International Journal of Educational Development最新文献

This is one of the initial studies investigating the educational challenges faced by ethnic minority migrant children in eastern China. Prior scholarship has well documented pressing issues relating to migrant children. However, there is limited research on ethnic minority migrant children, despite their growing presence in Chinese cities. Drawing from data collected during thirteen months of fieldwork with Hui and Salar migrant children in the Han-dominated city of Shanghai, this article illuminates the institutional and non-institutional exclusion they encounter during both school enrolment and integration. Enrolment policies impose severe restrictions on the ability of ethnic minority migrant children to access compulsory education in Shanghai. Beyond these institutional barriers, Hui and Salar children also face widespread exclusions and discrimination even after successfully enrolling in schools. In Shanghai state schools, including dedicated ethnic minority schools, appropriate formal support for minority migrant children is lacking. It thus falls to individual teachers to provide ad-hoc support for students, which may do more harm than good. Ethnic minority migrant children and their families respond to their disadvantageous situation in a variety of ways, depending on their circumstances, future plans, and understanding of their identity. Some Salar and Hui children are encouraged by parents to prioritise preserving their ethnic identities, forsaking opportunities for integration, while others are urged to assimilate with Han peers by relinquishing attempts to maintain distinct ethnic identities. These choices also influence their attitudes toward school education.

Vocational secondary education has been widely promoted in recent decades as a major component of economic reforms in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, whether vocational or academic secondary education better prepares students in LMICs to enter the labor market is still a matter of debate. In this study, we use data from six waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020) to examine the long-term income disparities between students who graduated from vocational high schools (VHS) and those who graduated from academic high schools (AHS). We first perform a cross-cohort analysis using unbalanced panel data to compare the wage incomes of VHS graduates and AHS graduates across many graduation cohorts. We then perform a cohort-specific analysis by constructing a subsample of students enrolled in high school in 2010 and comparing their income in subsequent years. Both analyses show that VHS enrollment is associated with a significant and lasting income disadvantage compared to AHS enrollment. Our findings highlight important future research and policy directions to improve the quality and outcomes of vocational secondary education in China.

Many education systems within sub-Saharan Africa are affected by the problem of over-aged learners. Children who are above the expected age for their grade experience poorer outcomes relative to other learners and it is therefore of interest to policymakers to accurately identify them for the purposes of informing effective remedial interventions. UNICEF’s sixth round of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey’s [MICS6] are among the relatively few robust nationally representative data sources that can be used to calculate the share of over-age for grade learners within education systems. This paper identifies variability in the estimation method used to identify the same target over-age population (i.e. learners who are older than the official age for the grade they are currently attending) across MICS6 country reports in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Nine countries utilise a different method which captures only part of the desired target population. This approach fails to identify at least 50% of learners who are over-age for grade by two years in their primary education system and up to 57% of over-age for grade learners in lower secondary. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for supporting policymakers to plan and implement effective school-based education and health interventions, using Comprehensive Sexuality Education as an example.

This article tests the hypothesis of the existence of a sorting effect on the remuneration of graduates in a Brazilian public university, combining identifiable data of graduates and records of the formal labor market in 2017. The estimation of remuneration equations and the decomposition of Oaxaca allow to observe higher remunerations for the graduates in the institution, in comparison to other workers of similar characteristics and occupations. The results are compatible with the hypothesis of a sorting effect, in which the institution's diploma reveals innate characteristics of workers to employers.

Despite their significant impact on human life in the Afrotropical Region, Diptera remain understudied. For a large part this is due to a lack of Diptera taxonomic experts and collection curators from the Afrotropical Region (except for South Africa perhaps), the difficulties some developing countries face in maintaining collections, and the low number of digitised specimens. This impedes the use of these Diptera collections for identification services, taxonomic and phylogenetic research, and other biological research areas. The dire need for knowledge transfer and training of young and emerging entomologists in the Afrotropical Region has prompted the Royal Museum for Central Africa and collaborating institutes to organise entomological training courses in the Afrotropical Region. The training courses take place in Africa, in strategic locations, cover a period of ten working days, are taught in English, and are free of cost to participants and lecturers. Here, we first provide a brief history of the evolution of the training courses. Second, we give a short description of the gender, age, educational and professional profile of the applicants and participants of the training courses. Third, we provide as much information as possible on all aspects of the organisation of the training courses. All information is freely available and documents are provided in Word or Excel format to facilitate future use by others. It is to be hoped that this information shall stimulate and facilitate the organisation of other entomological (or similar) training courses in the Afrotropical Region and other biogeographical regions. Such training courses will stimulate South-South networks for entomology research and the simultaneous training of participants with a different educational or professional background might foster collaborations between universities, other scientific institutes in postgraduate training and research. They may also initiate collaboration between scientific institutes and those involved in management, policy making, outreach, or implementation of legal procedures. We believe that this kind of training courses presents a best way forward in the organisation of similar capacity building activities that will contribute to a sustainable network of entomologists. Finally, these training courses may be one of the many possible ways to reduce the gender inequality gap in biological sciences in the Afrotropical Region.

Socio-educational vulnerability refers to the circumstances in which students face difficulties or challenges arising from socio-economic or contextual factors, such as a lack of resources or adverse family environments. Ability grouping during secondary school is widely used to improve student performance. The methodology tailored to students performance levels aims at providing improvements in their scores. This paper explores the complex relationship between ability grouping and socio-educational vulnerability. More specifically, it investigates how different student groups are affected by attending schools that implement ability grouping as compared to those that do not. The study is conducted in Spain, using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) database and Propensity Score Matching methodology. The findings suggest that the ability grouping policy hinder equal opportunities for academically disadvantaged students, resulting in decreasing their abilities.

Advanced techniques for linguistic analysis provide the opportunity to extract meanings from the available documents on education hubs. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a topic modelling method for natural language processing and big data mining, to analyze the discourse of education hubs in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Our data derive from a corpus of academic literature, non-peer-reviewed articles, and policy documents. The analysis shows that education hubs have been at the core of efforts to transition from a hydrocarbon-based economy to a knowledge economy. The analysis also shows that education hubs have been increasingly associated with the two countries’ efforts to achieve regional leadership in overlapping geopolitical spheres of influence. Describing the situation as a ‘constructive rivalry’, we highlight its geopolitical implications and we call attention to Knight, (2022) knowledge diplomacy whereby the two countries can use education hubs as a mechanism for exercising leadership in promoting peace and development in the broader region of the Middle East.c.

This editorial essay introduces the 27 papers included in the special issue proposed by the SDG Academy of the U.N. Sustainable Development Network on the nature, extent, and challenges to progress towards SDG 4: Quality Education for All at the mid-point of the 2030 campaign. Problematic paradigms, and potential pathways towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4. With contributrions from leading scholars and practitioners working in the areas of global governance, international development education, and comparative education, this special issue reflects on how far the world has come, provides clarity on what the fundamental obstacles to progress have been, and offers suggestions for ways forward, in addition to raising issues and posing (at times, uncomfortable) questions with which stakeholders should grapple as they work towards SDG 4—and future global goals. The commentaries are focused on five inter-connected themes. These themes relate not only to progress on SDG 4 but also to the key conditions (capacity), processes (measurement), and contexts (e.g. vulnerable contexts) that are relevant to debates about how to make progress on SDG 4, or whether a different approach (geo-political and/or onto-epistemic in nature) is necessary. This essay concludes by encouraging the reader to decide for themselves which arguments they see as being more persuasive. We wouldencourage readers to reflect on why one argument or line of reasoning may resonate more or less—and to consider what the cause of that resonance could be. It is suggested that each reader, each of us, also has work to do when it comes to reflecting on the positions that we take or favor, why, and which voices or perspectives are left out by our answers to these questions. As the contributions to this special issue suggest, there are no easy answers.

This paper examines the distributional effects of a multi-school districting reform, involving lottery property allocation, on families’ school choice behavior in Beijing, China. Employing a competitive school district housing market model, we investigate the reform's implications on housing prices and school enrollment patterns. Using a unique dataset that combines second-hand housing transaction records and school enrollment data, we document this notable consequence: a substantial 4.57% decrease in housing prices in Haidian District post-reform, resulting in enhanced access to high-quality schools for middle-income families. However, the impact on school choice behavior exhibits structural disparities. While the reform creates opportunities for middle-income families, lower-income families may encounter challenges in accessing public primary schools, where housing prices with improved educational quality have risen by 1.21%. Conversely, affluent families opt for private schools to secure high-quality educational resources, evident in a 4.25% increase in corresponding rent. Additionally, Chinese families prefer proximity to schools to minimize commuting expenses, as reflected in a 0.56% rise in rents near public primary schools. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing both “excessive school choice competition” and the diverse educational preferences of families when implementing school assignment rule reforms in developing countries. Our research expands the literature on primary education and extends concepts for education reform in other developing countries.