Search

This study in Kano State, Nigeria, uses a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of two teacher training programmes (ESSPIN and Jolly Phonics) in 536 government primary schools. In total, 5,449 children were tested using the phonics screening check to determine which teacher training programme positively affects learning. The effects are greater when teachers have completed two different programmes using adaptive instruction and include elements of coaching and mentoring. A pupil whose teacher has undertaken both training programmes will score 6.062 (p < 0.001) points higher in Primary One and 4.344 (p < 0.01) points higher in Primary Two. English spoken in the home, being a boy, and being older in your year group have a significant positive effect on word reading score. This research highlights the importance of meaningful and impactful teacher training on children's reading development in English, the medium of instruction in Nigeria from the 4th year of primary school.

The research set out in this paper attempts to identify whether one of three conventional IQ tests is more capable of identifying intellectual potential amongst poor children in Dar es Salaam. To this end 1857 children from 17 government schools in poor districts of Dar es Salaam were asked to complete a questionnaire and undertake a range of tests. The study included teacher, peer and self-nomination. It has been noted that static testing may not fully elicit the abilities of African children. It has been suggested that dynamic testing might provide a more fair and equitable means of assessment. Therefore 101 students took part in a control and intervention group in order to investigate. The findings show a significant correlation between IQ test scores and other test outcomes. Those with larger families and older children perform less well on IQ tests. Peer ability and self-confidence positively influence test scores.

This research set out to investigate how, in a post-conflict area, parental preferences and household characteristics affect school choice for their children. A multinomial logit is used to model the relationship between education preferences and the selection of schools for 954 households in Freetown and neighboring districts, Western Area, Sierra Leone. The increased economic well-being of a family tends to increase the likelihood of choosing a nongovernment school. As a child gets older parents are more likely to select government over nongovernment schools. For girls, parents are twice as likely to select a nongovernmental organization (NGO) school than a government one. Where parental preference for girls is a "safe environment" government is the preferred choice over a private proprietor school. Interestingly, the level of household education does not affect the likelihood of attending any school management type.

This study was carried out with 1,857 poor children from 17 schools, living in low-income areas of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. All children took the "Student Multiple Intelligences Profile" (SMIP) questionnaire as part of a bigger project that gathered data around concepts and beliefs of talent. This paper sets out two aims, first to investigate the structural representation of the self perceived multiple intelligences for this set of children and second to discuss how the best fit model might reflect children's culture and their school experiences. After carrying out exploratory factor analysis, a four factor first order model was shown to have a good fit. A higher order factor solution was investigated owing to the correlation of two latent constructs. In order to provide some insight into the multiple intelligences construct the relationship between the SMIP items, student test outcomes and attitudes to learning were examined. The item groupings were explored through African cultural beliefs around intelligences indigenous to African communities.

This article provides an update on our earlier paper on the introduction by the Kenyan government in 2003 of free primary education (FPE), and its impact on low-fee private schools. First, published papers that have used our contribution as a springboard for discussion are critically reviewed. The argument and supporting evidence that the poor are not making preferred choices for low-fee private schools, but are in fact "crowded out" of government schools, are explored. It is suggested that this argument depends upon the assumption of poor quality in the low-fee private schools--lower quality than is found in government schools. This assumption is found not to be tenable, on the basis of evidence given, especially concerning pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) and other input indicators. Second, an update is given on the data collected in 2003. Longitudinal evidence gathered in 2007, 4 years after our original data were collected, points to a dramatic increase in the number of private schools serving the slum of Kibera, Nairobi. In total 116 private schools now operate in the slum, with private school enrolment showing an increase of 130 per cent. On the important indicator of PTRs, these have increased by nearly 50 per cent in the government schools, giving an average of 88:1, compared to 28:1 in the low-fee private schools. The longitudinal findings and critical literature review are combined to suggest that low-fee private schools should be seen as partners in education for all; various ways in which international organisations are responding to the challenge of improving quality in, and extending access to, low-fee private schools are reviewed. (Contains 6 tables.)

The principal aim of this article is to describe and document a comparison of public and private school effectiveness in the marginalized (often referred to as slum) district of Aguablanca, in the city of Cali, Colombia. The data suggest that teachers and parents are largely satisfied with the current status of education provision in Aguablanca. However in terms of "statistically significant" differences, stakeholder perception of the private sector exceeds that of the public sector for every given indicator. The research suggests that the authorities reconsider their education strategy in light of the positive perceptions associated with the existing system of provision. While it may be necessary to increase system capacity in order to meet the demand, great care should be taken to protect (and even extend) provision for the poor through the existing programme of private school subsidies. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

There is widespread concern about differences in the quality of state-run and private schooling. The concerns are especially severe in the numerous developing countries where much of the population has left state-provided schooling for private schooling, including many private schools not recognized by the government. The fees charged by the private schools serving the poor are quite low and they seem to yield better results, but many analysts dispute and insist that private sector quality is unacceptable, and that the only route to universal access to quality schooling is increased investment in state-run provision. Because those claims and counterclaims have seen little scientifically rigorous evidence to support them, this article analyzes data from schools serving the very poor in randomly selected schools in Lagos, Nigeria; Delhi, India; and Hyderabad, India to compare the performance of unrecognized private schools, state-recognized private schools, and zero-tuition, state-run schools. The authors' econometric analysis, which controls for socioeconomic factors and selection bias, shows that children enrolled in private schools significantly outperform children enrolled in the state-run schools despite much greater teacher salary expenditures in the latter. The recognized schools do not consistently fare better than the unrecognized schools. Given those results, and chronic frustration with efforts to improve state-run schools, reform advocates should consider shifting their focus to improvement of private schools, and expand access to them. (Contains 17 notes and 10 tables.)

The aim of this study using a quasi-experimental design was to investigate whether utilising synthetic phonics in schools catering for low-income families in India would increase reading and spelling attainment in English. Over 500 children in 20 schools took part in the 6-month programme. Just over half of the children experienced lessons organised around the synthetic phonics materials, whilst the other children continued with their normal English lessons. The findings show that there were statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the improvements of the children in their test scores in reading and spelling. (Contains 10 tables, 3 figures, and 1 note.)

This article presents a rejoinder to P. Sarangapani and C. Winch who accuse the authors of creating an "ideological fairytale" about the merits of private education for low income families, specifically in poor areas of Hyderabad. The authors present their remarks on Sarangapani and Winch's reply to their article.

The "mushrooming" of private schools for low-income families has been widely noted in the literature; however, very little is known about the quality of these schools. This research explored the relative quality of private unaided (recognised and unrecognised) and government schools in low-income areas of Hyderabad, India. A preliminary census to locate unrecognised private schools--not on official lists--was conducted. Data were collected on achievement and background variables for 3,910 pupils from a stratified random sample of schools. Using multilevel modelling shows that pupils in private unrecognised and recognised schools, when controlled for age, pupil's IQ, and class average IQ, achieve higher scores in mathematics and English than equivalent pupils in government schools. There is no significant difference between private and government schools in pupil achievement in Urdu. The achievement advantage for private schools did not arise because of greater resources available, at least in terms of per pupil teacher salaries. (Contains 16 tables and 8 figures.)

Free primary education (FPE) is widely assumed to be required to ensure that the poor gain enrolment. After the introduction of FPE (from January 2003) in Kenyan schools, huge increases in enrolment were officially reported. However, our research, conducted 10 months after the introduction of FPE in and around the informal settlement of Kibera, Nairobi, suggests a less beneficial outcome. Although enrolment had increased in government primary schools, this needs to be balanced against a much larger reported decrease in enrolment in private schools in the informal settlement--the research found 76 private schools, enrolling 12,132 students, which are not on the official list of schools. Moreover, focus groups with parents reported dissatisfaction with government schools, and satisfaction with private schools, since FPE. The findings point to an alternative route to ensuring "education for all", by embracing, rather than ignoring, the role currently played by the private sector. (Contains 2 figures and 8 tables.)

Development literature suggests that private schools serving the poor are not part of the solution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education. The study conducted a census and survey of schools in notified slums of Hyderabad, India, to contribute to the sparse literature on the nature and extent of private schools for the poor. Of 918 schools found, 60% were found to be private unaided (PUA), enrolling about 65% of total enrolment. On a range of indicators, including pupil-teacher ratio, teaching activity, teacher absenteeism, and classroom and school inputs such as blackboards, desks, chairs, toilets and drinking water, PUA (including unrecognised) schools were found to be superior to government schools. Objections to a role for private schools in meeting the MDG target are explored and challenged. (Contains 13 tables.)

A census and survey of schools in the district of Ga, Ghana, explored the nature and extent of private education, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Three quarters of all schools found were private, with almost as many unregistered private as government schools. Several important differences between registered and unregistered private schools were noted, including age, fee levels charged, teacher salaries and class size. A range of inputs, such as teacher activity, availability of desks, chairs, libraries, toilets and drinking water, were used to compare inputs to government, unregistered and registered private schools. Some conclusions are explored about the potential role for the private sector in helping meet "education for all" targets.

A census and survey of schools in the slums of East Delhi, India, explored the nature and extent of private education serving low-income families, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Around two-thirds of all schools were private unaided, with more unrecognised private than government schools. Teaching activity was found to be considerably higher in private unaided than government schools, although teacher absenteeism was lowest in government schools. Most inputs showed either comparable levels of provision in government and private unaided schools, or superiority in private unaided schools. Possible implications are explored, concerning targeted vouchers, increased regulation and self-regulation.

Three types of privatisation are identified--involving demand-side financing, reforms to the educational supply-side and "de facto" privatisation, where responsibilities are transferred to the private sector, through the rapid growth of private schools, rather than through reform or legislation. Although "de facto" privatisation may arise because of parental dissatisfaction with state education, it is perceived as undesirable in the literature. Findings from a recent study on private schools in Ghana, Nigeria and India are outlined to explore this issue. The results show a majority of enrolment is in private schools in poor urban and peri-urban areas, and a significant minority in rural areas. Regarding teacher activity, private schools appear superior to government schools, while private school children outperform government children on maths and English, even though expenditure on teacher salaries is much lower in private than government schools. In the context of this evidence, three major objections to the place of "de facto" privatisation in meeting the educational needs of the poor are explored and challenged. (Contains 5 tables.)

A census and survey of schools in selected poor areas of Lagos State explored the nature and extent of private education, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Of all schools (71%) were found to be private, with more unregistered private than government and registered private schools. It was estimated that 33% of school children were enrolled in private unregistered schools, and 75% in private schools in general. Teaching activity was found to be considerably higher in private than government schools, and teacher absenteeism was lowest in private schools. Most school inputs showed either comparable levels of provision in government and private schools, or superiority in private schools.

This study in Kano State, Nigeria, uses a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of two teacher training programmes (ESSPIN and Jolly Phonics) in 536 government primary schools. In total, 5,449 children were tested using the phonics screening check to determine which teacher training programme positively affects learning. The effects are greater when teachers have completed two different programmes using adaptive instruction and include elements of coaching and mentoring. A pupil whose teacher has undertaken both training programmes will score 6.062 (p < 0.001) points higher in Primary One and 4.344 (p < 0.01) points higher in Primary Two. English spoken in the home, being a boy, and being older in your year group have a significant positive effect on word reading score. This research highlights the importance of meaningful and impactful teacher training on children's reading development in English, the medium of instruction in Nigeria from the 4th year of primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]