More than bums on seats: making schools responsive to children’s needs

What factors structure educational disadvantage? How can international agencies work with governments, non-government organisations and communities to overcome them?

These are the central concerns of a review which brings together the findings of a series of education projects by Save the Children UK. Led by nationals in each of the resource-poor case study countries, the review presents stark evidence that the surge in numbers enrolled in primary education has led to a disastrous drop in quality. For children marginalised by ethnicity, gender or language the experience of being in school can be dysfunctional and damaging.

In seeking to aid education planners to reverse this negative spiral and to make schools as responsive as they can be within resource limitations, this report looks at a wide range of initiatives from case studies in Ethiopia, India, Mali, Lebanon, Liberia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Peru, and Pakistan. Together the case studies indicate that relatively low cost externally funded interventions (in particular, curriculum development, teacher training and facilitation of community involvement) can be undertaken within resource-constrained education systems and have a disproportionately high impact on the quality of schooling.

From the diversity of experience, common findings emerge:

• Costly school building programmes often have little impact on quality.
• Inflexible state education systems often cling to outmoded styles of classroom discipline and teaching methodology.
• In centralised political cultures where there is little public debate on education time and patience are required to build the kind of school/society links which are key to responsive schooling.
• Encouraging school providers to be more responsive to the particular needs of children in each situation can dramatically improve schooling for the most disadvantaged children.
• Mother tongue teaching (currently denied to significant numbers of pupils) is one of the most important factors in making school worthwhile for children.
• Traditional cultural attitudes against educating girls are more likely to be overcome where there is community participation in education planning and management.

The case studies provide evidence that in conducive circumstances international donors and education policymakers can work together to:

• Create a climate of change without the kind of dependence on donor funding and passive wait-and-see attitude too often characteristic of major donor-led initiatives.
• Accept and value a more child-focused approach.
• Recognise the ability of largely illiterate communities to articulate their own concepts of what children should learn and to provide trainable local teachers.

Source(s):
'Towards Responsive Schools: supporting better schooling for disadvantaged children (case studies from Save the Children)' by M.Molteno, K.Ogadhoh, E.Cain, B. Crumpton (eds.), DFID Education Paper #38, August 1999

Funded by: UK Department for International Development (DFID)

id21 Research Highlight: 29 March 2001

Further Information:
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Full list of DFID Education papers

Shireen Miller
Policy Officer
Education
Save the Children UK
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Fax: +44 (0)207 793 7626
Contact the contributor: S.Miller@scfuk.org.uk

Save the Children, UK

Other related links:
CIDA works towards basic education opportunities for all

The World Bank aims to improve access to learning opportunities

The Learning Channel promotes quality education for all

World Education provides nonformal education for adults and children