windhoek, 21 nov. 02education sector analysis1 iiep/wgesa/2002/inf. 4 education sector analysis adea...
TRANSCRIPT
Windhoek, 21 Nov. 02
Education Sector Analysis 1
IIEP/WGESA/2002/INF. 4
Education Sector Analysis
ADEA Working Group on
Education Sector Analysis (ESA)
Presented by:
Richard SACK
Windhoek, 21 Nov. 02
Education Sector Analysis 2
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Objectives
• A brief, one-day overview of the purposes, uses and utility of ESA
• Participants are expected to gain a general understanding of why ESA is useful and how it is done
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Context & background• Sector analysis = policy analysis, which has been
around for years• Underlying assumptions:
– Effective policy needs empirical grounding & rational analyses
– ESA can produce framework for assigning objectives, targets, criteria, priorities
– This will promote stakeholder confidence, including that of external financing agencies
– Ideally, ESA is a process that develops both knowledge & capacity, together (I.e., the process is part of the product) return
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Ambitions & objectives
• Promote dialogue on goals, objectives, needs, methods, resources & constraints
• Provide thorough knowledge of status of the sector & the impact of government policies
• Identify strengths & weaknesses, resources & constraints, demands & needs
• Establish database & methodology for planning
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Ambitions & objectives
• Specify (i) areas for investments & (ii) reallocations of existing resources for improved cost-effectiveness & performance
• Monitor system performance• Provide basis for long-term improvements in
planning, implementation & monitoring of the system
• Identify methods & means for improved management & implementation
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Who promotes ESA
• In Africa, mostly the development agencies
• Models for ESA have, largely, come from the World Bank
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Issues
• Are assumptions realistic?
• How & by whom is the ESA agenda determined?
• Who benefits?
• Capacity building: for doing ESA & for policy formulation
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Tools and skills: data
• First of all, identify, find & exploit the raw information—the DATA on– Numbers of: students (attendance, age) by grade;
teachers; schools, classrooms– Costs: teacher salary & career structure; books &
other materials; buildings; other– Financing: who pays what & how much; ‘who’ =
parents, students, communities, local & national governments
– Outcomes: learning results
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Tools and skills: data
• Where to find the data?
• Is there an EMIS?
• Is there an assessment system (e.g., SACMEQ)?
• What do you know about the quality of the data?
• Level of disaggregation?
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Flows & quantities
• Student flow analyses projections, forecasting– This is the traditional tool of education planners
(cohort analyses, etc.)
• Financial (computer) simulation models projections, forecasting– Same starting logic as flow analyses, but capable of
simulating costs, depending of assumptions & data quality
• It’s all quite mechanical—conceptually straightforward & mathematically complex
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Demand for education
• Assessing demand using household surveys
• Identifying factors that influence demand– This will be very helpful for developing
policies aimed at increasing demand– Policies for EFA, girls could benefit from
this
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Learning outcomes & improving quality
• Learning assessment studies, such as SACMEQ
• Quantitative approaches that assess achievement levels & contributing factors
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Processes: Management & implementation
• If policy is as implementation does
• And implementation depends on ability (capacity, willingness) to get the work done
• Then, attainment of policy goals will greatly depend on the existing institutional capacities
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and, Therefore• Institutional capacities are crucial for
successful implementation of the complex tasks (processes) of the education system
• Successful implementation requires capable institutions
• Which requires understanding how they work, or don’t (their dysfunctionalities)
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Operational Conclusion
Careful analysis of institutional capacities
is key to getting the policy right
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Issues
• Data reliability, quality
• Accessibility of the tools
• Building capacities, learning-by-doing
• Who does the work
• Replicability
• Usability by policymakers
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4 Finding the information
• The usual places– Within the education system: Statistics on
enrollments, teachers, examination results– Elsewhere: Ministry of Finance for salary
information; Civil service commission for teacher career info.
• Unusual places: Faculties of education & libraries for research
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Issues• What is ‘valued’ knowledge, what information &
knowledge have ‘currency’?– Locally developed research? Research done by
external bodies & people, by powerful institutions?– Does some knowledge/information have greater
legitimacy than other?
• What/whose knowledge speaks to power? What/whose knowledge does power listen to?
• Is there knowledge that is “overlooked and undervalued”?
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Capacity building
• Two major issues:– Capacity to do/perform ESA (the “supply
side”).– Capacity to use it in policy formulation (the
“demand side”).
• Capacity is required on each side
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Skills for ESA: on the “supply side”
• Quantitative skills– Statistics: understanding data collection,
quality & analysis– Research design
• Qualitative skills– Functional analysis of institutions
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“Skills” for ESA: on the “demand side”
• Willingness to base policy on empirical analysis
• Ability to absorb the logic and rationale of ESA analyses
• Ability to reconcile technical analyses and political imperatives and pressures
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Skills for ESA: between the supply & demand sides
Communication capabilities that include– Presentational skills (writing, graphics,
avoiding presentations that nobody understands…)
– Willingness & ability to make the analytical results known to, and understood by, all stakeholders
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Strategic options forCapacity building
• From the beginning, ESA conceived as a capacity building exercise
• External experts focus on capacity building & skills development
• Extensive use of local expertise linked to education sector (I.e., avoid the ‘commando’ approach)
• Learning-by-doing• Tools & methods that are not overly
sophisticated