The Economics of Classroom Time

How to help students spend more time learning

Education for All implies sufficient exposure to information To retain knowledge and use it when

needed, students need time to: register incoming information in their

memory elaborate the concepts, connect existing

with incoming knowledge practice receive knowledge through multiple

modes

Do students get enough time to learn needed skills? Educational researchers as well as

observations by Bank task managers and OED indicate a different reality, particularly in the poorer countries

Here is a story of circles..

Education Ministries define instructional time Total instructional

time (by law/ decree): 700-1000 hours per year, depending on grade, country

Schools are open fewer days than expected Days are reduced

by extended holidays, floods, strikes, examinations, strikes, etc., e.g., 30% reduction in Mali

Teachers are not always at school or in the classroom Teacher presence

time, e.g., 75% attendance in some areas of India

Students are not always at school Student

attendance time, e.g., about 50% in some areas of Bangladesh

Students and teachers have limited contact time Contact time is

the intersection of teacher and student presence time

Students are engaged in learning only part of the time Students may

spend time copying (particularly if no books), unattended, disciplined, etc. In-class time on task may be 15-25%

The cumulative efficiency of the education systems may be as low as 7% in some countries!

So, quality of education is low. Without private tuition, students may fail Inefficient use of time costs governments

money. Governments pay teacher salaries and

school expenses regardless of time. Issue particularly serious when resources

are few.

These observations led three colleagues to seek means for improving instructional time in borrower countries

Robert Prouty, HDNED (task manager)

Benoit Millot, AFTH2 Helen Abadzi, OED

Resources from the Bank Netherlands Partnership Program

will finance surveys to:

(a) estimate the real instructional time available for students in low-income countries,

(b) assess the magnitude, patterns, causes, and impact of the time wastage, and

(c) recommend operational policy measures to maximize instructional time and pilot some if possible.

Our Goal: Help students attain the skills envisaged in the EFA initiative

Develop and test viable methods to be used easily by countries to find out how time and their budgets are spent

Inform task managers, donor community

Help countries form policies to increase instructional time, use existing budgets better before trying to increase them

Lead to lending activities to increase instructional time

To test methodological and policy change potential

Instructional Time Surveys are currently planned for:

Tunisia Morocco Guinea Ghana

Today’s Presentation A brief overview of what is known

on how countries spend their intended instructional time (Aaron Benavot)

How to measure students’ engaged time in learning time-on-task in classrooms (Jane Stallings and Stephanie Knight).

Presenters Aaron Ben Avot

Professor, Anthropology and Sociology Dept. Hebrew University of Jerusalem International Bureau of Education (UNESCO)

Stephanie Knight Professor, Endowed Chair in Urban Education Dept. of Educational Psychology Texas A& M University

Jane Stallings Retired Dean, College of Education Texas A & M University President, American Educational Research Association -

1995

We have a lot to learn We look forward to your opinions,

ideas, and future collaboration.

Thanks for coming!