ofnewsprint is dispatched to a steady and guaranteed out-let in the United States.
As a rule of thumb, most manufacturers will notquote on (let alone supply) orders below a minimumof about 18-20 metric tons. Generally, provided anorder is of reasonable volume, the best prices are avail-able directly from the mills.
Some of the larger milts appoint local company rep-resentatives or hire their own staff to sell paper prod-ucts. Given the likelihood of regional pricing, local quo-
The Raw Material. Paper 109
tations are often equal to or better than prices quotedfrom the parent company in, for example, North Amer-ica or Europe.
Paper brokers can be found throughout the world.They receive orders and then identify a source of supply.Brokers' prices are often relatively good because theyhave access to many sources.
Many businesses are estab!ished simply to import goodsand, in many aspects, act as brokers. But importersare often linked to only one or two sources of supply.On the one hand, importers include a significant profitmargin in their prices; on the other hand, they arenearby should problems arise, and they usually have astock of paper available at short notice.
Tapping International Sources of Paper
The situation can be summarized as follows:
Future paper production will continue to be con-centrated in a few countries and to be dominatedby several large companies, mostly in Europe, NorthAmerica, and Japan. Globally, in the short to me-dium term, there will be no shortage of culturalpaper.
Paper production and consumption are small indeveloping countries, and the short-term prospectsfor growth are modest.
There is some potential for local paper making inspecific locations, but for the most part, the de-veloping world will continue to be dependent onsupplies imported from North America and Eu-rope.
World prices for paper should remain fairly stableover the next few years. The customary price in-crease of 3 to 5 percent a year will continue, al-though competition for nontraditional markets maylower prices.
Because of the limited demand, paper users in de-veloping countries commaiu little attention fromthe major suppliers.
With the above in mind, paper buyers in developingcountries should concentrate in the short term on waysto tap more effectively and creatively the world stockof cultural paper.
Paper Donations
In addition to entering the marketplace, paper usersin developing countries can try to secure free papersupplies from a variety of bilateral, multilateral, gov-ernmental, and nongovernmental agencies. It must bestressed, however, that a dependency on donations isextremely hazardous and may be debatable on ideolog-
120
110 Paul Eastman
ical grounds. More specifically, users in developingcountries who depend on donations are at the mercyof the changing priorities of the granting agency. Rightlyor wrongly, some development agencies believe that theprivate sector should be the driving force behind de-velopment. As such, funds which might have been avail-able in the past are now likely to be used to encourageindividual enterprise. Furthermore, although some so-cial programs must be subsidized from the global bankaccount, more attention must be given to recoveringcosts wherever possiblewhether through general tax-ation or through user fees. If beneficiaries are to gain(often materially) through their participation in a proj-ect, should they not also be expected to make sometangible contribution?
Most often, paper donations are made for specificprojectsfor example, for textbook production or fora literacy campaign. Rarely has there been an ongoingprogram specifically addressing the paper needs of thedeveloping world. (The Paper Supply Programme, fi-nanced by the Canadian International DevelopmentAgency for many years to direct paper supplies to de-veloping nations, is an exception.) Donations of paperhave tended to be sporadic and have originated fromwithin the bilateral and official government agencies ofpaper-producing countries (Canada, Norway, Sweden,U S.R., and so forth). Multilateral agencies (for ex-ample, Unesco and the U.N. Children's Fund) have alsobeen involved in sizable paper donation., developingcountries. Finally, numerous nonprotl., nongovern-mental agencies have, over the years, supported edu-cational projects in the developing world by supplyingsmall amounts of paper.
For some unknown reason, rarely have bilateral andmultilateral donations of paper been considered (al-though there are support programs for other commod-ities such as food and iron ore); nor have they beenused in the form of balance of payments support. Somedonor agencies are attempting to link aid with trade.As such, several new programs are offered whereby loanguarantees are extended to suppliers of home-producedcommodities in order to encourage exports.
In summary, paper donations are available from a
variety of agencies and under a range of terms andconditions (loans, grants, and so forth). But one mustbe cautious about adopting a false sense of economywhen tapping philanthropic contributions. Ultimately,more thought must be given to making most paper-using projects self-sustaining and self-supporting. Do-nor support is neither infinite nor eternal.
Paper Purchases
The other major source of paper supply is throughoutright purchaseswhether locally or in the inter-
national marketplace. When paper consumers in de-veloping countries enter the paper-buying arena, theirprimary goal is to obtain the best possible product forthe lowest possible price. The attainment of this goalis confounded by the following realities:
With notable exceptions, most paper orders fromdeveloping countries are too sporadic and too smallto expect suppliers to offer competitive prices orto extend services such as credit.
Paper users are seldom experienced with paper ter-minology and specifications. They do not knowwhat options exist and simply accept the adviceoffered by suppliers and printers.
Generally, paper users in the developing world lackthe necessary purchasing power and influence to be-come legitimate buyers rather than simply "takers." Tohelp overcome such constraints, potential paper buyersmight consider the following three points of guidance.
First, as discussed, paper prices are very responsiveto volume. The best prices are usually quoted by themanufacturers, but only on an order of 18-20 metrictons or more. Therefore, cost savings can be realized ifannual needs are ordered at one time or if orders fromseveral smaller users can be consolidated into one.
Second, buyers should request quotations from atleast three suppliers. Potential suppliers can be iden-tified by consulting a number of published directories.(The most common list of North American suppliers isthe Lockwood Directory, available from Vance Publish-ing, 122 E. 42d Street, New York, New York 10168.)Tender instructions should specify clearly not only thetype of paper required but also who is to be responsiblefor shipping, freight, insurance, any overland trans-portation, and (if applicable) brokerage costs.
Third, consumers should become conversant with thecommon generic names for different grades of paper.Quite commonly, consumers order a higher quality andheavier weight paper than is necessary. Regardless ofthe multitude of brand names and despite the sellingfeatures claimed by the various producers, printing pa-pers are of the following basic grades:
Newsprint. Newsprint is the lowest grade of un-coated printing paper. It tends to discolor over timewhen exposed to sunlight. It is the least expensivepaper available.
Writing paper. The most common types of writingpapers are referred to as bond and duplicating pa-per. Bond is used primarily for writing. Often peo-ple will specify bond for a printing job when lessexpensive grades (for example, offset and tablet)would suffice. Duplicating paper has been speciallytreated to resist the penetration of ink from spiritand other duplicating equipment.
1 2
Book paper. Book papers consist of those papers(except newsprint) used for practically everythingwhich is read. Uncoated book paper is the mostbasic. Coated book papers have a clay coating whichgives the stock a glossy appearance. Unless detailedcolor reproduction is required, coated papers arean unnecessary expense.
Cover stock. Cover stock includes relatively stiff,heavyweight types of paper. Because the cost ofcover stock can be as m ich as all the paper usedinside the book, care must be taken to select theleast expensive yet the most presentable. For mostpurposes, paperback-type cover stock (heavy-weight, uncoated book paper) will suffice.
In summary, if costs are to be minimized, most printingjobs in developing countries can be satisfactorily donewith one or more of the following: newsprint, uncoatedbook paper, duplicating paper, and uncoated cover stock.
Paper users should net be overwhelmed by the waysin which cultural papers are described. An importantyet confusing concept is that of basis weight, the weightin pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to a givenstandard size for that particular grade. The metricequivalent to basis weight is grammage and is measuredin grams per square meter (gsm). Grammage is a muchsimpler and more useful concept. Measurements in gsmallow for a comparison of basis weights of any grade ofpaper because they refer to the same unit area. Tablesare available to convert basis weights to grammage.
To ensure both the availability of supplies and thebest possible prices, industry standards for sheeted stockshould ba used wherever possible.
Paper can be supplied in rolls or as flat or sheetedstock. Cost savings of JO to 15 percent can be realizedif rolled stock is purchasea. Although the cost of sheet-ing must be accounted for, there is no reason to payfor sheeting costs in foreign exchange. If presses cannotaccommodate rolls, then one should investigate the pos-sibility of ordering rolls and sheeting it locally.
If presses will not accommodate rolled stock and ifsheeting facilities are not available, flat stock will haveto be ordered. Again, as a cost-saving measure, betterprices are usually available if the dimensions of therequired paper are consistent with industry standards.Specialty cutting to odd sizes adds to the cost. Industrystandards for sheeted stock are (sizes in inches):
NewsprintDuplicating
Uncoated book(Offset)Cover stock
24 x 368.5 x 11 8.5 x 1417 x 22 17 x 2823 x 3525 x 38 38 x 4020 x 26 26 x 40
Book designers should consider not only the aes-
The Raw Material: Paper 111
thetics of the publication but also the mechanical re-quirPmeots of the press. If the printed material is com-patible with the printing equipment and with commonlyavailable paper uimensions, the cost will be reduced.
Most first-time buyers in the international marketwill be expected to pay in advance. Many suppliers inEurope and North America are reluctant to extend creditto new clients. In the past, many suppliers have shippedgoods and have never been paid. To encourage suppliersto extend credit (and hence save money), however, someconsuming organizations have prepared a short profilewhich includes financial records and letters of endorse-ment from a bank or other major supplier. After a re-lationship has been established between buyers and sell-ers, some form of credit should be expected. In mostcases, credit will be extended for thirty days. For largerand wore regular buyers, tams of forty-five and evensixty days can be negotiated.
When ordering sheeted stock, many consumers indeveloping countries specify that their supplies are tobe ream -' rapped and boxed. Although ream wrappingmay provide additional protection against damage andmay make inventory control easier, it also adds to thecost. Extra time (and hence cost) is incurred in indi-vidually wrapping and boxing and in unwrapping andunboxing paper. A less expensive alternative may beream marking, in which sheets of paper are stackedseveral reams high and a colored me is inserted ateach interval of 500 sheets.
Customarily, damage to international paper ship-ments should not exceed 3 to 5 percent. although largerlosses are not uncommon. To avoid the inconvenienceand the unnecessary cost of damaged paper, some at-tentic should be given to packagin and insurancecoverage.
Paper can be sent in containers (lull or part) or bybreak-bulk. When shipping by break bulk, extra caremust be taken in packaging. Supplies should be shrink-wrapped in heavy-gauge plastic, stacked on wooden skids,and then plastic-wrapped again. A piece of wood shouldbe placed on the topwith metal or wooden strappingapplied to the sides to give added strength and protec-tion. Wood or heavy cardboard corner pieces shouldalso be attached.
Several types of insurance are available for paper ship-ments. D:Ispit the added cost, the only policy that shouldbe consic'ered is one which contains an all-risk clause.Most other types of policy provide very limited coverage.
All inswance policies are subject to a deductible. Formost paper products, the deductible is 1 percent, butbecause newsprint is more susceptible to damage, thestandard deductible for it is 3 percent. For the samereason, the premium on a policy covering newsprint isalso slightly higher than that for other types of paper.
International shipping costs vary enormously. As might
1444
112 Paul Eastman
be expected, the larger the volume shipped, the lowerthe per unit cost. Charter rates are the lowest of all,but in order to qualify, between 5,000 and 12,000 metrictons must be shipped per vessel. Part-charter or parcelshipments are slightly more expensive but also requirea minimum volume of between 1,000 and 3,000 metrictons. Break-bulk shipments are somewhat more expen-sive than charters or parcels but usually less expensivethan containerized shipping. In sum, volume has a sig-nificant bearing on per unit and total costs and offersan additional reason to consolidate orders.
Shipping costs will also depend on whether the vesselis a conference carrier. Conference carriers are shippingcompanies which join together to fix prices and to re-cord a common ta-iff which all participating membersmust follow. Cunference carrier prices are often rela-tively expensive but are negotiable pending approval bya majority of the participating member companies. Non-conference carriers can set their own rates and neednot consult with other companies. The flexibility inprice of nonconference carriers can work both againstand for buyers.
Improper documentation has caused considerable de-lay in many paper shipments. If customs and exciseauthorities have not received all the, required docu-ments at the port, buyers can experience many unan-ticipated and costly surprises. In most ports, goods canbe left with the authorities for seven to fourteen dayswithout incurring any storage charges. After the graceperiod, demurrage costs begin to accumulate. Cumu-lative demurragz charges can be so high that they ex-ceed the value of the paper shipment.
Obviously, when paper stocks arrive, they must becarefully stored to minimize damage and changes inthe paper characteristics resulting from high temper-ature and humidity. Preventative measures are straight-forward. Storage facilities must be clean, well venti-lated, and above all dry. Supplies must be tightly stackedon a secure foundation. Most suppliers wrap their paper(whether rolls or sheeted stock) in a moisture-proofcovering. Where relative humidity levels exceed 45 to50 percent, the moisture barrier must be left intact untilthe paper is going to be used. Any damage to the wrap-ping should be repaired.
With little effort and cost, ideal storage conditionscan be easily created in which printing and writingpaper will remain in good condition for many years.Provided newsprint can also be protected from exposure
to light, it too can be stored without problem for aconsiderable period of time, although it will deterioratemore quickly than printing and writing papers.
In summary, although many nations may aspire tohaving their own pulp and paper industry, for a con-siderable time in the future, most supplies will originateoffshore. Apart from receiving periodic donations of pa-per, most consumers in the developing world will de-pend on the international market to acquire their paper.A better awareness of the paper industry plus a fewsimple and practical steps should guarantee a steadyand low-cost supply. Immediate savings can be realizedon purchases if orders from individual small buyers areconsolidated, if the variety of paper grades and types issimplified, if rolled rather than sheeted stocks are bought,and if competitive bids are solicited, particularly frombrokers or mills.
References
Alexander, Leigh, and John summers. 1975. The Determi-nants of School Achievement in Develnp in; I-ountries: TheEducational Production Function. World Rank Staff Work-ing Paper 201. Washington, D.C.
Canadian Organization for Development through Education.1981. "Unesco Trip Report." Ottawa. Processed.
. 1982. A Study into the Establishment of a PaperAssistance Programme. Ottawa.
. 1984, 1985. Proceedings of the First and SecondWorkshop on Paper Supply Management. Ottawa.
Canadian Pulp aild Paper Association. 1985. Newsprint Data:Statistics of World Demand and Supply. Montral.
FAO (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization). 1981. Pulp andPaper Capacities 1983-1988. Rome.
Graff, Paul. 1984. "Newsprint TV's Belated Victim'" Pulpand Paper International, March: 46.
Hall, Charles. 1985. "Brazil's Potential Expansion." Pulp andPaper International, September. 56.
Pulp and Paper International. 1985. "Top 100." Vol. 73 (Sep-tember).
Smith, Douglas C. 1977. Economics of Book Publishing inDeveloping Countries. Paris: Unesco.
UNDP/FAO F ilp and Paper Industries Development Programme.
1977. Report on the UNDP /FAO Pulp and Paper IndustriesDevelopment Programme. FAO Forestry Paper 4/1. Rome.
Unesco. 1983. Statistical Digest. Paris.. N.d. Cultural Paper. Part I: Consumption of Cultural
Paper in the World. Paris.World F K. 1983. World Development Report 1983. New
York: (Aim d University Press.
1:25
Part III
Provision of Textbooks: DevelopedSystems and Infant Industries
The six chapters in this part illustrate how several na-tions at various stages of development have dealt withthe many policy issues and technical problems discussedin the previous chapters. The chapters demonstrate thateach nation must judge its options in terms of its ownparticular circumstances because there is no universallybest resolution to any of the issues or problems; thaterrors of policy or administrative mismanagement atany of the decision points discussed earlier can createserious problems for the entire operation to providetextbooks precisely because all the points are art of atotal system; and that in spite of difficulties and mis-takes there have been significant accomplishments inthe provision of textbooks. Perhaps most important. allthe cases discussed in this part show significant insti-tutional learning. Policy errors or technical mistakesmade at one stage are corrected at a later stage. Whetherestablishing or improving the provision of textbooks,one is dealing with necessarily imperfect human sys-tems. The most that one can hope is that nations (andthe international agencies which assist them) learn fromtheir mistakes and from others' experiences.
The first three chapters in this part deal principallywith macroeconomic policy choices, particularly thequestion of whether the private or public sector shouldbe preferred. They demonstrate how a nation's historyand culture, stage of educational development, and broad
113
educational policy decisions form a constraining envi-ronment for the provision of textbooks.
In chapter 9, Peter Newmann compares the provisionof textbooks in four highly industrialized market econo-mies. These rich nations are able to afford a relativelylavish quantity and quality of textbooks and other learn-ing materials, and all rely on the private sector fortextbook . .pplies. But their policies and administrativearrangements are quite different, reflecting the uniquetraditions of each nation.
The experiences of these nations also show that, al-though the policy issues discussed throughout this bookare particularly present in poor nations, they are notunique to them. An increase in national wealth throughdevelopment may make it easier to deal with many ofthe issues, but it will not make them disappear. And,as Tyson-Bernstein's analysis of toe U.S. experience inchapter 6 clearly demonstrates, even a very high na-tional income is no guarantee against bad policy choicesregarding textbooks.
India faces awesome difficulties in developing a sat-isfactory textbook publishing system. It is one of thepoorest and most populous nations in the developingwot Id, with a very large number of languages and di-alects and a history of strong regional, language-group,and religious tensions. In chapter 10, Narendra Kumarchronicles the development of textbook publishing-
12,;
114 Part M
r. Jinly by the public sectorin the postcolonial epoch.His discussion of the constraints that this heavy relianceon the public sector has placed on private publishingis a good illustration of the argument for the blendingof I iblic and private activity made by Copinathan inchapter 5. Clearly, the appropriate public-private bal-ance to service effectively this vast market for textbookshas still to be worked out. It is significant that becauseof the size of the nation, its private textbook publishingindustry has developed a capacityeven under its con-strained situationto export books to neighboring na-tions.
Mexico is one of the most successfu; examples among
developing nations of the blending of public and privateactivity to provide textbooks. In chapter 11, Peter Neu-mann and Maureen Cunningham give an account of thedevelopment of this unique and successful system. Theirchapter is a summary of a World Bank Staff WorkingPaper. The Mexican experience is very instructive, andinterested readers should acquire the original detailed
discussion, which is available from the World Bank andthe distributors of its publications around the world(see the reference list at the end of their chapter).
The remaining three chapters in this part are detailedaccounts of the step-by-step development and operationof systems to provide textbooks in three quite differentsettings. The chapters demonstrate how all the prob-lems and decision points discussed in part II have beendealt with in a variety of countries: the Philippines, alarge, populous, multi-island nation with a relativelydeveloped educational system and a long history of text-book use; Lesotho, a small, very poor nation that onlyrecently became independent and has a less developededucational system and little history of textbook use;and the very small but educationally advanced islandnations of the English-speaking Caribbean. The chap-ters presert three quite different models for the rela-tively successful provision of textbooks, each adaptedto the special circumstances in which it was developed.
1 25
9
Publishing for Schools in France, the FederalRepublic of Germany, the United Kingdom, and
the United States
Peter H. Neumann
Publishing for schools depends for direction on the ed-ucational establishment and relies in whole or in parton public funding. In the Federal Republic of Germany,France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, itis done by private companies and governed by a nec-essary but tangled web of laws, regulations, and cus-toms. Under favorable conditions, the diverse interestgroups that support, produce, and use textbooks workfor a commmon purpose. A system of checks and bal-ances ensures that schools receive an adequate supplyof instructional materials and that these materials per-form their assigned tasks. In times of social or economicstress, the issues that need to be resolved among gov-ernment, teachers, parents, the general public, and pub-lishers tend to lead to confrontations that put the sys-tem in jeopardy.
Government and private institutions form an essen-tial r...rt of the process of publishing for schools. In theindustrial nations, the relLion between them has de-veloped over a long time. They have created a networkthat is not perfect but has managed to supply schoolswith a variety of educational materials at a public ex-pense of 1 percent or less of national budgets for ec-ucation.
It is important for officials and others responsible forproviding textbooks in developing nations to be awareof the complex socioeconomic systems required to ini-tiate and sustain the process of publishing for schools.The conditions for evolving similar systems exist inmost developing nations. Professional expertise is re-quired, however, to choose from among the many eco-nomic alternatives. At present, governments in the de-veloping nations, unaware of the alternatives, eitherattempt to undertake the full burden of producing andsupplying textbooks for their schools or offer the schools
115
little support and financial aid for textbook purchases.Most school systems in the developing world thereforeare faced with scarce supplies of often poorly conceivedmaterials.
This chapter outlines those practices and proceduresof governments, educational authorities, the generalpublic, and educational publishers that influence andcontrol the supply of textbooks to students in primaryand secondary scht ols of France, Germany, the UnitedKingdom, and the United States. My sources were gov-ernment rer arts and statistics, information availablefrom publishers' organizations, and information frominterviews. My analysis is based on first-hand experiencewith publishing for schools in these and other industrialnations, as well as in Asia, Latin America, and parts ofAfrica.
In France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and theUnited States, as in most Western nations, textbookstraditionally are produced by private publishing com-panies. They are purchased, however, by public agenciesand paid for out of public funds. Dependence on publicfunds, together with the often highly charged politicalatmosphere that surrounds public education, createsunique characteristics in the school textbook industriesof these countries and of others that follow the samepattern. Textbook publishing everywhere is coniainedin a complex triangle of laws, regulations, and customswhich are applied to the selection, content, purchase,and pricing of textbooks.
Among the questions asked in preparation for thewriting of this chapter were:
What are the basic systems of education and gen-eral policies for providing textbooks?
Are textbooks currently the main tools for teaching
126
116 Peter H. Neumann
and learning, or are they being displaced by newermedia?
To what extent do textbooks reflect a national cur-riculum, the input of special-interest groups, orthe pressures of politics?
Who approves the content of textbooks? How arethey selected? Who pays for them?
What is the role of the school textbook industry?How free is the competition? How good are thetextbooks?
What are the links and areas of cooperation be-tween textbook publishers of developed and devel-oping nations?
What are the basic systems of education and generalpolicies for providing textbooks? The countries surveyedoffer kindergarten plus twelve year:. of public education,subdivided into primary school, middle school, and highschool. Various types of education can be chosen, suchas a combination of general education and technical-vocational preparation or of general education and amore academic preparation for those going on to col-lege. Except in France and in certain German states(Lander), textbooks are supplied on loan and free ofcharge to all students in public schools. France doesnot supply free textbooks to students in high school(lycee), whereas some Lander combine free textbookswith payments, at certain levels, from parents.
Are textbooks currently the main tools of teachingand learning, or are they being displaced by newermedia? The answer is unanimous. It was well expressedby the national minister of education in France in March1985: "The book remains, in spite of the appearance ofnewer devices, the principal support of teaching." Awide-ranging survey entitled "Books in the Curricu-lum," recently carried out by a committee of educatorsin the United Kingdom, came to a similar conclusion:"The majority of teachers regard textbooks as the primeteaching aid which can play both a central and supple-mentary role." The study included field research and asurvey of textbook usage in the United Kingdom andUnited States. Students in primary and secondary schools,it was found, spend on average 70-90 percent of theirtime with books. Home study depends on books. Booksare among the most effective, and probably the mostcost-effective, tools for teaching and learning.
Questioning the effectiveness of textbooks is not new.Twenty-five years ago, responsible educators in the UnitedStates pronounced the textbook dead, overtaken byteaching machines, programmed instruction, film loops,and audiocassettes. Teaching machines as then con-ceived are now dead, and those other media sound al-most antiquated beside the computer and videocassetteplayer. More and more use is made in st000ls of newmedia. They are expensive but very effective in certainareas of instruction.
To what extent do textbooks reflect a national cur-riculum, the input of special-interest groups, or thepressures of politics? Only one country in the groupstudied (France) has a national curriculum. In Ger-many, each of the eleven Lander has its own curricu-lum. with differences so great that moving from one toanother may create problems for children attendingschool. In both France and Germany. textbooks mustconform closely to the prescribed curriculum. In theUnited States, regional differences between curricu-lums, which are a state responsibility, rarely preventtextbooks from being accepted throughout the countryby a majority of school systems. There is no nationalor state curriculum in primary or secondary school inthe United Kingdom. Secondary school curriculums aredetermined by the types of examinations the studentsintend to take.
Special- interest groups and political pressure exert aconsiderable influence on the publication of textbooks.Publishers often find themselves in the middle of ac-rimonious debates between the political establishmentand teachers, parents, and citizens (often united in sin-gle-issue organizations) aoout the goals and effective-ness of basic education. Consensus has become moredifficult to achieve following the social, scientific, andtechnical revolutions of the last few decades. Organi-zations and individuals concerned with many causescivil rights, women's rights, the rights of minorities,religious revival, East-West confrontations, the new bi-ology, population control, the aspirations of new na-tions, satellite communication all clamor to be fairlyrepresented in textbooks. The pressures result from aconviction, not readily supported by the facts, that text-books are one of the most powerful tools for formingthe minds of the young. The truth may be less dramatic:textbooks mirror the values currently acceptable to so-ciety and document the changes that occur. 1 exthookpublishers, too, are neither the heroes nor the villainsthey are made out to be. They view themselves as anindustry that serves the educational establishment, thatwill produce on demand what is considered acceptableby the majority of school systems.
Who approves the content of textbooks? How are theyselected? Who pays for them? In only one country inthe group, Germany, are textbooks required to be sub-mitted for approval before publication. Once approvedby the ministry of education of a state. the books thenbecome part of an approved listing from which schoolsin that state may make their individual selections. Butthe same textbooks are rarely adopted by any other ofthe eleven states.
in France and the United Kingdom, schools and in-dividual teachers traditionally have the right to maketheir own selections from publishers' lists without priorapproval by a ministry. In the United States, so-calledadoption states select and approve a limited number of
I 2",
textbooks and basal series from which schools in thestate must make their selection. So-called open stateshave a system similar to that of the Britishnamely,each school district or individual school makes its ownunrestricted choice from publishers' lists. The processof textbook selection in the nations surveyed varies fromformal evaluation of state adoptions (with hearings thatmay he open to the public) to simple decisions of a localtextbook committee or teacher.
Textbook purchases are mostly financed from taxesraised by the local community. These taxes are aug-mented by state (or provincial) funds, which may beused to subsidize the poorer communities in the state.The central government is seldom a major source offunds for textbooks. A consequence of local and statefunding is a discrepancybased on variations in localwealth and commitment to educationbetween thefunds available for textbooks in different parts of thesame country.
What is the role of the school textbook industry?How free is the competition? How good are the text-books? Textbook publishing is an important branch ofany national publishing industry. In the early stages ofa country's development, the opportunity to publishtextbooks for schools may be an essential element increating a national publishing industry. Because it istied to public education, the market for textbooks ismore predictable than the market for general boo! s.This, however, does not necessarily mean that it is sta-ble. Nor is it without risk for the individual publisher.More than in othermature industries, leadership amongcompeting textbook publishers can shift chamaticallyfrom one adoption period to the next. Changes in schoolenrollments from baby boom to zero growth to actualdecline affect the textbook publisher. Worse, textbooks,unlike teachers, have neither a union nor a unifiedconstituency that will lobby the legislature on theirbehalf. In times of economic recession and tight bud-gets, textbook purchases are often the first to feel thepinch. Simply using available textbooks, even thoughthey may be outdated or worn, is tempting for schooladministrators faced with rising teachers' salaries andcosts of maintaining their plant. In all the countriessurveyed. allocations for textbooks as a percentage ofthe national budget for education have recently de-clinedin some instances by more than 50 percent.
Textbook publishers learn to live with such changingfortunes. Large publishers continue their heavy invest-ments in major series; smaller ones find their niche inregional publications or supplementary materials. Theschool textbook industry differs from general publishingand professional publishing in that it depends less onoutside authors and more on its own in-house com-petence for the development of materials. Modern text-books are complex teaching tools. They require a teamof contributors with differing abilities and backgrounds.
Publishing for Schools 117
Complex formats and designs, profuse illustrations, andeye-catching layouts demand specialist services. "Im-nossible" schedules made necessary by changes in cur-riculum, deadlines for statewide adoptions, and basicshifts in teaching strategies call for such tight controlby the publisher that outside authors, mostly teachersor researchers, find it difficult to comply.
Textbook publishers are not printers and, unlikenewspapers, usually do not own printing plants. Theyare responsible for the editorial development of edu-cational materials, design and illustration (often pro-cured from outside sources), warehousing, shipping,and billing, and the marketing and promotion of theirmaterials. The range and the quality of textbook ma-terials (together with their audiovisual and softwaresupplements) are impressive in countries with devel-oped textbook industries. Nevertheless, justified criti-cisms remain, and there is no easy answer to the ques-tion, "How good are the textbooks?" Under favorableconditions, implying consensus of what educators ex-
pect and what administrators are willing to pay for,textbook publishers should have few problems creatingmaterials responsive to the educational system. In thereal world, however, it is often necessary to compro-mise.
In most developed nations, including those surveyedfor this chapter, an uneasy balance, but a balance none-theless, prevails most of the time between the variousinterest groups that govern textbook production, selec-tion, and purchase. Customs and traditions, supportedby laws and regulations, change relatively slowly; ad-justments to curriculums are incremental; and the rangeof materials combined with freedom of choice for teach-ers and schools have provided a measure of stability.
Although textbooks continue to be the main supportfor teaching and learning, their purchase with publicfunds has seriously declined over the past decades. Butfunding has not been reduced becauseas some maysuspectmoney has been spent on computers, video,and other new media. Rather, the causes of the reduc-tion are economic ecessions, pressures on educationalbudgets from large' salaries for teachers, and the oilcrisis, which spawned inflation and higher costs forplant maintenance. Perhaps, with the reduction of in-flation and the economic recovery that seem under way,the pendulum will once more swing toward more rea-sonable levels of public expenditure for educational ma-terials. If this happens and consensus similarly emergeson the role and content of public education, it seemslikely that a highly developed and professional publish-ing industry will produce even more effective materials.
What are the links and areas of cooperation betweentextbook publishers of developed and developing na-tions? Publishing for schools is clearly the most polit-ically sensitive area of educational publishingan areawhere it is instinctively felt that each country should
12E
118 Peter H. Neumann
develop its own un;que materials. Yet paradoxically, thepublishing of school textbooks is more derivative thanmost other types of publishing because each successivetextbook or series builds upon previously published ma-terials, while radical departures in curriculum result innew materials that are quickly plagiarized. In fact, theexchange of rights, adaptations and translations, co-operative editions, and more or less outright imitationshave long been common. This happens most frequentlywith mathematics a..d science and with dictionaries,school atlases, foreign language materials, and the like.The necessary conditions for effective cooperation andfor adapting materials to different cultures and schoolsystems are professional competence and knowledge ofthe required process.
In the developing nations, lack of appreciation of theadvantages inherent in using tested methods and ma-terials to create textbooks, combined with a lack of localpublisi ing skills to contribute to the process, have stymiedthe growth of national textbook resources. Exceptionshave resulted from the invo!vement of British publish-ers with textbook publishing in English-speaking Africaand of French publishers in French-speaking Africa,where existing relations have formed the basis of on-going cooperation. American publishers have workedmore actively with the emerging publishing industriesof Latin America. Nevertheless, publishers and govern-ments responsible for providing textbooks need a muchbetter understanding of the opportunities and respon-sibilities that are part of such cooperative efforts.
Germany
Easic Educational System
In Germany, education is the responsibility of theBundeslander( individual states). The eleven Lander havea combined tota! of 10.4 million students in 33,000primary and secondary schools supported by 585.000teachers.
The traditional educational system in most Germanstates consists of four years of comprehensive primaryschool, followed by an examination leading to a choiceof secondary education: five years of Hauptschule (mid-dle school), six years of Realschule (vocational highschool), nine years of Gymnasium (classical high school).or six to nine years in Gesamtschule (comprehensivehigh school).
Curriculum
Curriculums are determined by the ministries of ed-ucation of the eleven states quite independently of oneanother. Curriculum development is a continuous pro-
cess. Revisions are introduced annually by various com-mittees within each state. Sometimes new curriculumsare used experimentally and are subject to further re-vision after more extensive classroom testing. Accord-ing to a chart published by the Institut fur Bildungs-medien, between 257 and 320 new syllabuses wereintroduced nationwide each year from 1979 to 1984.
A new textbook may be developed by a publisher fora number of reasons; nowadays it is generally the resultof a sweeping curriculum change introduced by one ofthe ministries of education. Political concerns are likelyto exert considerable influence on the content of text-books, especially in the social sciences and geography.It is not unusual, after state elections, for a change ofthe ruling political party to be followed by curriculumchanges in these and in other subject areas. Becauseeducation in Germany is a jealously guarded prerogativeof the individual states, there is no national curriculum.Each state demands its own version of state-approvedtextbooks. School curriculums may vary so much fromstate to state but a student moving from one state toanother could be set back by as much as one year.
Approval and Selection of Textbooks
With few exceptions such as dictionaries. all school-books have to be submitted for approval before publi-cationthat is, before they may he offered for sale toschools. Because each state reserves to itself this rightof approval, it becomes necessary to submit textbooksin each subject and grade level to all eleven state min-istries of education. Because curriculums vary consid-erably from state to state, chances are small that thesame text will be approved in more than one; thuspublishers are forced to produce regional editions. whichoften serve fairly small markets and thus have additionalcosts and uncertainties.
To obtain official approval from a state ministry ofeducation, the publisher has to submit the finishedprinted and bound book (or series of books at the pri-mary school level) to a review commission appointedby the ministry and composed mostly of educators. Thesecommissions usually take an average of several monthsto decide whether to approve a textbook that has beensubmitted.
A book or series may be approved without change bya review commission; it may be approved for use duringa limited time onlyfor example, two years; changes.additions, or deletions may be proposed as a conditionof approval; or the book may be rejected. Major criteriafor evaluation of 1 text are:
How well it agrees with the curriculum
Its use of approved didactic. pedagog;z, and sci-entific findings and methodology
12)
Its appearance-quality of presentation and read-ability
Its price.
Once schoolbooks have obtained official approval, theymay be selected and purchased by individual schoolsunder the so-called free textbook schemes (Lemma-telfreiheit), which vary significantly from state to state.
Provision of Textbooks
The various German states operate their textbooksystems in different ways, which include:
Lending systems under which the state pays forthe books selected by the teachers; the books arethen loaned free of charge to the students
Lending systems combined with book purchase byparents; the state pays for a certain percentage ofschoolbook supplies, and tie parents pay for thosebooks that are required but not supplied by thestate
Subsidy systems which provide financial supportfor buying schoolbooks for children from low-in-come families
No state support for schoolbook purchases exceptfor those parents on welfare programs.
Expenditures for school buildings and maintenance,as well as textbook purchases, are financed by statetaxes. This causes significant differences in the amountsallocated per student for textbooks, depending on statepolicy and wealth. Teachers' salaries, by contrast, appearto be similar throughout Germany.
Textbook Budget
Exact figures for schoolbook pvrchases in Germanyare difficult to find and may not exist. The available
Table 9-1. The Schoolbook Market in Germany
Publishing (or Schools 119
figures for some states are estimates. Comparisons be-tween states on per-student expenditure are further dis-torted because of the varying amounts that parents con-tribute to textbook purchases. In 1984, a combined totalof approximately DM78 billion was spent on educationby the federal government and the states. This includedabout DM400 million (or 0.0051 percent) for textbookprovisioning for some 10.6 million students (or an av-erage of DM37.74 per student per year). The nationalaverage of DM37.74 per student spent on textbooks re-flected a low of DM11.50 and DM12.64 in two of thestates, between DM23.19 and DM40.13 in five of thestates, and a high between DM42.57 and DM86.64 inthe four remaining states.
Educational Publishing Industry
Seventy-two textbook publishers account for 98 per-cent of textbook sales. Total sales of all schoolbookpublishers for 1985 were estimated at DM360 million.As table 9-1 shows, total sales of textbooks and ex-penditures for textbooks per student have declined sig-nificantly since reaching a high in 1981. Most publish-ers publish books in all the subjects taught in the 100different school systems throughout the eleven Lander.
Of necessity, these publishers serve a fractured mar-ket. City-states such as Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlineach have fewer than 300,000 students enrolled in theirschool systems but are spending moil money per stu-dent on textbooks than the larger states, which haveenrollments ranging from 1.33 million to 2.99 million.
Since 1980, the publishing industry has been facedwith both declining enrollments and more and moreinsistence by individual states that textbooks clos.lyreflect their own unique views on education and thecurriculum. The recent economic recession has re-sulted i., deep cuts in state budgets for textbooks, com-pensated for insufficiently by a greater expenditure onschoolbooks by parents.
Year
Number ofschoolbookpublishers'
Schoolenrollments(millions)'
Newlyintroduced
curriculums'
Total sales ofschoolbook publishers
(millions of deutsc mark('Average expenditures
per pupil (deutschmark)1956 56 8.0 100 12.501969 70 10.1 380 37.621979 81 12.0 306 500 41.671981 84 11.5 320 520 45.211982 80 11.1 257 470 42.34.283 75 10.9 219 420 38.531984 74 10.6 302 380 35.841985 72 10.4 ..- 360 34.61
-Not available.a. According to information from the Association of Schoolbook Publishers (Des Verbandes der Schulbuchverlage).b. From statistical yearbooks.c. Data available since 1978.d. Estimates.
130
120 Peter H. Neumann
In spite of these diffic.ilties, the schoolbook marketin Germany offers a wid. selection of educational ma-tecials produced in competition by individual publish-ers. New textbooks are generally produced in responseto the demands of the Lander. Many titles are printedin relatively sma I editions. Nevertheless, the situationhas been called di stic by its critics. States' rights andthe resultant divergencies in the goal: cbf education, therequired approval of textbooks by each state, and thepoliticization of the educational process are issues thathave all come under mom. and more scrutiny by thepress and the public. And obviously the same issueshave complicated the task of publishers and of theirauthors, increasing the cost of textbooks in extremecases by as much as 100 percent. In spite of criticisms,sources in the publishing industry maintain that school-books are a bargain compared with the average list priceof all other books in German bookstores (Institut fiirBildungsmedien 1985).
Books are the main teaching aid in German schoolsand are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.Other media, however, are likely to play a more andmore important part and to affect turnover for the pub-lisher.
Book Exports and Linkages to the Developing World
At advanced levels in the sciences, mathematics, andtechnology, books are increasingly published in Englishfor the world market by such German publishers asSpringer Verlag. By contrast (and with the exception ofbooks on "German as a Foreign Language"), school-books published in Ccrman are seldom exported.
Nevertheless, a number of German publishers andprinters have established joint ventures abroad, somein developing countries. One of the most prominentGerman international publishers is the VerlagsgruppeBertelsmann (Bertelsmann Publishing Group), with joint-venture book clubs in Latin America, Spain, Portugal.and the United Kingdom and with branches in othercountries.
Modest support from certain organizations and fromthe federal government is available to encourage co-operative efforts between German publishers or printersand those from the developing worldfor example, totrain technicians and to translate materials. Germanindustry is a further source of technical publicationsand training manuals.
France
Basic Educational System
Education in France is a responsibility of the centralgovernment exercised by the national minister of ed-
ucation. Thirty-six thousand municipal divisions makeup the basic units of the system. In 1984-85, totalenrollment in primary and secondary schools was 12.84million students. More tha1i 10 million of these studentswere in public schools, and the remaining 2.18 millionattended private schools. Preprimary and first-level stu-dents numbered 6.98 million, and second-level stu-dents, 5.52 million. School is compulsory to the age of16. In 1984-85 the school system employed a staff of904,483-739,867 (81.8 percent) in teaching positionsand the rest in administration.
The educational system consists of five years of pri-mary school, followed by four years of middle school(college) and three years of high school (lycee). Duringmiddle school, students have the option, after threeyears, of taking an examination to transfer to a profes-sional lycee (lycee d'enseignement professionnel, or LEP)for an additional three years. This prepares them forthe certificat d'aptitude professionnelle (cAP). Studentsgoing on to the /Ncees graduate with a baccalaureat.
Curriculum
The national curriculum for primary and secondaryeducation is uniform throughout the country and ap-plies equally to public and private schools. It tends tobe so detailed and prescriptive that, in subjects such asscience and mathematics, not 'nly is the content pre-scribed but also the approach to teaching it.
Approval and Selection of Textbooks
Textbooks are not approved before publication. Pub-lishers are free to publish whatever they like at theirdiscretion. Major criteria for selecting a textbook are:
How well it fits the curriculum and needs of thestudentHow suitable it is for teaching the average studentThe attractiveness of its design and illustrationsThe clarity with which it is presentedThe availability of a teachers' edition
Its price.
A fundamental pi *nciple in France has long been theright of each district or municipal division to select thetextbooks for its school system. In very small com-munities, individual teachers may make the selection.
Provision of Textbooks
As a general rule, books for elementary schools arebought by municipalities with public funds and are loanedfree to students In 1977 the national government pro-posed to provide funds for a textbook loan program forstudents at intermediate or middle school (college). But
funding for this program has been sharply reduced.Parents who can afford to do so purchase required booksfor their children while poorer students may well haveto manage with inadequate and out-dated books. Nei-ther the national government nor municipalities sup-plies free textbooks at the high school level. Parentspurchase prescribed books, spending hetween $40 and$60 per child a year.
At the preprimary and primary levels, municipalitiesfund the purchase of books out of local taxes. Amountsallocated per student may vary as much as 1:3 betweenwealthier and poorer communities. Teachers receivetheir salaries directly from the national ministry of ed-ucation and therefore are not subject to such variations.
Textbook Budget
France spent F178 billion on education in 1984-85.Only about F100 million (or 0.00056 percent of thisamount) was spent on textbooks. This is the lowestpercentage of any of the countries surveyed for thischapter. It is only partially explained by the facts thatfree textbook loan programs in France are confined toprimary education and that the contribution by thenational government to textbook purchases for middleschools is inadequate. Indeed, there is a crisis of con-fidence between the ministry of education and Frenchpublishers in wh::h the press ane general public havebecome mole and more involved. Publishers estimatethat a minimum expenditure of F425 million (or 0.0025percent of the national education budget) is requiredto fund adequately present book commitments, includ-ing textbooks for middle schools. If such a commitm?ntis not possible under current budgetary restraints, pub-lishers argue that the ministry should acknowledge thatit can no longer fund textbooks for middle schools andplace that burden back on the shoulders of parents.
Educational Publishing Industry
The educational secto rep. esents 14 percent of thetotal sales of French publishers, a percentage that hasbeen steadily declining. Each year about 4,000 textbooktitles are newly published, revised, or reprinted, and10,000 titles are currently in print. Fifty-five millionbooks are produced annually. Ten publishing companiesaccount for about 90 percent of textbook sales. Thesepublishers tend to produce books for all levels of pri-mary and secondary educat n. Textbook sales used torepresent 70 percent of total business for some pub-lishers; today they represent 20 percent.
Publishers closely follow the curriculum prescribedby the national ministry of education. New programsin mathematics, biology, economics, and contemporaryhistory have been introduced over the last few decades.Publishers themselves do a considerable amount of in-
Pubhshtng for Schools 121
house editing and commission authors to interpret andgive form to the prescribed curriculum. Like textbooksin other countries, French textbooks have greatly im-proved in the use of color and illustrations and in otheraspects of presentation.
Educational publishing in France has a number ofunusual features. As elsewhere, publishers promote theirmaterials by calling on schools and municipalities wherethe selections are made and by providing free copiesand other promotional materials. Unlike other coun-tries surveyed, however, where publishers sell eitherdirectly to school systems or via educational distribu-tors, schools buy their books from local bookstores.There are some exceptions: Paris, for example, buyscentrally from publishers, who ship the books directlyto schools. On the one hand, purchasing books throughthe bookstore undoubtedly increases their cost to theschool system. On the other hand, this practice supportsthe book trade, which in France sells textbooks to par-ents as well.
Acc.,1 ding to a 1982 survey, loaned books had onaverage ten-year-old mpyrights (mathematics texts, av-erage six years; French language texts, average sixteenyears). Many of the books in schools are worn, tattered,and outdated in both content and appearance. The sorrys1 to of the free textbook loan program has created ademand by parents for educational materials, which thepublishing industry is meeting with innovative mate-rials for home study. Parents purchase for their childrennot only prescribed textbooks to supplement those avail-able in school but also a range of innovative materialsto be used at home, including special programs for self-study during summer holidays.
Children at age thirteen are spending thirty-two hoursa week in school plus ten hours of homework; yet par-ents are purchasing these additional materials for studyon weekends and holidays. There is apparently a greatdeal of public unhappiness with the textbook situationin France, as evidenced oy recent articles in the press.Education is becoming a political issue, in part becauseof a back-to-basics movement in education. There aremore and more demands by the press and public thateducation, including textbooks, must be more ade-quately financed. Communication problems have ex-isted for a long time between publishers and the gov-ernment, and relations presently are tense.
The present paucity of government support for text-book purchase contrasts with the official position onthe importance of textbooks. In March 1985, the na-tional minister of education had this to say in an officialaddress: "The book remains, in spite of the appearanceof newer teaching methods, the principal support ofteaching." Indeed, it seems evident that in France, asin the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany,and elsewhere, the textbook and teacher's manual re-main irreplaceable.
132
122 Peter H. Neumann
Book Exports and Linkages to the Developing World
France maintains strong links to the developing world,especially French-speaking nations in Africa. As muchas 20 percent of the sa. of educational materials areto these countries. French publishers prepare co-editionsfor French-speaking Africa and are engaged in jointpublishing ventures. They are also active in the Arabworld.
The United Kingdom
Basic Educational System
In the United Kingdom, the basic educational systemconsists of 121 Local Education Authorities (LEAs). TheDepartment of Education and Science (DES) overseesthe system in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland,and the Scottish Education Departmer t oversees thesystem in Scotland. The central government exerts moreand more control over expenditure on education. Never-theless, decisions on spending are made by the LEAS.
Decisions on curriculum content are the responsibilityof individual schools, guided more and more by theLEAs.
Curriculum
There is no national curriculum at the primary level(5-11 years) or secondary level (11-18 years). The cur-riculum at secondary school is determined by the ex-amination that the student intends to take, adminis-tered by one of the following examination boards:
General Certificate of Examination Board: Ordi-nary Level (examined normally at 16 years of age)and Advanced Level (examined normally at 18 yearsof age)
Fourteen Certificate of Secondary Education Boards(examined at 16 years of age)
Scottish Certificate of Education
Northern Ireland Examination Council.
Changes in curriculums and syllabuses take placecontinuously. Reports from teachers' associations andother organizations (for example, the Nuffield Foun-dation, the Schools Council, the LEAS, the School Cur-riculum development Committee, and the DES) fre-quently lead to new secondary school examinationsrequiring new curriculums. For example, the NuffieldFoundation sponsored projects for teaching modernlanguages, science, and mathematics; the Schools Counciland the Inner London Education Authority sponsoredprojects on science, mathematics, and other subjects.
Large-scale curriculum renewal and new teachingneeds and methodsfor example, individualized learn-:rig, resource-based learning, mixed-ability classes, andthe wishes of some teachers to produce materials suitedto their own particular circumstanceshave led to theformation of teams of writers, often sponsored by avariety of organizations. Highly specialized materialsand those of local flavor are often published by theorganizations themselves. Textbook materials devel-oped by large projects such as the Nuffield Foundation'sare generally issued by a commercial publisher in con-junction with the sponsoring organization. An equitablesystem through which publishers may bid for such ma-terials has been in operation for some time. Under thissystem, the selected publisher normally works with thesponsoring organization on the final design, layout, andformat of the materialor may be invited at an earlystage to participate in the editing of manuscripts. Thepublisher is responsible for providing the funds for theproduction, marketing, and distribution of the finishedmaterials and pays a royalty on sales to the sponsoringorganization.
Textbooks produced by curriculum developmentprojects have had a profound effect on the teaching ofparticular subjects. Major sponsoring organizations suchas the Nuffield Foundation spend much more on re-search and development of texts than a commercialpublisher is able to spend without making its book orseries prohibitively expensive.
Sponsoring organizations, under their contract witha selected publisher, usually retain the copyright to thepublications produced. Retaining copyright enables thesponsoring organization to support the wider dissem-ination of their publications in the form of adaptationsor even translations. Authors and publishers not in-volved with the original pub!icationc may be encouragedto publish revised versions that have benefited fromclassroom experience gained with the original mate-rials. Designed to serve the average teacher and students(rather than an elite, as did the original publications),such "offspring" are likely to outsell the original ma-terials by a wide margin. Lord Bullock, when he waschairman of the Schools Council, observed this phe-nomenon and referred to the Council's publications as"models to be plagiarized." The experience has beensimilar in the United States with curriculum develop-ment projects sponsored by the National Science Foun-dation.
Special-interest groups (for example, those con-cerned with the status of women or ethnic minorities)tend to lobby for better representation of their concernsin textbooks. Meetings between special-interest groupsand publishers may result in new guidelines being pro-duced, such as a recent report from the EducationalPublishers Council entitled Publishing for a Multi-cul-
1 3 3
tural Society. Textbooks for both primary and secondaryschools are developed by publishers working either withsome of the organizations referred to above or withauthors chosen by the publishers themselves.
Approval a. ed Selection of Textbooks
Because there is no national curriculum, there is nonational system of approving textbooks; nor is there anysystem of local approval. Each school selects its owntextbooks. In secondary school, the head of a depart-ment (mathematics, science, and so on) is likely to bethe most influential person. In a primary school, it willbe the head teacher working with teachers who haveresponsibility for particular subjects. Teachers are freeto choose, within their budgets, the material they thinkmost appropriate.
Inspectors or advisers of the LFAS often have a stronginfluence on curriculum, and thus on the textbookschosen for primary schools. At the se ondary level, theexamination sylla )us chosen by the school influencesthe choice of textnooks.
Teachers have a variety of ways for selecting text-books. They receive mailings and inspection copies frompublishers and visits and presentations from publishers'representatives. They may attend regional or local text-book exhibits and workshops, read reviews in journals,or even participate in pilot projee.s that test textbooksin classrooms under controlled c3nditions.
The effectiveness of the selection process depends onthe dedication of those involved. The burden of selectingthe most appropriate textbook from the multitude ofofferings may be eased for the less experienced teacherby the guidance provided by LEA inspectors or advisers,by the name recognition of a known author, by theimprint of a reputable publisher, or even by the selec-tion of the text by a leading school in the area.
Provision of Textbooks
Traditionally books have been purchased by teachersfrom funds provided by the Local Education Authority,which each year establishes an amount to be spent perpupil on equipment, materials, and books. More andmore as funds have become scarce, large sums of sup-plementary money are being provided by parents. Booksare loaned to students for a period of time, reclaimed,and reused.
The central government provides a significant pro-portion of the money spent on local services throughrate support grants. The balance is raised from localtaxes and revenues. Allocation of these funds is a localresponsibility.
Differences in school spending can be significant amonglocal authorities, sometimes at a rate of 3:1. Such dif-
Publishing for Schools 123
ferences can apply to maintenance of buildings, to levelsof teaching staff, and to books, but not to teachers'salaries, which are determined nationally. Authoritieswho spend little on books often spend little on services,but it can also be a matter of priorities at the local level.
Textbook Budget
As with a number of other countries, the United King-dom's expenditure on education, including textbooks,has suffered considerable retrenchment over the lastfew years. There are no universally applied guidelinesas to how much should be spent on books in schools.Historically, such expenditures have constituted lessthan 1 percent of total loco! authority expenditure oneducation.
Spending on books in 1983-84 reached the low av-erage of £7.25 per student in primary school and £10.17in secondary school. These figures may be comparedwith those recommended as reasonable by the NationalBook League for the same period: £11.22 for primaryschool students and £18.33 for secondary school stu-dents.
As reported by the Educational Publishers Council,which compiles detailed analyses of local authorities,some of the consequences of low expenditure on booksare:
Old, out-of-date books still being usedBooks in bad condition
Children sharing even basic textbooksBooks not available for homework
Parents and parent-teacher associations (FrAs) beingasked to provide money for books even though the1944 Education Act requires local authorities tobuy them.
The Educational Publishing Industry
In the United Kingdom, the development and pro-duction of educational books is based by tradition onthe initiative, expertise, and investment of private en-terprise in partnership with the educational establish-ment. It is supported by public funds raised at differentlevels of government, from central to local authorities.Because of cuts in public spending on textbooks overthe last few years, funds contributed by parents havebecome important for book purchases.
Freedom of choice is a fundamental characteristic ofBritish education: the teacher's right to choose and tobuy the materials he or she wishes to use in the class-room, free from interference from state or local au-thorities. A tightly controlled system of prescribed booksis potentially cheaper than a completely free one. Butbecause less than 1 percent of what local authorities
134
124 Peter H. Neumann
spend on education is spent on books, it is debatablewhether the savings from a prescriptive system wouldjustify the resulting disadvantages. The present situa-tion not only allows teachers to select their materialsfreely but also enables publishers to produce a greatrange and variety of materials.
The Educational Publishers Council (a division of thePublishers Association, which is composed primarily offirms that publish books for schools) names eightymembers in its 1984 listing. These include six very largeeducational publishers and twenty significant ones. For1983-84, the Educational Publishers Council estimateda total market for schoolbooks of £114.7 milli, a, ofwhich parents contributed £21.5 million (18.7 percent).Schoolbooks constituted 11 percent of the total Britishbook market, valued at £900 million in 1983. In ad-dition to schoolbooks, fiction accounted for 24 percentof the total market; scientific, technical, and medicalbooks for 15 percent; reference works for 11 percent;academic and professional publications for 9 percent;and religion for 3 percent. This left a category called"other" with 27 percent of the market.
The educational book trade is complex. Of local au-thority spending on books in 1980, 11 percent was boughtdirectly from publishers by local authority organiza-tions, another 25 percent was handled by specialist con-tractors, and the remaining 64 percent was sold bybookshops. Trade with educational establishments, in-cluding public libraries, constitutes a high percentageof turnover for both booksellers and contractors.
The so-called Net Book Agreement, a system of pricemaintenance for certain categories of books, furthercomplicates matters. Books priced under the Net BookAgreement may not be discounted by the bookseller oreducational contractor to the final purchaser. There isno rule that determines whether books for schools shouldbe published at net prices or at nonnet prices, whichare only recommended rather than enforced list prices.Most publishers operate on the basis that schoolbooksare likely to be sold in quantity rather than in singlecopies and should therefore carry a recommended ornonnet price. This allows booksellers and contractorsto offer discounts to schools.
A large educational publishing project (for example,a reading series) is usually tested by the publisher, oftenwith the assistance of the authors, to ensure that itreflects the requirements of teachers and students. Testprocedures may include pilot editions tried out in lim-ited classroom settings, reviews of written materials byoutside consultants, and classroom testing of teachers'editions and other supplementary materials. Publisherscompete freely with each other over sales of their in-dividual materials. They are generally cooperative andconsultative within their association on matters of in-dustry policy which concern national or local politics
and legal matters such as copyright. They also cooperateon joint promotions such as exhibits and seminars,spending on books by the LEAS, and on new develop-ments such as computer software, improved orderingand distribution procedures, and on other matters af-fecting the industry.
Books in the Curriculum, a wide-ranging 1985 surveyfunded by the Educational Publishers Council and car-ried out by a committee of educators, included fieldresearch in primary and secondary schools in five areasin Britain, as well as a substantial compilation of pub-lished evidence about book use in schools and readingeducation in the United Kingdom and the United States.The findings indicate that a majority of teachers regardthe textbook as the prime teaching aid which can playboth a central and supplementary role. Books, thesurvey notes, are widely used throughout the schoolday and provide satisfaction that other media cannotmatch.
Microcomputers in Schools
The government has been active in developing theuse of microcomputers in schools. It has subsidizf d thepurchase of hardware and is now subsidizing software.At first, the introduction of computer-aided instructiondepended largely on local initiative and enthusiasm.Government subsidies applicable only to British-madeequipment resulted in the use of three or four types ofhardware, initially in secondary schools and more re-cently in primary schools. Although extensive use ofcomputers in schools is complicated by problems ofhardware compatibility, the relative lack of suitable ed-ucational software, and (for the present) the limitedability of many teachers to use the computer creatively,the educational market for computers is burgeoning.Software is being produced by individuals, by nonprofitorganizations, by hardware manufacturers, and by pub-lishers. Questions of copyright, of unauthorized copyingof materials, and of plagiarism divide users and provid-ers. For publishers, the market is presently very smallcompared with that for hooks.
Book Exports and Linkages to the Developing World
Historically, the United Kingdom has had a strongbook export businessclose to 50 percent of total salesof British publications. In 1984, exports were 44 perant(1,400 million) of the total British book trade. The UnitedStates has become the largest British export market,accounting for 24 percent of sales, followed by the restof Europe with 20 percent, Australia with 13 percent,South Africa with 8 percent, and Canada with 5 percent.Educational books enjoy strong export sales. especiallythroughout the Commonwealth. But British publishers
1 31;
and their associate companies abroad do more thanexport books. In English-speaking Africa and the Ca-ribbean, British publishers seek to assist in the devel-opment of new materials writtersby local authors forlocal needs.
The overseas development of new educational ma-terials is typically achieved through contract publish-ing, an arrangement under which the British publisheror its local associate company makes its expertise ineditorial development, design, and production availableto the local government. The parent company generallyoversees the manufacture of books when this can beachieved more economically outside the developing na-tion.
The Book Development Council (the InternationalDivision of the Publishers Association) is charged withensuring adequate book provision around the world.The council works closely with national and interna-tional agencies both to achieve this aim and to promotethe long experience British publishing companies haveenjoyed in adapting their subject materials to the needsof individual countries. By offering fellowships andtraining programs in the United Kingdom, the BookDevelopment Council assists with the establishment ofindigenous publishing industries.
The United States
Basic Educational System
In the United States, education is the responsibilityof the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Theschool district is the basic administrative unit. Thereare about 15,500 school districts. Total enrollment inthe 1984-85 school year was 39.4 million students,with 23.8 million in elementary schools and 15.6 mil-lion in secondary schools. A total of 2.15 million teach-ers serve the school system-1.18 million in elemen-tary schools and 961,000 in secondary schools; 1.47million are women, and 676,000 are men.
The traditional system of education in most parts ofthe country is six years of elementary school (kinder-garten, grades 1-5), three years of middle school orjunior high school (grades 6-8), and four years ofcomprehensive high school (grades 9-12) or technicalor vocational high school. A typical comprehensivehigh school offers a variety of courses for students tochoose from according to their ability, preference,and future educational and career goals. Technical orvocationa! high schools are more prevalent in someparts of the country than in others and often serve aregion rather than a single school district; they attractstudentswho are planning to enter technical trades upongraduation.
Publishing for Schools 125
Curriculum
Curriculum is a state responsibility. State prescrip-tions may be issued under a host of different names:"Proclamation of the State Board of Education" in Texas,"Curriculum Frameworks" in California, "Course ofStudy," and so on. As will be explained in the nextsection, some states (adoption states) seek to maintainstrong central control over their school systems andover textbook selection; other states (open territories)leave textbook selection to the school districts. In spiteof regional differences in curriculum, most textbooksand basal series are widely accepted by schools acrossthe nation. Nationwide acceptance (and hence large printruns) makes possible the lavish design, illustrations,and use of color typical of U.S. textbooks.
State and local education boards tend to hold exten-sive public hearings before a proclamation defining bidsfor textbooks becomes official. Textbook publishers, ontheir own or through the offices of the Association ofAmerican Publishers (AAP), work closely with all profes-sional organizations involved in education. Togetherwith their authors, they try to anticipate emerging trendsin education so that their textbooks do not becomeobsolete during the five to six years it takes to developa textbook series.
Special-intere5t groups, as is well known, are bothactive and influential in the textbook development pro-cess in the United States. Reflecting changes in societalvalues, their input has radically transformed the contentand appearance of U.S. textbooks over the last few de-cades. Publishers find themselves frequently caught be-tween conflicting views, with extreme cases making na-tional headlines. But despite grievances about the system,U.S. textbooks have been found acceptable by mostteachers and by the general public.
There have been national curriculum developmentprojects. The high point of these projects occurred inthe early 1960s in response to the U.S.S.R.'s launch ofSputnik, the first artificial satellite. During this period,the federal government, largely through the NationalScience Foundation (Nsel, sponsored a broad spectrumof projects (at various universities and research centers)to improve the teaching of science and mathematics.
Many of these projects assembled writing teams ofleading subject-matter specialists from the universitiesand outstanding teachers from the nation's best schools.These teams produced materials for teaching the sci-ences and mathematics that were then published bycommercial publishers selected by the NSF under a sys-tem of tenders and bids.
Known by their initialssmsc in school mathemat-ics, PSSC in physics, BSSC in biology, Chem Bond andChem Study in chemistrythese groups had a pro-found influence. Their impact was based on their often
13C
126 Peter if. Neumann
revolutionary approaches, the reputation of their con-tributors, and what has been called the halo effect oftheir sponsorshi' by the NSF. Furthermore, the use oftheir materials in the classroom was generally encour-aged and supported by extensive teacher training throughworkshops sponsored by the NSF.
Although the impact of these projects on the nationalscene was profound (and indeed their let ience has beenfelt and continues to be felt far beyon 'le shores ofthe United States), few of the original materials remainin the classroom. Even at their peak, actual classroomuse was limited by the often uncompromising rigor ofthe subject matter, which made them accessible onlyto the better sWdents at better schools. Eventually,many of the novel concepts and methods enshrined inSMSC, PSSC, and so on reached the average school systemthrough the efforts of publishers who used the originalmaterials, in Lord Bullock's phrase, as "models to beplagiarized." Commercial publishers and their authorsbenefited from the massive investments in research madeby the NSF, which would have been quite beyond theirown resources. Moreover, by observing where NSF ma-terials failed in the classroom, they were able to makenecessary revisions. They published adaptac .. that untilrecently dominated the market. Of late, A tional trendtoward a return to the basics has required extensiverethinking of some of the premises on which the NSF-
type materials were based. Unlike its earlier method ofoperation, the NSF now i^tends to work more closelywith publishers in the early stages of product devel-opment, rtscognizing that the publishers have a uniquecontribution to make to the teachability of classroommaterials.
Approval and Selection of Textbooks
There is no system of official prepublication approvalif textbooks in the United States. Publishers are free topublish whatever they wish. As mentioned earlier anddescribed in chapter 6, two basic systems of textbookselection and adoption operate side by side in the UnitedStates: state adoption and the so-called open territories.Despite differences betty- systems, in both of themtextbooks are selected by ..,,:al school districts for usein local schools. Adoption states, of which there arecurrently twenty-two, limit the school districts' choiceto a selection from an appro-cid list adopted by the state.
Major considerations during the selection process arewhether a text fits state curriculum frameworks, whetherteachers find content and presentation of the materialssuitable for their stueents, whether representation ofwomen and minorities in the books is fair and equal,and whether teachers find the materials "teachable"a judgment that includes a review of such ancillary
materials as teachers' editions, workbooks, student guides,video, audio, nr computer programs, games, and so on.
Historically, state adoptions began with strongly po-liticized state boards that tended to select a single seriesor textbook to be used by every school district in thestateso-called single adoption. Single adoption pro-cedures invited corrupt practices and caused a greatdeal of dissatisfaction among :eachers deprived of choiceand among publishers seeking a more open system.Today, all twenty-two adoption states provide for mul-tiple adoption lists. For example, Texas offers schooldistricts a choice of as many as e!ve basal series simul-taneously in any one subject; California adopts fromfive to fifteen different series per subject acid restrictsstate adoptions to elementary grades only. Other statesfall somewhere between these two, but all offer morethan a single choice.
Adoption states currently account for approximately48 percent of total textbook sales; open territories, 52percent. Some school districts rigidly control the choiceof textbooks within their district; others leave such de-cisions to individual schools.
Whether textbook adoptions are decided at the state,district, or school level, textbook selection committeesconsk4ing of teachers and of other officials are generallyappointed. These committees usually hold public hear-ings as part of the selection process and are assignedresponsibility under complex procedures intended toensure a reasonably objective and open selection pro-cess, the adoption of good materials, and the lowestavailable book prices.
The textbook selection process includes detailedstandards for textbook manufacture (the specificationsof the Book Manufacturers Institute). Also common isa device called "lowest price clause," similar to most-gwored-nation status in international trade, which,uarantees all sizes of school districts the lowest priceoffered by the publisher anywhere in the United States.
Major adoption states such as California (11.97 per-cent of total textbook sales in 1..984), Texas (62 percent),and Florida (4.07 percent) probably exert a dispropor-tionate influence over the general content and appear-ance of textbooks. These states, for example, have madeit almost mandatory for publishers to produce Spanishtranslations of their major basal series in mathematicsand science (often as loss leaders) if they hope to gainstate adoptions. But the i ifluence of these states canfluctuate from year to year and tends to be balanced bythe pluralism and consensus on major educational ob-jectives in the United States as a whole. Although thetop ten states account for some 55 percent of textbooksales, they include only three adoption states (with atotal of 22.78 percent of total textbook sales). In 1984,the top twenty states accounted for 74.7 percent of
-1.1. )ti I
textbook sales and included nine adoption states (witha total of 34.63 percent of sales).
Provision of Textbooks
As a general rule, textbooks for elementary and sec-ondary school students are bought with public fundsand loaned to the students. Some states or localitiesmay charge parents a fee for loaned books. In parochialand other private schools, parents pay for textbooks.
Education, as noted earlier, is the responsibility ofthe states and is financed almost in equal parts by staterevenues and local real estate taxes. In 1984, state rev-enues accounted for an average of 49 percent of edu-cational costs nationwide and local taxes and other rev-enues for 44.8 percent of the costs. Only 6.2 percent oftotal expenditure on education came from the federalgovernment.
Because funding for education depends heavily onstate and local resources, there are vast differences inthe levels of spending per student among different statesand even among localities within statesalthough statefunds may be used to ameliorate the differences betweenwealthy and poorer localities. In 1984, for example, NewYork and New Jersey spent more than $5,000 per stu-dent co, pared with $2,500 per student in some of theless affluent states. Differences in spending per studentaffect all areas of education --teachers' salaries, admin-istration, expenditures for plant, and textbooks.
Text! )ok Budget
At present, less than 1 percent of the national budgettor education is spent on textbooks. This is roughly halfthe percentage spent on textbooks during the 1960s inthe wake of a national reaction to the launching ofSputnik.
Paring 1984, combined expenditure per student forLextbooks in elementary and secondary schools rangedfrom $16.78 in Alabama to $44.85 in South Dakota.Average expenditure per student was $27.79. At theelementary level, about 55 percent of the budget fortextbook materials is spent on language arts, 20 percenton mathematics, 10 percent on the social sciences, and8 percent on elemeatary science.
The Educational Publishing Industry
Educational publishers are here defined as publishersthat produce bonks for elementary and secondary schools.By tradition, e Pinentary and high school books are pro-duced by privat, enterpri e and paid for by public funds.Sales of elementary and high school publishers amountedto $1.3 billion in 1984 as against a total of $7.8 billion
Publishing for Schools 127
for all publishers in the following categories: trade, re-ligious, professional, book club, mail order, mass mar-ket paperback, university press, college text, test, sub-scription and reference, and audiovisual.
In common with the industry in other countries,book publishing in the United States is not a largebusiness in terms of sales. The publishing industry isunusual, however, :n the variety of its offerings. Thenumber of titles publ,shed worldwide that are availableon every possible subject and for every conceivable pur-pose and taste compares favorably with the range ofproducts of almost any other industry.
Industry sources estimate that there are at least sixty-five companies engaged in schoolbook publishing astheir primary function. Some of these companies arepart of larger publishing groups; and in addition, thereare hundreds of smaller publishers that occasionallyobtain a school adoption. A small number of companieshola relatively large shares of the schoolbook business.The five largest may account for as much as 40 percent.But their ranking order may well change from year toyear on the basis of major new adoptions.
John H. Williamson, then president of the Silver Bur-dett Company and an astute observer of the industry,wrote in 1979:
The school textbook industry has a number of uniquecharacteristics . . . It is probably the only highly com-petitive industry whose prime market is governmen- .
tal agencies, which receives no subsidies and that issubject to many restrictions like those placed on pub-lic utilities, but without any of the concomitant ben-efits.
The adoption process (which requires that publishersdistribute free tens of thousands of review copies), thelowest price clause, and price maintenance (under whicha publisher agrees to supply books at the initially agreed-upon price for several years during the adoption period)are all part of an intricate network of specifications andregula.ions that govern schoolbook publishing in theUnited States.
Criticism of textbooks is a fact of life in any societywhere freedom to criticize exists. In the United States,where searching inquiries as to "Why Johnny can't read"are common, textbooks and their publishers do notescape criticism. Textbooks that are produced for thou-sands of individual school districts across a country asvast as the United States are obvious targets for diversespecial-interest groups that would prefer their own, moreregional versions of textbooks for their schools. Yetschool boards are reluctant to pay the extra costs in-volved in regional edit:3ns, an attitude understandableunder present economic conditions and tight budgets.They customarily insist, too, on lavishly produced, richly
128 Peter H. Neumann
colorful presentations. Their attitudes, which favor na-tional editions, are unlikely to change soon, althoughnew technology such as computer-generated manu-scripts and composition may make custom editions morepractical. Publishers, caught in an economic bind withinvestments of $10$20 million in a basal series, needa broad market for their products to recover their in-vestment. They have little choice but to try to compro-mise between conflicting curriculums and present a
range of attitudes and values that will make their booksacceptable to most `.ates on the basis of price as wellas content and presentation.
Textbook publishing is governed by curriculums andby the nature of the adoption process, which togetherdetermine what schools will expect and accept in theirbooks. Schoolbooks mirror societal values currently ac-ceptable in the community. They follow trends but rarelyset them. In periods of radical change, such as theUnited States has experienced since World War II, text-books are often left behind. This is true not only becauseit takes time to prepare new editions but also because,under the lending system, textbooks may be used longafter they have become outdated. With these caveats,U.S. textbooks generally enjoy wide support and ac-ceptance by the educational establishment and consti-tute effective teaching tools.
There is a great deal of discussion and publicity thesedays about the role of computers in schools and aboutsoftware, video presentations, television, and the othernew media. For publishers, their entry into educationalsoftware production has been generally disastrous. Ithas not been for want of trying. All major educationalpublishers during the last decade have made invest-ments totaling millions of dollars in the developmentof computer software. Most lost heavily in the process,and quite a few have all but aLfindoned the effort. Thisis in spite of the fact that the use of computers, nowwidely available in both elementary and secondary schools,is constantly expanding. The problem, as one publisherput it, is that schools demand ancillary materials, in-cluding videotapes and computer software, as a con-dition for textbook adoptions, but in the end they pur-chase few of these materials. Unsolved questions ofhardware compatibility, copyright protection, and pi-racy further cloud the issue.
In the great debate about the future shape of edu-cational materials, as well as in current research onteaching tools, the book emerges as an effective and themost widely used medium of instruction. In a periodof reduced budgets, the book retains the additional ad-vantage of being by far the most cost-effective. Pub-lishing sources estimate that students in schools spent75-90 percent of their time studying from textbooks.Books may be a starting point and a resource for su-
perior teachers: in the hands of poorer teachers, theyoften represent the total curriculum.
Book Exports and Linkages to the Developing World
There was a time in the 1950s and early 1960s whenU.S. college textbooks, particularly in the sciences andtechnology, became immensely popular both in Europeand in developing countries beginning to develop ter-tiary education. The influence of previously mentionedNational Science Foundation curriculum projects wasspread abroad through the export of U.S. schoolbooksand, more particularly, through licensed adaptationsand translations. During these years, the U.S. govern-ment actively sponsored the use of U.S. publicationsabroad through programs such as the InformationalMedia Guarantee Program, the Regional Technical As-sistance Center in Mexico City (covering Latin America),the Joint Indo-American Textbook Program (financedwith rupee counterpart funds accumulated in India fromshipments of U.S. food grails to that country), the U.S.Information Servicesponsored book translation pro-grams, and others. Encouraged both by the demand forU.S. books and by government support making it pos-sible for developing countries to purchase books in softcurrencies, U.S. publishers became more and more ac-tive in overseas markets. In response to demands forlower-priced editions, major publishers initiated the so-called Asian reprint progran mainly for first- and sec-ond-year college titles. A clearinghouse for makingtranslation rights available to developing countries atnominal cost was organized, and major publishers setup subsidiary companies and entered into joint ventureswith foreign publishers in Europe, India, the Philip-pines, Latin America, and Singapore. For example,Franklin Publications, a nonprofit foundation for en-couraging the translation of U.S. books in developingcountries, established offices in the Arab Republic ofEgypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Indonesia.
Today, much has changed. U.S. educational materialsremain popular in the developing world, but they facemore and more competition from local publishers. Theirdistribution and sale are threatened by widespread pi-racy in many parts of the world. U.S. government pro-grams, which would be especially helpful in this periodof a strong dollar (making U.S. books inordinately ex-pensive), have all but disappeared from the scene.
U.S. publishers, unlike their British competitors, havealways relied first and foremost on their home marketfor sales. This has been particularly true of school pub-lishers, whose international sales generally amount toless than 5 percent of total sales. By contrast majorcollege publishers might export as much as 30 percentof their total sales. Perhaps a dozen major U.S. pub-
1 3 t)
lishers, particularly those that are strong 'r, science,technology, and English as a second language, remainactive in promoting and selling their materials to de-veloping-country and other markets abroad. These pub-lishers sponsor reprint editions, cooperate on transla-tions, and enter into joint publishing ventures. OtherU.S. publishers rely on small export departments, assigntheir titles to international book distribi-tors and ex-porters in the United States, or appoint distributors inmajor countries around the world.
The American Association of Publishers, through itsinternational division, supports the efforts of publishersto do business abroad, providing assistance and infor-mation. Major U.S. publishers long involved in the in-ternational marketplace, together with certain agen-cies, continue to promote U.S. textbooks and to makethe professional know-how of U.S. educational publish-; s more readily accessible to the developing world.
Sources of Additional Information
Publications
American Association of Publishers. 1984. Industry Statistics.New York.
Blickpunkt Schulbuch. 1981. Vol. 24 (October).Educational Publishers Council. 1982. Publishing for Schools.
London.. 1983. Publishing for a Multi-cultural Society, Lon-
don.. 1985. Books in the Curriculum. London.
Institut ftir Bildungsmedien. 1985. Kleine Schtffirtchschule.Frankfurt am Main.
Publishing for Schools 129
Ministry of Education Inform ttion Services, Government ofFrance. 1984. Primary and Secondary Education in France.Paris.
. 1984-85. L'Education Nationale en Chiffrrs. Paris.Neumann, Peter H. 1980. Publishing fur Sf.7.1::;uis: Textbooks
and the Less Developed Countries. World Bank Staff Work-ing Paper 398. Washington, D.C.
Noble, J. Kendrick, Jr. 1984. Trends in Textbook Markets.New York: Bowker.
Publishers Association. 1982. Microcomputers in Schools: AMarket Overview. London.
Organizations
American Associatioh of PublishersSchool Division220 East 23d StreetNew York, NY 10010, USA
The Publishers AssociationEducational Publishers Council19 Bedford SquareLondon WC1B 3HJ, England
Syndicat National de L'EditionEdition Classique35, i ue Gregorire-de-Tours75279 Paris Cedex 06 France
Verband der Schulbuchverlage, E.V.Zeppelinallee 336000 Frankfurt (M) 1Federal Republic of Germany
10
The Indian Textbook Industry
Narendra Kumar
Books are marvels of human wisdom Born out of adesire to record and share experience, they reflect ourfaith in the future. Educating, informing, and dissem-inating ideas and knowledge have been until recentlyalmost the sole preserve of books. This instructionalemphasis is reflected in the fact that even today edu-cational books constitute a high percentage of totalpublishing activity in the world, especially in India andother developing countries. In India alone, textbookpublishing accounts for more than 90 percent of thetotal number of books published. India's population isnearing 700 million. Most belong to the age group 5 to22 ye: rs, which has the potential for enrollment inschools and institutions of higher learning, for nonfor-mal educa,*-In, or for vocational training.
Since independence, India has made cons.derableprogress in increasing the number of all types of edu-cational institutions, expanding their enrollment, andpromoting the sophistication and diversification of ed-ucational programs. During the last four decades, thenumber of educational institutions in India has in-creased from 230,000 to 690,000, of which 627,000 areprimary and middle schools catering to the first eightyears of schooling. There are 150 universities and 5,246institutions of higher learning.
An increase in enrollment has been evident at alllevels of education. The total student population hasincreased from 28 million in 1950-51 to 114 millionin 1982-83. Of these students, 93 million were in pri-mary and middle schools out of a total estimated pop-ulation of 150 million in the age group 6 to 14 years.Similarly, there were 9.5 million students in secondaryand higher secondary schools (grades 9 to 11 and some-time:, 12). Roughly 3 million students were receivingeducation in institutions of higher learning.
One of the most disturbing characteristics of devel-oping countries is the high dropout rate in schools,particularly at the primary and the secondary levels. In
130
India the secondary school retention rate continues tobe less than 50 percent, wasting educational resourcesand forcing educational authorities to plan a system ofinformal, out-of-school education for a large numberof regular dropouts. Nonformal education is also pro-vided for those who, for various reasons, have not foundit possible to join regular schools. The significance ofthis nonformal program can be gauged from the factthat as many as 1.5 million students are enrolled atnonformal centers in the nine educationally backwardstates.
Another segment of society that needs nonformal ed-ucation is the large population of adult illiterates. Thenumber of adult illiterates in India increased from 60million in 1951 to 248 million in 1981, and their num-ber in the age group 15 to 35 years today stands at 110million. If there i no change in the present rate ofpopulation growth and the illiteracy rate, by the turnof the century the total number of illiterates in the agegroup 15 to 19 years could account for more than 50percent of the world total for illiterates in this age group.
New Educational Policy
Against this background, the government of Indiahas recently decided to tackle the educational problemsfacing the country in a radically different way. The gov-ernment has highlighted certain important issues fornationwide discussion to formulate a national educationpolicy, including a national book policy.
Studies have shown that in educational investment,elementary education yields the highest rate of returnand has a significant impact on productivity and thegeneral well-being of the populace. Removal of adultilliteracy is equally important Inasmuch as it awakenspeople's interest in their environment and the enrich-mc nt of their personal life. It can also make an impor-
14
Cant contribution to the meaningful functioning of de-mocracy, the basis of the Indian political system. Thegovernment of India therefore is determined to halt thegrowth rate of population and to increase literacy. By1990, India should be able to achieve universal primaryeducation and the end of adult illiteracy among the agegroup of 15 to 35 years. Thus during the next four years,it is anticipated the enrollment in the age group 6 to14 years will increase to 174 million (or the entirepopulation in this age group) as against 93 million inI. u2. Similarly, enrollment in secondary and highersecondary education will increase from 9.5 million in1980 to 15.3 million in 1990. To achieve these objectivesdespite budgetary constraints, the government mighthave to adopt nonformal and distance education ap-proaches on a large scale.
Promoting literacy, increasing enrollment at ele-mentary schools, reducing the dropout rate from allschools, and expandini nonformal education and adultliteracy programs lay a heavy burden of responsibilityon those concerned with publishing reading materialsfor students and adults. Implementation of the govern-ment's plans would result in an almost 100 percentincrease in the number of learners in the country; andwhatever else they may or may not need, these learnersare going to need booksbecause in India books willremain the dominant and most effective tools of learn-ing for many years to come.
Current System for Publishing Textbooks
Before assessing how this new challenge can be metby the publishing community, it is necessary to look atthe existing arrangements for the production and supplyof textbooks. Since 1942, when the state of Uttar Pra-desh in British India first began publishing textbooks,state and central governments have increasingly as-sumed responsibility for textbook publication. Today,practically all texts for Knoolchildren in India are pub-lished by the central or state governments. Only a fewstates allow private publishers to operate at the sec-ondary or tertiary level.
The agency responsible for textbook publication var-ies from state to state. In some, the department ofeducation is charged with the responsibility; in others,a textbook board is attached to the department of ed-ucation; and in yet others, the textbook board is anautonomous agency. But whatever the nature of theagency, in all states the government is in effective con-trol of its functioning.
The approach to producing textbooks also varies. Atthe primary and secondary levels, all manuscripts areprepared under the supervision of committees set upfor the purpose. The committees draw up the syllabuse
The Indian Textbook Industry 131
for government approval and then commission authorsto write the texts. Some states then print the books ontheir own presses; others call for tenders and contractthe printing out. The distribution of books also differs.Most states have their own depots, from which book-sellers purchase at a discount of between 5 and 15 per-cent. But in a powerful state like West Bengal, booksare distributed through headmasters of schools andthrough block development officers.
When the nationalization of school textbooks wasintroduced, it was justified. At the time of indepen-dence, publishing enterprises tended to be controlledby a few large subsidiaries of foreign or multinationalpublishing houses. Their monopoly over textbook ma-terials led to high prices and, sometimes, ill-concealedprofiteering. The government was motivated to providecheap, mass-produced textbooks of high quality whichIndia's student population could afford. At the sametime, the government sought to Indianize textbooksbecause the books then available were ill-suited to realeducational nPeds.
Drawbacks in the System
It is more and more apparent that the policy of na-tionalizing school textbooks has outlived its utility andis doing more harm than good. As well as stultifyingthe development of a national publishing industry, ithas become detrimental to the interests of the verychildren it was designed to serve. In short, the imple-mentation of the policy is dogged by the same bureau-cratic ills as almost any educational program. To quotefrom a study carried our by a committee of experts setup by NCERT (National Council of Educational Researchand Training), the principal national agency for thepublication of school textbooks:
They (public sector publishers] are seriously handi-capped by a total absence of technical personnel toattend to the production and editorial segment ofbook production . . . The manuscripts go directly tothe printing press without being subjected to theeditorial drill or type marking, visualizing, dummymaking, etc. In the absence of a professional editorwhich constitutes the most important single area ofresponsibility, the end product, in a large number ofcases, suffers from presentation, printing and pro-duction . . . They (books] i,k the color and appealnecessary to stimulate the young mind. Further, pub-lication and marketing of textbooks requires profes-sional knowledge and experience which departmentalofficers handling the job generally do not possess.
Though the committee submitted its report morethan a decade ago, its observations are still true today.The Department of Education's management of text-
-11 4
132 Narendra Kumar
books has suffered from various deficiencies such asdelay in publication and faulty distribution. These de-ficiencies have been sharply criticized, even by thosewho are otherwise not averse to a state monopoly overthe publication of textbooks.
It is true that government-produced textbooks arecheaper than those produced by private publishers, andthere are cogent reasons for this. Government produc-ers of textbooks do not include overhead when costingtheir books; they take into account only the direct man-ufacturing and distribution costs. Furthermore, theypublish for a captive market, use the cheapest materials,and provide a very large discount to booksellers. Theauthors are not paid a royalty but a prescribed fee.Government agencies also have access to paper at highlycompetitive prices compared with the exorbitant amountsthat private publishers have to pay on the open market.Private publishers have to make a profit to support theirpublishing programs.
Apart from production and distribution, the author-ship of school texts is also entirely controlled by thegovernment. Most texts are neither pretested nor up-dated. Insufficient care is taken in the screening andcommissioning of authors, and a disturbingly largenumber of texts suffer from a dull uniformity born ofa sameness of approach. But such criticisms are of smallconsequence, simpiy because there is no other choice.
The Single Textbook Situation
That there is no choice is perhaps the most deplorabledrawback in the existing monopolistic setup. It is ed-ucationally unsound to prescribe for all students a sin-gle textbook in a particular language. This point hasbeen emphasized by nearly all the expert committeesand commissions set up by the government to revieweducation. The University Education Commission in itsreport of 1966 stated that "no useful purpose is servedby having only one textbook in a subject for a givenclass, as is almost invariably the position under theexisting program of nationalization."
The Secondary Education Commission set up earlierby the government also stated that "in place of pre-scribing a single textbook, a number of textbooks maybe approved and the schools may be given the optionto select one of them as per their requirements."
The working group set up by the National Book De-velopment Council, a government-sponsored organi-zation, suggested in its recent report that "the singletextbook situation in regional languages in schools shouldbe remedied" and that "multiple books for each level,both as textbooks and as supplementary readers, beproduced so that the learning child is given the optionto enhance the universe of discourse, as the same truthcan be expressed in different languages; the same ma-
terial presented in different ways enhances the copingability of the child to operate in the multilingual world.This would also help the child to become creative andinnovative."
The soundness of the policy of making alternativebooks available to students is borne out by the fact thatthe English middle schools, having the freedom to choosetheir books, continue to maintain high academic stan-dards and are known to be among the best schools inIndia. State monopoly over the publication of textbooksand the prescription of a single text for all children havedeprived publishers of their freedom to publish, authorsof their right to receive an equitable royalty, and teach-ers and students of their right to choose from amongthe best available publications. With respect to "freedomto publish," I should emphasize that this is a rightcherished by publishers in all other countries which,like India, practice democracy. The International Pub-lishers Association passed the following resolution:"Governments which have undertaken textbook pub-lishing fshould] take prompt steps for turning over thisresponsible task to the private sector, which is bestsuited for such an undertaking."
Structural Changes in the Educational System
A significant change in the educational pattern inIndia, which has a bearing on the publication of text-books, is the "10 + 2 + 3" system of education. This sys-tem stems from a recommendation made by the gov-ernment's University Education Commission (1964-66).The commission felt that the existing system of ten (insome states, eleven) years of school ending in matric-ulation in higher education was academically unsound.Students graduating from school did not attain a suf-ficiently high academic standard or acquire enough ma-turity to pursue a higher education or to enter a profes-sion or vocation. The commission thereforerecommenud that schooling should last twelve years,comprising ten years of general education integratedwith science, mathematics, and social studies followedby two years of preprofessional learning that branchinto various activities, of which vocational educationshould constitute an important part. The commissionalso recommended that the duration of the first degreecourse be reduced by one yearthat is, it should bethree years.
This recommendation has been implemented in manystates and caused a substantial reorganization of text-book production. For one thing, the new system hasnecessitated the publication of a large number of booksfc' vocational studies; for another, it has required re-strwturing the content and approach of books for stu-dents who previously studied in college. Further, thenew framework in schools is expected to cut across the
14 :;
conventional boundaries within the arts and humanitiesand to merge physics, chemistry, and the biosciencesinto a single general science course. Many books pre-scribed for the new system continue to present knowl-edge in the same segmented wayin single covers underthe name general science or social studies.
Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction
A working group set up by the government to proposea national book policy for the country observed:
India is one of the rare countries that has given aConstitutional guarantee of primary education throughthe mother-tongue. But this provision appears to behonored more in the breach than in the observance.Only 58 languages out of 200 to 700 languages areused as primary school languages . . It is therefore,important that with a view to meeting the risingidentity assertion of groups and providing a soundpedagogical base to education, the Constitutionalguarantee of a primary education through mother-tongue is implemented . .. and that for primaryschoolchildren we should aim at producing books inas many mother-tongues as needed to be instructedin.
These mother tongues represent variations of thir-teen major regional languages which have been ac-cepted as languages of administration, education, andcommunication in the various states of the country.The working group therefore recommended: "Properlinkage of these mother-tongues with 13 major lan-guages at the next higher stage in schools."
The acceptance of this sound educational principlelays a still greater responsibility on the sh ,ulders ofthose charged with the task of producing textbooks,who already are handling a greater volume and varietyof books than ever before. Obviously such a task cannotbe accomplished by the public sector alone. As men-tioned earlier, there are at present more than 110 mil-lion students studying in approximately 700,000 pri-mary, middle, and secondary schools across the country.As a result of the overriding priority given to the uni-versalization of elementary education and of the spreadof literacy envisaged in the new educational policy, thisnumber is going to increase significantly in the yearsto come.
III Effects of State Monopoly on Textbooks
More than 80 percent of the entire publishing ofschool textbooks in India is undertaken by the govern-ment or related public agencies. This is a 1 billion dollara year business. In many other countries, money gen-erated from textbook publishing is used to financc cre-
The Indian Textbook Industry 133
ative and nonacademic writing, and because textbooksales are assured and are renewed each year, this makesfor a stability that encourages sustained publishing en-deavors and historically has been responsible for thepublication of many great books.
Because of the government's monopoly in textbookpublishing, many small and medium-size publishers havebeen elbowed out, particularly those concerned withpublishing in regional languages, whereas others havebeen obliged to undertake the publication of class notesand course guidesclearly not a healthy trend! Moreserious, many of the bigger publishers have been de-prived of a sound financial bz- ? because they are denieda regular and substantial income from the publicationof school textbooks. In Japan, conversely, publishers'profits from textbook sales reportedly allow them tobring out, on a nonprofit basis, reasonably priced chil-dren's books which are known all over the world fortheir colorful presentation and excellent production.Finally, the withdrawal of such a lucrative business hasprevented the publishing industry from undertakinglarge-scale exports, an activity for which India possessesgood potential.
Aggravating matters is the fact that many public pub-lishing agencies have set up their own presses to printtextbooks. This trend appears to be on the increase,notwithstanding the fact that the private printing in-dustry is perfectly capable of meeting the growing de-mand. Thus a great disservice is being done to theprinting industry by underutilizing its available capac-ity.
Finally, because of the vast technical and professionalexpertise available to them, private publishers are in abetter position to discover the most competent authors.This has been amply proved by the private publishers'management of university textbooks.
Sharing Responsibility
In the light of all this, to increase the production anddistribution of textbooks the central and state govern-ments will have to allow the private sector a substantialshare in textbook publication. State boards and agenciesshould instead :oncern themselves at the more basiclevel with reviewing policies, developing examinationprocedures and curriculum requirements, and deter-mining ultimate objectives and alternative strategies forthe educational system.
Even if the goverment does not at present considerit feasible to transfer textbook publishing to the privatesector, however, it must take immediate steps to undothe harm that the monopolistic publishing of books hasdone to academic and production standards and to timelypromotion and prompt distribution. In this context, onepertinent recommendation is that NCERT and the agen-
144
:34 Norendro Kumar
cies concerned with state textbook publishing shouldconfine their activities to the preparation of detailedguidelines for the writing of textbooks. Publishers canthen be asked to produce books according to the guide-lines and to present them for review to competent gov-ernment agencies. Apart from offering an educationalchoice, the approval of two or three books on the samesubject for the same grade would improve the qualityof writing and production through healthy competition.But should official agencies still insist on preparing themanuscripts themselves, they should encourage theirpublication and distribution through private channelsso as to make the books available to students at mod-erate prices and in good time. And here the governmentmust take steps to ensure that the academic quality andstandard of these books is maintained and that they areappropriate for children in different parts of the coun-try.
The need for private involvement in the publicationof school textbooks has been persistently voiced by theFederation of Indian Publishers. The stand taken by thefederation has received powerful support from manyeminent educators and from the working group recentlyset up by the government to propose a National BookPolicy. This working group has gone on record: "Con-sidering the enormity and complexity of the task [inpursuance of the new education policy and the nationalbook policy), it is recommended that the publishers inthe private sector fill in the publishing gaps in bookproduction, especially in remedying the single textbooksituation."
University Books
University books are the second important compo-nent of educational publishing in India. In a compar-atively short time, India has done wJl in this sphere.On achieving independence in 1947, India was practi-cally dependent upon the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates for almost all its books for higher education, asituation which continued for quite some time. TheIndo-American Textbook Program was introduced in1961. According to this program, a portion of U.S. Pub-lic Law 480 (hereafter PL-480) funds in Indian currency(accumulated by the Americans through sale of food-grains to India) was to be utilized by the United Statesto subsidize Indian reprints of U.S. books. Soon after,the United Kingdom made large inroads into the Indianbook market with low-priced educational and technicalbooks under its English Language Book Society (EBBS)program, which was introduced in 1962. The ELBS pro-grani served not only India but also a large number ofother developing countries which used English as alanguage of instruction, but India was its major bene-ficiary.
According to statistics from the Ministry of HumanResource Development, the United States subsidized theprinting of more than 1,620 titles under the PL-480program and the British furnished 720 titles for use bystudents in colleges and universities. Both schemes werewelcomed by the government as well as by studentsbecause they made available educational texts at fairlylow prices at a time when university education wasrapidly expanding in India. Further, some reprint pub-lishers, particularly subsidiary firms of some of the U.S.publishing houses, made substantial profits from thePL-480 scheme.
In the last analysis, however, these programs workedagainst the interests of indigenous publishing becauseIndian-produced books could not compete with booksof foreign origin, which were being sold at one-fifth oftheir original price. Because of the discontinuation ofsupplies to India under PL-480, however, the numberof publications subsidized by the United States beganprogressively to decline. The British were also obligedto reduce the supply of their books under the ELBSprogram. In the meantime, in 1965 India entered intoan agreement with the U.S.S.R. to exchange educationalbooks and materials under a joint Indo-Soviet TextbooksProgram. But even in this program, India remainedlargely at the receiving end: according to available in-formation, India has been supplied with 530 Soviet titlessince the inception of the program.
At the same time, India began to realize the banefuleffects of continued dependence on imported books. Theimportation of these books, particularly those of theELBS scheme, used up scarce foreign reserves. But ofmore significance, national authorship was inhibitedand the development of an indigenous publishing in-dustry was stultified.
Indigenous Schemes for Subsidies
Motivated by the desire to conserve foreign exchangeand encourage indigenous authorship. the Indian gov-ernment has recently been quite circumspect in ap-proving books for import under both the ELBS and Indo-Soviet programs. As a matter of policy. only those titlesare approved for which books of comparable standardare not available in India. At the same time, the gov-ernment has launched a scheme for subsidizing uni-versity books by Indian authors. The responsibility forimplementing this scheme was given to the NationalBook Trust. a public publishing organization. Subsidiescover 60 ilercelit of the cut of production. Both authorsand publishers receive their royalties and shares of sub-sidy in good time, and students are able to buy booksat low prizes.
This scheme has been commendable in its promotionof indigenous educational authors1-*p. particularly inspecialized areas, and has also provided a boost to the
145
publishing industry as a whole. To date, the NationalBook Trust has subsidized 700 titles, and publishershave produced 2.5 million copies of subsidized titles.Although originally intended to cover language-instruc-tion books in English only, the scheme has recentlybeen extendee to include books in Hindi, the mediumof instruction in many universities in the Hindi-speak-ing areas of the country. It is also proposed to publishbooks in other Indian languages.
Quite a few universities have set up their own unitsto publish academic monographs, research papers, andother scholarly works. Apart from this, the UniversityGrants Commission (a statutory body established to pro-vide financial assistance to universities qo as to ensuremaintenance of uniformly high standards) has deviseda scheme for encouraging college and university teach-ers to become authors by offering them fellowships toprepare manuscripts on approved subjects. Accordingly,a number of learned academicians has been working onbooks, especially books on highly specialized subjectswhich so far have been the preserve of authors fromdeveloped countries. The Indian Council of Social Sci-ence Resew ch and a few other institutions of higherlearning also have undertaken to finance selected pub-lication projects such as doctoral theses and other highlyspecialized works.
To promote the publication of university books invarious Indian languages, in the 1970s the governmentsanctioned a grant of 10 million rupees to each statefor the production of books in their respective regionallanguages. This was to have been a revolving fund: pro-ceeds from the sale of the books .. are supposed to havebeen utilized to publish more books in regional lan-guages. The scheme unfortunately has not achieved thedesired results. Many states, particularly in Hindi-speaking areas, have failed to create revolving funds,primarily because they have been unable to sell thebooks they have published. And students in certain stateshave complained that regional-language books in somesubjects are unavailable. The failure of some universitiesto ensure that Indian languages are the media of in-struction has no doubt adversely affected the sales ofthese books.
The publication and marketing of books in regionallanguages can be effectively tackled only by those whopossess the necessary expertise. Members of the workinggroup set up to draft a national book policy are reportedto have suggested that the government review the schemeto grant Rs10 million to each state and take remedialmeasures to ensure its success.
Private Publication
The financial support provided by government andgovernment-related agencies for the publication of uni-versity books has without doubt helped lessen depen-
The Indian Textbook Industry 135
dence on books of foreign origin. In the meantime,some enterprising publishers have taken up the chal-lenge and produces a large number of scholarly bookswhich not only compare favorably with imported booksbut also are more relevant to the requirements of Indianstudents. The publication of such books has increasedprogressively over the last few years, and today India isalmost self-sufficient as far as undergraduate and post-graduate books are concerned. Only in highly spe-cialized scientific and technical subjects are books offoreign origin still needed. Indeed, publication of uni-versity books has now reached a stage at which Indiais in a position to export them to some of the developingnations in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East,and Africa. In 1983-84, export sales of books were about150 million rupees, and scholarly books accounted fora good percentage of this amount. Indian books meetthe Ines of developing countries where English is themedium of instruction for higher education. In addi-tion, production standards of Indian books have im-proved substantially over the last few years, and pricescompare favorably with those of other countries.
Haw' Ips and the Future of Private Publishing
India now enjoys a secure place in the publishingworld despite many handicaps and constraints. As dis-cussed, the private publishing industry has been de-prived of a sound financial base by being denied theright to produce school textbooks. Because of phenom-enal increases in the price of paper, it has also beenfaced with an extremely difficult situation regal' ding rawmaterial. Publishing is not recognized as an industryin India, and banks do not allow credit for publishersbecause they do not consider books sufficient collateral.Far more serious than all these handicaps, however, isthe unhealthy competition that publishers face fromunscrupulous merchant importers who obtain obsoleteremaindered books from the West at throwaway pricesand sell them to libraries and other buyers at exorbitantprices. Under the government's Open General Licencepolicy, a large number of educational books can beimported by traders; but this policy is exploited forimporting books which have been remaindered in theircountries of origin.
On the more positive side, Indian publishers can lookforward to a reasonably bright future. The second mostpopulous country in the world has no option but tostep up the production of books, especially textbooks.There are firm indications that the challenges posed bythe new education policy in producing textbooks andsupplementary reading materials will have to be metjointly by public publishing agencies and private pub-lishers. The vast potential for disseminating Indian books,including schoolbooks and university books, to coun-
146
136 Narendra Kumar
tries of the developing world points in the same direc-tion.
The working group set up for formulating the na-tional book policy has strongly recommended to thegovernment that a Book Finance Corporation be estab-lished to provide credit facilities to publishers. Thisgroup has also supported measures to prevent the im-portation of obsolete books, and there is reason to hopethat these measures will be adopted.
Amendments to the Copyright Act
A number of educational books, both indigenous andimported, have been pirated by unscrupulous tradersboth in India and at notorious centers of piracy in neigh-boring countries. Recently, India enacted legislation tofight this menace: according to new provisions in theIndian Copyright Act, infringement of copyright hasbeen made a cognizable offense punishable with im-prisonment for not less than six months (and up tothree years) and with a fine (of not less than 50,000and up to 300,000 rupees).
Meanwhile, some publishing circles in the West haveexpressed concern over another amendment to the In-dian Copyright Act about the issue of compulsory li-censes for the reproduction or translation of foreignbooks. They fear that this amendment might harm theinterests of the original publishers, particularly text-book publishers, in their own countries. It should beemphasized, however, that compulsory licenses are sub-ject to so many restrictions that a publisher can resortto this practice only after it has given documentaryevidence that it has failed to secure the right of pub-lication or translation of a particular book despite allpossible efforts to arrive at a mutually negotiated agree-ment with the owner of the copyright. Further, bookspublished under compulsory license cannot be exportedand may be used only for educational or instructionalpurposes.
Finally, because India has become almost self-suffi-cient in the production of university textbooks and be-cause the procedure for acquiring the license is cum-bersome, there is little likelihood of Indian publishersapplying for, or the government allowing, many booksto be published under compulsory license. Indeed, nopublication of foreign origin has been licensed for re-production or translation for more than a year.
Value-Based Textbooks
Textbooks remain the most powerful medium for in-culcating basic principles and long-cherished values inthe young. They also help in achieving the long-termobjectives of education. Four decades ago, MahatmaGandhi, who enunciated the most revolutionary edu-cational principles, insisted that true education mustmake a child "mentally poised and morally excellent."
In a vast country like India where people practice somany different religions and speak so many differentlanguages, regional integration is at times under con-siderable strain because of divisive forces arising out ofcaste and religious beliefs. There is therefore an urgentneed to inculcate the value of national cohesion byapprizing young Indians of the dangers of communaland caste fragmentation and helping them to recognizethe need to strengthen the composite culture of India.This can best be done when books, especially textbooks,are made socially relevant, fostering in students a pridein their national heritage and a commitment to main-taining India's unity and integrity.
The government and people of India are fully con-scious of the need to restructure the educational cur-riculum and to create textbooks for students in schoolsand universities with a view to achieving the objectivesof unity and national pride. In the process, a wholenation will be led, to quote from an ancient Indianscripture, "fn. .1 darkness to light, from ignorance toknowledge."
147
11
Mexico's Free Textbook Program
Peter H. Neumann and Maureen A. Cunningham
More than twenty years ago, Mexico faced and overcamethe political, economic, and technical obstacles to alarge-scale national free textbook program. Similar ob-stacles are responsible today for the critical shortage ofappropriate textbooks in most developing countriesa shortage which delays the improvement of primaryand secondary education while it places additional bur-4-ns on generally underpaid, overworked, and under-.ducated teachers.
Mexico recognized that the use of textbooks raisesacademic standards and increases the efficiency of schoolsystems. Therefore it has given the development, pro-duction, and distribution of textbooks the same priorityin the education budget as teachers' salaries and schoolbuildings. No other factor has been as critical to thesuccess of Mexico's free textbook plan as the continuousprovision since 1959 by successive Mexican govern-ments of adequate annual funding for the NationalCommission for Free Textbooks.
Over the last twenty-five years, Mexico's free textbookprogram has created a sense of national unity in theminds of Mexican children and has reaffirmed the so-cioeconomic principles of the Mexican Revolution. Atthe same time, with government backing and support,the country has developed the most dynamic privatepublishing industry in Latin America. This chapter, whichis a condensed version of a much larger study (Neumannand Cunningham 1982), summarizes important lessonsfrom the Mexican experience about the developmentand publication of schoolbooks intended to support theteacher and instruct the child.
Investment in Education
Mexico's free textbooks for primary schools, as wellas the range of other educational materials producedand subsidized by the government, represent an im-
137
pressive achievement under any circumstances. In ourexperience, it is a unique accomplishment for a devel-oping country with limited resources. Nationalism andthe recognition of the urgent need for education (bothmajor forces in the Mexican Revolution) have providedthe organization, the talent, and the money for theseprograms. By 1981, every Mexican child ready to enroll(some 15 million children out of a population of closeto 70 million) found a place in primary school and wasgiven free textbooks in each subject.
The Mexican government views education as an in-vestment rather than as an expense and has liberallyinvested in education. In 1959, the Mexican governmentnationalized the publication of textbooks for primaryschools by establishing the National Commission forFree Textbooks (cm:rc). Succeeding governments havecontinued their strong support for the CNLIG The Sec-retariat of Public Education (sEP), with its hundreds ofthousands of teachers, is said to account for nearly halfof all government employees in the country. In 1959,almost 16 percent of the national budget was allocatedto education. In 1980, the total budget for educationwas approximately 160 billion pesos (Mp; $6.7 billion).The production and distribution of free primary schooltextbooks in 1980 accounted for about Mp700 million($29.2 million), or less than 0.5 percent cf the totalbudget for education. Together with all other books andperiodicals either published by or subsidized by the SEP,the government spends perhaps 1 percent of its edu-cation budget on educational materials. According tothe Mexican authorities, this is an insignificant ex-penditure in relation to the total investment in edu-cation, and yet it is one of the most essential. Thisendorsement by Mexico of the relation between aca-demic achievement and the availability of textbooks isbacked by results. It makes the study of the Mexicanexperience important to those responsible for educa-tional development in the developing world.
14F)
138 Peter H. Neumann and Maureen A. Cunningham
The nationalization of a part of the private publishingindustry in a democratic country does not go unchal-lenged. In Mexico it was opposed not only by the na-tional publishing industry but also by large segmentsof the general public. Nationalization of textbooks en-genders the suspicion (still noticeable in the popularpress twenty-five years later) that the government mayuse its monopoly to shape the views and attitudes ofyoung citizens in its own political image rather thanletting them discover their own opinions by readingdiverse materials. The remarkable stability of the Mex-ican political system (the ruling party of which has beenin uninterrupted power since 1929) no doubt has servedto blunt these concerns.
The nationalization of an important market segmentsuch as primary school textbooks could have done ir-reparable harm to the growth of Mexico's private pub-lishing industry. But succeeding Mexican governmentsshowed restraint by not extending nationalization be-yond textbooks for the six grades of primary school.They offered, in addition, support to private publishersthrough joint projects, through licenses to importpaperand equipment, and through export subsidies to theMexican book trade. Of most importance, the devel-opment throughout the country of a public library sys-tem which purchases books in large quantities fromcommercial publishers together with the rapid growthin enrollment in secondary schools and in universities(outcomes of Mexico's investment in education) haveprovided expanding markets for Mexico's flourishingbook industry.
General Principles
The Mexican experience offers valuable lessons to thoseconcerned with providing textbooks to the developingworld. It confirms general principles that govern text-book production and supply in both developing anddeveloped nations:
Textbooks deserve the same priority in the edu-cational budget as teachers and buildings. The useof textbooks raises academic standards and greatlyincreases the effectiveness of a school system.To secure an adequate supply of textbooks for schoolsrequires a long-term commitment by the govern-ment and adequate annual funding.
An adequate supply of textbcoks for primary andsecondary schoolswhether produced by privatepublishers, by a government agency, or by a com-bination of bothcan be financed by allocating asmall percentage (for example, 1-4 percent) of thetotal educational budget for this purpose.
The decision by the government as to whether tonationalize the publication and distribution of text-books or to promote the growth of a private pub-lishing industry should be made only after carefulstudy of all the alternatives.
The publication and distribution of effective text-books to schools on a regular basis is a long-termundertaking. It took Mexico's National Commis-sion eleven years to complete its initial programof textbooks for grades 1 to 6 of primary school.These textbooks, it was generally acknowledged,were not as good as others then available fromprivate publishers. Time and money could havebeen saved if expert advice had been sought by theMexican government in the planning stages of thefree textbook program.
A successful system for maintaining a supply oftextbooks for schools depends on a network of co-operating institutions and on public support. Sucha network includes state and local government au-thorities, the ministry of education, professionalorganizations, teachers' associations, publishers,and parents.
It is not common practice (outside of socialist gov-ernments) for a central government alone to fi-nance textbooks for primary and secondary schools.Far more common is a sharing of the expense bythe central government, state and local authorities,and parents. A careful study of such financial al-ternatives and the selection of what is locally fea-sible and appropriate may lead to the establishmentof a reasonable basis for long-term funding.
In addition to writing and editing skills, the pub-lication of textbooks includes the functions ofstructuring and designing content; testing the ef-fectiveness of the proposed content; producing andprinting the textbooks; promoting the textbooksto teachers; distributing them to schools; and pe-riodically revising them. In short, the publishingprocess requires skilled, permanent, professionalorganizations and considerable investment. This isso whether the task is undertaken by a nationaltextbook agency or private publishers.
The complexity of the publishing process demandsthat a national textbook agency either be able to attractskilled technicians (often from private industry) con-versant with all the aspects of publishing or be able totrain and to retain such staff by using outside assistance.These demands require an organization with a wagescale and salary structure different from that of the civilservice, which is a problem for governments. Mexicosolved the problem by creating a semiautonomous or-ganization, the CNLTG, and by providing it with its own
149
budget. If a similar approach is not possible for a gov-ernment, it is far better for it to assist private publisherswith the task of textbook production.
Wherever private publishers produce textbooks (andregardless of whether these textbooks are purchasedwith public or private funds), the process of selecting,purchasing, and distributing can be and should be reg-ulated by appropriate laws and regulations--models forwhich might be adapted from many nations around theworld. For example, Mexico regulates the approval andpricing of secondary school textbooks published pri-vately and purchased by parents
Printing is not publishing; the two she 'Id not beconfused. Mexico opted to establish a giant, well-equippedprinting plant run along commercial lines by the CNLTG.This plant 1 :nts the majority, but not all, of the freetextbooks. Such an arrangement allows the plant to runat full capacity, and the use of outside printers allowsit the flexibility to expand or contract its productionschedules according to changing annual demands. Anational printing plant, however, is not essential; andbecause of the investment and upkeep, it may not bedesirable where other options exist for printing text-books on an acceptable schedule and at a reasonableprice.
Criticisms
A major criticism of the Mexican free textbook pro-gram is that it offers the teacher no choice. Each schoolacross a culturally and economically diverse nation hasto use the same set of basic books in grades 1 through6. Ins_ blem is being overcome to some extent byencouraging schools to purchase, with their own funds,materials from private publishers. For instance, it is notunusual for more affluent schools in metropolitan areasto use commercial textbooks for enrichment or for ad-ditional practice. Furthermore, under the free textbookprogram, the Ministry of Education is beginning tosponsor different regional versions in, for example, ge-ography and local history.
Another criticism frequently leveled against nationaltextbook programs is that the books are written withoutsufficient testing and input by local teachers. Mexicantextbooks, critics have charged, are written by univer-sity professors and ministry authors insufficiently awareof the needs, and especially the limitations, of ruralteachers and students. Such criticisms were extremelywidespread in response to the first generation of text-books (published between 1960 and 1971), and onlyslightly less so in response to the second generation(published between 1972 and 1979). As a result of suchadverse reaction, free textbooks were riot used effec-
Mexico's Free Textbook Program 139
tively in the classroom and, in extreme instances, wereboycotted by teachers.
In preparation for the third generation of textbooks(beginning in the early 1980s), the editorial responsi-bility was transferred from the CNLTG to a newly formed,professionally staffed subdivision within the Ministry ofEducation. The new unit, v. ..ch combines responsibil-ity for curriculum development with the preparation oftextbook materials, has instituted extensive classroomtesting of new texts and of teachers' editions. In a radicaldeparture from common practice, the new texts inte-grate subject materials in grades 1 and 2.
Mexico's program of free textbooks for every child inthe six primary grades has had an extremely positiveeffect on primary education. The free textbooks en-courage good citizenship and a sense of national identityamong Mexico's children. Successive generations oftextbooks have improved as tools for teaching and aremore imaginative in color and design. Today, most ofthe books are in four colors and are handsomely illus-trated, even though they are printed on newsprint andare not designed to last much longer than a year. Ninety-three million textbooks were produced in 1982 alone.They are distributed through an ingenious system in-volving the national railroads, trucks, and eventuallymulesan impressive accomplishment in schedulingand organization.
The free textbook program has been a positive ex-perience for Mexico. In interviews with government of-ficials and with private publishers and in reports andarticles reflecting the views of educators and of parents,we found a strong consensus Cie free textbooks havebeen good for education and that they represent a proudnational accomplishment.
Bibliography
Constitution of the United Mexican States. As Amended. 1917.1964. (Text translated from ConstituciOn Politica de losEstados Unidos Mexicanos. Noma EdiciOn, 1959. Mexico,D.F.: Editorial PorrUa. Subsequent amendments to June22, 1963. from Diario Olicial.) Washington. D C.: PanAmerican Union.
Drake, Diana Mack. 1978. "Bilingual Education Programs forIndian Children in Mexico." Modern Language Journal 62(SeptemberOctober): 239-48.
Gill, Clark C. 1969. Education in a Changing Mexico. U.S.Depart.nent of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office ofEducation and Institute of International Studies. Super-intendent of Documents, Catalog No. FS5.214:14139.Washington. D.C.: U.S Government Printing Office.
Heyneman, Stephen P., Joseph P Farrell, and Manuel A. Se-pulveda-Stuardo. 1978. Textbu.4.5 and Achievement: WhatWe Know. World Bank Staff Working Paper 298. Washing-ton, D.C.
150
140 Peter H. Neumann and Maureen A. Cunningham
Holt Patricia. 1980. "Publishing in fkiexico: Its Time has Come."Publishers Weekly 217, no. 16 (April 25): 33-46.
Mabry. Donald J. 1973. Mexico's AcciOn Nacional: A CatholicAlternative to Revolution. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse Uni-versity Press.
Made in Mexico. 1981. Vol. 4, no. 1. Denver. Colo."Mexico: Molding More Practical K-6 Programs." 1969. ,Va-
tion's Schools 84, no. 2 i4ugust): 32.Neumann, Peter Ii. 1980. Publishing for Schools, Textbooks.
and the Less Developed Countries. World Bank Staff Work-ing Paper 3A. Washington, D.C.
Neumann, Peter H., and Maureen A. Cunningham. 1982. Mex-
ico's Free Textbooks: Nationalism and the Urgency to Ed-ucate. World Bank Staff Working Paper 541. W shington,D.C.
Niemeyer, E. V., Jr. 1974. R. lution at Queretaro: The Mex-ican Constitutional Convention of 196,9 -1917. Institute o.Latin American Studies, University of Texas. Austin: Uni-versity of Texas Press.
Solana, Fernando. 1980. El maestro y la calidad de la edu-cacion. Mexico, D.F.. Secretaria de Educacion Publica.
Wagner, Susan. 1975. "Nationalism arid a Passion for Edu-cation Govern Mexico's Attitude toward Publishing." Pub-lishers Weekly, August 18: 34.
12
The Philippines: A Textbook Case
Alfonso de Guzman II
The Philippines is now in its tenth year of providingtextbooks under a two-phase government project. Thefirst four-year phase was cofinanced by the governmentand the World Bank and saw the development ofseventy-five titles and the printing and distribution of27 million books. This first phase (1978-81) was char-acterized by remarkable activity in development andproduction. The succeeding phase (1982-83) was largelyone of improvisation. characterized by a slowing downof production and by institutional uncertainty.
The First Phase, 1978-81
The initial phase of the project was planned for fouryears but took five years to implement. A TextbookBoard Secretariat (ms) was organized with temporarystaff to increase the supply of textbooks in public ele-mentary and high schools and to establish the insti-tutional capacity of the government to supply textbooksto schools. Akiat Para Sa Lahat (Pilipino for "books forall") appears on the seal of the TBS and on the cover ofall project materials.
Objectives
The project set out to do the following:
Establish and .upport five centers for developingcurriculums and writing seventy-five textbooks andteachers' guides in science, mathematics, sodalstudies, Pilipino, and English for elementary andhigh schools.Expand the functions of the Textbook Board (theeducation ministry's body for approving textbooks)to include overall management of the scIrme forproviding textbooksfrom planning and writingthrough printing and distributing 27 million books
141
and from teacher training to testing and evalua-tion.Establish a network of 1 central and 107 provincialwarehouses for the continuous delivery of text-books to schools at the ratio of one textbook persubject area for every two students.Establish fourteen staff development centers at theregional level and designate thirty-four develop-ment high schools as the network for field-testingtextbooks and training about 250,000 teachers inthe use of the new books.
Accomplishments
By the end of the first phase in 1981, the project hadexceeded its targets. In textbook de "elopment, five cur-riculum centers were established as planned, and cur-riculum studies and research were begun in their re-spective subjects. Following a three-year developmentcycle for textbooks (one year for planning, research,and writing; a second for field-testing; and a third forrevision and printing), the curriculum centers (collab-orating with TBS editors and testing specialists) under-took the writing of manuscripts and full-year tryouts ofex; -rental editions in between twelve and f 4-, rep-
resentative schools. The centers also revised manu-scripts after the field-testing and approved the final pro-duction versions of the complete series in the five chosensubjects for he ten grades of basic education. In all,ninety-two textbooks and teachers' guides were devel-oped, seventeen more than planned.
Meanwhile, the TBS recruited 130 staff for the edi-torial, production, manufacturing, distribution, andtraining and evaluation divisions and for the necessaryfinance and administrative support units. Some 27,000metric tons of paper and cover stock were procured. Bythe end of 1981, 33 million books had been printed-
152
142 Alfonso de Guzman II
6 million copies over target and there was enoughpaper left for the next two years' production.
A central warehouse in Manila and 54 provincialwarehouses were built, and 98 others belonging to theMinistry of Edur ion, Culture, and Sports (MEcs) wererefurbished and equipped for textbook distribution. Tofacilitate communication with the central warehouse,the thirteen regional offices of education, as well as themore remote warehouses, were provided with radiotransceivers. Yearly, the project provided funds to theregional offices for textbook distribution. Through thisnetwork of 152 warehouses, 32 million books were dis-tributed to the school system, improving textbook-stdent ratios to one book per 2.3 primary students,one per 6.1 intermediate students, and one per 7.6 highschool students by 1981. The distribution performanceexceeded the original target by 5 million copies.
Teacher training in the effective use of textbooks wasplanned by the TBS in collaboration with the curriculumcenters and the bureaus of elementary and secondaryeducation; it was implemented at first through fifteenregional development centers and later through the of-fices of the regional directors of education. From 1977to 1982. nine training programs were conducted andthe number of trainees totaled 368,000 (including 50,000principals, supervisors, and higher-level administra-tors). This was 118,000 more trainees than had beenanticipated.
Impact studies were conducted on sixteen textbooktitles introduced by the project. Using standart: testsdeveloped for the purpose, the learning achievementsof students who used the new books and those who didnot were compared. Test results showed significant im-provements among textbook users.
Major Problems
Aside from the usual start-up difficulties experiencedby any new enterprise (recruitment delays, frequentchanges in just-formulated work procedures, inadequa-cies in office facilities and services), the project en-countered the following major problems during its firstimplementation phase:
Content and presentation in the new textbooks var-ied from the official prescribed curriculum.
Feedback from field tests came late ana yieldedlittle useful data for manuscript revision.
Manuscripts were submitted late; final, print-readypages were de!ayed, throwing off printing, distri-bution, and teacher-training schedules.
Paper imported in bulk was not managed effi-ciently resulting in costly warehousing, loss, anddamage; printing-contract awards were also de-layed, preventing the project from releasing paper
stocks to printers and worsening paper congestionat project warehouses.
The annual financial assistance to the regional of-fices arrived in the field late and frequently lapsed;without operating funds at the local level, textbookshipments to schools were delayed.
When textbook deliveries were late, teacher train-ing in some provinces sometimes took place with-out the new materials.
The Second Phase, 1982-85
In 1981, the government began implementing a ten-year program to improve elementary education. Theprogram was financed by the World Bank for the period1982 85.
Objectives
Beginning in January 1982, the objective of the text-book project would be to become the instructional ma-terials component of the new program, with the taskof developing a variety of products (textbooks, supple-ments, and learning materials such as science kits, film,and tape) to support the introduction of a new elemen-tary curriculum during the period 1983-88. At the sametime, using regular (nonloan) funds, the project wouldcontinue to resupply textbooks and teachers' guides topublic high schools. The combined elementary and highschool production of all types of printed materials wouldbe about 10-12 million copies annually.
To improve textbook distribution, the project wouldexpand its network by building twenty-six more pro-vincial warehouses. To improve overall management,operations would be computerized, and the TBS wouldbe transformed into the state corporation for textbooksand all other instructional materials.
Accomplishments
During the three-year period 1982-84, the textbookproject developed 41 new textbooks, teachers' guides,and workbooks; revised 48 other titles in its backlist;printed 30 million copies of various instructional ma-terials and distributed 29 million of them; and con-ducted two more rounds of training for 58,000 teachersand school administrators.'
Major Problems
Without its curriculum centers, which had been dis-banded in 1982, the project was forced to publish un-tested materials to support a new elementary curricu-lum hastily introduced in 1983. The project also
1 55
experienced delays in purchasing paper and printingservices. Security features were added to the paper spec-ifications to prevent the unauthorized use of this tax-i-- and highly marketable government property forother, nonproject materials. But suppliers could notinitially meet the new requirements. Changes were alsomade in the composition and procedures of the MECSbidding committee. There were delays while the newcommittee members and the printer-bidders familiar-ized themselves with the changes.
Instituticnalization
The pro.;ect's most serious problem was the legalstructure providing for a permanent textbook agency.By the end of the first phase, the project had the es-sential elements of an institutionalized textbook pro-vision scheme: a pool of trained curriculum researchersand writers, a professional publishing staff, and nationalnetworks for distribution, teacher training, and evalil-atign. What remained was the legal mechanism forperpetuating the institution. After three organiz 'itional-financial studies, persistent follow-up by project man-agers at government offices, and the encouragement ofa new but sympathetic education minister, on May 311985, the temporary project unit TBS became the gov-ernment's Instructional Materials Corporation.
Why Textbooks?
From the turn of the century, textbooks have beenpart of Philippine public education.2 U.S. books, how-ever inappropriately, were used until they were replacedby Filip'no-authored texts in English; the first series,Philippine Readers by Camilo Osias, appeared in 1918.Educational publishing by Philippine companies startedin the mid-1920s and flourished immediately after WorldWar II. In 1958, the textbook publishers formed a na-tionalist association "to meet the challenges of educa-tional book publishing . . . with books written by Fili-pinos for Filipinos and of the Filipinos." The use offoreign books continued, however, in some schools.
In the 1960s, with acceleration of economic activitya high priority, the government adopted educationalpolicies that encouraged the training of the middle andhigher levels of agricultural, industrial, and scientificmanpower immediately needed in production. But al-though basic education received less official attention(and funds), the production and purchase of locally writ-ten, locally produced textbooks continued under a proj-ect assisted by the U.S. Agency for International De-velopment (usAin).
The shift in 2olicy toward strengthening basic edu-cation in the mid-1970s was guided by the government's
The Phtlippmes: A Textbook Case 143
1970 survey, which noted the continuing deteriorationin the quality of education and uneven quality of ex-isting textbooks (Philippines 1970: 141-42):
There are no consistent standards followed for thewriting and review of textbooks and teaching mate-rials in the public and private schools . . . All text-books used in the elementary schools are locally pro-duced. However, the use of imported textbooks withnon---,digenous contents at the secondary level is stillprevalent. This . . . will continue as present capacitiesof local production of textbooks are inadequate.
Responding to these findings, the task force createdin 1972 to oversee the national reform program foundthat both the quality of education and the supply ,ftextbooks in public schools were critically low. The clamorfor textbooks was universal among teachers, principals,and supervisors.
The main intervention was thus identified. The de-ter:oration in educational quality would be arrestedat he root by reintroducing textbooks from grade1 up. The first step in that direction was taken in June1975 when, at the government's invitation, a Unescomission arrived in Manila to assist the education taskforce in the preparation of a loan-free textbook provisionscheme.
The Government as Publisher
The decision that the government assume the role ofeducational publisher was influenced by the environ-ment for private publishing in the mid-1970s. For onething, the early successes in public administration bya newly installed martial-law government increasedconfidence in the government's ability to undertake de-velopment projects, even those traditionally in the pri-vate sector. For another, the innovations in textbookdevelopment needed for large-scale production wereeither unknown or too costly for private publishers.
Environment for Private Publishing
The government diagnosed the twin problems of pc oreducational quality and the shortage of instructionalmaterials to be of such crisis proportions as to neces-sitate an immediate, massive, and systemwide solution.But the government was not confident that the privatesector could supply the instructional materials of theneeded quality and quantity.
Under the existing adoption policy, the Ministry ofEducation's board on textbooks would issue 1 call toprivate publishes for the supply of textbooks for certainsubjects and grades needed for a particular school year.The textbooks provided by these publishers were eval-
154
144 Alfonso de Guzman II
uated by curriculum specialists and other educators:the top-ranked title was adopted for use in all publicschools, the next-ranked recommended as a supp'e-mentary text. Multiple adoptions were not unusual,however, with uo to three titles from various publishersapproved as standard texts for a subject at a given gradelevel. The approved titles then were purchased in bulkand distributed by the government. The books wereloaned to students free of charge.
The consequences of this adedtion practice were oftendeleterious. For example, in one subject different text-books would be purchased from different publishers fordifferent grades. Thus students were not assured thattheir books next year wouli )me from the same seriesas their books in the currei, "ear. As a result, therewas neither continuity in the treatment of subject mat-ter from one grade to the next nor lateral linkages:.::rang subjects of the same grade; there was no pro-gres:ion in levels of difficulty, no coverage of relatedtopics, and no further development of concepts andskills taken up in the previous grades.
Compounding this situation was the fact that thebooks generally were of poor quality. The titles availablefrom private publishers in the mid-1970s were vintage1960sthey had been developed during the previoustextbook project. Text and pictures were at least tenyears old and no longer reflected up-to-date, basicknowledge about art and literature, politics, science andtechnology, or the more effective approaches to teach-ing these in either elementary or high school. As thebooks had never been tried in schools before they wereadopted, there existed little empirical evidence of theireffectiveness in the typical Philippi. .. classroom.
Although the printing industry had the capability toproduce sturdy textbooks, lack of quality control, scar-city of foreign exchange ',which prevented local com-panies from importing good paper, ink, thread, staplewire, and glue), and the government's protectionist pol-icies for the local manufacture of these materials allcontributed to a decline in the physical quality of thePhilippine-made book. For its part, the governmentmaintained flexible standards in accepting the booksbought from traditional suppliers.
Another problem was inefficient procurement. Be-cause of dwindling funds and ill-defined standards fortextbook adoption, the free-for-all competition amongapproximately twenty publishers for large governmentorders was intense and at times unfair. Amid rumorsof influence peddling, price fixing, and unlawful com-missions, the supply of textbooks to public schools be-came irregular and their quality and price suspect. (Thegovernment abolished the board on textbooks in 1974and suspended all book purchases. It established a newtextbook board in 1975.)
Available Public Resources
By contrast, at the start of the first phase of thetextbook project the government had at its disposal thekey resources for an immediate response to the textbookcrisis: copyright protection, manuscripts ready for pub-lication, and duty-free importation of paper.
Infringements on copyright would obviously be avertedif the government were to use materials originated byits own agencies. This was an important considerationbecause manuscript development could suffer delayswhile permission was being sought from copyright own-ers. Nevertheless, the textbook project adopted a policythat permission would be secured for the use of copy-righted materials in the new textbooks. The project staffwas in fact occasionally delayed in manuscript prepa-ration while locating copyright owners, waiting for theirwritten consent, or writing new material because theowners never replied, posed unacceptable conditions,or refused permission.
The reluctanceespecially among publishers in theinternational tradeto negotiate rights and permis-sions was not surprising in the light of Philippine re-printing laws enacted in 1973-74. These legalized thecommercial reproduction of any exorbitantly priced book(unilaterally determined at $3 at the time) even withoutthe original owners' consent. The Philippines was nota member of any copyright convention at the time.
Materials written by staff of the government, andtherefore legally unencumbered, were available asmanuscripts. At least three government institutions hadbeen developing instructiona: materials, some of whichhad already been I 44-tested before those institutionswere designated curriculum centers for the project.
For those materials (many in science and math), thefirst two yen., of writing and field-testing could be skipped,and production could begin soon after the launcliing ofthe project. This vould still conform to the three-yeartextbook development cycle prescribed in the originalproject design. By contrast, the estimated minimumtime needed by the private sector to provide new ma-terials was six years.
To integrate development activity, the governmentput the project under the supervision of the TextbooltBoard and assigned national appropriations traditirin-ally allotted to the purchase of textbooks to be the Phil-ippine counterpart to the World Bank loan. To facilitatethe development process, the goveinment ruled thatthe materials developed by the curriculum centers wouldautomatically be approved by the board.3
Paper for book printing is available in the Philippinesbut is generally priced higher than most other paperproducts. This is because printing papers are eitherimported or locally manufactured from imported soft-
-a-I I'.:
0 : )
wood pulp. (The country does not produce pulp becauseforest trees, although abundant, are unsuitable forpapermaking.) The government also protects the localpapermaking industry, levying high duties on importedpaper. In the mid-1970s, local prices for imported paperwere at least 50 percent higher than international prices.
Because paper was thought to comprise about 50percent of the unit production cost of the book, thegovernment saw substantial economic, in buying in-ternational-quality paper stocks at international prices.The government had the facility for such procurementbecause the educational development law of 1972 spe-cifically granted tax exemption on the government'simportation of materials and equipment needed for suchprograms. (This kept costs at acceptable levels, for in1981 paper was assessed to LA: 73 percent of unit pro-duction cost.)
Impact on the Private Sector
The government recognized the risks involved in vir-tually shutting the private sector out of production inthe textbook project but justified its action on the basisof its need to provide materials immediately and on itsbelief that only it was large enough to undertake asystematic change in the provision of books. It soughtto minimize those risks by engaging the private sectoras providers of many graphic supplies and services, in-cluding book design, paper, printing, binding, pack-aging, and distribution. (Recognizing the problems ofmanaging printing presses, which could distract fromthe main business of developing textbooks, the projectitself did no printing.)
Indeed, throughout the project, huge contracts wereawarded to many private firms. As many as twenty titlebwere in preparation at any given time, providing em-ployment for scores of artists and craftsmen as type wasset, illustrations were drawn, pictures researched andtaken, pages made up, and final film of entire booksdeveloped. Paper procurement averaged 5,000 metrictons yearly, and print orders ranged from 15,000 copiesof teaching materials for high school to 1.3 millioncopies of grade 1 textbooks, occupying dozens of print-ers for months on end. Distribution volume was 30million books a year, providing year-round business toland, sea, and airfreight forwarders.
Nonetheless, private publishers looked on the projectwith suspicion and hostility. Relegated to the role ofmere printers, they were deprived of the opportunityto sell textbooks developed by their respective houses.They protested the g,vemment's automatic approvalof its own manuscripts, a policy which they arguedplaced private dublishers in an uneven contest with a
The Plubppines: A Textbook Case 145
government that was both player and referee at thesame time.
The publishers also argued that, with the governmentproducing it own books and assigning funds for pro-duction rather than purchase, publishers would be lettwith only the small private-school market for their books.While acknowledging that the government's large-scaleprovision of textbooks ..4ould promote reading and sub-sequently create a large book market at no expense toprivate publishers, they said that the loss of the lucrativetextbook trade would deprive them of the margins neededfor investment in riskier trade books (literature, non-fiction). It was ironic, they felt, that the project's short-term gain of teaching the population to read would belost in the long run because a publishing industry soendangered by a government takeover could offer littleto the new readers.
The government sought ways of enlisting the partic-ipation of publishers in the textbook project. Becausebook purchases (which the publishers essentially de-manded) were not possible under current policies andWorld Bank loan obligations, the government exploredthe private sector's interest in reprinting and copubli-cation.
In response to queries by parents and private-schoolheads who wished to purchase project textbooks. in1977 the Textbook Board made available the rights forthe reprinting and commercial sale of these textbooks.Exclusive rights were granted after public bidding amongpublishers for the lowest selling price they would offerthe public. The board approved the price and requireda small royalty to be paid to the textbook project (whichshared the royalty with the curriculum centers). Al-though the response was generally good, many reprinteditions remained -isold, the publishers later com-plaining that bidding depressed prices unnaturally.Consequently, in 1982 the board waived bidding for-malities and simply required a fixed fee and its approvalof the selling price. The publishers realized much bettersales under the new arrangement, but by 1984 the sell-ing prices for the reprinted books had risen substan-tially. This defeated the project's desire to make avail-able commercial editions that were inexpensive because(except for the nominal reprinting fee) no developmentcost needed to be incorporated in the selling price ofthe book.
In 1980, the Textbook Board selected several pub-lishers' titles from its approved list and referred themfor production and distribution under the project. Forthe limited rights to a government edition of the se-lected books, the project paid royalties based on manu-facturing cost, because the loan-free, not-for-sale booksdid not have the list price used by publishers to deter-mine royalty fees. In addition, the project provided the
146 Alfonso de Guzman II
publishers with editorial and design advice and attachedno further rights to the books so that the publisherscould market identical editions commercially.
The board determined that the privately publishedbooks were appropriate for about 25 percent of the pub-lic schools, considering the teaching approach and thecoverage and level of diffilulty of subject matter. Thatmeant that 600,000 copies of upper-elementary socialstudies texts and 60,000-80,000 copies of high schoollanguage texts could be solda bonanza for an industryin which a publisher's typical inventory was about 5,000per title and anything surpassing 20,000 copies was abestseller.
The entry of private publishers' titles in what hadbeen a single-title system created serious problems forthe project, however. Questions regardil ,g continuityfrom one grade to the next, the shortcoming of thepreproject procurement system, were raised again. Twoseparate biddings for printing had to be held, one forthe project title, the other for the new entrant. Distri-bution plans had to be revised to ensure that the secondtitle reached the 25 percent of schools which the boarddetermined were the appropriate users. The work ofteacher-trainers effectively doubled with preparationsfor the orientation of teachers on the effective use ofone or the other book. But the most surprising feedbackcame from teachers themselves. In various teacher-train ing sessions held before the introduction of thenew texts, teachers and local education authorities for-mally protested the entry of a nongovernmental text,rating it inferior to the government's own and callingthe practice contrary to the project's purpose of equal-izing educational opportunity through a standardizededucational service. To placate the teachers, the boardruled that the government's title would be used as thestandard text in class and the private title at the teach-er's option.
The next attei.ipt to engage the private sector was in1982, at the start of the project's second phase. Newleaders of the MECS (assigned by the minister to overseethe education task force which supervisc I all foreign-assisted projects) abolished the curriculum centers asproject institutions. The ministry then called for manu-scripts from the private sector to support a new cur-riculum for grades 1 and 2 in 1983 and 1984 respec-tively.
The move was badly timed because, in 1982, the MECS
was not yet ready with the details of the new curriculum.The private publisners, already wary of government ini-tiatives in educational publishing, waited until the manu-script preparation guidelines were finally issuedbythen too late for any meaningful textbook development,despite several extensions in manuscript submissiondates. The Textbook Board, directed to evaluate thesubmissions, noted the poor quality of the materials
4.a
and demanded that they be field-tested in accordancewith policies guiding the textbook project. This threwthe availability of the new materials further out of phasewith the new curriculum. And the textbook project,under pressure to provide the new curriculum withmaterials, discarded its three-year development cycle,hastily revised titles from its backlist, pressed editorsto compile some student workbooks and teachers' guides,and then rushed to press with materials of undeter-mined quality.
The Future of Government Publishing
With the appointment of a new education ministerin 1984, the textbook project regained its cohesion andsome of its momentum. It was also expected to assumea greater role in policy formulation and managementcc the total educational materials subsector. To ratio-nalize its publishing schedules, the textbook projectnegotiated with private publishers to buy the rights totheir materials for grades 3 and 4 for publication in1985 and 1986 (when the new curriculum would beintroduced in those grades). The project also revivedits three curriculum centers and identified two more(the MECS national language institute and the practicalarts center of the state technological university) to en-sure that development proceeded under the regular,three-year cycle for materials for grades 5 and 6 for1987 and 1988.
To broaden its base of authors, in 1984 the projectbegan a national contest for textbook writing open toall classroom teachers. The contest offered cash awardsat local, regional, and national levels to the teacher-authors and to their sponsor- administrators. Althoughthe initial response was disappointing, more partici-pants entered the following year, giving the contestorganizers confidence and optimism for the future.
The project also embarked on the development ofother, nontextbook elementary-level materials financedby the World Bank. The first of a series on Philippineregional folk culture (customs, literature, music, artsand crafts) appeared in 1984 designed as curriculumenrichment material for teachers of social st, idies. Pro-duction work was under way in 1985 for a portfolio ofPhilippine paintings for school use, posters for home-room arts, and manuals for physical education. A two-volume children's encyclopedia (one volume in English,the other in Pilipino) and a 10,000entry high schooldictionary in Pilipino were being written and designed.
It is difficult to tell which course government textbook publishing will take in the immediate future. Theenergetic education minister, at whose initiative thetextbook project finally became a state corporation in1985, began many activities to develop instructional
1 5 7
materials for the public schools. In addition to orderingdiversification in the development of educational prod-ucts, he secured presidential authority requiring thatall purchases of instructional materials out of nationaland local funds be made only by the new state corpo-ration. This effectively made the corporation the gov-ernment's central procurement agency. which woulddeal with private suppliers for items not produced bythe corporation. The same authority exempted the cor-poration from import duties (mostly on paper) and pro-vided for hiring consultants, shortening procedures forhigher-level approval of the corporation's contracts, andregular government budgeting to provide instructionalmaterials beyond the World Bank loan. A noteworthyprovision was that the corporation should not ventureinto printing, recognizing the pitfalls of a governmentoffice printing plant and as a concession to private in-terests. Nevertheless, the provision allows governmentprinters to bid on the corporation's printing jobs.
The overall direction, therefore, has been toward muchgreater government involvement in the provision ofinstructional materials, with no change in private par-ticipation. Private publishers may well regard the cor-poration as taking over textbooks and all other instruc-tional materials. They may also see an opportunity toreturn to the days of persuasive lobbying of a singlegovernmental unitthe very corruption-prone pro-curement practice that compelled the government ofthe mid-1970s to overhaul the system in the first placc.The new government which took power in February1986 could, however, alter that direction, given its con-cern over the country's heavy international debt and itselection promise to revive economic activity throughthe revitalization of private initiative. Indeed, changehas begun: the education minister has been replaced.
Institutional Issues
In 1975, the Textbook Board was reestablished. Thechairman was appointed by the president of the Phil-ippines, as were four members: a science and mathe-matics educator, another educator representing thecountry's many cultural minorities, a famous artist, anda publisher representing the private sector. The direc-tors of elementary and secondary education were exofficio members. As an extension of the education min-ister's office, the textbook regulatory board set nationalpolicy and evaluated and approved textbooks submittedby publishers for use in the public school system.
The project was launched in July 1976 with the es-tablishment of the Textbook Board Secretariat (ms).Because the project was financed by a World Bank loan,the TBSwas initially attached to the education task forcean extension of the minister's office overseeing exter-
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 147
nally aided projects. The functions and authority of theTextbook Board were expanded in 1979. The board wasgiven authority to receive and disburse budgetary ap-propriations, enter into contracts and agreements, andappoint and discipline personnel. The TBS was then ad-ministratively transferred from the task force to theboard.
The board met regularly, and TBS managers werefrequently invited to the meetings as resource persons.As resignations reduced the membership over the yearsand no new appointments were made, the board even-tually functioned with only an acting chairman and twomembers. Staff support for the board was provided bythe TBS. As governing body for the TBS, the TextbookBoard reviewed all operating policies and budget pro-posals and approved annual plans and reports, contractawards, modifications, and extensions, and personnelappointments, promotions, and sanctions. All contractsand appointments were under the flan and signatureof the board.
TBS Organizational Structure
Headed by an executive director, the TBS had a staffof 130 in 1981, counting among them 67 professionalsorganized into five operating divisions and two (laterthree) support offices. The chiefs of divisions and officesconstitute(' the senior staff, which, headed by the deputydirector, met weekly with the executive director to setand review operating policies, procedures, and perfor-mance. The same body met annually as a planning com-mittee. Together with chiefs of sections, the committeeevaluated the previous year's performance, set the com-ing year's targets, and prepared detailed plans andschedules. Members of the senior staff also formedworking committees to handle various manager, lent tasksand staff services personnel screening, staff perfor-mance ratings, office purchases, technical assistance,and sports and cultural activities.
In late 1983, the TBS moved to its own site in QuezonCity, Metropolitan Manila. On a two-hectare lot leasedfrom the state university, a seven-building complex wasdesigned for TBS operations and built under the WorldBankfinanced project.
Formation of the Instructional Materials Corporation
During the years 1977-81, the TBS commissionedthree studies by private management consulting firmsand by the government's own audit commission to de-termine the appropriate legal and financial structurethat would make the textbook project a continuing gov-ernment activity. The first study identified the options:ministry bureau, commission, state foundation, or statecorporation. The second study prepared various finan-
15E
148 Alfonso de Guzman 11
cial scenarios and recommended the corporate formbecause a corporation would free the central govern-ment of the financial burden of supporting the textbookunit after the initial provision of capital; it would alsoenable the new unit to operate with the financial 'ilex-ibility required for textbook development. The third studydetailed the corporation's organization and functions,suggested mechanisms for transferring appropt rations,property, and personnel from the project to the cor-poration, and prepared the draft presidential executiveorder that would effect the change.
The executive order provided for the abolition of theTextbook Board and the creation in fts place of an in-structional materials council chaired by the educationminister. The council would regulate the introductionof textbooks as wei! as all other forms of learning ma-terials. The order also provided for the creation of thegovernment's proprietary corporation for instructionalmaterials, with a board of directors also chaired by theminister. The order was signed by the president in 1982but not released, presumably because the governmentwas not yet ready to commit funds for corporate equity.In late 1984, the order was finally issued. With the helpof the presidential commission on reorganization, en-abling memorandums were drafted, and administrativenegotiations were held with the Civil Service Comr..!s-sion and the budget ministry. In May 1985, a presiden-tial letter of instruction operationalized the Instruc-tional Materials Corporation (Ow).
Publication Planning
The education task force which prepared the textbookproject designed the three-year textbook developmentcycle with the aid of a PERT (program evaluation andreview technique) network diagram, an instrument fa-miliar to construction engineers. The diagram was thenredesigned, with its useful features intact (critical path,parallel activities, duration of activities), into a simpleGantt chart (essentially a bar graph across time) moreeasily understood by laypersons.
To show a textbook development cycle, the bar chartswere further simplified, with the main activities colorcoded so that an entire textbook series for one subjectarea could be displayed on a page. These handy graphswere used extensively in discussions within TBS man-agers, the Textbook Board, the curriculum centers, thetask force, the minister's office, and the budget au-thorities at the presidential palace. Changes in the chartfor a particular title needed the director's approval.
To derive a textbook availability schedule, the quan-tity needed of each book was recomputed with the helpof the statisticians at the distribution division. The en-rollmeat during the expected year of distribution was
taken as the basis for the new estimate. The numberswere tabulated on a large sheet by title and year ofprinting to make an eight-year schedule of textbookavailability. (The staff called it either the "blue sched-ule" because it was blueprinted or the "mattress" be-cause of its size.) It showed the printing targets by title,year, and type of book. It also showed the years whena title would need to be reprinted (the third year) andwhen its revised edition would be needed in the field(the seventh).
Although annual work plans were often modified be-cause of schedule slippages and newly emergent needs,the blue schedule was never altered. The staff used itas the fixed point of reference for reckoning adjustmentsto their many libsidiary plans and estimatespaperconsumption, bidding schedules, distribution alterna-tives, and cost projections.
Manuscript Origination and Preparation
Project Criteria
Plans prepared by the education task force deter-mined the scope of instructional materials developmentto be undertaken by the textbook project. Textbookswould be developed for the courses in science, math-ematics, social studies, Pilipino, and English which arerequired by the official curriculum for the six elemen-tary grades and four high school years of the basiceducational system.
Instead of having several texts of graduated readinglevels or having altogether different texts for the samesubject in one grade level, the concept of a single text-book aimed at the average student was preferred. Itsimplified the task of rushing books to a book-starvedsystem. It also democratized access to educational op-portunity: every Filipino student, wherever he or shelived or moved, would find the same text in any publicschool. But because the teaching of reading and gram-mar in the two languages required more material thanthe other subjects, the plan provided for double volumesin some grades (primer-and-reader set in grade 1 forPilipino, reading-and-language companion volumes forboth English and Pilipino in grades 3-6) The textswere the property of the school and loaned free to stu-dents. Because many classrooms used two-seater stu-dent desks, a single text per subject could be shared byseatmates.
Flaying textbooks per se was not new; by training andtradition, teachers expected them in class and knew howto use them. The educational innovation was that thetextbooks were systematically supported in the follow-ing ways:
The textbooks were planned in complete series,
15!
from grade I to fourth-year high school. Contentwas based on the curriculum and arranged ac-cording to a master scope-and-sequence chart.
Specialist teams (rather than individuals) wrote thetexts. Moreover, the teams were affiliated with es-tablished educational institutions, guaranteeingcontinuity in content and phased improvement ofthe same content over several editions.
Each text was accompanied by materials for theteacher in the form of a teachers' edition, manual,or guide.
The materials were tested in actual classroom con-ditions to ensure their appropriateness to all partsof the country before they were printed and dis-tributed. In other words, the users participated inthe development of the new materials.
Teachers were trained in the effective use of thenew materials.
The new materials were evaluated, and improvededitions were developed on the basis of the eval-uation.
The new books and teacher materials were attrac-tive and sturdy and were continually resuppliedthrcugh a national distribution network managedby a permanent publishing institution.
Language of Publication
Following the bilingual education policy adopted bythe Education Ministry in 1974, which prescribed Pi-lipino and English as the media of instruction, the newtextbooks in science and mathematics were in English;those for social studies, in Pilipino. (Spanish, the thirdofficial language of the Philippines, is optional in someprivate-school secondary curriculi rns and required intertiary-level degree courses.)
The Curriculum Centers
Five institutions were identified as curriculum cen-ters and given the responsibility for originating manu-scripts for publication by the textbook project. Thesecenters were not new creations. All were existing re-s'arch and development units, mostly of state univer-sities, and a few had participated in previous projectsof the ministry's task force.
The curriculum centers had among their ranks grad-uate-level educators and social scientists, many withteaching and publication experience. The centers alsocontracted writers and artists as well as classroom teachers
for specific projects. From these resources, the textbookwriting groups were formed. Within the three-year text-book development cycle, the curncllum centers wereresponsible for curriculum research and development,
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 149
manuscript planning and writing, field-testing, andmanuscript revision on the basis of the results of thetesting.
Of the five participating institutions, three were des-ignated to write manuscripts for the five academic sub-jects for which textbooks would be developed. The first,the science education center of the state university, hadbeen developing instructional materials in science andmathematics since 1965 and producing and distributingthem in limited quantities through the commercial booktrade. In 1973, the center came under the assistance ofa World Bankfinanced education project. A new build-ing was constructed for the center, and many of itscurriculum researchers and textbook writers were senton degree fellowships abroad. By 1975, its science andmathematics series for elementary and high schools hadbeen field-tested and were ready for revision and sub-sequent production
Also assisted by the Bank-financed project, the secondcenter was a unit of the ministry working in the subjectarea of social studies. By 1976, this group had writtenan elementary series and was ready to field-test its firstthree grades.
The third curriculum centerfor language stud-iesoperated out of the state normal college. Whenthe textbook project started in July 1976, this languagestudy center had already vritter. and field-tested itsmanuscripts for Pilipino grades 1 and 2 and had pre-pared manuscripts for English grades I and 2 for field-testing.
The two other institutions, one based at the statetechnological university, the other at a provincial stateuniversity, conducted research and developed pilot ma-terials in work education and agro-fisheries for highschool. Upon the completion of their work in 1979 and1981, these two centers were phased out because theirmaterials were not included for production under theproject.
Within the three-year textbook ievelopment cycle,the curriculum centers were responsible for curriculumresearch and development, manuscript planning andwriting, field-testing, and manuscript revision based onthe results of the testing. Planning and writing includedthe analysis of the curriculum to derive the conceptsand skills to be treated in the textbook and place themit' a logical order on a scope-and-sequence chart. Thechart guided the author teams in estimating the writtenmaterial each concept required and the interrelationsamong the concepts. On the basis of the chart. theoutline of the book was prepared and the units andlessons of the text were written accordingly.
Frequently, the author teams went to a classroomusually a laboratory class at a teacher-formation insti-tuteto "minitest" a draft lesson or exercise, and thenrevised it on the basis of first-hand observation. The
1600
150 Alfonso cl, Gu :man ll
planning and writing stages were scheduled to take onefull year.
For the field-testing, educators at the curriculumcenter identified a sample of forty schools representingthe country's cultural and linguistic regions and rural-urban settings. The curriculum centers prepared thetryout sites and oriented the teachers on the use of theexperimental materials. (The TBS contracted for theprinting of a limited edition and sent copies to thechosen sites.)
During the tryout period, author teams made periodicvisits to observe classes, interview teachers, parents,and pupils, and collect other dab. The information wasanalyzed and used in revising the manuscripts. Theentire field phase was designed for one year: the tenmonths of the academic year (JuneMarch) and twomonths thereafter for feedback and manuscript revi-sion.
With the use of the feedback, revisions were made.The revised version was reviewed by specialist consul-tants, who made further improvements. Then themanuscript was submitted to the managers of the cur-riculum centers for approval and transmission to theTBS. The curriculum centers also undertook educationalresearch on topics related to instructional materialsfor example, how to develop science materials on thebasis of community needs and resources; how learningdisabilities could be traced to language; and how toidentify concepts of nationhood for social stud' ,s les-sons.
Editorial Functions at the TBS
The TBS editorial division was responsible for the timelyacquisition of manuscripts from the curriculum centers(or occasionally from private publishers and individualwriters) and for their processing for publication. Allmanuscript work, including conferences with authors,was the responsibility of editors. For each subject, therewas at least one editor, usually a graduate-level edu-cation specialist with teaching and writing experience.The editors were assisted by copy editors (who per-formed the more technical tasks such as copyreading,marking copy for typesetting, and checking artwork andphotographs) and by editorial assistants (who re-searched illustrations, read proof, and coordinated themovement of materials in and out of the division). In1981, the division was headed by an editor-in-chief andhad a staff of eighteen in the editorial pool and the field-testing section. Editors helped the curriculum centerauthors with planning and writing, fieldwork, andmanuscript revision, reviewed the content of and editedthe manuscripts, and prepared final manuscripts forproduction.
The editorial division dealt directly with the curric-ulum centers. It received annual proposals from themdetailing the textbook titles to be developed during theyear, planned activities, and estimated costs. The divi-sion reviewed tilt proposals, set the standards of output(especially number of manuscript pages and percentageof illustrative material), and the submission dates foreach manuscript. These were discussed with the cur-riculum centers.
Upon reaching consensus regarding scope, schedul-ing, quality, and cost of the year's work, a memorandumof agreementthe legal basis of all transactions be-tween the TBS and each curriculum centerwas drafted.The memorandum contained all of those working de-tails and specified the amounts and timing of the fi-nancial assistance to the curriculum center from projectfunds.
Upon receipt of each manuscript from the curriculumcenter, it was reviewed by an editor, who consideredthe following:
Compliance v*.,tr the requirements of the curric-ulum
3 Soundness of the teaching approachConsistency in the scope and sequence of material
Suitability of the concepts, suggested activities, vo-cabulary, type size, and illustrations to the apti-tudes and interest of the target studentLength of the textadequacy of material for oneschool year
Relation of the text to the accompanying teachers'guide
Accuracy of information
Consistency in style and presentation.
After the tryout, the manuscript was reviewed in lightof the new revisions. The complete manuscript wascopyedited, typed in final form, and sent back to thecurriculum center for a last reading by the authors. TheTBS required written notice from the center that themanuscript was ready for production and that all per-missions for copyrighted material had been secureu.
The division was also responsible for seeing each booktitle through the entire production processfromtypesetting and proofreading through illustration, dum-mying, and assembly of camera-ready pages. Editorschecked and approved all materials sent to printers aswell as those sent by printers (blueprints, color proofs,and the like).
In a publisher's capacity, the editor was involved inalmost all publishing processes, from planning andscheduling through printing and teacher training. TheTBS recognized this key occupation by refining the jobdescription, making editors' salaries higher than thoseof all other staff, giving the editorial division priority
1 61
in hiring, and awarding the greatest number of staff-months of overseas fellowships under the project toeditors needing further training.
Problems in Textbook Development
In ten years of implementation, the project was con-fronted by many problems: textbooks were not matchedto the curriculum, manuscripts were poorly written,the tryout was unmanageable and its results useless,manuscripts were late, and reliable manuscript sourceswere lost. Measures taken to resolve these problems hadmixed results.
Textbooks Not Matched to Curriculum
Considering the MECS to be technically inadequate,the planners of the project assumed that curriculumdevelopment and textbook writing would all be done atthe curriculum centers independently of the ministry'sbureaucracy. Throughout the first phase (1976-81),therefore, the project and the curriculum units of theelementary and secondary education bureaus had littlecontact with one another. Just as the first project titleswere being released in 1977, the elementary educationbureau issued a list of learning comnetencies requiringstrict compliance by teachers. This made teachers re-luctant to use the new textbooks because they fearedthat the materials were not consistent with the com-petency list.
Further, in the rush to publish textbooks within tightproject deadlines, there was little coordination amongcurriculum centersor, for that matter, among writ-ing groups within the same center working on the samesubject but in different grades The result was incon-sistent emphasis on important concepts and skills inseveral subjects and grades.
Because they were developed without guidance bythe MECS curriculum authorities, the textbooks were infact not very well synchronized with the official curric-ulum, although the project ensured that most curric-ular objectives were covered by the new materials. Ittook three rounds of teacher training to convince thefield that the new materials met the minimum curric-ular requirements, although not always in the sequenceprescribed by the bureaus.
Effective and regular contact between TBS editors andthe MECS curriculum researchers was established onlytoward the close of the project's first phase in 1981. Atthat time, the first editions of 1977 and 1978 were beingreviewed for reprinting, and preparations were beingmade for the elementary program, which included anew curricu' Am and a follow-on textbook project. Mean-while, lateral linkages among subjects and coherent
The Philippines: 9 Textbook Case 151
scope-and-sequencing within a subject remained pend-ing issues.
Poorly Written Manuscripts
Among the review criteria, editors paid special atten-tion to reading level. Measuring readability and con-trolling vocabulary were easier in the better-preparedmanuscripts in English because the curriculum centerfor science and mathematics had had at least ten years'experience in research and publication. During the proj-ect. the center was also developing a standard, gradu-ated science vocabulary for Philippine schools. i-or themanuscripts in reading and language, the editors em-ployed the Frye and other readability formulas to de-termine levels of difficulty.
There was no comparable instrument for gauging thereading level of the manuscripts written in Pilipino.The social studies curriculum center coined new phrasesbecause it was the first time that Pilipino would be usedto teach that subject. The TBS had to rely on the cur-riculum training and teaching experience of its moresenior editors to resolve questions of reading and lan-guage about which there were few precedents and littleauthoritative research.
There was disagreement between the TBS and thecurriculum center for languages because nonstandardspelling derived from the center's linguistic researchwas used in the Pilipino manuscripts. (For example, theword for "coconut," traditionally spelled niyoq, was ren-dered nyoq.) The TBS objected to the new spelling be-cause it might confuse readers, especially in non-Tagalog-speaking provinces.' the Tiis also believed thattextbooks should contain established, not experim mita!,knowledge. Consulted on the question, the national lan-guage institute advised that while the center's researchwas valid, the traditional spelling shcuici be preferredbecause it was more commonly used. The TextbookBoard subsequently prescribed the traditional spellingfor textbooks, and the manuscripts were altered ac-cordingly.
A very evident failing of most manuscripts developedby the project was bad writing. Th, stories were dull,the situations forced and clumsily narrated. Illustrativeexamples given in the text often obscured rather thanclarified the concept being taught. The teacher's guidesread like a cookbook, with numbered step -by -step pro-cedures written in telegraphic prose or with a scriptprescribing in unnecessary detail the teacher's everymove in the classroom.
In salvage operations, editors rearranged and occa-sionally rewrote whole chapters to improve organiza-tion. When there was time, they also looked for otherstories with similar pedagogical objectives and contentto replace the uninspired ones in the manuscript, They
162
152 Alfonso de Guzman
pruned the text to tig' :en it, enlivened the page withbetter-conceived illus' ..ations, and included more "fun"activities. The edito s were concerned that the rigidadherence to curric' tar prescriptions shackled the writ-er's imagination; as a result, the textbook generallyfailed to stimulate the student into the joy of reading.Once, after scanning a manuscript, the executive di-rector (himself a science journalist and short-story writer)remarked that the project textbook WS as correct asthe telephone directoryand as interesting. The con-servative authors were not amused, however. They re-garded the late-coming editorial suggestions as un-known quantities that had not been field-tested or, atbest, as interesting but di racting and therefore un-necessary.
To improve the manuscripts, the TBS engaged as ed-itorial consultants some known writers of children'sliterature. But even they could do very little, rangedagainst the committees of curriculum center experts.Thus misperceptions about the role of writing for text-books persisted throughout the project period. Whenthe follow-on project was being planned, the TBS in-cluded the curriculum center writers among the recip-ient of training fellowships on textbook writing underthe project's technical assistance program. It was hopedthat over the longer term, exposure to good writing andgood writers would give the authors a more enlightenedperspective on their creative responsibilities.
Unmanageable Tryout with Useless Results
The original high schools that the project plan hadidentified to pilot test the newly written textbooks didnot actually play an active role. The curriculum centers(and later the ras) made their own arrangements withother schools for reasons of national representativeness,accessibility, and availability of experienced tryoutteachers and cooperative administrators. As stated inthe World Bank's eject Completion Report (hereafterpcR), however:
Concentration on determining achievement gains ofchildren using the experimental textbooks resultedin complicated instrument development for pre-posttesting and complex data analysis of achievement tests.Consequently, v?ry little useful data (were] gatheredon such formative aspects of the try-out as appro-priateness of reading level, adequacy of content forone full year, teachers' difficulties encountered in theuse of the books and their suggestions for improvingthe material. With the 40 classroom: randomly se-lected, visits to try-out sites proved very difficult, andfeedback data for the studies could not be gatheredand analyzed in time to help authors and editors withmanuscript revision.
By 1979, a field-testing section composed of a specialeducator and an educational researcher had been or-ganized at the TBS. With the help o a consulting expertin manuscript development, the tryout scheme wasmodified, with the MS taking active management of theprocess. The sample was reduced to a minimum of twelvemore easily accessible schools, without sacrificing rep-resentativeness of location or language. The tryout ob-jectives were redefined so that TBS editors could go tothe tryout sites frequently and gather feedback directlyfrom teachers who previously had preferred not to befrank with their comments lest they offend the visitingauthors. Questionnaires were simplified, and the teach-ers were given an extra copy of the book and instructedto write their marginal notes immediately after tedatir.:a lesson and to mail the tried-out pages using the self-addressed, stamped envelopes provided by the editors.These changes proved satisfactory in that lesson- andpage-specific reactions were quickly gathered, and thetryout and revision processes proceeded thereafter onmore predictable schedules.
Late Manuscripts
In spite of a rationalized field-testing process, manu-script revision still suffered serious delays. These weretraced to complicated procedures at the curriculumcenters for consultants' review and managers approvalof the textbook manuscripts. Further. after sending themanuscripts to the TBS, authors were reluctant to agreeto improvements suggested by editors, knowing thatnew alterations would mean another round of consul-tation and approvals, delaying the manuscripts evenmore.
The consequences of the delays were costly for theproject. The subsenuent production stage could not beplanned. The proct rement of printing services by publicbidding had to be rescheduled or forced to proceed onthe basis of the very tentative and often-changing spec-ifications of the unfinished textbook (number of finalpages was most problematic). Printers who won bidscould not schedule their machine runs for lack of cam-era-ready copy from the project.
Most serious, delivery to the preidentified teacher-training sites could not be assured. There had beentimes when the project had had to contract smaller- 'antities at higher cost and airfreight them to maket, .raining dates because the prime printer-contractormanufactured book pages in bulk and could not havecomplete copies. At other times, the project printedtraining copies from unfinished, error-laden camera copy.And sometimes teacher training proceeded with no booksat all.
The solution to the problem of delayed manuscriptslay in the reconceptualization of the three-year devel-
1 6 5
opment cycle. It was found that the cycle, designed forcalendar years. was out of phase with the school year,which began in rune. The effective time available, there-fore, was only two years and five mr Is: not enoughtime for one full year of writing, anot. year for field-testing, and a third year for everything else revision,production, printing, distribution, and teacher training.
The review of the development cycle also revealedthat, just as all "downstream" activitiesmanufactur-ing, distribution, teacher training, impact evaluationstarted in parallel (for example, preparation of biddingdocuments for textbook printing started even as pro-duction of camera-ready pages at the nis had barelybegun), it was also necessary that some "upstream"writing, field-testing, revision, and production be un-dertaken as parallel activities. Plans were thereforemodified. Curriculum centers were persuaded to agreeearly with the TBS about specifications (number of pages,F oportion of text to illustrative material, special graph-ics) and to submit parts of the manuscript at agreedpoints during the full-year v rating period. In so doing,editorial work would begin earlier and problems of con-tent and presentation be resolved as soon as they weidetected from the partial submissions. Similarly, manu-script revision would begin during (not after) tryout aseditors returned from field visits or as teachers in thefield mailed hack their comments. TBS production art-ists could also start their design studies from editors'sample manuscript pages. Consequently, the TBS adoptedthe operating policy of three full years of work on atextbook, with the availability of copies in school inJune of the fourth year.
Loss of Reliable Manuscript Sources
In 1982, the Education Ministry abolished its ownsocial studies center. The ministry also dissociated thetextbook project from the two remaining centers (forscience and mathematics, and for Pilipino and English)by ordering the TBS to halt the annual financial grantsfor curriculum research and manuscript development.
Although relations with some curriculum centers werereestablished in 1984 and some new ones were identi-fied, the two-year break wrought damage to networkbuilding. The carefully cultivated confidence of the co-operating institutions in the central unit's ability tosustain development work was difficult to regain. Inpractical terms, some curriculum centers that had dis-charged their textbook specialists after the shutdowncould not restart with raw recruits. Overall, institu-tional experience and memory had gone.5
With the TBS transferred into the cost-conscious cor-porate life as imc, its relation with the curriculum cen-ters would likely emphasize more business and less de-velopment. The luxury of subsidized curriculum research
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 153
and development not directly imputable to the cost (andprice) of the textbook would give way to contractualdeals strictly for manuscript writing services. And theDu: preoccupied with findinq meaningful participa-tion by the private sc. :torcould well relegate the cur-riculum ,:enters to the residual functions of providingtechnical consulting to managers or training writers ofthe publishing i,ouses.
Production of Books
In 1981 the production division was headed by a pro-duction chief (who was concurrently MS deputy direc-tor) and had a staff of eight graphic designers, artists,and photocomposition operators. Originally, the divi-sion had a copy section where production editors re-ceived the pproved manuscript from the editorial di-vision and took charge of all production-related editorialtasks: copyreading, marking up for typesetting, proof-reading, and checking of all final pages and artwork.The arrangement caused conflicts with editors for thevarious subjects and led to confusion about authorityand responsibility for projects. To maximize the subjecteditor's control over the manuscript and the book, thecopy section was transferred to the editorial division in1982.
The production division prepared the completeschedule for textbook projects; established criteria fordetermining the appropriate size of type, length of lines,book formats, color, illustration style and complexityof renderirg, and other specifications of textbooks; de-signed all textbooks; and by assembling type and art,transformed the approved textbook manuscript into fi-nal book pages ready for printing.
Graphic Standards
Graphic standards were set in consultation with MECSreading specialists and benefitea from experience gainedduring field-testing. Specialists at the manufacturingdivision were also consulted, especially on standards ofprinting quality.
For typography, serif typefaces, such as the CenturySchoolbook and Times Roman used in many U.S. read-ers, were chosen over sans serif varieties. Serif faceswere generally recommended in the literature on leg-ibility. Type sizes were matched to the reading level ofchildren. Text for grades 1 and 2 (ages 7-8 years) wasset in 18-point type (one-quarter inch high). Becausestudents learning to read were taught to scan mean-ingful units, text on a page was arranged in naturalthought groupings. Words were never hyphenated, linesdid not exceed 30 picas in length (about 5 inches), andparagraphs were always indented but not justified.
164
154 Alfonso de Guzman II
For grades 3 and 4 (ages 9-10), at which childrennormally would be reading confidently, slightly smaller14-point type was used. Because spelling and dictionaryskills were introduced in those grad 1, the book designallowed for end-of-line word breaks and justified textblocks. For the intermediate grades, 5 and 6 (ages 11-12), and f-r the first two years of high school (ages 1314), 12-point type was prescribed. For the final two yearsof high school (ages 15-16), adult-size 10-point typewas chosen, and in some books the type was arrangedin doub!e columns like that in some colleg. textbooks.
Criteria for the quality of illustrations and photo-graphs were evolved over time, as book designers dis-till. -I editors' criticisms and feedback from field-testingand teacher training. On the whole, simple line draw-ings in cartoon or naturalistic style were found appro-priate for the lower grades; more complex compositionsand photographs were used from the middle gradesonward. This art policy conformed with the findingsreported in the literature on legibility.
The illustrations were unmistakably Filipino (the ex-ecutive director sent back to the drawing board any artshowing children's hair other than black), realistic butreflective of cultural sensib;;:ties (mother was alwaysrespectable, the elderly were always respected), andwhenever possible avoided stereotyping (for example,girls also played physically strenuous sports).
The appropriate mix of illustrative and text matterdiffered according to the needs of the subject area andthe grade level of the textbook. No prior prescriptionswere adopted. Instead, workable criten,A evolved duringlong planning discussions between editors and graphicdesigners as the former explained in detail the educa-tional requirements of each textbook page and the latterreviewed every title from the standpoints of aestheticsand printing limitations.
After years of experience, it became evident that text-books for the lower grades needed more and biggerillustrations than those for the upper grades. Scienceand mathematics books required more illustrations thanthose for other subjects, with more stringent specifi-cations and more detail than those for the "freer" sub-jects of language art. Photographs were effective andvrry necessary for textbooks in science and social stud-ies. A rule-of-thumb Proportion of art to text was adoptedat the TBS (a range of 60-40 percent for elementarygrades 1 and 2 t' -ough 20-80 percent for third andfourth years of high sci,00l) and was generally followedthroughout.
With operational notions of text, illustration, and theirmix, the production division was able to help editorsset benchmarks for book length. Th" editors set 150school days as the basis for textbook use in an academicyear. This number was derived by subtracting from theprescribed 200-day calendar an estimated number of
days lost to organization of classes at the beginning ofthe year, to local holidays and bad weather, and to year-end familiarizing of children with their classroom andteacher for the coming school year. The editors thenprepared estimates of the material needed for the netnumber of days. Book designers translated the estimateinto pages, considering type size, percentage of illus-trative material, and format (the dimensions of the book).
An ascending scale of page numbers was eventuallyderived, with the lower grades having the least numberof pages. The increasing quantity of matter by gradewas matched not only by an equivalent increase in thenumber of pages but also by a decrease in type size,making it possible to fit more text in fewer pages. In-cremmts were set by signature (that is, groups of six-teen pages) for economical use of paper and efficientprinting.
The production division was conservative with regardto the use of color. Because of the relative inexperienceof its staff, the first project textbooks were designedwith straightforward text and simple line illustrationsin one color (black' after about a year's experience, thefirst high school science textbook was designed in twocolors. This became the tacit norm until full-color cov-ers were introduced around the end of the project's firstphase in 1981.
Responding to teachers' frequent suggestions thattextbooks for lower grades should have more color tosustain children's attention, the reprint editions of thegrade 1 texts in 1983 were done in two colors. In thesame year, four-color experimental workbooks formathematics and writing were pilot tested in a fewschools.
Editors who observed tryout classes saw that childrenrushed through the exercises, took out their crayons,and colored the page. Seeing the opportunity to rein-force psychomotor skills, the tryout teachers suggestedthat some pages be left in black and white. The msredesigned the workbook for two-color printing, givingit the added use as a coloring book.
Work Flow
Production activities typically started with an edito-rial request for production services. Together with therequest was a general description of the book to beproduced, a copy of the manuscript (if the completemanuscript was not yet ready, representative pagesshowing all the required elements of the book wereprovided), and an art list specifying the essential detailsof each piece of illustration o- photograph.
Planning. A planning mating was held by editors,graphic designers, and manufacturing specialists. Thecontent and preliminary specifications of the book were
discussed, and a production schedule was drawn up.The schedule was reviewed by the chiefs of the threedivisions and approved by higher managers. The firstapproxim n cc the number of pages as well as othermanufacturing details (including the date of availabilityof the finished pages) was given to the manufacturingdivision (which. as a parallel activity, would start thecycle of bidding for printing).
Design. The graphic designer analyzed the require-ments of the book on the basis of the information sup-plied by the editorial planning meeting. 1 te or she se-lected the typeface and type size appropriate to the ageand reading level of the prospective textbook users andthe special typographical features suggested by the ed-itor, the book format that would accommodate thoseneeds, the illustration style, and the number of colorswarranted by the material.
Next, the graphic designer cast off the manuscriptthat is, estimated the number of printed pages. A com-position order giving all typesetting specifications wasthen dray. up. Under the designer's direction, graphicartists executci the book design in sample pages, whichwere from four to eight representative pages of theprospective book showing all its required elementstext and headings, style and quality of illustrations, spe-cial features such as charts, chapter dividers, and ap-pendixes, and cover design studies.
A production meeting was subsequently called to con-sider the sample pees, discuss improvements, and re-fine the production schedule. During this meeting, thegraphic designer explained the typesetting specifica-tions so that the editor could mark the manuscript fortypesetting. The agreed-upon design of the book antischedule were submitted to higher managers for ap-proval. (In parallel, the manufacturing division issuedbid bulletins to prospective printing contractors.)
Typesetting and Illustration. Production proper thenbegan. The marked manuscript went to the photocom-position unit for keyboarding on its computer-assistedtypesetting machine. The output on resin-coated galleyswas photocopied in three sets: one for the editor forproofreading and two foi the graphic artist for dummy-ing. At about the same time, the free-lance artists andphotographers were called in and briefed on the illus-tration and picture requirements of the book, and onthe due dates for the contracted art services. The artistsusually were required to prepare and show pencil sketchesbefore executing final illustrations. They sometimes werealso asked to do final inking or corrective adjustmentsand retouching at the TBS under the supervision of thegraphic artist concerned.
The varying art requirements for the many textbooksbeing developed made the TBS adopt the operating policy
The Philipptnes A Textbook Case 155
that no illustrators would be hired. Instead, the pro-duction division maintained a file on free-lance artistsand photographers for piecework contracting on de-mand. This enabled the division to avail itself of themany styles the artists offered: thoroughly researchedtechnical diagrams for science, precise isometric draw-ings for mathematics, representational pen-and-inksketches with local flavor for social studies, and freelyexecuted cartoons and watercolor or paper-sckitedcompositions for literature and poetry.
Photograph: specific to a topic being treated in thetext were particularly difficult to find. Photographerscontracted to do location shooting for that purpose fre-quently returned with near-miss pictures. For a sciencelesson on dams, for example, one imaginative i tog-rapher turned in an impressive shot of a huge hydro-electric installation showing a massive dam with spill-ways. The editor liked the dam but said the spillwayswere a distraction because the lesson was about dams,not water movement. To solve the problem, an artistwas hired to redraw the dam without the waterways.
Editorial and production assistants were sent out tomuseums and libraries, newspaper photograph morguesand advertising studios, and government, diplomatic,and international agencies to find photographs for thetextbooks. At the office, correspondence on rights andpermissions mounted as foreign publishers were askedto release pictures for TBS use. With pictures accu-mulating, a photograph file was organized at the divi-sion. But cataloging was rarely kept up-to-date, and thewhereabouts of numerous prints and negatives wereimpossible to track because they were passed on toprinters together with camera-ready pages. The file waseventually turned over to the TBS library.
Dummying. With one copy of the galley proofs andphotocopies of illust-Ation sketches, the graphic de-signer prepared a complete dummy of the book follow-ing the design agreed upon during the earlier planningand production meetings. The dummy showed all textand spaces for illustrative materialsand also emptyspaces where text at present would not fit because ofintervening headings or illustrations, pages where textneeded to be cut to cave space (as when the last fourlines of a chapter wastefully occupied one full page),and other pages where the editor's requested matchupof text and art simply was not possible. Working meet-ings between the graphic designer and the editor werecalled to resolve all the problems szen in the dummy.
The dummy served two important purposes. First, itindicated whether or not the original production sched-ule could be kept, considering the amount of correctivework now evident; thi., was especially important to themanufacturing division, which needed a firm date forcompletion of reproduction proofs to set up schedules
161
156 Alfonso de Guzman 11
with printers. Second, it "closed the book"that is,the final number of pages could be determined fromthe dummy.
The dummy was corrected or revised and submittedto the chiefs of the editorial and production divisionsfor approval. Subsequently, the editor-in-chief con-firmed to the manufacturing chief all specifications andthe date reproduction proofs would be available. There-after, no alteration in the number of pages was allowed.
Mochanicals. Then cam:, the final production stage:preparation of mechanicals. The original typeset galleys,now with proofreading corrections inserted, were as-sembled into two-page spreads with each text blockprecisely in place and with spaces for the illustrationsfilled with copies to show their filial positioning. Theoriginal illustrations, usually drawn proportionately largerthan the needed sizes, were now marked for photo-graphic reduction and keyed to the pages. Together withthe mechanical of the book cover and the box graphics,the mechanicals of the text pages and the artwork con-stituted the materials from which reproduction proofs(repros) and then printing plates would be made by thegraphic-arts camera.
The repros were reviewed by the editor, designer, anda manufacturing quality-control specialist. The editor-in-chief reviewed and approved them for content, theproduction chief for design, and the manufacturing chieffor printability. They then were released to the printerupon zlearance from the deputy director.
For a straightforward teachers' manual, the entireproduction process took about three months. But for acomplex high school physics or trigonometry textbookwith a two-color text, full-color coy r, many photo-graphs, diagrams, and mathematical formulas, produc-tion from planning meeting to repros took rune months.
Prr ' "oms
The TBS had international technical assistance almostfrom the outset of the textbook project in 1977. Amongthe foreign consultants contracted to help set up thenew organization were a publishing manager, two text-book editors, a paper buyer, and a graphic designer.The designer, assigned to the production division, de-veloped many of the forms and procedures for workingwith editors. book designing, typesetting, doing illus-trations and photography, dummying, and making me-chanicals. The production staff were trained to becomebook designers: to conceptualize the visual plan of thebook, determine all specificaticns, estimate with con-fidence the book's physical dimensions so that bids formanufacturing might proceed, and prepare the bookdummy.
No other services (or their attendant equipment) wereconsidered necessary in-house. With a detailed com-position order, typesetting could be bought: a completeart list was all that free-lancers needed to supply theappropriate idustrations and photographs: and a com-plete dummy would guide a piecework artist in makingthe mechanicais.
Trained TBS artists became L., co.mtry's first tech-nically oriented book designers. Some eventually movedto the private sector and influenced book design there.Others stayed on and trained the newly hired, increasingthe local pool of new Philippine graphic artists. Withtrained designers, specifications and estimates of booklength (the information needed to begin the long pro-cess of public bidding for textbook manufacturing) we-emade available early. It was not necessary to wait untilthe repros were ready to know how many pages a text-book would be in print.
The model for the production processwhich es-sentially followed what was done in the United States- -was clean and simple, but not all its elements workedwell in Manila. For example, the detailed specificationsfor typesetting, written on a separate newly designedcomposition order, were unintelligible to Filipino type-setters unfamiliar with the latest U.S. typographic jar-gon. TBS designers had to accompany the manuscripteach time a new typesetting firm was hired in order toconduct a seminar on interpreting the specifications.Later, some designers reverted to the Filipino practiceof writing the type instructions in the margin of themanuscript.
Furthermore, the typesetters on contract were notvery efficient. Project titles lay pending for weeks onend because the typesetters followed no schedules orwould find no time to insert what to them were trou-blesome one-line corrections needed by the TBS. Tosolve this problem, the TBS reverted to its earlier planof purchasing a small photocomposition system. Whenthis was finally installed in 1980, typesetting outputsand quality became more predictable.
Purchasing art proved difficult as well. Governmentauditing rules required canvass bidding for the service,a rigid, quantitative measure hardly applicable to talent.Artists. for their part, were bewildered by the procedureand by the documentation they had to submit so thatthey could be paid. Worse, when artistic temperamentand a glacial sense of time resulted in long delays, theartists' payment claims were questioned by the auditor,citing technical violations.
No satisfactory solution was found for buying art.The TBS continued to contract by canvass bidding be-cause it needed a variety of styles for its many booksand because there was no other legal way of securingthe service. But it suffered from the delays. The problem
.1 f-"l $
was reduced somewhat by inviting the illustrators encontract to do their work at the TBS offices. In thismanner, some control over their schedule was possible.
The operating policy of not maintaining a staff ofartists was reviewed. It was decided that although hiringartists as regular staff could not ensure that all artrequirements in all the styles would be satisfied, at leastthe TBS would have more control over finishing a book
n time. In 1982, the TBS started hiring illustrators inaddition to graphic designers.
Conflicts also arose when editors felt that the graphicdesigners' formalistic page layouts missed a book's ed-ucational content and objective. For example, it is sounddesign to anchor pictures to the corners of the page orjuxtapose them on a page facing the text; conversely,to present a lesson clearly the picture should be placedright below its text reference. The production divisionfound the solution to be somewhere in between. Theeditors were taught the principles of layout and thetechnique. of dummying. Following a design preparedby a graphic designer, editors dummied their own booksto ensure th it the educational concerns were met andthen passed the dummy on to the designer for `-lnhicimprovements. In summary, efficiency in the produc-tion division was achieved not by the wholesale adoptionof a system but by local adaptations of production con-cepts.
Like the writing, field-testing, and editing that pre-ceded it, the process of production depended heavily onhuman initiative and judgment. But beyond the intel-lectual work, production had the burden of providingcareful, personal craftsmanship which could not be rushedor shortened by mechanizing or merely adding moreworking hands; for the process required the concen-tration of an operator methodically executing a complexstring of keyboard commands to set algebraic formulasin type, the delicate touch of a pen-and-ink illustratorcrosshatching shadows on the rendering of an exquisitenative basket, and the cutting knife of a Japhic artistpositioning with cross-hair registers a block of text pre-cisely on a page. At the end of those labors was onlyone product: repros of the book, invested with whateverartistic imagination and taste it had been possible tocapture under the pressure of tinie.
Manufacturing of Books
All responsibilities for procuring paper, printing, andbinding were carried out by the manufacturing division.Headed by a chief, the division in 1981 consisted of astaff of thirteen organized in two sections: procurementand ouality control (which operated a fully equippedpaper-testing laboratory). When the TBS moved into its
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 157
own office and warehouse complex in 1983, a smallprinting section was organized and attached to the di-vision.b At the outset of the project, the first task of thedivision was to establish all the physical criteria forpaper, printing, binding, and packaging. Execution ofthis task was guided by Textbook Board policies andWorld Bank loan conditions.
The board set a legal minimum life of six years fortextbooks. This was considered a reasonable period forstandard knowledge to be in use before it was rendered..bselete by new information or new curricular require-ments. It also assured parents who bought books (mostlyfor use in private schools) that the books could be usedby several of their :.tlildrer. With regard to the textbookproject, the board ruled that the books would be schoolproperty, loaned free to students, used in the classroom,and returned at the end of the academic year so thatthey could be issued to the next batch of students. Thetextbook project adhered to those policies. The firsttextbooks were planned for a useful life of at least threeyears, with the possibility of one reprinting to extendtheir life for another three years before revised or totallynew editions replaced them.
World Bank loan conditions provided that paper bebought through international competitive bidding andprinting through local procurement, with foreign bid-ders allowed to participate. These conditions reflectedthe Banl-'s appraisal of the country's inability to producebook paper at reasonable cost and the local printingindustry's competence and capacity to manufacture books.
Paper Specifications
Determining the qualities and grade of paper bestsuited to the purposes of the textbook project involvedhighly technical analyses. With the ,sistance of an in-ternational expert, a set of specific ions was identifiedthat took account of the following:
The paper had to have sufficient tensile strengthfor roll-fed web offset printing. This high-speedvolume printing process was appropriate becauseof the enormous quantities of books to be printedover a short time.The paper's basis weight and bulk, folding endur-ance, and tear resistance had to be such that bookpages would have body enough for convenientturning by children's clumsy hands. Further, thepaper had to be able to withstand normal use bysix children because it would be shared by twopupils per year for at least three years.The paper had t be opaque enough so that chil-dren just learning to read would not be distractedby images showing through from the other side of
158 Alfonso de Guzman 11
the piece of paper. M the same time, the paper hadto be bright enough to provide the sharpest pos-sible contrast to the inked image on the page. Thiswas important because the new books were likelyto be read in unlit classrooms in a rainy, ruralcountry.
Other considerations included such technical detailsas the paper's acid content (set at a level that wouldminimize its yellowing during the long exposure of thebooks to sunlight in provincial warehouses), porosity,and soon. In the final analysis, the optimal combinationof three principal specifications seemed to be a basisweight of 66 gsm (grams per square meter), opacity of90 percent, and brightness ranging from 72 to 76 per-cent. That described a paper grade of the groundwoodvariety with some long-fiber chemical pulp. The projectcalled the paper EDPITAF TEXT.
The books were to be soft-covered because cloth orhard bindings would unnecessarily outlast the pre-.cribed useful and legal life of the book, would cost atleast ten times more, and would take too long to pro-duce on the aging case binderies operating in the coun-try. Cover-stock specifications were analyzed with em-phasis on folding endurance and surface treatment. Theformer was a measure of sturdiness, especially neededfor the spine, where paperbacks were weakest; the latterwould resist moisture, thus protecting the book andenhancing color printing. The desired cover specifica-tions were for a solid board of 240 gsm, bleached whiteand coated on one side. The specifications for paper andcover stock were submitted to the bureau of standardsof the Trade and Industry Ministry, which subsequentlyincluded them among the standards of the Philippineprinting and publishing industry.
With those standards in hand, a TBS manufacturingteam went to the paper mills of the world, pre qualifyingsixteen of them that produced the grade on a regularbasis. The idea was to ensure that the stock was a stan-dard production run in several mills in various regions.In that way, the project would be confident of supplyand not entrapped into accepting artificially increasedprices when, occasionally, there were production short-ages of that paper grade or shipping problems in oneor another part of the globe.
Printing Standards
To survey the printing capacity of the industry, pre-qualification documents were developed and circulatedin the country and overseas, he !atter through consularoffices in Manila. The prequalification forrils inquiredinto th history of printing establishments, their mostrecent volume contr, -4s, equipment, credit standing,
and financial condition. A manufacturing team in-spected printing establishments in the Philippines, pre-qualifying sixty-four of them. Philippine consular offi-cials were asked to inspect overseas applicants, of whomthirty-five were prequalified.
The prospective printers were categorized accordingto their ability to print in bulk over a fixed period. Thehighest category included printers with high-speed, roll-teci web offset presses and mechanized binderies capable
of producing 1 million books in four months (the periodalotted in the project's network diagram). In the lowestcategory were printers with sheet-fed presses and slowerbinderies capable of producing only 50,000 books overthe same period. Under the project's bidding rules, anyprequ zlified printer, regardless of category, could jointhe bidding, as long as the offer did not exceed thatprinter': rated capacity. As a safety margin, ratings forprinting under the project were set at 50 percent ofactual plant capacity.
The survey showed that the better-equipped printersin the country operated commercial-size web offsetpresses which turned out printed sheets of 23 by 36
inches. With that, books could be made in a large formatof 8 by 11 inches or a small format of 5 by 8 inches.Because the same presses could also turn out a medium-sizo sheet of 21 by 30 inches, a medium-size format of7 by 10 inches was also adopted. Beginning in 1982,
the TBS adopted the medium-size format as the standardfor all project textbooks and teachers' guides and thelarge format for teachers' editions. This standardizationwas needed because of the increasing price of paper inthe world market and the desire to increase efficiencyin the handling of paper and books at the central ware-house.
A review of the books produced thus far revealed thatmost book designs did not require the large formatand could be accommodated within the medium-sizeone without sacrificing size of illustrations or type. Fur-ther, the medium-size book required paper rolls only29 inches wide, which were far more economical thanthe 34-inch rolls needed for the large book. A uniformbook size could also make for uniform roll sizes andbook cartons, facilitating stacking and movements atthe warehouse.
Monitors sent to the field to investigate the physicalconditions of textbooks came back with samples of thelarge - format books which were unus tally dog-eared andoften hai broken spines. They saw that schoolchildrenforced the large book into their tiny school bags. Theyalso observed that the big book was handled badly incrowded classrooms. Small children folded it over asthough handling a magazine, and even then readingacross a page eight inches wide made them lose theirplace at the turnover line.
6.9
Binding and Packaging
Before binding, overprint varnishing of the cover wasrequired as a protection against rubbing and scratching.Three very common paperback binding techniques wereaccepted: for slim volumes, saddle stitching (the wirestaples "riding" along the fold, as in news magazines);for volumes thick enough to have a spine, either sidewire stitching or perfect binding (gluing the cover ontothe spire that has been serrated for better adhesion).The staple wire had to be rust-resistant, the bindingglue insect-repellent.
The specifications provided for the wrapping and seal-ing of sets of ten books in plastic bags (clear polyeth-ylene 3 mills thick) to protect the books in transit overwater in monsoon weather and for packaging in unused,corrugated boxes (fluted, bursting strength: 250 poundsper square inch). No more than sixty copies were al-lowed per box. It was intended that the box reach atleast the town's central school intact (that is, unopenedat intermediate points of deliveryregional, divisional,and district officeswhich rarely were staffed or equippedto repack for individual schools). TBS field monitorsobserved that at the level )f the school, teachers (pre-dominantly female) and upper graders (frequently un-dernourished) had to carry the boxes. The box hadtherefore to be neither too large nor too heavy (maxi-mum weight: 30 kilograms). Further, teachers neededthe box to store materials, especially in the almost bareclassrooms of the barrio.
Work Flow
Philippine procurement laws set the limits to con-tracts which might be awarded on the basis of limitedcanvass bidding and to those which required prior pub-lic bidding a nong prequalified contractors. Small edi-tionsusually teacher material of a few thousandcopieswere contracted for through the simpler can-vassing mode. Three to five prospective printers wereasked to quote prices on a given set of specifications,and the most advantageous offer was accepted. A pur-chase order was issued to the contractor, who billed forthe entire amount upon complete delivery of the printedbooks.
Large editions required a long and complicated pro-cess of public bidding, involving many Steps and legal-isms. For an edition of 250,000 copies, the contractingcycle (from preparation of bidding documents to deliv-ery of the last copy to the TBS central warehouse) wouldordinarily take ten months to complete. On the basisof the blue schedule and the annual all-ms work planprepared at the end of the drevious calendar year, the
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 159
manufacturing division scheduled the curry t year'sprocurement. Books of similar specifications weregrouped as Reins in a single package. Bidders were askedto prepare offers on individual items.
Preparation of Bidding Documents. The preparationof bidding documents, which was scheduled to takethirty days, included compiling a fifty-page booklet con-taining the rules of bidding and specific instructions tobidders; the required standards for printing, binding,and packaging as weii as the attendant materials forthese; the bidding forms, detailing for each book thetotal and unit costs of paper, printing, delivery to theTBS central warehouse, and insurance; annexes on mon-itoring forms each contractor should keep and updatefor TBS inspection; lists of protect- accredited bondingfirms; and the legal bases and penalties for infractionof bidding and contract terms. The documents weresubmitted to the Textbook Board for approval. In ac-cordance with loan conditions, copies were sent to theWorld Bank for review. Upon boa; I approval, an invi-tation to bid was published in newspapers of local andinternational circulation and sent to embassies and con-sular offices of foreign governments in Manila. Pre-qualified printers secured copies of the document at anominal fee.
Tender Period. The forty-five-day tender period orwaiting time prescribed by World Bank procurementguidelines for international competitive bidding allowedsufficient opportunity for local and foreign firms to pre-pare their estimates. A week or two before the biddingdate, a prebidding conference was called at the is of-fices to clarify ambiguities in the bidding documentsand to issue bid bulletins for any changes in specifi-cations or bidding dates. On the day of the bidding, acommittee composed of MECS officials and consultantscalled for the bids, read every item aloud, and checkedthat each offer complied with the requirements of thebidding documents, especially the bid proposal bond.This bid bond was usually about 10 percent of the e(-ferconsisting of the cost of paper, printing, delivery,and insurance.
Although the TBS was not represented on the biddingcommittee, it was able to provide technical and clericalsupport: communication with prospective bidders, ar-rangements at the TBS where biddings were held, pre-liminary evaluation of offers, and custodianship of bid-ding records. Later, the TBS executive. director becamea member of the bidding committee, but MECS createdits own technical support capability. It was believed thatthe confidentiality of the bids was better assured withMECS performing all technical tasks after the bidding
170
160 Alfonso de Gi man o
rather than the BS, which dealt daily with successfulbidders.
Bid Evaluation. The preliminary tabulation and as-sessment of offers was submitted to the bidding com-mittee for its own, official evaluation, which was sched-uled to take fifteen days. The most advantageous offerwas recommended to the Textbook Board. Upon thelatter's acceptance, the recommendation to award wasmade to the education minister with the notice of awardattached for his signature. Simultaneously, the WorldBank was informed by telex (a full documentary reportwas sent by mail). After the minister's approval andBank clearance, the notice of award was sent to thewinning bidder. The notice also invited the prospectivecontractor to come to the TBS for negotiations and tosecure the necessary performance bond and insurancefor the government-owned paper that would be used.The performance bond was for twice the amount of thebid proposal bond. The insurance for paper was for 110percent of the value of the paper.
Contracts. The terms of the contract, rarely price,formed the substance of negotiationsfor which thirtydays were allowedbetween the TBS and the prospec-tive contractor. Schedules for the issue of paper to theprinter, manufacturing, delivery, and progress billingwere set. Proportionate partial payments would be madeto the printer as finished books were delivered. in-spected, and accepted at the central warehouse. Thefirst billing, however, was not to be less than 45 percentof corresponding deliveries. About 10-12 percent waswithheld fr,.:.n every payment, the retention payableupon completion of the contract. No escalation of priceor advance payments were allowed under governmentauditing laws. Subcontracting to other printers was al-lowed only with prior approval. The negotiations com-pleted, the TBS prepared the contract and secured legalopinion from its lawyer. The contract was signed by theprinter and the Textbook Board.
The contract was then submitted to the educationminister for approval, for which sixty days was allowed.Contracts worth more than 2 million pesos ($100,000)required the approval of the president of the Philippines.Simultaneously, the ccntract was sent to the WorldBank. When all approvals had been secured, the TBSreleased a copy of the contract to the printer, requiringsubmission of the performance bond and insurance forthe paper. Wheh these were done, the TBS issued thenotice to proceed, releasing the repros of the book andpaper for its printing.
Completion. Quality control inspectors periodicallyvisited the contractor's pri iting plant to monitor theprogress of the film assembly, blueprinting, platemak-
ing, printing, binding, and packagingall of whichwere scheduled to be completed in 120 days. The in-spectors brought back to the TBS proofs for approval bythe textbook editor (blueprints of the text and colorproofs of the cover). approved press out-turns (the firstproduction-quality sheet turned out by the printing pressafter it was made ready and before full-speed printingbegan), bindery dummies, and the mock-up of the fullyloaded textbook carton. They also advised the centralwarehouse of incoming deliveries of finished books. Dis-tribution staff at the warehouse inspected samples ofall deliveries and accepted or rejected them accordingly.
Printers' delays in withdrawing paper from the TBSwarehouse were penalized ($0.50 per metric ton onundrawn paper per day in warehousing charges plus 0.1percent of the cost of undrawn paper per day in liqui-dated damages). The penalty for exceeding the contractcompletion time for delivering finished books was 0.1percent of the cost of undelivered quantities per day.Another printer could be asked to complete the unde-livered balance and the cost charged to the contractor.Extension of contract time was allowed for legitimatereasons.
After deliveries were completed and all the inspec-tions made, the printer presented its final bill and clear-ances (certifications of salaries paid to employees, taxespaid to the government, and the absence of any legalliabilities). The TBS made the final payment and requiredthe printer to post a guarantee bond (20 pet, .nt of thecontract price) before releasing the retention paymentsand the performance bond. The guarantee bond ensuredthat the printer replaced whatever defective copies mightbe discovered during a one-year period after printing.
Paper Problems
Procurement. The first several bidding packages forthe printing of textbooks were of the integrated typethat is, the participating printers offered prices for bothpaper and printing. On the basis of specifications set bythe TBS, printers bought their own paper from the in-ternational market. The printers, however. complainedthat they did not have enough money to finance thepurchase of paper because of the high duties that wouldbe levied on the importation. Therefore the mject helpedthe printers by ordering paper for them, invoking thetax-exemption privilege of the education task force onpurchases of materials and equipr.ient for use in edu-cation projects. By buying paper tax free, the savingscould be passed on to printers of project textbooks andultimately to the project itself. Under that arrangement,the project paid for the paper (using the dirP.ct-paymentfacility of the World Bank loan) and secured the neededcutificates of tax exemption from the Finance Ministryfor the pri. tors. Ir turn, the printers took care of all
17i
customs formalities, brokerage, and delivery to theirown plants. The cost of the paper was deducted fromtheir bills.
There were three serious problems with the arrange-ment for procuring paper. First, government auditorsinterpreted the paper to be government property be-cause the project paid for it and the paper entered thecountry tax-free. As such, the auditors construed thepurchase as a form of advance payment to the printer,which was not allowed under auditing laws. Further,they warned that the purchase put the government atrisk because the paper (at the time estimated to be 45percent of the value of any printing contract) was worthmore than the printers' performance bond, which wasset at only 20 percent of the value of integrated contracts(which covered both printing and paper).
Second, the arrangement implied that orders for pa-per could nct be placed until the winners of a biddingwere known. But then the intervening eight weeks forcontract approval were not enough time for testing thesamples submitted by the printers' paper merchan andfor opening international letters of credit in favor of thepapermakers. The foreign mills needed time to manu-facture the paper and more time to ship the paper,frequently from halfway around the world.
Shipping was delayed by longshoremen's strikes inEurope and by a government policy requiring all officialcargo to be handled only Philippine-flag carriers.These were frequently unav, Jle when needed at portsof origin or were nonconta..ler vessels. At least oneshipment was carried break-bulk (that is, uncontainer-ized), and the paper rolls, which arrived badly damaged,were unloaded on an open pier in Manila during a trop-ical storm. The results were loss of paper, printing de-lays, and a mound of legal controversy over insuranceclaims.
Third, the arrangement left the TBS with virtual!) nocontrol over the paper it had paid for. Printers had greatdifficulty determining which of the sealed containershad their paper. The confusion led on occasion to shortshipments to some printers and overshipments to other,.Because :-he government was named in the shippingdocuments as consignee, there was controversy as towho should pay customs' warehousing charges or pen-alties levied by freight companies for delays in strippingthe containers of paper cargo.
In 1979, the iRs scrapped the arrangement:
The procurement procedure was inodified . . . whenthe project separated paper purchase by internationalcompetitive bidding from the purchase of printingservices .. . Under the new procedure, the projectpurchased paper from prequalified mills through lo-cal merchants and assumed full responsibility overordering, insurance, freight, brokerage and handling,
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 161
warehousing, and releases to printing companies . . .
This involved buying paper in enough quantities forone full year's production and replenishing the stockperiodically. The procedure was considered advan-tageous because it would make paper available assoon as a printing award was made (saving on timelost waiting for paper to arrive) and would protectthe project from unpredictable price changes in theinternational market. (PcR)
Management. Paper imported into the country inlarge quantities forced the TBS into costly warehousingand insurance, wasteful handling, and increased risk ofloss by fire, flood, pilferage, and termite infestation:
The TBS was totally unprepared in staff, equipment,experience, and expertise for the complex manage-ment of thousands of tons of paper shipped in fromforeign ports . . . Further, delays in editorial and artactivities and also in processing printing contracts. . . resulted in the project's having to house up to10,C90 metric tons of paper in two rented ware-houses, one of which had a floor area of 5,000 squaremeters. Printers often complained of delays in paperreleases, damaged and unusable paper, . . . shortages,or issuance of wrong stocks. The question of account-ability frequently arose, as printers used moi.° stockthan estimated, claiming spoilage .. . The usable stockreturned was sorted out for conversion (from rolls tosheets), but even this required close supervision byiRs staff, who had little or no training in paper han-dling and whose assignments were warehouse-keep-ers and printing inspectors. (PcR)
(Under the new arrangement, printers had to maketht. bid estimates on the basis of paper supplied bythe 'rm. This change in procurement policyfrom theintegrated paper-and-printing contract to bulk pur-chasing of paper and local bidding for printing ser-viceshad a profound effect on the kind of printingservice available to the project. See the paragraphs be-low on printers.)
Significant quantities of paper were in fact damagedby termites and flooding at the rented warehouses, Butthe most serious loss was through theft; it was discov-ered in early 1982 and involved several employees (amongothers). It was not until late 1982 when the TBS centralwarehouse becam' operational that reliable control overthe physical inventory was assured.
The supply of paper continues to be a problem. Localpapermakers say that if they were exonerated from theprohibitive tax on imported pulp, they could supply thequality and quantity needed at internationally compet-itive prices. The proposition offers some hope but re-quires sustained persuasion at political levels much higherthan the TBS.
172
162 Alfonso de Guzman ll
Security. TBS managers were never comfortable withthe thought that a careful enough printer could con-sume less paper than it bid for and use the leftovers forother, nonproject printing jobs. This possibility of tech-nical smugglingin this case, the use or sale of un-taxed government paper for private, commercial gain- -prompted the search for better security features in thepaper itself. Several alternatives were consider J.
Watermarking was not feasible because this familiarsecurity technique was apparently applicable only tohigher-grade papers of limited roll widths and produc-tion quantities. Rubbermarking, a variant which in-volved impressing an image on the paper with a rubber-stamp-like image carrier, seemed technically possiblebut impractical. Still another variant, paper lining(embedding lines by water jets onto paper) offered near-invisible marks on the paper, making the security fea-ture very hard to detect by both illegal user and lawfulowner as well.
Chemically reactive papers (in effect, like litmus) werealso rejected because detection depended not on plainsight but on the use of liquid reagents. Various surfacetreatments (such as texturizing with coior fibers, as isdone for paper money) were similarly rejected becausepapers so treated interfered with printability and legi-bility. Of all the alternatives, color tinting offered thebest, visually verifiable security feature for EDPITAF TEXT.
Paper tinted a unique shade of light yellow contrastedsharply with images printed in black and was easilyaistinguishable from commercial printing papers avail-able in the market. The new choice was called lightbuff.'
For the next procurement, the TBS called for the lightbuff stock. To broaden participation among prospectivesellers, however, two other papers were listed as ac-ceptable: white with rubbermarking and light buff withrubbermarking. The new bids also called for a bulk orderto be shipped to Manila in small quantities on demand.This assured that the TBS would not have to store somuch paper, thereby minimizing warehouse congestionand its accompanying risks.
Paper merchants found these two requirements hardto meet. Two biddings were voided because not enoughoffers were received or not one of several offers compliedwith either the kind of paper called for or the staggereddelivery scheme. In the end, the TBS had to enter intonegotiations with the lone complying bidder, a lengthyprocess that involved securing both the education min-ister's and the World Bank's prior approval.
The long wait resulted in the depletion of paper stockfor printing. For the textbooks needed for the schoolyear starting June 1985, the TBS had to use all theresidual stocks, sacrificing quality and economy as oddpaper lots (different grades and roll widths) were com-bined and released to printers. Paper rolls previously
set aside as unusable because of water damage, termiteinfestation, or crushed cores were sent out for sheetingand used to print textbooks to satisfy the field require-ments until the new stocks arrived.
Flinting Problems
Foreign Printers. With paper stock available in Ma-nila, printing was provided almost totally by local firms.This was foreseen in the preproject appraisal, whichnoted the existence of a viable local industry with enoughcapacity for book work. Further, the project was ex-pected to promote the development of the industry inthat the experience and profits derived from printingfor the project would enable Filipino printers to upgradetheir plants and procedur to international levels sothat they could compete for foreign contracts.
Local printers enjoyed many advantages. The wit-books were formatted to be suitable for machines inmost common use in the country. The prescribed modeof procurement was local bidding, with a mere conces-sion that foreign firms would be allowed to participate.Paper already in Manila freed local printers from thefinancial burden of buying the stocks and then havingthem shipped in; they had only to transport the paperfrom TBS warehouses to their own plants. And the flaglaw, recognized by the World Bank, granted local man-ufacturers a 15 percent preferential margin over foreigncompetitors. A Filipino offer of $1.15, for example, wouldbe evaluated as equal to a foreign offer of $1.00. Finally,delivery costs of local printers were obviously lower thanthose of foreign printers. Not surprisingly, more than90 percent of the volume of printing was won by thelocal industry.
Nevertheless, foreign printers, mostly from nearbycountries, continued to participate in the project, oc-casionally winning a contract. A significant factor forany small success they enjoyed was the TBS'S approvalof the foreign printers' supplying their own paper,equivalent in quality and cost to the specified EDPITAFTEXT. To the foreign printer, the concession meant a
reduction in freight cost. To the TBS, it resulted in paperoverstocking because the quantity of paper previouslybought and allotted for a particular book would not bewithdrawn by the winning foreign bidder.
On the one hand, allowing foreign printers to acquiretheir own paper kept them in the running, if only min-imally. They provided a challenge to the local industry,whose members vowed to "keep printing here in thePhilippines" and proceeded to outprice the out-of-town-ers, depressing overall cost to the TBS. The foreignersalso provided the extra capacity that kept productionup-to-date when all local printers were occupied andcould not be awarded any more contracts. Better equippedand more sophisticated in international business, the
173
foreign printers were model contractors who compliedwith all requirements (bonds, samples, schedules) tothe letter. To TBS managers, working with the foreignerswas a relief from the imponderable problems posed bythe local industry. On the other hand, the near-shutoutof foreign printers cost the project dearly. Although thepredominantly local contracting made for good poll+ -sin the Philippines, on one occasion it resulted in 1
violation of World Bank procurement guidelines. Un-willingness on the part of higher authorities to approvean award to a foreign bidder was protested to the WorldBank, which subsequently made a misprocurement rul-ing.8
Limited Participation. The intense competition pro-voked by public biddir" among local printers, who werealso bent on outbiddin, foreigners, forced severe cutsin estimated costs, leaving very narrow margins forprofit (and error). Furthermore, government contract-ing was very one-sided: downpayments were not al-lowed, many bonds were required (proposal. perfor-mance, insurance for paper, guarantee), and payments,with 10 percent retentions, required much documen-tation and lengthy processing.9 Payments were fre-quently delayed as a result of tedious inspections byindependent government auditors and lack of funds fromthe Budget Ministry. These financial constraints madeparticipation in the project a risky proposition for many"subsistence" printers whose liquidity was low and whocould not sustain operations for long without substan-tial cash inflows.
The quantities involved also ehectiveiy limited thenumber of possible participants. With typical print runsof almost 200,000 copies, many printers were called butonly those few who operated web offsa presses wereeventually chosen. Questions of actual available capacitywere raised as the same half-dozen printers vied almostfortnightly for contracts, and evaluation could not keeppace with bidding. Pending awards stacked up as theTBS deferred signing new contracts with winning print-ers already behind in delivery schedules on current con-tracts. The hoped-for trickle-down effectof big print-ers with large orders leavin,f their other, small jobs forlittle printersdid not ma .erialize. And with multiplejobs ongoing under one p inter's roof, quality controland monitoring cf paper consumption became very dif-ficult.
Delays. Inefficiencies in contract processing. repropreparation, and contract execution were chiefly re-sponsible for the inability of the TBS to keep to bookmanufacturing schedules. As with paper procurement.contracting for printing services was inordinately de-layed. The procurement system (operated by the edu-cation task force, which had its own independent com-
The Philipv'nes: A Textbook Case 163
mittee on bids and awards) worked well for the textbookproject throughout its first phase. But a year into thesecond phase in 1983, the new MECS leaders changedthe composition and procedures of the committee. Un-familiar with the time constraints of externally assistedprojects, the new committee and approving authoritiesat the MECS could not process contracts according topreset project schedules. Two years later, the committeewas changed again, further burdening a procurementsystem already laden with backlogs and indecision.
Delays in completing the camera copy were partlydue to the inexperience of project staff newly trainedas authors, editors, and book designers in an integratededucational publishing operation. Confidence about re-pro completior dates was crucial to manufacturing be-cause a host of downstream entanglements resulted frommissed repro dates. When bidding was postponed, bid-ders' bonds lapsed, and renewal meant added cost toprinters. When repros were not given on time, printersdemanded extensions of contract completion time (withcorresponding extensions in performance-bond cover-age at additional premiums) or outright renegotiationof the contract price. These difficulties resulted in fur-ther delays because of the prior approvals for negotia-tions required. Even approvals of blueprint proofs andpress out-turn sheets were delayed as printers were per-suaded to accommodate latecoming and costly correc-tions.
Efficient contract implementation was hampered bythe industry's failure to adhere to quality standards:
Plant quality control, which in developed countriesis a built-in feature of printing establishments, wasvirtually exercised by TBS. It assigned inspectors toplants where project contracts were ongoing for su-pervising the contracted work on the production floor.During times that the inspector was at another plant,some printers waited until the inspectors returnedto approve a print run or, worse, went ahead withunacceptable work. The latter accounted for spoilagesof paper and prompted printers to demand more pa-per than was originally provided for in their con-tracts. Although the nroject had sought to solve thisproblem as early as 1978 by sponsoring a trainingseminar on printing quality, . . . the effects of thetraining were short-lived, as printers earlier pre-qualified left the project and new printers joined, andthe project had since been unable to organize follow-up training. (Pcii)
The rigidity of the procurement scheme was mostevident during the monsoon season of 1984, when sev-eral typhoons hit the country, destroying schools andtextbooks. After assessing the quantities needed to re-place the lost books, the TBS availed itself of emergencypurchases (by canvass bidding) to reprint textbooks and
174
164 Alfonso de Guzman II
to buy the project's commercial editions from reprint-ers. The well-intentioned measures bogged down forlack of Timely funds from the central government's budget
office. Distribution finally proceeded along with the reg-ular production and reached the affected areas manymonths later.
To the end of the project's second phase, the rightmanufacturing solutions eluded TBS managers. Did pub-lic bidding depress prices se much that printers wereforced into error and contract violation? Did local print-ers deliberately "take a dive" with manufacturing pricesto get for their own use a little more of that preciousand tax-free commodity, paper?
Distribution of Textbooks
The TBs distribution division was headed by a chiefwith a staff of thirty-eight organized in the three sec-tions: statistics, warehouse and traffic, and field coor-dinatir n. The division was responsible for ensuring thetimely delivery of textbooks to the entire public schoolsystem and maintaining an acceptable level of textbooksupply year-round.
Work Flow
Tc accomplish those objectives, the division createda reliable data bank of school enrollments and locations,established the physical and administrative network forbook deliveries, managed a regular procurement cyclefor freight forwarding, and maintained continual fieldcontact about the books' supply and physical condition.
Distribution Planning. During the fir-Ft two roundsof textbook distribution in 1977-78, thi TBS used theenrollment data of the ministry's planning office. Thedata proved very unreliable. The distribution divisionthen undertook the task of building its own data bankon the basis of school records gathered from the fieldand of the experience of the first round of deliveries.The figures were continually upt.11(ed over the years,and by 1951 the TBS was able to project enrollments forten years hence.
The division's statistical projections were used fordetermining the number of textbooks and teachers' guidesto be printed. The projected enrollment for a grade levelduring the year in which a new text would be introducedwas taken as the basis of computation. Half of thatenrollment represented the distribution ty get of onebook for every two students. To that figure was addedthe number of teachers and school adminis.rators need-ing copies of the book. The total constitute d the basicfield requirement for that title. An estimate was alsomade of the number of extra copies needed to replace
those lost or worn out during the first three years ofthe useful life of the book. This additional quantity,called the reserve stock, was added to the basic fieldrequirement. The grand total was rounded to the near-est thousand and adopted as the official manufacturingtarget. From 1976 to 1981, the formula of half theenrollment plus 34 percent reserve stock was used. Fieldstudies conducted in preparation for the second phaseshowed the number to be excessive. Beginning in 1982,a more conservative reserve stock of 15 percent wasadopted.
On the basis of the blue schedule and the biddingschedule of the manufacturing division, annual planswere detailed for every textbook title to be made avail-able during the year. All quantities were summarizedby intermediate destination (regional or divisional ware-house) and rounded to the nearest box; further sum-maries were made by ultimate destination (individualschools) and expressed in number of copies. Two masterlists were prepared. One was for the basic field require-ment, which had dispatch priority. The other was forthe reserve stock to be kept at the local warehouses,which was delivered later.
Warehousing and Traffic. Distribution was designedas a two-stage activity. The first stage consisted of re-ceiving printers' deliveries in a central ms warehousein Manila and freight forwarding tnem via commercialcarriers to MECS warehouses and storerooms in the var-ious provinces. The second stage involved the trans-shipment of the books from the local warehouses to theschools. The freight forwarding was managed and paiddirectly by the TBS; the transshipment was managed bylocal education authorities using funds provided by theTBS. The plan was to withdraw the financial supportgradually over the years as regional offices of educationincreased the amount of their budget for local distri-bution in their annual requests to the national govern-ment.
The physical infrast -Icture for textbook distributionwas established early. A central TBs warehouse wasmaintained in Manila, and 152 receiving warehouseswere made operational throughout the country, usuallyadjacent to the 13 regional offices of education and inmost of the offices of the 127 school divisions in char-tered cities and provincial capitals. About 60 of thesewere provided with radio transceivers beamed to themain station at the TBS. Plans for 1982-85 includedti,e construction of 26 more warehouses.
Fo- f, eight forwarding, twelve land, sea, and air car-riers were prequalified during the project's first phase;in 1985, under a revised procedure. twenty firms wereprequalified. As with book manufacturers, the freightcompanies were evaluated for their experience, equip-ment, and financial capability. The annual distribution
ryM-A t)
targets were announced to the prequalified firms,which were invited to submit proposals. The offers, usu-ally expressed in unit rates (price per kilogram) forcach point of delivery, were read in public bidding. Thefirms evaluated as offering the most advantageous priceswere awarded contracts for one full year's deliveryservice.
The contracts stipulated the volume and approximateweight of books to be delivered to specific local ware-houses. The contractors were called to the TBS ware-house to pull out stocks and the accompanying distri-bution lists and other delivery documents. They werepaid in Manila upon presentation of proofs of deliveryusually the official delivery receipts signed by the di-vision superintendent or supply officer. The TBS kept(and periodically updated) a file of specimen signaturesof these authorized recipients.
The TBS prepared annual memorandums of agree-ment with the thirteen regional offices of education forlocal distribution. These memorandums included theyear's distribution plan for the region, the resourcesneeded to carry out the plan (staff, materials, operatingexpenses, local freight), detailed costing, and the sched-ule of disbursements from the TBS to the regional of-fices. Under the memorandums, the regional directorsof education had authority over all local distribution,including the management of funds. They were re-quired, however, to prepare an annual liquidation re-port, noted by the local auditing office.
Field Coordination. A team of monitors was sent tothe field, visiting up to 400 schools yearly to check onthe accuracy and timeliness of deliveries. These all-around troubleshooters "checked (the contents of) thelocal warehouses, advised field officials on distributionproblem-solving and reordering from Manila, gathered. . . data, and received complaints. At the schools, theychecked the condition of the books and the manner ofutilization and maintenance" (KR).
The troubleshooters wrote detailed reports, whichwere widely circulated because they contained hard newsfrom the field relevant to many TBS divisions. Typis alitems were typographical errors spotted by teachers (ed-itorial), confusing page layouts (production), missingpages (manufacturing), late or short shipments (distri-bution), revised teacher statistics (training and evalu-ation), and lost or lapsed disbursement authority (fi-nance).
Problems
Among many problems, four were outstanding. Thesehad to do with distribution efficiency, timeliness of fi-nancial assistance to the field, adequacy of documen-tation, and stability of the delivery network.
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 165
Late Arrival of Books. The objective of having thetextbooks in school ready for use when classes openedin June was not achieved for all titles because of up-stream delays. Initial, faulty statistics also resulted inshort shipments. To minimize further delay, the dis-tribution division followed a policy of continuous de-livery, shipping out inventories as soon as they werereceived from printers in enough quantities for at leastone truckload for a specific local warehouse. The overallperformance improved over the years as manufacturingschedules stabilized and as the division compiled morereliable data.
Delayed Funds. Despite well-made plans, the TBS asa project was wholly dependent on the release of fundsfrom the budget office of the central government. Be-cause these were frequently delayed, the TBS co" I notsubsequently transfer funds to the regional offices ofeducation to finance local distribution. The tight fiscalcontrol exercised by the central government's budgetoffice also hampered the flow of funds to the field. Theauthorization to spend (called cash disbursement ceil-ings) had a term of one quarter of a year. But it tookso long to process the funds from the TBS to regionaloffice to division office that by the time the end userdivision received its share, the quarter had ended andthe authorization had lapsed. Revalidating expired dis-bursement authorizations involved lengthy reapplica-tions to the national budget office in Manila. To keepdistribution going, the TBS monitors resorted to per-suading local educational authorities (and auditors) topay for their local deliveries from their own budgetswhile the release of project funds was being negotiatedin Manila.
The situation improved in 1982 when, ac the TBs's
urging, the audit commission allowed the issuance ofnational treasury warrants to the regional offices. Thischange of disbursement mode assured the timely avail-ability of funds for distribution at the local level. At theend of each year, however, the regional offices wereunable to organize their disbursement documentationand pass it through audit. Government auditors in Ma-nila threatened to withhold the coming year's warrantsunless the field liquidated past accounts. The TBS wouldnegotiate with auditors for the release of the warrants,citing the need to move the books out of the congestedlocal warehouses. The auditors would eventually relent,and the money would arrive at the regional offices lateagain.
Lost Inventories. The TBS was surprised to read inthe annual management evaluation reports of the gov-ernment's independent audit commission that millionsof textbooks were unaccounted for. On th' contrary,internal records showed that all deliveries had actually
17C
166 Alfbaso de Guzman 11
been received by authorized parties. The erroneous con-clusion was reached on the basis of a strict interpre-tation of the government's accounting treatment of thetextbooks as semi-expendable property. By using thestandard government form required as accompanyingdocument to any property, the TBS unwittingly becamethe "issuing" party and the regional office the "requi-sitioning" party. The terminology bore tremendous le-gal significance because it implied that the TBS wasaccountable for the textbooks, a responsibility that re-quired a formal transfer of accountability when the bookswere delivered to regional offices. Because not all ship-ments passed through their offices (most went directlyto local warehouses, usually near the division offices),the regional directors of education were reluctant toassume accountability for the books, sight unseen, solelyon the basis of records presented by the division su-perintendents who actually received the deliveries. Somedirectors ordered thorough inspections of the booksthey were accountable for (which by that time had beendistributed to all schools). The delay in legalizing thetransfer of property resulted in a wide gap of recordsbetween confirmed receipts at the TBS and "acknowl-edged" documents at the regional offices.
The issue took time to resolve. It was pointed outthat the TBS never treated the textbooks as inventories(that is, assets) in its books of account; it entered paperas supplies (an expense item). Technically, therefore,no accountability for government assets was beingtransferred as a result of the textbooks being distrib-uted. Much in the same way that the post office did not"own" the letters and packages it delivered to address-ees, the IBS was merely performing a delivery serviceto the field. Accountability began at the moment thatthe authorized recipient in the field signed for a ship-ment.
The issue was by no means only a confusion in ter-minology, for in the accounting treatment lay seriousimplications for the use of the textbooks. In governmentaccounting, even semi-expendable property had a valuethat was never depreciatedand somebodyhad to b,responsible for it. When legal documentation filtereddown the layers of the organization, it was in the endthe teacher who assumed this responsibility. All losseswere therefore charged to him or her.
Recognizing that for fear of loss teachers might keepthe books under lock ana key rather than distributecopies to their students, the TBS tried to have the item"textbooks" reclassified as expendable property (like pa-per clips). Alternatively, the TBS made informal repre-sentations with government auditors for leniency withregard to reasonable losses in schools, invoking theauditing regulation that property could also be "con-demned" (strictly, however, only if the property were
found to be of absolutely no further use to the govern-ment) and the fact that the textbook project providedreserve stocks for just such a contingency. Neither at-tempt was successful.
The only other measure taken to minimize teachers'liability was the introduction of commercial editions ofproject textbooks. At government-controlled prices, thesame books could be bought by teachers, or even par-ents, to replace copies lost by their children. Theseeditions were bought also by local school boards, whichby law had independent funds (usually a percentage oflocal real estate tax revenues). or by individual cityschools, which operated self-supporting lunch counters.(Vigilant school principals' associations and parent-teachers' associations have so far successfully fought offattempts to have the income reported, and audited, aspublic funds.)
Institutionalization. A final problem was that the dis-tribution scheme was not fully institutionalized. As theWorld Bank evaluation team observed:
The project provided the field with new warehouses,equipped all local points of delivery, and paid for theiroperating cost on the understanding [with] regionalauthorities in 1976-77 that such assistance espe-cially as regards staff salaries ... would be providedon a declining basis; the regional offices would in-creasingly include these costs in their regular oper-ations and request funds from the national govern-ment . .. As of late 1981, however, the ministry'scentral office (had) not approved them. and to datesome 413 field personnel, mostly warehouse clerks,laborers, radio operators, and security guards, con-tinue to function .. . on a temporary basis. TBS hasmade representations with the minister, but actionis still pending. (Pot)
Teacher Training
Two TBS sectionsone tor orienting teachers on theuse of textbooks, the other for studying the learningeffects of the new books on studentshad a staff ofseventeen (ten professionals). The sections had separatechiefs and functioned independently, after the educatorwho was head of the division left the TBS.
The major task of the orienting section was teachertraining. It was also, however, called upon to help thedistribution division, which organized workshop-semi-nars for supply officers, property custodians, and radiooperators at provincial textbook warehouses. As trainingon textbook use and distribution management w....s com-pleted and the need for it diminished over the yeas,
17 "'
the section was engaged more and more in orientingnewly hired staff at the TBS and implementing a varietyof in-service staff seminarsplanning and target set-ting, office correspondence, typing, and such.
Objectives
The principal purpose of the project's teacher trainingwas to promote the effective use of the new materials.Specifically, the teachers were trained to:
Apply their skills in curriculum analysis to the useof textbooks in the classroom
Identify and demonstrate teaching strategies ap-propriate to specific lessons
Manage instructional resources so as to create ef-fective teaching and learning situations and in-crease the useful life of educational materials
Prepare the appropriate tests for use in class
Integrate curricular areas for the development ofspecific skills.
Design and Implementation
Five- to ten-day training programs for classroomteachers were designed by TBS specialists with the helpof curriculum center authors and educators of the min-istry's elementary and secondary bureaus and the staffdevelopment unit. To prevent disruption of classes, theprograms were scheduled for the vacation months ofApril and May. The new titles to be introduced in thecoming school year were covered during the training.
In order to reach all te.-chers, "echo" training wasemployed. A core group in Manila trained up to 60trainers for the 13 regions. The latter group traveled tothe regional capitals and trained about 1,200 othertrainers who in turn ()ionized programs for as manyas 100,000 teachers from various school divisions anddistricts. Similar but separate orientation seminars werealso conducted for administrators (regional directors,division superintendents, district supervisors, schoolprincipals). These were designed in response to requeststhat even nonteaching personnel be familiarized withthe new books so that the distribution and supervisionof teachers might be better managed.
As with manuscript development and textbook dis-tribution, training was to be institutionalizedthat is,installed as a permanent feature of the educational sys-tem. Toward this end, fifteen regional staff developmentcenters were established and provided with equipmentand vehicles. But these centers managed the trainingprograms only oncein 1978. In line with the ministrypolicy of strengthening overall educational manage-ment at the regional level, the responsibility for imple-
The PhIlippines A Textbook Case 167
menting the succeeding training programs was trans-ferred to the regional offices of education. The centers,mostly in private colleges and universities, continuedto be used but only as training sites.
The TBS prepared annual memorandums of agree-ment with the regional offices of education. For orga-nizing the training for teachers and school administra-tors at the local level, each regional office was givenproject funds to cover all participants' travel and dailyexpenses as well as the organizers' expenses (materials,lecturers' fees, fond, and rentals).
Problems
Resistance to Training Concept. From the very be-ginning, the TBS encountered difficulty convincing min-istry officials in Manila of the need to train teachers onthe use of materials. The ministry maintained that thehigh level of qualification of the teaching force did notwarrant the further investment that the project pro-posed. It believed that because textbooks were tradi-tionally available in the school system, there was nofurther need to introduce them to teachers familiar withtheir use.
That position of the staff development unit of theMinistry of Education, Culture, and Sports (mecs) wascontrary to the perception of teachers and officials inthe field. The TBS interpreted the discordant attitude asthe central office 5 jealousy over the apparent abun-dance of WOI Id Bank loan funds committed to the text-book project. Furthermore, the TBS also considered thatthe growing popularity of the project's education taskforce was perceived at the central office as a threat toits own influence and authority. Indeed, with a numberof projects ongoing all over the country and an imple-mentation momentum sustained by the vigor of a youngand professional staff, the task force (and, by extension,the project) gained the reputation of being "an inde-pendent republic, the little MECS with money."
The cooperation of the MECS training officials wasgrudgingly obtained after the TBS agreed to incorporateinto the textbook training some of the topics and ob-jectives considered important by the central office. Be-cause some of these were only remotely related to text-books, interest was low. In their post-course evaluationforms, the participants suggested that more time bedevoted to demonstrations on textbook use, peer teach-ing using the new texts, and lecture updates on subjectmatter.
At the level of the regional offices of the MECS, therewas initial resistance to training, but the transfer ofauthority and funds for local training to the regionalMECS directors assured their cooperation. This admin-istrative streamlining, however, signaled the death of
1 76
r168 Alfonso de Guzman ll
the regional staff development centers as project insti-tutions. Conceived as technical training bases in theregions independent of r :cs and manacled by educatorsunhampered by bureaucratic constraints, the centerswere to prepare detailed plans for training, producetraining materials, and maintain a cont'nuing evalua-tion of the training programs. With project funds con-trolled by the regional office of MECS, t. ne of this waspossible. The staff work of the regional office was gen-erally poor, teacher statistics were faulty, and thereforefinancial projections were unreliable, training mates -'swere not produced locally (they had to be produced atthe curriculum centers and at the TBS in far-off Manila),liquidation and postcoi rse reports were submitted late,and program evaluation was rudimentary.
The trainirl issue reemerged in 1982 when the text-book project became part of the ministry's sectorwidereform program, also financed by the World Bank andmanaged by the elementary education bureau. Regard-ing the Tas merely as provider of instructional materialsfor the new elementary curriculum, the bureau de-
teacher-upgrading programs, omitting trainingon the use of textbooks. It took long negotiations toconvince the bureau that textbook training was not atcross purposes with the sector program but that it wasnecessary for teachers to have a hands-on experience ofnew instructional materials developed by the project.
Late Arrive' of Textbooks. Another problem was thattextbooks arrived at the training sites late. It %cis easierto mobilize large numbers of teachers to assemble inpreselected places fer training than it was to get thebooks there on time:
Each training program was planned for implemen-tation in nhase with the textbook production anddistributio,i schedules, in accordance with thr projectintent that teachers be given training before theyactually used the new textbooks. Production, how-ever. could not ke:p the schedules commi ed totrainers at the beginning of the year. Where biddinghad been postponed, and ps inting ioreseeably couldnot be completed in time for training, special, limitededit' ms "ere rushed to press. Deliveries of these edi-tions were themselves frequently delayed and the ma-terials were generally unsat'sfactory because they weretaken from unfinished repro pages and containedtypog..aphical and other errors. To solve the problem,TBS departed from the ma-tie- of setting teachertraining targets on the basis r e production sched-ule for the availability of ',put textbook titles. Begin-ning in 1980, proryams of trair, ig were planned aftera review of hat had been actually delivered to thefield. (Ku)
Evaluation of Training. A third problem was thattraining Was not effectively evaluated. Because the re-gional staff development centers were not allowed tofunction as originally envisioned, knowledge and ex-perience of how to run training programs were notgathered nd analyzed for the benefit of future pro-gramr, ig The end- of -t"' se e,..alt.ations provided some
clues for impr ement, but tt,' responses were sovorable that the TBS managers suspected the evaluationsto be biased by courtesy. In a substudy of achievement,the TBS evaluation section compared the learning gainsof students whose teachers had gone for training withthose of others whose teachers had not. There were nosignificant differences bet 'en the groups, suggestingthat teacher training v neutral with regard to studentachievement.
Evaluation of the Project
Throughout the project period, studies were con-ducted on the learning achievements of textbook users.The studies were done on sixteen textbook titles in sev-eral grade levels of the elementary and sec/Wary cur-riculums.
Methodology
The studies were essentially comparisons of learninggains between groups of students. The control groupconsisted of students who did not use any textbooks inclass; the experimental group was given the new projecttextbooks. In some studies, a third groupstudentswho used other, nonproject textbookswas included.The groups were selected randomly and represented allregions of the country.
Because the project's principal objective was to pro-vide textbooks to all students, the studies cc. uld not beconducted with contemporaneous contra: and experi-mental groups. Having both groups during the sameyear would 'lave meant depriv, g students in the controlgroup of the opportunity to use the new textbooks.Instead, a control-in-retrospect was resorted to. Thecontrol group of the appropriate grade level was selectedand tested for achievement a year before the new text-book was to be introduced in that grade. During thefollowing year, when the books were available, the stu-dents entering that grade formed the experimental group.
Tests to measure the extent of learning prescribedfor each subject and grade of the official curriculumwere developed at the TBS. Education specialists andcurriculum writers were hired on contract to analyzethe content of 'loth the curriculum and the textbookand to write appr Initiate questions. The tests were val-
:dated in the field, revised. designed ('ypeset. illustrated,laid out), and printed. A detailed test administrator'smanual accompanied each set of tests.
The tests were designed to measure the amount oflearning achieved by students after a lapse of tint nottheir mastery of the subject matter. The test itemslmreset at a moderate level of difficulty so eiat the Discrim-ination between students who learned ir.,,re from thosewho learned less might be better enhaced. Pretestsand posttests were administered to the groups. The re-sulting data were analyzed by computer using standardstatistical programs for the social sciences. The differ-ence between the before and after scores representedthe learning gains: th- difference in scores between thetextbook users and the nonusers represented the leaning gains attributable to the use of the main interver.tion, the textbook. The impact evaluation seme alsoincluded longitudinal studiesthat is, tracking theachievement of textbook users over several years of exposure to the series of new textbooks developed by theproject.
Implementation
The cooperation of the regional offices was enlistedthrough annual memorandums of agreement with theTBS. Regional personnel were trained in test adminis-tration and correction. Their services and expenses (dailyexpenses, transportation) as well as materials they wouldn, ' were paid for under the agreements. The MS eval-uation staff traveled to the evaluation sites to orient thetest ai:-ninistrators and to collect the corrected testbooklets. Al! data analyses were done in Manila. Testfindings and conclusions were written in a report andcirculated to the curriculum centers. the EducationMinistry, and the World Bank.
Findings
The major results of various evaluation tests showedthat students who used textbooks achieved more thanthose who did not; and those who used project textbooksac ieved more than those who used other textbooks.Further, the projea textbook users performed generallybetter than the nonusers did on test items that mea-sured higher and more complex learning. And studentswho used the new textbook series consistently over sev-eral years achieved more than those who did not.
The results also showed that books might have con-tributed to equalizing educational opportunity. Thelearning gap separating higher-achieving students ofhigher socioeconomic status from lower-achieving,poorer students appeared to have been reduced by the
The Philippines: .4 Textbook Case 169
use of project textbooks. The late of achievement wasfaster and the gains greater among children in the ruralareas than among their counterparts in the semi-urbancentral schools and in the cit.'s. The results of an in-direct test on the effects of 1,. .guage (English versusvernaculars) on achievement. however. indicated thatthe degree of learning was difficult to de' ermine in amultilingual situation.
On textbook-student ratios, the findings were intrigu-ing though inconclusive. Experiments were conductedon two grc'ips of students in grades 1 and 2 with varyingbook-student ratios of 1:1 and 1:2. High achievementwas noted in grade 1 when one book was shared by twostudents and in grade 2 when each student was givenhis or her own book. Apparently, the younger, begin-ning readers who shared a copy helped each other toread or were supervised more closely by their teachers.The older readers who had already learned how to learnproceeded faster and at their own rate because they hadtheir own copy.'"
Probl.Ins
Evaluation. From a management standpoint, the valueof evaluation studies was minimized by the lack of ap-propriate institutional procedures for the effective useof their results. Aside from circulating the interim andfinal reports of these studies, little else was done tomake the findings well understood or their invlicationsbetter appreciated by the work groups who stocd tobenefit most from the studies: the textbook writers andeditors.
The time lapse between the introduction of a newtitle, its impact repot, and revision of the same titlespanned scvtral years, psychologically diminishing theurgency of the evaluation findings. Textbook writersand editors, harried by tight printing dead'' s for sub-sequent titles in the same series, could not give thestudies the careful consideration they deserved.
Unfortunately, the impact reports appeared opaqueto writers, editors, and even to TES managers. The re-ports were written by technicians for fellow techniciansand therefore were not easily understood Ly readersoutside the statistical disciplines." Thus the findingsand their implications were not translated into opera-tional objectives for textbook planning, writing, design,testing, and production. Like the evaluative field-testingapproach, the reports were subsequently ignored be-cause the results came late and had limited usefulnessfor manuscript revision.
Shifting priorities also hampered research continu-ity. In 1981, evaluation was ordered scaled down andwas disci ntinued the following yearat a time whenlongitudinal evaluation studies had been running a
I S 0
170 Affonso de Guzman II
number of years and preparatory pretesting was ongoingfor forthcoming textbook titles. The sudden shift wasin respor se to signals from higher MECS a-,d Work: Bankofficials that there was no further interest in replicatingwhat was all eady known. For its part, the TBS was preoc-cupied with efficiency problems and pressed its evalu-ators into more management-related research. Whennew materials were introduced for the new elementarycurriculum in 1983, the need for impact measurementwas felt again, and the evaluators were ordered back totheir familiar tasks.
Curriculum. Another problem that hindered textbookdevelopment in the Philippines was change in the cur-riculum. The project design was flawed in that it didnot provide for participation by the central educationministry's curriculum units in the planning of textbookdevelopment. The project's curriculum centers pro-ceeded independently with their own curriculum re-search and manuscript development. Consequently, themir.istry asserted its authority by reissuing curriculumguluciines to the field just as the first project bookswere being distributed so that the project's new booksdid not completely follow the guideiines. The subse-quent readjustments in already written and field-testedtextbooks were difficult to make.
Nevertheless, the project was hopeful that the revisededitions, coming as early as the sixth year from the timethe first books were , eleased, would conform completelyto the official curriculum. But by then the ministry hadplans for curriculum revision. This meant that the proj-ect need& to start over again for the lower grades, evenas it was only beginning to distribute the new text-bookson the old curriculum--in the upper grades.In ten years of implementation, the lesson learned wasthat a stable curriculum was necessary for stability intextbook development.
Language. In spite of a seemingly coherent oilingualpolicy in ecli. -ation, the textbook project was confrontedwith Ian' . EA g e problems at every turn. It was evidentfrom the manuscripts that few among the project au-thors had sufficient mastery of either English or Filipinoto v rite well. Even at the TBS, it was a rare editor whowielded a blE _ pencil with confidence. During the field-testing of social studies texts which were being intro-duced for the first time in Pilipino, feedback was mixed.Teachers reported that non-Tagalog children found thebooks difficult When evaluators could not detect anyserious inability of children to understarJ social studiesin the national language, speculation suggested that itwas the non-Tagalog teachers, not the children, whoresisted the innovation.
With the use of the new textbooks in class, TBS mon-
itors returning from the field continually reported thatin non-Tagalog areas teachers would resort to two-steptranslations for reading in Pilip:no. To explain an un-iamiliar Pilipino word or phrase, the teacher would givethe English equivalent and then finally unlock the vo-cabulary by leading tt students to discover the equiv-alent in the local language. The influence of this ap-parent trilingualism was not measured.
Language will become a more serious issue in thelight of disturbing findings that achievement may begreater when teaching and testing in first-grade scienceis in the vernacular rather than in English. Curriculumdevelopers in the practical arts for the secondary levelhave also been caught in a dilemma: required by policyto develop materials in Pilipino, they are unable to findPilipino equivalents for the many technical terms inindustrial arts, business and distributive arts, agro-fish-eries, and home economics. The textbook project, nowthe largest book publishing enterprise in the country,should be used by national planners as a major sourceof information for reviewing language policy. Ten yearsof experience with language-related education problemsare worth considering in the continuing effort to freethe Filipino from being illiterate in Pi -pip... and Lin-intelligible in English.
Summary
The textbook project in the Philippines has been calledan unqualified success. The assessment seems well de-served. Yet the success has not c ..fe without costs orrisks. These are succinctly summarized by the executivedirector of the Textbook Board Secretariat, who statedthat although all targets were substantially achieved,and some even exceeded, the project contended with anumber of problems and constraints that at varioustimes threatened it with derailment if not failure. Someof the difficulties -mere as follows:
Expertise: for the scale and standards set for theproject, the special skills of editors, authors, bookdesigners, and illustrators proved to be in shortsupply. The project has had to depend on the helpof transient foreign experts, young professionalswith little experience, and even education special-ists recalled from retirement.
Manufacturing technology: typesetters and print-ers had to retool to meet the unprecedented re-quirements of the project en a competitive basis.
Distribution: distribution had to contend with thelack of an efficient transportation system and thenaturally difficult geography of the country, whichfrustrated egi,:ient delivery of books to schools.
1 8 i
The language: the textbooks were printed in En-glish and Pilipino, which are both second lan-guages in most parts of the country. This impairedthe effectiveness of the new textbooks.
Curriculum changes: changes and new objectivesin the official curriculum and educational policiestended to threaten every n_w textbook with earlyobsolescence.
Complexity: in the operation of a project of thismagnitude, with many virtually independent ac-tivities in book development, procurement, stafftraining, and evaluation being undertaken simul-taneously, phased implementation proved difficultto maintain.
he private sector: traditional private textbookpublishers viewed the textbook project with hos-tility as undue encroachment by the governmentinto an atea best left wholly to private industry.Institutionalization: "The objective of institution-alization has proved most (elusive]. At the end ofthe project period . .. the legal structure was yetto be developed that would ensure the governmenttextbook program continuing resources, flexibilityof operation, and provide staff security and careeropportunities" (Aprieto 1983).
In spite of these difficulties, it must nevertheless beemphasized tha, in the Philir ines Lhere now exists aprofessional, systematic mechanism fo: creating in-structional materials, ensuring their nrf_,,,4 ion to schools,and maintaining an adequate supply of acceptable qual-ity.
Notes
1. Data are from 1982-84 TBs annual reports; data for 1985were not yet available as of this writing (early 1986).
2. With some modification, the sequence of presentationof topics in this case study follows Searle (1985: 12-17).
3. Private publishers continued to submit textbooks forboard approval. Without national government orders, how-ever, their business was reduced to sales to private schools,educational districts with locally generated funds, and generalbookstores.
4. Pilipino, the legislated national language, A 95 pet cent
Tagalog, the language of much of the capital region. Tagalogis the prestige language because as a primary city, colonialManila was the seat of government. commerce, and cultureand the cradle of the revolution against Spain. Many revo-lutionaries wrote in Tagalog for security reasons.
5. The oprrtunity to improve the first (1977) editions wasalso effectively lost when a new curriculum was introducedin 1983. Completely new materials were needed as the newcurriculum reordered sequences of learning topics, expanded
The Philippines: A Textbook Case 171
the scope of some subjects (for example, science and health),and replaced other subjects (social studies became civics andculture)
6. The in-house TBs print shop was mainly for filming repromaterials, printing jobs not worth the bother of bidding for-malities (tryout copies, evaluation teas, letterheads, andnewsletters), and converting white waste paper returned byprinters into sheets for office use. The print shop was alsoused for orienting newly hired staff and trainees from neigh-boring countries to the principles of graphic-arts photographyand offset printing.
7. The TBs was aware that in the first textbook project ofIndonesia the government implemented a security measurefor a series of books used in social studies. To safeguard thecorrectness of the pancasilaofficial teachings on the moralconduct of citizenspaper tinted gray and surface-treatedwith security fibers was manufactured by government mills.The books were printed only on government presses.
8. This nonaward of one printing contract was the soleviolation during the five-year life of the first-phase project.The World Bank did not fii.ance that particular contract andcanceled a corresponding $270.000 from the proceeds of theloan.
9. The traditional practice in the private sector was fm thecustomer to pay 50 percent upon the signing of the contract.Even government contracts for public works allowed for a 15percent mobilization payment at the outset. Unfortunately,neither facility was allowed by government auditors. who citedlack of specific legal basis.
10. A cost-effectiveness steldv done by Unesco in 1979 re-ported that textbook production (excluding teacher trainingand evaluation) increased the cost of education pet studentby less than 1 percent; student performance, however, in-creased by 14 percent.
11. Ineeed, evaluation was much better appreciated else-where. The World Bank published the Philippine findingsearlier than the TBs in Heyneman and others (1984).
References
Aprieto, Pacifico N. 1981. Boot- nubl7shing and PhilippineScholarship. Manila: Book Deve.,dment Association of thePhilippines.
. 1983. "The Philippine Textbook Project.- Prospects(Unesco Quarterly Review of Education) 13, no. 3: 1-12.
Heynemaii, Stephen P., Dean T. Jamison, and Xenia Monte-negro. 19E4. "Textbooks in the Philippines: Evaluation ofthe Pedagogical Impact of a Nationwide Investment." Ed-ucationa1 Evaluation and Policy Analysis 6, no. 2: 139-50.
Neumann. Peter H. 1980. Publishing for Schools: Textbooksand the Less Developed Countries. World Bank Staff Work-ing Paper 398. Washington, D.C.
Philippines, Republic of the. 1970. Education for NationalL'velopment: New Pattern.;, New Directions. Manila: Pres-idential Commission to Survey Philippine Education.
. 1976. "The Outcomes of Philippine Elementary Ed-
172 Alfonso de Guzman ll
ucation: A Report of the Major Findings of Project Soutele."Makati, Metropolitan Manila: Educational DevelopmentProjects Implementing Task Force. Processed.. 1982, 1983. 1984. "Annual Report," Textbook BoardSecretariat, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.,.
Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila: Instructional M, 'rialsCorporation. Processed.
Searle, Barbara. 1985. "General Operational Review of Text-books." World Bank Education and Training DepartmentDiscussion Paper EDT1. Washington, D.C. Processed.
A,,A .
13
The Textbook Project in Lesotho
Albert Aime and John Overton
In Lesotho education is a joint venture between thegovernment and the churches, which admin:.ne- about97 percent of the primary and 86 percent of tht sec-ondary schools (the remainder in each case is private).In 1981 the educational system was characterized byhigh dropout and failure rates, poor facilities and staff-ing, and weak management and professional supervi-sion. As part of an effort to strengthen the system, atextbook project was introduced with the support of theWorld Bank
Background and Planning
The administrate, financial, and academic controlof the formal system was vested in the Ministry of Ed-ucation, Sports, and Culture (MOE). The MOE trainedand appointed teachers, administered examinations, re-viewed and authorized curriculums, regulated the open-ing and closing of schools, inspected the schools' op-erations, and paid teachers' salaries. The MOE providedthe bulk of the funds for the National University ofLesotho, which was administered by an independentcouncil chaired by a government representative.
The administration of the capital budget and thepreparation and review of proposed education projectswere the responsibility of the MOE'S Planning Unit. Be-fore its involvement in the textbook project, this anithad coordinated a school mapping exercise, comput-erized education statistics, and participated intensivelyin a National Sector Survey of Education, which waspublished in November 1982. The main recommenda-tions of the survey were to:
Improve the quality and efficiency of primary ed-ucation
Emphasize mathematics and science and expandpractical studies in the general secondary program
173
Develop vocational, technical, and higher educa-tion to meet the national labor needs in both theproductive and rural sectors
Extend and coordinate nonformal education pro-grams
Improve the joint governmentWorld Bank mis-sion coordination and supervision of educationalactivities.
To achieve these goals, particularly those related tothe supply of textbooks, the government planned thefollowing activities:
Develop curriculums relevant to the country's cir-cumstances, including improvement in the teach-ing of the national language
Provide instructional materials for all children atthe primary level
Expand preservice and in-service teacher trainingprograms to increase the number of qualified pri-mary teachers
Achieve universal primary educat.:.,n by the year2000.
The Educational System
When the textbook project started, primary education(grades 1-7) was conducted in the native language,Sesotho, for the first four years, with English addedduring grades 5 through 7. In 1982, total gross en-rollment was 278,000. Approximately 30 percent of theprimary enrollment was overaged students. The age ofschool entry was gradually dropping, with mcre malesattend;ng for example, in 1975, temales outnumberedmales by almost 50 percent; in 1982 th.y outnumberedthem by only 14 percent.
In '980, automatic promotion was replaceU by core
184
174 Albert Aimd and John Overton
tinuous assessment of student achievements and reg-ular testing to determine whether curriculum objec-tives were being met. Nevertheless, in 1982 on!), 27percent of the students who had started school in 1975had progressed as far as grade 7; 72 percent of thesepassed the primary completion examination (19 percentof 1975 enrollment), and of these. 43 percent (8.4 per-cent of the 1975 enrollment) entered junior secondaryschool (grades 8 -10).
In 1982, 36 percent of the teachers were still un-qualified; the tuitional teaches- student ratio was 1:48,althuugh many classes were considerably larger. To im-prove the quality of teaching, the moe operated an in-service teacher training course.
In 1982, secondary education (grades 8 through 12)had an enrollment of 29,000 (60 percent girls), theequivalent of about 16.4 percent of the population agedthirteen to seventeen years. Of the secondary enroll-ments, 83 percent were in junior secondary and 23percent were boarders. The same year, 30 percent ofthe teachers were unqualified and the teacher-studentratio was 1:21. The number of secondary schools hadalmost doubled between 1975 and 1982, a rapid expan-sion that negatively affected examination results.
Enrollment in vocational and technical education atthe secondary level was 1,600 in 1982, with more thanone-third in home economics, one-fourth in construc-tion trades, and smaller numbers in motor mechanics,electrical engineering, and secretarial, Iusiness, andadministrative training. Agricultural education forthe postprimary level was offered at six farmer trainingcenters and for the certificate and diploma levelsat the Lesotho Agricultural College; there were 350trainees.
Teacher training lc); primary and junior secondaryeducation was (and still is) provid-d at the NationalTeacher Training College (Nrrc). The Nrrc offered threecourses leading respectively to the Primary Teacher Cer-tificate, the Advanced Primary Teacher Certificate (spe-cial administration course), and the Junior SecondaryTeacher Certificate. Senior secondary teacher trainingwas provided by the National University of Lesothe. (NuL),which offered bachelor's and master's degrees in edu-cation.
Planning for the Textbook Project
In 1987 it was estimated that only about 30 percentof the primary students in Lesotho had access to thetextbooks prescribed by the me. This was largely be-cause books had to be bought by parents, and this be-ca ne a considerable financial burden; the majority ofboo's for primary school were printed and publishedby the two predominant church groups, whicii suppliedtheir own schools.
A gradual increase in manufacturing costs led to areduction in both the quality and quantity of books.Furthermore, many of the books needed revision, notonly because they had been in use for many years butalso because of changes to the curriculum. Books neededto be ordered by each school about six months beforethe start of the new school year in January. Demandwas extremely difficult to estimate.
The MOE was aware of the need to increase the supplyof books. In 1975 it had established the National Cur-riculum Development Center (Nom) to revise curric-ulums and prepare national textbooks. An importantcomponent of the World Ba 'k's Second Education Proj-ect (1977-82) consisted of building and equipping thisNCDC. It was complemented by twenty person-years oftechnical assistance to help develop national textbooksand by a U.S. Agency for International Developraent(usiuu) project to build, equip, and staff an InstructionalMaterial Resource Center (me; a small printing unitset up earlier with the assistance of usiun). Becausegovernment objectives had not been clearly defined an'the above projects were not adequately coordinated,much time was consumed defining roles rather thandeveloping the needed materials. In addition, most ofthe technical assistance was never recruited, and by1981 very little had been done about development. Itwas then that the government realized that if it was toimprove the quality of education, it needed to supplystudents and teachers with textbooks available on themarket until it could produce its own.
The proposed project was to provide for the purchaseand distribuion of textbooks and workbooks in the threecore subjects (Sesotho, English, and mathematics) toall children attending primary schools. The book projectwould be administered by a Book Supply Unit (Bsu) setup in the MOE. The MOE would establish a nominal bookusage fee so that children could use the books for ayear and pay only a fraction of the full cost of buyingthem. This initial fee would be set at 2.00 maloti (M)rr year in grade one, M3.00 per year in grades two tofive, and M5.00 per year in grades six and seven. Thefee would cover the use of all the textbooks needed bythe child :n the core subjects that year. Children ableto show that they could not afford to pay the nominalfee would be allowed to use the books free of charge.The books would have an average life expectancy ofthree years. The project would provide for the distri-bution of the books as well as modest book Fforagefacilities.
Originally, textbooks would be either those in currentuse or adaptations of those used in other African coun-tries. The MOE would inform various publishers' asso-ciations of its intention to review books in order toselect those most closely re_ted to the syllabuses andneeds of Lesotho. The NCDC would then eview and testthe books in the schools and select about three series
1s5
in each subject. The Bsti would then call for tenders orprices from the suppliers. All price quotations had toinclude teachers' guides and ancillary materials. Bookcontracts would i,c signed, and the BSU would supervisedistribution. The proposed project would finance theinitial supply and distribution of about 1.9 million text-books. A pilot distribution would begin in the ThabaTseka district in 1982, followed by national distributionin 1983. In addition, two book replenishmentsthefirst in the Thaba Tseka District in 1984, the secondthroughout the country in 1985would be funded bythe project.
The usage fees collected annualiy for these bookswould be placed in an interest-bearing account, whichwould become a revolving fund. After the completioi.of the project, the money would be used for the annualreplenishment of consumables (for example, work-books, preprimers) while the government would replacethe books in the core subjects about every three yearsat little additional cost. The annual book usage feeswould be collected through the Ministry of Finance'ssubaccountancy offices located in all the major centersin Lesotho. These fees would be kept to a minimum toavoid an undue burden on disadvantaged families. Itwas believed that making textbooks available for all chil-dren would help more of those from poor families tocomplete their primary education and would simulta-neously improve the quality of education.
On" of the project's main goals was to establish apermanent system for supplying textbooks to all pri-mary school students. Some changes were made to theplan in the implementation stage, both in timing anddistribution. Indeed, implementation remains subjectto continual review and evolution.
In the long term, Lesotho hopes to have its ownprimary school textbooks written and to have themprinted by cnmmercia! firms. The NCDC estimated thatthis process could take up to ten years, but it was be-lieved that in the meantime students would benefit fromexisting books. It was also believed that textbook writingskills would develop more rapidly if the NCDC staff wereinitially to prepare units for inclusion in their sylla-buses. The publishers whose books were selected wouldalso be asked to help the NCDC staff prepare these units.This approach was started in 1986, and by 1987 nationalscience and mathematics books had been prepared andSesotho books were being developed.
To guarantee propel execution of the project, theWorld Bank asked, as a condition of disbursement, thatthe MOE redefine the responsibilities of the NCDC andIMRC to eliminate all duplication. The government wasalso to establish standards for textbooks, set textbookfees, set up a special interest-bearing revolving account,and make the Bsu a permanent part of the MOE. All theseactions were completed in 1984.
The textbook project was initiated after three y:Irs
The Textbook Project in Lesotho 175
of planning. The MOE held conferences throughout thecountry to determine parents' expectations of the ed-ucational system. The derIming quality of educationand the lack of adequate resources, particularly of ma-terials to help students learn, were major concerns. TheMOE wanted to make primary education more accessibleto the poor and to rural children, but soon realized thatit did not have the resources to achieve that goal unlesspart of the cost was covered by the recipients. It wastherefore decided to charge a user fee, but extremelypoor children would be allowed to receive textbooksfree.
Funds from the World Bank would be used as seedmoney, while the user fees accumulating in the specialinterest-bearing account would enable the textbook pro-gram to continue. The Ministry of Finance (Mon), wellaware that it would be unable to fund an ongoiag booksupply, was willing to experiment with plans which wouldresult in the accumulation of about M2 million duringthe project period.
To enable the MOE, MOF, -.Id Public Service Com-mission to ea' ibi'sh new positions, the salaries of thesepositions were covered for three years by the project.The project also financed the cost of technical assistancefor two years. One aim of the project was to maximizethe use of local resources and thus minimize the cost.Existing warehouses of the MOE and rented warehouseswere used when the local publishing industry indicatedthat it could not satisfy the needed capacity.
At this juncture, a difference of opinion arose betweenthe MOE and the NCDC staff. The NCDC had been givena mandate (to update syllabuses and produce textbooks)but not the staffing and financial resources to achieveit. The staff, being resourceful, had sought the assis-tance of publishers to help them and felt that tue booksof the publishers who had helped them should be se-lected. The MOE and the World Bank, however, insistedthat the books which best met the needs or curriculumsor could best be adapted to meet the new curriculumshould be chosen. Another issue was that NCDC staffwanted to be listed as coauthors wi,..1 the publishingfirm and to receive a royalty from the work they haddone. The matter was resolved when the governmentdecided that civil servants could not receive royalties,and the Permanent Secretary established a NationalCurriculum Committee (Ncc) to review the situation.The NCC had representatives from the MOE, MOF, !MK,NCDC, National Teacher Training College, National Uni-versity of Lesotho, the teachers' association, and thereligious groups responsible for the majority of theschools. The NCC influence resulted in a more objectiveselection of books.
Because of difficult terrain and access, it was decidedto begin with a pilot distribution in one district. Thesuccess of the pilot scheme was due in large part to theservices of an experienced textbook specialist, who in
1 SC
176 Albert Aime and John One, ton
November 1981 assisted in selecting books, orderingthem, distributing and storing them, laying the foun-dation for the Book Supply Unit, and preparing a time-table. At this stage, public relations work was under-taken to inform those whose cooperation was needed.The specialist returned for about two months in eachsucceeding year to help develop the project with theBsu staff, the staff of the Ministry of Education's Train-ing for Self-Reliance Project (TSRP; established in theearly 1970s to handle various educational projects as-sociated with the World Bank), and all others involvedin the project.
In the Thaba Tseka district, pilot distribution activ-ities were:
Textbook distributionfrom November 1982 tothe end of January 1983
Delivery of book lockers (delayed by procurementprocedures, but lockers were in place by the timeof the national distribution toward the end of 1983)
Teacher in-service training and follow-up visits bythe TSRP during February and March 1983.
During the time of the pilot distribution scheme, theNCDC and NCC continued to examine the selected booksto determine whether they should be retained for na-tional distribution. The MOE, BSU, and TSRP simulta-neously were preparing for the national distribution byrevising student enrollments in accordance with thelatest information availa'uie from schools and preparinga distribution plan, which included full details on theenrollment of schools, location, and the roads and trailsused to reach them. The list of persons responsible foradministering the schools was updated (because ofchanges in personnel, however, they were later simplyaddressed by title).
By March 1983, it was decided to
Retain most of the same titles for the nationaldistribution
Order books in May 1983
Have the publishers prepackage the books accord-ing to distribution lists prepared by the Bsu (thetask of packing 1 million books was then beyondthe capability of the TSRP and Bsu); without themany months spent preparing the distribution plan,this process would not have been possible
Box orders according to schools within parishesand determine the sizes of the boxes by the weighta person could reasonably lift (about 15 kilograms)
Use TSRP trucks for delivery; all trucks had to havea officer from either the BSU or TSRP present toensure that the delivery was carried out accorc ingto the plans and that the proper receipt invoiceswere signed
Arrange follow-up visits by BSU staff where prob-lems had been experienced
Complete national distribution (started in Novem-ber 1983) by F;bruary 1984adjustments be-tween schools were done during March and April1984
Ascertain that by the end of 1984 all primary stu-dents had benefited from books in the three coresubjects and that teachers had benefited fromteachers' guides
Offer in-service training to the teachers, in spiteof delays.
Implementation
The Book Supply Unit was set up as a section of theTSRP. The is ran the book project until the BSU wascreated. The organization of both the TSRP and B3U isa functional one embracing the usual planning activi-ties: examining objectives to be achieved, taking ap-propriate actions, and establishing unity of purpose. Atthe conclusion of the project, it is intended that theBSU will be transferred to the MOE, either as a separateunit or attached to an existing MOE agency. These andother alternatives are still under consideration. Themanager of the ssu is responsible to the director of theTSRP v'ho in turn reports to the Project Authority. Themembers of the Project Authority, which is chaired bythe permanent secretary of education, are drawn fromthe various ministries associated with the project.
The director of the TSRP, apart from duties related toother aspects of the project, is concerned with generalBSU policy and its implementation, major administrative
matters, and project expenditures and receipts. He playsan important role in relations with school proprietors,with other authorities, and with the public in general.The BSU manager deals with day-to-day affairs, preparesorders, arranges for distribution, keeps appropriate rec-ords, and prepares reports at regular intervals. He alsospends much time assisting school managers and headteachers in fulfilling shortages or the collection of sur-plus stocks.
The BSU accountant (plus one assistant) k all thefinancial records (except those involving procurement)and prepares invoices and statements to inform thedirector and manager of tardy or nontransmitted fees.
ur clerks deal with stock keeping and warehousingand assist with distribution. The function of the BSU
may best be described in relation to the basic functionsof a publishing house: editing, production, marketing,finance, and publicity.
The BSU does .narketing, financing, and some pub-licity. It is responsible for ordering books, calling for
Q "L...1
tenders, and dealing with the Tender Board. It coor-dinates the other functions. What to publish is an ed-itorial function handled by the NCDC. Production was,and to a large extent still is, done by the publishersfrom whom the books are ordered, but the IMRC doesit for the newly introduced science textbooks.
Two person-years of technical assistance I ad beenwritten into the project. Since late 1981, the servicesof a consultant have been available on a regular basis(four months each year) to assist in developing the booksupply scheme. A full-time adviser was also attached tothe project for one year only.
The services of the BSU Ire available for the distri-bution of other teaching materials produced for theMinistry of Education. In short, the BSU is charged withseeing that the appropriate books are in the right placeat the right time.
Choice of Textbooks
The subjects selected for inclusion in the project werethe core subjects of Sesotho, English, and mathematicsfor grades 1 to 7 in the Lesotho primary schools. Timebecame a factor, particularly since the new books werestill far from ready for publication and there was anurgent need to establish a disti ibution system and pro-cedures for supplying replacement books later. A systemof gradual replacement would allow for the systematicintroduction of new material year by year. Initially,therefore, emphasis was placed on textbooks which fol-lowed existing curriculums as closely as possible. Ques-tions of local publishing were secondary. at least in theinitial stages of the project. At the same time, cogni-zance had to be taken of tie books most widely in use,tne teacher's familiarity with them, and those booksalready in the pipeline for publication.
Local publishing and printing continue to be a con-cern. Expansion and modernization of equipment aretaking place, and greater local participation may (sub-ject to cost) become a reality. The proportion of localpublishing will be considerably enhanced toward theend of the project with the introduction of titles to bepublished by the Ministry of Education.
Procedures
Formal procedures for choosing books were devel-oped to ensure absolutely fair decisions open to rigorousscrutiny. The departments of the NCDC involved in thechoice of textbooks were required to prepare a preferredlist of textbooks (including teacher's guides and ancil-lary materials) together with a list of alternatives foruse in grades 1-7. Publishers n the United Kingdom(with the assistance of the Pub:ishers Association and
The Textbook Project in Leso,$o 177
the Brlfish Council) were invited to submit textbooksparticularly course books in English and mathemat-ics. Two British Council officers reviewed the submis-sions and rej';icted those which were inappropriate. Thefinal selections were sent by the Publishers Associationto the director of the NCDC in mid-1981, together withthe reviewers' comments.
Publishers in Lesotho and the Republic of South Af-rica were similarly invited to submit appropriate books,including those in Sesotho. This invitation cast a widernu, because, in addition to indigenous puh"-Iiers, manyof U.K. origin are represer `ed in South /-.. a and, inone case, in Lesotho. All submissions were scrutinizedby the subject departments and panels of the NCDC 2 c-
cording to a basic set of criteria. The results of thepanels' deliberations were presented for considerationby a Book Review Committee composed of those directlyresponsible for the project and various technical ex-perts.
Representatives of the two Lesotho publishing firmswere included in the Book Review Committee as "ob-servers." It was felt that because they were also theleading printers in Lesotho their local experience andadvice would be invaluable and they could handle dis-tribution for the Ministry of Education, at least in theinitial phase. A short list of books from seventeen pub-lishers was reduced to six publishers of first and secondchoice and a final list of books from three publishers.This process, repeated every year, ensures that all booksare reassessed in the light of experience and that se-lection is not automatic. It also keeps publishers alertand sharpens competition.
Books Chosen: Comparison in 'weep 1982 and 1985
A timet,.ble was drawn up in November 1981 settingdeadlines for the various stages leading to final rec-ommendations so that orders could be placed with thepublishers early in 1982 for books to be in schools bythe beginnlag of the 1983 academic year. During 1985,further choices were made when science and J oc 'al studieswere added, making a total of five subjects. These ad-ditions were made possible largely through savingsaccrued to a great extent by the considerable drop inthe value of the currency against the U.S. dollar. (Onemaloti was worth approximately $1.35 in 1981; it dropvedto $0.35 by the end of 1985.)
In 1982, the committee's first choice for the 1983Sesotho courses had been a new reading series speciallyprepared for local use It could not be recommended,however. because not enough material was available fortesting in the schools, the considerable amourk of an-cillary material was felt to be impractical, the schemewould need considerable in-service teacher training, andit was too costly. The local publishers played the greatest
1 8 P,
178 Albert Aime and John Overton
part in the selection of alternatives. Because the bookshad been published for use in Lesotho. no adapta-tion was necessary. The books did not, however, com-pare well with a new draft syllabus in preparation.Teachers' books, where available, formed part of theproposals. The books ordered in 1985 for use in 1986were the same those chosen in 1982 for grades 1through 7.
For English courses, in 1982 an adapted series ofbooks was ch. n for use in 1983 for grades 1 through4; the first book had just been published, and the secondwas well advanced. The series was also used in nearbycountries (Botswana and Swaziland) and had been welltested. It was therefore possible to recommend that theseries he introduced simultaneously in grades 1 and 2.For grades 3 and 4, books currently in use were chosento fill the gap until they could be replaced by the newseries. For grades 5 through 7, a new series producedby the publishers for use in Botswana proved ideal.Teachers' versions were available for all students' books.The new English series for grades 1 through 4 wasordered in 1985 for use in 1986. The books for standards5 through 7 remained in the form in which they werefirst introduced and were still considered excellent. Ad-aptation of the text and illustrations of the grade 1through 4 series for use in Lesotho was made by thepublishers in close cooperation with the staff of theEnglish Department of the NCDC.
For mathematics books the first choice in 1982 wassimply the best that could then be found. They were tobe replaced gradually by a new series that was beingspecially written for Lesotho but that had been delayedby the controversy with the authors previously men-tioned. In 1986, new books were introduced in grades1 and 2. They were conceived as workbooks and willhave to be ordered annually for the entire enrollmentof these two grades. Considerable discussion took placeabout production standards versus costs. In view of thetotal outlay, this will have to be kept under review. Theold books used in grades 3 through 7 will be replacedyear by year. These will not be workbooks at
Enlargement of the Scheme in 1985
As previously indicated, the addition of science andsocial studies textbooks was made possible largely through
savings from the heavy drop in the value of the maloti.The decision also depended on the World Bank's agree-ment to expand the scope of the project and on whetherit would be affordable once Bank funding came to anend.
Discussions about the possibility of widening thescheme had taken place informally well in advance sothat delays would he t-crt to a minimum. The subjects
chosen thus completed the range of courses for whichexaminations were given at the end of primary school.These subjects had in fact been considered initially buthad been dropped because of cost.
Science books for grades 1-3 wc, e the first underthe project to be published by the Ministry of EducatlIn arriving at the decision to do so, consideration wasgiven to organizing and running appropriate work-shops; writing, illustrating, and editing; producing ap-propriate teachers' materials; testing these niaterials inthe field; producing bcoks; activating the machinery setup for the selection of textbooks; and planning timefactors, distribution, and cost,
Various aspects of book production and costs wereexamined at an early stage. Thme adjustments werenecessary when the work was put out to tender, butsuitable tolerances had been built into the design sothat the result was little affected. Where possible, set-tling major details of book design before the book iseven written can be extremely cost-effective. The work-shops were organized by the Science Department of theNCDC in January 1985 with editorial assistance from amajor international educational publisher, which alsoprovided the funds for this stage of the operation. Writ-ing was initiated at the workshops and completed shortly
thereafter, rough sketches were prepared, and photo-copies were submitted for comment and preliminaryapproval. It became obvious that the books would notbe ready by January 1986, and the timetable was ex-tended for a year.
The question of testim was overcome simply by add-ing the words "Preliminary Edition" on the cover. Thebooks were therefore tested nationally. Work on an ac-companying teachers' bookone book for grades 1through 3will also be completed.
The selection for grades 4 through 7 was a series ofbooks pulilished in Kenya, which created complicationsof delivery through third countries. These books willeventually be replaced by locally published material. Apreviously i.sed teachers' book, largely on agriculture,was also selected. Teachers' books based on the newsyllabuses in grades 4 through 7 are in preparation.
The teaching of social studies begins in grade 4. Thefinal choice was a junior atlas specially developed forlocal use. The atlas will be used in grades 5 through 7but, because of the price, not in grade 4. It may alsobe used in junior secondary school, but different dis-tribution and payment arrangements will have to beworked out because these copies cannot be consideredas part of the project. The atlas will be ready for pur-chase before the project expires and will be introducedinto the schools from 1987 onward. In addition, somefive hooks (previously published and printed locally)were selected as teachers' references; these will even-
Table 13-1. Types of Books to Be SuppliedPlan atAppraisalStandard Types of books Ancillary materials
1. First language:Sesotho
1 I preprimer Charts, workbooks,2 initial readers teacher's guide1 or two largerreaders
2 2 or 3 readers
3 2 readers
4 2 readers
5 1 reader
6 1 reader
7 1 reader
3 Nil
4 3 introductoryreaders, lowvocabulary and highcontents
5 2 readers
6 1 reader
7 1 reader
1
2
3
4
5
0
7
Workbook renewedyearly
1 book plus workbookrenewed yearly
I book plus workbookrenewed
1 book
1 book
1 book
1 book
Charts, workbooks.teacher's guide
Charts, workbooks,teacher's guide
Workbooks, teacher'sguide
Workbooks, teacher'sguide
Workbooks, teacher'sguide
Workbooks, teacher'sguide
IL Second language:English
Charts, pictures,teacher's guideAs for standard 1 plussmall workbooktoward end of yearCharts, workbooks,teacher's guide
Charts, workbooks,teacher's guide
Workbooks, teacher'sguide
Workbook, teacher'sguide
Workbook, teacher'sguide
III. Mathematics
Charts, flash cards,teacher's guide
Charts, teacher's guide
Teacher's guide,workbooks optional
Teacher's guide,workbooks optional
Teacher's guide.workbooks optional
Teacher's guide.workbooks optional
Teacher's guide,workbooks optional
The Textbook Project m Lesotho 179
tually be replaced by new material. It is also foreseenthat a teachers' guide will be prepared for use with theatlas.
Future Selections: Plans and Implementation
In addition to replacements al eady scheduled, thoughtis being given to introducing textbooks in such subjectsas agriculture and home economics. These additionswould fall outside the time period of the project and inthe long run will depend on cost in relation to therecovery of funds. The initial plan cif the types of booksand materials to be supplied is shown in table 13-1.
With the exception of teachers' guides, it has provedimpractical to supply much ancillary material. The sup-ply of workbooks depends heavily on the availability offunds, becat...e workbooks need to be replaced in full-enrollment quantities every year. This har had reper-cussions on standards of production. Many alternativeswere discussed: cheaper papers for cover and text, nocover (self-cover), different printing methods and papersizes, and asking students not to write in the booksthemselves but in separate exercise books. Altho'igh thedesire to use local printing units was and remains inthe foreground, arguments for and against were affectedby sever-al factors: the small quantities required for trialdistribution, high unit costs, the high technical primingcompetence required, the availability of books publishedelsewhere at lower unit cost, questions of capacity andscheduling, and funding-100 percent of imported p. r-chases would be covered by the project loan but only80 percent of local purchases.
The decision in late 1984 to add science as an addi-tional subject increased local content considerably. Notonly were the first three science books the first booksin the project to be published by the Ministry of Edu-cation but also the services of the IMRC were utilized inthe production of camera-ready copy. The unit was toosmall to cope with the required "plume of the printingand binding processes or to compete with private print-ing concerns. It could, however, handle the typesettingand the production of color-drawing to be passed on tothe sele -ted printer. In doing so, the considerable costof origination was saved; the only charge was for themate, idis used in producing the camera-, eady copy andof course for the subsequent processes.
Production and Manufacturing
Books are expected to last about three years, andproduction specifications take account of thismainlyin the kind of paper used and in the style of binding.Why three years? Largely because curriculums are in a
190
180 Albert Ain4 and John Overton
state of flux, and it is unwise to produce books of amore permanent nature. In Lesotho, production stan-dards (and therefore cost) were factors in the final rec-ommendations made by the Book Review Committee.
Paper
Questions of paper quality were taken up with thepublishers when ordering the larger quantities requiredfor national distribution. Choice of paper depends largelyon method of printing, the length of the book, requiredopacity, color, and paper size. These interrelated factorsmay be further influenced by the size of the printingmachinery and the available paper sizes. In some coun-tries, however, the quality of the paper is of small con-sequence. One has to take either what is locally man-ufactured or what one can get. Some knowledge ofpaperits use and manufactureis essential.
Large pulp and paper mills exist in the region, andwith the quantities of paper also being imported, supplyis not a problem. The cost of local paper is, however,somewhat high in relation to world prices. A schemefor the supply of paper was prepared, but regrettablyhas so far not met with success. Some lending agencieshad to decline on account of the downturn in the worldeconomy and the consequent shortage of funds. In eiecase, the would-be lenders based their decision on in-complete information, which led to an inaccurate ap-preciation of the thoughts behind the plan and on proj-ect implementations. As a result, the lenders appearedto be at odds with the Ministry of Education and theWorld Bank.
With the project drawing to a close, new approacheswill be made. It is hoped that some external assistancewill be forthcoming so as to avoid incurring additionalcosts to the government and to allow the project morebr ..athing space. A number of agenciesUNICEF andUnes:-o, for exampleare interested in assisting text-book projects. App -oaches are usually possible eitherdirectly or through the local office of the United NationsDevelopment Programme. Bilateral action may also beconsidered.
...opposition and Printing
The texts of the new science books were composedon a desktop computer, with camera-ready printout froma laser unit. During 1983, the capacity of printing fa-cilities in Swaziland and Zimbabwe was investigated, aswell as the quality and cost of their work, particularlyin connectim with books imported into Lesotho. About50 percent of the books could be printed in Zimbabweand meet the criteria, particularly if all costs except thatfor paper were compared. There were, however, con-
sequent problems, such as the movement of paper,transportation, and packing of books for schools. Fur-thermore, some books needed to be redesigned to ac-commodate paper sizes. In short, a decision to printelsehere would be a risky one. Very favorable priceswere subsequently obtained for printing in Singaporeand Hong Kong, but the fall in the value of the malotiinfluenced that decision. There were also some prob-lems in :elation to scheduling in that books would haveto be ordered much sooner.
The question of where to print is under constantreview. The present changes in the distribution systemwill have some impact but will not fundamentally changethe present tried procedure. Teachers' guides are usu-ally obtained from the same sources as the books towhich they apply. Because quantities are comparativelysmall and well within the production capacity of the1MRC, teachers' books for science are intended to beprinted there, adding to the local input.
Binding
All the books used in the project are either saddle-stitched or thread-sewn. When printing in Zimbabwewas considered, specifications for some of the longertexts were altered to produce two ',00lcs (which couldbe saddle-stitched) rather than one book (which wouldneed thread-sewing and therefore be prohibitively ex-pensive). Perfect (glued, unsewn) binding should beused .,nly after careful comideration. Perfect bindingworks well under controlled conditions, but when thesecannot be achieved or something ::. overlooked, savingsmay well be eroded. Side-stitching may be unavoidableif other methods cannot be used. Depending on localconditions, other factors to be considered are the kindof wire, the use of certain adhesives or types of paperto repel insects or rodents, and the effects of humidity.
Distribution
Because the project consists entirely of supplying pre-scribed textbooks and book lockers to a captive market.marketing considerations could be reduced to analyzingorganizations (proprietors of schools, facilities). cal-culating enrollments (size of the market), and as:er-taining the influence of geography (transport and com-munication).
Lesotho is divided into ten districts. Althol,4 dis-tances are not great, in some mountainol is areas trans-port is extremely difficult. It wIs therefore decided tomake a trial distribution in one of the more difficultareasthe district a Thaba Tseka. The parish.was se-lected as the unit for distribution and accounting. All
191
schools outside parishes were treated as individual units.Enrollment was calculated for each grade in all primaryschooS. In 1986, there were 1,130 elementary schools,220 parishes and other units, and a total projected en-rollment of 324,850 students: 84,350 in grade 1; 60,750in 2; 50,750 in 3; 42,050 in 4; 34,650 in 5; 27.750 in6; and 24,550 in 7.
Distribution was conducted in four phases:
1. Trial distribution in the district of Thaba Tseka.This district contained schools in a wide range ofaccessibility (from easy to difficult). Because it wasalso the newest district, there was a political aspectin the choice.
2. Distribution on a national scale. All books weredelivered to nine districts, and replenishments andnew titles only to Thaba Tseka.
3. Nationwide replenishments to replace losses, tocover increases in enrollment, and to introducenew titles.
4. Nationwide distribution based on requisitions fromschool managers and head teachers instead of pro-jected quantities (as was done for the three pre-vious phases). New titles will still be distributedon the basis of projections.
Phases 1 and 2 went as planned. A different coursewas taken for the other phases for several reasons. Be-cause the life expectancy of the books was about threeyears, there was no need for a distribution covering thecomplete enrollment during the third year. During thethird year, considerable quantities of the replenish-ments sent to the schools were returned to the HSU-TSRP warehouse The supply o book lockers, togetherwith the initial requirement (later relaxed) that no booksbe taken out of school, kept books in good shape exceptin Thaba Tseka, where book lockers had been late inarriving. Furthermore, by the third year there wereenough books in the system and saturation appeared tohave been reached. Shortages might still exist in someschools and surpluses in others, but school managersand head teachers were encouraged to help each otherout. A nationwide inventory of textbooks was made inDecember 1985.
It had been hoped that one of the two local publisherswould handle the packing and distribution of the books,at least for the trial stage. Because of a difference ofopinion, however, the idea had to be abandoned. It wasdecided that the TSRP and BSU would undertake the task.which incidentally would give them valuable experi-ence.
During phase 1, 50.000 books were sent by the var-ious publishers to the TSRP-BSU warehouse, where theywere packed for distribution to Thaba Tseka. A truck
The Textbook Project in Lesotho 181
was hired for part of the distribution. Project staff ac-companied the driver. The distribution of textbooks tookplace between November 1982 and January 1983. Proj-ect staff gained much experience, and warehousing thesmall iitimber of books was no problem. The bulk ofthe packing material was obtained from local stores inthe form of used cartons. Distribution of 1 iok lockersto Thaba Tseka was complicated by procurement pro-cedures and took place later in the year. During phase2, because the packing of the books on a national scalewas beyond the capacity of the Bsu and 'rsHP, it wasdecided to have the publishers pack the books accordingto prepared packing lists. Approximately 1 million bookswere delivered to the TSRP-BSU warehouse and sorted bydistrict (approximately 8,000 parcels of 15 kilograms orless). Distribution took place in November and Decem-ber 1983, using is transport only, to 220 locations.
The school manager in each parish mission distrib-utes the books to the head teachers. The books are thenmade available to all students in grades 1 thrcugh 7,but generally they main on the school premises. Thecooperation of the school managers (who are in ad-ministrative charge of the schools in their parish) wasenlisted after consultation with the education secre-taries of the various proprietors (religious groups) andschool managers themselves, as well as some headteachers. The school managers therefore represent avery important link, and their cooperation is of theutmost importance. For this reason, many meetingswere (and are) held with them. For reasons of clarityand to avoid misunderstandings. guidelines were draftedfor the people conducting these meetings. The radio issometimes used to inform school managers when de-livery is due so that they can make appropriate arrange-ments.
For the most part. head teachers collect their con-signments from the school managers. Sometimes theschool manager will deliver; it is large)), a question ofcooperation. In some areas, missions have transportavailableoften a four-wheel-drive vehicle. in moreremote. geographically difficult, and probak'y poorerareas, the only transport may be horse or foot. Henceweight limitations on parcels are important.
°hase 3 followed the same pattern as phase 2, exceptthat distribution was confined to replacements and newtitles. Volume was therefore considerably smaller (about400,000 books).
Phase 4 has now been reached. Packing will be doneby the TSRP and BSU on demand. except that new titleswill still be dispatched in quantities based on projec-tions. Alternative distribution systems were considered:mail. food. beer, and cigarettes all find their way toremote locations; the post office, some commercial firms,and certain food agencies (local or international) have
1 92
182 Albert Arnie and John Overton
their own distribution systems. All these alternativeswere found to be unsuitable for various reasonsusu-ally timing or cost. There was also a serious wish tobuild up expertise. Even a helicopter was considered forexceptionally difficult areas.
Warehousing
Major considerations for warehousing included theseasonal nature of textbook distribution and the con-sequent relative emptiness of storage space for a largepart of the year; the utilization of warehouse space foritems other than books; and logistical needsregionaldepots, staffing, and security. The BSU was fortunate inthat a well-built warehouse had been constructed forthe TSRP some years before and there happened to beroom for the storage and packing of the 50,000 booksfor Thaba Tseka (phase 1). For phase 2, when storagespace was required for a large number of previouslypacked books, additional space was rented.
Turnaround between delivery from the publishers anddispatch to the parishes was prompt. The supplier ofthe largest number of cartons cooperated in schedulingdeliveries, so there was always room to assemble cart Asfrom all publishers into batches for parishes and dis-tricts before trucks were loaded. Further BSU needs (thestorage of surplusesphase 3) were accommodated inthe old warehouse, to which a mezzanine was added,but such stores will eventually be transferred to a newwarehouse to be built as part of a later World Bank loanwhen the Book Supply Unit becomes a School SupplyUnit with wider responsibilities. This new warehousewill coincide with phase 4 of the distribution plan.Meanwhile, books being reprinted will be stored largelyat the publishers' own warehouse, to be transferredwhen the new warehouse is ready.
Because each parish mission was a distribution centeran became a small storage area, the need to organizeadditional warehouse space in outlying parts of thecountry was avoided, at least in the early stages. Thisquestion is, however, continually under review. In themeantime, school managers have been encouraged tocarry a little stock and have been issued book lockersin which to maintain surplus.
In view of unavoidable differences between the num-ber of books issued to schools (projections) and theactual enrollment, it was hoped that head teachers couldexchange books through the school manager and thatstocks at the BSU would be used only if demand couldnot be met at the parish level. This system has workedfairly well. School managers have many other things todo, and a modicum of training is still required. Althoughstock keeping may not have been perfect, there havebeen no obvious losses except through some wear andtear and natural disasters such as a fire. By printing
"Property of the Ministry of Education" on the booksit was made obvious that they were governmei prop-erty.
Administration
Forms were designed for various stages of the dis-tribution process. some of which were subsequentlyproduced as computer printouts:
Packing instructions (for the publishersnowcomputer printout)
Invoices (to the school managers of parishes andothersnow computer printout)Textbook delivery note (from the BSU to the parish)
Textbook receipt note (from the head teacher viathe manager to the Bsu)
Textbook amendment note (for the exchange ofbooks)
Fee receipt note (from the head teacher to stu-dents)
Goods consignment note (for other items sent bythe TSItl' and BSU to schools).
Calculations of quantities were facilitated by the useof data in the mainframe computer used by the Ministryof Education's Planning Department. These data hadbeen collected from schools by questionnaires on en-rollment and number of teachers. The first computerenrollment data were produced at the end of 1981. En-rollment projections were made for the year 1983theyear of the pilot project. Enrollment increases werecalculated according to information supplied by thePlanning Department.
A two-year projection became the norm. althoughrepeated attempts were made to reduce it to one year.With a two-year projection, the books needed in schoolsat the beginning of, say, 1986 had to be ordered nolater than June of 1985 (or earlier, depending on theprinter). Estimates (or quotations) were needed sometime before this for the Tender Board to consider
Some shortages were experienced for the trial dis-tribution in Thaba Tseka, but since quantities werecomparatively small and were for the most part suppliedfrom stot.k, no insuperable problems were encountered.Nevertheless, the experience alerted the project plan-ners to the necessity of adjusting enrollment projectionsfor subsequent years. Later, when the evaluation of thepilot distribution found larger enrollments than ex-pected, increases were calculated for each grade sepa-rately.
A loss factor was built into the calculations to takecare of books lost for various reasons. Based on expe-rience elsewhere, this was estimated to be 30 percentof books at schools for grades 1 through 3, and 15
1.93
percent for grades 4 through 7. These were eventuallyfound to be overestimates, largely because of the pro-tection afforded by book lockers combined with therestriction on taking books home, and the excess stockswere used to replace worn-out books. Allowance wasmade for schools which had not made statistical re-turns, and adjustments were made from existing stocks.
Quantities of teachers' books were similarly based oncomputer enrollment data and were annually adjustedaccording to the intentions of the MOE as published inthe Education Sector Review. Generally, enough bookswere ordered for the first national distribution to allowfor several years' supply. Copies of the students' bookswere also made available for use by the teacher.
Evaluation
An evaluator visited the pilot area to assess the dis-tribution process and the effects on attendance. He foundthat primary enrollments were about 14 percent higherthan those forecast from the previous year; school at-tendance was more regular; teaching had been greatlyfacilitated; teachers had benefited from in-service train-ing but they felt that three days of training were in-sufficient; lockers were a good investment because thebook losses had almost stopped since their arrival; na-tional exams at the end of the first year saw a greatimprovement in the children's resultsin fact, 100percent more children from this rural district had ob-tained first- and second-class passes; and book-user feesappeared to be set at a reasonable level because morethan 90 percent of the children from this poor ruralarea had been able to pay.
The evaluator also found many problems: Some schoolshad not expected the government to supply textbooksand had obtained their own books, which children wereexpected to purchase in addition to paying user fees forthe government-provided texts; books were required toremain at school, although allowances were made inthe upper grades for books to be taken home; in ThabaTseka, books suffered as a result of the late delivery oflockers; and more involvement of the inspectors in teacher
training was necessary. Much thought has been giverto future evaluation. Very detailed questionnaires havebeen prepared as a basis for internal discussion.
Finances: the Revolving Fund
A system was established whereby students can renttheir books: in grade 1 for M2.00, in grades 2, ? and4 for M3.00, and in grades 5, 6, and 7 for M5.00. Norental fees are charged to students of very poor familieswho in the opinion of the head teacher cannot affordto pay them. These decisions are reviewed by the school
The Textbook Project m Lesotho 183
manager before submission is made to the MOE and theBSU. No charge is made for teachers' books or for theircopy of the students' book.
The process of payment and recovery of fees was madeofficial through appropriate legislation. The BSU estab-lished accounts at existing bank branches in major cen-ters where the fees collected by the school managersfrom the head teachers are deposited. These funds aretransferred at regular intervals by the bank to the in-terest-bearing account in Maseru. The BSU also acceptsfunds at its offices from head teachers or school man-agers who prefer this method of collection.
Head teachers are required to issue receipts for eachfee received from every student. Receipt books for thispurpose are issued by the BSU to all schools. Invoicesare addressed by the BSU to all school managers, show-ing what is due from all schools in their parish, in-cluding the collective totals. Questions of security nat-urally feature in decisions as to the best method ofcollecting funds.
Since book supplies are based on projections, therewill be differences between calculated and actual en-rollment and consequently between the actual sums duefrom the various schools and the invoices. As with stocksof books, there are shortages in some schools and sur-pluses in others, but totals on a parish or national levelare close to calculation. Differences can always be rec-onciled against the statistical returns made by the schools,although it may not be possiblz to do this until six tonine months after invoice.
The problem will eventually resolv .! itself when phase4 of the distribution plan has been reached (the deliveryof books against requisitions from head teachers or schoolmanagers). In any case, a minimal allowance of 10 per-cent was built into appraisal calculations to compensatefor the exemption from fees for poor families; the freeprovision of teachers' guides and student books forteachers; and administrative problems in the transmis-sion of funds.
No system is immune from slow or forgetful payment,and appropriate action has been necessary in a few cases.In the final analysis, however, results have been verysatisfactory, with receipts at the end of 1984 in excessof 80 percent of the total invoiced. The interest earnedby the deposited sums has increased this percentage toslightly more than 90 percent, the figure initially an-t :ci pated.
From 1984 on, receipts were fairly steady. showinga slight annual increase, reflecting, in turn, an enroll-ment increve. The cost of books has fluctuated con-siderably: in 1984 there was a large purchase fog thefirst national distrib,:tion; in 1985 replenishment only;and 1986 would ...we been similar to 1985 but for thefact that two extra subjects were included. The inclusiono: .iorkbooks for mathematics in grades 1 and 2 will
1 ,9 4
184 Albet 1 A1mt3 and John Overton
mean the purchase of books for every student in thosegrades every year. New titles will replace old ones forsome time to come. In view of the three-year life ofbooks, it would appear that expenditures will be highevery three years. Against this, however, there has beena steady buildup of stocks which may be used to re-plenish supplies. Small stocks of book lockers will servethe purpose for some time.
Achievements of the Project
Implementation of the Lesotho textbook project wasassisted by the long gestation period of two and a halfyears between first thoughts and project appraisal. Dur-ing this time, the dialog between the Ministry of Ed-ucation and the World Bank gave all those concerned(school managers, head teachers, and others) the op-portunity to appreciate and digest all the issues. Addi-tional advantages were that the project was handled bya unitthe Training for Self-Reliance Projectal-ready experienced in \vorking with the World Bank andstatistics were collected and organized on the main-frame computer attached to the Planning Departmentof the MOE.
Among the highlights of the project were its evolu-tionary approach, considerable public-relations exer-cises, continual detailed planning and "number-crunching," and the stubborn determination to havebooks in the right place at the right time. A very im-portant factor in the success of the project was thedecision to supply book lockers, most schools havingeither insufficient storage space or none at all. As abasis for distribution, there was a detailed mappingprocess. The walls of an office were completely coveredwith maps on which routes to schools were plannedwith pins and string. The packing of books f eachschool was done by t' . publishers according to prepared
instructions until the project could tackle this itself by1986. A computer was used to produce these instruc-tions, consequent invoices, and other items, and even-tually the project acquired its own desktop computer.The project was further expanded by the inclusion oftwo extra subjects. Not least, a team was developed ableto manage and run the operationthe Book SupplyUnit.
Any divergence from the original plan was due tocontinuous review of the existing structure. The projectchanges (usually in response to unforeseeable events)received the full support of the World Bank, whoseflexibility in this regard was much appreciated.
Instead of having full-time technical assistance, theproject had a textbook specialist as a consultant. Havinggood people in key positions gave stimulus for devel-opment. Nevertheless, care was taken in making changes.Time is needed to get used to a system; leeway or tol-erances must be allowed for in plans for development.A project does not misist only of the facts and figurespresented in reports: leadership needs to be provided.This is a dynamic process which has to be shaped to fitthe moment (difficult to categorize) so that people willacquire a sense of pride and achievement and the abilityto carry on by themselves. Leadership has been evidentin the project in that, in the key positions, responsi-bilities were taken seriously. Appropriate delegation al-lowed others to get on with their specific tasks, subjectonly to regular managerial and administrative proce-dures.
The major achievement of the Lesotho textbook proj-ect has been simply that objectives have been realizedperhaps not exactly in the way foreseen, but near enough.Books in the three core subjectsshortly to be in-creased to fiveare now available to all students, andthe revolving fund to be used once the credit periodhas expired is at present sufficiently large to provide forthe replacement of books.
1 `i r;a a_
14
Regional Development of Textbooks:The English-Speaking Caribbean
Pat E. Malone
Developing textbooks for use in mangy countries carriesvisions of a large-scale, expensive, highly bureaucra-tized process. It also implies a long-term operation, withmuch discussion over content, production, cost, anddistribution. In the normal context of textbook devel-opment within one country, there can be many discor-dant views which might jeopardize the successful com-pletion of any textbook. How does one decide betweenopposing viewpoints, and who makes the decision? Thissituation becomes magnified in a regional situation in-volving several countries. Individual views can becomehidebound policies of ministries of education and makeit most difficult to reso, ie differences.
The subject of a textbook can make content decisiomeither relatively easy or exceptionally difficult. If thecontent deals with culture and local styles of living,agreement on contest and how it is presented will notbe easy. Many regional differences may exist within onecountry; yet for the textbook to be appropriate for thestudents, it must reflect their local situation.
The case study in this chapter is unique because ittells how textbooks were successfully written and pub-lished for fourteen English-speaking Caribbean coun-tries in a subject, home economics, that is culturallyquite sensitive. These countries, although they havemany common elements, also have a heritage of jeal-
ousies and rivalries.Professionals in the subject worked through their
professional organization (representing the fourteen de-veloping countries) with a corresponding organizationfrom a developed country. This grass-roots approach(rather than the usual lending-agency-to-governmentmethod) had several positive features:
The participants were mot'vated because they would
be the users of the texts.
185
Volunteer talent and energy were utilized.
Relative freedom from cumbersome bureaucracyallowed the organisations faster response to needed
changes.
The process of book development was completedin a short time. This process included needs as-sessment, training in writing, editing, graphics,use of local personnel, cross-national coordination,and ongoing evaluation. Yet the total developmentcost was relatively low.
Because of these features, it is worth examining theproject to determine whether it is an isolated case or aviable alternative to the usual process of textbook de-velopment.
Background
The countries which comprise the English-speakingCaribbean are Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada,Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidadand Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. The total distancesare considerable, ranging from the South Americancoastline to the Central American coastline and up tothe North American coast.
These countries share a heritage of British colonial-ism. As a result, their educational systems have beenmodeled after the British where the secondary !evel isdivided into two segmentsjunior secondary and se-nior secondary. (The one exception to this sy3tem isTurks and Caicos.) The duration of each segment variesfrom country to country. The number of years at the
19 C
186 Pat E. Malone
primary level ranges from six to eight, with the majorityhaving seven.
The junior secondary range is three to five years. Sixcountries have five years and six countries have three.In all but four (Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, and Britishvirgin Islands), however, the junior secondary entrancelevel is at age twelve. Frequently, this is referred to aseleven plus. The senor secondary level ranges from twoto five years, with the majority at two years.
Generally, there is a common entrance examinationat age eleven plus for admission to secondary school.This is set and marked by the individual country. Thestudents are required to sit for various external exam-inations, however. The London City and Guilds Ex-amination, the Royal Society of Arts Examination, andthe Associated Examining Board General Certificate ofEducation Examination are examples of external ex-aminations which are mainly for students of technicalschools. The most familiar is the General Certificate ofEducation, Ordinary Level (0 Level), which is writtenat the end of grade 11 and has international recognition.It is set and marked by personnel in the United King-dom. If the student wishes to attend a university, thena further two years must be completed and anotherexaminationGeneral Certificate of Education, Ad-vanced Level (A Level) set and marked in the UnitedKing.;om must be taken.
As the countries gradually obtained their indepen-dence from the United Kingdom, an external examiningauthority was viewed as an infringement of the nationaleducational system. Of more importance, the contentof many of these examinations was frequently inappro-priate to the Caribbean. If a student used correct Ca-ribbean examples that the British examiners were un-familiar with, then frequently these examples weremarked wrong.
The countries worked together to establish the Ca-ribbean Examinations Council (cxc). It not only acts asa regional examining authority, but also is charged withcurriculum development in the various subjects. Eachcountry has a cxc advisory committee with membersfrom the teaching profession and the general com-munity. Development and marking of different subjectsare being )hased in gradually; home economics wasscheduled to he in effect by June 1982.
Home economics covers general principles applicableto any country, but its content must reflect the countryand its culture. The stated goal is to improve the qualityof individual and family life. Content includes such top-ics as consumer education, family living, family eco-nomics, health education, nutrition, food preparationand service, and clothing and textiles. Whereas, say, thebenefits of vitamin C will be consistent in developedand developing countries, local food sources high invitamin C will vary from country to country depending
on the agriculture. Family living is particularly reflec-tive of a country and its culture. For this reason, text-books written for one country usually are not useful inanother because they do not reflect its conditions. Asof 1979, most of the home economics textbooks beingused in t:.e English-speaking Caribbean were from theUnited Kingdom, Canada, or LI-It United States. The fewCaribbean books available were generally concerned onlywith foods and food preparation. Often there were noteaching materials for teachers or students.
Evolution of the Project
In 1976, the International Federation for Home Eco-nomics held its Thirteenth World Congress in Ottawa,Canada. One resolution was to encourage home eco-nomics associations to develop "twinning" relation-ships. Twinning was viewed as an opportunity to developcloser ties between home economics associations of de-veloped and developing countries and to further thegeneral goals of home economics education. This twin-ning mechanism was also perceived as a useful tool forbringing about cooperative projects between the part-ners.
The Canadian Home Economics Association (cHEA),which was particularly supportive of this idea, encour-aged local affiliates to form international developmentcommittees. In 1978, the CHEA received funding fromthe Canadian International Development Agency (ciDA)to run an international development workshop. Thisbrought together foreign students studying home eco-nomics in Canada, home economists from across Can-ada, and guest home economists from other countries.The workshop was so successful that it has become anannual event.
That same year, the Caribbean Association of HomeEconomists (cAHE) requested general as well as specificprofessional assistance. The CAHE is a professional or-ganization of home economics educators with membersdrawn from the fourteen English-speaking countries inthe Caribbean. The CAHE'S request was forwarded to theCHEA, which then approached its largest affiliate, theToronto Home Economics Association (TilEA), with thesuggestion that it twin with the CAHE. The request metwith a favorable response because THEA had just formedan international development committee and about 10percent of Toronto's population was West Indian. Thepresident of the cAHE attended the 1979 CHEA Inter-national Development Workshop for discussions withthe THEA representative, and twinning was formally an-nounced between the two organizations. This was thefirst twinning relationship to be established.
Although both are home economics associations, thecomposition and structure of THEA and the CAHE are
quite different. TI1EA has a membership of more than650 professionals, who work in industry, government,business, and education (about 30 percent are in edu-cation). Eight monthly newsletters are sent out, andeight meetings are held each year. Membership mustbe renewed yearly by mail. The CAHE has a membershipof between 150 and 250, of whom 90 percent are teach-ers. Ideally there are members from each of the fourteencountries, but this varies from year to year, as do themembership numbers; in 1979, the CAHE had no mem-bers from the Bahamas. The CAHE holds a biennial con-ference (in a different country each time), and renewalof membership is based on attending this conference.No renewal notice is sent by mail. One magazine isprinted every two years, but members do not automat-ically receive it as part of their membership. Financialsupport comes from membership fees as well as fromthe sale of magazines. Communication is difficult be-cause of lack of funds and great distances.
Discussions about twinning were held between theCAHE president and the THEA representative. The CAHE
demonstrated willingness to twin but indicated thattwinning was not going to solve its immediate needs.More direct help was requestedequipment, supplies,and the creation of suitable textbooks that reflected thefull scope of home economics in the Caribbean. Thecreation of textbooks was considered a project that couldbe developed cooperative!)as opposed to the conceptof donor-recipient that would pertain to equipment andsupplies. In any case, THEA was a nonprofit organizationthat could volunteer human capital but not money.
The CARE president felt the most urgent need for textswas at the junior secondary level in conjunction withthe development of the home economics syllabus by thecxc. The texts would serve two functions: help teachersto teach their students and, on a broader level, reachadults in the home through their children. To servethese two functions, the nooks needed to be very in-expensive and readily acce,sible. It was agreed that THEAwould spend the fall of 1979 looking for funding anddesigning a cooperative plan to develop the desired texts.
THEA (through the CHEA) approached CIDA for funding.A proposal submitted to CIDA was accepted in January1980. One obvious difficulty in developing the proposalwas that it was done in isolation by one partner withonly one telephone call to the CANE president to discusthe contents. The need for closer dialog between thetwins became evident in subsequent misunderstandingsof, and additions to, components of the proposal. Fundswere not available at the time to facilitate this dialog.A recommendation for closer initial collaboration hasbenefited subsequent tinning projects by other CHEAaffiliates.
The plan for the project was to be completed by De-cember 1981, with a preliminary meeting in February
Regional Development of Textbooks 187
1980 between the CANE president and secretary and twoTHEA cochairmen to discuss the stages. In April, a con-ference in Antigua (where the president resided) wouldbring together the members of the CAHE executive board(who were from different countries, and the CANE rep-resentatives fl am all fourteen el the Caribbean coun-tries. The plan would be presented to them, along witha specified quantity of survey questionnaire number 1.The purpose of the survey was to evaluate current ed-ucational materials and to determine what levels andtopics were most in need of development and revision.The survey was also to identify resources and possiblewriters. Each representative would return to her coun-try and distribute the questionnaires to home e:onom-ics teachers for completion and return to the CAHE pres-ident in Antigua.
A rough draft of questionnaire number 2to identifyCaribbean life-styleswas circulated to the executiveboard for discussion and finalization. This questionnairewas for use by the writers and would be sent from andreturned to THEA. Each representative and CAHE exec-
utive would receive a quantity of copies (roughly pro-portional to their country), which would then be dividedamong other home economics teachers to administerto a sample population.
A Canadian consultant, a home economist with teach-ing experience, lAould be hired for eighteen rnonC.s tolive in Antigua and facilitate the writing of textsthroughout the Caribbean region. The resulting mar.a-scripts would be multicopied by THEA, sent to the Ca-ribbean countries, and pretested in the classroom. Themanuscripts would then be revised (as indicated by thepretest), and camera-ready copies for printing would bedelivered to the CAHE by December 1981.
During the preparation of the proposal there wasmuch discussion of whether the texts should be printedin Canada. On the one hand, it could be argued thatthe books would be quickly printed and ready for use.On the other hand, them was concern that this couldbe perceived as interference by outside ministries ofeducation and that it would be preferable to have themprinted in the Caribbean region, even if this caused adelay. Although this latter alternative was the final de-cision and was written into the proposal, the CAHE pres-ident and other executive board members did not under-stand what was involved, and THEA members did notperceive this lack of understanding until later. Dialogduring the development of the proposal could have clar-ified this problem. The budget for the project was to beCan$99,000 from CIDA, Can$3,000 from THEA, Can$42,000
in kind from THEA, and Can$61,500 in kind from theCANE (in kind means volunteer service). The final figureswere Can$102,728.50 from cm, Can$4,100.96 from ThEA,Can$60,000 in kind from THEA, and Can$65,000 in kindfrom CAHE.
198
188 Pat E. Malone
Process
The first meeting in February between the THE\ CO-chairmen and the mi.: president and secretary revealedproblems as a result of developing a plan when therehad not been adequate communication. The presidentfelt that there should be a CAHE consultant as well asthe proposed Canadian consultant. Although this wasnot in the budget as approved by cm, some artisticrearrangement was managed to satisfy her concern. Thesolution to this problem illustrated the need for flexi-bility among partners as well as flexibility in the planitself.
From February to April, the job of the CAHE presidentwas to communicate the plan to her executive boardand to notify the CAHE representatives of the April Con-ference. THEA personnel were tc hire a Canadian con-sultant and to prepare finished copies of questionnaire1 and a rough draft of questionnaire 2. Because shewould play a pivotal role in implementing the plan, itwas hoped that the Canadian consultant would be hiredin time to attend the conference so that the executiveboard and the CAHE representatives could meet her.
The Aprii conference in Antigua served a number ofpurposes. It was an opportunity for the CANE executiveboard to meet and discuss other business in additionto that of the project. It allowed MEA personnel to meetall the members of the CAHE executive board and CAHE
representatives, and it allowed the CAHE executive boardto select a CAHE consultantthe president herself wasselected.
The CANE assured its representatives that a letter wouldgo out to all the countries' ministries of education s'x-plaining the project and requesting their support. 1.h:-fortunately, these letters were never sent, and ministriesof education subsequently heard of the project in aninformal manner and at different stages. In some ;n-stances, the local writer was with the ministry; in others,THEA personnel approached the ministry when they wa-ited the country for a workshop. At two of the confer-ence-workshops, the minister of education opened theproceedings. Subsequently, at a regional meeting of theministers of education, the project was discussed as aviable way of developing textbooks. All the ministrieswere most cooperative when approached.
The Canadian consultant arrived in Antigua at thebeginning of July and two weeks later, for personalreasons, was forced to resign. This immediately put theproject into a crisis. The decision had to be made whetherto restructure or cancel it. Re .tructuring it would meanoperating it from Toronto, with THEA personnel goingdown to the Caribbean more frequently to perform therole of the Canadian consultant. This method of oper-ation was not congenial to CIDA, but the decision wasmade to continue the project. A consequence was that
the role of the CAHE consultant assumed greater im-portance.
In retrospecs the resignation of the Canadian con-sultant worked to the advantage of the project. Althoughthe Caribbean countries have much in common andwork closely together in many areas, they are still sov-ereign states within the region. Interisland jealousieshave existed in the past, and this heritage of rivalry isreflected in the feelings of many of the nationals of eachcountry. Had the consultant been located in Antiguafor eighteen months as was planned, she would havebeen perceived rightly or wrongly as being closely alignedwith the participants in that country. Because of therestructuring, the THEA personnel were perceived asbeing neutral, especially as the Toronto Caribbean com-munity consisted of ex-nationals from all fourteen coun-tries.
The restructuring required a THEA person to act asproject administrator and liaison with the CAHE. It alsonecessitated hiring a writing specialist, arranging for-mal workshops on writing and editing techniques, andbringing together writers in one location (Previouslythe plan had been for the Canadian consultant to movefrom country to country and from writer to writer.)
During the fall of 1980, questionnaires 1 and 2 weretabulated. The project administrator met with the CAHEconsultant tc discuss the revised structure in Antiguaand to plan for the writing workshops. The first work-shop was arranged for January 1981. But th2re wasdifficulty in communication over the selection of thewriters. The CAHE consultant was of the opinion thatthey had already been fully identified in questionnaire1. That was not the case: some names had been sug-gested, but nothing had been finalized. THEA kit thatthe CANE consultant should select the writers in con-sultation with the executive board
The CANE consultant made two suggestions that, againin retrospect, were wise. One was to select the writersfrom as many countries as possible to ensure broadrepresentation; the rationale was to gain more accep-tance for the books with the various ministries of ed-nation in the knowledge that their local people hadbeen involved. The second suggestion was to hold theworkshops in different countriesfor essentially sim-ilar reasons.
The CAHE consultant identified and contacted thetwenty selected writers, who represented ten countriesout of the fourteen. Each was to receive an honorarium.All were teachers essentially without writing experience.Often selection was based on who the consultant knewin the country or who was the heal of the local homeeconomics association. Much prestige was accorded tothe writers selected.
It was decided to hold the first workshop in SaintLucia. In preparation, THEA hired a writing specialist
who was also a home economist to provide training inwriting techniques and simple graphics for the teachers.Later, there would be a workshop on editing techniques.THEA prepared kits for each writer, including such ma-terials as clipboards, paper, graphics, and writing equip-ment. Also included in the kits were the results of ques-tionnaire 2 identifying Caribbean life-styles.
At the January workshop in Saint Lucia (held over aweekend under the direction of the writing specialist),the writers divided themselves into seven groups rep-resenting the seven subjects identified in questionnaire1. They used as a guide the cxc home economics syl-labus, the results of questionnaire 2, their own preferredreference books, and their teaching experience. Theyalso identified the need for a glossarybecause certainfoods or practices were -ailed by different names indifferent countries. By the end of the weekend, theywere to have written one chapter of their chosen sec-ton. The degree of dedication and mutual support shownby these women was truly commendable.
Between January and March each writer was to com-plete half of her section and send it to the THEA writingspecialist for word processing. These manuscripts werethen to be taken to Barbados in April and used for theone-day editing workshop. Each writer learned editingtechniques and corrected her own manuscript. Thisworkshop was arranged to precede the CAHE bieni *alconference so that it would allow the writers to attendthe conference and do some public relations withthe CAHE members abotit the development of the texts.Some of the writers were elected to the CAHE executiveboard.
As the manuscripts developed, THEA and the CAHE
realized the need for better graphics to make the booksmore appealing. This had not been allowed for in theoriginal budget, and so it was necessary to go back toCIDA for further funding. The funds ($19,800) weregranted, and a one-week graphics workshop was plannedfor July in Trinidad. A graphics specialist who was alsoa home economist was hired. Six of the writers whohad exhibited drawing skills agreed to participate. Allwriters indicated in their manuscripts what drawings,sketches, and tables they wanted. It was hoped that byJuly all the manuscripts would be in Toronto and onthe word processor so that the graphics could be com-pleted and the project would still be on time. Of thetwenty-one sections, however, only two-thirds werecompleted by July. Sections were still being sent toToronto as late as December 1981.
The objectives of the graphics workshop were twofold:to train the participants in graphic skills and ensurethat the graphics for the manuscripts reflected the sameCaribbean style. Every participant received a set ofgraphics materials. Although they worked late each nightin an attempt to finish all the graphics for the books,
Regional Development of Textbooks 189
it was impossible in the allotted time. Special equip-ment had been needed, and it was planned to leave thisequipment with the CLHE to assist in the preparationof graphics for their magazine. At the end of the week,one of the members residing in Trinidad agreed to dofurther work using this equipment and to forward theresults to Toronto. From August to October, furthermanuscripts were received and put on the word pro-cessor, and two THEA personnel worked on graphics toprepare the manuscripts for pretesting.
Each writer was sent two sectionsher own and oneotheralong with evaluation forms. The writer had tocot:tact several teachers who would either read the ma-terial and comment or teach a lesson from the materialand comment. These comments were then returned tothe THEA writing specialist who, in conjunction withthe CAHE consultant, reviewed them and made correc-tions on the word processor. In addition, representativesfrom the Roman Catholic Church in Saint Lucia readthe section on family living to determine whether itwas suitable for Catholic Caribbean countries. The sec-tions on nutrition and food and food service were readfor accuracy by the Caribbean Food and Nutrition In-stitute (cFNI) in Jamaica.
Although this pretesting was planned for Septemberand October, in fact the first set was not sent out untilOctober and the second not until December and Jan-uary. This proc,..,s took until April 1982 to complete.The responses to the pretesting were most revealingMost of the corrections were minor with the env)*of the sections on nutrition and food and food service.The pretesting by teachers not involved in the writingbrought forth comments such a , "I learned as much asthe students" or "I never knew what parasites werebefore," indicating a further value of the texts.
The major difficulty revealed by the pretesting wasthat the sections on nutrition and food and food serviceproved unacceptable to the CFNI as well as to some ofthe other teachers. One difficulty was that the Caribbeanwas in the process of going metric whereas all of thefood preparation was in imperial measures. Then therewere other passages in the nutrition section that hadnot been sufficiently addressed. The CFNI offered to helprevise these passages. The cAHE consultant was in agree-ment, and so the project administrator and writing spe-cialist spent one week in March wo. ing with the CFNI
on the revisions.From April to June 1982, THEA personnel worked on
the remaining graphics, revisions, and proofreading toprepare the camera-ready copy for Caribbean HomeEconomics in Action, books 1, 2, and 3. This copy wassent to all writers and the CAHE executive board for tworeasons: it was felt that all would like to see the finalproduct, and there were some reservations about theprinting. THEA felt that the camera copy could serve as
200
190 Pat E. Malone
a model from which each country might print if. foisome unfortunate reasor, the CAHE was unable to ar-range for regional printing and distribution. In June1982, the CAHE signed a contract with Heinemann Ed-ucational Books (Caribbean) Limited to print and dis-tribute the books. The CAHE instructed THEA to send thecamera copy to Heinemann Educational Books it Ja-maica, and THEA complied.
Contact with Ministries of Education
Originally THEA felt that most of the communicationabout the project would be done in the Caribbean bythe CAHE executive board and by writers through theirrespective ministries of education. But it became clearquite quickly that many of the participants lacked in-fluence with their ministries of education and requiredassistance from the CAHE. The CAHE, however, was notin a position to lend this assistance to most of therepresentatives and wri"ers because of a lack of directionwithin the CAHE executive board. As a result, the taskdevolved onto the THEA representatives every time theywere in the Caribbean. These representatives viewedthemselves as professionals working with others of theirprofession; that they were perceived insteaa as Cana-dians representing ciDA, however, seemed to work intheir favor. Consequently, THEA personnel arranged tomeet with the staffs of ministries of education in thecompany of CANE writers or representatives.
Meetings were held with the staffs of ministries ofeducation (or the permanent secretary) of Antigua, Bar-bados, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, andTrinidad and Tobago each time THEA personnel were inthe country. That the husband of one of the writers wasthen minister of education for Saint Lucia was alsohelpful because through him news of the project spreadto ministries in countries that THEA did not visit. THEApersonnel also held meetings with the Canadian highcommissioners representing Barbados, Jamaica, andTrinidad and Tobago to inform them of the p_ ject.Press, television, and radio interviews were usually heldduring these visits, and THEA prepared a press releasefor all writers to give to their local papers.
Usually THEA met with local home economics asso-ciations to discuss the rroject and enlist assistance forthe writers and participation in the pretesting phase.The decision was also made to use the THEA newsletterto communicate progress on the project, work-com-pletion dates for the writers, and news of the Caribbeanparticipants. A new column to present this informationwas started. Each member of the CAHE executive board,representatives, and writers received the THEA newslet-ter monthly over the :ife of the project, and this com-munication link has continued to the present.
Publishing Process
For the texts at the junior secondary level, the writingspecialist had recommended a two-column format to-gether with many illustrations representative of the Ca-ribbean life-styles so that the students would be able torelate to the material. Because the texts were to bedeveloped only to camera-ready stage, it was assumedthat the CAHE would be responsible for printing anddistribution. As mentioned, however, there was poorcommunication on this issue, and the CAHE assumedthat THEA would make all the arrangements. THEA feltthat this would be interference on their part and thatit was a responsibility of the CAHE. At the same time,the success of the project depended upon the booksbeing printed when the manuscripts were ready. Con-sequently, the task of exploring printing possibilitiesdevolved on THEA in the same way as the communica-tions task had.
Three possibilities became apparent. One was to se-lect a local printer from one of the countrieswhichraised a number of important questions. Which countrywould be chosen? Would the other countries acceptbooks from a printer not their own? Was the equipmentsufficiently modern to produce books of the requiredquality? Where was the money to be found? Was theCAHE sufficiently well organized to manage the printingas well as the distribution?
A recognized publisher was a second possibility. Sucha publisher would be seen as regional and thereforeacceptable to all countries. But the CAHE could losecontrol over the books and what was printed. Would apublisher be interested in doing the books on the CANE'Sterms? One publisher in Trinidad was approached butwa , not interested.
The third possibility was suggested by the Canadianhigh commiss:oner in Trinidad. The Caribbean AidCouncil, located in Trinidad, could provide funds for aregional project of this nature. It was still necessary,however, to find t., company with suitable equipmentfor the printing job. Furthermore, the CAHE would haveto assume responsibility for overseeing the job and fordistribution. THEA kept the CAHE executive board in-formed of all these possibilities and left the choice tothe CAHE; but the CAHE executive board found it difficultto come to agreement and no decision had been madeby January 1982.
When THEA met with the CFNI in Jamaica in March1982 to revise the sections on nutrition and food andfood service, one of the Jamaican writers indicated thatas a result of her press release, Heinemann EducationalBc ks (Caribbean) Limited (HEWwas interested inpublishing the texts. They were interested because thematerial had been developed in the Caribbean and thecAHE gave it credibility. HER argued that books would
last longer with a glossy hard cover, but this suggestionwas resisted because it would raise the pi ice consid-erably and did not fit the original CAHE criteria.
After much discussion over the next three months acontract was signed that gave the CAHE copyright aswell as royalties and eliminated the need for the CAKE
to take responsibility for production and distribution.Revisions had to receive the CAHE'S approval. A com-promise was reached on a soft glossy cover that wouldbe more appealing to the students but add less to theprice per book.
Ian Randle, managing director of Heinemann (Ca-ribbean) Limited, described the problems of printingand distributing f h ? texts in a letter to the THEA projectdirector:
We faced a different set of constraints when themanuscripts first came to us. Our experience told usthat we could not successfully market the series asit existed. There were already two existing well-en-trenched courses on the market, and to dislodge thosecourses the new series would have to at least lookbetter. The major changes which we thought nec-essary were: (i) complete copy-editing of the material;(ii) re-drawing of most of the illustrations; and (iii)complete re-design of the books to provide for moreeconomic use of space with resultant reduction inlength and cost.
To have lower price, superior material, and propercoverage of the syllabus is not enough; buyers havea conception of how a book should look, and unlessit conforms to the popular conception of what a booklooks like, it will always be outsold by the competi-tiori, even if that competition is more expensive. Pric-ing was always a major concern of the publisher . . .
It influences the way the book is designedthat is,its size, extent the number and use of illustrationsthe use of color, and the number of books to beprinted.
Having decided to completely revamp the threebooks, we then had to seek the assistance of Heine-mann (U.K.), partly because we had at the time anon-going co-publishing arrangement in other sub-jects. We felt that the subject as well as the qualityof the material merited the design and productionexpertise of our U.K. partners. We also needed finan-cial assistance as the investment in a three-book sec-ondary level textbook course is quite substantial. Quiteapart from being a non-traditional subject, the newcourse would mean going against established com-petition so the financial risks were considerable.
Although the book was actually manufactured inthe U.K., much of the editorial and other preparatorywork was done in the Caribbean. We produced thebook in the U.K. because the manufacturing costs
Regional Development of Textbooks 191
were lower and because it is actually easier to dis-tribute books from the U.K. than, say, from Jamaicato the rest of the Caribbean. In the case of this series,these concerns remained uppermost in our calcula-tions, considering the stated concerns of the CAHE.
However, we took the decision that people would bewilling to pay a rasonable price for an attractivelyproduced. sound textbook course, written and en-dorse(' by the leading exponents of the subject in theregion.
CAHE personnel spent the next two years working withHEB on the revisions. By June 1984, books 1 and 2 ofCaribbean Home Economics in Action had been pro-duced; by January 1985. so had book 3. HEB introducedthe books formally at the April 1985 CAHE biennial con-ference in Saint Lucia. THEA representatives attended,and everybody celebrated the completion of the booksand the successful international partnership.
Distribution
in all fourteen countries, the usual procedure is tohave a list of recommended books for each subject. Theteachers can then suggest which they prefer the stu-dents to buy, usually from a retail bookstore. In somecountries, the government provides a book allowancefor each student; in others, the school purchases a setof books for the classroom.HEB adopted the normal practice (.1 distributing com-
plimentary copies to teachers and ministries of edu-cation, hoping that the teachers would ask for the booksto be put on the list. Because so many countries hadbeen involved in writing the books, it was assumed thatthis exposure would cause teachers and local home eco-nomics associations to ask that the books be placed onthe recommended list. The distribution figures for books1 and 2 are shown in table 14-1.
Book 1 is the least expensive, book 3 the most. Ja-maica and Trinidad have HEB divisions which sell to therest cf the Caribbean, but more often these countriesbuy directly from London at the pub!ished price less 25percent discount. They then price the books accordingto standard markups. This explains the wide price var-iation (as reported by the CANE to THEA) for example,book 1 sells for as little as ECM (approximatelyCan$7.50) in one country and for as much as EC$25 inanother.
Use of Books
After the manuscripts were completed in June 1982,the CAHE indicated to THEA that it would very much likeTHEA to arrange workshops in the use of the textbooks
...>
4. [.I ,c.,
192 Pat E. Malone
Table 14-1. Sales of Books in Six Countries,1983-84
Country Year Book l Book 2
Barbados 1984 405 15
1983 10
2,5004
Jamaica 1984 200 2581983 4,700
Grenada 1984 10
1983
Saint Lucia 1984 501983
Trinidad 1984 841 1,8311983 1,150
Saint Vincent 1984
1983 32
Totalb 8,674 2,511Not available.a. Hes Jamaica.b. Includes copies sold elsewhere.Note: The figures in this table are from Heinemann Educational
Books (U K.) Limited. The number of books sold in 1985 was: book1, 5,125: book 2, 3,409; and book 3, 3,908. This represents a 40percent Increase over 1984 sales. The publisher expected the booksto be put on the junior secondary recommended book list in Trinidadfor the 1986-87 year, which would trcrease sales dramatically be-cause the student population in Trinidad is 40.000.
for the teachers of the various countries. THEA was re-ceptive to the idea, but it felt that the books needed tobe more available throughout the region before work-shops were held and not until then could the nature ofthe workshops be decided. Would they, for example, beused to develop a teachers' manual, lesson plans, orvisual aids to be used with the books or perhaps all ofthese? Questionnaire number 3 was sent out in June1985 to obtain answers to these questions. Some of theinformation communicated by the responses is reveal-ing.
For questionnaire 2, the response rate was 73 per-cent; this in itself indicates support and interest. Forquestionnaire 3 (sent to a similar mailing list) the re-sponse rate was 23.5 percent, indicating a lack of in-terest in workshops at that time.
A breakdown of the responses follows ("n/a" meansnot applicable):
1. Are the books available to you in your school?
Yes = 80.2 percentNo = 17.0 percentN/a = 2.8 percent
2. Are books 1, 2, and 3 being used in your school?
Yes = 43.2 percent(In other instances, books 1 and/or 2 were being used.)
3. How many copies have you (usually of be 'ks 1and/or 2)?
Fewer than 6 = 60.5 percentMore than 6 = 19.8 percent
N/a = 19.7 percent
4. Has each student his or her own copy (usually ofbooks ! and/or 2)?
Yes = 14.8 percentNo = 85.2 percent
5. How are the books used?
Text = 39.5 percentFor teacher and/or student
reference and research = 58.0 percentN/a = 2.5 percent
Penetration varied from country to country. Manyresponses indicated that the books were being put onthe recommended list in the coming year. Both studentsand teachers liked the hooks, usually indicating thesuitability of the level, the coordination with the cxcsyllab.is, and the relevance of the texts to the Caribbean.Sometimes the books were being used in forms 4 and5, although this was not intended. The purchasers var-ied from country to co:intry ministries of education,students, local home economics associations, schools,and teachers.
Conclusions
The union of two professional organizations CAHEand THEA to develop texts can be viewed as a success.The twinning of nongovernmental organizations pro-vided strongly motivated, involved professionals and grass-roots support, and an immediate benefit was the pro-duction of texts with the help of content specialists. Atthe same time, there was an enormous amount of vol-unteer help with a high degree of individual commit-ment. A question that comes to mind is whether thiscommitment could be duplicated in other situations. Itcould be argued that where content specialists at thegrass-roots of a subject perceive a need, then the com-mitment could be duplicatedbecause these peoplewould be the ultimate users of the product.
One problem was that the content specialists viewedtheir main task to be merely writing the texts. Littleconsideration was given to what happened after the textshad been written. It was assumed that acceptance byministries of education would be forthcoming. It wasequally assumed that printing and distribution wouldfollow naturally. Such assumptions were made primar-ily through ignorance of all the stages necessary forsuccessful production of texts.
One might argue that such a problem was not of
. aajor importance in the English-speaking Caribbeanbecause the ministries of education were already work-ing together closely in the development of the cxc andtherefore anything which facilitated the cxc would hewell received by them. This is true, but the fact remainsthat had not a publisher been found, the project mightwell have foundered and the written material wouldnever have reached the students because the ministriescould not have endorsed one set of books to the extentof publishing themnot unless they had been formallyinvolved since the beginning. The most that they couldhave done would have been to place the completed bookson the recommended lists.
Ideally, cooperation during the project between thecontent specialist and the publisher would have savedvaluable time and provided the specialist with neededexpertise in the areas of production, format, and graph-ics. Furthermore, prompter contact with the ministriesof education might have helped with teacher workshopsand the development of manuals and visual aids, and itwould almost certainly have led to immediate placementof the texts on the book list. Obviously such an operationwould be easier to repeat in a single country: but asthe recent operati n has demonstrated, it is still pos-sible among a group of countries in a region if thecountries have common interests and are already work-ing together.
Ghana Twinning Froject
Some developing countries are cooperating in thedevelopment of their own version of the cxc for ex-ample, the West African Examinations Council, whichembraces Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.Indeed, another CHEA affiliatethe Saskatoon HomeEconomics Association (si-w.k) is twinned with theGhana Home Science Association (GHSA) and is under-taking a similar process of developing texts. The GHSAhad seen copies of the Caribbean books and wanted todevelop a set for their own country. Before preparinga plan of action. the SHEA conferred with THE:A personnelabout the THEA-CAHE experience.
Ghana is adapting the Caribbean model. Two SHEArepresentatives went to Ghana to meet with their coun-terparts and discuss the proposal for developing thetexts before the proposal was submitted. This eliminatedthe problem of one twin developing the plan in isolation.The visit also included discussions with publishers andwith officials of the Ghana Education Service. Thanksto a previous meeting with the director general of the
Regional Development of Textbooks 193
Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Book Develop-ment Council is working closely with the GHSA. Thus,when the pretesting stage ,s reached, 5,000 copies ofeach book will be distributed to selected schools. Thiswould not be possible without the support of the GhanaEducation Service.
A publisher was selected and a contract was signedwith the GHSA. The publisher agreed to provide an ed-itorial consultant to assist writers and a graphics con-sultant to coordinate the graphics and written mate-rials. The publisher also agreed to assume full financialresponsibility for publishing the books and to pay roy-alties to the GHSAas with the Caribbean agreement,except that the contract was signed in -dvance of thebooks being developed. The format of the Ghana text-books is similar to that of the Caribbean books, butbook 1 is for forms 1-3, book 2 (which may be splitinto two books) is for forms 4-5, and book 3 is a teach-er's manual.
A Ghanaian consultant was selected, with a role verysimilar to that of the Ti EA project director. Such achoke was quite feasible in this single-country situa-tion, whereas in the Caribbean the "political neutrality"of the project director had been essential. The muchgreater distance between Saskatoon and Ghana as op-posed to Toronto and the Caribbean also made it apractical choice. The time period for the Ghana projectis essentially the same as the Caribbean (two years), butbecause of the early involvement of the publisher andthe Ministry of Education, the books are expected to bein circulation by the end of this period, whereas in theCaribbean, a further two years were required to workwith the publisher.
The publisher made it clear at the outset that pro-curement of paper would be a problem. As a result, theSHEA made arrangements with the Canadian Organi-zation for Development through Education to providehalf of the paper requirements. The paper is expectedto be used for the final printing of the texts.
The plates will likely be prepared out of the countryand the books printed in Ghana. Quality is importantfor the acceptance of the texts. There is a possibilitythat they might be used regionally by the West AfricanExaminations Council, which would mean wider dis-tribution and higher sales.
In summary, the THM-CANE project evolved a processfor developing textbooks that was successful but hadsome weaknesses. Repeating this process, the SHEA-GlISA
project improved upon the original and showed how itcould be adapted to a single country. It is a process thatother countries might usefully adopt.
n , .A. (1 ir
Part IV
The Future: Will New ElectronicMedia Make the Textbook Obsolete?
What of the future? Are new instructional technologies,especially the computer, likely to render textbooks ob-solete or reduce them to a minor role ir. the classroom?Some fOirists have been suggesting that this will soonhappen, and one hears the argument advanced thatdeveloping nations should vault over the textbook :1.ageof educational development and move as quickly as pos-sible to the use of the new technologies. The final twochapters represent a kind of debate about this issue. Inchapter 15, L. R. Fernig, J. F. P!:.71ougal, and i-lerbertOhlman develop the argument to' the utility of the newinformation technologies in the schools. In chapter 16,Edmund Sullivan and Paul Olson counter this with anethnographic account of how computers are actuallyused in schools. On tne basis of their careful exami-nation of several schools in a rich country, Canada,which has made r significa, it fiscal commitment to theeducational use of computers, they conclude that thecomputer "is unlikely to rival textbooks in the next fiftyyears, despite the views of computer enthusiasts." Thisconclusion should give pause to any who are advocatingthe extensive introduction of computers in poor juris-dictions.
Perhaps the principal lesson to be drawn is that whatthaw: and Sullivan and refer to as the "ecology of theschool" ir a powerful impediment to any rapid, fun-damental change in how teachers and children operatein classroom.. If, in the short to medium term, the newtechnologies are to have any significant impact on howeducation is con, .icted, it will most likely be in non-school settingsfor example, distance education andpostsecondary education. And even in sin cases, thecomputer is likely to complement rather than replacethe printed word as an instructional medium.
These final chaptets also remind us that in manydeveloping nations the introduction of textbooks thatrequire teaching styles very different from those traditionally in use represents an innovation as funda-mental (in Verspoor's terms) as computers in the schoolsof a rich nation such as Canada. In such circumstances,if one makes all the right policy and technical decisionsbut neglects the ecology of the school, one will fail toimprove learning in the classroom.
1951104. )
15
Will Textbooks Be Replaced by New InformationTechnologies?
L. R. Fernig, J. F. McDougal, and Herbert Ohlman
To put the matter baldly, two main problems occur withtextbo(3, Ather they are available and teachers relytoo mush on themteachers teach the textbook de-spite training to the contrary or as often happens indeveloping countries, textbooks are in too short supplyto be of much value. Let us then consider the functionof textbooks more fully.
The textbook is a versatile tool for both teacher andlearner. Textbooks support teachers in several ways:they contain lessors material in graded sequence; theyhelp to structure and organize the learning experienceof the class; they assist the teacher in the daily task ofpreparing lesson plans; and they provide recapitulatorymaterial and exercises to test progress. For the student,textbooks can be conveniently carried from school tohome and provide a summary record of each lesson.These are the qualities of good textbooks, as innumer-able official criteria for their selection indicate. Yet de-spite (or maybe because of) such virtues, undue relianceon the textbook makes for stereotyped, impersonalteachirl. In short, bookish teaching can be equatedwith passive learning.
What is perhaps less obvious is that any textbook isbased on a conception (the authors or the editorialbody's) of the relationships and processes in teachingand learningwhat may be called the hidden agenda.This agenda may lead to varying pedagogical approachesfavoring, for example, either an individual or a collectiveand either a constraining, repetitive or free, autono-mous view of education. Although not always obvious,this agenda will almost certainly exert a powerful in-fluence in classroom encounters.
'Another function of the textbook is to pro% iue ref-erence information. Encyclopedic textbooks were com-mon until recently in some European countries; all thesubject matter to be taught in an elementary grade was
placed in a single volume, which served as a reference.Modern publishing everywhere has become more so-phisticated and specialized (the canon now is one text-book per subject per grade), but the increasing size ofthe books, along with serial presentation (text, work-book, teacher's edition, supplementary readers, and soforth) shows that the character of reference work hasnot altogether disappeared. At the same time, the se-lective filtering of information by the author remainspart of the hidden agenda. It has, however, been claimedthat the surge of paperback publishing in industrialcountries has reduced the reference value of textbooksin some subjects because it is oftinl cheaper to makeuse of a group of original texts 1: pan a textbook author'santhology.
Yet another function of the textbook is to help stu-dents make links between what they learn in school andtheir apprehension of the outside world. But the printedword, even when illustrated by color graphics, mustremain at some distance from direct sensory impres-sions of sound, movement, and three dimensions; it ishere that the role of the teacher becomes essential. Theplace of textbooks in the classroom needs careful anal-ysis from the viewpoints of both teacher and studentwith an eye to the type of learning that the educationalsystem wishes to promote. But to the extent that thetextbook is the stand-alone medium, effects on learningare likely to be negative.
In the traditional textbook, sections and chapters arearranged sequentially by subject to correspond with cur-riculum units or defined yearly grade objectives. Thefull break with this tradition came in the late 1950s andearly 1960s with widespread interest in (and at timesenthusiasm for) programmed instruction. This newmethod of presenting subject material was developedfrom behaviorist theories of learning. Learning material
197 206
198 L. R. Femig. J. F. McDougal, and Herbert Ohlman
was presented sequentially in small steps to which thelearner was required to react (stimulus-response) beforeproceeding to the next step. As it developed, the meth-odology incorporated techniques for self-correction (forexample, "from step 36 return to step 20 and re-learn"),contained items for reinforcing what had been learned,and supplied feedback and rewarcs for progress (forexample, "congratulations, you may now proceed tostep 55"). The linear step-by-step procedure of Skinnerwas modified by Crowder into a branching presentation,and by others into skipping modes. Some early enthu-siasts developed these texts into teaching machines thatenabled the student to progress by turning a handle orpressing a key. It was soon found, however, that thesame results could be obtained through books, and anumber of textbooks were published wholly or partlyin programmed form.
By the early 1970s, enthusiasm for programmed in-struction had largely dissipated as it was found to betoo rigid and limiting, whereas the educational expe-rience should embrace activity, discussion, and conceptbuilding. But one issue raised by this methodology re-mains of interest today because of the relevance to thenew information technology. Programmed instructionpermitted teaching materials to shift the emphasis fromteacher-centered instruction to student-centered learn-ing and raised several questions that rema.n unan-swered. How far can the teacher be replaced or supple-mented for parts of learning (for example, drills andexercises)? For which students (for example, low achiev-ers)? What then is the new role of the teacher? How farshould students be allowed to proceed at their own pace?What are the effects on class organization and, even-tually, on the curriculum itself?
Where textbooks are lacking, their absence is con-sidered detrimental to both learning and teaching. Toprovide books is no small undertaking it includes thepreparation of texts (curriculum development, languageresearch), publication (whole publishing and printingindustries may have to be created), and distribution toschools and students. Further difficulties are securingpaper supplies and financing the entire textbook pro-gram.
Statistics about textbook production are difficult togather and compare because of differing methods ofaccounting. As a rough indication, in thirty-eight coun-tries in Africa in 1982, the proportion of educationalbudgets devoted to educational materials averaged 6percent but with a considerable spread between coun-tries from 0.2 to 26 percent depending on what wasincluded. Presumably textbooks accounted for only partof this expenditure, although in some instances it hasbeen claimed that textbooks alone absorbed 85 percentof the materials budget.
The application of modern technology to printing hasbrought about savings and improvements in textbookproduction. Electronic composition and photographicoffset printing have reduced initial costs while main-taining quality. But there is a limited economy of scalewhen it comes to paper. which now accounts for anincreasing part of the cost of a book. Thus, as developingcountries demand more textbooks, the amount of paperused per student appears to be rising everywhere (arecent estimate gives 2 kilograms per student-year insome industrial countries, 5 kilograms in an experi-mental project in West Africa), and the cost of producingpaper i. itself rising. At best, a shift to differcit printformats for the textbook (considered in a broad senseas a printed tool for learning) might entail economiesin the quality of paper, ink, and binding. It is time,perhaps, to consider alternativiK
Mass Communication Techniques
The mass mediafilm, radio, televisionhave beenwith us long enough to exert an influence comparableto that of the traditional educative roles of such insti-tutions as family, church, and achool. The informaleducation provided by the media is extremely pervasive.Initially, the media were used in formal education asteaching aids and for special programsand are stillused to fill slots in the regular teaching schedule. Amore systematic approach was adopted by curriculuminnovators of the 1950s and 1960s, whose patterns forteaching the sciences brought together printed materialwith matching audiovisuals such as films, slides, loops,tapes, and so on. The learning package, as distinct fromthe single textbook. was on its way. This use of themedia has improved the quality of teaching and in-creased access to education by distance learning. Ex-perimental projects relating to both have been reportedextensively, and the conclusions relevant to the presenttopic are summarized in the following sections.
Improving Teaching
Systematic radio programs have proved effective (forexample, in Nicaragua and Thailand) in improvingteaching when focused on such subjects as elementarymathematics or English in which teachers are insuffi-ciently trained. A number of developing countries con-tinue to use radio to provide or reinforce the in-servicetraining of teachers. A benefit of this medium is thelow cost per student. This is an intrinsic merit of themass media in generalonce the program has beenprepared, it can be broadcast again and again at littlecost to a large public. Th e is no evidence, however,
that radio programs have reduced the need for printedmaterials; indeed, those programs which supplementthe teacher's skills usually require some form of text-book as a base.
Educational television was used extensively by thegovernment at the primary level in the Cote d'Ivoirefor more than a decade, again in an effort to improvethe quality of teaching and to compensate for insuffi-cient instructional materials. Although this bold ex-periment did succeed in working out a methodology forconveying the curriculum through television, it wasabandoned in 1982 -83. Results were good for oralexpression and reasoning capacity but poor for writtenexpression and numerical calculation. With the drop-ping of television, the major problem facing the Min-istry of Education has been to revise the curriculum,produce textbooks, and retrain teachers to use them.
Distance Learning
The mass media have proved most successful in in-creasing access to education. Distance learning providesan equivalent formal education for students remote fromthe teacher for much, most, or even all the learningprocess. These courses aim to be self-instructive, but avariety of channels links students to a teachertheoriginal one, still popular and a basis for the rest, beingcorrespondence.
Intelligent use of the mass media can speed up dis-tance learning, assist interaction between student andteacher, and create the essence of an institution. Onestriking example of a program to reach a scattered pop-ulation is provided by the Australian outback system,which makes considerable use of two-way radio com-munication for primary school children and also in-volves parents in the role of tutors. More numerousexamples are offered for higher education, whether theaim is to serve a population over a wide area--as inAustralia, Alaska, and the University of the South Pacificprogramor to provide second-chance opportunitiesto a large populationfar example, the British OpenUniversity.
The British Open University, with more than 100,000students, has explored most of the resources availablefor distance learning. A combination of correspondencecourses, radio and television broadcasts, recorded tapes,local guidance, and short residential courses link stu-dents and teachers. The special needs of distance learn-ing Ize. ` .: 0;Jen University to set up teams for preparingcourses and materials, and the work of these tean-lsmade up of subject speciali `s, editors, artists, mediaspecialistsdoes not end when the initial materials arecompleted because the process of revision is continu-ous. The University of the South Pacific (usP) has an
Will Textbooks Be Replaced by New Information Technologies? 199
international program that makes use of a satellite com-munication system. Here too the emphasis has been ondeveloping packages of learning materials rather thantraditional textbooks. Books present information andfocus on teaching while learning packages, designed forindependent study, focus on student interaction withthe material. Experience with satellite broadcasting inthe USP program has shown that it is better to sendlecture material in print or on audiotape and then usesatellite time for interactive processessummaries,questions and answers, clarification, and discussion.
In distance learning projects, audiocassettes andvideocassettes have become a popular way of providingpermanent records of broadcast material. Audiocas-settes have the particular advantage of widespread andgenerally standardized playback equipment; for scienceteaching, videocassettes can be used in the presentationof experimc..ts.
Nonformal Education
Where the objective of nonformal education is corn-.nunity development, the mass media are valuable forcommunication. Radio programs, which are economi-cal, have been used in many developing countries topresent a wide range of subjectsagriculture, health,nutrition, child care, and self-help activities. In morestructured forms (as with listening groups and two-waycommunication), the spoken word has proved effectivein linking information to local needs and interests, pro-viding education without requiring learner literacy orprinted materials.
Conclusion
The application of the mass media to education de-mands carefully prepared, indigenous programming.Broadcasts transferred from one national context to an-other seldom work. It is difficult to organize a full mul-timedia distance education system (for example, likethe British Open University) without a high level ofrelated technology in the society. Hence, for most de-veloping countries, the mass media are used in a partialway. What is more, the media do not replace textbooks;the design, content, and presentation of texts change,however, when they become the printed part of a learn-ing package.
Electronic Media
Many are aware of the widespread use of the computerin schools in North America, of the aim of the UnitedKingdom to equip all primary and secondary schools
tubn,-1,--,
200 L. R. Fermg, J. F. McDougal. and Herbert Oh lman
with computers, and of the French objective to place100,000 computers in schools by 1988. In contrast totextbooks and programmed instruction, which devel-oped within the educational establishment, the pressurefor the use of computers and other new technologieshas come from outside the school system. Moreover,the computer is not just another teachers' aid: its useraises fundamental questions about the nature of learn-ing, the acquisition of skills, and the way education isorganized.
A new information tecnnology (NIT) is developing atthr point where three technological streamsmicro-electronics, computers, and telecommunicationsconverge with a variety of products and processes forhandling information. It is no exaggeration to speak ofan information revolution, making it possible to recordand store vast arnounts of information, distribute it overany distance, interrogate it from remote points, andtransform it to meet many different needs. In an all-embracing way, the NIT integrates older technologies(telephone, radio, an television) with newer devices forstorage and transformation (chip, disk) and display sys-tems (visual display units, synthesized speech). The in-tegration of th-se devices gives the NIT its power.
In daily lilt, the NIT affects all aspects of production,distribution, services, work, and play, laying the basisfor what is termed in the industrial Western countriesthe postindustrial society. Inevitably, the NIT is becom-ing an even more powerf.ti educative forcecapable ofinfluencing people and changing behaviorthan themass media of a previous generation. The challenge thatthis represents to educators and to the traditional tt xt-book industry has been forcibly expressed by Clive Brad-ley, chief executive of the British Publishers Association:
What is more, the technology is getting cheaper andcleverermore intelligentevery day. It is not sucha big step for the whole process of change to bedramatically speeded up by the machines being pro-grammed with the ability to write their own pro-graminstructions and materialsso overcomingthe biggest barrier of all, the human ability and timeneeded to transfer the world's learning from the mindand the printed form we all know to the tape, disk,chip. This transformation could change the transferof knowledge and ideas from the relatively passivemedium of the book (supplemented by teachers, etc.)to an interactive process with the computer.
Automated information processing is here, and thefuture, though difficult to predict, will surely not see areversal of the trend. The questions are: How can theNIT be applied to education? What will its effect be ontextbooks? In seeking answers, we shall consider sep-arately some examples of the NITmicrocomputers and
computer-assisted learning, electronic publishing, andlaser-optical media.
Microcomputers
The small, portable computer based on microelec-tronics has been one of the most remarkable achieve-ments of recent years. With ever-expanding sales, theprice of microcomput s has plummeted to the level ofconsumer appliances. The educational impact of thecomputer has followed, if more slowly, the microcom-puter mass market. An early goal was computer literacy.For example, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBc)televised a series which explained to a wide public thenature and use of computers in society, the processesthat make up computing, computer languages and pro-gramming, applications of computers in offices and in-dustry, and the concept of artificial intelligence. Othermedia such as specialized periodicals, trade journals,and the daily newspapers created an awareness of theNIT in general. In schools, the vocational aspect of com-puterstraining in technology and in programming,usually grafted onto mathematics and technical coursesin Secondary schoolshas become a recognized line ofshady.
As an aid to teaching, work with mainframe com-puters in the 1960s usually relied on programmed in-struction techniques for drills, exercises, some subjectmatter, and testing. It was soon found, however, thatthis methodology made little use of the unique potentialof the computer. A more advanced approach to com-puter-assisted learning (cAL), based on specially pre-pared programs in which students work individually orin small groups at the terminal, has come a long waysince the 1970s, and today it constitutes a significantschool use of the computer. From the simple routineof the stut:ent posing a question, receiving a response(in the form of information on the iicreen). and thenposing another question, much more sophisticated pro-grams for learning have evolved. These include the display of course materials on the screen, with the co,,i-puter posing questions and, depending on the respr nse,directing the student to other parts of the progmn; theaddition of visual displays and animation :,ound, andmusic to text; and the presentation of material in theform of educational garnes and simulations in which,for example, students can see and manipulate the struc-ture of a molecule, acquire skills in operating tools andmachines, or even drive a car or a plane. Perhaps it isin the element of play, where the distinction betweenplaying and learning disappears, that student interac-tion with a computer gives CAL programs their re-markable educational power. The development of prob-lem-solving techniques, often by the ingenious use of
images and special computer languages (such as Pap-errs Loco), has permitted students to program the com-puter rather than the reverse. Consequently, the com-puter is opening up a vista of active exploratory learningthat is radically different from conventional educationalpi c t ice.
The literature records a wide range of experience withCAL at different school levels. In primary grades, com-puter literacy and the ability to use the keyboard haveserved as a basis for more extensive work in subjects inthe curriculum. Arithmetic and 'anguage coursewarehave received most attention, usually in drill-and-prac-tice programs for remedial work and slow learners, butproblem-solvirb.' programs appear to be on the increase.Also, in other subjects such as ocial studies and generalscience, a number of CAL are being ex-plored. For example, by adding simpie sensors (for sound,heat, and light) as microcomputer input devices, a rangeof physics experiments can be performed in the class-room. In secondary schools, the Eub!ect orientation ofthe curriculum has given rise to a great deal of CALprogrammingin mathematics, the sciences, lan-guages, and the other humanities, including art andmusic. Simulations and modeling are used to introduceconcepts in the social sciences and biology and to someextent to teach interdisciplinary topics such as issuesin economic development and ecology. With the arrivalof microcomputers in the schools, the need to trainteachers to use them has been met tint by in-servicearrangements at the local or national level and later byappropriate courses during initial teacher training.
Computer-assisted learning applications are a key fac-tor of educational deve! ,ment in the industrial coun-tries. Practice, however, has varied from county tocountry. After a research project, Sweden decided toconcentrate on upper secondary and vocational edu-cation. Switzerland followed suit, whereas Japan fo-cused on higher education. The United States, with thelongest experience in the field and a decentralized sys-tem, has advanced in all aspects of CAL experiments,programs, schemes for pooling resources and evaluat-ing programs, and the design of computer languagesfor educational use (for example, PILOT, LOGO). Now theU.S.S.R. has announced a program for the introductionof computers into its compulsory educational system.
The most systematic efforts to develop national pol-icies for CAL have occurred in France and the UnitedKingdom. The French educational authorities launchedan experimental project in the mid-1970s th;-' ncludedfifty-eight lycees and two types of in-service trainingfor teachers, one intensive and the other introductory.Unfortunately, before it was possible to evaluate thisproject, the "10,000 computers" program was launched,followed by the current "100,000 computers" program,
Will Textbooks Be Replaced by Neu, information Technologies? 201
which aims to equip all French schools with computersby 1988. In addition, innumerable spontaneous com-puter clubs for youth and adults have sprung up, andthe government has encouraged the provision of mi-crocomputers in every community for less formal ed-ucational use. The objectives of the French school pro-gram are to make informatics a part of general education,to innovate with the NIT at all levels of education, and(especially) b renew vocational and professional edu-cation by linking them to the world of work. The pro-gram is being evaluated by the Inst'tut National deRecherche Peclagogique, which also makes availablesoftware produced both by teachers and by commercialpublishers.
In the United Kingdom, with a more decentralizedsystem, there have been four national ini 'atives. TheScottish Educational Department's program and theMinistry of Education's microelectronics program (1981-84) for England and Wales provided information, advice,and training in curriculum development, software pro-duction, and software selection. In parallel, the Ministryof Industry has been providing equipment to primaryand secondary schools. Then the BBC launched a Com-puters in Schools program for which a special micro-computer has been developed, along with guidebooks,software. and regular broadcasts. These programs inschools are complemented by courses offered by theOpen University. Although all of these are ambitiousnational programs, current provisions will allow everychild in France only fifteen minutes a week with a com-puter and those in the United Kingdom slightly more;although computer awareness might be achieved, manyobservers hold that at least fifteen minutes a dayorabout five times as much hands-on experiencearenecessary for computer-assisted learning to be effective.
A major problem in these countries has been lack ofgood CAL courseware. Hundreds of programs exist, andthe supply seems to grow exponentially; but many areof dubious quality, and a bad program can set back thelearning process. Hence considerable attention is beinggiven to the evaluation of availak:e material in order toguide principals and teachers in their choices. Ideally,a program should be produced by a team comprisingan experienced teacher, a cognitive psychologist, a com-puter programmer, and a graphic artistbut such anideal is expensive. A French estimate is between $6,000and $25,000 for one hour of CAL, and a U.S. estimateputs the price of a semester course at $100,000 (in-cluding production costs). Specially designed softwarefor programming and new writing techniques will re-duce such cost, as will the eventual appearance of ma-chines responding to speech. But the preparation ofgood courseware will continue to demand effort andingenuity.
202 L. R. Fermg, J F. McDougal. and Herbert Oh lman
Meanwhile, bro:,ier questions neci to be asked aboutthe impact of the technology on the school system. Isthis new phenomenon just another fad like programmedinstruction, destined to join it in the dustbins of edu-cational history? This seems unlikely, given the speedwith which computers are entering all aspects of dailylife and workplus the political pressure to comput-erize in countries not wishing to be left behind. Whatappear to be the advantages, as yet not fully realized,of the school use of computers? Computers:
Interact immediately with the student and serveto instruct, guide, and test in response to the stu-dent's demands
Relieve the teacher of the drudgery of drills andrepeated exercises and help slow learners to catchup, thus allowing a more rational use of the teach-er's time
Expand the resources available to the teacher andhelp in project and research work
Stimulate children to explore, become problemsolvers, and work on their own; also are useful forgroup or class activities in which children oftenappreciate the discipline and patience of the com-puter
Provide vocational and professional education
Improve the efficiency of school systems by re-ducing failure rates and speeding up learningImprove and extend distance education by linkingwith modes of telecommunication.
A different set of considerations arises for the pros-pects of CAL in developing countries. The cost of equip-ment, training of specialists, and maintenance in ex-treme climatic conditions are obviously basic problemsfor introducing computers into many developing coun-tries. Some industrializing nations such as Brazil andIndia already have ambitious programs to introducecomputers, but for most the paramount barrier is cost.When applying computers to education, the lack of soft-ware and CAL programs and the cultural bias of importedmaterial are serious obstacles. It also takes time to trainthe programmers, teachers, and administrators to useCAL. A number of initiatives are now under way, how-ever, to exchange program specifications, research re-sults, and prototype programs for CAL, and each re-ceiving country can add relevant material from its ownculture.
Electronic Publishing
Electronic publishing has come to mean many thingsto many people. One meaning is a complete replace-ment for traditional print media (which requires theprinting of information on paper, packaging, and phys-
ical distribution) by a system for storing informationon magnetic or optical media (which can be distributedeither by these media or more and more via modes oftelecommunication).
The storage capacity made available by the NIT hasled to the creation of numerous large data bases. Theone most familiar to educators is ERIC in the UnitedStates, which now contains references to more than ahalf million educational research reports and periodicalarticles. Users cal, consult this vast store of informationeither by scanning a printed version or more rapidly byreading it from a computer video display terminal. Afterlocating the studies in which they are interested, usersmay examine the original texts by borrowing from alibrary or ordering microfiche reproductions, which storeninety-six pages of text in photographically reduced formon a single 4-by-6-inch card. The industrial, commer-cial, and scientific uses of data bases are legion andgrowing rapidly. Publishers have not been slow to adoptthe technology, particularly those that issue referenceworks. At the same time, a new professioninforma-tion vendinghas come into being to provide accessto a range of data bases.
A related development is electronic mail, which isused to exchange personal messages and, sometimes,to hold an electronic conference (teleconferencing). Al-though many publishers have been using the NIT intheir day-to-day operations (for example, composing typeby word processor), few have gone beyond this to takethe position that their business is not bouks or news-papers but information. The NIT offers customers thepossibility of obtaining the information they need in a
variety of forms, both printed and on a screen.The print option can itself take on new forms: cus-
tomized publishing is an attractive alternative whichovercomes the problem of providing too much infor-mation (in a mass-produced publication) by matchingcustomer requests with suitable data bases. Then onlythose items which correspond to the customers' inter-ests are printed out.
Of even greater potential is the ability of the NIT
systems to provide rapid feedback: users can consultelectronic data bases in minutes instead of waiting fordays to receive their answers by mail. One example ofthis approach is provided by videotex, with public sys-tems being developed in most European countries tolink, through the te;ephone system, the user's televisionscreen to the computerized data bases of the informa-tion providers.
The large U.S. publishing firm McGraw-Hill, wellknown in the textbook field, has made a corporate com-mitment to the NIT. The organization of McGraw-Hillhas been changed from one of traditional divisions bypublication to one of market focus groups that concen-trate their activities on specific industries. Writers and
editors store their material directly in computer databasesinformation turbineswhich can on demandturn out new information products ranging from in-dividualize-I newsletters to a host of services. Anotherfeature of the new approach extends information inputbeyond text and pictures to comprise a multimedia tur-bine, so that a new aerospace magazine, for example,is able to offer part of its content on videocassettes.
So far, educational applications of electronic pub-lishing, videotex, and similar systems have been limitedbecause almost all data bases ha 'e been created forcommercial, technical, or scientific needs. Probably thesame situation occurred in the past when the adultversions of reference works such as encyclopedias anddictionaries were followed by simplified ones for schools.Information, it is true, is not knowledge, and still lessis it education; yet it does form the foundation. A gooddeal of education consists of providing the learner withinformation and depends on what is availablefromthe teacher, the textbook, or the library. Implicationsof this aspect of the NIT for schools include the needfor students to know about, use, and feel at ease withthe technology; and the possibility for teachers to ex-pand the range of information they themselves com-mand and thus help their students analyze and evaluateinformation resources. A necessary step for informationprofessionals, publishers, and librarians will be height-ening their awareness of the value of developing databases specifically for scho31 use.
Laser-Optical Media
Another alternative to paper and ink are new, all-digital storage media which employ lasers for writingand reading. First, there are videodiscs 30.5 centimetersin diameter which can give random access to up to50,000 images, up to forty minutes of color motionpictures, with stereophonic sound, or any combinationof these. With the addition of a small microcomputer,access to this material can be interactive, providing anideal medium for CAL. Videodiscs can be stamped outlike phonograph records from masters at a small costof less than $2 for materials.
More recently, the compact disc has appearedonly12 c mtimeters in diameter but storing up to an hourof very high-fidelity music. Since 1985, this technologyhas been made available as the CD-ROM (compact disc-read-only memory) for the storage of up to 500 millioncharacters of informationequivalent to more than100 printed books. It appears that cn-Roms will be ableto store data, text, audio, and video on a single disc,thus replacing a host of incompatible audiovisual equip-ment at a stroke. There is also another laser-opticalmedium designed for unit recordsthe laser cardwhich has an information capacity of only a few million
Will Textbooks Be Replaced by Neu, information Technolog.,s? 203
characters but which allows frequent updating. Thiscould he an ideal medium for student 1 ecoids.
For the first time since Gutenberg. we have a break-through in printone which is extremely compact,rugged, light, and machine-readable. Many informationproviders have already put selected data bases in thisform; for example, part of the catalog of the Library ofCongress is available on CD-ROM as Bibliofile.
Impact of the NIT on Education
School systems, with their traditions, vested inter-ests, and settled structures, are resistant to change.Technological aids have had little influence on educa-tional practice, because they do not fit into the waymost teachers like or expect to organize their class-rooms and their teaching. Furthermore, few teacher-training institutions make full use of the NIT, and theirexample is bound to influence the practice of their grad-uates. But the concepts of integration and of network-ing, which are intrinsic to the NIT and which are ap-parent in applications in industry, business, andadministration, may gradually convince effective edu-cational users to adopt a multimedia approach.
Using a multimedia approach, the NIT in schools willcombine the microcomputer, access to television andradio broadcasts, and a range of media for storing in-formation and for processing results of students' work.The NIT expands possibilities for individualized instruc-tion and learning, allows each child to proceed at hisor her own pace, and copes with differences in abilityand motivation. At the same time, the technology sup-ports group work, particularly small groups devoted toexploratory and project activities. Moreover, learningcan take place through a full range of sensory-motorimpressions: not from just text alone but from inter-action with the computer, still and moving pictures,sound and music. To a large extent, all schooling ismediated learningan alternative to direct experi-encebut the NIT offers two fresh advantages: rangeand exploration. It comes closer to representing thereal world than anything previously available before ineducation, and it permits the student to explore thatworld.
The extent to which the NIT will become a regularpart of school-based education depends on three factors.The first is the cost of providing the needed equipmentto schools. Many pessimistic (Precasts have been madeabout this, but the record of such projections is poor.The pocket calculator was once an expensive piece ofequipment but has become almost as common as thepencil. The second factor is the cost and difficulty ofdeveloping good courseware, an obstacle which cannotbe solved by technical means alone. But with the in-crease in the number of people qualified to take part in
21 2
.111...
204 L. R. Femig, J. F. McDougal. and Herbert Ohlman
development workteachers, curriculum specialists,media specialists, and programmersboth quantita-tive and qualitative improvements can he expected. Thedegree to which education authorities will take the leadin evaluating courseware and ensuring its distributionwill be critical.
The third factor is more subtle: how far and how fastwill learning theory advance as a result of the use ofthe new media? This factor raises basic questions aboutthe mental development of Oildren, individual differ-ences in rate and style of learning, and the effect ofgroup activities and socialization. The traditional sys-tem uses administrative devices such as grouping,streaming, team teaching, and various methodologies.But interactive media such as CAL are student-centered,not teacher-centered, and require a reconsideration ofthe educational theory that determines the way schoolsworkcurriculum development, successive grade lev-els, the practice of grading and of assessment, schoolorganization, and the role of the teacher. At present,new media are being applied in old situations, and sotheir potential cannot be realized. The need is clear formore research directed to courseware development andevaluation in particular and to educational theory andpractice in general. As in many other spheres of life,the technical facilities are advancing more rapidly thanour knowledge of how best to use them.
Strategies for the Future
Will textbooks be replaced by the new technologies?As yet, there is no straightforward answer to this ques-tion, even in the most advanced situations. For theimmediate future, the textbook is likely to retain itsprimacy among instructional materials. But trends arevisible from both technological and educational per-spectives, which publishers of textbooks need to con-sider carefully. In the specific context of developingcountries, questions arisefrom national educationalpolicies with respect to the NIT, through publishing ofschool materials, to inteniational cooperation.
Cooperation between Publishers and Educators
Initially, the challenge posed by the NIT is addressedto the education authorities of each country. Whatevertheir financial resources. no country should be excludedfrom what is fast becoming an essential feature of mod-ern life. Even where a typical school classroom maylack electricity, and a single, perhaps untrained, teacherfaces forty or more students with an inadequate supplyof any educational materials, commercial firms and publicutilities may already be using the new technologies.The position taken by educational authorities will vary:
adopt a wait-and-see policy; make arrangements for thetraining of qualified people abroad or at home in tech-nical and programming skills; or start an experimentalprogram around a national research and curriculumdevelopment agencyalong the lines of the Frenchstep-by-step approach.
Strictly speaking, textbook publishers do not have a
prime responsibility for deciding such policy issues.Whether in the public or the private sector, however,they are the main producers of learning materials andare probably best qualified to judge the impact of thenew technologies on production methods. Instead ofpassively accepting what comes down the line in theshape of manuscripts drafted by curriculum teams, theywould be well advised to engage in a dialog with ad-ministrators and professional educators. Ir. particular,they should be able to offer alternative approaches forthe goals that are required of them.
Redefining Publishing Goals
There is evidence from the United States, Europe,and Japan that publishing is being affected in two waysby the new information technologies. The first way isthe application of new media that challenge print, no-tably mass storage devices and telefacsimile transmis-sion of mastersas is done by many newspapers pub-lished simultaneously in several places. These open upthe possibility of cooperative arrangements betweenpublishers for jointly preparing prototypes, which canthen be distributed electronically and to which eachpartner adds his own locally oriented material beforeprinting. The second way relates specifically to educa-tional publishing. The publication ofcourseware, in theform of disks with printed support material, is alreadyan important part of the textbook market in some coun-tries. Likewise, multimedia kitscomprised of text andillustrations, audiocassettes, and other materials usedwidely in distance learninghave had an impact onschool-based teaching. The textbook publisher shouldconceive of its products in a multimedia context ratherthan as limited to hardoound printed books. Hybridtechnologies provide more versatile and less costlylearning materials, but curriculum developers and ed-ucation authorities need to think in terms of learningpackages.
Redefining Textbooks
The notion of the textbook as a single, stand-alonetool for teaching and learning seems to be outmoded.But to draw attention to the importance of learningpackages, of which the textbook is one component, doesnot necessarily mean the immediate importation of hightechnology. In addition to the textbook and electronic
2 1 3
media, there are other instructional and learning aids,most of which must be imported by developing coun-tries. Apart from writing materials, these include pre-school and early primary aids for learning numbers,measurement, and word recognition as well as equip-ment for teaching science. Several countries have suc-ceeded in replacing imported models by locally devel-oped ones, and here a general movement toward increasedlocal production is essentialwhether nationally, incooperation with neighboring countries, or in partner-ship with the industrial world. In any case, the textbookis one of the many media available for teaching andlearning.
The Role of the Teacher
Experience with educational technology, old and new,proves that advances occur only insofar as they areaccepted, understood, and used by teachers. It is ab-solutely essential to associatt teachers with innovation.Therefore the target for promoting the adoption of theNIT in textbook publishing should be the teachers' col-lege and the system of in-service teacher training. Boththe British and French strategies are based on initiallypersuading teachers.
International Cooperation
Cost, programming, and research aspects of incor-porating the NIT into the process of education have beendescribed above. In each area, international cooperationwould likely assist developing countries to modernizetheir systems. Aside from such a general observation,there is a place for closer cooperation in the applicationof the NIT to educationfor the benefit of all countries.Fuller exchange of information should include resultsof research, evaluations of existing software and course-ware, and specifications for their development. Beyond
Will Textbooks Be Replaced by New Information Technologies) 205
this, there is a need for training programs and for thedevelopment of prototype CAL material in relatively cul-ture-free subjects such as mathematics, science, andtechnology. This form of technology is an area in whicheducation authoritieswith textbook publishersmustassume leadership. If they do not, the ground will bepreempted by commercial interests less concerned withimproving the quality of education.
Bibliography
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 1985. Availability, Useand Support for Instructional Media, 1982-83. Washing-ton, D.C.
Gaines, S. 1986. "Marketing is the Message at McGraw-Hill."Fortune, February 17: 28-31.
Hawkridge, D. 1983. New Information Technology in Edu-cation. London and Canberra: Croom Helm.
"Interactive Video" (feature section). 1984. Instructional In-novator 29, no. 6 (September-October).
Jameson, D. T., and E. G. McAnany. 1978. Radio for Education,,nd Development. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.
Megarry, Y., D. Walker, and S. Nisbet, eds. 1983. World Year-book of Education 1982-83: Computers in Education. Lon-don: Kogan Page.
Oakeshott, P., and C. Bradley, eds. 1982. The Future of theBook. 2 vols. Paris: Unesco.
Osborne, C. W., ed. 1984. International Yearbook of Edu-cational Technology, 1984-1985. London: Kogan Page.
Simon, J. C. 1981. Lteducation et l'infonnatisation de la so-ciete: rapport au President de la Republique. Paris: Fayard.
Thompson, K., M. Brown, and C. Knowles. 1982. Videotex inEducation. A New Technology Briefing. London: Councilfor Educational Technology.
Tucker, S. 1985. "TechCentral." Tech Trends,November-De-cember: 27.
Unesco. 1982. The Economics of New Educational Media. 3vols. Paris
c.;0 1 .4, .1
16
Computers in the Classroom
Paul Olson and Edmund Sullivan
The past few years in education have seen a flurry ofcomputermania. In 1983 the first issue of Time mag-azine, normally devoted to the Man of the Year, featuredinstead a computer as the Machine of the Year. Thisview that the computer is the wave of the future isshared widely in the popular culture. Yankelovich's studyof U.S. public opinion showed that 80 percent of Amer-icans expect that in the very near future, the computerwill be as commonplace in the household as the tele-vision. Sixty-eight percent of the same sample believethat the computer will ultimately raise production andimprove the quality of their children's education (Sul-livan 1983).
In Canada, there are also great expectations for thecomputer. By September 1984, there was on averageone computer for every 200 Canadian children (Sharonand Mehler 1985). Although this relatively small ratiocurrently creates a politics of scarcity, ministries ofeducation in a number of provinces have two- to five-year plans designed to increase dramatically both thehardware and software support available to their st.hools.In Ontario, for example, the minist:- has agreed to fund70 percent of the cost of the Ontario-built Icon Systemor those of similar specifications purchased by schoolboards. Educators trust in the capacity of computers toassist in mathematics instruction, to help teach writingskills, and generally to enhance the learning environ-ment.
This general interest in educational computing mir-rors a wider enthusiasm in Canadian society for usingcomputers in many applications. In a recent report bythe Canadian Department of Labour (1982), the com-puter is pictured as a "triggering technology," one thatwill improve economic growth. According to this report,the federal government supports the further develop-ment of microelectronics and is concerned almost en-tirely with technological questions such as the devel-
206
opment of adequate hardware and software. Questionsof implementation, delivery of fullest social benefits,and the new millennium are seen as secondary issues(Sullivan 1983).
There is, however, an underside to educational com-puting. Technological innovation in the twentieth cen-tury has become a means of control, with different re-sults for different classes, racial groups, and genderdivisions (Braverman 1974; Edwards 1979; Noble 1985).There is also good historical evidence that schoolingserves the n_eds of particular dominant groups withinthe work force (Connell and others 1982; Conne111985).The computer may possibly accentuate power inequal-ities within a society. The whole issue of computer lit-eracy is an open one at this point, but there is everyreason to suspect that a division between computerliterates and nonliterates in the labor force will createpower differentials within society itself, enhancing theskills of some workers (thereby givicig them more power)and reducing the skills of others (thereby lessening theirpower).
Critical discourse on computers notwithstanding, thepresent societal temper tilts toward the millenarian uto-pia which, short-lived as it invariably turns out to be,almost always accompanies the development of newtechnologies. Among other things, the new technologyof the computers is seen as having a profound impacton the traditional textbook. Evans, in a book called TheMicro Mo.'onnium, entitles one of his chapters "TheDeath of the Printed Word." It is his claim that, in the1980s, the new electronic technologies will have theirgreatest impact (1979: 118-20):
The book as we know it is simply passive, merelytransferring information from one mind, that of theauthor, to another mind, that of the reader. But thebook of the 1980s will no longer be passive, for it
will be a sifter and interpreter as well as a purveyorof information. Dictionaries, for example, will offerpackages of relevant information on command. Butsignificantly, perhaps, this is the kind of problem areawhich appeals most to the computer scientists whoare currently engaged in the field of machine andartificial intelligence. It is also the area into whichincreased effort is likely to be pumped in the nearfuture, for once real progress has been made, thegains are likely to be immense. In teaching and ed-ucation, the dynamic book could have a breathtakingpowerful role, and there is an obvious spinoff to in-dustry and commerce. Once again, in a capitalistworld, the focuses of the market place prevail, andthe promise of this commercial spinoff will be enoughto ensure that the intricate programs allowing thiskind of data inspection and retrieval will ultimatelybe developed.
The technical ability of computers has revolutionizedinformation processing. By their facile execution of pre-viously sledgehammerlike or unachievable human taskssuch as brute arithmetic, machinations of formal logic,endlessly recursive tasks, rapid and staggering storageand recall of memory, and symbolic organization andmanipulating, computers have revolutionized our modesof physical and mental organization. The array of prac-tical applications is astounding. Computer use is in-creasing in schools and businesses in virtually all in-dustrial societies (Sharon and Mehler 1985). In 1980-81 in the United States, for instance, there was a 56percent increase in school-based computing, with morethan 15,000 schools of the 24,642 surveyed reportingcomputer usage (Market Data Retrieval 1983). Manybelieve that the use of computers in schools will even-tually be universal. Similar trends are to be found inbusiness applications and personal computing. Thisgrowth in electro-nrchanical innovation has pro-foundly transformed our material and technical ways oforganization and our potential for production and ef-ficiency. Not surprisingly, given this efficiency, themanner in which work tasks are expected to be producedand of social organization supporting such productionhave also begun to change (raising elementary ques-tions of how a word processor is different from a type-writer, or how a computer text is different from a text-book).
It is not fair, however, simply to criticize the mille-narian stance toward computers. Such a utopian atti-tude is part of the creative thrust of new and inventivecultural instruments. We are at a watershed betweenolder industrial technologies and the development of acomplex new technology, which is leading to a newinformation society that will replace our present in-
Computers in the Classroom 207
dustrial order. These rapid innovations are axial forcesbringing about a societal transformation. The processhas four stages (Masuda 1981: vii):
Many different kinds of innovational technologycome together to constitute one complex, inte-grated system of technology.This system spreads and gradually becomes estab-lished throughout societ".The result is a rapid expansion of productivity.The impact of this new type of productivity is suf-ficient to transform traditions into new societalforms.
Profound societal changes are slowly emerging aroundthese new information technologies. We are, however,quite dubious of the claims that Evans (1979) makesabout the demise of textbooks. Let us remember thatliteracy did not replace orality, and both these skillshave had a long dialectical evolution (Havelock 1973;Olson 1977). Because text and literacy have been am-plified in the industrial era, print literacy will be anintricate legacy of the industrial world to the infor-mation society. Of course others besides Evans haveprophesied that the new technologies will make vul-nerable, in varying degrees, the present forms of print-text media. For example, Godfrey and others (1982: 112)give one scenario about encyclopedias: "A book pub-lisher who puts his encyclopedia on a video disc willremain a book publisher for quite some time as far asStatisticians are concerned . . . Nonetheless, there areclear differences of vulnerability." Godfrey and othersconcede that compared with other communication me-dia, textbooks seem to be the least vulnerable to theadvance of the computer. Over the next decade, theygive paperbacks a vulnerability coefficient of 0.15, hard-backs 0.45, directories 0.90, and television advertising0.94. Nevertheless, futurists like Godfrey and others(1982: 120) conclude:
Book publishers seem most beleaguered by the newtechnologies, especially by computers. Conservativeby nature, many of them still look back nostalgicallyto the passing of hot lead, hand binding, and intel-ligent bookstore owners. Now computers seem to besurrounding them. The results are likely to be a fur-ther extension of the split between the extreme oflines. Potential best sellers will earn secondary rev-enue from mass paperbacks sales. The really spe-cialized books such as academic books make no profitin any case and will disappear from print. Publisherswith strong book back lists and good contacts willsoon adapt to the new technology once they acceptthe fact that the computer has fully closed the netand they needn't print such books ever again.
41C1 G
208 Paul Olson and Edmund Sullivan
This type of futuristic millenarianism is certainlythought-provoking and challenging to any traditionalpoint of view (Sullivan 1985), and it is important toenvisage the potential effects on the form and contentof learning. A brief anecdote signals the directions offurther analysis. Ivan Illich, the renowned critic of ed-ucation, had just finished his book Deschooling Society(Illich 1972), when he gave an address in the early1970s. He appeared to plan his lecture in the five min-utes before he spoke, jotting down some notes on anindex card at which he glanced during the speech. Hebegan by telling the audience that he didn't know whyhe should be talking about schools because they wouldbe out of existence within the next ten years. His de-livery was delightful and in many places insightful. Buthistory has proven him to be a very poor prophet. Withthat said, we would now like to reflect on the questionswhich surround textbooks and how they will be affectedby the computer. We contend that the computer is notprofoundly affecting the conventional school system.This does not discount the possibility that it will do soin the long term. It will do so, however, only if thereare dramatic changes in contemporary education.
Computer Technology in Two Canadian Schools
At this point, we will convey a sense of how thecomputer is used in two very different Canadian ele-mentary schools. These schools are among six in whichour research team has done extensive ethnographic de-scriptions.' They were chosen to present a variety ofsettings for critical comparison: we observed an elite-humanistic school, two working-class ethnic schools, amiddle-class school (where computers were being usedfor special education), a model school (where a specialprogram was in its first year), and a rural school. Wewill describe in some detail the model and rural schoolsto give a broad view of computer usage.
The Model School
Selkirk Elementary School, the model school, is lo-cated on the fringes of Metropolitan Toroflto in a sub-urban neighborhood of large, sprawling, expensive ranchhouses. The majority of the children are from well-to-do families and with rare exceptions are stylishly dressedand very fashion-conscious. When we first met the prin-cipal, he indicated to us that these children came fromfamilies whose parents worked as dentists, accountants,lawyers, and business executives. He characterized theseparents as "demanding, interested, intelligent, worried,and assertive." The school community is about 60 per-cent Jewish, but it also has a small Japanese enrollment.
One Indian girl and one black boy attend the school aswell.
Selkirk is a two-story building, small, plain, and art-less on the outside, on a residential street distant fromcommerce. The interior is not much different, with theexception of children's drawings on the walls. Its 150students range from kindergarten through grade 6. Thereare double grades (such as grades 3 and 4 in one room)and a small accelerated class. The computer laboratoryis the new feature in the school's program. This year,Selkirk was designated a model school for computersin the Toronto school system.
For lab work, each class at Selkirk is divided: halfthe class stays in homeroom, whereas the other halfgoes to the computer lab. Our observations (on March25 and May 2, 1984) were made in a fifth-grade class.The observations covered both computer use in thehomeroom class and the lab proper. We chose the fifth-grade class because their teacher uses the computer inhis homeroom routinely, whereas the sixth-grade teacherdoes not.
The Homeroom. The grade 5 students enter theirclassroom and group themselves around five large tables.Their teacher takes the class roll very promptly andthen says, "I guess this is Group 2's day to go to thecomputer lab." A group of twelve children get up andwalk out of the room to the cmputer lab next door.
Today there is one Commodore Pet computer at theside of the room. The teacher says, "Frank and Lisa onthe machine." A boy and a girl go to the Pet. The teacherthen gives other assignments to the rest of the childrenin the class, who are not using computers. Some getspelling work at the blackboard, and others are givenmath work at their seats. The division of labor withinthe class seems to be an orderly procedure.
The two children who have gone to the computerplay a game of fraction estimat.ons which was put thereat the beginning of the class b; the teacher. They seemto have difficulty starting on their own and adopt atrial-and-error method. The teacher goes over to thechildren at the computer and asks them a question toget them started: "How do you write a fraction line?"The boy says, "I don't know." The teacher asks, "Didyou follow the instructions?" "Yes," says the boy, andthe teacher says, "OK, try using the slash to make frac-tions."
By way of preparation, the teacher then says to thetwo children, "We have been working on equivalentfractions for the last while." He says this to remindthem what is likely to be an issue with the computertask that they are working on. He then reviews a lessonin which they used mental calculations to estimate frac-tions. The teacher helps the children at the computer
by questioning and prompting: "In this problem. youwill have to get a fraction between 2/5 and 2/6." Hethen gives them a lesson on fraction estimates at theblackboard, going through the process of producing acommon denominator. He does an example, coming upwith a fraction of 11/30, and he tells the two childrento try that estimate on the computer. They try it andit works. The teacher, looking satisfied, says to them,"Now you are on your own"; he then moves to anotherpart of the room.
The two children carry on, but it seems that they arestill guessing. For example, they start with an estimateof 2/5, which is close to the desired estimate, and thenthey jump to 2/9. applying no apparent logic. They dothis for a while, and then the boy, frustrated, says tothe girl, "I quit. This is too hard." The teacher thencomes over and asks what the matter is, and the childrensay they don't know what they are doing. He invitesthem over to the blackboard and starts to repeat a lessonthat he did in class on common denominators. Thislasts approximately five minutes, and when the teacherthinks they have grassed the concept, he sends themback to the computer.
Each pair of children receives approximately fifteenminutes on the computer. Thus the children who havejust had the lesson don't go back to the computer, andthe teacher calls two other children for their turn. Ofthis new pair, one of the boys catches on quickly, butit seems that all the children have their own particularstyles. The computer feedback has some aspects whichare interesting. For example, to a girl who just made acorrect answer, the following response is given: YOU GETA CIGAR. In another case, after several random attemptsby one girl, the following feedback is elicited: MAY IRECOMMEND A PSYCHIATRIST. It iS clear. too. that when
the teacher is nearby some students begin to make theprogram work. Given his other responsibilities in class,however, the teacher's accessibility is limited. Further-more, no adequate instructions accompany the pro-gram.
When the other half of this fifth-grade class comesback to homeroom (not without noise or interruption),he starts a blackboard lesson on equivalent fractionswith the whole class. At the end of the lesson, he com-ments that this is necessary in order for the childrento make better use of the computer. He feels that thechildren need more math instruction before they canprofit from this particular computer program.
The Lab. The half of this fifth-grade class assignedto the computer lab this morning comes into the laband gathers on the rug in front of the teacher. Theyare scuffling and making a fair amount of noise. Shesays, "When you're ready . ." Their behavior clearlyimplies that they are not ready, and this comment is
Computers in the Classroom 209
designed to bring them into line. As one looks aroundthe room, there are six Icons. eight Apples, and threePet computers. (The Icon is a computer specificallydesigned for classroom use and was initiated by theOntario Ministry of Education. The Apples ai.d Pets arecommercial computers.) The three Pets are not pluggedin, which is what has been observed during other labvisits. The Icons have ben out of order too, but todaythey are functional.
The teacher announces to some children that theymay go over to the Icon. She says, "You can gain accessto the Icon by using your name." (The name is storedin the Icon's memory.) There are a couple of childrentalking in low voices. The teacher stops and makes theremark, "Are you going to interrupt constantly? If youare, I would like to see you outside."
One of the boys to whom she is speaking says "No."She continues: "I would like you all today to test yourlog-in names to be sure they work. This is only for theIcons. Some of you will be working on the Icons, andothers on the Apples. kt the end of today, save yourprocedures and move your work to this machine overhere (she points) ana print it. The procedure is to designtwo different shapes, moving from one shape to an-other."
To facilitate the reader's understanding of a Locotask, this program will be briefly described. LOGO IS aprocedural language specifically designed for children'seducation. Loco programs are created by combiningcommands into groups called procedures which are thenused as steps in other procedures, and so on, to higherlevels of complexity. These children have been wonungon the LOGO program for the past two months becausethe Icon has not been working properly. When the stu-dents first began to use the LOGO program, the teacherlet them explore its possibilities on their own. Now.according to her, she sends them to do this programwith worksheet assignments because she has more spe-cific expectations about Loco than she had before.
Let us return once again to the task of observing.One of the students being told to log in now says tothe teacher that he did not save his work from yesterday.As the children work with this program, they are ex-pected to store their work on the computer. The teachersays, "That's no problem for today's assignment." Shethen says to all the children, "Let's review the differ-ences between Apple Loco and Icon Loco." Because allof the children use both of the machines on a rotarybasis, she attempts to eliminate confusion. Eventually,the children seem to grasp some of the differences incommands between the Apple and the Icon.
At this point, the teacher proceeds with the Locoassignment and explains what they are supposed to bedoing today. She gives the assignment quite clearly: to
21 E
210 Paul Olsm, and Edmund Sullivan
write a procedure in Loco and then save the procedure.Tire procedure is as follows: "Draw a geometric shape;then move to another part of the screen, and draw adifferent geometric shape; then stop." The choices whichare offered to the children are: the type of geometricshape they wish to draw; the manner in which theywant to move; and the way in which they want to dothe procedure. But given this leeway, the expectationis that each student will do the same task.
The teacher now sends the children off to the ma-chines. She instructs them: "You can work by your-selves or together, whichever you have been doing be-fore today." Today, the children seem able to choosewhatever machine they want. Most of them go imme-diately to the Icons. It is interesting to note varyingpreferences that children have for computer hardware.
One pair of boys working side by side with two Iconsare starting their Loco program together; one boy fol-lows the exact procedures of the other boy. Boy B iscopying boy A, command by command. Boy A puts inthe command "Forward 16"; boy B then puts in thesame command. Their designs thus turn out to be exactreplicas. Boy A then turns around and says to the restof the class, "Look, Stan is copying me." It seems thathe just wants all to know that both assignments are hiswork.
One boy is sitting by an Apple, probably working aLoco program. Suddenly he exclaims to everyone ingeneral, "How big is the box supposed to be? What arewe supposed to do? What are we supposed to do forChrist's sake?" The teacher does not respond. He thensits and stares for quite a long time. Finally, he goesback to work. He looks at his procedure sheet. This boyappears to know Basic (another computer language),and he has become confused because Loco is not pro-grammed in line numl,ers. He has a procedure named"Box," but it doesn't work despite several tries. He getsan "error" feedback, which tells him what his problemis, but he takes no notice. Again, he starts to exclaimto no one in particular, "What are we supposed to do?Hey, what are we supposed to do?"
A Japanese girl sitting near him comes over to himand says, "You're supposed to draw two shapes, one oneither side of the screen, and all in one procedure Toillustrate, she points to her screen. Displayed on herscreen, in two different parts of it, are a hexagon anda square. He pays no attention to this information andsays again, "What are you supposed to do?" A boy sittingon the other side of him explains again; his explanationis similar to the girl's. This same boy has now receivedthe instructions three times. Still he sits and says yetagain, "I don't understand. What are we supposed todo?"
Another boy is struggling with his Loco shape, andnothing seems to be working for hi'ii. His computer
screen keeps flashing: THERE IS NO PROCEDURE NAMED.
THERE IS NO PROCEDURE NAMED. His first problem is thathe has not disengaged the "Caps Lock" key, which is anecessary step. Because the teacher is busy at the otherside of the room, one of the members of our study team,seeing the small snag, tells the boy why he is havingdifficulty. This boy, however, continues to have prob-lems because of a typing error. He makes little progress.
Two Japanese girls finish their procedures. They areworking together, side by side, on separate computers.Their work is not Exactly the same; each girl has dif-ferent shapes, and their procedures too are a little dif-ferent. One of the girls commands the computer to runthe procedure by typing in the command "Shapes." Theprocedure works like a charm. She draws a square onone part of the screen, moves across the screen to drawa hexagon, and then stops. Appearing to be very pleased,she turns to her friend D and says, "Look, it works!" Dis now trying hers with different shapes. It works too.She then says to girl C, "How do I save?" Girl C comesover to girl D and tells her what to type on her com-puter. She then stands aside and Ida girl D do it herself.She does not do what many other children domovein and take over the keyboarding. The computer, how-ever, gives the message DISK ERROR. Girl C says, "AskMrs. Blair." Girl D says, "I'll go and get my disk, andthen I'll try again." This time, all works well. She types"Save," the name of her procedure, and smiles as thedisk light goes on, signaling that everything is working.Girl C ..ays, "Okay, then check it. Type READ SPACE QUOTE
SHAPES." "Okay," says girl D. She types in the command,and the components of this procedure are defined onthe screen. Both are very pleased. They smile at eachother and look fondly at the computer.
Now these same girls attempt the next step. They a..etrying to work out how to save a picture, quite separatelyfrom the "Save" command. The teacher has alreadygiven the procedures for "Save" and "Save Pict" andhas written the review of it on a sheet. They remembermost of it, but not all. They are trying to we7k this outthrough their discussion. They are talking to each otherabout how to say a picture. Each one has some infor-mation. They take turns making suggestions, listeningto each other and trying to arrive at a solution. Theirthinhing and their problem solving are quite impressive,but they do not arrive at a satisfactory solution. One ofthem goes to g the teacher, who comes over rightaway. The teacher explains the instructions in an ex-acting manner, and in so doing she clarifies their con-fusion about the difference between saving a pictureand the computer command "Save."
The bol who seemed stuck and kept repeating, "Whatam I supposed to do?" never specifically asks the teacherfnr '1 Ip. He still sits fiddling at th_ computer, swearing.He gives the impression that he has no real expectation
2 1 D
that he is ever going to know what to do. Thus hecontinues to sit and accomplish nothing.
Meanwhile the two Japanese girls have completedtheir full procedure. Now they are taking their disk overto the Apple computer, which is connected to the pnnter.They encounter difficulty printing the Loco figures. Afterfloundering for a short time, one of them goes over toenlist the aid of the teacher. She comes over and asksthem, "Did you follow the steps outlined in the charton the wall?" One of the girls says, "Not completely,Mrs. Blair." The teacher tells them to follow the stepsexactly, and she stays with them until they are halfwaythrough them. As was indicated earlier with respect tothe homeroom class, giving so much time to individualsis difficult because each teacher has so many otherres.)onsibilities in the orderly running of the class. Atthi i point, the class ends.
"he above des,riptions to some extent demonstratethe variation between students in motivation and com-petence. Tater observations, taken at the end of theschool term, showed that some of the children becomevery competent indeed using the Loco program.
The Rural School
Danbury Elementary School, the rural public schoolobserved, is located in a town of several thousand inOntario. A modern red brick structure near woodlands,the school was built in the 1960s as part of a programto consolidate one-room schools. This shift is reflectedin the school's human resources as well; the principaland staff see themselves as very much a part of con-temporary education.
The school serves the town in which it is located andthe outlying agricultural and forested areas. The stu-dents come from a variety of backgrounds and are di-vided equally between the town and the surroundingarea. The town itself is located within eighty miles ( 'a metropolitan center and is within easy drive of a uni-versity. Commuters and professionals are part of thecommunity's mix, as are those in agricultural occu-pations and those with rural service functions. The townalso has a number of persons who value the junctureof the arts and rural life. The community, while rural,is no backwater outpost, but rather a mix of both ruraland contemporary-minded individuals who are strivingto revive rural values.
Ethnically Danberry School is predominantly Anglo-Saxon, with a mix of Eastern Europeans, Germans, andothers plus a few Chinese, Pakistani, and black children.The emphasis of school and community alike is on theuniqueness of the area as a livable place of neighborswho are not divided and fraught by the social problemsof cities.
A typical day at Danberry School goes as follows. The
Computers in the Classroom 211
computer teacher, Jack, typically has classes marked bythe obligatory bell ringing. Computer instruction is as-signed to a very small room in the school where all ofthe hardware is located. Jack is in charge of this room.When the children are assigned in groups to go to thelibrary, a small group of them will go off to the com-puter room. This class begins at 12:45 p.m. The classis a mixture of grades 5 and 6. One or two of the childrenare grade repeaters, so some of those in the same grademay be one year apart in age. The children are talkingas they sit, but the librarian signals for silence andbegins to list those children with overdue books. Oneor two try to make excuses for this low-level life ofcrime, but the librarian lectures them on the virtuesof punctual book return. The students in the class areto receive a lesson on Canada's role in the world wars.Jack comes to get those who are scheduled for computerinstruction. The librarian, in a public voice, recites theoffenses against punctual return and laments the stateof studentdom. Jack looks sympathetic and, half smil-ing. shakes his head. The students are noticeably moreattentive to Jack. "Did you people do that? I'm sure youknow better than that and won't do it again." Jack thentakes seven children with him to the computer room.Previously, he had turned on the machines and loadedthe disk drives.
The children take a couple of minutes to settle in.One boy, Shawn, sits at a computer near the door tothe library. The seat next to him is vacant. Down thisrow, two girls (Annette and Marie) who seem to befriendly sit next to each other. Next to them is Donny,in jeans, sweatshirt, and wearing an arm bracelet. Heis physically big and loud. Next to him is his friendPaul. At the desk beside the printer and opposite thedoor is Jimmy, a ' ,end of Donny and Paul. Around thecorner at a computer facing away from the other com-puters is Fred, also a friend of Donny and Paul andmore verbal than Jimmy. Donny is clearly the leader ofthis group.
The time is 12:57. Shawn asks, "Do we have to dothis? I hate this. I can't do this, and I hate it." Jacklooks at him and with a quiet, but sympathetically firm,voice says, "Sit down, Shawn. Ycu'll be able to do this."Jack begins by telling them that today he is going toteach them how to use the computer for word pro-cessing. He asks if any of them ever write stories. Fredasks, "What do we have to write about?" Jack replies,"You can write about what you want. Maybe a teacherhas given you an assignment, and you have to do it. Ifyou use the computer, you can just go ahead and writeit. You don't have to worry about spelling or mistakesbecause you can correct them later." Marie looks slightlyincredulous and says, "We don't have to spell right?"Jack replies, smiling, "Well, yes. But it's easier becauseyou can concentrate on your ideas and correct the paper
220
212 Paul Olson and Edmund Sullivan
later. Or y, can print the story. Or you can save it ona disk." Marie asks excitedly, "We can print it?" Jackreplies, "Yes you can. And if you get cleared to use themachine, you can come in here, and you are welcometo sign up to use the machines to work on your as-signments."
For some children in this class, this is their first tryat using a computer. Jack asks, "Do you people knowhow to load your drives?" Several tentatively reply "sortof" and remind Jack that they had two lessons last year."OK," says Jack, "we'd better review some things." Heholds up a floppy disk and asks, "What's this?" Chorusof responses: "A disk." Jack acknowledges their response
and begins a standard lecture: "This is a floppy disk.When it's blank, it's worth maybe two dollars, but whenit's loaded with special programs it may be worth acouple of hundred." Jack then goes on to list the dangersof touching disks, trying to take disks out of drives whenthe red light is on, and potential sources of machinefailure. Jack has the children load the disks and turnthe machines on and off. He circulates as he observestheir activities.
The lesson progresses. Briefly, Jack reviews the var-ious functions of the Commodore eys, what a wordprocessing system can do, and what the children cando with word processors, Next, he reviews what typesof stories they might want to write. All this takes himwell past 1:15. On the basis of Jack's suggestions, thechildren begin to write stories as he circulates amongthem. They occasionally talk to one another or ask forhelp. Sometimes one child reaches over and operatesanother's keys to show how to perform a particularfunction. Sometimes they read each other's stories andcopy from them or ridicule them. The boys tend to bemore boisterous than the girls, except that Marie laughsa lot.
The children slowly complete a series o; short storiesof about a paragraph in length. Only Jimmy's is longer.After a while, Jack tells them to "wrap it up" so thatthey can print the stories. He helps various childrenwith the printing. As this is being done the childrenget up and roam around, reading each other's workwith sarcastic criticism or occasional admiration. Dur-ing the printing, Jack repeatedly asks whose disk is
hooked to the printer. He also tries to encourage thechildren in their writing efforts, reminding them thatthey are welcome to use the machines if they sign upfirst. Most children seem genuinely excited about get-ting their work printed, but neither Jimmy nor Shawnwants his printout. The printout lrocedure goes on pastthe time when the bell for the next period rings. In thecorridor, there is mild pandemonium as classes change.One boy comes in and exchanges handshakes with Donnyin the manner of urban ghetto gangs. Outside, thereare several children waiting to use the computers forthe "free" period.
The decision to have Jack teach children in all classeswas intended to ensure that each student had someexposure to a computer, and this basic knowledge couldthen be carried to further levels of expertise by theregular classroom teacher in other classes. in spe-cialized enriched classes, or by individual students out-side school. This decision has had a number of devel-opmental consequences. Jack has to teach eight classes,divided into four to five groups, each of which receivesthree to six lessons. Therefore the amount of attentionhe can give to each individual is strictly limited. Becausegroups are fractured in this way, the computer programis considerably shorter than it would be if computerswere a regular, structurally integrated part of the cur-riculum.
How much students learn about computes s, how theyuse them, and where and when such usage takes placeis far more dependent in Danberry on extracurricularopportunity than in some other schools. This short andirregular pattern of computer instruction is further ex-acerbated by the lack of use of computers among mostother teachers.
Computers and the Ecology of the School
We have given the reader a flavor of computer in-struction in two of the schools that we observed. Al-though these schools differ markedly, it is neverthelesssignificant that the computer is not in the forefront ofthe average teacher's planning. The millenarian com-puter valuation is transplanted from the minds of thecorporate and entrepreneurial sectors. When this val-uation reaches the school, it hits the will of one of themost traditional instruments in all cultures: the teacher."The strategies commonly used by promoters of changes,whether they be legislators, administrators, or otherteachers, frequently do not work because they are de-rived from a world or from premises different from theteachers" (Fullan 1982: 115).
Even Erf an affluent country such as Canada, com-puter technologies remain on the periphery of the schoolsystem. From our extensive observations, we see nocomputer revolution. What we do see is incrementalgrowth in the use of the computer by various membersof the school culture. It is used in most cases by aminority of a school's personnel.
Considering the computer within an educational con-text, it should be emphasized that the computer doesnot present the school with a totally new ecologicalproblem. We often forget that both home and school,in our modern technological environment, are filledwith educational machines. Ihde (1975) lists the fol-lowing: projector, tape recorder, public address system,microscope, telescope, teaching machine, and type-writer. More recently, there is the videocassette re-corder. When these machines are working properly,
0 f)4. 4. i
they are on the peripheiy of our awareness, accomplishing their function in an unobtrusive way.
The computer (as the Time magazine story intimates)promises to change all that. In the school, we are pos-sibly seeing for the first time a machine that will he afigure as opposed to background in the educational ecol-ogy. Ihde (1975) notes tio aspects of this experience:the machine "extends" and "stretches" our experienceoutward toward the environment; at the same time, themachine is "taken into" our self-experience:
It is clear from the description above that an opacityrelationship, like a person-computer relationship, isnot mechan;cal in nature. The mechanical aspectsare clearly subsidiary. The focal relationship is a per-son-quasi-other in which some type c' communica-tion is happening. We have not explored the culturalimplications of these types of relationships before,but computer use will force the issue. To describe amachine as "user-friendly" indicates the possibilityof a quasi-personal relationship in which commu-nication can be achieved and this underlines theprobability that "computer literacy" should havepreemptive importance in future educational plan-ning. (Turkel 1984)
In this relationship, the machine is in conversation withthe person (Ihde 1975).
Comparison of the computer and the textbook revealsno essential difference between computer print and textprint. If the computer is the mediumthe pen andpaper of the electronic agethen software is the arrayof text forms by which we are to become "literate." Thisarray shapes forms of language and syntactical meansto deliver varying discourses. How well does educationalsoftware rate in the classroom against more traditionalforms? Commercial hyperbole already gives computertexts the nod: "Given suitable and skillful programming,computer teachino can have a significant advantage overconventional classroom teaching" (Martin 1981: 184).
Our own observations neither sustain this optimismnor totally negate it. At present, it seems that the com-puter will replace encyclopedias, dictionaries, and oftenmajor reference works for the storage of informationbecause there appears to be no reduction in quality ordifference in usage (Evans 1979). Computer storage willoffer enormous savings of physical space. Moreover,looking up references, the reader of computerized textsneed not normally spend a long time in front of ter-minals, and therefore need not be exposed to possiblehealth hazards such as radiation, stress, and other mor-bid ailments associated with long-term use (see Geiser1985).
It is our view that the computer is not that wellestablished in the school context although interest init is increasing. We have absolutely no evidence fromour studies that the computer as a replacement for the
Computers in the Classroom 213
textbook is contemplated seriously at any level by min-istries of education, board administrators, computer co-ordinators, principals, and teachers. The computer is amedium for literacy via a screen rather than a page andis unlikely to rival textbooks in the next fifty years,despite the views of computer enthusiasts. As Bruce(1985: 37) states:
The problems with all of these views is that they tendto locate the source of the computer's power to offseteducation in the computer itself. Thus we hear thatcomputers will teach children to read, or computerswill turn schools into assembly lines. In fact, thecomputers per se do nothing; they are simply toolswhich can amplify the power people have and thesocial relations they engage in. In that sense, thepositive or negative consequences realized by com-puters will be caused by people making the most ofcomputers to accomplish ends for change in educa-tion.
As mentioned, software is the literacy text of thecomputer The most astute observers of software de-velopment are highly dubious of its present benefits foreducation (Ragsdale 1982, 1985). At this point, there isa great deal of controversy over how software shouldbe evaluated (see Ragsdale 1982).
Conclusions
We believe that the onsiderations we have outlinedmerit a serious analysis of cultural and educationalpriorities (Sullivan 1984). No doubt pcople involved intextbook publishing will be perplexed that we have raisedmore questions than we have answered. We feel, how-ever, that it would be irresponsible of us to offer patscenarios when there are none. Yet intellectual honestydoes not prevent us from making prudent suggestions:
First, for national archival data, encyclopedias, dic-tionaries, and major reference works, computersoffer a very important memory requiring littlephysical space.
Eecond, each country should carefully considerwhether computers would serve as well as text-books in transmitting its cultural heritage.Third, it would be profoundly misguided for coun-tri :ts with marginal risk capital to embark on thecostly business of developing computer-assisted in-struction software.
Fourth, computer textbooks are not real educa-tional necessities.
Fifth, if "imitation is the greatest form of flattery,"then it may be well to monitor countries in whichcapital ventures are being undertaken to develop
'2r)4. 4,
214 Paul Olson and Edmund Sullivan
educational computer texts. Imitation may accom-pany cultural imperialism. Caveat emptor.
Note
1. The project is funded by the Canadian Governmentthrough its Social Sciences and Humanities Research CouncilGrants. The two schools discussed are a sample of six diverseschools in which we carried out extensive and intensive eth-nographic work for one school year. We wish to acknowledgeour colleagues in this effort: Robert Logan, Herb Wideman,Jay Zimmerman, Nancy Watson, Doug Bors, and Brenda Mig-nardi.
References
Braverman, H. 1974. Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Deg-radation of Work in the Twentieth Century. New York:Monthly Review Press.
Bruce, B. 1985. "Taking Control of Educational Technology."Science for the People 17, nos. 1 and 2: 37.
Canadian Department of Labour. 1982. In the Chips: Oppor-tunities, People, Partnerships: Report of Labour CanadaTask Force on Microelectronics and Employment. Ottawa:Queen's Printer.
Connell, R. W., D. J. Asherdew, S. Kessler, and G. W. Dowsett.1982. Making the Difference: Schools, Families, and SocialDivisions. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Connell, R. W. 1985. Teachers' Work. Sydney: Allen and Un-win.
Edwards, R. 1979. Contested Terrains: The Transformationof the Workplace in the Twentieth Century. New York:Harper & Row.
Evans, C. 1979. The Micro Millennium. New York: Washing-ton Square Press.
Fullan, M. 1982. The Meaning of Educational Change. To-ronto: oist: Press.
Geiser, K. 1985. "The Chips Are Falling: Health Hazards inthe Microelectronic Industry." Science for the People 17.nos. 1 and 2.
Godfrey, D., D. Parkhill, J. Madden, and T. Arume. 1982.
Gutenberg Two: The New Electronics and Social Cho ige.Toronto: Porcepic.
Havelock, E. 1973. Prologue of Greek Literacy. University ofOklahoma Press.
lhde, D. 1975. "A Phenomenology of Man-Machine Relations."In W. Feinberg and H. Rosemont, eds., Technology andEducation. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Illich, Ivan. 1972. Deschooling Society. New York: Harper &Row.
Market Data Retrieval. 1983. "Survey Finds 24,642 Schoolswith Computers, Up 56% in Last Year." Westport, Conn.
Martin, J. 1981. Telematic Society: A Challenge for Tomor-row. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Masuda, V. 1981. The Information Society as Post IndustrialSociety. Tokyo, Japan: Institute for the Information Soci-ety.
Noble, David F. 1979. America by Design: Science, Technol-ogy, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism. New York: Ox-ford University Press.
. 19n. "Computer Literacy and lo,ology." In D. Sloan,ed., The Computer in Education. New York: Teachers Col-lege Press, .
Olson, D. 1977. "From Utterance to Text: The Bias of Lan-guage in Speech Writing." Harvard Educational Review 47,no. 3: 257-81.
Ragsdale, R. 1982. Evaluation of Micrr Computer Course-ware. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in EducationPress.
. 1985. "An Alternative Analysis of Computers in Ed-ucation: A Response to Sullivan." Interchange 16, no. 3:19-36.
Sharon, D., and A. Mehler. 1985. frhcrocomputers in Teachingand Learning: An Inventory of Canadian Research. To-ronto: TV Ontario.
Sullivan, E. V. 1983. "Computers, Culture, and EducationalFutures: a Critical Appraisal." Interchange 14, no. 3: 17-26.
. 1984. Critical Psychology: Psychology as Interpre-tation of the Personal World. New York: Plenum.
. 1985. "Computers, Culture, and Educational Futures:A Reflection on Mindstorms." Interchange 16, no. 3: 1-8.
Turkel, S. 1984. The Second Self. New York: Simon andSchuster.
41 r r'40 4 i)
Participants in the Seminar
BrazilAberides Alves d'AzevedoDirector of Coordination, Secretariat of Education, State
of Pernambuco
Edison WagnerChief, Department of Production, Foundation for Stu-
dent Assistance
Joao Elias CardosoChief, Department of Development Programs, Foun-
dation for Student Assistance
ChinaGao HangDeputy Director, People's Education Press, State Edu-
cation CommissionLi YanqiVice Chief of Comprhensive Division, Department of
Teaching Materials for Natural Science, Engineering,Agriculture, and Medicine, State Education Com-mission
ColombiaCarmen Emilia PerezDirector, Curriculum Development and Educational
Resources, Ministry of Education
EthiopiaTesfaye BefekadiiTextbook Production Manager, Education Materials
Production and Distribution Agency, Ministry of Ed-ucation
GhanaMargaret TawiaAssistant Director of the Curriculum Research and De-
velopment Division, Ghana Education Service
GuatemalaRuben Dario MendezDirector of National Textbook Center, Ministry of Ed-
ucation
HondurasCarolina Zepeda de Gonzalez MunozDirector of Educational Resources, Ministry of Educa-
tion
KenyaE. MugiriSenior Deputy Director of Education, Policy, and Pro-
grammes Division, Ministry of Education. Science,and Technology
LesothoC. NtaoteManager, Book Supply Unit, Ministry of Education,
Sports, and Culture
MalawiM. P. PashaneActing Chief Inspector of Schools, Ministry of Education
Nigeria0. Abisogun-AloSecretary, Nigerian Book Development Council, Federal
Ministry of Education
Papua New GuineaBrian DeutromPrincipal Curriculum Officer, National Department of
EducationPeruMartha VillavicencioCoordinator, Textbook Program, National Institute for
Research and Educational Development, Ministry ofEducation
PhilippinesPacifico N. AprietoOfficer in Charge, Instruct -Ina! Materials Corporation,
Ministry of Education and Culture
PortugalMaria Lucie Carrilho RibeiroProfessor, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sci-
ence, Escola Strerior de EducacaoSierra LeoneTheresa SengovaCurriculum Coordinator, National Curriculum Devel-
opment Centre, institute of Education
SomaliaNurraddin Haji HusseinProject Director, Ministry of Education
cl(3.
9 t4,.
216 Participants in the Seminar
SyriaGeorges DeebSupervisor of Curriculum Development, Ministry of Ed-
ucation
TanzaniaCharles OmariPrincipal Secretary, Ministry of National Education
TurkeyAhmet SevgiAssistant Director General for Vocational and Technical
Education, Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports
UgandaDan SentamuActing Director, National Curriculum Development
Center, Ministry of Education
Yemen Arab RepublicMohamed Hashem Al ShahariDirector, Educational Research and Development Cen-
ter
Consultants to the Seminar
Philip G. AltbachDirector, Comparative Education Center, State Univer-
sity of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
Robert BaenschVice President, Macmillan Publishing Company, New
York
Pierre BalliettDirector, International Division, Houghton Mifflin Co.,
Boston, MassachusettsMichael BodmanPergamon Educational Supply, LondonByron BushExecutive Director, World Language Division, Addison-
Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Massachusetts
Maureen A. CunninghamDirector of Production, Jones and Bartlett, Marblehead,
MassachusettsAlfonso de Guzman IITextbook project consultant, Guatemala City, Guate-
malaPaul EastmanConsultant to the Canadian Organization for Develop.
ment through Education, Toronto, CanadaJorge GianettoGeneral Manager, Editoral Planeta, Mexico City
Savaranan GopinathanDirector, Asia Book Fair, Institute of Education, Sin-
gapore
Andrew JamesonDirector, Books for Asia, Asia Foundation, San Fran-
cisco, California
Peter LengemannVice president, International Division, Scott Foresman
Co., Chicago, Illinois
Pat E. MalonePrivate consultant, Toronto, CanadaPeter E. NeumannPeter E. Neumann Associates, Inc., Marblehead, Mas-
sachusettsPaul OlsonProfessor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
Toronto, Canada
John OvertonBook production consultant, Washington, D.C.
Anthony ReadDirector, Book Development Council, Publishers As-
sociation, LondonHarriet Tyson-BernsteinConsultant, Rand Corporation, Washington, D.C.
0 ( N4 4 C217
Contributors to this Volume
Affiliations are those atAlbert AbleSenior educational planner, Population, Health, and
Nutrition Division, Technical Department, Asia Re-gion, World Bank
Philip G. AltbachProfessor, and director, Comparative Education Center,
State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NewYork
Maureen A. CunninghamPrivate consultant in publishing, MassachusettsPaul EastmanDirector, Pape/ Supply Project, Canadian Organization
for Development through Education, TorontoL. R. FemigConsultant to EDUCONSULT, Geneva, Switzerland
Saravanan GopinathanHead, Department of Comparative Studies, Institute of
Education, Singapore, and chairman, Festival of Books,Singapore
Alfonso de Guzrnan IITextbook project consultant, Guatemala City, Guate-
malaNarendra KumarManaging director, V;kas Publishing House, New DelhiPat E. MalonePrivate consultant in home economics and textbook
development, Toronto, CanadaJ. F. McDougallConsultant to EDUCONSULT, Geneva, Switzerland
the time of the conference.
Peter H. NeumannPresident, Peter H. Neumann Associates, Marblehead,
Massachusetts
Herbert OhlmanConsultant to EDUCONSULT. Geneva. Switzerland
Paul OlsonAssociate professor, Department of Sociology in Edu-
cation, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,Toronto, Canada
John OvertonTextbook production consultant, Silver Spring, Mary-
land
Anthony ReadDirector, Book Development Council of the Publishers
Association, London
Barbara SearleSenior General Educator, Population, Human Re-
sources, Urban, and Water Operations Division, ChinaCountry Department, World Bank
Edmund SullivanProfessor, Department of Applied Psychology, Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, CanadaHarriet Tyson-BernsteinTextbook consultant, Rand Corporation, Washington,
D.C.
Adriaan M. VerspoorImplementation adviser, Education and Employment
Division, Population and Human Resources Depart-ment, World Bank
219
THE WORLD BANK
Books in the EDI Seminar Series were designed for use in EDI courses and seminars or haveemerged from the presentations and discussions that took place in connection with theseactivities. They discuss issues in economic development policy and lessons from experiencein a way that can be understood without extensive background knowledge or technicalexpertise. They will be of particular interest to readers concerndd with public affairs.
WORLD BANK PUBLICATIONS OF RELATED INTEREST
Analytical Tools for Sector Work in Education. Alain Mingat and Jce-Peng Tan.The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Cost Analysis in Education: A Tool for Policy and Planning. Philip H. Coombsand Jacques Ha llak. The John Hopkins University Press.
Education for Development: An Analysis of Investment Choices.George Psacharopoulos and Maureen Woodhall. Oxford UniA -rsity Press. In English,French, and Spanish.
Education and Its Relation to Economic Growth, Poverty, and Im onicDistribution: Past Evidence and Further Analysis Jandhyala B.G. Tilak. WorldBank Discussion Paper 46.
Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies for Adjustment, Revitalization, andExpansion. A World Bank Policy Study. In English and French.
Pricing Policy in the Social Sectors: Cost Recovery for Education and Healthin Developing Countries. Emmanuel Jimenez. The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress.
The Quality of Education and Economic Development. Stephen P. Heynemanand Daphne Siev White, editors. A World Bank Symposium.
Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments BoostLearning? Bruce Fuller. World Bank Discussion Paper 2.
ISBN 0-8213-1219-7