1. What I really want: Policy maker views on education in Southeast Asia.
- Author
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Yarrow, Noah, Cahu, Paul, Breeding, Mary E., and Afkar, Rythia
- Subjects
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EDUCATION of students with disabilities , *EDUCATION policy , *ECONOMIC development , *POVERTY , *IN-service training of teachers , *PROFESSIONAL education - Abstract
This paper reports the views and perceptions of randomly selected education policy makers in Southeast Asia, based on surveys of 651 senior public officials in 14 middle-income countries globally. The findings show that officials tend to prioritize increasing secondary school completion over improving learning quality, despite global evidence suggesting that improving learning quality is more crucial for economic growth. Additionally, the surveyed Southeast Asian officials severely underestimate learning poverty and do so at twice the rate of officials from other countries. Officials were most likely to cite system capacity as the primary constraint to improving learning. The findings show that officials' support for gender equality and disability inclusion is high. Interviewed officials prefer to invest in in-service teacher training or early-grade reading compared to other options such as EdTech or inclusion for students with disabilities. This mix of alignment and misalignment between policy makers' goals and the stated goals of development partners can inform future engagement in policy dialogue, analysis, and information campaigns. • Officials prioritize secondary school completion over learning quality in a new global survey of education policy makers. • Southeast Asian officials participating in the survey severely underestimate learning poverty. • Surveyed officials were most likely to cite system capacity as the primary constraint to improving learning. • In a discrete choice experiment, officials chose to invest in in-service teacher training or early-grade reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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