Financing Universal Basic Education: Where Are We, What Next?
On 29 October, Prof. Christopher Colclough co-chaired a joint ODI and Hewlett Foundation workshop on financing basic education. He opened the meeting by highlighting the topical nature of the issue given the perilous nature of international support for education. He then set the scene by explaining that in this time the international environment is characterised by crisis, therefore, a dialogue on where we are, how to deal with risks, how to move to new priorities, and how to deliver on promises could not be more important.
The presentations included:
- A summary of findings of a recent research project on "Achieving Universal Basic Education: Constraints and Opportunities in Donor Financing". The project aimed to answer the question of why, despite strong political support for basic education, the sector has not been able to attract more donor funds and what can be done in the future to better achieve the targets.
- A recent paper on "Strengthening the Global Education Compact", which provides an analysis of the options for the global education aid architecture.
- An update of the GCE-FIFA 2010 World Cup initiative, 1GOAL, which aims to renew global leaders' commitment to achieving the basic education goals.
For more information about the workshop and to download audio and video presentations please click on the links below:
Related links:
Overview of the event
Audio files
Challenges for the Optimal Allocation of Educational Aid: Should MDG Priorities be More Prominent?
Prof. Christopher Colclough presented his paper on education aid at the IoE seminar on 8 October 2009. The seminar was held at the Department for Education and International Development and chaired by Geeta Kingdon. The paper examines the criteria for aid allocation that are revealed by present practice in the education sector. Using a set of priorities suggested by the MDGs, and recent data on aid flows to different countries, it compares actual with 'optimal' allocations according to different interpretations of educational 'need'. Focussing on British aid, it finds that there are sharp deviations between the volume of aid to education received by different countries and their requirements as suggested by 'needs-based' criteria. Significant contrasts between relative resource requirements and aid provision to education are also present when looking at aid flows from all sources.
Related links:
UKFIET 2009 RECOUP symposium
It has become a good tradition for our Consortium to take an active part in UKFIET (International Conference on Education and Development) conferences held every other year in Oxford. This September (15-17) RECOUP presented two groups of papers on different themes of our work. One session examined aspects of education's role in the transition to adulthood, including its influence on youth and adult behaviour. Another session focused upon skills policies, examining both the different ways in which skills are formed, and the subsequent returns accruing to such skills in African and South Asian labour markets.
In addition, RECOUP researchers were also involved in setting up sessions on aid partnerships; on youth, gender and citizenship; and on education and disability.
The following papers were presented:
Education and transformations in transition(s) to adulthood in Ghana, Kenya, India and Pakistan.
Education and transformations in the transitions to adulthood: gender autonomies and relations in India and Ghana
Returns to Schooling, Ability and Cognitive Skills in Pakistan and India
The educational outcomes gap in Ghana: young people' sinsights into schooling, social dislocation and poverty
Being young, Kenyan and gendered: the outcomes of schooling and transitions to adulthood in poor urban and rural settings
The impact of aid on education policy in India
Education's role in health and fertility change in Pakistan
Exit, voice and loyalty in new educational partnerships in Pakistan
Teacher Union, teacher politics and school governance in Uttar Pradesh, India
Jobs and Skills in Ghana: What types of jobs have been created and where?
Private school growth and universal literacy in India: a district level analysis
Looking for Success across Ghana's skilled youth population: implications for policy and education reform.
With education you can do anything, without education there is nothing you can do: Outcomes of schooling with young people with disabilities
Political engagement and civic consciousness: Kenyan youth talk about their education, government and chances of getting out of poverty
Related links:
Abstracts
UKFIET 2007 RECOUP symposium
UKFIET conference website
Workshop on research communication
In September, RECOUP researchers from Ghana, Kenya, India and Pakistan as well as from the UK gathered together in Oxford for the workshop to discuss and revise strategies and plans for communicating the research findings.
John Young, Director of Programmes in ODI, faciliated the workshop. He talked about strategies to enhance research impact and introduced the six steps to maximise the impact of research on policy and practice. RECOUP researchers were also introduced to various methods and tools for assessing the impact of the communications work. His presentation on monitoring and evaluating policy research was of great interest. At the workshop each partner presented its communication strategy and activity plans and briefed the participants on progress with their implementation. Partners also revisited their strategies and plans and made necessary amendments in light of the presentations and discussions held at the workshop.
Related links
Workshop on "Education, Skills and Jobs: Do they connect?
Does Education really help people get jobs?
This question is particularly important during a global recession. It was addressed in a discussion driven workshop by three leading researchers in education: Prof. Christopher Colcough, CEID-RECOUP Director at Cambridge University; Prof. Geeta Kingdon, Institute of Education, London and Prof. Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah of the Ghana Statistical Office on 14 September 2009 in Oxford.
Presentations:
" New Evidence on private returns to education: should education investment strategy change?" by Prof. Christopher Colcough
"The role of Education and Skills in accessing well-paying occupations: Evidence from India and Pakistan" by Professor Geeta Kingdon
"What kind of wage jobs are currently being created in Ghana?" by Prof. Nicholas Nsowah-nuamah
For more information about the workshop, please contact Martina Siertsema on 44-1865-271084 or csae.conference@economics.ox.ac.uk
Education and Gender Equality in Pakistan
Research under the RECOUP agenda in Pakistan has in the past year generated the final version of a book-chapter for an edited volume in a World Bank Publication. This project asks whether and to what extent education is a path to gender equality in the Pakistani labor market. The labor market benefits of education accrue both from education/skills promoting a person's entry into the more lucrative occupations and by raising earnings within any given occupation. For education to promote gender equality, however, it must benefit women equally if not more than men, through either or both of the above two channels.
The research finds that women's propensity to participate in paid employment is invariant with respect to education upto about 10 years of education. Beyond 10 years of education, occupational attainment, especially women's chances of entry into wage employment, improves strongly with each extra year of education. However, only 10% of women have completed 10 years of education or more. Thus, education is a means of gender equality in occupational attainment only for a very restricted number of women in the Pakistan labor market. More positively, however, the research finds that, within all occupations, the earnings increment from an extra year of education is much higher for women than for men and so the (very large) gender gap in earnings falls dramatically with education. Thus, while education is a path to gender equality in that it strongly reduces the earnings gap between employed men and women, this positive assessment has to be moderated by the fact that upto 10 years of education, education is not a sufficient counter to culture, conservative attitudes and division-of-labor norms to encourage female employment. The research examines whether and how much the education-labour market relationships have changed over an 8 year period from 1999 to 2007 (using PIHS 1999 and RECOUP 2007 data), and considers the policy implications. This book chapter was published in the World Bank edited volume in November 2008.
For more information, please email Geeta Kingdon at G.Kingdon@ioe.ac.uk
Related links
Click here to download the e-book
Project pages
