Southern African Review of Education with Education with Production : Making rights realities - education access, equity and quality in education (05/02/2013)

Introducing the challenge of converting access to quality in education

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Author: Soudien, Crain Motala, Shireen Fataar, Aslam
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 3-8
Abstract: As the world approaches 2015, the date it set itself for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the discussion of how countries are managing their commitments to achieving full access to primary education and gender parity in both primary and secondary education is increasing in intensity. Evidence of this interest is to be found in reports produced at national and supra-national level, most notably from the World Bank (2011) and in a number of significant research cross-national studies (see inter alia Carnoy, Chisholm & Chilisa 2011 and Lewin 2010). Emerging is a substantial focus on the relationship between access to education and the understanding of quality associated with access.

Gender equity in educational access in India

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Author: Bandyopadhyay, Madhumita
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 9-24
Abstract: This article analyses the gender gap in educational access, participation and learning outcomes of children in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India. Using evidence primarily from community and school survey data, the article examines whether and how gender determines 'meaningful access' by children to schools at the primary and upper primary levels. It also explores whether gender becomes a determining factor for participation of children in school and the extent to which girls' and boys' results in achievement tests differs. Detailed analyses of access, enrolment, attendance, repetition and marks obtained in competency tests conducted for research purposes underpin an investigation of how gender is intrinsically linked to 'meaningful access' to schools in remote rural and tribal locations.

Parental involvement in early childhood care and education : promoting children's sustainable access to early schooling through social-emotional and literacy development

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Author: Ngwaru, Jacob Marriote
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 25-40
Abstract: Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have predominantly rural populations living in low-resource settings, with their children frequently lacking sustainable access to early schooling. Sustainable access, or the ability to access and progress through school without dropping out early, is a key factor in overcoming low socio-economic status, and global Education for All goals underscore the importance of access to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) by declaring that learning begins at birth. Learning outcomes - norms, values, knowledge, skills - of primary education are stronger when learning begins in the years preceding regular schooling, but for children from low-resource settings the transition from home to school is fraught with barriers, such as the absence of parental participation in children's early literacy development and limited contextually relevant learning materials. Utilising a descriptive analytical methodology and using research experiences and case examples from Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda, this article calls for the creation of an ambient literacy-rich environment in the home as well as in preschool, and argues that parents require empowerment if they are to support their children's social-emotional development and self-regulation and thereby provide them with better chances of effective literacy development and sustainable access to schooling.

Challenges to gender equality and access in education : perspectives from South Africa and Sudan

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Author: Nomlomo, Vuyokazi Farag, Alawia Holmarsdottir, Halla
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 41-57
Abstract: The achievement of the target of Education for All (EFA) by 2015 is a global concern. Worldwide many countries have committed themselves to various initiatives and efforts to improve children's access to education, particularly girls, who are often denied access to education owing to entrenched socio-cultural practices and gender stereotypes.
In post-conflict countries like South Africa and Sudan educational changes have taken place over the past decade. As a result, inclusive and non-discriminatory education policies have been adopted in these countries to redress inequalities in education, policies that target not only free and equal access to education but also improving the quality of education, particularly among the poor and marginalised communities in these two countries. Both countries are, however, still struggling to address issues of equal access to education and gender equality owing to cultural and socio-economic factors in the two contexts. This paper explores experiences of female children in primary schools in selected contexts in South Africa and Sudan and the extent to which their experiences reflect unequal opportunities of access to education and gender inequality. Ultimately what becomes clear is that access to education and gender equality should go beyond numbers to include equality in terms of learning opportunities and resources, treatment at school, equal participation and employment opportunities across socio-cultural and racial lines.

Your house is on fire, your children all gone : boarding institutions for children living on farms and the rights of parents

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Author: Dieltiens, Veerle
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 58-70
Abstract: While the state has an obligation to ensure that children have access to education, it also has an interest in developing children into citizens who are able to be self-sufficient and independent. Education's role in cultivating autonomy can, however, bring it into tension with parents who may have different ideas on the norms and values they would like their children to grow up with. In boarding schools, this tension is amplified because the state has the added authority and time to inculcate its values into children away from the influence of parents. This article therefore raises a concern about the South African state's recent strategy to move children living on farms into hostels (boarding schools). The concern is that a narrow focus on children's right to access education does not sufficiently take into account parental rights (or responsibilities) and that these rights are especially important in the context of farming communities, where civil rights still need to be entrenched. At the same time, boarding schools offer a potentially fruitful space for private notions of the good to interface with the public discourse of rights.

Monitoring the right to education for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers

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Author: Spreen, Carol Anne Vally, Salim
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 71-89
Abstract: This article is based on a year-long study of the right to education for child refugees and migrants from other African countries who find themselves in South Africa. It identifies a number of factors that inhibit children's participation in education and shows how the right to education can be assessed and monitored using indicators. The 4A typology developed by the late former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Katarina Tomasevski (2001), to examine the right to education for migrants is used: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Adaptability. It is also argued that understanding and ensuring rights must go beyond quantitative measures that traditionally rely mainly on quantitative data, often disclosing very little about the quality or content of the education provided. Through focus groups, interviews and workshops with migrant learners and parents, migrant organisations, teachers and government officials in three provinces spanning rural, urban and township areas, both the usefulness and limitations of indicators are shown. The article concludes by underscoring the importance of including the perspectives and experiences of migrant children accessing the right to education in our understanding of how and whether these rights are secured.

The push-out factors that cause children to drop out of basic school in Ghana

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Author: Ananga, Eric Daniel
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 90-104
Abstract: Addressing school dropout has been one of the most controversial elements of policy since the introduction of free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) in Ghana. However, research that utilises qualitative biographical detail surrounding irregular attendance and the critical events in the process that lead to dropout in Ghana is limited. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the critical events pupils experience as they drop out of school in southern Ghana. The paper provides fresh insights into dropouts' life worlds prior to dropping out of school. The findings presented in this paper are adequate to establish that dropout is to a significant extent brought about by characteristics of schools and teachers. The insights presented in this paper offer sharp challenges to schools, teachers and local education officials to re-examine their culpability in premature termination of the school careers of many children from poor households.

Getting in and staying there : exclusion and inclusion in South African schools

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Author: Sayed, Yusuf Motala, Shireen
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 105-118
Abstract: The paper provides a reflective account of the research carried out in South African schools focusing on physical access and learning. The paper argues that while physical access is not a major education problem in South Africa, meaningful learning remains an elusive goal for many, particularly the marginalised and the poor, notwithstanding the numerous education polices enacted since 1994. It argues further that there are many reasons for this, including how learners are taught, the bifurcated class-divided nature of South African schooling and the lack of crucial and active parental involvement in schooling. Against this backdrop the paper reviews numerous polices and strategies advocated in the South African context for restructuring the education system. It argues that whilst they are persuasive and appealing, they fall short in providing a holistic and coherent approach to education transformation. The paper concludes that what is needed is a far more explicit, proactive and equity-driven approach that prioritises the neediest and the most marginalised.

The Low Achievement Trap : Comparing Schooling in Botswana and South Africa, Martin Carnoy, Linda Chisholm and Bagele Chilisa (Eds.) : review essay

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Author: Molefe, Dorcas B. Pansiri, Nkobi Owen Weeks, Sheldon G.
Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 119-127
Abstract: Botswana and South Africa are included in a new, professional, comparative education research study carried out to meet the highest standards and provide systematic and reliable comparative data on education in both countries.
The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schooling in Botswana and South Africa, edited by Martin Carnoy, Linda Chisholm and Bagele Chilisa, is available on-line, in hard copy or as an e-book. It is impressive as it is the work of three renowned academic researchers in the field of education in Botswana, South Africa and the United States. The American Spencer Foundation, supporting academics at Stanford University in California, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in Pretoria, four universities in South Africa and the Faculty of Education, University of Botswana, worked together to make the study possible.

Contents of previous issues of SARE

2013-02-04T09:19:49Z

Vol 18 Issue 2
Publication: 2012
Page: 128-134
Abstract: Contents of previous issues of SARE