DOCUMENT RESUME ED 460 871 SO 025 927 TITLE The Major Project of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Bulletin 37. INSTITUTION United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Santiago (Chile). Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. PUB DATE 1995-08-00 NOTE 91p.; Publication of this Bulletin made possible by the voluntary contribution of the Spanish government. Published three times per year. Available in Spanish and English. AVAILABLE FROM UNESCO/OREALC, Enrique Delpiano 2058, Casilla 3187, Santiago, Chile. (annual subscription, $15). Fax: 562-209-1875. PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Community Development; Community Resources; *Developing Nations; Distance Education; *Economic Development; *Educational Change; *Educational Development; Educational Improvement; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Human Resources; Information Sources; Latin American Culture; *Latin American History; Latin Americans; Online Systems; Teacher Education IDENTIFIERS Guatemala; Uruguay ABSTRACT This bulletin reports on educational reform efforts in specific Latin American countries and calls for policy makers to utilize research findings on education in their decision. Five articles are included: (1) "Education Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Agenda for Action" (Ernesto Schiefelbein); (2) "Uruguayan High School Graduates: Who Are They, What Did They Learn and What Do They Think?" (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Montevideo); (3) "Factors that Condition Schooling Levels in Guatemala" (Emilio Rojas); (4) "Linking Formal and Non-Formal Education, Implications for Teacher Training" (Ali Hamadachei); and (5) "Open and Distance Learning" (UNESCO). (EH) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Transcript
DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 460 871 SO 025 927
TITLE The Major Project of Education in Latin America and theCaribbean: Bulletin 37.
INSTITUTION United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization, Santiago (Chile). Regional Office forEducation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
PUB DATE 1995-08-00NOTE 91p.; Publication of this Bulletin made possible by the
voluntary contribution of the Spanish government. Publishedthree times per year. Available in Spanish and English.
AVAILABLE FROM UNESCO/OREALC, Enrique Delpiano 2058, Casilla 3187,Santiago, Chile. (annual subscription, $15). Fax:562-209-1875.
PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Community Development; Community Resources; *Developing
Nations; Distance Education; *Economic Development;*Educational Change; *Educational Development; EducationalImprovement; Elementary Secondary Education; ForeignCountries; Higher Education; Human Resources; InformationSources; Latin American Culture; *Latin American History;Latin Americans; Online Systems; Teacher Education
IDENTIFIERS Guatemala; Uruguay
ABSTRACTThis bulletin reports on educational reform efforts in
specific Latin American countries and calls for policy makers to utilizeresearch findings on education in their decision. Five articles are included:(1) "Education Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Agenda forAction" (Ernesto Schiefelbein); (2) "Uruguayan High School Graduates: Who AreThey, What Did They Learn and What Do They Think?" (Economic Commission forLatin America and the Caribbean Montevideo); (3) "Factors that ConditionSchooling Levels in Guatemala" (Emilio Rojas); (4) "Linking Formal andNon-Formal Education, Implications for Teacher Training" (Ali Hamadachei);and (5) "Open and Distance Learning" (UNESCO). (EH)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.
U.S. DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION
Office s EducationalResearch and Improvement
.DUCAT ONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
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1
B ULLETIN
) THE MAJOR
PROJECT
OF EDUCATIONIn Latin America
and the Caribbean
QnEscoREGIONAL OFFICE
FOR EDUCATION
IN LATIN AMERICA
AND THE CARIBBEAN
OREALC
v
[BEST COPY AVAILA 37
In order that this bulletinmay reflect in as complete and timely manner as possiblethe initiatives and activities carried outby each and all the countries of the regionin relation to the Major Project ofEducation in Latin America and the Caribbean,pertinent official bodies are invitedto send tothe UNESCO Regional Office for Education inLatin America and the Caribbeanall information they wishto have published in this bulletin
The views expressed in the signed articles are those of their authors,and are not necessarily shared by UNESCO.Reprint of this publication is authorized mentioning its source.
Bulletin 37. The Major Project of Education in Latin America andthe Caribbean. Santiago, Chile, UNESCO/OREALC, August 1995.85 p.
Descriptors: Educational reform; bachelors degrees; learning;educational background; school systems; teacher education;non formal education; distance learning; Uruguay; Guatema-la; Latin America.
The publication of this bulletin has been made possible by the voluntary contribution of theSpanish Government to the activities of the Major Project of Education in Latin Americaand the Caribbean.
THE MAJORPROJECTOF EDUCATIONin Latin America and the Caribbean
Summary
Presentation 2
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for actionErnesto Schiefelbein 3
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn and what do theythinkECLAC. Montevideo 32
Factors that condition schooling levels in GuatemalaEmilio Rojas 48
Linking formal and non formal education. Implications for teacher trainingAli Hamadache 56
Open and distance learningUNESCO 77
OREALC Publications
BULLETIN 37Santiago, Chile, August 1995
Presentation
Findings yielded by a growing number of research studies, facilitate a more accurate analysis of theeducational reality of the region, the problems afflicting it, their magnitude, causes and repercus-sions, and point to the definition of effective counter strategies. These findings become essentialreferents not only for decision-makers in the field of education, but for all social actors who partakeof the development processes of every country.These research findings are extremely opportune, particularly in the face of the new demands beingborne by education. The mandate that calls for contributing to a more equitable economic growth- since failed efforts to contain poverty and provide more job opportunities have widen the gap hasturned education not only into a key development strategy, but additionally into the basic instrumentto address these demands. This explains current concern in terms of the quality of education beingimparted and how it is reflected in high rates of repetition and low academic achievement.The consensus that the limited development attained by some countries is due to a lack of up-datededucational systems, calls for political decisions that meet these demands head on. The globalizationof international relations and the swiftly changing technologies, make the improvement of educa-tional systems a matter of extreme urgency, while it paves the way for stable and democraticagreements that enlist the participation of all social actors. This is why the Major Project ofEducation must make systematic use of research findings, and the reason the present issue containsa selected sample thereofErnesto Schiefelbein, utilizes recent studies to describe the state of education in the region, identin,key problems and possible causes. Along with an analysis of the need to complement political, socialand economic progress with a labour force capable of growing, improving, and adapting itself to achanging environment, the article suggests priorities and strategies designed to enhance the qualityand efficiency of education in Latin America and the Caribbean.Uruguay's ECLAC, cautions about the critical knowledge deficiencies exhibited by second cycleSecondary Education students in this country. The study reveals that either the educationalprogramme is not being followed by teachers as intended or that they are facing obstacles thatprevent its practical implementation.For his part, Emilio Rojas establishes that parental education constitutes a significant variable inchildren's education, and that the model used in Guatemala to quantin, this relationship, contributesto an analysis of other regional realities.Ali Hamadache discusses the existing relationship between formal and informal teacher training.The author explores major questions such as: is it possible to design common objectives for thetraining of primary school teachers, and adult-illiterate .and post-illiterate instructors? Doesinformal education need a special category of teachers or can primary school teachers be trainedto impart these programmes? Is the multi-purpose teacher conceivable or desirable?Open and distance learning has experienced a tremendous boost at all levels - from primary to highereducation thanks to the new communications technology. UNESCO's Higher Education Divisionin its section on educational innovations and research includes a conceptual review of the topic,reports on major global and regional needs, identifies strategies and problem areas, and recom-mends international cooperation schemes in this field.Background information on the next conference of Ministers of Education of Latin America and theCaribbean, is contained along with a list of OREALC publications.
5
EDUCATION REFORM IN LATIN AMERICAAND THE CARIBBEAN: AN AGENDA FOR ACTION
Ernesto Schiefelbein*
Since the 1960s, remarkable progress has been made in LAC in expanding accessto education and increasing the number of days attended per year, but nothingchanged in most classroom processes. In spite of governments' efforts, the majorityof public schools have not been able to deliver adequate education on a sustainedbasis, and there is low research productivity in most Latin American Universities.However, there are many successful projects which suggest that effective reformsin quality can be implemented.Basic inputs are a required condition for learning, but not the only requirement.Without basic inputs, little learning may happen, but basic inputs do notnecessarily generate expected achievement levels. In addition to those basicinputs, teachers' classroom activities are the key condition, followed by the amountof time students are allowed to learn, materials for students to carry out their work(paper, pencils, learning guides, textbooks, and even computers) and, of course,buildings.A reform process should be based on national consensus, therefore, it will bedifferent in each country. Three types of reform need to be discussed during theprocess of reaching a social consensus: positive discrimination in favor ofdeprived students; use of alternatives to the frontal model, at least during part ofthe class time; and strengthening a tradition of empirical research. Twelveinterrelated strategies, which may be especially relevant in most LAC countries(even though the strategies should be tailored to each specific reality) arediscussed in the paper.
Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) coun-tries now undergoing rapid economic growthare demanding better trained human resources.Although these demands are not yet being met,there is relevant evidence to trace the causesof the delay and to suggest an effective agenda
* Ernesto Schiefelbein. OREALC Director.Paper prepared for the World Bank's Annual BankConference on Development in Latin America and theCaribbean (ABCD-LAC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil onJune 12 and 13, 1995. The findings, interpretations,and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirelythose of the author. They do not necessarily representthe views of UNESCO or the World Bank, its Execu-
for action. However, the agenda should be tai-lored to the social consensus reached in eachcountry on the amount of financial effort andthe specific educational strategies.
The first section of this paper analyzes theneed to complement the success of economic,
tive Directors, or the countries they represent.Comments from Kin Bing Wu, Donald Winkler,Eduardo Velez, Juan Prawda, Juan Carlos Tedesco,Joseph Ramos, John Durston, Richard Pelczar, RicardoCarciofi, Hans Fritzche, Ana Maria Corvalán, CarmenLuz Latorre, Pablo Gonzalez, Rolando Sanchez, JuanCasassus, José Rivero, David Silva and Miguel Nufiez,and editing from Andrea Cirillo truly improved earlierversions of the paper.
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
social and political areas with a labor forceable to adapt, grow and improve. Such laborforce requires an improvement in education.The second section describes the state of edu-cation in the LAC region and the key educa-tional problems. In the third section, severalcauses for poor educational performance arediscussed and priorities are proposed. Thefourth section suggests a substantive set ofstrategies to improve educational quality andefficiency in LAC countries.
Development, trends, demands andchallenges
A new development model has helped severalLAC countries to experience rapid economicgrowth, but further growth now depends onbetter trained human resources (acknowledg-ing that exogenous factors like sudden devalu-ations of big countries are beyond the analysisof an educator). The new model is based onopening national economies to internationalcompetition, internationally financed invest-ments, macroeconomic equilibria, deregulationof economies and labor markets, technologicaltransfers (innovation) and, eventually, demo-cratic governance and reduced inequality(ECLAC-UNESCO, 1992; World Bank, 1993;Birdsall et al, 1994). This model of develop-ment has taken economic activity to new lev-els of growth, competitiveness, and adaptabil-ity to change and uncertainty, but it has alsobrought new demands. There is a need to com-plement economic, social and political successwith a labor force able to adapt, grow and im-prove and a need to improve equity and toreduce poverty. Free trade zones and ongoingpressures for economic integration with highlydeveloped countries make these needs a prior-ity for less developed partners constrained bylow labor productivity levels (Table 1).
In the 1990s, many countries in LAC haveput behind them a decade of economic crisisand even longer periods of import substitu-tion, budget deficits, inflation and authoritar-ian rule and want to increase their ability to
4
Table 1LABOR.PRODUCTIVITY COMPARISON(Index U.S. = 100, 1992)
Source: McKinsey, 1994.a Total factor productivity shown for telecommunica-
tions, unadjusted for quality difference.b Weighted by employment.
grow and to curb poverty (Burki and Edwards,1995). With an annual economic growth rateof about 3.2% LAC is now the second fastestgrowing region in the world. But more openeconomies put local business in competitionwith societies and firms who have a long stand-ing tradition in human resource developmentand are based in countries with a much richersupply of people at all levels (Coles, 1994).Private sector managers are trying to get aninternationally competitive labor force, able toadapt to a continuous technological changerather than to master specific skills; to lifelongabsorption of new information, methods andideas; and to organize new functions and tasks.But productivity is still low (Table 2). At thesame time, political parties and citizens areputting pressure on governments and congress-men to obtain the information and educationlevels required to participate in this new socialcontext, to curb drug, AIDS, and environmen-tal problems, and to raise access to peace, civiccommitment and solidarity (Flores and Varela,1994; Mayor, 1994; Augier, 1994; BID et al,1995). All sectors which in the past had quitedifferent views on the role of education nowagree that the quality of education must beimproved (UNESCO, 1990).
7
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Table 2LABOR PRODUCTIVITY EVOLUTION(Index U.S. = 100)
Source: McKinsey, 1994.Note: During the period analyzed the U.S. industries increased their labor productivity as follow: Steel: 42%
(1985-1989) and 27% (1989-1993); Telecommunications: 19% (1985-1989) and 28% (1989-1993).
Demands for better quality and distributionof education in the LAC region are also sup-ported by the role of education in influencingsuccessful economic changes made in EastAsia; recent research on the multiple impactsof education; and international comparisons ofeducational achievement. The recent experi-ence of East Asia shows that better educationand reduced inequality contributed to economicgrowth, and how, in turn, economic growthcontributed to investment in education (Birdsallet al, 1994). Education in LAC is growing at aslower rate than in East Asia (Londofio, 1995).The World Competitiveness Report alsoshowed that the weakest aspects of LAC coun-tries are related to their human resources(World Economic Forum, 1994). The growthrate over the 1960-1985 period in 98 countriesis directly related to the initial human capital(Barro, 1991). Highly skilled labor and newknowledge has been related to productivitygrowth in OECD countries (McMahon, 1984).Other pieces of research have shown that edu-cation, especially basic education, contributesto growth by increasing the productivity oflabor, by improving health, by reducing fertil-ity, and by equipping people to participate fullyin the economy and in society (Lockheed andVerspoor, 1991). For example, girls' educa-tion is associated to raising the age of mar-riage, use of contraceptives, and use of healthcare systems, thus reducing the time of sick
care, or vision and hearing impairments. Fur-thermore, social rates of return to each educa-tional level are higher than market interest ratesthroughout the LAC region (Psacharopoulos,1993; Birdsall, 1995). In addition, educationcontributes to reinforcing democratic institu-tions (or tradition), to building national eco-nomic capacity, and to promoting fair govern-ance. All of which are increasingly recognizedas key elements in the effective implementa-tion of sound economic and social policies.Finally, international comparisons of educa-tional achievement suggest that the quality ofeducation in the LAC region must be raisedquickly (Table 3). For example, nearly 90% ofthe students in Finland performs at a higherlevel than the highest scoring 10% of studentsin Venezuela (Schleicher and Yip, 1994).
There is agreement that the possibility of sus-tained economic growth is associated to the rateof accumulation of new knowledge and the paceof technological change and, therefore, to morefrequent job changes (within the firm or movingto other firms) during one's life (World Bank1994a; 1994b). Successful private firms continu-ally learn and adapt through the effort of "all"the workers (Montero, 1995). This context hasthree important implications for education: fu-ture workers should be able to readily acquirenew skills, which increase the importance ofbasic competencies learned in primary and sec-ondary schools; continue expanding the stock of
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BULLETIN 37. August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
Table 3DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT SCORES IN READING. POPULATION A(9-years old level)
Country Mean StandardPercentile points of the distribution
Source: Scheicher, Andreas and Yip, Jean. "Indicators of between-school differences in reading achievement". lEA,New Jersey, May 1994,
knowledge, largely the role of higher and gradu-ate education; and retraining opportunities mustbe available throughout one's working life(World Bank I 994a; 1994b). The basic compe-tencies are language, mathematics and, increas-ingly, communication skills, but also the devel-opment of attitudes necessary for responsibility,creativity, and team work in the work place(Kamii et al, 1994). Further education and train-ing then consists of acquiring the ability to ap-ply principles of logic or scientific thinking, todefine problems, collect data, establish facts, anddraw valid conclusions.
New management styles are also demandingchanges in school teaching and learning proc-
6
esses. Priority attention to client demands, in-teractive learning, systematic use of conversa-tion for closing business or work deals, confi-dence in on-time arrival of inputs of standardquality, law abiding, and fulfilling commit-ments also require new and innovative educa-tion (Montero, 1995).
In a region where more than half of the popu-lation is not able to effectively communicatein writing -the lower half of the socioeconomicdistribution is functionally illiterate-, these eco-nomic and political changes present an unprec-edented challenge to educational systems. Thischallenge involves a change in the culture,mainly attitudes, of the population and its lead-
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Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
ers (Coles, 1994) and is linked to the largerincome inequality that should be included inthe analysis of problems and in the design ofstrategies. Few educational systems areequipped for their new missions. Thus, reform-ing the LAC educational system is critical torealizing the opportunities that the 21st cen-tury is now opening to the region (ECLAC-UNESCO, 1992). Governments have givenstrong verbal commitments to educational re-forms and increased human capital investment.Now is the time to implement effective re-forms.
The state of education in LAC
Since the 1960s, remarkable progress has beenmade in LAC countries in expanding access toeducation and increasing the number of daysattended per year, but nothing changed in mostclassroom processes. The majority of publicschools have not been able to deliver adequateeducation on a sustained basis and in LatinAmerican universities research productivity islow. However, there are many successfulprojects which suggest that effective reformscan be implemented.
More children than ever attend the educa-tional system, and access to basic education isalmost universal (Table 4). Primary school ac-cess jumped from 60% in the early 1960s tomore than 90% in the 1990s (Table 4 showsthat the average enrollment of the 6-11 agegroup is 87.3%, but enrollment at the age of 9is close to 95%). Students attend, on average,more than six years of schooling, even thoughstudents pass only four grades. Income inequal-ity has not been a constraint for enrolling inprimary education, but for reaching minimallevels of learning and continuing into second-ary education. Secondary education enrollmentis now equivalent to over two thirds of therelated age group population (UNESCO, 1995).Between 1960 and 1990, higher educationenrollment ratios increased from 6 to 25% inLAC. Several countries established a compre-hensive structure for advanced training, how-
ever, the actual research produced by universi-ties has had very little impact on the econo-mies (World Bank, 1994a).
Primary and secondary education
In spite of the expansion of student enrollmentsand multiple reform attempts, the quality andrelevance of the education that students receiveare inadequate in most countries of the region(Schiefelbein and Tedesco, 1995). In additionto lineal expansion (more of the same), coun-tries have enacted curricular reforms and con-stitutional provisions for minimum budgets orfree education; launched educational radio andTV programs and adult literacy campaigns;organized nuclear grouping of schools; givengrants to projects prepared by the school staff;tried bilingual education and mainstreaming;integrated schools and created comprehensivesecondary schools; trained teachers on-the-job;decentralized decisions and changed adminis-trative structures; and more recently launchedtesting programs (Oliveira, 1989). However,testing programs have shown that the averagestudent is learning roughly half of the expectedlevels (achieved by students in private schools)and that only half of the fourth grade studentsare able to understand what they read (Chile,1995; Argentina, 1994). Even the elite privateschools only perform close to the average ofdeveloped countries (Luna and Wolfe, 1993;Wolff et al, 1993). International comparisonscarried out by IEA show that cognitive achieve-ment in Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuelathat are representative of the best systems inthe LAC region (Arancibia and Rosas, 1994)is closer to the levels of Africa than East Asia(Table 5), and that there are serious equityproblems (Schleicher and Yip, 1994). Even inthe case of Chile, that has improved most in-puts and effectively implemented structural re-forms, achievement scores remained constantin the 1982-1990 period for each socioeco-nomic group (Table 7) and the lowest 5% ofschools has not improved their student achieve-ment in the 1982-1994 period. Conclusions
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BULLETIN 37. August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
Table 4LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: ESTIMATED ENROLMENT AND ENROLMENT RATES
Secondary schoolNumber of students 4 085 8 107 16 967 22 376 23 155 7.1 7.7 3.9 1.7 1.7Net enrolment rate for the12-17 age groupb 36.3 49.8 62.9 66.2 68.0Gross enrolment ratec 14.6 25.5 45.3 52.5 53.2
Higher educationNumber of students 573 1 640 4 889 7 413 7.924 11.1 11.5 5.3 3.2 3.4Net enrolment rate for the18-23 age groupb 5.7 11.6 24.1 26.9 25.4Gross enrolment ratec 3.0 6.3 13.6 17.1 17.7
Source: UNESCO. Statistical Yearbook 1994; CELADE.a 0-5 age group.b Number of students (regardless of grade) divided by population of same age group.,c Total enrolment in grade (regardless of age) divided by the population of age group corrresponding to grade.
Table 5COMPARISON OF THE lEA AND THE OREALC STUDIES OF READING LITERACY, 1992-1993
lEA study, 1992 OREALC study, 1992-1993'
FinlandUnited StatesHong Kong
569547517
Singapore 515 Argentina 361Spain 504 Bolivia 284Ex Western Germany 503 Costa Rica 381
, Indonesia 394 Chile 366Dominican Republic 308
Trinidad and Tobago 451 Ecuador 303Venezuela 383 Venezuela 383
Source: Elley, W. B. "How in the World do Students Read?". International Association for the Evaluation of EducationalAchievement, 1992: Arancibia Violeta and Rosas, Ricardo. Medicien de la calidad de la educacienen AmericaLatina. Resultados de siete 'Daises de la Region. Vol III, REPLAD-UC. Santiago, Chile, 1994.
a The average score of Venezuela in the OREALC study (60.2)was increased in 383/60.2 to express it in the scale ofthe IEA study. The same coefficient was used for each of the other six countries.
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Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
should take into account the usual problemsassociated with interpreting international com-parisons (Goldstein, 1995)
Low cognitive achievement levels, inequalityand passive learning are serious constraints togrowth according' to the East Asian experience(Birdsall et al., 1994; World Bank, 1993). Asdetected in the IEA study, achievement scoresof students in public urban-marginal and ruralprimary schools (especially in the Aymara,Guarani, Quechua, Maya and other areas of in-digenous people) are usually equivalent to halfof the scores of wealthy students (Wolff et al.,1993; see Table 7 for detailed comparisons).Poor public schools also have a shorter schoolyear and daily schedule that, in many cases, givestudents less than 800 hours per year of poten-tial learning opportunities (compared with 1200or more hours offered to student in good privateschools which is close to the average in devel-oped countries). This limited amount of time forlearning (Table 9) is usually due to both use ofpublic school space in double shifts and lack ofteachers' time, even though the latter is mainlyrelated to poor allocation of the public teachingstaff in countries with a students/teacher ratiobelow 30 (Oliveira, 1989; ECLAC-UNESCO,1992). In poor schools, a substantial amount oftime available for learning is, in fact, wasted inunproductive activities such as roll call or con-trolling silence (discipline) and disruptions(Filp, 1987). Multigrade schools are a particu-lar concern because they represent from onefifth to three quarters of all schools, and teach-ers assigned to them have been given neitherspecial training nor appropriate material fortheir challenging assignments. Inequality isusually difficult to curb, and in LAC even moreso because most public system managers sendtheir children to private primary and second-ary schools and then switch to free universi-ties. Therefore, their children are not affectedby poor achievement in public shools. How-ever, even the students in the 10% best privateschools in LAC countries are performing nearaverage of developed countries (Wolff et al,1993; Table 6).
Above all, poor quality of the public systemis linked to a vicious circle, perpetuated bycomplex social factors resistant to reform. Fewhigh school graduates are interested in a teach-ing career as a result of low professional satis-faction, generated by low salary levels and poorstudent achievement levels. Therefore, fewteachers select teaching due to its intrinsec in-terest, but most teachers end up teaching be-cause they are not accepted in more prestig-ious careers. This negative selection bias isespecially detrimental given that "teaching isa complex form of work that requires highlevels of formal knowledge for successful per-formance" (Rowan, 1994; Buchmann andFloden, 1993)). The difference between the re-quired and actual levels of training, tend toraise demands for salaries because all teachersassume they meet the required standards forteaching, given that there are no effective meth-ods for assessing the individual ability of teach-ers (Hatry et al, 1994). Salary demands arealso affected by gender and time schedulesbecause more than two thirds are female andall 'teachers have a part time schedule, but theexpected salary level is the salary of a fulltime male teacher. The problem in the publicsystem is more serious because the best teach-ers tend to move to better jobs in other sectorsor in private schools where salaries may be 5or 10 times higher than in the public system.Thus, there is continuous pressure for bettersalaries in the public sector. The presure in-volves annual strikes, because public schoolteachers are a large share of the civil servants,organized in powerful unions and backed bycongressmen and political leaders; and someteachers are leading local figures who play acritical role in election times. However, sala-ries have not increased, strikes have erodedachievements levels, and unions have not ledto improvements in teaching methods.
Most teachers use a "frontal" or "wholeclass" teaching method, neglecting learners'needs and distorting key educational' objectives.Some 80% of Chilean secondary teachers dic-tate their classes to students (Cox, 1995;
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
Source: Luna, E. and R. Wolfe "A feasibility report on the appraisal of mathematics andscience education in Latin America". Mimeo. Technical Department, Latin America and theCaribbean Region". Word Bank,1991. Scores for Thailand and the U.S.A. from:Garden, R. and Robitaille, D. 1989. "The lEA study of mathematics II: Contexts and outcomes of schoolmathematics." Oxford: Pergamon; and D. Postlethwaite, T.N. y Wiley, D. 1992. "The IEA study of science II:science achievement in twenty-three countries." Oxford, Pergamon,
Note: 1. Elite private schools.2. Lower class private or Upper class public.3. Lower class public.4. Rural public.
ECLAC, 1995). Furthermore, frontal teachingimplies: acceptance of the authoritarian teach-ing structure; the need to learn by rote; thesingle correct answer and no opportunity todiscuss divergent answers; lack of peer groupdiscussion and no opportunity for learning toreach social consensuses; and failure to linkteaching with the local context.
Secondary education has additional problemsdealing with selectivity, tracking and teacherpreservice training. The range of net enrolmentrates in secondary education is much largerthan in primary education (Table 13) and coun-tries must define a clear expansion policy(Crouch, 1995). Countries must also definewhen and which type of technical educationshould be supplied (how to combine with train-ing institutions like SENAI or SENA). Finally,a balance on subject and pedagogical trainingshould be reached in the curriculum of teachertraining institutions and a hands-on approachmust be developed. Solutions should take into
10 13
account the huge gap between youngsters ex-pectations and the present supply of secondaryeducation.
In summary, improving primary and second-ary education requires better educated people,but, at the same time, change must be intro-duced without relying on additional voluntarytime spent by teachers or recruitement of bettertrained replacements (Schiefelbein et al, 1994;World Bank, 1994). These are tough conditions,but have been fulfilled in a few successfulprojects that will be addressed later on.
Higher education and research
Massive expansion in higher educationenrollment and reduction in public spendingtriggered a growing variety of higher educa-tion institutions and generated wide differencesin the quality of their graduates (Brunner et al,1994; Schwartzman, 1995). In fact, universi-ties are no longer the only institutions carrying
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Table 7CHILE: FOURTH GRADERS ACHIEVEMENT SCORES IN SPANISH, 1982-1988
Type of school Size 1982 1988Socio-economic of Sample Gross Net Per- Sample Gross Net Per-level city score % score % centage score % score % centage
Source: Data tabulated by SIMCE, March, 1985.Note: To calculate the net scores is used the equation NS=0.5+3/2 GS. If GS is 100 the Ns is 100. If GS is 33 the NS
is O.
Information of cities with less than 20.000 inhabitants is included in "Rest".
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
Table 8COMPARISON OF FOURTH GRADE ACHIEVEMENT SCORES.AVERAGE OF SPANISH AND MATHEMATICS, ANNUAL NATIONAL TESTING, 1982-1994(Percentage of correct answers)
1982 1988 1990 1992 1994
A. 5% Schools with best scores 77.49 75.83 80.87 87.63 86.80
B. 5% Schools with worst scores 48.35 43.41 40.45 46.45 49.12
C. Difference (A-B) 29.14 32.42 40.42 41.18 37.68
D. Percentage: 100"B/A 62.40 57.25 50.02 53.01 56.59
Source: 1982-1988, table 7 and data from CPEIP and SIMCE; 1990-1994, Mineduc, Division de EducaciOn General,1995 (published in El Mercurio, May 14, 1995,, p. E-20).
Notes: No special changes are identified in methods, teaching, or facilities for the 5% of best (mainly private) schools,therefore it is possible to assume that scores are constant over time;The estimates for 1982 and 1988 correspond roughly to the best (and worst) scoring schools with an enrollmentnear 5% of the total number of the students (rather than 5% of the total number of schools). This change of unitsshould be taken into account for the analysis and conclusions;Tests for 1982 and 1988 are equivalent and can be compared in absolute values, while tests for 1990 to 1994can only be compared in relative terms (using the average scores of the best schools as the base).
out research. The size of the university systemhas increased and there are some 8 millionuniversity students to 1 million faculty (Table4). In such a massive system, goals of con-cerned parties are no longer homogeneous; di-mensions of the higher education system be-come bureaucratic; and pressures from teach-ers and students unions must be taken into ac-count (Schwartzman, 1993). The rapid increasein enrollment has been fiscally unsustainableand generated a sharp decline in quality. Theperformance of higher education has also beenaffected by the decline in academic standardsof high school graduates, given that rapidgrowth of high school enrollment involves in-creased access for traditionally less privilegedpopulations. At the same time, standards aredifficult to maintain when resources per stu-dent dwindle (Winkler, 1990). Only 20% ofthe faculty has doctoral training (Schiefelbeinand Apablaza, 1993), and half of the facultyhas supplemental employment including a largeshare of "full-time" faculty. Furthermore, thedistribution of higher education accross socio-economic levels remains unequal and the re-duction in public resources per student has not
1512
improved such distribution. The wealthiestquintile of the population receives nearly halfthe public subsidies to higher education (Ta-ble 10), while the poorest quintile receives justfive percent (Puryear and Brunner, 1994).
The massive increase in enrollment forcedgovernments to control the product (rather thanthe traditional control of process) and triggereda variety of higher education institutions. Care-ful monitoring of processes that could be car-ried out in a few elite institutions has beenreplaced by attention to quality of graduates(Neave, 1988). At the same time, the growingsocial demands and changing labor marketneeds have encouraged the development of pri-vate and non-university institutions. Two-yeartechnical centers and four-year professional in-stitutes are now operating with high enollmentsin several countries. These new institutions havebeen a counter balance to the highly politicizednature of the public Latin American Universityor at least introduced flexibility in higher educa-tion policies. On the other hand, applicants arenot fully aware of differencies between institu-tions; more public relevant information shouldbe made available for students and parents to
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
make rational decisions when selecting the in-stitution and career that will consume their timeand money, and also for the employers that willhire the graduates.
Research is mostly concentrated in a fewuniversities, but also in an increasing numberof public and private research institutes andeven in large enterprises. Selected universitiesplay a major research role in most countries,but their research is constrained by faculty lack-ing doctoral training and lack of incentives,especially financial, for conducting research.Consortia between doctoral programs, researchprojects and fellowships for doctoral studiesare minimal, even though there are some suc-cessful examples of joint university, public andprivate sector research projects (Schwartzman,1995). It is difficult for young researchers toplan a long term career that will provide areasonable rate of return (and standard of liv-ing) to the total cost of becoming a researcher.Therefore, Latin America still has a extremelyweak position in producing and using knowl-edge. The percentage of GDP allocated to re-search and development is only one fifth ofthe proportion allocated by OECD and barelyone third of the East Asia newly industrializ-ing economies (Table 11). However, externallyreviewed research project funding is now in-creasing and recently some countries havestarted to reimburse university overhead costsand to gradually increase funding levels.
Government efforts, financing, andinnovations
The consistent interest of LAC countries ineducation is reflected in the amount of re-sources allocated to education and in theamount of successful projects implemented inthe last decade, but both the efficiency in itsuse and the total amount should increase. Therehas been a relatively high constant publicspending in education in spite of inefficientuse of those resources. LAC government spend-ing in education was 3.7% of GNP in 1990which represents a slightly larger share of GNP
than in East Asia (3.4%), but lower than Afri-ca (4.7%), even though in terms of US dollarsthe relationships are inverse and another 1.0%of GNP was spent by the private sector (WorldBank, 1994b; ECLAC-UNESCO, 1992). Thefinancial crisis of the early 1980s cut publicspending in education by 30%. Spending lev-els in education have recovered to the 1980levels, but tfiese levels are still much lower (inUS dollars) than those of developed countries.Furthermore, the increase in financing educa-tion (by recovering the 1980 levels) was mainlyused to reduce the students/teacher ratios inprimary education from 27 to 23, rather thanincreasing teachers'salaries, extending the dailyschedule, distributing learning materials, ordeveloping research and graduate training. Re-ducing students/teachers ratios and reducingsalaries has proved to be a very ineffectivepolicy according to international research find-ings that suggest as an alternative to increaseboth the number of student per teacher (up toa certain level) and the salary level with thesame total cost. A high number of repeatersalso reflects the inefficiency of LAC educa-tional systems: 29% of students in basic edu-cation are repeaters. Annually, of US$ 7.5 bil-lion of public expenditure on primary educa-tion, US$ 2.5 billion (nearly one third) is spenton primary education repeaters. Similar fig-ures are observed in secondary and higher edu-cation (ECLAC-UNESCO, 1992; Wolff et al,1993; Schiefelbein, 1994). However, humancosts in terms of time wasted and frustrationaccumulated are even larger than the cost ofattending repeaters.
The financial crisis of the early 1980s causedpublic spending (on higher education and onresearch and development) to decline or to leveloff. Lack of additional resources for expan-sion has provided strong incentives for publicuniversities to improve internal efficiency, toobtain resources from student fees (coupledwith well designed student loans mechanisms),selling services, or to hire individuals with ex-pertise in university administration rather thanstrong political skills (Riggs, 1964). When
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
Table 9DISTRIBUTION OF FIRST GRADE STUDENTS BY DAYS ATTENDED DURINGTHE SCHOOL YEAR BY TYPE OF SCHOOL AND URBAN LEVEL
Type ofschool
Departmentand area
Number of attendances(in percentage of enrollment) Enrollment
0-110 111-130 131-150 151 and over
First grade enrollmentaPublic Montevideo 9.0 8.6 26.4 56.1 17 569
Source: ECLAC. Montevideo, on data of the "Annual Statistical Summary" of public schools of Montevideo, Canelones,Maldonado Departments and all of the private schools (qualified and authorized) existing in the country, fromCEP-DIPE.
a Information about 591 public schools and 227 private schools is included.b Information about 643 public schools and 227 private schools is included.
these new sources of financing are added, the"experience of a few developing countries, suchas Chile, indicates that it is possible to achieve agrowing higher education system even as publicspending per student declines" (World Bank,1994a). But an increase in coverage does notmean better quality. Expenditures in researchand development remain near half of one per-cent during the 1980s, while East Asian newlyindustrializing economies have increased and arenow spending three times more (Table 12).
In spite of the gloomy aggregate state of
14 17
education in the LAC region, there are a num-ber of successful programs and policies thatsuggest a sound potential for improving edu-cation (UNESCO, 1993b; ECLAC-UNESCO,1992; Oliveira, 1989). First, there are manyexamples of good schools and universities,mainly run by the private sector, that cater tostudents from the elite. Second, vocational-technical on-the-job training delivered by in-stitutions like SENAI (Brazil) and SENA (Co-lombia) and dual-education programs havebeen well rated by private industry. Third,
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Table 10INCIDENCE OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR EDUCATION BY EDUCATIONAL AND INCOMELEVEL IN SOME COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN(Percentages)
Source: Joint ECLAC/UNIDO Industry and Technology Division, based on figures from the World Bank,Social Spending in Latin America: The Story of the '80s, Report No. 8450, Washington D.C., 18December 1990.
massive changes in primary and secondaryschool processes, have been implemented byEscuela Nueva (Colombia) and P-900 (Chile)using self learning materials as Korea did inthe 1960s with support from Florida State Uni-versity (Huh, 1992), massive use of comput-ers and Escuelas Lideres (Costa Rica),Programa Nacional de Educaci6n Bilingiie(PRONEBI, Guatemala), Instructores Comuni-tarios (Mexico) and Reforma académica de RioGrande do Sul (Brazil). A national innovationnetwork has successfuly operated in Colombia(Toro, 1993) and common core (minimal) cur-riculum has been implemented in Argentina(Braslavsky, 1995). Research capability and useof findings in education have been developedthrough the regional exchange networkREDUC (Oliveira, 1989). There are attemptsto provide comprehensive funding for gradu-ate programs that include research and doc-toral fellowships and externally reviewed re-search project funding. Finally, there are suc-cessful regional colaborative programs in keyareas such as biology and biotechnology(UNDP, 1995). Massive implementation of se-lected successful programs can improveachievement levels and help society to gradu-ally increase teacher salaries to levels that can
neutralize the vicious circle commented in thesub chapter Primary and secondary education.
Summary
The description of the LAC educational sys-tem also allows the identification of key causesof problems. For example, the description ofprimary and secondary education shows poorquality and inequality linked to six mutuallyrelated causes: (i) limited overall learning time,including homework (ii) lack of basic inputsincluding learning materials and trained teach-ers, (iii) poor selection of future teachers, (iv)policies in conflict with research findings, (v)negative allocation of inputs for poor (includ-ing indigenous) students, and (vi) lack of in-centives for improvements.. Low salaries canbe included as a seventh cause that generatesthe low attraction of the teaching career, butincrement in salaries have now only long termeffects. The relationships between poor qual-ity, inequality and these (and other) causes areanalyzed in the next section.
The description of higher education showsthe need to strength the research tradition; pro-vide competitive salaries for the research elite;to launch national programs for training at doc-
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
toral levels; to increase externally reviewedcompetitive research project funding; to sup-port effective accreditation; and to developpublic information systems that can reduce theuncertainty associated with the long termlagged effects of higher education training(Cobweb equilibria).
It is necessary to carefully identify causesand interrelationships in order to assign priori-ties and design effective strategies. Such strat-egies should also take into account recent de-velopments that have the potential to effec-tively reform education (Brown, 1994; Hatryet al, 1994; Slavin, 1991; Levin, 1989). Notethat finance in itself is not yet inCluded as acause (given that in some countries the re-sources required to buy time and basic inputscan be obtained from reallocating resources;improving efficiency; dismissal of "ghost"teachers; or private sector financing) nor as aproblem of intrasectoral allocation given thatrates of return of all levels are higher than themarket interest rates (Birdsall, 1995). Financ-ing will be addressed in the final section inorder to analyse both the feasibility of imple-menting strategies to raise quality and curbinequality, the ways to reduce the regressivenature of public expenditures on education, andthe long term effects on quality generated byreasonably higher or competitive salaries.
Causes of poor performance
Even though little is known about effectiveeducational innovations, there have been im-portant advances in the analysis of educationalsystems that help to identify relevant causes ofpoor quality and inequality which differ fromthose considered by conventional wisdom(Tedesco, 1994). These causes should be dis-cussed on national level to promote consensusand implement long term educational policies.The little we know about effective innovationis illustrated by the analysis of the twelve mostrelevant educational innovations carried out inthe US. The analysis shows that research find-ings are inconclusive, but recommends that
16 19
learner-centered instruction not quite news ineducation and the active role of the learner inconstructing meaning should be emphasized.It also states that the traditional role of theteacher, "to instill truths and to transfer knowl-edge", should be abandoned, at least duringpart of the teaching time (Ellis and Fouts, 1993;Arnold, 1995; Diez-Hochleitner, 1995).
Analysing required and sufficient conditionsfor effective learning processes may help todispel myths built by conventional wisdom.Basic inputs are a required condition for learn-ing, but not the only condition. Without basicinputs, little learning may happen, but basicinputs do not necessarily generate expectedachievement levels. Key inputs are teachers'classroom activities, the amount of time avail-able for learning, materials for students to carryout their work (paper, pencils, learning guidesand textbooks, or computers) and, of course,buildings (World Bank, I994b). Some schoolfeeding and health programs should be addedfor deprived students (but are not commentedin detail in this report, because they should beanalyzed together with the whole set of healthstrategies). However, provision of these (andother) basic inputs with suitable financing doesnot guarantee that the expected level of learn-ing is generated in the classroom as observedin the USA and Chile (Chubb and Hanushek,1990; Doyle, 1994; Tedesco, 1994). On theother hand, multigrade teaching without learn-ing guides will be a failure. Without theseguides, which complement the learning proc-ess, learning will be drastically reduced(Arnold, 1995).
To generate learning, some specific activi-ties, which are currently absent from the LACclassrooms should be carried out in the dailyteaching-learning routines. Learning is gener-ated when students discuss among themselvesthe proposed task; when the task is related withtheir context or expectations; when enough timeto learn the task is available; or when forma-tive evaluation is given to students that havenot fully learned the educational task (Brown,1994; Kamii et al, 1994; Augier, 1994;
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Schiefelbein, 1991). All these activities are sim-ple, but require well trained and committedteachers. The 40% of students repeating firstgrade can only be explained in terms of poorteaching techniques, temporal dropping out,and lack of gradual preparation through pre-school training. In fact, it has been detectedthat most teacher training institutions providetheoretical training (structural grammar, lin-guistic or learning models), but do not trainfuture teachers in specific strategies for teach-ing (OREALC, 1993). There is a need for pro-viding teachers with those skills. In fact theproblem is far more serious. UnfortunatelyLAC teachers are trained in the so called fron-tal teaching model: in this model lessons con-sist of oral instructions and information tai-lored to the average student for the class groupto memorize in order to reproduce the contentin the exams and receive a good evaluationscore. This method is less damaging in privateschools or in university where students aresimilar in age, culture, family support and mo-tivation, and good materials are availablefor each student (that is, when there is littlevariation in the student body as in East Asiancountries). But the frontal method generatespoor learning in a classroom where the teacherhas insufficient training, materials are scarce,and the group of students is heterogeneous, asit happens with primary and secondary stu-dents from urban-marginal and rural areas,when only a fraction of the group attendedpreschool, or especially when students speak alanguage different from the national languageand widely differ in ages (Table 13). Heteroge-nity may be an asset for a good teacher, but aproblem for a frontal teacher. By definition,all students below the "average student" level(subjectively chosen by the teacher), will even-tually repeat. Frontal teaching seems to be themain cause contributing to student repetition(30% in LAC countries) and to inequity: morethan half of the students who repeat are in thelower half of the socioeconomic distribution(Amadio, 1995; UNESCO, 1993). Repeating agrade also increases the odds of dropping out
(Roderick, 1994; Gargiulo and Crouch, 1994),but does not negatively infuence problembehavior (Gottfredson et al, 1994). Further-more, the frontal teaching model proves to beespecially traumatic for first grade students(even if they have attended preschool) whomust sit through classes motionless and silentin rows of benches (Landesman and Ramey,1994). In summary, the current teaching styleand the role of teachers in primary and sec-ondary education are key elements of the qual-ity problem, rather than of its solution(Tedesco, 1994). The critical question is howto change this style given that it is rooted inwell entrenched traditions.
Reforming the traditional teachers' role andteaching style could involve changes in theglobal social context. These linkages shouldbe understood in order to reach national con-sensus required for long term educational re-form. LAC educational systems are rooted ina society developed from colonial and indig-enous traditions (Coles, 1994; Oliveira, 1989),which contributes to a highly imperfect educa-tional market where the magnitude of enroll-ment depends on demographic trends. The co-lonial legacy includes lack of incentives forimprovement and a legal structure based onhow people ought to behave rather than onhow they actually behave (Riggs, 1964). Mar-ket imperfections such as too general educa-tion brand names, long term lagged effects,geographical monopolies, supply subsidies, ortoo many bureaucratic regulations are re-flected in underinvestment in education, poorallocation of resources, and use of inefficienttechnologies (Schiefelbein, 1995). Fortunately,demand for lineal expansion in education hasslowed down in most LAC countries (Table 4)due to reduced demographic growth rates (as aresult of universal primary education), but insome countries demand has been displaced up-wards. Reduced pressure for further lineal ex-pansion of the educational system frees re-sources for improving inputs or expanding thenext level. However, once the vicious circle ofnegative selection into the teaching career
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BULLETIN 37. August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
Table 11SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INDICATORS FOR GROUPS OF SELECTED COUNTRIES(Different years between 1988 and 1990)
Indicator LatinAmericaa
OECDcountriesb
East Asiannewly in-
dustrializingeconomiesa
SouthernEuropean
countriesd
Per capita research and development expenditures (US$) 10 448 23 44Percentage of GDP allocated for research and development ' 0.5 2.5 1.4 1.0Research and development expenditures
per engineer or scientist (US$) 34 858 141 861 50 160 60 647Engineers and scientists per 100 000
economically active persons 650 , 115 185University graduates per 100 000 inhabitants e 156 592 478 191
Percentage of university graduates in engineeringand technology (%) 19.5 15.6 19.6 17.5
Research and development expenditures by source (%)i) Public sector 78.8 43.1 35.6 46.4ii) Entrepreneurial sector 10.5 52.5 61.4 49.5iii) Funds from abroad 3.4 0.4 2.9 3.9iv) Other 7.3 .4.0 0.1 0.2
Research and development expenditures by activity (%) e. 9i) Basic research 20.9 14.1 21.1 19.0ii) Applied research '52.4 26.5 30.4 39.7iii) Experimental development 26.7 59.5 48.5 41.2
Source: Joint ECLAC/UNIDO Industry and Technology Division, on the basis of official information.
a ALADI countries plus Cuba.Excluding Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey and Yugoslavia.Including Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Filippines and Thailand.Includes Spain, Greece, Portubal, Turkey and Yugoslavia.Data for the rnid-1980s.Data do not include Turkey.Includes only Argentina, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela; Spain and Portugal; and the Group of Seven, except Canadain their respective regions.
started operating, it is difficult to stop. Increas-ing teachers' salaries will only improve qual-ity of the education in the long run becausethe same staff will continue teaching (with con-stant training and ability), and no incentive sys-tems have yet been successful (Hatry et al,1994). In summary, improvement of the socialcontext may be required for an effective edu-cational reform: for example, changes in theincentives and legal context (principals orteachers should not be liable for loss or dam-age to books, because this liability causes booksto remain on boxes or shelves in the principals
2118
office), or in educational markets may be pre-conditions for serious decentralization or pri-vatization processes; or more suitable infor-mation should be provided to parents and stu-dents for making the right choices about edu-cational optiops. Furthermore, the strategy willbe different from country to country.
Coherent and consensual reform is criticalto efficiently improving education. Frequentand inappropriate changes in strategies result-ing from the personal objectives of each newlyappointed Secretary of Education -rather thanthrough agreement with all concerned parties,
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Table 12LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: EXPENDITURES FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Percentage of GDP Dollars per capita
Subregion and country Early Late Early Late1980s8 1980s b 1980s 8 1980s b
Source: ECLAC/UNIDO Industry and Technology Division, on the basis of official data and Francisco Sagasti andCecilia Cook "La ciencia y la tecnologia en America Latina durante el decenio de los ochenta", ComercioExterior, Vol. 37, No. 12, December 1987.
8 Verious years 1978-1984.b Various years 1984-1990. .
c Data for early 1980s are estimates based on science and technology expenditures as a percentage of GDP.
or based on evaluation of past projects or re-search findings- have produced an impasse toreform and have hindered educational improve-ment (Tedesco, 1994). This inconsistent reformstyle is compounded further by the lifestyle ofeducational high officials and the training ofplanners or advisers. Most high officials usu-ally send their children to private primary andsecondary schools, rather than to the massive
public system, but they do send their childrento free public universities that attend less than25% of the corresponding age groups (Table4). Thus, the high officials are not personallyaffected by the outcome of their decisions onthe performance of public primary and sec-ondary schools, but only from decisions con-cerning the university level which is one keyreason for the efficient performance of public
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
university education (Oliveira, 1989). In addi-tion, the average LAC educational planner doesnot take into account current research findingsin their analysis, explaining why inappropriatepolicies were implemented during the economiccrisis of the 1980s; a time when countries re-duced teachers' salaries because they wantedto further decrease the students/teacher ratiosin spite of reduced resources (Schiefelbein andWolff, 1995). Neglecting to use research find-ings will hold back any effective decentraliza-tion process. At a time when high rates of re-turn are estimated for all levels, it should notbe difficult to convince the public,congresspersons and Secretary of Finance of-ficials of the need for reform by using reliableresearch findings (Birdsall, 1995; World Bank,1994b; Psacharopoulos, 1994). Also, large sav-ings can be obtained by curbing repetitionthrough improved achievement levels result-ing from proven educational strategies that canbe massively implemented at low cost. Re-search findings also suggest that cost sharingat the university level, will generate resourcesfor education, will reduce regressive distribu-tion of subsidies (together with scholarships),and will raise quality in lower levels. On theother hand, it is urgent to strengthen researchand development, given that so little is beingdone in this area (Winkler, 1990). In depthdiscussion of these problems in relation to suc-cessful experiences would be a positive step inreforming education and research.
Discussing educational issues would makethe public realize that education can be im-proved to a substantial degree and facilitatethe social consensus required for setting uplong term policies (including increment in sala-ries). However, countries lack the mechanismsrequired for this discussion (Toro, 1994). Suchmechanisms would imply a short term loss forpolitical parties in power, but a net gain forthe democratic game: to carry out a seriousanalysis of what causes educational problems,and strategies for change. A serious analysisof the global system may dispel simple expla-nations like "too low per-pupil expenditures",
20 23
"internal change can be generated based onteachers' creativeness", or "improvement mayonly depend upon family demands".
In summary, not enough time has been de-voted to identifying, understanding, and defin-ing key educational problems, especially thosethat happen at the classroom level in primaryand secondary education and those related tothe development of a tradition of empirical re-search at the university level. Conventionalwisdom has prevailed and too much time hasbeen spent in solving irrelevant problems. There-fore, the design of an effective strategy for edu-cational reform should start with an analysis ofthe real nature and causes of the poor qualityobserved in LAC countries as well as the se-quence of (probable) effects of reform (in mostcases reform means deep gradual complexchanges, rather than drastic simple changes).Even though everything seems to have been al-ready tried out in LAC education, the effectivefight for quality reform is just about to start.
Defining priorities for reform throughconsensus
A reform process should be based on nationalconsensus, therefore, it will be different in eachcountry. Consensus can be built by convening arepresentative group, providing relevant back-ground papers, and then asking the group todiscuss diagnostic findings and long term objec-tives and strategies (Connell, 1994). The groupshould be composed of representatives of politi-cal or religious tendencies, geographical regions,sectors of activity and parties concerned withthe educational system including teacher, stu-dent, and parent leaders, former senior policy-makers, education scholars, practitioners,Congresspersons, and political party specialists.A consensus is now feasible for such a hetero-geneous group given the agreement on educa-tional demands made by economists, politicalleaders, and educators. In fact, a consensus hasbeen reached by representative groups in Chile,Ecuador, Mexico, Dominican Republic, andother countries, where old consultative mecha-
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Table 13LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: TOTAL ENROLLMENT BY AGE AND GRADE. PUBLIC ANDPRIVATE SECTOR, 1988(In thousands)
Enroll-
Age I 2 3 4 5 6 I II III IV V VI Total Population mentrate (%)
Net school enrollment rate for 1988 6 grades 85.3 12 grades 73.3
Gross school enrollment rate for 1988 (7-12) 112.8 (7-18) 81.3
Source: UNESCO/OREALC, SIRI Survey, 1989.
nisms for setting up educational policies wereused to carry out the consensus building process(Tedesco, 1994; Oliveira, 1989).
The state of education and the causes of pooreducational performance in LAC countries usu-ally require three types of reform to be dis-cussed during the process of reaching a socialconsensus: (i) positive discrimination in favorof deprived students (Oliveira, 1989); (ii) useof alternatives to the frontal model, at leastduring part of the class time (UNESCO, 1993);and (iii) strengthening a tradition of empiricalresearch (Winkler, 1990; World Bank, 1994a).Specific strategies must be eventually definedby the same representative group that reachedconsensus or by technical advisory task forces.Some strategies will involve additional re-sources (for example, long term salary in-creases), but other strategies will only involvereallocation (for example, use of self learningand group materials rather than traditional text-
books), or more efficient use of resources, orlegal and procedural changes. Twelve interre-lated strategies (to be used as a checking de-vice) that may be especially relevant in mostLAC countries (even though the strategiesshould be tailored to each specific country re-ality) are discussed below (Wolff et al, 1993;MEC et al, 1994).
1. Extend the annual amount of time forlearning in order to raise achievement levels.By extending 160 effective school days to 200and 4 hour daily schedules to 6 the regionshould reach a minimum similar to developedcountries (1200 hours per year). In fact, manyrural students only have 100 or 120 schooldays and a three hour daily schedule in basicand secondary education with a total of 300 or400 hours per year (ANEP-ECLAC, 1990; Ta-ble 9). On the other hand, the minimum in thebest private schools of each country is similarto the total time available in developed coun-
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
tries. The required increase in time for learn-ing can be partially financed by reallocation ofresources or by getting rid of "ghost" teachers.For example, in 1994 public primary educa-tion in Chile had 21 students per teacher for ahalf day of classes. In schools with such anaverage size in two parallel classes, the dailyschedule can be doubled if one teacher worksin the morning with 42 students and the otherteacher works with the same group in the af-ternoon. This extension of time should increaseachievement according to research findings(Lockheed and Verspoor, 1991; Schiefelbeinand Simmon, 1979), and could be graduallyimplemented. Initially these changes wouldbenefit the most deprived students and eventu-ally would reach the whole system. There aremany alternative allocation of resources thatdepend on the initial situation, for example,the time can be extended to 50% and teachers'salaries can also be increased to 50% with noincrease in the total amount of resources allo-cated to education. In countries with over 35students per teacher ratios (and no excess staffor "ghost" teachers that can be transformedinto real teachers) the extension of time forlearning involves a substantial increase in fi-nancing. For example, one additional week rep-resents an increment of 2% in the total cost ofthe corresponding level (and to extend a 4 hoursdaily schedule to 5 may cost 20 to 25% more),that can be negotiated in the next teachers'salary bargaining as a reduction of vacationtime.
2. Even though teacher incentives have notimproved students test scores (Hatry et al,1994), frontal teaching can be gradually trans-formed into active and participatory learningexperiences by using well developed self learn-ing and group work guidebooks. The amountof time most teachers spend giving routine in-formation and instruction in a loud voice canbe reduced by producing and distributing welltested learning guidebooks like modules orscripts that Korea asked Florida State Univer-sity to produce in the 1960s (Huh, 1992). Thistype of material has been tested in several LAC
22 25
"and developed countries and proven to be eas-ily used by teachers with limited on-the-jobinstruction (Arnold, 1995; Castro, 1995). Inthose experiments, teachers were not intimi-dated by proposed changes (as in traditionalcurricular reforms) because the use of suchmaterial does not demand further theoreticalbackground or professional preparation (Osses,1995; Colbert et al, 1990; Schiefelbein, 1991).Teachers ask the students to use the guidesduring less than one third of the teaching time,and the more their students use the materialthe more the teachers are trained in the designand implementation of active and participa-tory learning. Successful use of this materialby teachers volunteering to try out the mate-rials usually leads to gradual diffusion toneighbouring schools, where other teachersbecome aware of the increase in teachers' pro-fessional satisfaction (and student achievementlevels) when this material has been used. Selflearning materials also help in reducing classtime now wasted in non learning activities. Thematerial can be easily adapted by bi-lingualteachers to the needs of ethnic groups, becausethe modules should encourage use of the localcontext and family traditions. This type of ma-terial helps teachers to become prepared forfuture computer usage as part of the regularlearning process and can also be easily adaptedto interactive computers. Learning the basicreading and writing skills can be much easierwith the use of computers given that the learn-ing of the triple relations of sign, meaning (orsound) and handwriting, is reduced to relateonly sign and meaning (Ferreiro, 1993). It mustbe noticed that active and participatory learn-ing is especially suited to the 5% of studentsthat are now attending regular schools eventhough they need special attention (UNESCO,1993; Scruggs and Mastropieri, 1994), and areprobably wasting their time and constrainingthe rest of the class (Smelter et al, 1994; Baineset al, 1994). The cost of providing written self-learning and group work materials is relativelylow. In fact the guides do not add to the costwhen they simply replace traditional free text-
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
books periodically distributed. At most theguides add some 2% to the unit cost when nomaterials are previously distributed to students,or when unit cost only includes the annualteacher salary. Cost of computers (wholesaleprice under US$400) can add another 3% tothe unit cost assuming one computer per 10students and six years of use.
3. Preschool education must be extended toprepare children for primary school, especiallyfor urban-marginal and rural students who gothrough a shocking transition to the first grade,where the frontal teaching model requires themto remain silent and motionless (UNESCO,1993). By enrolling at the right age (allowedby lower demographic growth) together withimprovement in quality, the number of repeat-ers tends to be reduced, particularly in the firstgrade (and to have a stable class size in uppergrades). Some schools may free space in ini-tial grades for preschoolers. When active andparticipatory learning prevails, in primary edu-cation, it is possible to integrate preschoolersinto regular schools when space is available.TV programs like Sesame Street, parent train-ing, and mass media campaigns on early stimu-lation can also be used to complement (or sub-stitute) preschool education (CENECA, 1995;Bus et al, 1995). Preschool education can beinitially delivered with partial assistance fromthe mother or relative. This help keeps the costof preschool projects similar to the cost of pri-mary education at least until reaching univer-sal preschooling (preschool classes need to beof small size and the unit cost can easily betwice as much the unit cost in primary). Even-tually, preschool education should reduce rep-etition in public primary schools (and free partof the huge amount of resources now wastedin repetition) and also increase the averagenumber of grades passed (closing the presenttwo-year gap between the six years of school-ing and the four grades passed). Increase incoverage also involves an increase in resourcesfor education, given that private supply cannotexpand unless subsidies (for example paymentper child-day attended) are available.
4. Learning experiences in high schoolsshould be linked with everyday life and theworking world to complement the gradual in-troduction of active and participatory educa-tion and to ease transition to the labor market.High schools should give special attention tocommunication skills, mathematics and sciencethat are common to many job opportunities orfurther education. Participation of the localbusiness community, opportunities for dualtechnical education as well as internshipsshould be actively pursued. Opportunities forwork (or even play) with computers should beencouraged. A detailed analysis of teaching andlearning of foreign languages, including thepros and cons of a few-hours per week versusshort time full "immersion" should be carriedout because there are pressures for continuingwith present schedules. In addition to develop-ing the ability to handle computer languages,there are role games (for example, "Build aCity") that stimulate the ability to: create al-ternatives, make decisions under uncertainty,programme use of resources, take into accountcomplex relationships with environment anddevelopment problems, and to motivate par-ticipants to persevere for long hours playingthe game. The fight against drugs and AIDScan benefit from extracurricular activities andyouth programs offered in high schools andfrom community libraries operated in close re-lation to or even in the high school itself. Eventhough these strategies involve a substantialreallocation of resources, there is also a needfor additional resources (in addition to thosealready considered in strategies 1 and 2 in-volving additional time, guidebooks and com-puters).
5. The teaching staff should be reallocatedaccording to changes in school enrollment and,at the same time, class size may be raised (forexample, up to 30 or 40 students) to increasesalaries. Enrollment changes are brought aboutby higher levels of economic activity that in-crease labor mobility, and by reducing thenumber of repeaters especially in initial gradesthrough increased quality of education. So that
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the enrollment pyramid would be broaden inthe upper grades. Therefore, the teaching staffshould undergo an annual reallocation to ad-just to those changes in enrollments. Negotia-tion of teacher contracts should include (if it ispolitically feasible) flexible allocation of teach-ing staff, although employment can be guaran-teed by increasing the daily schedule (if nec-essary). The experience of Rio Grande do Sul(Brazil) showed that better allocation of teach-ers enabled the system to expand enrollmentsand, at the same time, to increase teachers sala-ries without increasing the total budget. Thelong term salary strategy must be related to ashort or medium term strategy for extendingteaching time (and operate with a reasonableclass size). Both strategies should be consis-tent over time. The long term salary strategyclearly involves a substantial increase in re-sources for education (ECLAC-UNESCO,1992)
6. Educational reform should be implementedby teachers now working in LAC countries(an elite of good teachers and millions of poorlytrained or untrained teachers) that cannot bereplaced or retrained (within democratic rulesof the game). Some 20% of LAC teachers haveno professional training at all (UNESCO,1992). In addition, most future teachers arenow trained through frontal teaching methods.However, it is possible to improve the selec-tion and training of future teachers and togradually reform traditional frontal teachingmethods (see point 2 above). Research has re-ported that teachers' formal upgrading and on-the-job training have not increased studentachievement (Arancibia, 1994; Schiefelbeinand Simmons, 1984; see also Table 7) and thatteacher incentives have not improved perform-ance (Hatry et al, 1994). Even teachers wellaware of the need to attend to the students'learning needs want to move their class as agroup through a curriculum (Lash andKirkpatrick, 1994). Some research shows thata teacher's interest in teaching (for example,measured by priority assigned to becoming ateacher when enrolling for the first time in
2724
higher education) can offset low scores onachievement tests or poor grades in pre-serv-ice training. Follow up studies should be car-ried out to identify the weights to be assignedto "interest in teaching" and "academic gradeaverages or examination scores in pre-servicetraining" in order to build an index to be usedas an admission selection criteria. At the sametime, the use of student guides for active andparticipatory learning experiences, and monthlylocal workshops for teachers to exchange com-ments on the use of such materials (or anyother innovation teachers want to try out)should improve teaching by replacing frontalteaching methods. Finally, better teaching strat-egies for reading and writing should be in-cluded in pre-service training (UNESCO, 1993)and mentoring should be a key part of teach-ers' pre-service programs. In summary, selec-tion mechanisms to raise commitment and in-centives for improving long term teachers' pre-service training should be coupled with newlearning approaches to create internal changeand to overcome the training deficit in presentteaching staff (Tedesco, 1994). Even thoughthe teaching performance is a key element ofthe educational reform, this strategy involvesreallocation of resources (and political will),rather than new resources (even though thelong term salary strategy should play a role ingetting support for the change).
7. Decentralization and local participationshould be encouraged, because centralized edu-cation management has not been successful.However, by no means can this process guar-antee an increase in the quality of education,and in several countries the decentralization isimplemented for political, financial or admin-istrative reasons not linked with education.Evaluation of the decentralization experiencesin Chicago and Kentucky is at most only en-couraging (David, 1994; Bryk et al, 1994;Walberg and Niemiec, 1994). Decentralizationin LAC has yet to prove that quality can beimproved, even though poor centralized ad-ministration may benefit from this process(Palma, 1995; Malpica, 1994; Prawda, 1992;
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
Winkler, 1991; Oliveira, 1989; Noah andSherman, 1979). In the case of Chile, deci-sions were decentralized, but the subsidy perstudent (voucher) is established at the centrallevel. However, there are "municipios" (coun-ties) of similar size with very different bu-reaucracies (for example, Providencia with 6and Antofagasta with 74 officials). On the otherhand, coverage of additional demand by pri-vate universities in Brazil, Colombia and Chilehas been very successful (even though poorquality institutions eventually go intobankrupcy). Decentralization is an area wherefollow up studies should be carried out in or-der to learn from experience. Community in-volvement is an attractive policy element, butit is difficult to implement in a class-stratifiedsociety (it will be difficult for groups fromlower socioeconomic levels to play an effec-tive role or for deprived regions to reach re-ally good results). The fact that makes decen-tralization an attractive policy, makes its im-plementation a difficult task (Oliveira, 1989;Ogawa, 1994). For example, the 1980 decen-tralization in Argentina dismantled the statisti-cal system and legal norms were only enactedin 1993. The decentralization strategy mainlyinvolves reallocation of resources.
8. Testing and information should be furtherdeveloped in the LAC region to help monitorthe quality of education and its causal factors,inform public opinion about key educationalissues, and build a social consensus and in-crease accountability of the use of educationalresources (Puryear, 1995). However, simplecorrelation analysis between inputs and stu-dent achievement should be avoided as mis-leading, because student achievement level isa complex function of many interrelated fac-tors including past achievements, socioeco-nomic background, urban development level,and selection at entrance or at the end of eachschool year (or, even compulsory acceptanceof all children demanding enrollment). For ex-ample, students from private schools usuallyhave higher achievement scores than studentsfrom public schools. But, the difference is
sometimes fully explained by the different so-cioeconomic background of students' parents,or the fact that private schools can expel poorachievers, while public schools must acceptall applicants. Policy makers should be awarethat testing becomes, in fact, the real curriculaof the system, therefore, items should reflectthe true objectives of the educational systemand high level skills should substitute tradi-tional recalling. Costs of testing and informa-tion programs are about 0.1% of the annualcost per student and results should be widelydistributed through mass media for parents andother parties concerned to make informed de-cisions and for society at large to be able tomake authorities accountable for the use ofeducation resources.
9. Production and use of education researchfindings should be subsidized to increase theefficiency of the educational system. Produc-tion of research is part of the development ofgraduate education, but use of research involvesthe continuous development of the regionalexchange network REDUC and also of nationalnetworks. Available research findings shouldbe used in diagnosing educational problemson the national and local levels, in identifyingcauses and alternative solutions or successfulprojects, and in designing policies. Otherwise,conventional wisdom will continue to be themain source informing decision making in edu-cation and, in turn, the number of examples ofinappropriate policies, above mentioned, willgrow. Given that benefits from educational re-search cannot be appropriated by researchers,there is a need for public subsidies to this ac-tivity. Some 1% of the educational budgetshould be allocated through externally reviewedproject funding.
10. Graduate education programs should beexpanded to stimulate research and to train thefuture staff of university professors. Less than20% of university professors have doctoraltraining, therefore, university students are usu-ally trained by rote learning from a synthesisof outdated books. This low training level isrelated to low university professor salary 1ev-
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els and to limited opportunities for national(or international) graduate studies. Even thoughuniversity faculty salaries have been decliningin real terms and cannot be substantially raisedfor the whole faculty (in the short term), sala-ries can be raised for the small elite of seniorresearchers of international standing that canstaff graduate programs (and are at risk ofmoving abroad). This elite is about 10% of theuniversity faculty. The cost of a program in-volving research grants for such an elite group(including the required complement of sala-ries) and doctoral fellowships should be near20% of public financing of the university (un-dergraduate) programs. Expansion of the un-dergraduate level usually can be made by theprivate sector if subsidies (through vouchersor loans) to students from low socioeconomicgroups are provided (Becker, 1995). The re-covery from loans should be limited to a maxi-mum percentage of future income and a maxi-mum number of years.
11. Financing of education should increaseover time (in spite of potential savings due tohigher efficiency) mainly due to a long termstrategy for increasing salaries, preschooling,graduate programs and research. However, theprivate sector should mobilize a larger share,and the equity of resource distribution shouldalso increase. In response to the high socialrates of return of all educational levels, publicand private financing of education in LACcountries should increase (Oliveira, 1989;ECLAC-UNESCO, 1992; World Bank, 1994;UNESCO et al, 1994; Birdsall, 1995). How-ever, additional financing should be related tosome clear evidence of promising educationalimprovement trends (not for "more of thesame"). When half of the fourth grade stu-dents are not even learning to "understand whatthey read" it is difficult for Congress or Secre-tary of Finance to increase the public flow ofresources to education unless improvementscan be foreseen. The reform strategy shouldimplement successfully tested educational strat-egies and start with low cost changes (Wolffet al, 1993). As discussed in the ten previous
26 2 9
strategies, there are many possibilities for im-proving the quality of education through tar-geting resources for socially agreed specificpurposes. In a long term strategy, the flow ofpublic resources should be gradually increasedas improvements in education can be objec-tively described (measured if possible) andcommunicated through mass media (to strengthsocial support). At the same time legal normsshould be ennacted to increase cost sharing asmuch as possible, and use of international co-operation and financing should be improved(McMeekin, 1995).
12. There is a new role for the Secretary ofEducation, particularly when the educationalsystem is decentralized or private (Tedesco,1989). Six tasks should be highlighted: (i) im-prove efficiency by identifying promising pro-grams (educational and management), financ-ing of their evaluation, and widely distributingthe results; (ii) support accountability by fi-nancing and monitoring testing systems (eventhough they could be implemented by univer-sities, NGOs or private groups), and publish-ing the results; (iii) help individual decisionmaking by launching or strenghthening accredi-tation mechanisms, especially, for the highereducation level; (iv) support research by oper-ating through semi-autonomous academicgroups externally reviewed project funding; (v)improve equity by collecting and pricessinginformation that help to identify groups thatneed special norms, subsidies or incentives inorder to reach socially agreed educational lev-els; and (vi) support social consensus by con-vening consultative mechanisms, supportingtheir work and further discussing and spread-ing their reports at local levels to encourageparticipation from parents and teachers. Sincethese are intellectually and politically extremelychallenging tasks, a flexible public sector per-sonnel policy enabling recruitment of dynamicleaders into the sector, high level consultants,and continuous professional development ofsector staff are essential to ensure success.
These twelve strategies are presented as astarting point for discussion in each country,
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
and should ensure the feasibility of reachingthe required levels of quality. They are mutu-ally related and, for example, the pressure forpreschool expansion will be reduced when fron-tal teaching is quickly complemented by ac-tive and participatory learning, enhancedthrough the use of well tested student guide-books. Discussion of specific strategies amongeducational leaders outside the government,former senior policy-makers, and representa-tives of all parties concerned, should be ableto prepare an effective agenda for action (Toro,1994).
Reform should be developed in stages (aspart of a long term strategy rather than as adrastic process) because attention should fo-cus on selected objectives of each stage (notall problems can be fought at the same time).Poverty and socioeconomic deprivation con-straining student achievement levels cannot beerased unless huge resources are movilized(Wells and Crain, 1994). To reduce segrega-tion USA implemented "busing", and LAC alsohave similar segregation levels. In some coun-tries, more emphasis will be assigned to mobi-lizing private resources. In other countries, theemphasis may be given to compensating de-prived students (privileging preventive ratherthan remedial treatment) or professionalizingteachers. In each country an adequate set ofincentives and a carefully crafted monitoringsystem should be worked out for implement-ing the selected strategy (Castro, 1994). How-ever, the set of strategies and incentives to im-prove the quality and efficiency of educationeventually must be the object of a nationalconsensus in each LAC country willing to im-plement a long term educational policy thateffectively improves the learning processes atthe classroom.
Conclusions
The twelve recommendations given in the pre-vious section are not of equal importance, areto a large extent closely linked, and aim tocommon goals. Below is a brief description of
the goals to be reached through those recom-mendations.
Educational reform must be inclusive. Thereis a need for substantive education reform.Since many stakeholders are affected by suchreform and since teachers, in particular, willplay a critical role in implementing reform,the reform process must be inclusive of allimportant interest groups. The result of theprocess should be a national consensus on strat-egies to raise the quality of schooling, espe-cially for the poor.
Each child should be guaranteed a minimumbasket of educational inputs, including materi-als for group and personal learning, textbooks,other instructional materials, and, most impor-tantly, a guaranteed number of hours of in-struction. The length of the school day and thelength of the school year both need to be ex-tended, with important implications for teachersalaries and the teaching profession.
Extra resources should be targeted to thechildren of low-income families. Improving theincome distribution in Latin America will re-quire significantly higher investments in thehuman capital for the poor. These investmentsinclude increased access to pre-school, subsi-dized school lunches and school materials, thebest rather than the worst teachers, and longerschool days.
Change the teaching of teachers. Aside fromthe student, the teacher is the most critical in-put to improving the classroom process to raiselearning in the school. The quality and style ofteaching must be improved, and this will re-quire better teacher training, stronger mentoringand group learning, and changing the reputa-tion of teaching as the career of last resort.University departments and other teacher train-ing institutes will themselves have to be re-formed, while teacher salaries will in the longrun have to be increased to attract and retaingood teachers.
Improve the tradition of empirical research.Strengthening doctoral programs and researchshould gradually increase the training of thefaculty and raise the quality of the higher edu-
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
cation. Institutional arrangements should beworked out to create critical mass, uses scarceresources, coordinate activities with native tal-ent working abroad, obtain first class peer re-view, and retain young talent in each country.
Education reform, efficient use of resourcesand increases in public education budgetsshould be clearly linked. The quality of school-ing cannot be improved in a sustainable waywithout increasing public and private educa-tion expenditures and improving the use ofthose resources. On the other hand, for mostcountries in the Region, public expendituresshould not be further increased in the absenceof education reform.
Educational policy based on good informa-tion and good analysis. Education policy mak-ers and decisionmakers need to increasinglyuse data and the results of research in formu-lating policy. Parents and teachers require in-formation on their school's performance rela-tive to others especially in decentralized sys-tems. The capacity of university faculty to pro-duce and disseminate high quality educationalresearch must be strengthened to inform policyanalysis.
The education ministry should play a keyrole in reforming education and raising qual-ity. Among the important tasks are to conveneconsultative mechanisms, obtain national sup-port for reform, identify and evaluate innova-tive programs, and to ensure relevant informa-tion on school performance is collected, proc-essed and widely disseminated to students, par-ents and teachers.
Of course, the effort that each country shoulddo in order to reach these goals will be differentgiven that the base line will be different. There-fore the strategy for reform should be tailored tolocal needs. Each society has to decide on theeducational level required to live peacefully in ademocratic regime and to reach a sustainableeconomic development through internationalcompetition. "Non Scholae, sed vitae discimus"(not learning for the school, but for life).
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Schiefelbein, Ernesto and Apablaza, Viterbo (1993).La actividad universitaria en Chile: opinion dela profesión academica en noviembre de 1991,UNESCO-CPU, Santiago.
Schiefelbein, E.; Braslavsky, C.; Gatti, B.; Farres,P. (1994). "Characteristics of the teaching pro-fession and the quality of education in Latin
Education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: An agenda for action / Ernesto Schiefelbein
America"; Bulletin 34, OREALC, Santiago, Au-gust.
Schiefelbein, Ernesto and Simmon, John (1979). Thedeterminants of school achievement: a review ofthe research for developing countries, Interna-tional Development Research Centre, IDRC-MR9,Toronto, May.
Schiefelbein, Ernesto and Tedesco, Juan Carlos(1995). Una Nueva Oportunidad, Santillana,Buenos Aires.
Schiefelbein, Ernesto and Wolff, Lawrence. Abilityto make informed decisions in education, (forth-coming).
Schleicher, Andreas and Yip, Jean (1994). Indica-tors of Between-School Differences in ReadingAchievement, IEA, New Jersey, May 19.
Schwartzman, Simon (1993). "Estado y mercado enel financiamiento de la educación superior", Notaspara el debate No. 8, GRADE.
Schwartzman, Simon (1995). "America Latina:Universidades em Transicao", Departamento deAsuntos Educativos, Organizacion de EstadosAmericanos, Washington D.C., April.
Scruggs, Thomas and Mastropiero, Margo (1994)."Successful Mainstreaming in Elementary ScienceClasses: A Qualitative Study of ThreeReputational Cases", American Educational Re-search Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 785-811.
SIMCE (1995). Chile, Resultados de la Prueba 1994,Santiago.
Slavin, Robert E. (1986). Using student team learn-ing (3rd. edition), The Johns Hopkins University,1986, p. 109.
Smelter, Richard; Rasch, Bradley and Yudewitz,Gary (1994). "Thinking of Inclusion for All Spe-cial Needs Students? Better Think Again",Kappan, Vol. 76. No. 1, September.
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Toro, José Bernardo (1992). "La calidad de la educa-ciOn primaria, medios de comunicación masiva ycomunidad civil: El proyecto "Primero miprimaria... para triunfar"; Bulletin 28, OREALC,Santiago.
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31
URUGUAYAN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES: WHO ARE THEY,WHAT DID THEY LEARN, AND WHAT DO THEY THINK
ECLAC* Montevideo
Having evaluated the learning skills of students taking the Diversified High SchoolProgramme (DHSP)**, based on a battery of Mathematics and Language tests, twomajor problems that bedevil Uruguay's Second Cycle of Secondary Education, werebrought to the forefront: the first area of concern has to do with a lack of studentskills, such as the inability to handle basic instruments, and clearly reveals that theeducational targets defined in 5th. and 6th. grade programmes, are not beingattained; second, poor results seem to indicate that teaching as intended in therespective programmes is either not being delivered or it has been carried out invarious and contradictory modalities, with one undesirable end result; theprogramme is not being met.
At the risk of rehashing data already discussedin the Report, let us succinctly recall the con-ditions of the teaching evaluated and those ofparticipating students. Briefly, it should bepointed out that:
The evaluated students were DHSP studentsattending their last month of classes, that is tosay, they comprised a very special and privi-leged sector of uruguayan society, who not onlyreceived nine years of compulsory education,but an additional three years for good meas-ure. These students account for a little overone third of initial enrolments within their agegroup, while those who took the test representabout one fourth of their generation.
* Economic Comission for Latin America and the Carib-bean. Montevideo. Conclusions and Recommendationsof the Research "Uruguayan high school graduates: whoare they, what did they learn, and what do they think.
** For Uruguayan students, the last years of high schoolconstitute preparation for a university career. (15-18years old) At this point, students will have chosen theirarea of interest (Biology, Science, Humanities), hencethe use of the term "diversified".
32 a5
Those who took the test did so voluntarily.Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that theknowledge base of those students who chosenot to participate was weaker than those whodid.
The sample used is perfectly representativeof Montevideo's public and private school daystudents, and of public schools of provincialcapitals.
On the whole, test results reveal insufficientknowledge among members of the country'scultural elite, that is to say, among those whoaspire to move on to higher educational levelsor take over positions that require organiza-tional and management skills.
Approximately 25% evidenced severe defi-ciencies. These are the individuals who madean average of one mistake per line in the com-position test and who, additionally, proved un-able to solve simple arithmetic operations typi-cal of beginning grades.
Another sector (accounting for 45% of thetotal), scored less than 50% in the Mathemat-ics and Language tests, showing insufficientknowledge in these areas, despite having been
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECLAC
evaluated it is important to keep in mindsomewhat leniently, under the premise that itwas better to keep the level of demand too lowrather than too high.
As regards students with marked deficien-cies, it is hard to imagine how they managedto wade through twelve years of study know-ing as little as they did. Their continued pres-ence in the school rosters, seem to indicatethat evaluation and promotion mechanisms areplagued by inconsistencies, and that there isan urgent need for standardized evaluation pa-rameters.
Because the sum of low achieving and defi-cient students comes to two thirds of the total,it may be concluded that what is actually be-ing taught and learned, falls very much shortof the academic goals set forth in educationalplans and progammes. There would seem tobe a theoretical and a practical hidden cur-riculum, that far from guaranteeing the posi-tive homogeneity of learning skills, reveal thedifferential operation of each sub-systemwherein acquired knowledge decreases as afunction of the students' social and culturalposition.
Levels of quality
Four mayor level of educational quality areevident:
Private schools that enjoy high social andacademic prestige, founded on a tradition ofcultural and institutional excellence based onknowledge; these are the schools that receiveyouths from culture-oriented families whoexpect a sound education, and are preparedto meet the level of demand in return forsolids results. Within this learning sub-sys-tem, learning skills are a cut above thosefound in all other sub-systems, although poorperformance under such ideal conditionswould be indicative of curricular and teach-ing methodology shortcomings.A second group consists of private schoolsthat by contrast to the former lacking theinstitutional tradition, stress the quality of
the infrastructure, discipline, the transmis-sion of values, and the uniformity of teach-ing practices. Attending students belong toupward-moving social groups with somewhatlower formal education; academic results arenot comparable to the previous group's, be-ing more closely associated with those re-corded for public schools.The third group is represented by publicschools from the various provincial capitals.These institutions include a student bodycharacterized by a very low social and cul-tural profile; terrible if not the worst ma-terial and socializing conditions; a teachingstaff which is the second most numerous interms of veteran professionals just underprivate type A schools but it is also thesub-system that in the last five years hasrecruited the lowest number of IPA (Institutode Profesores Artigas) graduate teachers, afact that speaks of a swiftly deteriorating aca-demic environment. Although compared toprovincial public schools they still showstricter evaluation criteria, their rate of schoolfailure is among the highest.Finally, the sub-system made up by publicschools of provincial capitals. The co-exist-ence of students from highly educated andpoorly educated families, results in an ex-tremely polarized student group. Professionaltraining levels among the teaching staff areextremely low, and tests reveal, more oftenthan not, that learning deficits may be attrib-uted to faulty teaching methodologies.Although the problems affecting the quality
of education still reflect the social and culturalcomponent whose presence is very intense atthe primary education level and somewhatmilder in the basic cycle of middle educationwhen it comes to DHSP students the most evi-dent problems, can be related to the structureand development of secondary education.
Students are not aware that they don't know.This state of "blissful ignorance" constitutes afurther indication that the system has failed toprovide clear signals in terms of the differ-ences between true and false, culture and lack
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
of culture, knowledge and ignorance. This in-formation vacuum may give rise within a seg-ment of the young generation to a feeling offailure, when high expectations are confrontedto insufficient knowledge. But, it may also haveunsuspected repercussions on a society tryingto accommodate a generation of youths whosedemands are inconsistent with their skills.
Broadly speaking, secondary educationseems to exhibit symptoms of "anomia". First,since teaching objectives are not realistic, prac-tice is not consistent with theory, and passingdoes not depend on the amount learned, thegap between what ought to be and what thedaily practices reflect, undermines the exist-ence of a genuine educational system; the con-cept of what should be taught, how it shouldbe taught and how to guarantee an evaluationthat may introduce a degree of homogeneityinto the system, has been long lost.
Second, a social system in this case, a teach-ing system presupposes a definition of theroles of those participating in it, as well asinteraction guidelines for the various roles;during basic cycle, youths are unable to as-sume student roles which imply discipline interms of attendance, study habits, and their re-lationship with knowledge. Later on, when fac-ing the DHSP they are forced to adopt thesenorms belatedly, and usually, conflictively. Forits part, the teaching responsibility is increas-ingly falling to the hands of individuals whowere not trained to perform as teachers, haveno inkling of what the teaching process in-volves, and have learned that the salary a pro-fessional teacher commands is no larger than ahigh school graduate's. This anomic situationbecame more severe with the establishment ofthe Common Basic Cycle which, in its zest forobtaining the highest possible number of pass-ing students, ostensibly lowered academic re-quirements. End result, studying or not study-ing became dissociated with passing and, as alogical outcome, for educators teaching or notteaching became irrelevant.
It is hard to pinpoint the causes of such acomplex situation. Despite this difficulty, this
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report lists multiple causes that may help ex-plain why students learn as little as they dowhen taking the DHSP. These factors fall alongtwo main dimensions: "inefficiencies of thecurrent teaching system" and "shortcomingsof the system itself'. Concerning causality, itis essential to understand that although someof the decisions stem from policies or institu-tions dating back half a century, they are stillregarded as organizational paradigms of edu-cation. Another aspect to keep in mind, is thatthe problems ailing secondary education can-not be detached from those that have strickenuruguayan society. Since the 60's, the countryhas been beset by the social model crisis, con-frontations, an authoritative government, trans-formation of the economy, a tough transitionback to democracy, and a recent economic ad-justment phase. In terms of guidelines and rec-ommendations on how to deal with reforms tosecondary education, it may be recalled that inprevious ECLAC's assessments, multiple re-flections on changes to be introduced to pri-mary education and the basic cycle of middleeducation, have been set forth. Because edu-cation is a process of growing complexity, par-ticularly in the case of middle education, and,specially during its closing cycle, a reform thatdoes not consider changing preceding stages,is unthinkable. To reiterate, educational trans-formations do not happen overnight, nor dothey constitute a "once-and-for-all" Reform.
The suggestions presented below, followinga review of the main factors that play a criticalrole in the present situation, are intended toelicit a discussion on what to do in addition tohelping to identify the horizons that will guidelong term educational reform.
Lastly, every observation included here, isgrounded on the conviction that in order to as-sume a policy of educational transformation,what is needed, first and foremost, is an attitudeof change that springs from within the system, asystematic training effort by all actors involved,and a critical analysis of the educational prac-tice. All this means, that the first mandate edu-cation must bear in mind is, "heal thyself'.
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECLAC
Inefficiencies of the current teachingsystem
The following aspects deserve mentioning:In general, secondary education enrolments
and, in particular, DHSP enrolments, haveboomed. During the return to democracy stage,the country has undergone expansion along vari-ous axes: horizontally, covering small cities andrural areas; an even higher participation bywomen in terms of enrolment in terminal courses,and the incorporation of a lower cultural andeconomic strata into secondary education, a firstfor many of these families. This expansion tookplace so swiftly in less than ten years that thephysical, conceptual and human resources re-quired proved either ill-prepared to absorb it orsimply did not exist. The necessary outcome ofthis lack of insight, was that massive enrolmentsled to a serious drop in the quality of educationdelivered.
The process that will permit regaining thequality of education will be long-drawn, andwill require among other things identifyingthe cultural problems of new generations oflearners, elaborating methodologies that ensuresuccessful teaching-learning processes, and es-tablishing specific policies designed to cater tothe low-performing student sectors. Further-more, all this implies, that the establishment ofteaching cycles and grades is contingent on thetraining and planning of human and materialresources, without which the expansion of edu-cational supply becomes merely a ritual that willeventually lead the system to a blind alley.
This expansionary cycle occurred as the coun-try stumbled from the impact of the external debtcrisis, and the subsequent stringent fiscal adjust-ment programme. Under these circumstances,the funds earmarked for education were slashed,despite a desire on the part of government offi-cials and political parties, to do exactly theopposite. Financial restraints had an adverseeffect on the quality of education through cur-tailed investments on infrastructure and equip-ment which, consequently, could not keep upwith the expansion exhibited by enrolments. As
a result, the physical setting where the teaching-learning process unfolded, fell into a deplorablestate of precariousness. An important fact toremember is that fifty thousand students, at anaverage of 30 students per room, would require1.600 classrooms, in order to attend school.
Before the bluntness of these data, a generalheightening of awareness is called for, relativeto the magnitude of the effort the country mustundertake under any administration in orderto meet the needs generated by such a remark-able increase in enrolments. Educational invest-ments programmes must be legislated by theLegislative Branch of government, for ten-yearperiods so as to maintain the continuity of poli-cies dealing with building activities, purchase ofequipment, audio-visual elements, books, etc.Such an investment policy requires a nationalpolitical agreement.
The cutback affecting resources, along withvarious other factors that will be discussed inlater sections, also had a negative impact on thequality of teachers. Because primary and sec-ondary teachers taken individuallycomprisedthe largest Public Administration sector, anyraise in salaries meant tying up a sizeable por-tion of resources at a time when reduction of thefiscal deficit was to be accomplished largelythrough freezing expenditures, rather thanthrough restructuring the Stateincluding underthis concept issues such as the role of the armedforces, a streamlining of the State's administra-tive personnel through training and updatinginitiatives, etc.
The long cycle of deteriorating income, thatstarted two decades ago under the military dic-tatorship, has had a profound structural effect onthe permanence of the better qualified teachers.A portion of teachers who had graduated fromIPA or held professional degrees left the profes-sion in search of greener fields. Others, usedearly retirement as a mechanism of reinsertioninto the labour market, while still others reducedtheir teaching hours in public schools, to a bareminimum.
These very same reasons defused the enthusi-asm for recruiting IPA students, and for com-
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
pleting teaching courses leading to a degree,both in this institute as well as in Teacher Train-ing Institutes located in the country's provinces.Consequently, in terms of number of graduatingteachers, their volume would barely fill thevacancies left by those seeking retirement. Asa result, the percentage of degreed teachersamong educators entering secondary school,has plunged in the last five years. Moreover,recruitment has tended to polarize between thecapital's type A private schools and public insti-tutions, since the former recruited 80% of theirnew staff among degreed professionals while, inthe case of public schools, this figure amountsscarcely to 20%. This paper shows that a sub-stantial percentage of students who are planningto study at IPA or at provincial Teacher TrainingInstitutes, performed rather poorly in tests givenby ECLAC.
If the country fails to implement a gradualrecovery of teachers' salaries through a mecha-nism which takes into account the possession ofa teaching degree, and professional training andseniority, all other measures will be useless,because the key to educational reform lies in thequality of teaching, and this will not be attainedas long as the salary being paid to an individualwith fifteen or sixteen years of academic studies,is comparable to the remuneration of an unquali-fied person.
The permissiveness of the teaching and evalu-ation systems which began with the implemen-tation of the Common Basic Cycle in 1986, canalso be identified among the inefficiencies of thesystem. As demonstrated in ECLAC's Do stu-dents in the Basic Cycle of Middle Educationlearn?, the number of class-days per year andclass-hours per day was reduced, while thenumber of study subjects was simultaneouslyincreased. The repercussions on learning out-comes were disastrous. Likewise, the motiva-tional strategy that took the form of remedialcourses and passing with failed subjects, meantthat, except serious discipline problems or pro-longed unjustified absences, students would passto a higher grade and even complete basic cycle,with extremely low academic requirements.
36 39 3
Shortly after publication of this report, the edu-cational authorities embarked on a series ofpraiseworthy adjustments intended to place rea-sonable demands on grade passing. Neverthe-less, the secondary system is still plagued with a"drive forward" notion which causes basicknowledge to be pushed to advanced levelcourses, while the student is never under anyacademic pressure until the time comes to con-front the DHSP, and then only partially.
The educational system must get rid of itsinherent permissiveness, demand from itself ateaching role, and require from students workroutines that enable them to perform as students,and pass the course with adequate knowledge.
Shortcomings built-into the system
Apart from inefficiencies, questions should beasked about how relevant the model for sec-ondary education really is, in a stage of mas-sive enrolments.
Perhaps one of the first points that deservesattention, is the persistence of an artisan modelof secondary education in the face of a large-scale mobilization of students, teachers, ad-ministrators, and groups generally associatedwith educational activities.
The model, that may be traced back to theold secondary section of the Universidad de laReptIblica, and has in fact prevailed up tothe present although formally it was only inforce until 1936 was based on an artisan typerelationship between a self-taught teacher spe-cialized in a subject matter, and a group ofstudents. Needless to say, establishing a rap-port with the class took a considerable amountof prowess on the part of the educator. As thenumber of students increased, so did thenumber of teachers, all of whom followed inthe footsteps of their predecessors. The assump-tion was made that the country now had animportant number of self-made, high levelteachers. This not the case in Uruguay, nor inany other country. Actually, the country isfaced with the inability to generate and trans-mit knowledge on a large-scale basis, a proc-
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECLAC
ess that is known as the "knowledge factory"in the United States.
Massive education must pursue two basicgoals: ensure that all participating teachers re-ceive suitable training leading to enhanced pro-fessional performance, and provide the neces-sary learning objectives, goals and instrumentsfor each subject in every grade. This presup-poses establishing specific areas of knowledgeto be attained at every level, the availability ofmethodological manuals that will facilitate thistask, guidelines for teachers to follow point bypoint, and textbooks that address the topics tobe taught, clearly and accurately. Last but notleast, all this material as well as the audio-visual aids and computers to be used, shouldbe provided in sufficient numbers to go around.
Within the elitist model described abovethe IAVA being its most illustrious exponentand given the high quality of their staff, thenature of the study programme was never asource of concern. What mattered, was thatthe student learned by osmosis through thequality of the research or secondary teacherwho, in turn, was a university professor. Whatwas significant then, was the development ofthe student's mind before knowledge presentedby a renowned educator. Neither did it matterif the teacher's lectures were limited to a sin-gle topic in the study programme, since thekey element was "how" he presented this in-formation. Hence, in terms of learning, stu-dents were given an insight into the workingsof an analytical model.
Within this scheme, evaluations did not en-ter into the picture, neither the teachers', northe commonplace, objective evaluations of thestudents. As regards teachers, one might saythat most of them were "beyond evaluation"for, who would have dared evaluate such emi-nent professors? With respect to students, sinceeach group developed under the aegis of ateacher, not unlike medieval times, it madelittle sense to subsume the various teachingsimparted by professors into a common melt-ing pot and, hence, a collective test lacked anylogic.
Although it is obvious, it should be recalledthat secondary education both cycles in-cluded involves better than 200 thousand stu-dents and over 10 thousand teachers. There isno such thing as 10 thousand self-made "teach-ers" and, what is worse, the current number ofprofessionally trained teachers is not evenenough to cover the existing number of class-rooms. At the national level, the class-hoursimparted by degreed teachers fluctuate between16% in Mathematics and 57% in History, thisobservation being devoid of any judgmentalintent as to the quality of their training. Moreo-ver, participation by degreed teachers has beendecreasing steadily since 1986.
Massive teacher training
The teaching dilemma becomes critical in theprovinces, where the percentage of class-hourscovered by teachers drops alarmingly: figuresfor Mathematics and Literature (one of the sub-jects with higher coverage) are 7 and 47 percent, respectively.
The various strategies adopted to increasethe number of teacher graduates from IPA orprovincial Teacher Training Institutes, have notimproved things appreciably, and the countrynow faces a secondary education systemblighted by a declining production of teachersand, hence, a quality of student training fatedto worsen in time, even if other negative as-pects improved markedly.
Massive education entails massive teachertraining programmes. To attain the level ofprofessionalization primary education has ex-hibited since the 30's, some minimal condi-tions would be needed:
A remuneration level enticing enough to causeyoung people completing secondary education,to consider that investing four additional yearsof study to become teachers is an economi-cally viable alternative. This would imply thatthe income to be earned must be comparableto that obtainable through other activities thatclaim an equivalent number of years of pro-fessional training.
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
A teacher training service supply adequatelydistributed across the national territory, ac-cessible to residents of the mayor urban ar-eas, whether they aspire to practice their pro-fession locally or elsewhere.A very high quality teacher training service,which would imply a modern infrastructure,state of the art educational technology, andspecialized studies in the country or abroadfor those interested in becoming teacher train-ers.A greater homogenization of the teachingprofession, particularly at the basic cycle, inthe sense that teachers should cover an areaof knowledge not a specialty within it. Teach-ers are professionals who can teach the firstsix grades at rural and urban schools, whileprofessors are specialists in one of the 20 to30 subjects offered at the various grades ofsecondary education. On occasions, theirknowledge proves insufficient to handle themore specialized disciplines contained in theDHSP. A rationalization of the relationshipsbetween professional supply of teachers anddemand broken down by areas, would nec-essarily imply a redefinition of the field ofknowledge, as well as a restructuring of theteachers' work schedule.Therefore, there is a need for basic cycle
teachers trained to teach Mathematics, Lan-guage, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Phys-ics-Chemistry, and English. This new categoryof educator would work a full shift in a schoolspecialized in a few study subjects, providingcontinuity and depth to the type of cognitiveintegration the school offers, while his taskwould be regarded as a specialized stage inthe education and socialization of adolescents.
There is also an urgent need to establish twoor more high quality institutions specialized inthe training of secondary education teachers.These schools would be located in the provin-cial area and serve as poles for the existingTeacher Training Institutes.
The implementation of a teacher training sys-tem that measures up to the quality of educa-tion needed, necessarily implies regaining some
3841
of the excellence that inspired the creation ofthe Instituto de Profesores Artigas (IPA). Theidea is not to return to the past, but to design anew type of centre, backed solidly by educa-tional research, generously furnished with au-dio-visual aids and computer hardw.are, sothat new generations foster the use of self-learn-ing instruments. In this environment, theteacher would be acting over a global systemnot as an isolated specialist. Such a centreshould define two main training modalities,making the distinction between basic cycle andDHSP teachers, but providing the appropriatelinks to facilitate mobility from one categoryto the other.
Ranking a higher education system wouldrequire the intervention of a specialized unit,perhaps a Council, made up by prestigious fig-ures of the educational world.
Lack of learning objectives
The lack of learning objectives for each of themain areas of knowledge can also be traced tothe built-in shortcomings of the model. Asmentioned earlier, within the IAVA's elitistmodel, learning objectives were unnecessary,and conditions did not lend themselves to de-mand that the different "teachers" transmittedthe same contents or established common learn-ing indicators. Conversely, in massive educa-tional systems characterized by the simulta-neous intervention of thousands of teachers andthe implementation of outsized programmeswhich include dissimilar, and variegated themeswhich clearly call for different approachescoherent functioning becomes impossible un-less both teachers and students are providedwith a minimum set of teaching and learningobjectives to attain. Current systems lack thisand, moreover, teachers are evaluated on thebasis of "programme fulfillment" regardless ofthe amount of learning processed by the stu-dents in each of the topics making up that par-ticular programme.
Thus, for example, the basic cycle SpanishLanguage programmes include the teaching of
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think /ECLA C
various predicates. However, upon completingtheir mother tongue education, many studentscannot tell the subject from the predicate. Ifthis were one of the main learning objectives,teachers would be giving their students plentyof exercises to ensure this knowledge, andwould not spend their time and energy review-ing the various predicative groups.
Basic learning objectives should be deter-mined for each of the programmes in everysubject matter, or, to put it differently, thatknowledge and information deemed essentiallearning must be identified so that onceachieved, the skills of the learner may be de-veloped further. Such a definition, would notonly guarantee that the student effectively pos-sessed such essential knowledge, but, addition-ally, it would help identify those subjects thatconstitute deadwood and those that are miss-ing from current programmes. Obviously, oncebasic knowledge has been achieved, teachersshould be given certain freedom of choice, al-though this leeway cannot be exercised at theexpense of the rights of students to have theminimal cultural bases.
Another element that should be consideredis the lack of common and objective evalua-tions. Prior to the testing conducted by ECLACat the request of CODICEN, there was a totaldearth of representative data on what studentslearn in each grade. Such a lack of informa-tion, had kept the system's foibles hidden and,as a result, no technical or material supporthad been given students and teachers, fromlow performing areas, schools or subjects.Common evaluations make possible a democ-ratization of the system; currently some unitsteach while others engage in some kind ofritual, but those attending the classrooms arenot informed of what they are not learningand, clearly, a democratic system that is de-nied access to information particularly thatrelated to the moulding of new generations issimply unthinkable. Evaluations also allow set-ting up a system of common learning objec-tives since families and teachers, once theyknow what will be evaluated, will make sure
that these particular skills are taught andlearned.
Periodic and objective learning evaluationtests applicable to students at the closing ofPrimary Education and Basic Cycle of MiddleEducation as well as at the DHSP level, shouldbe implemented nationwide. The scores ob-tained, would provide the basis for determin-ing the capacity of an individual to proceed orthe advisability of resorting to remedial courses.In the light of observed results, a quality en-hancing system should kick in which furnish-ing all the necessary resources to the underachieving units could help it materialize theneeded transformations.
Human being's relation with the space
The curriculum reinforces the unsuitability ofthe current model. It could be argued that sec-ondary education is pervaded by the old pre-university curriculum, and that the main dif-ference stems from the increased number ofschools and the volume of enrolments, but notfrom its conception. Over 80% of the eligiblepopulation attends basic cycle, and better than50% DHSP. Meanwhile, the number of sub-jects has increased and programmes beyondattempted revamping efforts continue to re-flect the knowledge classification logic, char-acteristic of specialized studies. This meansthat disciplines such as History, Geography,Civics, Sociology, etc., are still being trans-mitted to students as oversimplifications of spe-cific areas of the knowledge that is impartedat universities. Conversely, it may be claimedthat a common basic education for the popula-tion at large, would require presenting the re-lationship that binds humans with space, intime, and as creators of values, norms, andinstitutions which govern living as well as so-cial interactions, and draw inspiration frommaterial, scientific and technological bases.
The curriculum should undergo a changeprocess so that it no longer reproduces at thesecondary level the division of knowledge thatis found in universities. For example, if the
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country is considering a policy of integrationwith powerful neighbours, it might rethink theconcept it wishes to pass on to the new gen-erations, beginning with the notion of "com-mon space", and teaching not as separate sub-jects the history, geography and natural re-sources of the sub-regional countries along withtheir social and economic structures. The ex-tended territory analysis could run parallel toan examination of the other cultures, of devel-opment in other regions, and of what is in storefor them. All of this requires experimentation,substantial doses of innovation, as well asknowledge integration and acquisition proc-esses, that only thorough teacher training anddidactic material production programmes, couldbring about.
Currently, there are nearly 360 thousand pri-mary students, almost 250 thousand secondarystudents, approximately 60 thousand technicalstudents and, roughly 5 thousand higher edu-cation students (Instituto de Profesores Artigasand Teacher Training Institutes), under the su-pervision of the National Public EducationAdministration. Obviously, there are no enter-prises or public services that handle even afraction of such a population, or that carry outtheir work with a total number of employeestaking into account teaching staff, administra-tive and service personnel of barely 50 thou-sand persons.
For students, primary education and the firstcycle of middle education are part of a com-mon sequence of basic and compulsory educa-tion, which was supposed to represent, towardsthe close of the century, that original primaryschool when first conceived. However, the au-thorities of three Councils which in the finalanalysis answer to ANEP's CODICEN, con-verge on this cycle. When defining basic cycleguidelines, one sector of the service is seen toinclude teachers, neighbourhood schools, andintegrated curricula, while in the other twocompeting organizations pursue differentiatedobjectives namely, technical and secondaryeducation, neither one of which relates to ba-sic education.
40 43
Clearly, the technical-administrative author-ity must reside in a teaching cycle defined interms of objectives, duties and the vital cycleof the learner. Numerous countries entrustedthe extension of the basic cycle to the samejurisdiction responsible for primary education,while others opted for a specific jurisdiction tohandle adolescents. A few, Uruguay amongthem, chose to overimpose a new social andcultural model of education on the administra-tive organization of yesteryear.
The basic cycle would seem to require a spe-cific authority that caters to its peculiarities,conceives education in the light of that par-ticular biological and emotional stage thelearner is experiencing, and produces an edu-cational concept that reflects the cycle's com-pulsory nature. So far, the mistakes made, stempartly from provisions adopted by authoritiesthat simultaneously administer stages prior tohigher studies a case in point, Secondary Edu-cation or aspire to link this cycle to techni-cal-manual education illustrated by theUniversidad del Trabajo-.
While the structure of primary education hasbeen designed for massive, nationwide educa-tion, and its organizational scheme relies ondepartmental supervisory units, the other twobranches of education in the total absence ofa decentralized authority are supervised fromMontevideo.
Detached management
Hence, middle education management tends tobecome detached from the people and fromthe very problems that haunt education, andthrough the implementation of an archaic bu-reaucratic practice, risks isolating the educa-tional process entirely. Next to the publicsquares of most uruguayan towns and cities, itis not uncommon to see a primary, a publicand a technical school, whose organizationaladministration and teaching structures emanatefrom different authorities.
The learners are the same, however, whenpassing from sixth to seventh grade, both the
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECLAC
educational authority and the organizationalparameters change. Part of the teachers alsoremain unchanged reflecting a growing trend,since all of them share a common, national train-ing found in every department of the Republic.
Many thousands of schools are managedfrom the capital where problems are no lesscomplex. Here, all decision-making lies in therespective Council rather than in units with alimited territorial range that could, ideally, ben-efit from the input of school principals, teach-ers and families.
An important part of the poor academicachievement observed, may be attributed to aninefficient and ineffective bureaucratic webwhich, from a considerable distance to its us-ers and actors, imposes arbitrary limits to theeducational process. Again, this is but anotherevidence of a persisting artisan system whichgrows increasingly more incompatible with theneed for closeness between the authorities andpolicy implementers. Thus, policies that shouldhave a technical and national nature becomeentangled with a management and administra-tion function that should have a local, com-mon base for all educational levels.
Modern management incorporates a techni-cal design and orientation, an evaluative crite-ria, and all the regulatory guidelines associ-ated with the substance of a specific organiza-tion of operational management associatedwith the daily implementation of activities.First, it must have a technical and national na-ture to ensure integration, guarantee technicalrationality, and allow emulating the designs ofmore advanced countries. Second, it must be"close to the people", which implies that thedecision-making body ought to be physicallyclose, and must constitute not a bureaucraticinstitution, but, an organization that overseesthe region's entire educational process. In theprovinces, the student and teacher populationis homogeneous or move from one institutionto the next, after tolerating the bureaucraticred tape imposed by the various Councils lo-cated in the capital. This implies the need fora Departmental Supervisor for Primary and
Middle Education several supervisors in Mon-tevideo who works under one of CODICEN' sOperational Divisions and is responsible fordaily management activities, ranging from per-sonnel administration including teachers tomaintenance, and the extension of infrastruc-ture for the various services.
The educational system is also seen as sev-ered from modern communication technology,exemplified by audio-visual and computer me-dia, having previously failed to establish a uni-versal link to the textbook. At the core of theartisan model, was the face-to-face relation-ship between the teacher and his students; hepossessed an important portion of the world'sknowledge available at the time and, throughhis words, delivered information that could notbe had unless sought in rare volumes or re-mote libraries.
This self-same model continues to define thesecondary education system, despite the factthat teachers are no longer the "professors" ofyesterday and knowledge is readily availablenot only through books a library service forgeneral use would amount to a small portionof public expenditure but also through an as-sortment of audio-visual aids such as videos,computer programmes which blend words,symbols and images or, even, some that addsound and film images such as CD Roms. Inforegoing chapters, it was shown that the leastefficient learning method, note-taking, is themain instrument students use for preparingwritten tests and examinations. It should benoted that out of 1645 six grade students sur-veyed, 6.2% did or read nothing in preparationfor their last written test on their major ofchoice, while 43.2 % studied only the notesthey had taken in class. This shows that halfof the students do not resort to books whenpreparing for their major's most important test.
Educacional system v/s audio-visual aids
In actual fact, the educational system contin-ues to wage a battle against the scarcity ofaudio-visual aids. In October 1992, 1452 Mon-
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tevideo's public school students shared onevideo unit; this figure in provincial capitalsrose to 1686. The same ratio was true for tel-evision sets. For their part, half of the studentsin provinces, almost two thirds of Montevi-deo's public school students, and four fifths ofprivate school students, have a video at home.The number of home computers is no less sig-nificant, with values of 25% for the overallsecondary school population, dipping to a mini-mum of one out of six in the provinces, andreaching a maximum of one out of two amongprivate type A schools. Secondary educationauthorities have recently provided computerrooms for a limited number of public schoolsas part of an experimental project not yet sched-uled to offer computer science training.
A teaching system along the lines of a"knowledge factory", necessarily includes self-learning activities via direct communicationbetween the student and a unit that broadcastsinformation, knowledge and entertainment.
In the past, technology could only be foundin teaching centres; these centres harbouredall the books, laboratories, physics' instru-ments, as well as those specialists whose lec-tures constituted the main knowledge trans-mission instrument. Today, computers, videoprogrammes, CD Roms- even those producedinternationally by teams of specialists who haveaccess to an infinite supply of material andcognitive media have become the instrumentsof a technological system of knowledge trans-mission. Geography can be taught using theinexhaustible stock of National Geographic vid-eos, Literature through the magnificent CDRoms that offer the best from Shakespeare,readings from famous actors, critical reviewsfrom renowned literary specialists, and litera-ture pieces presented in a historical context,accompanied by the corresponding images andmusic. The teaching of English has been greatlychanged not only by the audio-visual laborato-ries, but also by amazing software capable oftranslating in a non-literal fashion. Similarmechanisms could be implemented towards theteaching of geography, economics, history, na-
42 45
tional literature and folklore. An attempt couldbe made to mobilize the top-notch human re-sources available in the country in the areas ofacting, music and film-making. In synthesis,the idea is to set up an up-dated teaching sys-tem that incorporates a great deal of techno-logical instruments so that students may sys-tematically enjoy in the privacy of their homesand with their families, didactic programmesthat they will later discuss in class guided bytheir teachers. This modality would allow to:extend the time of exposure to cultural activi-ties by bringing "home-time" into the educa-tional process; disseminate throughout thecountry "cutting-edge" international skills;make teaching an enticing activity, and rein-force teachers'labour with the support of"standardized" products comparable to thoseoffered by the most exclusive educational sys-tems of developed countries.
The entire secondary education system,should benefit from top quality didactic mate-rial which may include school libraries stockedwith videos in the areas of Geography, His-tory, Science, etc.and their corresponding dis-cussion and exercise manuals that may beenjoyed by the learners and their families. Fur-thermore, the country needs to make a tremen-dous effort to incorporate computer technol-ogy into schools which, given today's hard-ware and software prices, would not constitutesuch an outlandish proposition if formulatedfor students in their last year of basic cycle.For example, business enterprises and organi-zations could be asked to collaborate, givingcomputer training to the children and relativesof employees. Likewise, educational organiza-tions, along with NGO's, could also cooperatein this massive effort particularly through theintegration of computers as a teaching lan-guage, taking advantage of the various techni-cal alternatives available today.
Intrinsic contradiction
The current educational system suffers froman intrinsic contradiction. Its specialization is
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECL4C
production and, fundamentally, the transfer ofknowledge. Modern knowledge has a limitedlife span which means that teachers, particu-larly in scientific areas, could be transmittingobsolete information, from past epochs, toyoung people who are studying now, and planto become active citizens of the 21st century.Under these circumstances, it could be saidthat an educational system devoid of a depart-ment, division or institution dedicated exclu-sively and actively to permanently up-datingteachers, must be considered an anachronicsystem. Once again, the continuity of an arti-san concept of education, rears its ugly head.
In the past, qualified professors maintainedpersonal contact with the universal academicsystem which unfolded gradually making spe-cial up-dating efforts painless. At present,teachers do not have an equivalent traininglevel in better than fifty per cent of the casesthey lack a university degree and because oftheir small salaries, sometimes, they cannoteven afford to buy a simple trade journal. Thisstate of affairs, makes for individuals verymuch in the dark as far as national and inter-national educational information is concerned.The old idea of creating a budgetary item toenable teachers to purchase books, has becomea testimonial of the artisan system. Today, theidea is to establish an information system byincorporating the educational system's unitsinto a computer data network on cutting-edgediscipline development and new teaching tech-nologies and methodologies. However, theseformulas that constitute the basis of a regularup-dating mechanism, are quite unfathomablefor those who lack a minimum knowledgefoundation on which to build.
The creation of an aggressive training sys-tem that combines from intensive professionaltraining initiatives, during a specific period andin a specific place, to regular instruction pro-duction systems dealing with specific teachingstrategies for a given subject matter, passingthrough the capability of gathering, synthesiz-ing, and retransmitting the best analysis putout by informatics journals and communica-
tion systems on education, is urgently needed.A special programme devoted to current teach-ers of rural schools and small urban centreswhose replacement is out of the questionintended to provide in-service training and vali-dation as a strategy to keep education going inthese localities, should also be given top prior-ity. Additionally, it should be borne in mindthat, based on the above-mentioned recommen-dation, the implementation of an audio-visualand informatics support system would mean aquantum leap in terms of the training receivedby such teachers and, consequently, in the qual-ity of education received by students.
Another point to consider, is the system'scapacity for evaluating itself, its educators andofficials, and orienting management. As men-tioned earlier, overall management is archaicand fragmentary owing to the presence of threeCouncils governed by their own norms andmanagerial provisions that splintering the edu-cational process, funnel every last issue, in-cluding trivia, through the nation's capital.Such a gargantuan machinery the largest inUruguay lacks training units for supervisors,managers and administrative department heads.Training for Educational Administration spe-cialists is unknown in the country, even whencritical management problems beset an institu-tion that provides service to 600 thousand stu-dents, and employs a tremendous number ofpeople.
The system does not have an operating ca-pacity for project elaboration, neither at themicro be it the "school" or the "national lan-guage improvement" unit nor at the macrolevels, understanding as such the educationaldevelopment of a region or the developmentof a sectorial activity like, for example, teachertraining. Project elaboration presupposes hav-ing the ability to analyze the system in termsof its operative, technical, administrative, andfinancial aspects, and the capacity to submit anew proposal based on the socioeconomic char-acteristics of the region or the serviced clients,and on a certain familiarity with the labourmarket. However, the concept of what educa-
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
tion is, what kind of scientific knowledge isrelevant to it, how is transmission achievedfrom a pedagogical point of view, how is anew proposal elaborated and assessed with re-spect to its viability, desirability, cost, etc., isknowledge that must also be present.
Creation and qualification
The capacity to create and qualify technicalteams at the management and middle manage-ment levels, able to manage such a giganticservice apparatus, has yet to be established.The normal tendency has been to recruit teach-ers who may be very highly qualified in theirarea of specialization and assign them to ac-tivities that require knowledge other than peda-gogical. The system is guilty of incestual prac-tices when filling executive posts, a fact thatrenders it old-fashioned and intrinsically inef-ficient from the modern viewpoint of Admin-istration Theory.
The ANEP should create an EducationalManagement Technical Training Centre, if pos-sible with international support and scope, totrain first, administrators of an operationallydecentralized education and, in general, theexecutive educational management team. Atthe same time, the entire system should begiven a statistical-informatics potentiality aswell as guidelines and manuals to standardizea management process that involves thousandsof students.
Nor can we ignore the weakness of effortsdirected towards educating and training schoolmanagement and supervisory personnel, par-ticularly in areas concerned with academicachievement evaluation, and policy formula-tions intended to provide the new generationswith an education inspired on a well-definedset of knowledge, regulations and values. Inall fairness, however, the Catholic Universitydoes offer post-graduate studies in Manage-ment of Educational Centres no graduate stu-dents as of yet and in the public sector tradi-tional training for primary education adminis-trative and supervisory personnel continues to
44 4 7
be imparted by the Instituto Magisterial deEstudios Superiores. As regards this last insti-tution, it should be noted that this training isonly offered in Montevideo, and that the tem-porary relocation of provincial teachers to at-tend this institute of higher education, has notbeen foreseen.
One of the consequences of this process, isthat programmes that respond to the initia-tives of the respective supervisory units re-flect the academic image of the discipline asconceived in a university setting or under theuniversal theory and, in many instances, lackany vinculum with teaching practices. Themajority of secondary education programmeshave not been designed on the basis of theirteaching viability, nor is there a mechanismdevised to evaluate programme applicabilityin terms of the ability, on the part of students,to incorporate concepts and information andturn them into knowledge, before they becomefinal and compulsory.
The supervision of secondary school sub-jects follows an artisan orientation, whichmeans that the supervisor evaluates classroomdynamics, the links between the knowledgeimparted and the various knowledge hypoth-eses, programme fulfillment, and the pedagogi-cal characteristics of the teacher-artisan. Eachteacher is given a performance score whichwill have an ulterior effect on his/her profes-sional standing, but, neither the teacher northe inspector knows whether the students arecapable of learning what is taught or whetherthey actually do learn. It is as if surgeons wereevaluated exclusively for their surgical skills,without regard for patient survival, a datumthat would not be included in his performancerecords.
The absence of academic evaluations pro-moted from within Supervisory units byschools or departments, or the lack of propos-als for common evaluations for written tests orexaminations within a single school to ensurea common standard, even in disciplines as eas-ily quantifiable as mathematics, constitute an-other proof of the statement made above.
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Management decentralization, as it impliesan important transfer of decisions to schoolprincipals, and reinforces the supervisory func-tion giving it power to control and define thequality levels teaching practices ought to have,presupposes specialized training in both areas,since qualifying in a specific subject, is nolonger valid. Guidelines for executing theseimportant functions, should also be provided.
Basic scientific knowledge
A twelfth observation regarding system ineffi-.ciencies, has to do with the academic organi-zation of the DHSP. A sixth preuniversity year,is still being dragged along, despite insistenceby university deans themselves that basicscientific knowledge, rather than preuniversityknowledge, is more desirable. After more thanhalf a century of separation between second-ary education and university training, optionssuch as Law, Economics, Medicine, Agricul-ture, Architecture, Engineering, and many oth-ers whose enumeration would probably sur-prise secondary school students of developedcountries can still be found in the former. Atany rate, if the last year of secondary educa-tion were to be a preuniversity year, its currentorganization would prove detrimental to thenewly-created careers such as Sociology andPolitical Science, among many others, whichnot being represented in the secondary schoolpreuniversity year, would have to find amongthe existing options, a close equivalent. Eachof these options still offers subjects that areonly meaningful for a particular careerfor example, introduction to Law and othersthat observe time-honoured traditions such asthe belief that Italian is necessary for law stu-dents, therefore it constitutes a specific subjectrather than a second or third alternative lan-guage in their study programme.
This scheme of academic organization showsthe strong inertia of an educational system inthe face of social transformations and changesin its own enrolment rates. An elitist curricu-lar organization barely 5% of the population
48
had access to the last year of secondary educa-tion in the 40's has prevailed, even when grossand net enrolment rates for sixth grade stu-dents hover at 40% and 30%, respectively. Fiftyyears later, only the fifth year of "preparatory"studies, was stripped off its preuniversity sta-tus.
In connection with the above, but pointingto a more general issue, the question arises;what should be included as content in a sec-ond cycle secondary education programme,when it is only seen to benefit 50% of thecountry's youths? The current organizationalscheme compels fifth year students to chooseamong three options, Humanistic, Biologicaland Scientific, and in the following year amongthe six already mentioned. The question is;should all young people within a society fol-low these particular paths, and, given a large-scale educational system, is it legitimate to nar-row down the field of studies to this extent,and, finally, should we not respect the pro-gressive differentiation in terms of activitiesand knowledge, that defines a modern soci-ety? The current concept is markedly intellec-tualist and universitarian, while nowhere is itwritten that all human beings must fit into thisconcept or that everybody is fated to go tocollege.
The tremendous development of modern ge-netics has allowed us to discard Darwin's sur-vival of the fittest theory as well as those thatlinked us to the lower species, and presupposeequality among individuals. By virtue of thegenetic codes we receive from both parentsand their subsequent cross-over, each livingcreature inherits not just specific traits, but alsopredispositions, intellectual abilities, and highlyindividualized sensitivities and perceptions.Human specificity then, explains the complex-ity of contemporary society particularly whenattempting to impose common norms and val-ues while simultaneously encouraging individu-ality and honouring the individual choices ofmillions of its members. Conversely, uruguayaneducation seems to be an extension of theFrench Revolution's Jacobinism which claims
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that all human beings are alike, and advocatesthat the educational authority as representativeof a collective "we" the people, the nationhas the right and must discharge the duty ofestablishing a single standard of education.
Young people are unmotivated and bored bythis model of secondary education, particularlywhen the media offers them richness of infor-mation, wealth of emotions and multipleknowledge categories. Moreover, the techno-logical challenge posed by the so called "elec-tronic super-highways" of developed nations,is the creation of an option menu in terms ofinformation, dialogue and entertainment, so thatevery household has no less than a thousandpossibilities right at its finger tips.
Vinculum with working world
By contrast, the country continues to live un-der the notion that secondary education repre-sents grooming before accessing the loftyheights of intellectual culture, seen as oppositeto everyday culture and, basically, to the cul-ture characteristic of modern technology andto the work of a differentiated society. Youngpeople decry the lack of vinculums betweeneducation and the working world, while it isimportant to remember that most secondarycycle students do not go on to higher studies.
This analysis does not exclude technicalDHSP's. associated with the Technical-Profes-sional Educational Council which, havingstarted with a modest enrolment rate, nowshows a significant growth. The assessmentrequested by CODICEN, excluded research onthe operation of this sub-system' s specificmodalities (professional training, technicalcourses and technical DHSP's special courses,etc.). In spite of this, we cannot talk of institu-tions vieing with each other but rather com-plementing one another, since in the workingscheme of modern service sectors the distinc-tion between what is technical and what is in-tellectual, is no longer tenable.
There are reasons beginning with techno-logical change and economic and cultural
46 4 9
globalization to reflect on and try other formsof DHSP's which include specializations suchas Technological, Informatics, Language, Art,Audio-Visual Communication Media, Tourism,and MERCOSUR high school programmes,just to mention a few possibilities. There arenumerous youths, and individuals in general,who possess extraordinary language potentials,while the country is in dire need of individualswho can handle several of them. Their train-ing would require a high school programmestrongly centered on languages and their asso-ciated cultures. Likewise, it may be assumedthat a country that has undergone the histori-cal change implied by becoming integrated withtwo large nations ten and fifty times largerthan Uruguay both of which have a differenthistorical and cultural evolution and unlike eco-nomic and social organizations, should offersimultaneously a high school programme wherethe economy, geography, culture, and so on,of Argentina and Brazil, are also taught.
There are also very good reasons that justifyan informatics high school programme, whereinthe various skills are learned and processed inthe informatics language so that students be-sides operating a computer, can also partakeof the culture associated with this instrument.
These observations intend to show the widevariety of high school programmes that arepossible, and point to the two risks that shouldbe avoided at this level of education. One ofthem, is the naive belief that just a few extraclass-hours devoted to a specific field of hu-man endeavor or technical knowledge, willensure initiation in that particular area; evenas a high school graduate, just getting startedin a complex field say informatics entailsyears of study and a specialized teachers. Thesecond one, is attributing teachers the abilityto teach every kind of knowledge. If we aredealing with tourism, for example, the system-atic cooperation of tourist businessmen andentrepreneurs would be necessary, at least atthe teacher training stage, and permanently toensure professional practice sites.
This multiple high school programme pro-
Uruguayan high school graduates: Who are they, what did they learn, and what do they think / ECLAC
posal should not be liken to the creation ofprivileged paths towards higher academic stud-ies and other labour-market oriented objectives.Quite the opposite, the assumption is made thatout of a diversity of cognitive developmentstrategies, those that are aligned closer to aworking experience, contribute novel and valu-able mechanisms that may facilitate continuedacademic studies.
Education and society
A last comment to be presented in this reviewof mayor shortcomings of the current modelof secondary education to reach the bounda-ries of universal knowledge, and to contributeto the development of uruguayan society, hasto do with the links between education andsociety's main actors. The future of the coun-try, is intrinsically linked to the pertinence andcompetence of its educational systems, for itsdevelopment opportunities, both withinMERCOSUR and international markets, callfor highly skilled human resources who cancope with an environment of permanentchange, much like the 21st century promisesto be. For this reason, and because secondaryeducation trends towards the globalization ofthe educational system, it can no longer beexclusively handled from the viewpoint ofteachers. The country should call on all thoseworking on their own fields of expertise, allthose who have experienced the working world
and its requirements in terms of knowledge,mental skills and attitudes not strictly limitedto the area of professional competence all thoseothers who have specialized on occupationalrecruitment and training, as well as all thosewho can bring from without, an image of whichare the cognitive bases currently held in highregard, and together analyze the future of edu-cation.
If, in order to reform education, all we hadwere the viewpoints of those who teach, it
could be ascertained that, in the long term,education would no longer renew itself, be-cause the main role of the educational systemis to transmit, not to generate new knowledge,technologies or sensitivities.
This implies spurring a wide debate on therole of education; questioning young peopleas to their demands; calling on farmers whouse state of the art technology, industrialistswho promote uruguayan export products, tech-nicians who bring finely honed skills to prod-uct innovation, leaders responsible for the qual-ity of the work produced, the well-being ofworkers, national and foreign scientists, in otherwords, on all those who seek developmentthrough the use of intelligence and the dynam-ics of permanent change, to contribute ideasabout the perceived failings and strengths ofsecondary education graduates. The fundamen-tal idea, is to bring education to the forefrontof national priority.
5047
FACTORS THAT CONDITION SCHOOLING LEVELS INGUATEMALA
Emilio Rojas*
This paper attempts to specify and assess the relative weight of those factors whichare said to condition the schooling level of children.The existing relationship between these factors (variables) and the schooling levelobserved in children, was determined by the "multiple lineal regression" methodwhich, in turn, provides the mechanism to generate the corresponding equation. Theselection of variables used in this equation, was obtained by testing the linealrelationship between the individual and the dependent variables.Recent national Home Surveys conducted in various Latin American countries,'served as the statistical base. The objective of the study is to determine what factorsdefine the educational level attained by school age children and youths, ofparticipating countries. Thus far, the surveys submitted by El Salvador, Guatemala,Colombia and Chile, have been duly processed. This article summarizes thepreliminary study elaborated for Guatemala.
Basic Assumptions
The study's basic premise is that: "The educa-tional level attained by children, is stronglyinfluenced by family traits and the surroundingsocial and economic environment".2
* Emilio Rojas. UNESCO/OREALC.This study was elaborated with the collaboration andbacking ofECLAC. Our special thanks to Gert Rosenthal,ECLAC's Executive Secretary, who made access to thedata banks of the various countries possible, and to therespective Statistics and Projections Division. This sup-port has meant having at our disposal excellent sourcesof information, well-specified manual and norms, andtimely technical assistance.For details see: "Guatemala, Encuesta Socio-Demografica(ENSD) 1986-1987". ECLAC: Division de Estadisticasy Proyecciones. Banco de datos de Encuestas de Hogares.
2 The assumptions used in this study are inspired in theHuman Capital Theory. See: "El Capital Humano. Unanálisis Te6rico y Empirico Referido Fundamentalmentea laEducacion." Gary S. Becker. Spanish Edition, AlianzaEditorial, S.A. Madrid, 1983.
48 5:1 j
Some of the most significant family traits' are:1. Parent's education level,2. Family income,3. Number of children in the family unit,4. Race,5. Presence or absence of one of the parents.In terms of the social and economic environ-
ment (data not available for Guatemala), the keycharacteristics would be:
1. Degree of educational supply,2. Degree of health services supply.Other variables that greatly influence the at-
tainment of a specific educational level have to
3 Note that the method used to define regression equa-tions, is based on the "minimum squares adjustmentmethod", hence, the values plugged into the equation areaverage values of variables or traits of the familiescomprising the statistical universe under study. There-fore, since the equation represents the average character-istics of this universe, it constitutes a model in itself.
Factors that condition schooling levels in Guatemala / Emilio Rojas
do with the children's personal traits and includeintelligence (IQ), skills, and sex.
The foregoing assumptions, are probably notthe only ones that explain educational level orachievement, since they do not include, forexample, factors inherent to the educationalsystem itself which, depending on their nature,could be highly conditioning elements indeed.
Main variables.
The variables used in the equations are thefollowing:
EDPAM, total number of school years passedby both parents; XINCAPH, family's per capitaincome. Total family income divided by thenumber of individuals comprising the familyunit; HIRES, total number of children living inthe home; RACE, Indigenous = 1; Non Indig-enous = 2. PARENTS, one parent = 1; twoparents = 2. SEX, Man = 1; Woman = 2.
Two ancillary variables were also defined:HSUMA, total number of school years passed
by children ages 7 to 24. HSUME, total numberof school ages of children between 7 and 24.
The dependent variable was defined as:XEDHI, ratio between HSUMA and HSUME.
Educational achievement times a unit of time.Traditionally, Educational Achievement. Lastly,a stratification variable was defined:
XPROED, average potential school period,quotient between individual family' s HSUMEvalue, and the number of school children in thatparticular family.
Models
Four multiple lineal regression models were pro-duced. The first such model, has a comprehensivenature being based on all of the sample data, thatis, it represents a nationwide model. Elaborationof the other three models required arranging thesampled families in terms of years of marriage,assuming that both family characteristics and thedemands imposed upon them, change in time. Inthis case, the years of marriage indicator corre-sponds to the "average potential school period"
(XPROED) which, in turn, depends on the "aver-age age of the family's children". Thus arranged,the families were subsequently divided into threesuccessive strata which represent the mayor stageslived by a family during their children's schoolage (7 to 24). The strata are: 2 to 5.4 years; 5.5 to8.5 years; and, 8.6 and over. Based on these strata,the three groups were denominated Young, Mid-dle and Older families. Tables A through D, givea summary of the above mentioned model repre-sentative equations and indicators.
Discussion and interpretation
The study of Tables A through D, reveals that:1.- The three stratified models are more
elucidative as compared against the nationalmodel; 42, 46 and 44 per cent, versus 39 per cent.The highest level of explanation and the maxi-mum number of elucidative variables (5) co-rrespond to the Middle Family model. This isnot surprising, since XPROED's averagevalue (7.22) as well as the average values of allintervening variables, are contained within itsvalidity interval (5.5 to 8.5). Furthermore, strati-fied models given their fairly reduced uni-verse are less heterogeneous, a fact that wouldargue for its greater adjustment level and, conse-quently, higher R2' s. Finally, the elucidationpercentages shown by these models should beconsidered excellent, if one bears in mind thatmodel variables belong to a single group ofcauses that explain schooling, namely, familytraits. Neither individual nor socio-economicvariables nor those which characterize the SchoolSystem have been used. Although the elucidativepower of these groups is unknown, the fact thata single group can explain more than 33 per centof the total variation of the dependent variable asin the case of the national model with 39% wouldguarantee a reasonable level of explanation.
2.- Based on letter d) of the tables, the signifi-cance of every model, and of each variable inparticular, is nothing short of excellent. Notethat the highest probability for the null hypoth-esis (the XINCAPH variable in Table C), is1.43%. What this means is that this variable per
5 2' 49
BULLETIN 37, August 1995 /The Major Project of Education
c) contribution to explanation, by variable. d) Null hypothesis probability (Significance)EDPAM 0.36716 83.9% 0.0000RACE 0.06315 14.5% 0.0000XI NCAPH 0.00440 1.0% 0.0003PARENTS 0.00271 0.6% 0.0035Total 0.43742 100.0%
capita family income has a 98.57% chance ofhaving a lineal relationship with the dependentvariable and, hence, is highly significant in termsof explaining the lineal model. The other modelsand variables, have even higher probabilities.
3.- Analysis of the equations themselves, re-veals that the sign on all variables remainsunchanged, whichever the stratum examined. Inother words, the sense of the relationship ispreserved, regardless of the model involved. Wewill use the Middle Family model, to make atype analysis of this characteristic.
According to the signs of this equation, educa-tional achievement (XEDHI) would have a posi-tive correlation to parent' s education (EDPAM),RACE, per capita family income (XINCAPH),and a negative dependence to the number ofchildren living in the home (HIRES), and to thepresence of the parents (PARENTS).
This means that, on average, and taking all thefamilies of the analyzed stratum into account,the higher the educational level of both parentsthe higher the educational achievement of thechildren; being non indigenous also correlatessystematically to higher educational, achieve-ment; the greater the number of children livingat home, the lower the level of education at-tained; the presence of both parents means re-duced achievement only if one of them happensto be absent; and, finally, per capita income isdirectly proportional to education.
Some of the elucidative assumptions are givenbelow.
4.- The EDPAM variable. The positive corre-lation between this variable and educationalachievement in all models, confirms both theoryand common sense. Letter c) of the models,shows it is by far the variable with the highestelucidative capacity, ranging from 90.7% in theYoung Families model to 83.9% in the OlderFamilies model, a decline that would also reflectthe increasing autonomy of children as theygrow older. In any event, these values are ex-tremely high and corroborate that this particularvariable, is the strategic variable of the chil-dren's education dilemma.
5.- The RACE variable. Quite significant inGuatemala' s case with an indigenous popula-tion of roughly 40% at the time of survey. It is thesecond highest variable considering all fourmodels in terms of elucidative importance.Curiously, its importance seems to increase alongwith years of marriage and with advancing edu-cation (6.5%, 6.8% and 14.5%), a fact thatwould indicate that this variable becomes moreexclusory as one climbs the educational ladder,as confirmed by the marginal analysis presentedin a later section.
6.- The HIRES variable. Ranks third inelucidative importance in the Middle Familiesmodel, being absent from all others due to lackof significance. In order to understand its behav-
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iour, let us look at the other models. Within the"young families" category, the variable is notsignificant and, hence, it is not part of the model.The average number of children per family is3.9. In the next model, "middle families" itoccupies an important position. Its elucidativecapacity is above that of PARENTS andXINCAPH, and very close to RACE' s. Further-more, its significance is optimum. In this stra-tum, the number of children per family is slightlyhigher than in the previous model (4.3). In the"older families" model, its significance againdrops out of the model. The average number ofchildren here is 3.1. The data suggests that in"younger families", where small children arethe norm, their ages and the care they demandleave no other alternatives open but school, inwhich case their number would not be a factor inrestricting schooling!' However, as they growolder and more numerous (middle families), andas they become more capable of collaborating inproductive activities and their consumptionincreases keeping everybody in school be-comes a tougher proposition. Consequently,some of them will be forced to cut down onattendance and, thus, on schooling. In this exam-ple, the number of children would be a limitingfactor as the respective model shows, whichwould confirm the corresponding assumption.Lastly, with rising age, the number of childrenliving at home decreases as they begin to leavehome in search of occupational opportunities.At this point, the number of children ceases to bea limiting factor, as evidenced in the "olderfamilies" model where the HIRES variable car-ries no significance whatsoever.
7.- The PARENTS variable. This variable islocated between the third and fourth place interms of elucidative capacity, ranging in valuefrom 2.8% to 0.6% in the Young and OlderFamilies, respectively. Nevertheless, its most
52
In connection with the first years of basic education, thesupply of this service would seem to be very close to fullymeeting the demand in the countries of the region. Thiscould partly explain why the number of children is nolonger a limiting factor.
5 5
important aspect is its negative sign, which atfirst glance may appear contradictory. This is farfrom true, though. When only one parent ispresent (the mother or father) he/she must work,and not being able to properly care for thechildren, sends them off to school earlier andmore assiduously than when both parents arethere. Thus, it has been shown systematicallythat children from single-parent homes go fur-ther in school than children from normal two-parents homes. This is not always true, how-ever, as shown by its decreasing elucidativeweight, which would seem to indicate that if, infact, it is important in the first years of education,as school life progresses and more resources areneeded, this factor becomes progressively lesssignificant. This subtlety is lost if only averagevalues are examined. El Salvador's research,revealed average schooling to be 4.4 and 5.8years for two-parent children and single-parentchildren, respectively. The variable maintaineda negative sign throughout the study, as it did inGuatemala' s case, so that the confidence level ofthis result is beyond question.
8.- The XINCAPH variable. By and large, it isthe variable with the least elucidative capacity,going from 0% in the young families to 1% in theolder families, an indication of its tepid contri-bution to explain away schooling. Once again,theoretically this is contradictory. It is verylikely that this weak elucidative capacity, stemsfrom the poor quality of data collected throughthe home survey mechanism. However, if wecarefully examine the information given above,we will see that in the "young families" model itis not part of the elucidative variables, becauseit is not significant, it does not have a linealrelationship with educational achievement (nullhypothesis probability is greater than 32%) and,hence, it does not contribute at all to elucidatingthe phenomenon under study. In the "middlefamilies" Model, it occurs at 0.5% of elucidativecapacity, and when the ages of children areincreased even further (older families), its valuedoubles reaching 1%. This is quite consistentwith reality. From a cost of primary educationstandpoint, particularly during the first few years,
Factors that condition schooling levels in Guatemala / Emilio Rojas
it is common knowledge that in the countries ofthe region education is mostly free. As educa-tion progresses, this situation would no longerapply, and an increasing amount of resourceswould be needed to keep children in the schoolsystem. Thus, in the older families, theXINCAPH variable is no longer ranked at thebottom, but occupies a place of higher relativeimportance than PARENTS.
Other reasons that would explain its lowelucidative weight are its lack of variability andlow absolute value.
We are referring to recently married, lowincome couples, which comprise a majority.Available data shows that, for this stratum, aver-age per capita income comes to roughly 42quetzals a month, i.e., 14 dollars. The median is24 quetzals. This means that 50% of those mar-ried had a per capita family income between 0and 24 quetzals. Low income, therefore, is ageneralized characteristic that turns the variableinto a veritable constant, a fact that would ex-plain its lack of significance in this stratum.
9.- The SEX variable. The inclusion of thisvariable required the use of a special proceduredesigned to analyze its degree of influence onEducational Achievement. Because sex is anindividual trait, it was not included in earliermodels which used the family as a unit of analy-sis or dealt with the relationships of a family andall its children, not just one. With this end inmind, all models were reappraised this timeusing and individual unit of analysis, the child.
The test yielded the following results:The relationship sense and variable structure is
identical in the newer models to that established atthe family level. In both models, partial regressionratios (at the national level) are remarkably similarwhich, broadly speaking, corroborates the shapeand intensity of the established relationships.Throughout the models' validity interval, the senseof the sex and educational achievement relation-ship remains negative, which means that adopt-ing the nomenclature Man = 1; Woman = 2beinga woman is equivalent to having a lower educa-tional achievement level. This conclusion con-firms the existence of values that regard house
56
chores and raising children as women's mainactivities while giving priority to the education ofmen, as potential breadwinners.
The elucidative capacity and the marginal ef-fect of the SEX variable in an individual context,are not comparable with the other variables occur-ring in the family models, so that it becomesdifficult to establish just how much would thisvariable contribute in terms of R2 or marginaleffect to this model. In this respect, we can onlyobserve that at the child level of the nationalmodel, its elucidative capacity is the lowest allvariables considered which extrapolated to thefamily model translates into a value that is lowerthan 0.6%, that is to say, its elucidative capacity isprobably quite low. In terms of marginal effect(discussed below), it outdid the HIRES andXINCAPH variables occupying the slot rightunder EDPAM. In other words, in the familymodel, it ranges between less than 6% and morethan 0.4%. Its exact value in the child' s model was2.5%, which constitutes a goodindication of theimpact the SEX variable could have had on thefamily model, had it been possible to incorporate.
Marginal analysis
The model equations, being a function of thebest possible arrangement, is satisfied by theaverage value of all its variables. Therefore,when substituting each variable with its averagevalue, the average value of the dependent vari-able for that particular subset, is obtained. In thisanalysis, it is assumed that the context remainsunchanged (variables, intercept and quotient)except for the independent variable, whose mar-ginal effect is unknown. The average value ofthis independent variable, can be increased orreduced by one unit. The equation is recalculatedon the basis of this new value and the marginal
effect produced on the dependent variable ismeasured. Hence, it is possible to know the poten,tial of all variables as a change factor. Table E,shows the marginal effect of each independentvariable for all four models, as a percentage of theaverage value of the dependent variable.
Table E clearly shows that the RACE variable
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BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
Table EMARGINAL EFFECT
Variables Nat.Level Young Fam. Middle Fam. Older Fam.
has the highest marginal effect. Its values demon-strate the gaping distance between the educationallevel of indigenous and non indigenous individu-als, a distance that widens as one moves up theeducational ladder. The assumption is made thateducation increases along with years of marriage.Sure enough, at the national level the educationalgap between non indigenous and indigenous indi-viduals is 35% in favour of the former, and as wemove on towards the older families, we see thatdifference swelling up to 48%.
The second most important variable in termsof marginal effect, is the presence ofone or bothparents (PARENTS), which peaks at the "youngfamilies" stratum (-22%), as pointed out earlier.In the following strata, the gap widens since itprobably amounts to just a drag effect, althoughit closes with a significant 8%. If we take "youngfamilies" as an example, we can conclude interms of the model that the difference betweentwo-parent children and single-parent children,is that the former group comes in 22% lower,when measuring educational achievement.
The third most important variable, is the sumof the educational levels of the parents (EDPAM),with an average marginal effect of 6% whichremains constant throughout the school age pe-riod, although it does show a tendency to dipslightly. Let us just say that parents who havetaken an additional year of education, have chil-dren with 6% higher educational achievement.
HIRES ' s marginal effect could be calculatedexclusively for middle families. This relation-ship shows that, on average, increasing thenumber of children by one, is associated with ahigher educational level (4%). Consequently,
54 5 7
this would be the marginal impact of fertility onthe education of the guatemalan community.'
Finally, the XINCAPH variable, despite a20% increase in its value, is still seen to have alow marginal effect on every stratum. Neverthe-less, the relationship is positive and is clearlyperceived in the older strata, albeit, with a re-duced marginal effect (lower than 1%). Allindications point to a generally undervaluedXINCAPH variable, which weakens its relativeimportance in the model. Therefore, these re-sults ought to be taken with a grain of salt.'
Conclusions
Apart from the cautiousness and common sensethat should accompany any statistical result, itwould seem that the models presented in thispaper bearing in mind the limitations inherent tothe techniques used and within the validity inter-vals that characterize each model represent a
5 In the El Salvador study, this variable was found to havea much greater impact reaching 12.7% of the averagevalue of the dependent variable. Be reminded that fertil-ity in El Salvador is much higher than in Guatemala, afact that would probably explain the difference.
6 In this respect, it must be borne in mind that the effect ofincome is not only manifested in terms of family living,as is (basically) the intent of the general questions askedin home surveys. For the purposes of education whichis precisely what we are attempting to measure incomemeans being able or unable to pay for better education.We sense that quality education is extremely segmentedin the market, and those who wish to access bettereducation, must pay accordingly. More information on-this subject would contribute to elucidate the role thisvariable plays in the model.
Factors that condition schooling levels in Guatemala / Rojas
veritable behavioural law of the phenomenonunder study. We must point out, however, that thislaw is only valid for this particular community.
Likewise, the observed consistency both interms of model structure and their associatedsigns, as well as the relative importance of thevarious parameters relative to theoretical con-siderations and common sense clearly arguefor the dependability of the outcomes.
Furthermore, it is our belief that in bringinginto the quantitative area issues such as "theinfluence of family traits on the educationallevel of their children", we have made a netcontribution to this study.
In connection with the results of the analysis,the finding that parents' schooling is by far themost important variable in terms of their chil-dren's education, and the fact that this impor-tance was successfully quantified, are outcomesthat should be stressed. Along the same lines, itshould be emphasized that: in Guatemala, eachadditional year of education on the part of par-ents translates into a 6% increase in terms ofeducational achievement of their children; be-ing non indigenous means, on average, a 35%greater educational achievement and that at themiddle and higher levels, this difference mayreach 48%; the educational achievement of chil-
dren from single-parent homes, is 22% higherthan that of children from regular homes, prob-ably because school represents care and protec-tion; each additional child means, on average, a4% reduction in the educational achievement ofthe children; being a woman is equivalent tohaving approximately 2.5% less schooling; and,lastly, income continues to be a conditioningfactor of educational achievement, although inthe first years of basic school, its discriminatoryimpact has been dampened by its widespreadgratuitousness. In conclusion, if we wish toimprove the level of education at least in theparticular case of Guatemala our policy shouldaim at increased schooling by indigenous peo-ple, thus lessening its tremendous exclusoryimpact; we must encourage two-parent families(the immense majority) to improve their chil-dren's attendance, placing emphasis on the child-care-centre role played by schools during thefirst years of basic education; support familyplanning policies and values that advocate equaleducation for men and women. Pursued jointly,these initiatives, beyond their direct impact, willcatalyze the reaction that will raise the educa-tional level of both parents and, in keeping withthe model, propel their children's education toever higher levels.
WWW AND NEW ADDRESSES OF ELECTRONIC MAIL
I. It is available our service WWW (World Wide Web) for access to information distributed byUNESCO through the address.
http://www.unesco.org/
which is possible to access by software Netscape, MOSAIC or other similar
2. OREALC, Santiago de Chile and its Networks (REPLAD, REDALF, PICPEMCE, SIR!), may beacceded through the electronic mail by means of two INTERNET electronic mail boxes. The firstis connected with the headquarters in UNESCO/Paris. Its address is:
Through these mail boxes communications as well as documents may be forwarded.
58 \55
LINKING FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION.IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER TRAINING
Ali Hamadache*
School education and adult literacy training represent two components of one andthe same action to provide education for all. Several countries have alreadydiscovered and benefited from this dual approach to the implementation of theireducation policies, designed to ensure the exercise of the right to education for all.It was the experimental adoption of this innovative approach by several differentcountries which led to the notion of an "integrated strategy" for the generalintroduction of primary education and adult literacy training. Some countries haveformulated education policies which, while this kind of linkage is not explicitlyplanned, nevertheless provide for converging or parallel approaches. However, fewof them have drawn the necessary conclusions in terms of teacher education.
Questions therefore arise as to the validity of thisnotion of integration, which in many cases doesnot reflect national policies or strategies, cur-rently characterized by their great diversity. Inspite of the efforts by Member States, the imple-mentation of all integrated approach has metwith more difficulties than were foreseen byplanners and policy-makers. Recognition of theinterrelations between primary education andliteracy training for young people and adultswas noted as early as 1951 by the fourteenthsession of the International Conference on Edu-cation, whose Recommendation No. 32 statedthat it is important that "in communities whereilliteracy prevails, plans for the full enforcementof compulsory education should be accompa-nied by plans for the fundamental education ofadults". The integrated approach was more ex-plicitly formulated by the International Corn-
* Ali Hamadache. University of West Indies. Workingdocument prepared for the workshop on Linkage offormal and non formal education. Implications for theteacher training, organized by UNESCO Kingston Of-fice (November 1994).
5659
mission on the Development of Education, con-vened by UNESCO in 1971-1972, which statedin its report that: "Adult education assumesespecial importance to the extent that it may bedecisive in the success of non-adults" schoolactivities. For children's primary education aprimordial objective cannot be dissociated fromtheir parents' educational levels. The rising gen-erations cannot be properly trained in an illiter-ate environment... We should never set adulteducation against the education of children andyoung people: the concept of global or over-alleducation goes beyond the semblance of contra-diction, enabling two extremes to be enlisted,parallel to each other and at the same time, in theservice of common educational objectives, inthe broadest sense. It follows that adult educa-tion can no longer be a fringe sector of activity-in any society and must be given its own properplace in educational policies arid budgets. Thismeans that school and out-of-school educationmust be linked firmly together". (Faure, 1972, p.
205).If the concept of global education is imple-
mented, whether intended for children, young
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training / Ali Hamadache
people or adults, it is implicitly perceived as anintegrated system, the components of which arecoherent and interconnected. The planning of theco-ordinated development of school and out-of-school education favours integration to the extentthat it does not limit itself to the eradication ofilliteracy but is considered within the context oflifelong education and educational projects aimednot only at the promotion of access to learning butalso of succeeding at school (UNESCO, 1988).
The trend towards integration also reflects theincreasingly urgent need, against the back-dropof a worldwide economic crisis, to ensure thefull deployment of all available financial, hu-man and material resources. Moreover, it isacknowledged that the effectiveness of educa-tion policies (and their planning) depends ontheir successful integration into the overall plan-ning of economic, social and cultural develop-ment. In many developing countries, the keypriority for human development is the fightagainst poverty and often, the fight for survival.The aim is to achieve sustainable development,based on the rational utilization of resources,with due account taken of cultural considera-tions. Education is simply the means of attainingthis goal. This is a clear indication that integra-tion is not an end in itself but a strategic slantaimed at greater efficiency in the provision ofeducation for all, and a unified approach com-prising two complementary components, re-flected in the theme of the World Conference onEducation for All (Jomtien, 1990).
In view of the difficulties encountered in theeffective application of the notion of all integratedapproach, it may be worth considering whetherthe main problem does not lie rather in meetingbasic learning needs (and, consequently, in thekind of teacher capable of dispensing the relevantknowledge). Are not such educational needs de-termined, or should not they be determined, bydevelopment priorities? Hence the need to definetraining (i.e. educational) needs which take ac-count, in the preparation and implementation ofcurricula, of a common core of basic learning,fundamental skills, know-how and essential val-ues which represent a consensus (national or
regional) and the acquisition of which is consid-ered indispensable for all members of a givensociety (UNESCO, 1991). This broader vision ofthe role of formal and non-formal education insocioeconomic development and social changewas highlighted in the Declaration ofJomtien andreinforced in the Report on the Lisbon Sympo-sium on Succeeding at School "Ensuring thesuccess of all means first and foremost transform-ing the goals of education systems". It also meansa move towards consistent training strategies forthe different actors and agents, including teachers,involved in development work, thereby leadinginevitably to changes in the objectives, curricularcontent and methods of training teachers and theireducators.
The emergence of the concept of non-formal education
The concept of non-formal education emergedsome 30 years ago, though the concern whichgave rise to it had been in existence long beforethen. It was in the 1960s, and particularly in the1970s that more attention was focused on non-formal education. Studies and research on thesubject abound, though the literature tends toconcentrate on adult, and especially continuing,education, rather than on innovative approachesoutside the formal education system designed toprovide access to learning for children deprivedof access to it.
For a better understanding of the emergenceof the non-formal sector, a few observationsmust be kept; in mind.
School is no longer considered to be the onlyplace where learning takes place, and can nolonger claim to assume the educational role insociety single-handedly. Moreover, learning in-volves such a variety of factors that it is impossibleto conceive of it within the confines of a singlesystem organized and supervised by a centralauthority. Education is no longer the exclusiveresponsibility of national education bodies butalso that of other services and institutions, includ-ing those active in the development field.
Education and learning are no longer consid-
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ered to be synonymous with "schooling", even ifmany parents continue to equate education withschool, obsessed with the diploma which theschool is assumed to award as a passport toemployment, now becoming increasingly hypo-thetical. The equation of learning with formaleducation remains firmly achored in the mindsof many parents, buy as they have been forced toacknowledge the failure of the system in whichthey have placed all their hopes, their dissatis-faction with, and criticism of, existing systemsof education have become a rising tide and asubject of major concern.
To begin with, it was the shortcomings andinadequacies of the traditional school systemthat sparked this growing interest in out-of-school forms of education acting as a supple-ment to or even substitute for formal schooling.This interest is understandable, given the advan-tages that non-formal education has to offer forsocio-economic and/or socio-cultural develop-ment, particularly when faced with the disap-pointing performance of a school system whoseeducational component, while ambitious aca-demically, is neither practical nor specific; it hasno relevance to the everyday life of pupils, andits costs are high, thereby limiting its expansion.It is these quantitative constraints and qualita-tive inadequacies of formal education whichhave meant that solutions have been sought inout-of-school activities (Furter, 1984, p. 5).
Influenced by the notion of lifelong educa-tion, the extension of these approaches to educa-tion provides frames of reference, enabling long-term decisions to be taken which will diversifythe functions, tasks and contributions of educa-tion systems, according to the different institu-tional forms adopted, even though, at nationallevel, this perspective seldom goes beyond thetheoretical stage, through lack of appropriateconditions (Furter, 1984, p. 7).
A few definitions: formal, non-formal,informal
In the International Standard Classification ofEducation, the term "education" itself is defined
58 6 1
as "organized and sustained communicationdesigned to bring about learning". This reflectsan institutional point of view which is restrictiveand excludes anything done on a relatively largescale to broaden access to education. It is adefinition which attaches little importance tospontaneous, out-of-school forms of learning.Today, no one disputes the fact that peoplecontinue to learn from their experiences and arecapable of absorbing and storing knowledge andideas often passi vely by watching televisionprogrammes, visiting museums, observing theirparents, peer groups, friends, etc. This type oflearning is acquired haphazardly, of course, andthus does not always fall within the realm of theeducator, still less the planner. Education ismost often thought of as a sequence of learningexperiences prepared in advance and presentedby qualified staff for the benefit of pupils. Bybroadening this definition, "education" couldcome to include anything aimed at bringingabout a change in the attitudes and behaviourpattcrns of individuals, given that in order forthis change to come about, they have necessarilyacquired new knowledge, skills and abilities.Advocates of this broader definition of the edu-cational process go so far as to argue that spon-taneous, non-school learning, in that it is diffuse,comprehensive and rich in creative potential, isas deserving of public funding as is traditionalformal education, which has thus far enjoyed avirtual monopoly in this respect.
All learning processes fall necessarily intoone or other of the following three categories.
"Random" (or supplementary, incidental, dif-fuse, spontaneous, informal...) learning whichincludes non-structured educational activities(Evans, 1981). In "random" learning, educationis a process of osmosis between the learner andhis environment. It has been established thatmost of the knowledge and skills an individualaccumulates over his or her lifetime are acquiredin a non-structured environment through thisvery type of education. This applies to learningone's language, cultural values, general atti-tudes and beliefs and the behaviour patterns of agiven community, which are transmitted by the
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training /Ali Hamadache
family, the Church, associations, prominentmembers of society, social communication, themass media, museums, publishers, games andany other cultural institution. To a large extent,such education is obtained through a combina-tion of observation, imitation and emulation ofspecific members of society. For example, radioor television broadcasts for the general publicmay, to some extent, be intended to instruct, butthey may or may not find listeners or viewerswho are willing or able to learn from the mes-sage and put it to use. The same may be said ofyoung people who may watch craftworkers forthe express purpose of learning a skill (there isintent on the part of the learner, but not of theteacher). Several aspects of "random" learningshould be taken into account in the training ofteachers the use of national languages and/ormother tongues which act as vehicles for thisrandom form of learning as well as models andvalues which are often different from thoseinculcated by formal education, the linkage offormal learning with productive or socially use-ful work, the dovetailing of school activitieswith learning opportunities and socio-educa-tional and cultural infrastructures already inplace in local communities and the channellingof influences exerted by the media, etc.
Non-formal (or out-of-school) education,which encompasses all forms of instruction con-sciously promoted by the teacher and learner,the "learning situation" being sought by bothparties (transmitter and receiver). Coombs andhis collaborators proposed a definition for non-formal education which has ben widely ac-cepted: "Any organized educational activityoutside the established formal system... that isintended to serve identifiable cl ienteles and learn-ing objectives" (Coombs et al., 1973). Thisdefinition has the advantage of setting out themain characteristics of non-formal education. Itconsists of activities which are:
organized and structured (otherwise it wouldbe classified as informal);designed for an identifiable target group;organized to achieve a specified set of learn-ing objectives;
non-institutionalized, carried out outside theestablished education system and intended forlearners who are not officially enrolled inschool (even if in some cases learning takesplace in a school setting).Formal( school)education, which differs from
non-formal education in that it is taugh in insti-tutions (schools) by permanently employedteachers within the framework of a fixed cur-riculum. This type of education is characterizedby uniformity and a certain rigidity, with hori-zontal and vertical structures (age-graded classesand hierarchical cycles) and universally appli-cable admission criteria. Such education is in-tended to be universal, sequential, standardizedand institutionalized, guaranteeing a certainmeasure of continuity (at least for those who arenot excluded from the system).
The borderline between formal and non-for-mal is not always clear-cut and there is no realconsensus as to the difference between the twosubsystems: there are non-formal aspects informal learning structures such as the use ofnon-professionals as teachers, distance teach-ing, the participation of parents or members ofthe community in the education process or inschool administration, the introduction of pro-ductive work into school, and so on. Similarly,experiments have been conducted outside schoolsusing different methods and at different speedsfrom those used in traditional schools but whoseobjective is to teach the same curricula as thatused in the formal sector. This interpenetration,far from being harmful, can be highly beneficialwhen both sides can "borrow" ideas from theother. In this booklet the terms non-formal edu-cation and out-of-school learning are used indis-criminately, with the same meaning, on theunderstanding that the concept may be equallyapplied to adults and children and encompassesall possible learning and self-instruction situa-tions, having a more or less structured form andpositioned on the fringe or outer edge of theschool system (even if such activities are carriedout in the school buildings of the formal sector).Nevertheless, whatever terminology is used, thecomplex relationship between formal and non-
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formal education persists and there is still noclear, unequivocal definition of either concept.
Development of the methods and scope ofbasic education
Non-formal approaches as an alternativesystem
In many countries, action undertaken in favourof the general provision of primary education,especially through the extension and reinforce-ment of the formal school system, has failed toproduce the expected results. Moreover, themain thrust of such action has frequently centredon the provision of schooling, while retainingconventional approaches in terms of curriculaand teaching methods. Furthermore, amongstchildren within the school system, there aremany who drop out at an early stage beforeacquiring basic reading and writing skills, theirguarantee of future employment. This situationhas inevitably led to the introduction of non-formal methods, with a view to enlarging, sup-plementing and sometimes even improving ini-tiatives undertaken within the framework of theformal sector.
In areas where there are no schools, non-formal basic education programmes have donemuch to remedy the situation. They are intendedfor children for whom inadequate educationalprovision has been made and for adults whohave had no access to learning. For those whohave never attended school, they provide basiclearning skills, enabling them to use to greateradvantage technical services in the field of agri-culture and health while also broadening accessto any other sector where such capabilities areconsidered a prerequisite. They are of particularimportance in regions where the economy is stillunderdeveloped and the competent authorities(public health, water supply, agriculture, stock-breeding, craftsmanship) have as yet been un-able to undertake appropriate action, throughlack of technical agents and representatives.Non-formal basic education aims to improveliving conditions of individuals and speed up the
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development of people living in the most im-poverished regions, especially in rural areas oron the outskirts of large cities, characterized bya generalized and chronic lack of basic needsand limited participation in the life of theirsociety.
There can be no doubt that demands for de-mocratization, equal access to education andchances of succeeding at school require thatchildren everywhere should be guaranteed ap-propriate, standard, formal education. However,given the conditions of extreme poverty whichfrequently prevail in developing countries, wherecommunities lack even basic social services,education must undeniably go beyond the levelof mere instruction. Non-formal education cando this. Examples of non-formal approaches tobasic education encompass a wide range ofstructures and practices, from major programmesundertaken at national level, with governmentbacking and support, to modest community basedprojects launched within a neighbourhood, vil-lage or community by volunteers or non-gov-ernmental organizations.
Non-formal basic education programmes in-tended for children, adolescents or adults, aremainly targeted at the following categories:
children who have never attended school;children who have dropped out of schoolearly;specific groups (nomads, refugees, isolatedgroups, etc.);adults who have had no access to elementaryschooling or who have relapsed into illiteracy;adults who are already literate or have previ-ously attended school.These programmes require different types of
teachers:full-time paid adult education teachers gen-erally members of a national literacy organi-zation, a department of adult education orcommunity development, working full time ata normal rate of pay;officials of government bodies, already intouch with the population: enlisted to partici-pate in the programme as teachers (after ap-propriate training) as part of their official
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training 1 Ali Hamadache
duties; enlisted to participate in the programmeas teachers (after appropriate training) overand above their official duties, and paid over-time; volunteering in the same way as othercitizens and paid the remuneration, if any,given to such volunteers;primary-school teachers from the formal edu-cation system: whose official duties includepart-time adult education; who are paid over-time as teachers of adults (or children notenrolled in a school); volunteering in the sameway as other citizens to teach adults, and paidthe remuneration given to such volunteers.These teachers from the formal sector may ormay not have received specific training innon-formal education methods;literate citizens or new literates, who haverarely received appropriate training;schoolchildren, students, pensioners or mem-bers of the clergy who volunteer their servicesfor a specific programme of fixed duration;members of a non-governmental organizationgiving voluntary service within the frame-work of their organization;members of the armed forces or those calledup for special literacy service in place ofmilitary service.All these categories of teachers require initial
or in-service training if they are to perform theirtask efficiently within the framework of a non-formal system. Many countries run short in-service training courses to provide students withminimum skills and/or elementary techniquesof transmitting knowledge, but very few offerthorough pre-service training; even fewer pro-vide basic training which is common to a numberof these categories.
Co-ordination and linkage of schooleducation and out-of-school learning
Government authorities often know little aboutnon-formal education projects, especially if theyare organized by non-governmental organiza-tions or local associations. The latter usually donot welcome government intervention. Sincethese experiments are little known, they are not
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recognized; this makes it difficult to plan or co-ordinate them. The authorities are often not keento do this in any case, as the management of asubsystem of this sort in not subject to thetraditional rules and procedures of educationalplanning and management. Yet at the same time,planning bodies have foremost responsibilityfor examining the problems of linking formaland non-formal structures. Linkage is no doubtdifficult between two subsystems of which oneis unified, homogenous, centralized and hierar-chical, and the other multi-purpose, diversified,decentralized and self-sufficient.
But co-ordination is necessary, if for no otherreason than to avoid overlapping and squander-ing resources. It can operate through:
vertical structures, administrative and hierar-chical, which provide a beneficial complemen-tarity between the unified action of the Stateand grass-roots initiatives;horizontal structures, local and participatory,which provide coordination between the dif-ferent participants, particularly between thepublic and private seCtors (mainly associa-tions), and between activities of the nationalministry of education or approved servicesand educational projects conducted by othersocio-cultural and socio-economic develop-ment agents;networks such as resource or back-up centreswhich are accessible to all participants ineducational activities in a given area.One of the fields where this kind of co-ordina-
tion has been most successful concerns the com-mon cores of training for the different categoriesof agents involved in a formal or non-formaleducational process. This trend, which takesinto account the development problems specificto a particular cultural and social environmentand seeks the participation of a variety of actorsin the educational process, is not new. Witnessthe handbook of suggestions for use by all those,teachers and others, concerned with elementaryschool (Handbook of suggestions for the consid-eration of teachers and others concerned withelementary school), published by the Ministryof Education of the United Kingdom and sum-
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marized in "Fundamental education, commonground for all peoples" (UNESCO, 1947). Atthat time it also became clear that these differentagents at local and national level were in need ofa common core of training. Between 1948 and1958, programmes of community action andmulti-purpose, wide-ranging integrated educa-tion were launched, which called for multidisci-plinary educational teams with the participationof members of the community, parents and de-velopment specialists, alongside teachers. Tem-porarily halted in 1958, the experiment wastaken up again in 1971/1972 at the instigation ofthe International Commission on the Develop-ment of Education, which reintroduced the con-cept of basic education. This concept had theadvantage of an approach based on thecomplementarity of in-school and out-of-schoolaspects of a fundamental education process seenas a minimum educational requirement to meetthe needs of a community, and also serving as astarting-point for lifelong education. The ideawas taken up again in the 1980s, on the assump-tion that it is perhaps possible to identify certaincommon training components, for different cat-egories of personnel, which correspond to spe-cific professional tasks or qualifications dic-tated by school educational policy as a whole.
If it is generally acknowledged that the de-mand for education cannot now be met, becauseof the limitations and insufficient resources ofexisting institutional systems, then educationalfecilities must be made accessible to as manypeople as possible. As pointed out in the report"Learning to Be" (p. 183), "Education mustcease being confined within the schoolhousewalls. All kinds of existing institution, whetherdesigned for teaching or not... must be used foreducational purposes...".
The linkage of educational activities for chil-dren and adults provides and effective answer tothe economic and socio-cultural needs of indi-viduals while also reinforcing development ob-jectives. The use of premises and equipment ofthe formal school system for out-of-school ac-tivities for adults and youngsters not enrolled ina school, or excluded from primary education,
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makes the school a community-based learningcentre open to both children and adults. Thisapproach is currently applied in a number ofcountries, albeit in many different forms. Men-tion should also be made of experiments inwhich children alternate school activities without-of-school productive work in local commu-nities, often in conjunction with developmentprogrammes.
School buildings and teachers are the twodetermining factors in the cost of education.Existing school buildings can be used (and madecost-effective) through non-formal educationalactivities conducted outside normal school open-ing hours and days. Non-formal education canalso be provided in other premises free of charge(for example, mosques, churches, pagodas, ware-houses, private homes, etc.). Another factor inthe linkage of school and out-of-school activi-ties is the multi-purpose utilization of teachers,with or withouth supplementary remunerationfor adult education courses. With this end inview, some countries have incorporated an in-troduction to adult education into their pre-service teacher-training programmes, with par-ticular importance being paid to the needs ofrural populations. This is the case in the primary-teacher training college at Bunumbu in SierraLeone. In the United Republic of Tanzania,adult education in similarly an integral part of ateacher's duties, and the headmaster is responsi-ble for organizing and running literacy courses.In India, teachcr-training institutions preparetheir graduates to teach children, adults andunemployed young people.
Direct participation in the educational processby members of the community, either economicagents of production health officials, agricul-tural extensionists or other development agentsor master craftsmen and experienced farmers,represents another link in activities between thetwo subsystems while also serving to open theschool to the community.
UNESCO's contributions in this field havebeen significant, with various studies carried outin the early 1980s, for example in Benin, Togo,Sierra Leone, Mexico, United States and Peru,
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training /Ali Hamadache
as well as the work of teacher organizations suchas WCOTP and IFFTU, on "the functions andtraining of non-teaching personnel contributingto school education"; symposia have also beenheld on this theme in Africa, Asia, Latin Americaand Europe. Nevertheless, such experimentalprojects using the manpower available in thecommunity are few and far between. There aremany more non-formal primary-school projects(for example in Asia) which call upon the serv-ices of teachers recruited from the local commu-nity, often on a voluntary basis.
Linkage can also extend to the joint produc-tion of multi-purpose teaching materials forthe formal and non-formal sectors, for exam-ple when national languages and mother ton-gues are introduced into both systems: ruralnewspapers and libraries, reading booklets forpost-literacy programmes, the use of documen-tation from communication agencies and devel-opment bodies, the optimal utilization of print-ing facilities and distribution networks, com-bined school broadcasts, etc. While the trend istowards the production of materials with a func-tional content, many countries have no otheraids than the existing textbooks available inprimary schools.
The changing role and functions of theteacher
Factors contributing to this change
The role of the teacher has evolved due to thesocial and political changes in each society,which impose new demands on the educationsystem as a whole in terms of both educationalaims and objectives, and teaching contents andmethodology. They are mainly as follows:
The democratization of education, leading tothe rapid growth of education services through-out the world and providing schooling to moreheterogeneous groups of pupils than before,from widely varied socio-economic environ-ments. School is therefore no longer elitist orselective. Teachers have had to familiarize them-selves with different systems of cultural and
social references, so as to identify needs andmotivations and to adapt organizational andteaching practices to new learning context andsituations. In addition, the extension of basiccompulsory schooling in many countries haslengthened the period from four to six years toeight to ten years, frequently incorporating ex-isting primary levels, the first stage of secondaryschool, and even in some cases pre-school classes.This has led to a review of teacher specializa-tion, since the range of pupils attending school ismuch wider than before.
The knowledge explosion, with an escalatingbody of applied knowledge particularly scien-tific and technological its periodical obsoles-cence, and the emergence of new fields of knowl-edge (environment, population studies, drugabuse, prevention, etc.). This entails the updat-ing of school curricula, with cmphasis on devel-oping the desire to learn and the ability to ac-quire new knowledge on one's own. Learning tolearn becomes at least as important as what islearned. This perspective of life long educationprovides the most appropriate framework for theincorporation, within the structure of schoolsystems, of forms of both school and out-of-school learning. This approach will radicallychange the very principles on which curriculaare based and will emphasize more individuallyadapted teaching methods and techniques, moretime allotted to team work and a change inteacher/pupil relationships. In this pupil-orientedapproach, stress is laid on the acquisition of themeans whereby the individual can constitute hisown body of knowledge, rather than through theunilateral, passive transmission of pre-estab-lished facts.
The development of modern information dis-semination techniques by the press, radio andabove all television which tend to affect theteacher/pupil relationship. The teacher is facedwith youngsters who are better informed, morecritical and less conservative in outlook, hencemore open but more demanding. He is thereforeno longer the only purveyor of knowledge, whichis now acquired from many different sources,forming what is known as "out-of-school activi-
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ties") School is clearly no longer the only placewhere children are educated, even if the familyincreasingly unloads it responsibilities on to theschool as it scope develops. Although not ex-plicit, these external educational pressures ex-erted by "out-of-school activities" are the vehi-cle for highly significant cultural models ofwhich the school must take account. Conse-quently, teacher training must take into consid-eration the fact that school is no longer thetemple of all learning and the only source ofknowledge. School must be opened to out-of-school activities, conceived as complementaryeducational activities, with due account of struc-tures, curricula and methods. This approach iswidely acknowledged, but difficulties arise inpractice, due mainly to:
the standardizing function and unifying na-ture of a school system "divided between thistask of equalization which society assigns itand the trend towards developing personalaptitudes" (Moeckli, 1980), as well as theimportance attached to a system of assessmentand diplomas awarded in recognition of meas-urable abilities, excluding non-quantifiableand subjective components, especially per-sonal, creative capabilities;the reluctance on the part of the teachingprofession to welcome external influences,particularly if they involve the participation ofnon-teachers in the educational process;the over-centralization of curricula develop-ment which takes no account of the diversityof cultural environments.The introduction of "non-school" activities in
teacher-training programmes promotes teach-ing methods which develop a sense of individualand group initiative and foster the creative ex-pression of each pupil's cultural identity. Every-
1 By "out-of-school activities" is meant educational pres-sures to which the child is subjected: non-formalizedpressures which are not necessarily directed at him andof which he is not always aware, any more than hisparents and educators are such as the social environ-ment, the press, television, the religious environment,the urban environment, play, and so on (Moeckli, 1980).
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day life is thus brought into school, an approachwhich requires the teacher to be much more of agroup leader and organizer of learning than thetransmitter of knowledge.
Implications for training policies andcurricula
Policies for change
National teacher-training policies, an integralpart of any overall educational strategy, mustprovide more than a simple answer to the ques-tion of supply and demand. They should offer arange of options for defining objectives, organ-izing training systems, and for the recruitmentand educational levels of future teachers, etc.But, most importantly, it is in terms of curricu-lum content that the roles of future teachers mustbe determined. Their training must be redirectedto prepare them to be educators who are equallycapable of participating in different out-of-schooland school-based activities and of working along-side personnel from other sectors who contributeto the overall educational process; it must alsopromote the opening of school to the community.
It must prepare teachers for these tasks theo-retically and in practice, with emphasis on a typeof training geared to change, which will givethem the skills to adapt to continuing socialchanges. This is no easy undertaking, since therole of the teacher is changing more quickly thanthe content of planned curricula. Unfortunately,it has to be admitted that few teacher-trainingsystems are able to respond to the new needs ofrecruitment or the teaching methods applied insuch institutions. Few offer courses of study inkeeping with the professional profile required ifteachers are to be instrumental in bringing aboutchange.
The integration of initial and in-servicetraining
While it is true that in the long term improvedinitial training will lead to improved standardsof teaching, in the short term this can only be
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training / Au Hamadache
achieved by means of further training for in-service teachers. Even so, such training wouldhave to be viewed as the extension of initialtraining and not as an isolated, one-off opera-tion. Some countries do admittedly recognizethe need for teacher-training programmes com-prising and initial stage and a complementary(in-service) stage, regarded as of equal impor-tance. However, there are few examples where,theorizing apart, initial and ongoing training arepart of an integrated system. This approach, whilewidely accepted, is far from being generally ap-plied, even when initial and in-service training arethe responsibility of the same authority.
In-service training is in most cases consideredas a separate branch, quite distinct from thetraining acquired in initial teacher-training col-leges. Integration may well be more likely if in-service training is entrusted to initial trainingestablishments, thereby transforming them intomultifunctional institutions. In any case, inte-gration is a prerequisite for any effective linkagebetween school and out-of-school education,the incorporation of out-of-school activities intoteacher education and the application of non-formal teaching methods in primary education.
The importance of identifying training needsin advance
The conventional approach, based on quantita-tive projections of numbers of pupils of schoolage and pupil/teacher ratios, as a means of esti-mating the number of teachers necessary for agiven system or a specific time-frame, takes noaccount of qualitative needs and demands whoseidentification is necessarily linked with an overalldiagnosis of the educational subsystems, formaland non-formal. To do so would require access toan overall view of the illiteracy rate of the targetpopulation, children and adults, and the predict-able evolution of this rate for all age-groups ratherthan consulting separate statistics concerningschool enrolment and literacy training.
This overall picture of existing and potential"learners" is the only valid approach to theformulation of alternative strategies for the pro-
vision of basic education and the identificationof the training needs of educational personnelconcerned with teaching young people and adults,in the perspective of a more thorough integra-tion of formal and non-formal education at thelevel of elementary learning. It should be notedthat at the stage of diagnosis which precedesthe identification of training needs the mainproblem is the availability of the necessary dataon non-formal activities and their distinguishingfeatures. Hence the need for a decentralizedapproach, involving the close co-operation of allparticipants and actors in the educational proc-ess, either individually (potential beneficiariesas promoters of educational action, parents,policy-makers and administrative officials, tech-nicians, etc.) or collectively (local authorities,trade union and professional associations, non-governmental organizations, co-operativegroups, cultural associations, etc.).
It is also important to define the procedures forjoint planning and participation. The numberand professional profile of personnel of differ-ent categories and the objectives and curriculaof the pre-service and in-service training to begiven them can be determined only on the basisof educational policy goals; the educational needsand demands of the target populations as awhole (age-groups of both sexes) who have toreceive an elementary education whose objec-tives and curricula must themselves be definedin the context of studies to be carried out atseveral levels of the society in question, and withthe participation of the groups and individualsconcerned..." (Pauvert, 1986, p. 126).
The continuing problem remains how, in thecontext of a given country, to identify the differ-ent target populations to be reached through adiversified but consistent course of action, com-prising specific objectives, processes, structures,programmes and activities to be formulated onthe basis of identified needs (Pauvert). From theoutset, identification raises difficulties as re-gards levels of research, especially since studiesin this field are usually theoretical, and consist oftaxonomic hypotheses and investigations. Thisis a field for operational research.
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Towards new roles for teachers
In the preparation of teachers for the new rolethey will play in a co-ordinated system of formaland non-formal education, it is important toremember that success in the field of school andadult education is largely dependent on the abil-ity of the educator to establish a good relation-ship with his pupils, in the same way as a doctorwith his patients. It is this pupil-oriented ap-proach which must dictate the professional pro-file of teachers. This means that their mainfunction the transmission of organized knowl-edge becomes relatively less important, as alsotheir traditional authority over pupils (to thegreat regret of some nostalgic old-timers).
Moreover, emphasis in placed on both col-laboration with parents, members of the com-munity and non-professional teaching person-nel, and co-operation among teachers them-selves. Priority is given to the organization of thelearning process and to group leadership (bothschool and adult class-groups). With these endsin view, it is vital to develop the teacher'spersonality so that he accepts and seeks change,learns to learn by himself, and is constantlyconcerned to further his own studies. This alsomeans that traditional procedures for the selec-tion of trainee teachers should be reviewed, andthat their recruitment should take account ofpotential aptitudes which help to develop initia-tive and creativity, as well as interpersonal skills.The definition of a pre-training profile is asimportant as its post-training equivalent.
The demands and constraints of enlargingthe teacher's functions
The teaching of children and adults: theneed for multi-purpose teachers
The special features of adult education
Adult education activities are frequently ham-pered by the fact that teachers and group leadersoften lack the necessary capabilities and/or skillsrequired for the teaching of adults. Recognition
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of the aspirations and attitudes peculiar to agiven group of adults in a learning situation, anawareness of the attention to be paid to theirprevious experience, and the adaptation of cur-ricula to different socio-vocational practices andsocio-cultural environments, all form part of aspecifically adult-oriented teaching approach.Adult education should be perceived as morethan merely a second chance of schooling, cen-tred on the same objectives, curricula and teach-ing methods as those applied in primary educa-tion, especially if the learning acquired is to leadto changes in individual behaviour patterns andcontribute to community development.
Particular attention must be paid to the socio-logical, psychological and cultural backgroundsof students, to the exchange of experience andinformation, and to a dialogue. An adult has hisown extensive capital of impressions, thoughts,opinions and experiences, of both a positive and anegative kind. This is the raw material on which tobase any educational experience to which externalinputs are added. The role of the educator isbasically to help the learner to become aware ofthe different facets of his personality and to giveshape to his experience of life. This is the only wayof preventing adult education from becoming aone-way process and of ensuring that it is based ona form of exchange, even if those involved maynot necessarily be on a footing of equality. Adulteducation must be grounded on the principle ofmutual respect, a concept which should be appliedto all forms of education, including that at school.We must steer clear of what P. Freire has called the"banking concept" of education in which (to con-tinue with the banking analogy) students receive"funds" deposited by the teachers. "In the bankingconcept of education, knowledge is a gift be-stowed by those who consider themselves knowl-edgeable upon those they consider to know noth-ing" (Freire, 1977).
What kind of teachers are required for out-of-school education?
For adult education and even non-formal chil-dren's education, there are two main options for
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training / Au Hatnadache
the recruitment of teachers; either to use profes-sional teachers, usually in-service primary teach-ers, or to recruit specialized instructors whohave been given a specific training in this field.It is clear that without previous training, neithercan a primary teacher teach adults efficiently norcan an adult education teacher instruct children(as can happen in the case of non-formal pro-grammes intended for children outside the schoolsystem). The approach adopted in adult educa-tion is radically different from that aplied tochildren. The use of primary teachers raisesproblems not only in terms of skills and techni-cal knowledge specific to particular fields butalso, and most importantly, as regards the over-haul of traditional teaching practices. Similarly,without prior training in communication skills,the specialist (agricultural extensionist or con-sultant, health official, social worker, etc.) orlocal group leader (community developmentpromoter, volunteers from local associations ornongovernmental organizations, members of thecommunity, etc.) are bound to experience diffi-culties in the process of learning and the trans-mission of knowledge, specially in the teachingof essential learning tools reading, writing andarithmeticwhere, whatever approach is adopted,basic teaching principles must be observed.
Because of the socio- vocational diversity ofthe different groups of adults in adult educationprogrammes, the curricula on offer must becorrespondingly varied, taking account of stu-dents' earlier experience, with the purpose offilling in the gaps in their knowledge, in relationto the goals and objectives of the programme inquestion. The aim is to identify the problems poseby what will be expected of them in a teachingsituation, as a basis on which to develop comple-mentary training which will focus on the differ-ence between what they need to know and whatthey know already. Another crucial factor in thisrespect is the nature of the relationship estab-lished between teacher and learners, founded onmutual trust, creating an environment condu-cive to learning. There is therefore little doubtthat the best educator is one who is familiar withthe socio-cultural background of his students
and is very mucho part of it, in his trained role asgroup leader. During his training, he must par-ticipate actively in his own further education,rejecting the notion of being merely the passivebeneficiary of the courses he attends.
Training primary teachers for out-of-schoolactivities
Teachers from the formal sector undoubtedlyconstitute the bulk of adult educators. Some ofthem (a minority) work full time, others parttime. They are less represented in other forms ofadult education such as community develop-ment, agricultural extension or health pro-grammes, population education programmes andthe environment... The main motivation forteachers to undertake adult education is still thebonuses they receive as a result. They are mainlyinvolved in what is known as the "in-schooleducation" of adults, specially literacy and post-literacy training. They are sometimes blamedfor the "formal" component of such programmes,for which they are seldom properly trained.Hence the need to redirect their training towardsa more multifunctional role, enabling them toact as "multi-purpose" out-of-school educators.
Multi purpose teachers? Under whatconditions?
Given the current levels of development in ThirdWorld countries, there is no alternative but tohave recourse to "traditional" teachers, withoutwhose participation non-formal education wouldbe virtually impossible through lack of humanand financial resources. The tasks involved innon-formal activities mean a heavier work-loadfor the village schoolteacher who, particularlyin rural areas, is expected to assist other publicand private bodies in conducting censuses, sur-veys, etc. In fact, in such areas, he is practicallythe only person capable of fulfilling these tasks,which he frequently undertakes free of charge.
The problem then is to ensure effective par-ticipation by teachers in non-formal educationalactivities, given their professional obligations
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and family commitments. It is now generallyagreed that teachers must be released, at leastpartially, from their duties within the formalsystem to enable them to perform these addi-tional tasks, striking a fair balance between theirin-school and out-of-school activities.
The changing role of teachers and the exten-sion of their functions and tasks require thattheir timetable be reviewed. There is a conflictbetween all they are expected to do and thetime at their disposal to carry out these newtasks, especially if they must also keep up withthe growing tide of new developments and up-grade their professional qualifications.
Any examination of the role of teachers mustalso take into account their working conditions,particularly since the teaching profession of-fers more limited opportunities of promotionthan other comparable professions in other sec-tors of the economy. Furthemore, the neccesaryresources should be made available to teachersto enable them to solve their professional prob-lems and find ways of continuing their furthertraining.
Teachers - a new profile
While the role of the teacher in formal educa-tion is to create educational situations and learn-ing conditions in keeping with existing cur-ricula, in the non-formal sector, his task will beto focus on actual experience, analysing it withhis pupils and incorporating it into his teachingmaterial, which will lead to the acquisition ofnew knowledge (the starting-point and basisfor these analysis being, for example, the de-scription of a particular situation experiencedby one of the students, a radio broadcast or agroup discussion of a common problem, etc.).As already noted, the training of teachers forthe twofold role of primary-school teacher andgroup leader for adult learners is far from beinga reality in the majority of Third World coun-tries, despite limited experimental projects con-ducted in some of them. Yet such training isessential, and must start with primary teachers,for few countries have at present the human
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and financial resources to employ two teach-ers, a primary-school teacher and a non-formaleducator, in every village.
Since there are few teachers trained in out-of-school education and national budgets donot allow for the establishment of a new bodyof educators alongside that of traditional teach-ers, training must be provided for in-serviceteachers and student teachers working withinthe formal system, either in pre-service train-ing institutions, through practical in-servicetraining courses or even at universities. To thisend, therefore, the curricula and methods in usein training institutions must be reviewed so thatthey can better prepare teachers for this two-fold role. Is this where the solution really lies?One cannot help but wonder at the reasons forthe difficulties encountered in putting this for-mula into practice. A possible solution is rec-ommended in the draft of UNESCO's 1973-1978 Medium-Term Plan, providing for "multi-purpose institutions.., to train both teachersand administrators, people who will be work-ing within the educational system and peoplewho will be devoting themselves to the variousaspects of out-of-school education". This insti-tutional innovation is also referred to by Porter'in his description of "the scope for institutionsparticularly interested in interprofessional train-ing of teachers, social and community workers,health officers and trade unionists to work to-gether".
The training of both future and in-serviceteachers must focus mainly on:
an introduction to the methodology used inthe social sciences and the practical analysisof social contexts and environments, speciallytechniques of conducting socio-educationalsurveys, monographs, etc.;the theory and practice of community devel-opment:communication skills and techniques of groupleadership (children and adults);
2 James Porter, "The Changing role of the teacher",Paris, UNESCO/Geneva, IBE, 1978.
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training 1 Ali Hamadache
techniques and methods of active educationfor children and adults in learning situations;techniques of self-instruction and the pro-duction of teaching cards;techniques of group dynamics (theory andpractice);the methodology of teaching reading, writing'and arithmetic and the specific learning tech-niques required by children and adults;the interdisciplinary use of new educationalcontents;an introduction to psychology, adult educa-tion and the psychology of learning;the basic principles of curriculum planning(depending on the objective in view and theintermediate stages required to reach them);the conduct of cultural activities in schooland the community;techniques of evaluation and self-evaluation.
The principles listed above are intended asgeneral guidelines only and should be adaptedto each individual situation and the character-istics of the learner group (children or adults).They call for more diversified and flexibleteaching methods, give precedence to acquir-ing methods and techniques rather thanfactual information, encourage a regular alter-nation of theoretical and practical activities,and focus on developing pupils' creative abili-ties and sense of initiative, with priority givento ways of thinking rather than learning byrole.
The emphasis of this approach to trainingteachers in formal and non-formal educationmeans new responsibilities for the teachers con-cerned. It also involves determining the skillsand knowledge to be acquired for the accom-plishment of these new tasks. It likewise indi-cates the kind of rapport and relationship whichshould exist between the teacher/educator andhis pupils (children or adults), parents and othermembers of the community, and proceduresfor co-operating with other local agents, groupleaders and any other "participants" in the over-all educational process. The following profile(provisional and not necessarily complete)emerges:
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At the level of teaching capabilitiesthe ability to transmit one's knowledge ef-fectively and to evaluate its assimilation byone's pupils;knowing and understanding all the complexfacets of the learner's personality, child oradult (notions of individual psychology, cog-nitive and affective development);a knowledge of the factors involved in thelearning process, understanding and memory;a knowledge of active teaching techniquesand how to apply them (a) in a class of chil-dren, and (b) with adult learners;the ability to prepare and develop study plansand learning experiences for a specific groupof learners;using all the methods available to makecoursework accessible to the learner, in par-ticular "mobilization" techniques to ensurethe pupil's participation, and to catch andhold his attention; and the ability to find themost motivating solutions and situations;the ability to organize both individual learn-ing and group work;an understanding of how to conduct amultidisciplinary approach, and experienceof multidisciplinary work.
At the level of general capabilities and apti-tudes
the ability to undertake self-directed instruc-tion and pursue further studies;a knowledge of development problems, es-pecially at local level, as well as the majorissues facing the present-day world (basiceconomics, environment, population trends,the impacts on development exerted by indi-viduals and groups...);being motivated, interested and commited, andrespected by one's pupils (children or adults);a good relationship with individuals andgroups;the ability to communicate in the languagespoken by the learner and to give clear andsimple explanations;the ability to apply scientific methods to agiven situation.
At the level of organizing the learning process
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the ability to organize the utilization of thetime, space and resources needed for the learn-ing process;the ability to analyse a real situation in con-crete terms, determine its key components,identify inherent problems and obstructionsand propose solutions appropriate to the en-vironment and the characteristics of the learn-ers;the ability to understand and e,aluate localsocio-cultural data, to conduct surveys andanalyse the findings;the ability to turn to advantage and utilize thepreviously acquired knowledge and skills ofparticipants in a given educational context;the ability to analyse the needs of a particularenvironment, for example to understand ex-pressed needs and recognize those which arenot expressed;aptitude for teamwork (with fellow teachers,other specialists or group leaders) and abilityto organize it in the light of the target groupconcerned (children, young people, adults);the ability to prepare and develop teachingaids for learning situations;the ability to develop and apply the neces-sary tools for evaluation and self-evaluation;the ability to research and apply the docu-mentary information and data required forcourse preparation.
If pre-service training colleges and in-servicetraining centres are to train teachers success-fully to organize group activities (in schoolclasses or with adults), emphasis must be laidon:
a) Group leadership techniques, which havethe twofold purpose of involving student teach-ers and in-service teachers alike in the processof their own training, while also bringing theminto contact with a teaching relationship pat-tern they will experience in the future. Groupleadership links individual and group work, andrepresents a form of instruction in which adultsand children can express themselves, commu-nicate and participate freely. It implies an open-ness to the views of others, mutual respect anda willingness to accept exchange and the con-
70 73
frontation of ideas and points of view. It is onlyeffective however if applied as part of a spe-cific project carried out in accordance with anorganized procedure.
b) Alternation between theory and practice.This consists the constant interplay betweenactual experience and its applied implications(recorded observations, problem-solving, po-tential theoretical input and formulation of so-lutions), leading to further practical inputs, fol-lowed by continuing theoretical reflection. Al-ternation may occur frequently (every lesson,for example) or on a wider time-scale (estab-lishing a balance between practical work andtheoretical learning).c) Self-instruction, conceived as both an endand a means. As an end, it reflects the concernto open up initial training to the subsequentcultural and professional education of practis-ing teachers. Its aim is the acquisition of atti-tudes and aptitudes favouring intellectual au-tonomy, namely an awareness of one's needsand the organization of working methods gearedto meeting them. As a means, it provides train-ng in working on one's own and devising one'sown individual training. It entails practice inanalysing one's needs, programming one'swork, and the researching and use of informa-tion. This approach is well adapted to methodsof alternation (see (b) above) and is furthervalidated by the approach based on productivework (see (d) below).
d) Productive work. Here student teachersdevelop products on services, for example,teaching or self-teaching aids (educational ma-terials, observation grids, evaluation test, sur-veys, monographs, teaching sequences, etc.).To have any real educational value, these prod-ucts, even if still of an experimental nature,must be designed for actual use. Such activitiessimilar to those developed at workshop semi-nars are the natural counterpart of "academic"exercises devised for ad hoc practical work,whose purpose is to help assimilate knowledgeand skills and to inform teachers as to the ef-fectiveness of their transmission.
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training / Ali Hamadache
Situation 1(at school)
Situation 2(at school)
Situation 3(on the job)
Situation 4(on the job)
Alternation: complementary training situations
Pupils and teachersconcentrating on theoreti-cal work.
Practical workers partici-pate with the teachers intraining the pupils.
Teachers participate withpractical workers in fol-lowing activities of pupilsat the various places ofwork.
Pupils and practical work-ers concentrate on produc-tive efficiency.
There is a danger that therelationship with the realworld will be reduced to il-lustrations chosen becauseof their suitability. Applica-tions of theory risk beingartificial or misguided.
This is the first form of con-frontation (possibly contra-dictory) between the logicof production and the logicof transmission. Illustrationsturn into real situations. Butbecause the practical work-ers "come to the school"there is a danger that theywill also become caught inthe trap of the logic of theeducational process.
This is the second form ofconfrontation. The "case" isleft aside and the real situa-tion is examined. But thereis a danger that the teacherswill have some difficulty infitting into this situation un-less they have experience aspractical workers.
There is a danger that therelationship to theoreticallearning will be reduced topoorly structured instructionprovided on a casual basis.The pupils may be so over-awed by the practical work-ers' competence that theywill not ask them questions.
Teachers remain "monodisci-plinary" (the teacher focuses on thecontent of his own subject).
The "monodisciplinary" tendencycontinues. However, the practicalworkers bring very different ap-proaches to the various problems.
The "multidisciplinary" tendencydevelops. A practical problem whicharises in its natural setting may in:volve a number of disciplines with-out any link between them.
There is a danger that the "multidis-ciplinary" tendency will result inintellectual "indiscipline". The aimof this play on words is to call atten-tion to the indiscriminate circula-tion of knowledge through produc-tive activity, without any concernfor intellectual training. In otherwords, the multidisciplinary ap-proach breaks down and becomes"indiscipline".
Source: Schwartz. B. "Problems and prospects of alternation" in "Learning and Working" Paris, UNESCO, 1979, p. 113.
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Common cores of training for formal andnon-formal education
In the context of co-ordinating primary educa-tion with the literacy training of young peopleand adults, and with a view to relatively greaterintegration of formal and non-formal educationwith productive social and cultural activities, itis necessary to avoid a dispersal of efforts andto optimize the use of all the human resourcesavailable and involved in the educational proc-ess: or at the very least, steps should be taken toensure greater co-operation between the vari-ous specialists and actors working in the fieldof education for development. Also, if thesespecialists and actors are to speak the samelanguage, they must be given the necessarytraining to enable them to help to adopt educa-tional innovations which concern them all, inmultidisciplinary fields such as population edu-cation, the environment, communication, inter-national understanding and the linkage betweenproductive work and education (Pauvert, 1985).
This kind of common training would encour-age the desire for joint participation in the de-velopment of multidisciplinary teams, at all lev-els of society. It is a natural consequence of theoverall concept of education (formal and non-formal), linked to the role of education in anintegrated approach to development. It is pos-sible to define the minimum common skillsrequired by all personnel involved in formaland non-formal education activities, which inturn are components of multidisciplinary ac-tivities all converging towards the same objec-tive, in the context of development.
The introduction of common cores of train-ing inevitably highlights the need for consist-ency and harmonization of the types of traininggiven or to be given to teaching personnel withdifferent functions. The need for greater inte-gration of the types of training to be given tothe various actors and agents engaged in for-mal and non-formal education is nothing new,but it must be recognized that this principle isnot widely applied in practice, despite the manystudies carried out in this field and the efforts
72 75
made to identify training components commonto different categories of personnel (Pauvert,1983). As a result of two consultations andthree workshops, and approach to the estab-lishment of common cores was first studied atthe theoretical level, and subsequently exam-ined in the light of a complex general situation(the Sahel). It was later applied experimentallyin practice.
Conclusions and prospects
It is generally acknowledged that teacher-train-ing strategies must be based on an overall view,which provides the only solution to meetingnew needs in this field; also that it is neitherefficient nor cost-effective to address the dif-ferent aspects of such training in an uncoordi-nated and compartmentalized way. It is alsorecognized that teachers must be trained to beeducators/group leaders, capable of teachingchildren as well as adults, both in school andout of school; and that their pre-service educa-tion is not an end in itself, and cannot be con-sidered separately from the training of theirsupervisors and educators.
There can be no doubt as to the relevance ofsuch principles. They have been the subject ofmany recommendations by regional conferencesof Ministers of Education and of Ministers re-sponsible for Economic Planning in MemberStates, as well as at various sessions ofUNESCO's General Conference, the Interna-tional Conference on Education and, most re-cently, the World Conference on Education forAll (Jomtien, Thailand, March 1990). Ways ofimplementing these principles have been dis-cussed in detail at numerous regional,subregional and national seminars or work-shops, and have been the subject of many stud-ies and research projects in support of whichUNESCO's contribution has been invaluable,especially in developing contries, through itsoperational action and regular programme.
We must now recognize that the necessarycomplementarity between pre-service and in-service training, the problem-based approach,
Linking formal and non-formal education. Implications for teacher training I Ali Hamadache
the need to provide common training for thedifferent agents of the educational process, theoperational value of integrated training for dif-ferent categories of personnel and the notion ofmultidisciplinary teams are no longer innova-tions. Why then do training policies find it sodifficult to take them into account? Why areefforts to put words into action so tentative?Why is there such a discrepancy between therecommendations made and the actual situa-tion found in training institutions? The fact isthat, verbal formulations and statements of in-tent aside, the answer no longer lies in thechoice of a particular policy but in the "politi-cal will" to act, in the decision to advance fromthe stage of policy-making to that of imple-menting strategies.
During the last few decades these approachesand their underlying methodological theorieshave been repeatedly put to the test in concretesituations. The activities introduced, consid-ered innovative at the time by many MemberStates, have apparently not had the desired ef-fect on training systems, or on the functioningof training institutions, and still less on every-day practice by teachers. The obvious conclu-sions have rarely been drawn, even when theoutcome has been positive, and very few peo-ple have taken the step of applying to a wholecountry or region the findings of experimen-tal or pilot projects conducted on a geographi-cally limited scale. One may well wonder, there-fore, if it is desirable or realistic to envisageother procedures in this field, as long as theresults of such efforts by both Member Statesand UNESCO have not been fully exploited.
From the problems and questions examinedin this booklet, two different avenues of ap-proach may be identified which are suitable fordue consideration at international and nationallevels, and even in institutional terms:
Firstly, there is no doubt that a thorough andobjective evaluation of what has been doneover the last 20 years of international and re-gional cooperation is necessary so as to analysein the field the kind of obstacles and constraintsencountered, in each specific situation, in im-
plementing these principles. The findings couldthen be made available to future national orregional conferences on the problems involvedin, and realistic strategies for the training ofagents called on to participate in basic, formaland non-formal education.
The second approach concerns the inadequa-cies still to be observed in the circulation ofinformation and documentation, whether be-tween UNESCO and Member States or amongMember States themselves. This is the conclu-sion of the study on experiments and innova-tions in the pre-service and in-service trainingof primary teachers between 1960 and 1985,which also states that visits to documentationcentres in establishments set up in the 1960swith UNESCO's backing reveal for examplethat methodological tools produced by trainingworkshops or seminars are either not availableor not utilized. The implementation and wide-spread application of guidelines recommendedat international level seem to encounter numer-ous obstacles. These difficulties are often theresult of the inadequate dissemination of textsand methods used successfully in the limitedcontext of pilot projects in isolated institutionsand one-off seminars. This lack of continuityin the circulation of information is apparentlyoften one of the causes contributing to the in-adequate generalization of innovations. Seri-ous thinking is therefore necessary on ways ofpromoting and encouraging exchanges of in-formation between Member States, training in-stitutions, teaching establishments and researchcentres. Practical measures should be definedto permit the effective implementation of rec-ommendations relating to the dissemination ofrelevant information and documentation,adopted by international conferences and re-gional meetings organized by UNESCO.
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(1983), The non-formal sector and criticaleducational issues, in Prospects, Vol XIII, pp. 37-47.
Carron, G. and Bordia, A. (1985), Relationship be-tween literacy programmes, formal schooling andother basic services, in planning and implement-ing national literacy programmes. Paris, Interna-tional Institute of Educational Planning / UNESCO,pp. 323-385.
Chiesa-Azzario, M. P. (1983), A study of two ex-perimental projects, currently under way in Turin,on the training of educators, using common coresof training. Paris, UNESCO, mimeo, 82 pp.(French only).
World Conference on Education for All: Meetingbasic learning needs. 5-7 March 1990, Jomtien,Thailand, Final report.
Coombs, P. H. (1968), The world crisis in educa-tion: the view from the eighties. New York, Ox-ford University Press.
Coombs, P. H.; Prosser, R. C.; Ahmed, M. (1973),New paths to learning for rural children and youth:non-formal education for rural development. NewYork, N. Y. International Council for EducationalDevelopment, 133 pp.
Emerson, L. M. S. (1975), Staff training and accessto education, document ED/IBE/CONFINTED 35/ REF. 7. Paris. UNESCO, June 1975, 17 pp.
Evans, P. R. (1981), The planning of non-formaleducation, International Institute of EducationalPlanning / UNESCO. Paris 117 pp.
Faure, E. et al (1972), Learning to be. The world ofeducation. Paris / London, UNESCO / Harrap.
Freire, P. (1970), Pedagogy of the Oppressed,Seabury Press, New York.
Furter, P. (1984), The articulation of school educa-tion and out-of-school training. Paris. UNESCO(Educational Studies and Documents, No. 53-83
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role of the teacher: international perspectives. Ge-neva. UNESCO / International Bureau of Educa-tion (Studies and Surveys in Comparative Educa-tion), 257 pp.
Goldschmid, M. (1983), Training teachers in educa-tional methods, an attempt to define a commoncore. Paris, UNESCO, 43 pp. (microfiche).
Gómez, M. (1977), Out-of-school education in thePeople's Republic of Benin. Paris. UNESCO,document ED-771WS/149, mimeo, 14 pp.
Gonzalez Orellana, C. (1980). Teachers and out-of
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school education in Guatemala. Paris, UNESCO,mimeo, 103 pp.
Moeckli, J. M. (1980), Out-of-school activities andinfluences and the extent to which they are takeninto account in the training of teachers. Paris,UNESCO (out of print, available on microfiche),47 pp.
Moisan M. (1986), The in-service training of teach-ers through alternation: towards lifelong training.Paris, UNESCO, xeroxed document, 218 pp.
Pauvert, J. C. (1983), Research concerning commoncores of training of educational personnel. Paris,UNESCO, 84 pp. (microfiche).
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Pauvert, J. C. (1986), Literacy training and primaryeducation: an integrated strategy. Paris, UNESCO,document ED-861WS/104, mimeo, 67 pp.
Porter, J. (1983), The concept of common cores oftraining applied to complex learning situations.Paris, UNESCO, mimeo, 31 pp.
. The concept of common cores of trainingapplied to formal and non-formal education. Paris,UNESCO, undated, mimeo, 24 pp.
Prakasha, V. (1985), Gandhian basic education as aprogramme of interdisciplinarity instruction at theelementary stage: some lessons of experience.Paris, UNESCO, document ED-6851WS/28.
Quetel, R. (1976), Conditions for effective partici-pation by teachers in non-formal education in Af-rica. Paris, UNESCO, document ED-761WS/10.
Sakamoto, T. (1981), The use of general televisionprogrammes in school and community: the link-age between in-school and out-of-school educa-tion. Paris. UNESCO, mimeo, 38 pp.
UNESCO (1975), The role of teachers in out-of-school education in Latin America, document ED-741WS/69. Paris, 43 pp.
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persons other than' teachers to educational activi-ties in the perspective of lifelong education. Paris,document ED-76/CONF.811/3, 3 August 1976(working document) and document ED-76/CONF.811/5, 17 September 1976 (Final report).Paris, UNESCO.
. (1976b), Conditions for effective participationby teachers in nom-formal education in Africa,Report of a symposium held from 3 to 7 May1976 at the UNESCO Regional Office for Educa-tion in Africa, Dakar (Senegal), document ED-76/WS/90.
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UNESCO. (1980c). Functions and training of non-teaching personnel contributing to school educa-tion case-studies. Prepared by the Division ofHigher Education and Training of Educational Per-sonnel. Paris. UNESCO, mimeo.
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UNESCO. (1990), What kind of training for pri-mary teachers? Experiences and innovations since1960. Paris, UNESCO, 127 pp.
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neva, IBE, document ED/IBE/CONFINTED 39/INF. 1.
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Vandevelde, L. (1985), Conceptual and methodo-logical considerations concerning the notion of a"common core" of training. Paris, UNESCO, 31pp. (microfiche).
SEVENTH REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF EDUCATION
UNESCO started the preparatory work of the Seventh Regional Conference of Ministers of Education of MemberStates in Latin America and the Caribbean (MINEDLAC VII). We feel convinced that the co-operation of our MemberStates and the concerned institutions will allow us, as for the past, to achieve successfully the identification of thosestrategies facilitating the attainment of the objectives of the Major Project in the Field of Education in Latin Americaand the Caribbean (PROMEDLAC VI).
At the generous invitation of the government of Jamaica, the Meeting will be held in Kingston, in early May 1996.Interpretation from/into English will be ensured at the Meeting.
The list of invitations is underway. In conformity with UNESCO's rules in force, the Ministers of Education of LatinAmerica and the Caribbean is due to be despatched by December 1995, upon the subsequent adoption by theGeneral Conference at its twenty-eighth session of a resolution authorizing the convening of MINEDLAC VII andPROMEDLAC VI.
PROMEDLAC VI will be held immediately before MINEDLAC VII in order to prepare conthbutions to it. The twoconferences will thus constitute a single, continuous event which will last five working days.
UNESCO considers also the participation of U.N. specialized Agencies, Inter-Regional, Intergovernmental, Non-Governmental Organizations, Foundations, Institutions, and UNESCO Member States other than those of LAClinked to the themes of the Meeting whose contribution is recognized in the Latin-America and the Caribbean.
The organizational arrangements are also under consideration. The best and most productive fashion seemsto be Planaries, Woridng Groups and Round-Tables.
As for the Agenda, quality and relevance of education will be discussed. Additionally, and as suggested by theLAC Representatives to UNESCO in Paris, topics dealing with secondary and higher education in line with theneeds/challenges of development in the Region will be also considered.
The Government of Jamaica and the UNESCO Office in Kingston set up a local Steering Committee in chargeof making the appropriate logistic arrangements for the Meeting.
UNESCO, upon the subsequent adoption by the General Conference at its twenty-eighth session of a resolutionauthorizing the convening of MINEDLAC VII (kindly refer to document "Draft Programme and Budget for 1996-1997,[28 C/5] para 01122), has also continued implementing the preparatory arrangements. The document on Invitationsto be approved by the Executive Board at its 147th. session is now completed. Following the rules of procedure,the General Conference will decide in due course on the invitees, i.e. Member States of the Region, AssociateMembers and Territories; U.N. Agencies; other UNESCO Member States; Intergovernmental and Non-Govern-mental Organizations; Institutions and Foundations co-operating in Latin America and The Caribbean.
By mid-September 1995, one reconnaissance mission will travel to Kingston to discuss with the nationalauthorities on the place and eventual dates of the Meeting as well as the diplomatic agreements needed. TheJamaica Government Conference Centre, located in down-town, might be retained as the seat of the Meeting. Asfor the dates, the Meeting might be organized from 13 to 17 or 20 to 25 May 1996.
At the OREALC's invitation, ECLAC expressed interest in writing a document on demands for economic andsustainable development in Latin America and The Caribbean.
7679
OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING
Division of Higher Education UNESCO*
Open and distance learning is today one of the most rapidly growing fields ofeducation and training in the world. The potential impact of open and distancelearning on all education delivery systems, from primary to tertiary level, has beengreatly accentuated through new developments in information and communicationtechnologies, which increasingly free the learners from the constraints of time andspace. The objective of this paper is to review open and distance learning in thecontext of its challenges and potentials, examine its main concepts and components,outline current global and regional trends, identify strategies as well as problemareas, and suggest modalities for international cooperation and UNESCO's roletherein.
It follows from the nature of open and distancelearning, which basically is a method availableto all, that this policy paper is addressed to awide range of individuals, associations, institu-tions; NGOs, governmental decision-makers andintergovernmental organizations includingUNESCO, as the specialized United NationsAgency with a mandate to provide education forall. If the paper can enrich discussions on openand distance learning, serve as policy guidancefor those interested in its potentials, and inspirenational, regional and international coopera-tion, it has served its purpose.
Challenges and potentials
During the last two decades the world has seena considerable growth in education and training.But the world still suffers from intolerable in-equalities both at the international level andwithin nations. Many countries are strugglingwith limited access to education and training for
* The section for Educational Research and Innovation.Division of Higher Education UNESCO.
children and young people, and at the same timehave to address basic needs of the older genera-tion. Low quality and insufficient relevance is aconcern in many countries. At the root of most ofthese problems is the problem of financing anadequate provision of education and training.Some of the trends affecting education and train-ing in most countries are: structural reforms ineducation and society; diversification of theresource base, privatisation, etc.; the fast devel-opment of information and communication tech-nologies; the move towards a more knowledge-intensive economy; increasing integration andinterdependence of world economy.
The potential of open and distance learning inrelation to some of the problems of educationand training in the world today should be consid-ered from different perspectives.
For the student/learner it means liberationfrom the constraints of time and place, leading tothe benefits of increased access and flexibility,as well as the combination of work and educa-tion. It may also mean enrichment and higherquality, and a more learner-centred approachwith the possibility of new ways of interaction.
For employers it offers high quality and often
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cost-effective professional development andlearning in the workplace. It allows upgrading ofskills, increased productivity and developmentof a new learning culture. In addition, it meanssharing of costs of training time and increasedportability of training.
For governments the main reasons for intro-ducing open and distance learning are its poten-tial of increasing the capacity of education andtraining systems, reaching target groups withlimited access to conventional education andtraining, supporting and enhancing the qualityand relevance of existing educational structures,achieving more cost effective education andtraining, and promoting innovation and oppor-tunities of lifelong learning.
Concepts and components
While distance education designates variousforms of mediated teaching and learning, char-acterized by the dispersion in time and/or spaceof learners and their teachers for the whole orparts of the study programme, open learningindicates a certain philosophy, underlining openentry and access to learning opportunities.
Although there are no direct conceptual linksbetween them, the two concepts are often used todescribe similar types of educational provision,sharing a common inspiration of access to learn-ing and flexibility of learning arrangements.
Under the label of open and distance learningthis paper will addresses the whole range ofrelated forms of teaching and learning, withinboth formal and non-formal education and train-ing. Distance education and conventional edu-cation are labels covering a wide range of vari-ations and methods. Very often methods fromboth forms are also combined. This means thatalthough there may be a clear distinction intheory, the distinction between distance educa-tion and conventional education in practice is farfrom clear. Therefore, it is not very useful tolook at distance education in isolation fromother forms.
Distance learning systems always have sev-eral components, and it is important to be aware
78
of components such as: mission, programmesand curricula, teaching/learning strategies andtechniques, learning materials and resources,communication, interaction, support deliveredlocally, delivery system, students and tutors,staff and other experts, management and admin-istration, housing and equipment, and evalua-tion.
Open and distance learning, like any othermode or approach, is not a panacea. There areboth success stories and failures, and many openand distance learning systems are strugglingwith a range of problems and barriers to effec-tive and successful implementation. Some of themore common obstacles and problems are: inad-equate technological infrastructure, planning andprogramme deficiencies, lack of human capac-ity and expertise, inadequate economic resources;lack of recognition of educational equivalence,and neglect of learning conditions and culturalaspects.
Sometimes open and distance learning is usedfor school-age children and youth who are un-able to attend ordinary schools, or to supportteaching in schools, both at primary and second-ary level. However, most school equivalentcourses and programmes are targeted towardsthe adult population. In developing countries,distance education for school equivalency isperhaps the only realistic way of expandingeducational opportunities to the adult popula-tion. In the developed countries there is still aneed for this type of programmes for those whomissed out of the conventional system. Tertiarylevel open and distance learning systems arealso providing educational opportunities thatare equivalent to conventional university andcollege education.
Both private and public providers have madeimportant contributions to the development ofindustry and trade. There are many examples ofprogrammes for vocational and professionaleducation. In addition to business studies andtechnician training one may mention agricul-tural training and training for public administra-tion and health services as important sectors.Teacher training is a particularly important area.
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Open and distance learning / Unesco
This includes both initial training for formalqualifications, in-service supplementary train-ing for formal up-grading, and continuing in-service training in particular subjects and topics.Many examples, particularly from developingcountries, show that teacher training at a dis-tance may reach large groups of teachers andmay have profound impact on the developmentof national education systems.
Non-formal education and community devel-opment are other sectors where open and dis-tance learning is used. It is often reported thateducation programmes at a distance reach sub-stantial numbers of women, also in societieswhere women lack equal opportunities of par-ticipation in conventional forms of educationand training. Open and distance learning lendsitself also to the teaching of many of the complexissues of the modern world, in which input froma variety of disciplines is necessary. There isalso a wide range of projects involving thou-sands of school children and youth in cross-cultural electronic communication. Some of theseare very good examples of how to promoteinternational understanding across ethnic andcultural borders.
Open and distance learning has the potentialof generating new patterns of teaching and learn-ing. Linked as it is with developments in infor-mation and communication technologies, it alsois connected with the development of new learn-ing needs and new patterns of information ac-cess and application. Open and distance learn-ing therefore may lead to innovation in main-stream education, and may even have effectsbeyond the realm of education itself.
Present trends in open and distancelearning
The confidence is growing that open and dis-tance learning will be an important element offuture education and training systems, and mayoffer some responses to the world's educationalchallenges. In spite of this, financial constraintsand cutbacks are common also in this field.Market mechanisms and customer orientation
are highly relevant and may lead to rethinking oforganizational and structural aspects. Open anddistance learning is approaching a state of ac-ceptance within mainstream education and train-ing that will in the future make it part of therepertoire of most educational institutions. Thetechnological development allows for new pat-terns of access and delivery in education, oftenlinked to new types of demands and new ap-proaches to learning. One of the trends is theemergence of new forms of distance learningbased on more interactive telecommunicationtechnologies, with implications of pedagogical,economic and organizational nature. There is asignificant trend towards internationalization.There is still limitation of access for a range ofreasons, but the "global classroom" has alreadybeen demonstrated in quite a number of projects.
The regional overview shows great differ-ences between all regions of the world, althoughthere are also a number of similarities betweensome of them. Open and distance learning hasexisted for about one hundred years in the moredeveloped regions and for about one generationin the developing regions.
In the developing world, open and distancelearning suffers from many of the same con-straints and problems as education in general. Inaddition, lack of infrastructure and professionalcompetence in open and distance learning areimportant barriers. Nevertheless, these forms ofeducation delivery have come to stay in theThird World, and many countries are looking atopen and distance learning as a major means ofexpanding education and training and increasethe quality of education. Some countries haveestablished major institutions open schools andopen universities which seem to become cor-ner stones in their educational systems.
In the developed countries present trends inthe field are linked both to structural problems ofeducation in modern society, and to the techno-logical development. The needs of extendinglearning opportunities over the whole life spanand the changing demands concerning knowl-edge and skills represent a challenge which isnot easily met by conventional structures and
8 279
BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
institutions of education and training. New in-formation and communication technologies seemto have great potential impact on education.Both existing open and distance learning institu-tions and conventional institutions are eager todevelop effective models of application of newtechnologies and at the same time meet theneeds of learners, and do so with variable suc-cess. However, also more traditional modelssurvive, and the field shows great variety asregards both technologies and organization.
Strategic issues and problems
The inclusion of national policies for open anddistance learning in policy documents on educa-tion and training is a prerequisite for effectivenational planning and utilization of open anddistance learning methods. Statements in na-tional policies should address fundamental ques-tions concerning purpose, target groups, re-sources and infrastructures, relation to the con-ventional system, measures for implementation,coordination, funding, quality assessment andrecognition. All stakeholders should be includedin consultations, and planning should as far aspossible be intersectoral. The question of scalehas to be addressed, and private sector involve-ment needs attention.
A successful national launch of open anddistance learning requires visible and strongleadership and high level government backing.Careful planning, including forward planningafter the launch, is essential. To help ensureeffective implementation, evaluation proceduresneed to be built in at the planning stage. Plannersshould also take into account the training needsof staff newly involved in open and distancelearning. New institutions need substantial fund-ing to cover start up. A cost effective operationis one that makes good use of resource it is notnecessarily low cost. A distance teaching insti-tution needs to have sufficient resource to beable to react fast to meet new demands. Thereneeds to be a planned, continuing interface be-tween all the national stakeholders in open anddistance learning, in order to secure coordina-
80
tion. In many countries, international and re-gional bodies may have a role supporting andguiding developments at national level.
One of the major contributions of open anddistance learning in developing countries iswithin teacher training. It has also contributedtowards the improvement and expansion of ba-sic schooling for youth and adults. In manydeveloping countries open and distance learningis a very important means of providing highereducation. Its role in non-formal education isalso well known. It is playing an important rolein qualifying and upgrading key personnel. In-stitutions of open and distance learning oftenserve as resource centres for community basedlearning, and provide an infrastructure for pro-duction and distribution of learning materials.
There are, however, some common stum-bling-blocks for the effective implementation ofopen and distance learning in developing coun-tries. The lack of funding ad problems of sus-tained support are perhaps the most importantones, having detrimental effects on quality andachievements. Another common problem is lackof human resources with sufficient competenceand motivation. The third major problem istechnological infrastructure, which prevents theeffective use of appropriate technologies. Fi-nally, the lack of strategic planning and coordi-nation may reduce the level of achievement andcost effectiveness. Important strategies for fu-ture development should include harmonizationof goals, policy clarification and coordination atthe national level, as well as regional coordina-tion and collaboration. Capacity building is alsoimportant, including increased professionalismin planning and management of open and dis-tance learning systems. Other aspects are net-working between national stakeholders, betterintegration between the education and trainingsystems and the productive sector, ad the pro-gressive autonomy and capacity of continuingoperation after donations have been exhausted.
New opportunities
Technology is in itself a driving force, which
63
Open and distance learning / Unesco
should be used for the benefit of education. Thetechnologies used are not an end in themselves.They are used to extend the opportunities oflearning to new gtoups, to make learning moreefficient and flexible, and to enrich the learningprocesses. There is a variety of technologiesavailable at different levels of sophisticationwhich may fit quite well to most kinds of re-quirements. The potential of advanced tech-nologies is linked to the capacity of storing,retrieving, manipulating and distributing largeamounts of information, and of speeding up andfacilitating communication. All this is achievedin an increasingly integrated way and at decreas-ing costs. The challenge will be to utilize thispotential according to clear educational andinstructional strategies, and to integrate the cul-tural and conceptual developments caused bythe new technologies.
Most of the successes of electronic informa-tion technologies so far have been in specializedor higher education. One of the major weak-nesses has been in facilitating basic education.The developing countries have benefited theleast from the potential of educational technol-ogy. Interactivity is a key element of most of thenew services foreseen. They are particularlyadapted to education and to the communicationneed of dispersed users, but on the other handneed reliable networks. For electronic informa-tion technologies to be successfully employed ineducation on a wide scale, major changes willhave to be introduced into education systems.New technologies in education imply new rela-tionships between learners and the availableinformation as the learners acquire knowledgeand build knowledge structures. The educationsector should probably organize itself as a majortechnology customer and partner in service de-velopment, although not necessarily as producerof learning materials. The integration of openand distance learning systems with traditionaleducational structures may become part of thestrategy in this context. For this to be achieved,the roles of different key actors should be con-sidered and redistributed.
There is no single and simple answer to the
question about institutional models and struc-tures for open and distance learning in the future.Without doubt, open and distance learning willbe adapted and integrated by "conventional"institutions, probably at all levels and in allsectors. On the other hand, there will certainlyalso be room for other types of institutions, bothpublic and private. New markets and new tech-nologies will impose changes in these institu-tions as well, and new types of institutions andservices will be established. There will also be acontinuous need for dedicated open and distancelearning institutions (open universities, openschools, etc.) with a capacity for serving verylarge target groups. Existing institutions willneed to develop new types of partnerships andalliances in order to meet the needs of society inmore effective ways than most of them do today.The wealth of experience and competence inexisting open and distance learning institutionsmust be capitalized in new alliances and struc,tures. This is a challenge not only to institutionalleadership, but also to political awareness, policydevelopment and political leadership.
It is often assumed that open and distancelearning is cheaper than other forms of educa-tion and training. As a general statement this isfar too simple. Usually, the cost structure inopen and distance learning is quite differentfrom cost structures in conventional types ofeducation. Clearly, when capital investmentssubstitute high recurrent costs, as is often thecase in this field, there is an important factor inthe economy of scale. It has been demonstratedin a number of cases that large distance learningprogrammes may produce graduates at consid-erably lower costs than conventional institu-tions. This depends, however, on a number ofimportant factors. While conventional educa-tion and training show great variation in costsaccording to subject area and type of programme,open and distance learning also varies verymuch according to use of learning materials,other media and technologies, and types andorganization of student support services. It isalso necessary to consider the rate of completionof studies.
81
BULLETIN 37, August 1995 / The Major Project of Education
Most cost studies compare the costs of singlemode distance learning systems with that ofconventional systems, while cost studies of openand distance learning used by conventional ordual mode institutions are scarce. The use ofadvanced technologies for small target groupsmakes the provision expensive. Most cost stud-ies are also simple cost efficiency studies whichdon't take into account broader qualitative andsocial aspects and perspectives. One such aspectis that open and distance learning systems oftenare targeted towards other groups, without easyaccess to conventional institutions. There areother benefits that are not easily quantified andcalculated. Opportunity costs and productivityeffects of upgrading the workforce through in-service training should also be taken into ac-count.
In most cases funding of open and distancelearning institutions is different from that ofconventional institutions, and there are manyarguments in favour of this. On the other hand,if open and distance learning is to be usedincreasingly by conventional institutions, fund-ing for programmes of this type needs someharmonization with funding mechanisms forconventional programmes. It is quite usual toassume that students in open and distance learn-ing, who are often working adults, should pay ahigher proportion of the costs than conventionalstudents do. However, this assumption shouldbe modified according to missions, target groupsand other local circumstances. The balance offunding from government, employers and indi-vidual students should be carefully considered,being aware that underfunding may easily havenegative qualitative and social effects. As openand distance learning becomes a regular featurein the education system, care should be taken toremedy any unjustified economic discrimina-tion between groups of students.
UNESCO and international cooperation
UNESCO' s interest in open and distance learn-ing is a logical consequence of its long-time
82
commitment to the provision of education forall. The Organization has since its foundationshown keen interest in various forms of nonformal and adult education; and the use of dis-tance education was given early support. There-after, the importance of distance education hasdramatically accentuated as a result of rapidpopulation growth and development trends,which called for more effective systems of edu-cational delivery. Parallelly, however, newchances to cope with the situation became avail-able through an unforeseen development of in-formation and communication technologies.Learning was freed from the constraints of timeand place: it was potentially open to all.
The new situation was reflected in UNESCO'spolicies and programmes, and various sessionsof the General Conference as well as otherconferences stressed the importance of open anddistance education. This has also been stressedby the World Conference on Education for All(Jomtien, 1990), by the Regional Seminar onDistance Education in Africa (Arusha, 1990),and by the International Commission on Educa-tion for the Twenty-First Century convened byUNESCO to reflect on the future of education.Similarly, the summit meeting of Nine HighPopulation Countries (New Delhi, 1993) cameout with a clear mandate to explore the possibili-ties of distance education in the participatingcountries. Open and distance learning is also animportant component of UNESCO's "Learningwithout Frontiers" programme proposed by theAd hoc Forum of Reflection convened by theExecuti ve Board (1993).
In the promotion of open and distance learn-ing, UNESCO assumes an internationally cen-tral position. Facing the educational challengesof the 21st century, UNESCO will continue tostrengthen its contribution to the development ofopen and distance learning. This it will accom-plish through the functions of advocacy, clearing-house, capacity-building and cooperation.
The advocacy function consists of generatingpublic interest in the use of innovative open anddistance learning methods; sensitizing nationalpolicy and decision-makers to the potentials of
8 5
Open and distance learning / Unesco
these methods to meet the educational needs;facilitating the collaboration of international,regional and subregional networks in the fieldand enhancing their partnership with informa-tion, communication, industrial and other re-lated sectors. The clearing-house function as-signs UNESCO an important "observatory" rolein promoting international cooperation for moni-toring and inventorying present and future openand distance education activities; collecting,processing and disseminating relevant informa-tion and experience to Member States and otherpartners concerned, and strengthening the coop-eration with existing information centres andspecialized agencies, and assisting governmentsto establish relevant data bases in this field.
The capacity-building function refers to theOrganization's efforts of assisting its MemberStates in developing their open and distancelearning systems through a wide range of activi-ties, such as establishing policies and priorities;setting up delivery systems, institutes and pro-grammes; improving management, administra-tion and student support systems; promotingmaterial and course production; intensifying thetraining of personnel; extending the use of infor-mation and communication technologies. Theabove activities will be pursued by conductingsurveys, feasibility studies, and pilot projects;1 au nchi ng UNITWIN/UNESCO chairs and otherschemes of joint action; providing training, con-sultancies, fellowships, advisory services and
other forms of assistance; and mobilizing inter-nal and external resources to support capacity-building activities.
Cooperation in the above field is pursued withan increasing number of intergovernmental,governmental and non-governmental organiza-tions, bi-lateral aid agencies, associations andinstitutes of open and distance learning. Amongintergovernmental agencies, one may mentionother UN agencies and the Commonwealth ofLearning. Close cooperation is also pursuedwith the World Bank, regional developmentbanks, OECD, the Commission of the EuropeanUnion, The South East Asian Ministers of Edu-cation Organization, the Organization of Ameri-can States and others.
Among non-governmental organizations, acentral position is taken by the InternationalCouncil for Distance Education (ICDE) whichhas developed to UNESCO' s main partner inopen and distance learning. ICDE, which hasacquired Category A status with UNESCO, par-ticipates in many ways in the implementation ofthe Organization' s programme. ICDE' s Stand-ing Conference of Presidents of Member Institu-tions (ICDE/SCOP), and International Multi-Channel Action Group for Education (IMAGE);have further widened its scope of activities. Inaddition, UNESCO cooperates with many otherinternational, regional and sub-regional asso-ciations and a large number of distance educa-tion institutes of the world.
83
LETTER FOR TOLERANCE AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
We live in a world where each individual constitutes a universe. Because we are allequal in terms of dignity and rights, we acknowledge the fact that human beingsexpress themselves in manifold ways. The various ethnic, religious, social, andnational differences, as well as those stemming from ways of thinking, age andgender, combine with the peculiarities inherent to each person to make up theindividual and collective entities that we are: unique, original and given our humannature free.
We realize that survival, reproduction, love and progress will be fully attained onlyin an atmosphere of brotherly harmony. However, the interpersonal relations emerg-ing from this coexistence seem not to reflect the attributes of freedom and equalitythat are an essential part of us. Our political, economic, social and cultural endeavorshave built into their systems severe discriminations which poverty, exclusion,prejudice and violence replicate through our institutions and life-styles. Discrimina-tion, is arbitrarily denying to some the opportunities that are meant for everybody.Keeping a few or many in ignorance with respect to their rights as citizens amountsto intolerance. Tolerance is an unconditional exercise of freedom, and non-discrimi-nation means taking a critical stance before unequal rights in the human community.
We citizens endorsing this Letter call for denouncing the culture of intolerance andaggression; defending the dignity of each individual and the sovereignty of anautonomous conscience; accepting differences as a condition of living, and diversityas a quality of existence; expanding spaces for tolerance in the various socialspheres; and, eradicating every lingering form of discrimination that still afflicts thecountry.
FIRST CITIZEN'S FORUM FOR TOLERANCE AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
Text appeared in a poster elaborated during the First Citizen's Forum for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination, sponsored by UNESCO, Ideas and Novib, held in Santiago, Chile, March 29 to 31.
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100 EDUCATORS:
THEIR UVES AND THOUGHTSAvicenna, Bruno Bettelheim, Comenius,Confucius, John Dewey, Emil Durkheim,Erasmus these are just a few of thefamous educators portrayed in the first vo-lume of a special series of Prospects: thequarterly review of education. Short arti-cles, penned by renowned specialists,narrate the often tormented histories ofthese philosophers and innovators, andtrace the ideas that guided their life's work.The series contains familiar and not-so-familiar names from all continents and fromvarious epochs, from ancient Greece tomodern New York, passing through the Re-naissance and the Industrial Revolution.While some 'walked with kings', others
glb never left the classroom, yet these uniquemen and women with prophetic visioncontributed in a remarkable way to theconstruction of the educational edifice.The whole series will contain 'profiles' of100 educators.Subscription rates for Prospects are asfollows:For developed countries:Institutions: 150 French francs per annumIndividuals: 125 French francs per annumFor developing countries:Institutions: 125 French francs per annumIndividuals: 110 French francs per annumFurther information on subscriptions canbe obtained from: PROPUBLIC, ProspectsSubscription Service, B.P. 1, 59440Avesnes-sur-Helpe, France.
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"Books" Series43. Education and Knowledge: Basic pillars of changing production patterns with social equity.
ECLAC/UNESCO, 1992, 270 pp.44. La evaluaci6n de proyectos, programas ycampanas de Alfabetización para el Desarrollo'.
H. Bhola. UNESCO/IUE-DSE. 1992, 324 pp.45. La gestión pedag6gica de la escuela. J. Ezpeleta, A. Furián (comp.). 1992, 124 pp.46. Situaci6n educativa de America Latina y el Caribe, 1980-1989. 1992, 556 pp.47. The state of education in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1980-1989. 1992, 468 pp.48. Los proyectos de Educación: Preparación, financiamiento ygestion. A. Magnen. UNESCO/
IIPE. 1992, 138 pp.49. Necesidades básicas de aprendizaje. Estrategias de acción. UNESCO/IDRC. 1993,
348 pp.50. La educaci6n de adultos en America Latina ante el próximo siglo. UNESCO/UNICEF.
1994, 270 pp.51. Mujer y educaci6n de nifios en sectores populares. P. Ruiz. UNESCO/CAB, 1995, 91 pp.
"Estudios" Series24. MediciOn de la calidad de la educaciOn: 4Por qué, c6mo y para qué? Vol. I. 1992, 90 pp.25. La educaciOn basica de adultos: La otra educación. G. Messina. 1993, 212 pp.26. Género, educación y desarrollo. G. Messina. 1994, 96 pp.27. Medición de la calidad de la educaci6n: instrumentos. Vol. II. 1994, 196 pp.28. Medici6n de la calidad de la educaci6n: resultados. Vol. III. 1994, 92 pp.29. Modelo de gestión GESEDUCA. 1994, 162 pp.
"Informes" Series23. Materiales didacticos para la educación ambiental. Seminar, Santiago (1989). 1990.24. La educación ambiental no formal en America Latina. Technical meetings, Jimenoa (1989)
and Montevideo (1989). 1990, 118 pp. --25. V Reunión Técnica Replad: Hacia una gestión educativa para la transformación productiva
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"Restimenes analfticos monotermiticos" Series3. Educación técnica y vocacional. 1991, 397 pp.4. Factores determinantes del rendimiento y de la repeticiOn. 1993, 116 pp.5. Formación, perfeccionamiento y desempeno de los docentes de educación primaria y
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The Major Project of Education in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean has resulted
from a consensus on the part ofgovernment representatives of the
countries of the region concerning thenecessity for a renewed, intensive and
sustained effort to make gooddeficiencies and to meet unsatisfied basiceducational needs between now and the
year 2000 as a prerequisite for thedevelopment of the those countries in line
with objectives shared by all and bymeans of actions in which each country's
own effort may be benefited byhorizontal, subregional, regional and
international co-operation.0
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