(PDF) VOICES FROM WITHIN Redefining the “Spaces” of International and Comparative Education, a Collective Contribution

Institute of International Education

Department of Education

VOICES FROM WITHIN

Redefining the “Spaces” of International and

Comparative Education, a Collective Contribution

Editor

Vinayagum Chinapah

2012

Additional copies of this book including a PDF version are available at the

Institute of International Education, Department of Education, Stockholm

University, Stockholm, Sweden

Cover Artwork: John Foxx/Getty Images

Printed in Sweden by

Universitetsservice US AB

Stockholm, 2012

Department of Education

Stockholm University

Sweden

ISBN: 978-91-980268-4-9

Contributing Authors

Vinayagum Chinapah

Holger Daun

Mikiko Cars

Talia Klundt

Patsy Kng

Wen Zhang

Karen Ann Blom

Jiaying Zhang

Anna Toropova

Aliaksandra Laziuk

Wanwisa Suebnusorn

Youjin Chong

i

Table of Contents

Content Page

Table of Contents i

Acknowledgements iii

Introduction v

Vinayagum Chinapah and Karen Ann Blom

Summary vii

The World and Comparative Education: Outline of a

Research Approach 1

Holger Daun

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized 25

Comparison in Comparative Education in the Era of Globalization

Mikiko Cars

A Comparative Study of Former American and

Swedish Study Abroad Students 39

Talia Klundt

Gender Equality and Education: A Qualitative Study

of a Group of Chinese Students in Stockholm, Sweden 55

Patsy Kng

Education and Rural Development:

A Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal

Training Programs in Yunnan Province of China 77

ii

Wen Zhang

Education for Rural Transformation:

A Literature Review 107

Jiaying Zhang

A Study of the Relationship between Student Background

Factors and Science Achievement Based on TIMSS 2007 119

Results in Ukraine

Anna Toropova

Life Skills Based Education and Empowerment:

Comparative Case Study on the Role of Life Skills

Based Education for Students from Boarding Schools

and Secondary Education in the Republic of Moldova 141

Aliaksandra Laziuk

The Diploma Disease and Higher Education Reform during

Economic Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Diploma

Disease in Thailand before and after Higher Education 153

Reform of 1999

Wanwisa Suebnusorn

Community Participation in Children‘s Education in Chronic

Refugee Situation: The Case of Rohingya Refugee

Camps in Bangladesh 199

Youjin Chong

Index 219

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

he present book is a direct response to the problems of inclusion in

the scientific, academic, and professional discourse surrounding

the discipline ―International and Comparative Education – ICE‖.

We, at the Institute of International Education (IIE) of the Department of

Education of Stockholm University in Sweden, espoused a different view

of the discipline where it comes to its coverage as well as its

inclusiveness. This is why IIE has devoted some of its resources to assist

its staff and young researchers to contribute in this publication from their

entries at the Nordic Comparative Education Society‘s (NOCIES)

Conference held in Lund, Sweden in 2011 entitled ―A place for the

Discipline of Education? Redefining the Space.‖ The inquisitive and

constructive manner of commissioning a response to the question of the

space for education allowed for many researchers to critically reflect in a

corpus of data and research spurring the discipline further.

It was with great pleasure that (IIE) responded to this call as the

institute upholds its leadership in educating young researchers and

launching them into the academic space. It is also with this in mind that

these authors are thanked. Some who were at one time ―young

researchers‖, and who now cultivate and encourage others to grow as

they did. These honourable authors are Professor Emeritus Holger Daun

and current IIE Senior Lecturer, Dr. Mikiko Cars, both highly

instrumental in continuing the legacy of IIE‘s dedication to young

researchers and empirically-based research. Those ―young researchers‖

whose contributions are much appreciated are all recent graduates from

IIE‘s highly lauded Master Degree Programme in International and

Comparative Education, namely: Talia Klundt, Patsy Kng, Wen Zhang,

Anna Toropova, Aliaksandra Laziuk, Wanwisa Suebnusorn, Youjin

Chong as well as doctoral candidate Jiaying Zhang.

Finally, I want to thank our Department of Education at Stockholm

University as well as IIE editorial team, Dr. Mikiko Cars, Wanwisa

Suebnusorn, Talia Klundt, Patsy Kng, Vladimir Vesovic and Karen Ann

Blom.

I hope that this publication and others produced by IIE continues to

encourage and inspire young researchers.

Vinayagum Chinapah

Professor and Head of IIE

Stockholm University, August 2012

T

iv

v

Introduction

Vinayagum Chinapah and Karen Ann Blom

his current publication is a compilation of contributed papers at

the Nordic Comparative Education Society (NOCIES)

Conference entitled ‗A place for the Discipline of Education?

Redefining the Space‘, which was held at the University of Lund,

Sweden on the 24-26 of March, 2011. The goal of the conference in

Lund was to open a space for reflections on the role of the discipline

of education, both in a broader context and as it relates to comparative

and international perspectives. At this conference, the contributions

from the Institute of International Education covered various themes

and perspectives; attempting together to re-define the space for

education. In other words, the papers discuss and reflex upon several

pertinent questions including the following:

What are the justifications for education as a discipline?

How do we understand these justifications?

How does comparative education contribute in re-defining the

space for education?

Increasingly education as a discipline is being challenged. In as much

as pedagogical and scientific competence is a criterion for professional

development in academia, the importance of the discipline of

education becomes a vital issue. In International and Comparative

Education, it is imperative to make a breakthrough that (1) allows for

the flow of expertise in an inclusive bases rather than on intellectual

seniority or clan base; (2) allows for additional space for the voiceless

to voice what they learn at the onset of their research and professional

career as youth and lack of experience does not equate lack of

valuable knowledge; (3) turns the discipline into a more relevant and

responsive one for the targeted beneficiaries by avoiding the dominant

and exclusive mode espoused so far by established societies in this

field.

This publication reflects precisely the lacuna in the practice of

the discipline of International and Comparative Education (ICE).

There is a greater need for a paradigm shift in both the theoretical and

the empirical domains. In recent years, the ‗either-or‘ choice

between the quantitative or the qualitative research methodologies or

T

vi

between the neo-liberalism / market-driven and post-modernism /

evidence-less approaches has created more harm than good to the

discipline. Often producing ―specialists‖ in one area and establishing

division where there should/could be interaction, collaboration and

innovation.

Inclusive International and Comparative Education needs a solid

and well-founded base, where participants who are voiceless and those

who have been turned as ―Silent Partners‖ - young researchers as well

as those established ones from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin

America and the Caribbean, the Arab and Middle East, and Central

and Eastern Europe - will be in the driving seats for the discipline. At

the Institute these are representatively young Master‘s graduates and

other newly graduated researchers whose contributions are not only

recognized but are often published and encouraged to disseminate

their knowledge through weekly seminars, symposiums, conferences

etc. Through the encouragement and collaboration with these young

researchers, the Institute of International Education is able to maintain

its position as both as a leader in the field of International and

Comparative Education (ICE), but also as an incubator of raw talent

that infuses the institute with fresh, innovative ideas that is shared

with the global academic community.

A combination of both experienced and young researchers are

represented in this compilation of excellent research findings. This, as

many of IIE‘s publications, is intended to continue the legacy of

excellence and purpose forth by its founder, Professor Torsten Husén.

For the past 40 years, IIE has consistently championing ICE under

Husén‘s mentorship and guidance. IIE continues to be the ―think tank‖

searched after by many international and national bodies for their

innovative ideas, activities and continued research. ―Inclusive

International and Comparative Education Research‖ is IIE‘s current

driving force and although it is a long way ahead it is a hopeful and

promising journey.

IIE's new vision, its long-term strategy and most important of

all, its belief in capacity development and team-building through men-

toring and empowerment processes - a two-way traffic between estab-

lished and young, highly motivated researchers from all parts of this

world - can guarantee this Inclusive and International Comparative

Education. IIE‘s continued dedication to the purpose of this is demon-

strated in this publication.

vii

Summary

Holger Daun provides an elaborated outline of an approach

concerning the world and comparative education research. Education

is most fruitfully seen as interacting with structural and cultural

realities; there is a dynamic and dialectic relationship between

education and society. From this perspective, he proposes a holistic

perspective which includes interactions not only between the

education system and its surrounding national society but also

society´s relationship to the world system and globalization. Two

principal global forces are identified, which are driving education

reforms: 1) a country´s position in the world system and involvement

in global processes, and 2) the dissemination of educational world

models (through borrowing, imitation, imposition, etc.). He argues

that general economic, political and cultural globalization affects

education indirectly, while some influences go directly and

specifically from the world arena to national Ministries of Education.

In his paper, a methodological approach to the study of national

education systems and schools in the context of world system and

globalization is provided, highlighting competitiveness and

diversification elements of education. He concludes that generation of

knowledge in the field of Comparative and International Education

needs to be placed in the larger context of philosophical, theoretical

and methodological orientations. Researchers´ capacity to possess

profound knowledge in theory of science is important, in order to be

able to evaluate various different theories and methods as well as to

judge the validity of various studies and the implications of the

findings.

Mikiko Cars attempts to reconsider human dimension in

comparative education in the era of globalization. Today, we are

witnessing rapid, dynamic, and unpredictable shifts of the world order,

politically and economically, in the context of multifaceted

globalization process. Many issues surround comparative education in

this context, e.g. a) a changing global structure, human capital,

increasing wealth, widening gap; b) knowledge formation shift from

national to global level; c) global growth of information and

communication technologies; d) international division of (knowledge)

labour, including the issue of outsourcing; and e) de-territorialisation,

increasing interconnectedness, which threatens diversity and

standardization, etc. Research brings to light commercial and

viii

utilitarian aspects of education with economic efficiency override

academic, humanistic tradition of education. Taking the concept of

―development‖ as an example, this paper intends to conduct meta-

theorizing as a means of attaining deeper understanding of relevant

theoretical approaches from the constructivist ontological perspective.

The importance of contextualized comparison, especially of socio-

cultural and historical context is re-emphasized. The paper supports

holistic and contextualized use of theory, where emphasis is placed

upon people‘s capacity to affect social change, and argues that in

order to achieve the desired human progress based upon values held

by heterogeneous actors concerned in any intervention, a shift in

collective consciousness from micro to macro levels may be required.

Talia Klundt presents and compares former Swedish and

American study abroad students. Although, many studies have been

conducted in this area, very few have focused solely on student

perspectives. The aim of this study was to provide a greater

understanding of the benefits and long term effects, and how studying

abroad impacted their overall attitudes and perceptions. Using semi-

structured interviews, the study showed empirical evidence those

undergraduate and graduate students who study abroad during their

university career benefit in a myriad of ways including personal

growth and career development.

Framed by a discrepancy between China‘s official achievement

of gender parity in education and continued discourse about deep-

rooted traditional gender ideologies (particularly in rural areas), Patsy

Kng presents the key findings of whether gender-based differential

treatment was experienced in secondary schools by a cohort of ten

Chinese students in Stockholm, Sweden. Through their personal

narratives, the research further explored how gender roles and

identities are constructed and understood by the students. Semi-

structured interviewing consisted of mostly open-ended questions and

were conducted face-to-face. The study found that gender-based

preconceptions were experienced by the research participants and

manifested in the gendering of: 1) academic study fields and career

choices, 2) physical education and playtime, 3) teachers‘ perceptions

and treatment of students, and 4) parental and social attitudes. It is

hoped that the findings will offer insight and contribute knowledge to

the under-researched area of gender relations in China‘s education

sector.

Wen Zhang critically focuses on the education of rural people.

For years, there has been a heated debate regarding education for rural

ix

people, be it the content of curricula or pedagogical related issue.

Zhang investigates the role of Non-Formal education in the most

populous developing country-China. Providing a background context

of contemporary rural China at the macro level, she compares two

Non-Formal Training Programs at the micro level. The aim of the

paper is to investigate the role of education in the process of rural

development and explore how tailor-made Non-Formal Training

Programs are planned and implemented to meet local learning needs.

This paper argues that Non-Formal education, with its flexible

and responsive nature, should be further explored and utilized to

benefit rural peoples and facilitate rural development.

Similarly, Jiaying Zhang investigates from another perspective.

The recent China‘s National Plan for Medium and Long-term

Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) has singled out how

education for rural transformation is determinant for the country‘s

human resource development strategy. Zhang‘s study reaffirms the

need for further research in this field and provides a discourse on

critically and historically reviewing the concepts of ―rural‖,

―transformation‖, and ―rural transformation‖ in the context of China.

Anna Toropova focuses on science performance of the 8th

grade Ukrainian students in relation to student personal characteristics

and family background provided by the TIMSS background

questionnaire. A correlation analysis was performed in order to

investigate the degree of association between categories of variables.

Toropova‘s findings indicate that the number of books and

educational resources at a student‘s home have the strongest positive

correlation with student science achievement. The strongest negative

correlation was found between the number of hours students work at

paid jobs after school and science performance. Secondary analysis of

the Ukrainian TIMSS data reveal the existence of gender differences

in performance in various science subjects with boys significantly

outperforming girls in physics and earth science. An important finding

of the study concerning marginalization in science education shows

that the lack of parental education, students‘ place of birth and the

digital divide may contribute to student exclusion from mainstream

science education in Ukraine.

In the Republic of Moldova, Aliaksandra Laziuk conducted a

qualitative case study exploring the complex phenomenon of Life

Skills Based Education as a means of empowerment for young people.

The research analyses the role of Life Skills Based Education in

Moldovan secondary education and boarding school students

x

employing semi-structured interviews, group interviews, document

study, and non-participant observations. The empirical findings of the

case study are analysed and discussed through the model of

empowerment developed by Rowlands and complemented by the

theories of Freire and Habermas.

Laziuk findings indicate that the issue of Life Skills and Life

Skills Based Education is a sensitive and laden one within Moldovan

society affected greatly by political, economic and socio-cultural

factors. The study also finds that the role of Life Skills Based

Education for the two groups in focus is rather distinct. Boarding

school participants‘ results primarily focused in the increase of self-

esteem, self-confidence, finding of inner strength and changing of

self-image. Secondary school findings indicated impact in primarily

participants‘ social and communication skills.

Wanwisa Suebnusorn‟s research points to the need for

redefinition of the meaning of education and its relevance.

Comparatively examining the phenomenon of ‗Diploma Disease‘ in

the context of Thailand before (1960-1998) and after the higher

education reform of 1999 (2000-2010). Suebnusorn investigates how

educational certificates have been widely used for occupational

selection. Secondary analysis of archival data and statistics are

employed in order to compare the nature, scope, fundamental factors,

and impacts of Diploma Disease during the two consecutive periods.

This analysis is expected to expand on the knowledge of

Diploma Disease in the 21st century, specifically in Thailand, and

illustrates how educational reform during the economic crisis of 1999

had impacts on the situation. Major findings of the study confirm

Dore‘s arguments and calls for the need to discuss the dilemma

between the ideal and utilitarian conceptions of education, the trade-

off between equality and quality of education, as well as the balance

between demand and supply of graduates. These are beneficial for

reconsidering the meaning, contents, and purposes of education in

order to reinvent the sustainable educational development paradigm.

Education in the midst of the increasing refugee situation is

investigated by Youjin Chong. There are fifteen significant on-going

armed conflicts throughout the world, each lasting on average 10

years. By comparing two Rohingya (Bangladesh) refugee camps,

Chong examined three aspects: (1) the forms of the refugee

community participation in education, (2) factors that affect

community participation in the chronic refugee situation, and (3) its

xi

influence on their children's education. This study is based on a

combination of quantitative and qualitative data.

The findings indicate that the refugee communities

systematically participate in children's education through PTA/SMC

activities and also through an enlightenment troupe. The greatest

reason refugee communities desire to participate is their aspiration to

create a better educational environment. Distrust toward school

teachers was a key factor for children losing interest in school, thus

leading to dropouts. Furthermore, education was denied above the

elementary level (the 18-year refugee status meant that the camp

education was not officially endorsed by the Government of

Bangladesh) and this compelled refugee parents and children to

choose to work despite the opportunity to study. Chong concludes that

without opportunities for realistic and practical schooling or

promoting the improvement of teacher ability, people facing a long-

term refugee status will be forced to give up even that minimum level

of education.

xii

Holger Daun

1

The World and Comparative Education: Outline of a

Research Approach

Holger Daun

I. Introduction

Until the end of the 1980s, educational reforms took place principally

in response to national (and domestic) requirements and demands

(except for the countries that once were colonized), although some

international borrowing of educational features occurred. Today,

governments introduce types of reforms that are unexpected by the

members of their societies, at least by non-elite people at the

―grassroots level‖.

Since education is most fruitfully seen as interacting with

structural and cultural realities; there is a dynamic and dialectic

relationship between education and society. Hence, it is necessary to

have a holistic perspective which means (a) to consider historical

trends, and (b) to have a broad perspective on contemporary

educational phenomena. Such a perspective includes interactions not

only between the education system and its surrounding national

society but also society´s relationship to the world system and

globalization. Therefore, we need new theories and methods that help

us understand what is taking place with education around the world.

Two principal global forces driving education reforms are thus: (i) a

country‘s position in the world system and involvement in global

processes, and (ii) the dissemination of educational world models

(through borrowing, imitation, imposition, and so on) (Dale 1999;

Phillips, 2004; Steiner-Khamsi, 2004a).

General economic, political and cultural globalization affects

education indirectly, while some influences go directly and

specifically from the world arena to national Ministries of Education.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a methodological approach

to the study of national education systems and schools in the context

of world system and globalization.

II. World System and Globalization

The world system and globalization constitute phenomena

qualitatively different from internationalization. The latter is what

countries do from within in relation to other countries, but

The World and Comparative Education

2

globalization to a large extent takes places independently of nation-

states and their borders.

Two sets of theories deal with the global phenomena that are

relevant in regard to education: (1) world system (WS) theories (a.

political-economic world system and b. institutional world system),

and (2) globalization theories. The two types of WS theory (political-

economic and the institutionalist) differ in several aspects from

globalization theories. One such difference is that in WS theories, the

dynamics of historical development is a principal ingredient, while it

is not in most globalization theories (Clayton, 2004). WS theory and

globalization theories seldom deal explicitly with education but both

of them need to be considered in analyses of educational systems

around the world.

According to the political-economic WS approach, the drive for

competitiveness, profit and accumulation is the principal ‗cause‘ of or

condition for what occurs globally (Elwell, 2006; Wallerstein, 1991,

2006). Wallerstein (2006) defines four different categories of

countries or areas, but all of them participate in the drive for

competitiveness (Dale, 2000). The world system consists of nations,

corporations, organizations, networks, movements, etc. The position

countries have in the world system may vary from marginalized to

strongly incorporated into (competitive) world markets. Countries

‗situated outside‘ of these flows (the poorest countries in the world)

are marginalized and at the same time indirectly influenced in that

their frame of action is determined by the world system (Castells,

1993; Foreign Policy, 2006; Griffith-Jones and O´Campo, 1999). This

affects the amount of resources available for education.

The institutionalist WS theory assumes the existence of a world

polity that is not a physical body or institution but a symbolic, cultural

construction and discursive entity with enforcing characteristics. The

world polity embraces world models consisting of ―cognitive and

ontological models of reality that specify the nature, purposes,

technology, sovereignty, control, and resources of nation-states and

other actors‖ (Meyer et al., 1997, p. 144). These models may be seen

as ‗stored‘ in policy documents in and disseminated from international

organizations (IGOs), such as OECD, UNESCO, and the World Bank.

The discourse developed in these bodies, are spread also by

International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) and various

networks of individuals and organizations (Messner, 1997). National

decision-makers are assumed to have the ambition or to feel

compelled to organize the state apparatuses (including the education

Holger Daun

3

system) and their functions so that they meet the expectations implied

or recommended in the world models (Meyer et al., 1997).

Globalization can be seen as the processes taking place within the

framework of the world system; it is something more than the sum of

the actions taken by single nations, because it has an existence of its

own (Cardoso, 1993; Spring, 2009). It is processes such as

compression of the world (in space and time) through ICT; economic

interdependencies of global reach; and an ideology (Cox, 2000) or

―the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole‖

(Robertson, 1992, p. 8). In the ideological perspective, globalization is

seen as something linear and irreversible. Globalization contains itself

a ‗package of globalization discourse‘; it carries other discourses; and

it makes discourses disengage themselves from place (specific

countries, specific communities, traditional places of knowledge

generation, etc.). Scholte (2007) discusses ´global-ness´ (in relation to

´global civil society´), which refers to geographical scale, but he also

mentions other characteristics (of organizations) which may have

global reach: the purpose, the communication network, issues

addressed, and so on.

Global pressure for human rights, political freedom and freedom

of organization has made many governments organize multiparty

elections from the end of the 1980s (Bretherton, 1996; Giddens,

2002). The number of NGOs and intergovernmental organizations

(IGOs) and various networks (informal and formal) has grown

considerably. Between 1909 and 1993, the number of NGOs increased

from less than 200 to more than 4,000 and the number of IGOs from

37 to 286 (Boli and Thomas, 1999; Mannin, 1996). This means that

many more IGOs and INGOs affect policy-making and

implementation than ever before (Jones, 2005; Messner, 1997;

Mundy, 2007).

Economic processes are the most globalized ones and they are

governed by market forces, that is, ‗governance without government‘

(Gill, 2000), while there is no world wide body corresponding to the

state, dealing with the common good, welfare, equality, and

environmental problems on a global scale (Anheier, 2007; Attac,

2004; Duffield, 2003; Griffin, 2003). Although Garsten & Jakobsson

(2007, p. 146) argue that: ―Even if there is no ´world government´, the

world is spanned by many organisations with global governance

concerns´‖, there is no world body managing the global distribution of

resources and rights.

The World and Comparative Education

4

Globalization has resulted in a tremendous economic differentiation.

In the most globalized economic sectors of the middle and high

income countries, employment grows mainly in the Post-Fordist mode

of production (Cox, 2000; Waters, 2000),

Work in the Post-Fordist mode of production implies flexibility,

creativity, and so on. Not only globally but also among countries in

the European Union (EU) there is a great deal of variety in the mode

of production, and hence, varying needs for different types of

competences. Lorenz, Lundvall, and Valeyre, (2004), for example,

found four different modes of organizing companies and work in

Europe and that, for example, 60 % of the labour force in the

Denmark are employed in companies characterized as post-Fordist,

while the proportion is 19% in Greece.

Low skill jobs tend to be exported to the low countries in the

South (ILO, 1998). In countries around the world, in particular low

income countries have been established. Export Processing Zones

(EPZs) have been established. Export processing zones have been

defined as ―industrial zones with special incentives set up to attract

foreign investment, in which imported materials undergo some degree

of processing before being exported again‖ (ILO, 1998, p. 21). An

export processing zone is a designated specialized industrial unit

which produces mainly for export and which constitutes; it forms a

closed society, independent of the trade and customs regime of a

country in which free trade applies (ESCAP/UNTC, 1985, p. 1). In

1999, such zones existed in 93 developing countries (United Nations,

1999, p. 10). In these zones, many of the human and political rights do

not apply in practice.

Culturally and ideologically, globalization causes or

encompasses standardization and homogenization as well as

particularization and heterogenization; secularization as well as de-

secularization and revitalization of moral and religious values (Berger,

1999; Norris & Inglehart 2004; Robertson, 1992). Globalization of

neo-liberal policies makes economic imperatives dominate over all

others (Giddens, 1994; Saul, 1997).

The changes caused by globalization, on the one hand, and state

withdrawal from its traditional roles in society; on the other hand,

result in insecurity and uncertainty reaching individuals‘ life worlds

(Carnoy & Castells, 1995; Giddens, 1999; Lash, 1990; Zürn, 2003).

As Giddens (1994:22) argues: ―Globalization is not just about the

creation of larger systems, but about the transformation of the contexts

of social experience...‖ ICT now makes this intrusion from the global

Holger Daun

5

to the private possible (Kumar, 1995; Lash, 1990). What is at stake at

the individual level is cultural identity (Suárez-Orozco, 2004).

In the long term, a predominating discourse tends to be

institutionalized and embodied in material structures, everyday life

and power relations, a phenomenon that tends to condition peoples‘

perceptions, beliefs and actions. The discourses predominating from

the 1980s make it out of fashion or even illegitimate to argue that

there exist different paradigms or discourses (Ball, 1990; Foucault,

1991). For example, it has been very difficult during the past decades

to argue that educational problems in low income countries might

have something to do with their poverty due to the global division of

work, production and resources and that a small and poor country

locked into a low position in the world system is to a large extent

conditioned by this position and cannot achieve economic growth due

to competition.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, the world models include parts

of and carry combinations of contradictory as well as complementary

or overlapping ideas and discourses such as the utility-maximizing,

egoistic, and autonomous individual as a rational chooser vs. the

altruistic individual who believes in solidarity. The most globalized

and predominating discourses are, what we can call, the market

discourse and the modern communitarian discourse. They are

dominating the global educational agenda.

According to the modern communitarian discourse, schools

should be locally owned and run, either by local communities, NGOs

or other associations (Barber, 1996; Etzioni, 1995). Schools are

expected to repair for the ‗under-education‘ (in moral, ethics, values

etc.) taking place in many homes today, but the schools are too narrow

in their task and too test oriented so as to achieve this (Etzioni, 1995;

Rahmena, 1997).

The market discourse and the modern communitarian discourse

differ in some important regards. For example, more orthodox

communitarians are against world capitalism and excessive profit

making, and they differ in the view of democracy and the market. For

communitarians, democracy is optimal local participation, while for

market proponents; it is choice in markets (Teivainen, 2007, pp.71,

75) or some type of competitive and representational political

arrangements. In the market discourse, education tends to be seen as a

technical affair that efficiently should produce human capital, while in

the communitarian discourse, it is seen more holistically as a means

for human development, personal growth or as a value in itself.

The World and Comparative Education

6

However, these two discourses have a great deal in common, at

least ontologically and epistemologically. Their common denominator

has attained a hegemonic position in the world models. Elements such

as ‗the agent‘, ‘the micro‘, and so on, have taken a leading position in

educational research and policy communities (Morrow and Torres,

1995; Popkewitz, 2000). They share the foundation in development

optimism and evolutionary, teleological and linear thinking, and the

belief in rational planning. They take for granted, at least implicitly,

that development follows a predetermined path (Esteva & Prakash,

1998; Rahmena, 1997; Tenbruck, 1991). They see education as a

panacea for or the motor of development; see problems in terms of

technological and professional solutions rather than in terms of

culture, meaning and motivation (Moulton et al., 2001). This common

denominator summarized in Table 1 is impregnating Comparative and

International Education (C&I) and its terms are often taken for

granted.

Table 1: Basic Features of Common Denominator of the Market

and Communitarian Discourses

Individualism; freedom of choice; decentralization; participation;

individual autonomy; state withdrawal; education as an individual

issue. Education seen as The Motor of development. Lifelong

learning. Choice. Development from below. Development

evolutionary and teleologically. Moral and voluntary regulation

replacing political regulation. Partnership. Consensus. Accountability.

Based on: Anheier, 2007; Barber, 1996; Daun, 2002; Esteva & Prakash;

Hamilton, 2003; Scholte, 2007; Schuurmann, 1993; Teivainen, 2007: Tenbruck,

1991; UNESCO, 1990.

In development policy and research, something of a vacuum, ‗crisis‘

or ‗impasse‘ occurred in the beginning of the 1990s. The intended or

predicted development had not been achieved. This fact was seen as a

result of the type of policies and research employed so far

(Schuurman, 1993). Failing development is perceived to depend on

lack of knowledge (or human capital) or errors in the way of handling

knowledge acquisition (Farrell, 1999). Harriss (2002) argues that

development (especially in the market discourse) has been

depoliticized and is seen as a technical matter rather than a political

and cultural matter.

It is normally assumed that the state and the government are the

central core from which policies emanate. However, from the new

Holger Daun

7

governance perspective we have to look at all the forces that

contribute to the outcome of the formulated policies. Such forces are

socio-economic class, ethnicity, etc. working not only vertically but

also horizontally (Mundy, 2007; Daun, 2011). ―In the new forms of

governance, states are just one type of actor among others involved in

regulatory activity‖ (Garsten & Jakobsson, 2007, p. 147). Thus, there

are many governing forces in addition to the state: market forces, civil

society organizations, Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs),

publication of findings from international studies of students‘

academic achievement, ―international standards‖, consultant reports,

etc. (Phillips, 2000; Steiner-Khamsi, 2004c). The de-territorialization

of companies and organizations results in still more governance

problems for the national states. For the state to govern now means

that to coordinate efforts so as to achieve various (mainly economic)

goals within its territory.

States respond differently to globalization processes (Brown &

Lauder, 1996; Cox, 2000; Foreign Policy, 2006; Gill, 2000). Whatever

the national state‘s response, globalization forces enter the national

context, and ‗hybridization‘ (Nederven Pieterse, 1995) and

‗glocalization‘ (Robertson, 1995) take place in the encounter between

the global and the local cultures, ideologies, and policies. Steiner-

Khamsi (2004c), although sceptical to the view that globalization of

education is taking place, argues that educational borrowing ―plays

out differently‖ in different contexts (p. 203).

Finally, globalization is an uneven process (Appadurai (1991) in

at least two ways: (a) it varies in intensity from one geographical area

to another, and (b) its various aspects are spread in different degrees to

different places. In this context, Bangura (2001) argues that African

countries have generally implemented the policies and measures

(political and economic reforms) suggested or imposed by the IGOs,

but they have not been able to achieve the benefits of involvement in

global affairs, e.g. economic growth, development in a broader sense

and access to the world markets.

III. Education: Competitiveness and Diversification

Education has been globalized since the 1950s in that (i) the modern

type of education has been almost universalized, and (ii) a uniform

policy of restructuring (type of governance, mode of finance and

organization of educational provision) has spread world-wide. In the

global discourse, two principal aspects of education are emphasized:

The World and Comparative Education

8

Education of a good quality for all, and education for global

competitiveness. The economic competition will continue, not only

globally between countries but also within countries and even more so

among de-territorialized companies. Most countries in the world have

implemented, or at least included in their policy formulations,

elements that constitute the core of the world models for education.

More precisely, how this takes place has been debated and researched

but it is generally accepted this in takes place in different steps or

phases and through a number of mechanisms (Dale, 1999, 2000;

Phillips, 2004; Steiner-Khamsi, 2004a, b, c). For example, first some

need for educational changes is defined (nationally or by international

agencies), then the policies suggested are similar to those in the world

model (or of a country influential in the internationally community),

and finally, the implemented items have to be appropriated by the

actors at the grassroots level (Bradley, Levinson and Sutton, 2001).

In regard to the relationship between education and society, four

principal types of perspectives or discourses may be distinguished:

The education system (a) mirrors societal changes and adapts to or is

deliberately reformed according to these changes; (b) is the spearhead

or motor of societal change; (c) interacts in a dialectic or mutual

relationship with society at large; or (d) education is de-linked from

society or is relatively autonomous in relation to society (Johnston,

1990; Karabel and Halsey, 1977). During various periods of time, one

of them has been predominating. (a) and (c) prevailed in the sociology

of education in the 1960s and the 1970s, while (b) has been most

common since the beginning of the 1980s. In this perspective,

problems and their causes tend to be seen more narrowly as situated in

the education system itself or, more precisely, in the schools

themselves, rather than in social structures and students‘ background

(Gannicott & Throsby, 1992; Hargreaves and Woods, 1983). (d) Has

been the predominating perspective among some researchers now and

then. Today, it is generally taken for granted that education is the

―independent‖ or ―causal‖ variable, causing or at least contributing to

societal change and development. However, despite a tremendous

expansion of primary and secondary education, no corresponding

development in broad terms or even in terms of economic growth

occurred in many low income countries (Hannum and Buchmann,

2003; Lewin, 1994; Pritchett, 2002). It was then understood that the

quality of education was a necessary condition for education to have

an impact on society (UNESCO, 2000, 2009). Still more, in order to

achieve competitiveness is a general educational policy but there is

Holger Daun

9

also, among communitarians, another concern: civility (Anheir,

2007), which implies a political culture of democracy and civil society

activities.

Around the world, education systems experience one or several

of the following contradictory pressures and demands: a unitary vs.

diversified system; religious-moral vs. secular curriculum

components; local vs. national or international curriculum

components; education as an individual good vs. education as a

common good; and competition and elitism vs. solidarity and

cooperation; focus on tests and performance vs. more holistic

considerations; and mother tongue vs. international language(s)

(Daun, 2002).

Luisoni, Instance and Hutmacher (2004) have attempted to create

scenarios of the future development of education. They draw three

principal scenarios: status quo, re-schooling and de-schooling. In

addition to this, the most likely development of compulsory education

is that countries around the world will experience a mix of all these

three, although the proportions between them will vary from country

to country.

The standardization following from copying elements of the

world models will extend to more geographical areas and more

aspects of life; however, they have had and will continue to have

different outcomes due to the hybridization and glocalization taking

place in the national and local contexts in which they are

implemented. Hybrids and glocalized items are different from both the

originally borrowed item and the planned outcome. However, the

outcomes will be more diversification and heterogenization of

education within countries due to hybridization of globalized features

and the requirements of competitiveness. Therefore, nation-wise

implementations of globally standardized educational policies tend to

have different outcomes, something which has implications for

Comparative and International Education (C&I).

IV. Comparative and International Education (C&I)

Although a speciality in itself, C&I is a disparate field of knowledge,

and there are different views among researchers on almost everything,

for example, appropriate units of analysis. The ‗national‘ scale has for

a long time been taken for granted and used unit or level in C&I

research (Crossley & Watson, 2003). Such comparisons have been

frequent but more and more comparative studies ignore the

The World and Comparative Education

10

nation/country as a unit of analysis. For example, classrooms have

been compared across countries and cultures (Alexander, 2000;

Broadfoot, 1999). At the other extreme, the macro or meta-levels, i.e.

that of world system and globalization, very few, if any, empirical

studies have been conducted in C&I. Also, it is often disregarded that

nation-states and countries are not homogeneous units, since there are

elite-mass cleavages in practically all societies (Andeweg, 1996).

Quantitative, large scale approaches have been favoured by

funding agencies and IGOs, and this development is likely to

continue. Case studies have increasingly been attributed the role to

complement such studies. That is, apart from the cases studies

conducted for their own sake, case studies will be used to fill ‗gaps‘ in

the understanding provided by large scale studies.

In order to better understand the shape and changes of national

education system today, we need to include the world system and

globalization – both theoretically and empirically (Adick, 1992;

Crossley & Watson, 2003; Ginsburg et al., 1990). A world systems

perspective means, for instance, that nation states and national

education systems are viewed as elements of a larger system; such an

analysis has to be multi-disciplinary and multilevel including both

quantitative and qualitative methods and data. In other words,

comparativists need to take the global and local seriously into account

and thereby have both a ‗helicopter‘ perspective as well as area

knowledge and to a ´helicopter´ perspective implies that the researcher

views all cases (countries) in the same way, using the same criteria for

items to be compared and viewing them as of equal value (for the

comparison).

In national as well as international studies of the various

relationships between, for example, student achievement, teachers,

classroom processes, school organizations, home background

variables have been studied by the help of varieties of quantitative

multilevel analysis. An approach including all these levels (home

background – student – teacher – classroom – school – district –

province – country – world system) would give new insights, but so

many levels and variables are very difficult to handle. One solution

could consist of a combination of quantitative multilevel analysis and

a qualitative one.

When outcomes are perceived not to correspond to the plans (or

intentions), this is seen as failure in the implementation or in the

educational processes. However, since human beings are active and

living organisms (who have their own meaning systems and make

Holger Daun

11

their own interpretations), hybridization tends to take place. And

hybrid items are not be amenable to large scale, quantitative

comparison. Instead case studies will be needed if we are to

understand meanings and functions of hybrids among local people.

The analytical model of human development, developed by

Bronfenbrenner (1979), is an approach that is both multidisciplinary

and multilevel and includes quantitative as well as qualitative data. It

ranges from the micro level/context to the macro level/context of an

individual. In his model, the macro is the national society, but the

principles of this model could as well be applied in a world systems

analysis, in which the macro is the world system and globalization

processes.

A qualitative multilevel approach has also been suggested by

Bray, Adamson and Mason (2007) and Bray & Thomas (1995),

including three dimensions: geographical/locational levels; non-

locational demographic groups, and aspects of education and society.

The macro in their model is the country or nation, but it could quite

well be the world system. In addition to the level and sphere, a time

dimension is needed because it is difficult to understand the present

without taking the past into account.

Moreover, Benveniste‘s (2002) case studies in Latin America

shows how global influences and world models are mediated and

reinterpreted in national contexts, and the case studies in Daun (ed.)

(2006) illustrate how global processes are handled and mediated by

different nation-states. The multilevel model suggested by Bray et al.

(2007) has not used in these case studies but the data collected in these

studies could easily be used in a similar model.

Figure 2 shows a very simplified outline of a comparative

approach that includes the world system and globalization. It outlines

the general relationships to be studied using such an approach.

However, in this figure, it has not been marked that the education

system in respective country interacts with the national context as well

as with the world system and globalization processes.

The World and Comparative Education

12

Figure 2: Comparison of Country‟s Relationships to the

World System

1

WORLD SYSTEM AND GLOBALIZATION

A1

A1/B1 - WS

B1

C1

B1/C1 - WS

A1/C1 _WS

Country A

A2/B2

Country

B

B2/C2

Country C

A2/C2

A few examples of what to observe and analyse in the various

relationships between single countries, on the one hand, and the world

system/globalization, on the other hand, will be given. A1, B1, C1:

Economic, technological, political, and cultural/ideological factors of

relevance for education. For example, foreign trade, foreign direct

investments, economic free zones, political borrowing of

constitutional, administrative and political institutional patterns,

important cultural/ideological influences... A1/B1-WS, B1/C1-WS,

A1/C1-WS imply comparisons of the relationships mentioned.

The first stage of conducting a world systems and globalization

analysis would consist of a screening of indicators presented in

1

A1: Country A:s relation to the world system and globalization. B1: Country B:s relation to

world system and globalization. C1: Country C:s relation to world system and globalization.

A1/B1 – WS: Comparison of country A:s and country B:s relation to world system and glob-

alization. B1/C1-WS: Comparison of country B:s and country C:s relation to world system

and globalization. A1/C1-WS: Comparison of country B:s and country C:s relation to the

world system.

A2/B2: Traditional (inter-national) comparison between country A and country B. B2/C2:

Traditional (inter-national) comparison country B and country C. A2/C2: Traditional (inter-

national) comparison country A and country C.

Holger Daun

13

Human Development Reports (e.g. UNDP, 1991, 2005) and Foreign

Policies´ Globalization Index (Foreign Policy, 2006). Such a screening

will give some hints concerning (changing) positions of countries

selected for the study.

From the latest ―measurement‖ of globalization presented by

Foreign Policy (2006), the four top countries are listed in Table 2.

These countries have been among the highest ten countries since this

type of listing started in 2000, and those at the bottom have been

among the lowest.

Table 2: Indicators of Globalization Processes in the Four Highest

and Four Lowest Countries in 2005 and HDI ranking (UNDP)

Position in

2006 (and in

2004)

HDI

ranking

in 2003

Dimensions of Globalization

Econ.

Integr.

Personal

contact

Techn.

connectivity

Political

engagement

The country´s highest

indicators

1)Singapore (2)

32

1

3

12

29

Trade; FDI; Telephone

(2)Switzerland

(3)

7

9

1

7

23

Teleph.: Remittances and

personal transfers, Secure

servers

(3) US (7)

10

58

40

1

41

Internet hosts; Secure

servers; International org:s

(4) Ireland (1)

8

4

2

14

7

Un peace-keeping; Travels;

Telephone

(59) Venezuela

(58)

75

48

60

45

52

International org:s; Secure

servers; Treaties

(60) Indonesia

(59)

99

52

59

51

50

International org:s; Trade;

Treaties

(61) India (61)

110

59

51

57

60

Remittances and private

transfers; FDI; Govt.

transfers

(62) Iran (62)

127

57

62

48

61

Trade; Internet users; Travel

Source: Foreign Policy (2006)

2

Four dimensions of globalization are estimated: economic integration,

personal contact, technological connectivity, and political

engagement, and each of them includes three to five indicators.

Singapore is the most globalized country due mainly to trade and

FDIs and it has gained position in economic integration. The country

has a relatively high HDI rank, and in the period 1990 to 2003, the

2

The definitions and operationalization of the indicators will not be given here.

The World and Comparative Education

14

country increased its GDP per capita by 130 per cent. Switzerland, the

second most globalized country in 2006, has all the time had the

highest or among the highest GDP per capita, and it increased by 79

per cent during the period studied here. In the HDI ―league‖ it has

always been high but has lost position. The USA doubled its GDP per

capita, but lost HDI position. Ireland was in the beginning of the

period the most globalized country, but has lost position. It has had a

tremendous economic growth and increased its GDP per capita more

than four times, and the country has gained position in the HDI

league. (However, with the economic world crisis starting in 2008,

many countries have probably changed positions). Iran, among the

countries being lowest in degree of globalization, is, relatively

speaking, most globalized in technological connectivity. As can be

seen from the table, none of the countries is high on all dimensions,

but it of course matters a lot in what dimension (and indicators) a

country ranks high or low, and this can be investigated in a profound

study.

Table 3: HDIs for the Most and the Least Globalized

Countries in 2006

Human Development Index

HDI Rank

Educ. Index

1975

1990

2003

1975

1990

2003

1) Singapore

725

848

772

32

37

25

0.92

2) Switzerland.

879

981

947

1

5

7

0.96

3) USA

867

976

944

5

7

10

0.99

4) Ireland

811

945

946

19

23

8

0.99

59) Venezuela

718

848

772

36

44

75

0.65

60) Iran

566

577

736

55

92

99

0.74

61) Indonesia

468

499

687

66

98

110

0.81

62) India

412

308

602

76

123

127

0.61

Holger Daun

15

V. Concluding notes

It is beyond the scope of this paper to elaborate more in detail the

approach suggested here. It has been presented mainly for heuristic

purpose.

Generation of knowledge in the field of C&I needs to be placed

in the larger context of philosophical, theoretical and methodological

orientations. C&I researchers need to have profound knowledge in

theory of science in order to be able to evaluate what different theories

and methods can and cannot do as well as to judge the validity of the

various studies and the implications of the findings.

A WS approach also looks at the educational borrowing and

transfer across cultural contexts. World system and globalization

analysis need to include large scale cross-national studies as well as

in-depth case studies and case studies of other units, and C&I has to

be multi-disciplinary; include area and specialist knowledge; take the

global and local seriously into account; and be open to the theory of

science.

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Mikiko Cars

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Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized

Comparison in Comparative Education in the Era of

Globalization

Mikiko Cars

I. Introduction

Some of the important new concerns and visions of

comparative education: rapid transitions in societies; the

new emphasis on teaching and learning; the search for the

recovery, reinvention, and creation of identity and of

future identities, including ideas of “Postcolonialism”;

and – again- the current sense of what constitutes

“globalization” (Cawen and Kazamias, 2009, p. 6).

The world we are living in faces dynamic and unpredictable changes,

which is somehow accelerated with the rapid development of

Information and Communication Technology, which is a crucial tool

in the process of globalization. It is evident that big shifts of the world

economic order are happening. The challenges that our global society

is facing are numerous and complex and they lie at multiple levels, if

it is possible to draw the lines for levels any longer. Hybridizing of

collective and individual actors complicate the picture, this raises the

question of identity and of future identities of individual and collective

societal actors. What kind of education is needed in order to foster

sound development of our societies? What kind of society is desired

and by whom? How do we attain such a society? Should there be a

blue print of an ―ideal society‖ or should not local diversity be

respected? Lastly, what are the challenges and tasks for international

and comparative education? In increasingly de-territorialized and

interconnected global society, these are critical questions.

Education is an integrated part of the social sector, and in order

to foster sound social development, other social sectors and issues e.g.

health, infrastructure, agriculture and industry, ICT, human right, etc.

have to be tackled holistically.

Education is linked to well-balanced development which

takes into consideration the social, cultural,

environmental, and economic dimensions of an improved

quality of life for present and future generations.

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized Comparison

26

Sustainable development is a dynamic concept and a

mechanism for balancing different values, priorities and

opinions (Combers, 2009, p.217).

Although education reproduces social and economic inequality,

especially in light of neo-liberal market principles, it can be a

powerful trigger to make social changes with greater equity. The neo-

liberal approach is deeply reflected in our education system and

educational content (Lauder, 2006) which will be argued in the next

section of this paper. Re-visiting academic and humanistic tradition of

education with values e.g. equity, tolerance, cooperation etc. may

increasingly be important in todays interconnected and interdependent

world.

II. Aim of the paper

The aim of the paper is to re-examine the direction of international

and comparative education in the era of globalization. Taking the

concept of ―development‖ as an example, this paper intends to

conduct meta-theorizing as a means of attaining deeper understanding

of relevant theoretical approaches from the constructivist and relativist

ontological perspective.

III. Education in the globalizing world

Globalization is widely perceived as a dynamic and multi-dimensional

process by which local, national and regional economies, societies,

and cultures become integrated through a global network of political

ideas through communication, transportation, and trade (Bhagwati,

2004). This multi-dimensional globalization process is driven by a

combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, political, and

biological factors (Croucher, 2004). It is a multi-faceted and an

irreversible phenomenon within the mechanism which consists of neo-

liberal economic globalization, namely, the opening and deregulation

of commodity, capital and labour markets; political globalization, i.e.,

the emergence of a transnational elite and the shifting of economically

powerful nation-state; cultural globalization, i.e., the worldwide

homogenization of culture; ideological globalization; technological

globalization; and social globalization (Fotopoulos, 2001).

This globalization process is often driven by interdependent

mechanism among actors at the macro economic and political level,

such as transnational corporations and multi-lateral organizations e.g.

the World Bank, OECD, UNSECO; as well as by national states,

Mikiko Cars

27

(International-) Non-Governmental Organizations, (Daun, 2011); and

today increasingly by collectively of individuals using social networks

using internet websites. It facilitates transnational transmission of

ideas, value, or culture through ―acculturation‖, a process of

modification of original culture, or values by adapting to other

cultures.

Apple (2009) argues that neoliberal capitalism is driven by ―a

set of economic and social relations that privileges the market as the

chief structural and ideological governance mechanism‖ (p. 163). He

argues that it is within this structure of neo-liberal capitalism, in which

emerges a social order that establishes asymmetrical power structure

represented by dominance by the economically privileged. Education

is seen to reproduce and to promote the dominance of the neoliberal

ideology nationally and internationally.

Today, comparative education is facing many challenges. Knowledge

formation is shifting from national to global level principally driven

by the neo-liberal market economy principals. Firstly, issues of human

resources within the changing global structure should be carefully re-

examined. For example, international division of (knowledge) labour,

including the issue of outsourcing is re-enforced by the asymmetrical

global economic power structure as mentioned above. Global

economy and international competition is affecting the relations

between education, jobs and rewards at the local levels (see Reich,

2006; Brown and Lauder, 2006).

Secondly, development of utilitarian conceptions of education is

disproportionally enforced within the economic globalization. Brubb

and Lazerson (2006) point out the tendency to turn education into

commodity with economic value. The academic goals of schools, e.g.

civic and moral purposes, purely intellectual goals, and etc. are

threaten by the excessive utilitarian approach to education which

connects education to employability. Daun (2009) argues that in the

new knowledge production, the relevance and validity of scientific

knowledge are determined, not only by scientific criteria, but

increasingly by criteria linked to utility, marketability and reflexivity.

Thirdly, the fragmentation of collective actors is noteworthy,

represented by the emergency of huge social network community

online, who spreads diverse messages subject for re-production or re-

construction of certain set of value. In Daun‘s words (2009), it may

lead to ―standardization and homogenization as well as

particularization and heterogenization; secularization as well as de-

secularization and revitalization of moral and religious values‖ (p.

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized Comparison

28

285). Increasing individualization and social fragmentation is

discussed in Lauder et al. (2006) as well. This new form of de-

territorialization and increasing interconnectedness raises new issues

for international and comparative education.

Globalization and ―Global Transformations‖ (Held et al, 1999)

are products of capitalist restructuring and have prompted new

theories of global and ecological citizenship (Held & McGrew, 2003).

For the discipline of international and comparative education, it may

be important to recalled that the concept of globalization needs to be

historicized and contextualized since it is grounded in the

―asymmetries of power between nations and colonial and neo-colonial

histories, which see differential national effects of neoliberal

globalization‖ (Apple, 1995, p. 239), as well as new innovations are

changing the structure constantly. Citing Apple (1995, p.2),

―…educational issues has to be grounded in the complex realities of

various nations and regions and of the realities of the social, cultural,

and educational movement and institutions of these nations and

regions‖. Although unit of analysis may no longer be merely nations

and regions, this spirit of grounding research in the complex realities

of unit of analysis should be revisited.

IV. Paradigmatic issue: tension or choice?

Within the discipline of international and comparative education,

paradigmatic debate between positivistic approach and

hermeneutic/interpretive approach to educational research has been

present. This issue which is often addressed as tension could be

regarded as paradigmatic choice based upon its research design

following the specific purposes. Positivistic approach, which seeks

generalizable laws and predictions based upon experimental thus

replicable evidences, is visible in large scale cross national surveys,

e.g. OECD‘s influential Programme for International Student

Assessment (PISA) surveys, the Trends in International Mathematics

and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Progress in International Reading

Literacy Study (PIRLS) which allows cross national comparison of

students‘ educational achievement, which provide excellent base for

ranking, generating tendencies and new research themes. While the

significance of such positivistic studies is strong for obvious reason,

their limitation should be acknowledged as well. Research (Reddy,

2005; Crossely, 2009) raises issue that without accommodating the

contextual and cultural factors, which relate to their own national

Mikiko Cars

29

needs, such studies can be damaging. In other words, ―the danger of

the uncritical international transfer of policies and practices‖ should

be highlighted and the significance of specific local context and

culture in the development of education systems should be re-

emphasized (Crossley, 2009, pp. 1174-1175).

In this line, interpretive and hermeneutic approach can be seen as

a complimentary option to the above mentioned type of positivistic

study, which allows educational research to focus on micro level with

high local relevance in order to capture complexity in their

uniqueness. Although constraint of such studies is their low degree of

generalizability and transferability, with thick and adequate analysis

of their context as well as explicit stipulation of epistemological,

ontological, and methodological assumptions, their credibility would

increase which could link to the theoretical transferability. Theories

developed from such studies could possibly be applied to other similar

studies. Relevance and importance of local context is raised and

stressed in positivistic as well as in interpretive and hermeneutic

studies. In the international and comparative education research,

regardless of paradigmatic choice, importance of contextualized

comparison, especially of socio-cultural and historical context should

be re-emphasized. Likewise, nature, role and impact of context in

international and comparative educational research should be further

investigated.

V. Discourse of Development, Human Agency and

Social Structure

Discourse is understood as ―consisting of careful, rationalized,

structured statements, having systematic structures, which can be

analyzed historically, through the identification of their main elements

and the relations that form elements into wholes‖ (Cars, 2006, p. 12).

Discourses constitute symbolic systems and social orders where it is

possible to analyze their historical and political construction and their

functioning (Howarth, 2000; Peet & Hartwick, 1999). Development

as discourse is of particular interest, as discourse is constituted

through social practices, by heterogeneous actors at various levels.

One actor can represent several institutions at different levels.

Moreover, one actor can be a hybrid of local and international. There

is, not only a hierarchy of power structure, but rather multiple

dimensions of power, which is socially conditioned and the social

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized Comparison

30

identities of and relationships between people and groups of people

are complex (Cars, 2006).

When it comes to power structure, Foucault‘s (1980) work

provides a comprehensive understanding. He analyzed multiple

―relations of domination,‖ exercised in many forms: power in its local

forms and institutions, power at levels other than conscious intention,

power as something that circulates or functions in the form of chains

and networks, power starting from infinitesimal personal relations and

then being colonized by ever more general mechanisms into forms of

global domination, and power exercised through the formation and

accumulation of knowledge (Foucault, 1980; Peet & Hartwick, 1999,

pp.129-131). In the context of development discourse, this multiple

relations of power and domination is evident in the making of

development discourse, in development of educational policies, as

well as throughout actual social intervention process (see Cars, 2006).

The well-quoted text below clarifies the nature of truth from the

constructivist and relativist ontological perspective.

Truth is not outside of power (...) each society has its own regime of

truth, its general politics of truth (Foucault, 1980, p. 131).

It should be reminded that our truth may not be the truth for the

researched and each truth is contextualized by the ―ensemble of rules‖

(Foucault, ibid.) within given power structure. Especially in the

discipline of international and comparative education where various

socio-cultural contexts have to be taken under consideration, it is

crucial to be aware that the educational policy making processes, for

an example, are most likely embedded in social processes that imply

aspects of power, authority and legitimization. Unless local

knowledge and values are taken as a point of departure, these power

structures would reflect and intensify cultural differences and conflict

between social groups (Long and Long, 1992).

Durkheim‘s distinction of social structure, being comprises both

―institutional structure‖ and ―relational structure‖ shed light on human

aspects of social structure. Giddens‘ (1984) work, regarding human

agency and social structure dualism is useful to understand the

institutional and relational complex at various levels. Agency, which

acts upon and functions within social structures, is defined as those

individual human actors, together with organized groups,

organizations and nations, who act rationally and reflexively in

relation to 1) power, which is the ability to influence/transform the

Mikiko Cars

31

situation, and 2) structural conditions: social, political, economic,

ideological and/or cultural (Cars, 2006). Structures include both large-

scale social structures and micro structures such as those constituting

individual human relations. Structure, which can have profound

effects on human values and actions, can urge reproducing relations

between actors as regular social practices. This mechanism helps

further understanding of the development discourse.

VI. Understanding Development and Education

Definitions are both contextual and conditioned by the ideological,

epistemological and methodological orientation of the particular

author concerned (Simon, 1999, cited in Cars 2006). There can be no

fixed and final definition of development as definition varies

according to contexts which themselves change over time (Hettne,

1990). The concept of international development represents (re)-

creation of underlying tensions concerning power and authority

(Kendall, 2009). Development as social intervention would cause,

intentionally or not, cultural, political, social, economic and ecological

changes within a society where any intervention occurs. Although it

encompasses goodwill in the whole mechanism of international

development, the asymmetrical relations of power and authority (re)-

created through development discourses and practices cannot be

denied (Cars, 2006; Samoff, 1999).

Acknowledging the problematic nature of the international

development mechanism or the tension and dilemma between its

normative ideology and the actual practices within the given structure,

the epistemological perspective on development of this paper is what

Hettne (1990) has termed ―universal development‖, which consists of

a synthesis of both macro and micro perspectives that are highly

embedded in specific contexts.

Despite the urge for more holistic approaches to development,

the dominant development ideology observed in current practices

since 1990s still appears to be heavily driven by a neoliberal macro-

economic ideology accelerated by the globalizing economic context.

Within arena of international development education, 1990 World

Conference on Education for All (WCEA) has engraved educational

policy priorities in international development frameworks which are

reflected in e.g. the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and

Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), which embrace education as an

integral part of the whole social sector. However, Kendall (2009)

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized Comparison

32

argues that the education model that has been promoted here tends to

support mass, standardized, state-provided, formal schooling which

contributes to creation of effective labour force for ―modern‖ nation-

state to promote modern economic growth as well as international

acceptance, which needs to be questioned further.

With the recent discourse and movement of Education for

Sustainable Development (ESD), backed up by the influential

international organization e.g. UNESCO, concept of development is

re-visited as a dynamic concept that utilizes all aspects of public

awareness raising, education, as well as policy priorities to promote an

understanding of sustainable development in more holistic way that

cultivates good citizenship locally, nationally and globally (Combers,

2009). Sustainable education is an essential part of ethical and moral

education. It implies personal ethical choices, the embodiment of the

individual and social good (Jämsä, 2006).

Simon‘s (1999) statement on human development provides a

sound base on understanding the concept which accords to the

epistemological perspective of this paper:

human development is the process of enhancing individual

and collective quality of life in a manner that satisfies

basic needs, is environmentally, socially and economically

sustainable, and is empowering in the sense that the

people concerned have a substantial degree of control

over the process through access to the means of

accumulating social power (Simon, 1999, p. 21).

ESD is not only a conceptual tool but also a process to empower

individual actors in different contexts towards attainment of the shared

universal goal, strengthen capacities at various levels in order the

pursuit of a sustainable society with quality, based on people´s

aspirations considering the future generations of the planet. However,

as Kendall (2009) points out, what constitutes development depends

upon the definition of justice, desired value and lifestyle held by the

heterogeneous individual and organizations involved in the

development intervention, which could be a challenge for the process

of ESD.

VII. Orientations in Development Theories

Being aware of the dynamism and evolving nature of concepts and

theories, for the sake of comprehensive overview of the theoretical

orientations to be served as a base for meta-theory, Cars (2006)

Mikiko Cars

33

presented two typologies to provide basic orientations in various

development theories. Schuurman (1993) has identified two

theoretical approaches which captures the diversity of development

studies. The first approach is the Neo-Marxism perspective, which

approaches imperialism from the perspective of countries on the

periphery with regard to such issues as dependency theory, modes of

production theory, and world systems theory. The second approach is

the Constructivist perspective, which emphasizes multiple forms of

social knowledge, and their relationships with power, in approaching

greater understanding of the social reality of development.

The second typology is Hettne‘s (1990) framework with two

dimensions: positive-normative and the formal-substantive to map out

various development theories. The positive-normative dimension

refers that positive studies deal with the world as it is, in the light of a

presumed objectivity and preconceived theories with declared values,

whereas normative studies deal with the world as it should be. The

formal-substantive dimension refers that the formal approach defines

development in terms of ―a limited number of universal goals and

quantifiable indicators which can be combined in a predictive model‖,

whereas the substantive approach regards development in the light of

―historical change of a more comprehensive, qualitative and less

predictable nature‖ (ibid., p. 236). Further, political, social, cultural

and ecological dimensions of development are included in the

substantive approach. Based on the two dimensions described above,

the framework proposed by Hettne (1990) contains four major

theoretical orientations: 1) positive-formal e.g. Marxist accumulation

model, Mode of production analysis; 2) normative-formal e.g.

Neoclassical growth theory, New political economy, Structuralist

economics, Basic needs approach; 3) positive-substantive e.g. World

system analysis, Westernization studies; and 4) normative-substantive

e.g. Modernization theory, Dependency theory; Alternative

development. This framework allows for a better understanding of

development theories, with their various methodological and

epistemological perspectives.

The process by which development theories are advanced

contains dynamic interactions of various theoretical perspectives

mentioned above as examples. Therefore Hettne‘s meta-theory is

found helpful in gaining a comprehensive understanding of future

directions of thinking in the development discourse, whereby the

global transmission of Western mainstream development theories is

regarded as a synthesis while the indigenization process, as

Reconsidering Human Dimension and Contextualized Comparison

34

represented in the alternative paradigm, is regarded as an antithesis

and, finally, the universalization process of the conception of

development, which is a more comprehensive and contextualized

development theory, is regarded as a synthesis (ibid. p. 241-243). The

universal conception of development would allow flexibility in

bringing to bear historical, socio-economic, political and

environmental contexts on the ideological, epistemological or

methodological orientation (See Cars 2006 for more details).

VIII. Human dimension and contextual comparison in

international and comparative education

Kazamias (2009) stresses the importance of revisiting ―human‖

dimension in comparative education arguing that education cannot be

isolated from their political, social and ethical setting. Human

development paradigm, developed by Sen provides increasing

attention to agency aspects of development, in other words,

empowerment of people. It sees development as the process of

enlarging a person‘s capabilities to function, the range of things that a

person could do and be in her life (Sen, 1989). Human capabilities can

vary according to respective specific social context over time and

place. Human development approach embodies comprehensive

paradigm, which may be, in some aspects contrasted with the

neoliberal paradigm (Fukuda-Parr, 2003). For Human development

approach, economic growth is only a means and not an end in itself. In

this paradigm, people are not merely beneficiaries of economic and

social progress in a society, but are active agents of change. The

human development approach shares the idea that investing in

people‘s education and health is a powerful means to achieve overall

economic and social progress in societies.

UNESCO‘s normative and humanist perspective, for example,

regards the human being at the very heart of development. From this

point of view, education should be directed to ―the full development

of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for

human rights and fundamental freedoms…it shall promote

understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, all racial or

religious groups‖ (Mayor, Sema, and UNESCO, 1997: 89-90, cited in

Beech, p. 347).

education can become part of a more inclusive social

contract under which governments demonstrate a

commitment to tackle social and economic inequalities.

Mikiko Cars

35

Just as schools are often a source of unequal opportunity,

so they can become a force for social mobility and greater

equity, with education policy signalling a new direction

(UNESCO, 2011).

Development problems and needs vary qualitatively from one society

to another; or even from one individual to another. The need of high-

lighting human dimension as well as the importance of

contextualization in the international comparative education has been

repeatedly addressed throughout this paper. The significance of

shedding light on these aspects is increasing, in the context of

globalization driven by the neo-liberal market economy ideology as

was discussed in section 3. At the same time, the importance of

understanding and respecting other values and cultures as well as their

history should be re-emphasized based on the relativist ontological

assumption. Social structure surrounding actors is not only

institutional but also relational in nature, which involves multi-

dimensional power mechanism (see section 5). In order to achieve the

―desired‖ or universal human progress based upon values held by

heterogeneous actors concerned in any intervention, a shift in

collective consciousness from micro to macro levels may be required.

It is through education that strengthening people´s capacity to effect

social change is possible and international and comparative education

as a discipline could make an important scientific contribution to

trigger the social change.

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A Comparative Study of Former American and Swedish

Study Abroad Students

Talia Klundt

I. Introduction

The phenomenon of study abroad is growing fast with the number of

students who partake in programs increasing every year. Study

abroad has had a long tradition worldwide of sending students abroad

to enhance their education and cultural knowledge. Many factors

have opened up doors in order to allow numerous students the

opportunity when considering spending part of their studies overseas,

one being the ease of travel, which makes studying abroad easier than

ever before. Political changes, such as the European Union formation

and constantly expanding member states have made a tremendous

difference for students being able to go overseas, making it more

accessible. With globalization becoming evident in today‘s society,

students are becoming more aware of the need and importance of

learning new languages and getting international experience at a

younger age. Numbers are on the increase and universities are seeing a

demand in more students applying for overseas programs.

Often it can be assumed that studying in a foreign country for a

period of time provides an excellent opportunity for cultural

enrichment. In the context of higher education, it can help students

develop a thorough understanding of theories and methods within a

given discipline. Spending time overseas contributes to responsible

citizenship, refection upon values, concepts, and lifestyles, and it also

gives a greater understanding of cultural heritage; all factors being

important contributions. Academic learning in a different country can

heighten students‘ awareness of their own attitudes and mind-set, and

perhaps the limited knowledge they have of other parts of the world

and the degree in which their education at home is bound by their own

country‘s cultural and national interests (Opper, 1990).

As the movement of study abroad is on the rise each year and

continuously growing worldwide, it is imperative to learn what types

of study abroad programs and opportunities are essential and relevant

to current world trends (McCabe, 2001). Students need to find study

abroad programs that are a right fit for them both academically and

emotionally. There are many factors that play a role in each student‘s

mind before choosing to study overseas. An especially interesting

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

40

aspect is the motives that each student has as to why they would

consider going abroad for part of their university career. Surely

students might think of having fun, making new friends, traveling,

seeing the world, learning a new language and so forth, but how do

they think they will change upon their return home.

Going overseas for an extended period of time will most certainly

impact an individual one way or another. Some students will come

back will definitely come back with either a positive or negative

outlook dependent on their experience abroad. To delve into the

lifelong effects that studying abroad has on its students is an important

field of research. In exploring the impact that studying abroad can

have on creating a more tolerant and accepting individual, one can

recognize the importance of further promoting it, thus generating a

global citizen.

II. Aims and Objectives

Study abroad has gained ground in both student and international

interest, and in terms of student interest it has risen (Hoffa, 2010). As

demand increases for studying overseas, it is important to understand

the motives and backgrounds behind the decisions of students. An

earlier study, which focused on study abroad, noted, ―From a study

abroad perspective, not much is known about specific program

elements that might influence college student‘s career decisions and

plans‖ (Gillespie, 2009, p. 384). The overall aim of this study provides

a greater understanding of the benefits and long term affects gained by

former American and Swedish study abroad students, and how

studying abroad impacted their overall attitudes and perceptions. The

main objectives are:

1. To examine students‘ reasons in choosing to study abroad, their

motivations and intentions behind it.

2. To explore how study abroad has the potential to mould students

into global citizens and make them more culturally sensitive and

open-minded.

3. To investigate if students feel that their study abroad experience

impacted their future on a personal and/or professional level.

III. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

The OECD describes human capital as ―the knowledge, skills,

competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the

Talia Klundt

41

creation of personal, social and economic well-being‖ (OECD, 2001,

p. 17). Human capital is not only restricted to these concepts but it

also focuses on other factors such as health, behaviour, incentives and

motivations. The learning and knowledge that an individual possesses

is acquired throughout the individual‘s life. Human capital is achieved

in diverse ways, not only through formal institutions but also through

family and friends, a professional work environment and everyday

life. Individuals build up skills, knowledge, understandings and talents

that can be further amplified by investing in education. ―Human

capital theory suggests that individuals and society derive economic

benefits from investments in people‖ (Sweetland, 1996, p. 341).

Human capital also encompasses the field of education, different skills

learned and additional attributes held by individuals (Støren, 2010).

Spending money on education will turn around and be exchanged for

higher earnings, power or status once that individual has successfully

acquired that particular knowledge. One can assume that education

will increase or improve the economic means of people. It also has

the capacity to boost the overall value of life (Sweetland, 1996).

According to Smith, he believes that the effort of humans lies at

root of all wealth within society. He had two major components in

describing the development of human capital. The first is that labour

inputs are acquired both qualitatively and quantitatively. The skills

gained and to which it is applied directly into the labour force is the

qualitative aspect (Sweetland, 1996). These attributes and the

knowledge learned while overseas are vital assets to bring into the

labour market, not only the amount of schooling achieved. The

second is the fixed cost of human capital, which are the abilities

gained through education, internships or study; they always cost

money (Sweetland, 1996). Study abroad is a fixed cost in that

students will pay a certain amount for the opportunity to spend time

overseas. Hopefully they will gain new skills and expand their

knowledge, strengthen their language component (if studying in a

country where their native language is not spoken) and use those

elements and apply them in the work force in the future.

While standard human capital theory shows the value of

education and how it enhances productivity, it does not distinguish

between foreign and domestic education. According to Wiers-

Jenssen, country specific human capital is a relevant concept with

human capital that applies directly to studying abroad or going

overseas to obtain an education (Wiers-Jenssen, 2008). Examples of

country specific human capital are, but not limited to, professional

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

42

skills, language proficiency, cultural skills and being able to adapt to

the national requirements of the specific country. One can propose

that country specific human capital can be more transnational that

country specific, an example being learning Spanish, which could be

used in several countries. Having experience in living abroad can be a

type of informal transnational human capital. Country specific human

capital and professional networks from abroad contributes

significantly to help diversify companies as well as society.

According to employers and society, diversity is considered to be as

important when applied to creativity and economic growth (Wiers-

Jenssen, 2008).

Country specific human capital plays a part in the study abroad

trend by developing the idea of students going overseas for their

education. It is an investment in skills, which happens in diverse

surroundings, not only in one‘s home country or home institution

(OECD, 2001). The skills and knowledge that students hope to

expand while overseas is an economic asset to society, as well as an

investment into their future in the labour force. Study abroad can not

only measure the student‘s education and skills attained, but also for

the future preparation academically or in the work place. The

productivity gains that are related to the students and their individual

skills achieved are partially dependent on the country where the skills

were acquired (Støren, 2010).

Social capital is the collective of actual or potential resources of

networks and co-operations that are available to individuals in the

form of relationships that help support each member with shared

capital (OECD, 2001). The amount of social capital which an

individual possess is dependent on the range of networks and

connections the individual is able to associate with. The networks of

different relationships are built up over a lifetime, some are produced

unconsciously such as family while others are formed consciously

such as social or work relationships (Lauder, 2006). The OECD

depicts social capital as ―mainly a public good in that it is shared by a

group; and is produced by societal investment of time and effort‖

(OECD, 2001, p.39). Given that social capital is acquired communally

through the minds of others, the actions within the group are

determined by those who support it. Social capital can also be

described as an individual‘s availability to get information and

resources through participation or interacting with those who are part

of a specific social network or structure (Paulsen, 2008).

Talia Klundt

43

According to the first ideas of Bourdieu, social capital is the

collective of the actual or possible resources which are joined to a

strong network of ―more or less institutionalized relationships of

mutual acquaintance and recognition,‖ meaning a type of membership

within a given group (Bourdieu as cited by Biggart, 2002, p. 51). This

provides each member of the group with the endorsing of the

collectively owned capital, a type of credential which in turn entitles

them to credibility. The amount of social capital that an individual

holds depends on the size of the networks and connections they are a

part of and connected through, along with their own individual

volume of capital. Belonging to a network or membership within a

group produces mutual knowledge and recognition. Through the

additions of new members, the capital is altered, redefined, and

expanded with the new knowledge acquired by that member. Social

capital resides in the structures of individual‘s relationships; an

individual needs to be related to others in order to strengthen their

existing social capital (Støren, 2010).

Students who go overseas will impact their social networks

within the community both positively and negatively. The positive

aspect is that these students will add capital to their existing network

and come home and directly add to their social network. They will

increase their knowledge and education and redeposit it into the

others. From a negative perspective, they are leaving behind their

social networks by not being active participants within the group, and

it will further impact the network if a student chooses to remain

overseas permanently. The group will not only lose social capital

from the student who goes abroad, but it might also have a weakening

effect on the group and its dynamics since that one individual was

contributing to it via its own social networks.

Cultural capital was described by Pierre Bourdieu, who explored

in his work, the reproduction of social relations. It exists in three

forms: the embodied, objectified, and institutionalized state. Cultural

capital is frequently depicted ―as an individual‘s cultural knowledge,

language skills, educational credentials and school-related

information, derived largely from their parents‘ class status‖

(Bourdieu as cited by Paulsen, 2008, p. 123). Education systems are a

means of not only attaining knowledge but also reallocating cultural

and economic resources to individuals. Cultural capital is successfully

transferred within family members, thus giving some individuals an

advantage over those who are not susceptible to it. Bourdieu states

that the transmission of cultural capital ―is no doubt the best hidden

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

44

form of hereditary transmission of capital‖ (Bourdieu as cited by

Biggart 2002, p.284).

Cultural capital is not only embedded into the mind or in forms

of cultural goods, but also in the form that it is objectified through

institutions. Bourdieu theorizes that cultural capital does help to

facilitate educational success, which in turn leads to occupational

advantage. According to evidence presented by Bourdieu,

participating in cultural activities is highly linked to both social class

and educational attainment. Another significant argument that

Bourdieu makes is that he firmly states the importance of linguistic

competence in defining cultural capital (Sullivan, 2001). Bourdieu

also goes on to argue that cultural capital varies with social class, yet

it is the educational system that assumes the possession of cultural

capital, making it quite difficult for lower class individuals to succeed

(Sullivan, 2001).

In other words, study abroad is an investment for each

individual, being one of the few products that students can purchase,

which can set them apart from the rest (Reilly, 2009). The likelihood

that a student will choose to study abroad is positively correlated to

the student‘s social-economic status along with the cultural and social

capital they have collected before and during their university career

(Paulsen, 2008). Research on studying abroad has shown that prior

international travel experience is a key component in influencing

students‘ choice to study abroad (McKeown, 2009). Another

important variable is having parents who are globally mobile and

having an internationally orientated childhood. This type of

experience leads students to being more independent and having a

greater worldwide awareness and acceptance of other cultures, more

than students who were not exposed to a similar background

(McKeown, 2009).

There are several different aspects and arguments to the concept

of the ―stranger.‖ Simmel first developed the concept of the stranger

theory and many others have gone on to expand on the original theory

by categorizing them in different social contexts (Wood, 1934).

Harman and Murphy-Lejeune were two key sociologists who revisited

Simmel‘s original stranger theory and delved into different

dimensions, encompassing a new range of ―strangers.‖ The stranger is

typically described as a migrant who has arrived in a new country or

place, but as the theory has been explored over time it has come to

include sojourners, travellers and the modern stranger (Murphy-

Lejeune, 2002). Murphy-Lejeune further developed the stranger by

Talia Klundt

45

her idea that the student traveller is a new component of the stranger

as this study also presents.

Social relationships are a very complicated topic within

sociology because relationships have several different dimensions and

angles that factor into how relationships form the hierarchy, the

structure and so forth. According to Wood, the organization of any

type of group is dependent on each member having a recognized

position (Wood, 1934). Individuals are united through social

structures of different kinds, which determine the place each

individual occupies within the structure. Any event that affects the

relationships will also affect the social structure of the given group,

such as a new person or a stranger. Groups need to readjust and

acclimate themselves when a new person is introduced into the given

group, a shift takes place in order to accommodate and to balance it

(Wood, 1934).

The stranger can be defined as one who comes into face to face

contact with a group for the first time. Simmel defines the stranger as

―the man who comes today and stays tomorrow, the potential

wanderer‖ (Simmel as cited by Wood, 1934, p. 44). The formal

position of a stranger is constituted by a specific time and place

spatially. Spatially they represent the union between wandering and

fixation, they are nomads caught in between places (Wood, 1934).

The stranger is also caught in between at least two linguistic, social,

national and geographical places, this is applicable to the student

traveller who is caught in almost all of these spaces.

The stranger has typically been formulated as one who could not

―pass‖ as member of the group, implying a rigid group and

membership only available to those on the ―inside‖ (Harman, 1988,

p.3). Exchange students typically do not pass as members of their host

country. ―The modern stranger is an inside actor with an outward

glance‖ (Harman, 1988, p. 7). Study abroad students are strangers in

their host country, assuming they do not have any ties to that

particular place, thus making them an outsider and struggling to find

their own identity and place within. There are new norms and customs

that one must learn in order to feel more integrated into society. In this

way, the student who travels for education is very much like the

stranger, a modern stranger. Within this given context of the theory of

the stranger, it is applied to the study abroad student.

Adaptability becomes a must for survival within a society;

members must be able to adjust to change within the environment.

The ability to adapt is one of the most valuable attributes an individual

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

46

or group can hold, as they tend to be the more successful ones. When

speaking of arrival and departure, the adaptable person has the keen

ability to leave one set of friends and places behind and connect to

another while having the capacity to do it again when need be. A

person is ―in between‖ during the moment between arrival and

departure. The arrival defines the place while departure defines having

been there, but the in between is making it a part of you, or your own,

to know it is there and create it (Harman, 1998).

In order to make the new destination (host country) more of

one‘s own, mapping must take place. Mapping is an everyday activity

where a person is confronted with the strange and unfamiliar, a type of

sense making. It is the comfort achieved when ―getting one‘s

bearing,‖ and helps the strangeness to disappear and make it a part of

everyday life (Harman, 1998, p.98). To feel comfortable and get to

know the place where one is at evokes a type of transformation for the

person in having overcome the strangeness and thus becoming a part

of that life. Mapping helps to create and provide a type of ownership

and familiarity. Foreign students go from an existing social

environment at home to a new and void/unknown setting abroad.

Student mobility can be understood as the short term periods

that students spend studying abroad or in some cases students spend

their entire university career overseas. One of the new and significant

migrant profiles that is on the rise is the one who travels or moves for

study purposes and whose migration might only be temporary versus

permanent. The student traveller leads the way for this new type of

migrant, the temporary migrant who is only visiting a new place for a

limited time. This differs from the traditional migrant who moves

permanently to a foreign culture. Although this route is different than

the typical migrant, it can be seen as a new category which extends the

research content for a new perspective on migration (Murphy-Lejeune,

2002).

A perspective of study abroad that can be largely explored is

that study abroad participants can be described as educational tourists.

An educational tourist (study abroad student) can be defined as a

person who travels to a destination or type of attraction and

participates informally or formally in learning experiences within the

given country. Educational tourists are generally motivated by

education and learning, these being the primary incentives for travel

and going abroad (Llewelyn-Smith, 2008). Student exchange and

study abroad participants are deemed educational tourists for they

Talia Klundt

47

choose to go abroad in order to participate in a formal learning

experience (McCabe, 2008).

According to Urry, tourism is out of character of everyday life

and out of the ordinary, people travel in order to see and experience

some different (Urry, 1990). Tourists look for distinction from their

everyday life through engaging with others and/or escaping from the

familiar. Tourism increases to be evaluated in terms of being

rewarding, adventurous, enriching, and a learning experience for those

participating; the cultural component being a predominant feature.

The benefits and advantages of home are also reinforced through the

exposure of that what is different. Cultural tourism is composed of

specific excursions (study abroad) to other cultures and places to learn

about the people, history, and lifestyles that represent the specific

culture (Rojek & Urry, 1997).

A global citizen is one who holds cosmopolitans views, is

involved and interested in global issues, is culturally sensitive to

others and feels civic obligation (Tarrant, 2009). It is assumed that

global citizens are made and not born, meaning that global citizenship

is a learned and developed behaviour over time. If applied to study

abroad students, in order to nurture this citizenship they must be

engaged with the real world, which enables them to think beyond their

own wants and needs.

When referred to loosely, the notion of cosmopolitanism refers

to the capacity to ―open out to others who are often geographically

distant‖ (Lash and Urry as cited by Rojek & Urry, 1997, p.81) or ―an

orientation, a willingness to engage with the Other‖ (Hannerz as cited

by Rojek & Urry, 1997, p.81). In summary global cosmopolitanism

indicates to a mutual relationship between people and objects opening

up to one and other (Rojek & Urry, 1997). In order to develop global

citizenship, a means is needed which engages students with the real

world and facilitates their thinking beyond only their own needs, but

to the needs of others on a global scale (Tarrant, 2009). Students

become more interested and involved in world issues that are of

importance and have global impact. An investment in study abroad

itself is not only an asset for the student but in a wider view, a long

term investment for society; socially, politically and environmentally.

Methodology

This paper explores how a study abroad experience changes

students‘ attitudes and influences after the sojourn has ended. For this

paper the researcher found that doing a comparative study was the

most effective way of gathering all the vital information for this

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

48

research project. It encompassed the detailed and comprehensive

analysis of the comparative study and was concerned primarily with

the study in question. What makes the study so distinct is that the

researcher was concerned to draw out the unique features of this

specific study. The most efficient research strategy, for the particular

aims and objectives set forth in this study, was using a qualitative

method. This study was deductive as it used the theories to allow a

better understanding of the questions in concern (Bryman, 2008).

This comparative study was conducted by the method of interviewing

intended to gather information on students‘ motivations for going

abroad, aspects of their study abroad experience, positive and

negatives, integration into the host country and the overall long term

effects of study abroad. It also proposed to give a general view of the

study abroad experience of both American and Swedish students.

The qualitative study collected data from an achieved sample

size of twenty-three former American and Swedish study abroad

students, eleven from Sweden and twelve from the United States. The

target sample also had two specific requirements; each student had to

have spent at least one university semester studying abroad and they

had to have studied overseas at least five years ago from when the

interviews were held. These requirements were essential in

understanding how the impact of being abroad for a minimum of one

semester had the potential to influence and shape each participant‘s

life.

The researcher felt that using semi-structured interviews was the

best way to encapsulate the research study for several various reasons.

The focus of this study was on the interviewees‘ own perspectives and

thoughts, and there was a need to dig deep into both the questions and

the answers. With the aim of getting detailed answers and interpreting

the meanings, it was ideal to use semi-structured interviewing versus

structured interviewing. Semi-structured interview questions allowed

the interviewees to expand their thoughts and perspectives with the

flexibility that a structured interview would not give. Since the study

was administered using a qualitative method, the researcher sought to

find the connecting dynamics ―between the actions of participants of

social settings‖ (Bryman, 2008, p.394).

The researcher expected that through the various degrees of

questions asked that the study abroad phenomena would be linked

back to the theories and concepts and show how they applied to study

abroad/student exchanges worldwide. Many variables that have

contributed to the students‘ study abroad process will give a better

Talia Klundt

49

understanding in how the theories and concepts support study abroad

and the process behind it. Many themes were covered during the

interviews and new ideas and thoughts materialized not only in the

course of the interviews, but by observing each participant‘s attitudes.

With new information surfacing through the study, the researcher

aimed to contribute to other study abroad studies and open up the

possibility for further investigation in this subject matter.

IV. Discussion

Some of the core findings that are found in numerous literatures on the

studying abroad phenomenon, promotes not only intellectual and

personal growth, but also helps students in becoming more open

culturally. Virtually all reports and studies mention that students gain

increased self-confidence and self-reliance and demonstrate the wish

to travel overseas again in the future, and the findings were in tandem

with this study. Having interviewed the students long after their

experience had come to an end also helped the students‘ themselves

see more clearly how studying abroad had directly or indirectly

shaped many aspects of their adult life.

This study is vital and an asset to the study abroad community

because it showed empirical evidences those both undergraduate and

graduate students who study abroad during their college years‘ benefit

in a myriad of ways. Several students stated that studying abroad was

one of the most influential experiences in their life and had the most

impact in their future. The improved self-sufficiency and

independence gained from a sojourn abroad increased students‘

interests and desires to travel overseas again and be more open to new

people coming from different backgrounds and cultures. Students who

spend at least a semester overseas identified themselves as more

capable, accessible and open to intercultural communication. Their

self-assurance was positively affected as well as their interaction

skills.

Participants who have studied abroad are inclined to view

themselves as being more confident when interacting with people

from other places. They are also more flexible when acclimating to an

unfamiliar place or people from distinct backgrounds as well as new

situations. This feeling of assertiveness leads to openness to diversity

and having the capacity to regard ideas and challenges from a different

point of view, giving them a broader scope to speak from. Studying

abroad builds self-reliance and self-sufficiency by throwing students

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

50

in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations, teaching students to

become independent and head strong. A semester overseas

undoubtedly has a significant impact in international development by

fostering a global citizen and thus helping shape students‘ futures by

influencing major decisions in their lives.

All of the participants interviewed have been impacted

positively from their study abroad sojourn. For many it was not

apparent upon their immediate return, but years later they understood

how the first experience helped shaped their attitudes, personalities

and their personal growth was evident. Career development was also

a very strong finding from this study in that students described being

put on either a path they had not considered previously or that

studying abroad led them to the jobs they had in the future. This study

has been conclusive with the majority of study abroad literature that

states that students who go overseas for part of their university career

have life-long impacts; the positive attributes gained do not end upon

their return home.

Study abroad can enhance the discourse on the role of education

in international development by showing the importance and

significance that it plays in the lives of students futures. Study abroad

educators and policy makers can focus on the positives aspects of

studying abroad in a student‘s university career in order to enhance

programs or change education policies to allow more participants the

chance to go overseas. Higher education is clearly seen as an

important investment and more students are enrolling in universities

as globalization is taken to the next level, another way that educators

can play on the importance of study abroad. Besides the fact that study

abroad is a section of education in itself, it can also be argued to show

study abroad as an approach by educators, which internationally

develops students to be engaged individuals in our world.

This paper presents how former study abroad experiences

changed American and Swedish students‘ attitudes and influences,

having studied overseas for a minimum of one university semester at

least five years ago. It hopes to bring to the light some of the

motivating factors that are behind the students‘ choices and attitudes.

It is vital for study abroad professionals to understand not only the

choice process but the emotions that students go through during their

time abroad, and as mentioned earlier what they took away from it.

Understanding the fundamental feelings behind students‘ decisions on

studying abroad before and during, can aid in future study abroad

programs worldwide in enhancing program opportunities or

Talia Klundt

51

awareness. It is imperative for exchange and study abroad programs to

meet the needs (accommodation, school, personal) of the students to

ensure they have a successful academic term/year abroad.

From the study presented, it is apparent that studying abroad had

a positive impact on all of the students interviewed. None of the

students reported experiencing negative consequences from their

experience abroad, minus the little inconveniences or nuisances that

were mildly insignificant to their overall sojourn abroad. It is obvious

from this study that all of the respondents were not only influenced

from their time abroad, but also shaped as individuals. The personal

growth, awareness, independence, and confidence gained by all the

participants were invaluable to their future lives.

The benefits reaped from even a semester overseas did not only

open up the students‘ minds and awareness, but has made them more

tolerant and understanding of diverse cultures and people. This is an

invaluable asset in today‘s ever evolving cosmopolitan workforce

where companies and institutions are becoming more global. Many

students described themselves being more globally minded and

desired to travel more and meet new people and spend time in

different places. These feelings and attitudes were how participants

described that studying abroad has changed them for the better and

helped them to understand there is more than the bubble (home

country) they live in. Without having had this experience, several

respondents did not feel they would be where they are today,

recognizing the importance of studying abroad.

Students increased their social, human, and cultural capital from

their time abroad. All former interviewees described having a larger

circle of international friends, increasing their social networks and

social capital. Their human capital was increased from the different

experiences inside and outside of the classroom, as well as their

country specific human capital which was definitive of the country

they studied in. Their cultural capital was enhanced through their

various experiences; people they met from all corners of the world,

diverse cultures and countries, new languages, and the mere exposure

that living in a foreign country gives individuals, something not

obtained through a text book. Resulting from their time overseas,

participants have gained international mobility and many have gone

on to work abroad or do extensive international travel; a vital element

for students who choose to work or live overseas in the future.

Studying abroad is deemed a very important and invaluable

component in the lives of university students. Throughout the

A Comparative Study of Study Abroad Students

52

interviews, students continuously stressed how important their time

abroad was to them, their lives having been influenced as a result.

Not only did the participants feel that it was a rewarding experience

but they also expanded on all the fun and joyful moments they

encountered during this time of self-discovery. This study reinforces

to the researcher that there are more positives in spending time

overseas during a student‘s university career than negatives. The

lifelong impacts and influences continue to reward many of the former

students to this day.

There is still a great need for universities to promote study

abroad and give it the awareness it needs to encourage the thousands

of students who do not participate and will instead choose to stay on

their home campus to complete their degree. Unfortunately, study

abroad can seem expensive to many young students or time spent

away from family and friends due to the lack of exposure that many

universities tend to have. Study abroad offices in universities are more

likely to be a smaller section within the university and it is imperative

for past participants, professors, and those working within the study

abroad field to bring attention to how beneficial one university

semester abroad can have in the future life of the student choosing to

partake in an academic program overseas. In today‘s international

society it is critical that students worldwide have the knowledge and

the scope in which to engage with diverse cultures and people. There

is no better way than for students to get a taste of that experience than

by spending time in a foreign country and learning from those who are

different than them.

The study abroad phenomenon is more than students spending

time overseas having fun and making new friends; it has a deep and

profound effect on an individual on many different levels. This study

helps support the importance of the research questions and the basis to

encourage future studies in the field of study abroad as well as make a

contribution within study abroad and for those working in the field.

References

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Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford: University

Press.

Talia Klundt

53

Hoffa, W. & DePaul, S. (2010). A History of U.S. Study Abroad:

1965-Present. Carlisle: Frontiers: the Interdisciplinary Journal

of Study Abroad.

Gillespie, J. & Norris E. (2009). How Study Abroad Shapes Global

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International Education, Vol. 13 (3), pp.382-397.

Harman, L. (1988). The Modern Stranger on Language and

Membership. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Llewellyn-Smith, C. & McCabe, V. (2008). What is the Attraction for

Exchange Students: the Host Destination or Host University?

Empirical Evidence from a Study of an Australian

University.International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 10

(1), pp.593-607.

McCabe, L. (2001). Globalization and Internationalization: The

Impact on Education Abroad Programs. Journal of Studies in

International Education, Vol. 5 (2), pp.138-145.

McKeown, J. (2009). The First Time Effect: The Impact of Study

Abroad on College Student Intellectual Development. Albany:

State University of New York Press.

Murphy-Lejeune, E. (2002). Student Mobility and Narrative in

Europe: The New Strangers. London: Routledge.

OECD (2001). The Well-Being of Nations.The Role of Human and

Social Capital.Paris: OECD.

Opper, S., Teichler, U., & Carlson, J. (1990).Impacts of Study Abroad

Programmes on Students and Graduates.London: Jessica

Kingsley Publishers.

Paulsen, M., Pascarella E., Salisbury M., &Umback P. (2008).Going

Global: Understanding the Choice Process of the Intent to Study

Abroad. Research in Higher Education, Vol. 50 (2), pp.119-

143.

Rojek, C. &Urry, J. (1997). Touring Cultures. London: Routledge.

Støren, L.A. &Wiers-Jenssen, J. (2010). Foreign Diploma Versus

Immigrant Background Determinants of Labour Market

Success or Failure? Journal of Studies in International

Education, Vol. 14 (1), pp.29-49.

Sullivan, A. (2001). Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment.

Sociology. Vol. 35 (4), pp.893-912.

Sweetland, S. (1996). Human Capital Theory: Foundations of a Field

of Inquiry. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 66 (3),

pp.341-359.

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Tarrant, M. (2009).A Conceptual Framework for Exploring the Role

of Studies Abroad in Nurturing Global Citizenship. Journal of

Studies in International Education, Vol. XX (X), pp.1-20.

Urry, J. (1990).The Tourist Gaze. London: Sage.

Why Study Abroad http://www.jour.unr.edu/donica/Laptop%20

documents/usac/index.html Retrieved November 29, 2009

from the World Wide Web.

Wiers-Jenssen, J. (2008). Does Higher Education Attained Abroad

Lead to International Jobs? Journal of Studies in International

Education, Vol. 12 (2), pp.101-130.

Wood, M. (1934). The Stranger: A Study in Social Relationships. New

York: Columbia University Press.

Patsy Kng

55

Gender Equality and Education: A Qualitative Study of

a Group of Chinese Students in Stockholm, Sweden

Patsy Kng

I. Introduction & Background

Gender parity in primary and secondary education is one of the six

Education for All (EFA) goals that China has made tremendous efforts

to achieve since the global initiative was endorsed in 2000 at the

World Education Forum in Dakar. According to the EFA Global

Monitoring Report 2008, Education for All by 2015: Will We Make

It?, the country had achieved this goal by 2005. The report also states

that China is one of only a few countries that had achieved gender

parity at the tertiary level by 2005 (UNESCO, 2007).

According to new data on China‘s gross enrolment ratio (GER)

as presented in the Global Education Digest 2010, the Gender Parity

Index (GPI) figures for school year ending in 2008 are as follows:

1.04 for primary education; 1.05 for secondary education (including

lower and upper secondary); and 1.04 for tertiary education

(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2010a). Based on UNESCO

Institute of Statistics‘ (2010a) definition of GPI: ―A GPI of 1 indicates

parity between sexes‖ (p. 269), it can be said that gender parity in the

Chinese education sector has been maintained since 2005 and that the

participation of girls in education has greatly improved, with

enrolment figures slightly in favour of females.

However, despite these positive figures, civil society and media

discourse paint a different picture of reality. The United Nations Girls‘

Education Initiative (UNGEI) points out major obstacles still facing

girls‘ education in China. The agency asserts, ―The highly unbalanced

sex ratio of 117 boys to every 100 girls highlights deeply embedded

gender biases in China‘s social and cultural milieu, which affect girls‘

inclusion in education, especially at higher levels. An estimated two

thirds of China's school-age children who are not enrolled in school

are girls‖ (UNGEI, 2010). UNICEF China declares, ―Gender disparity

and low enrolment among girls are linked to a deeply entrenched

preference for sons, so they will be difficult to eradicate. Still more

attention must be paid to reducing gender disparities and encouraging

girls to attend and remain in school‖ (UNICEF China, 2010).

Gender Equality and Education

56

In addition to issues of educational access and retention, the

under-representation and typecasting of girls and women in learning

content also pose as an impediment to true gender equality in the

Chinese educational system. The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008

(UNESCO, 2007) found that ―[i]n social studies texts in China, 100%

of scientists and soldiers are male while 100% of teachers and 75% of

service personnel are female (Yi, 2002). Females represent only about

one-fifth of the historical characters in the twelve-volume elementary

Chinese textbooks, and appear dull and lifeless in comparison with the

more vibrant males (Guo and Zhou, 2002)‖ (p. 88).

Gender typecasting such as this serves as an example of larger

societal-level partiality for males in China that stems from deeply-

ingrained traditional and cultural values of feudal China. According to

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ―Stereotyped

working and living patterns are preventing women from realizing their

full potential as equal partners. Moreover, gender imbalances at birth

due to preference for boys can potentially hinder the harmonious

development of society, over the long-term‖ (UNDP China, 2010).

The global agency‘s recently published 2010 Asia-Pacific Regional

Human Development Report on Gender concludes: ―While China

experienced unsurpassed economic development in recent decades,

this progress has not been even in achieving gender equality. The

country, like its Asia-Pacific counterparts, remains hindered by the

presence of a severe gender gap‖ (ibid.).

It is clear, then, that true progress in China‘s push for gender

equality – both in schools and society at large – continues to be mired

in deep social and traditional gender preconceptions and ideologies,

and that despite China‘s enthusiastic push for gender equality on the

legal and policy level, true equality in the country‘s education sector is

still faced with difficult challenges. Given the discrepancy between

China‘s official achievement of gender parity in education and

continued discourse about gender inequality and partiality for males,

the researcher was motivated to investigate the following two-pronged

research question:

1) Do gender-based preconceptions and partiality exist and how is

it manifested in Chinese secondary education experiences, and

2) how is this phenomenon perceived and made sense of by a

group of students who grew up and studied in China?

Patsy Kng

57

Secondary education (junior and senior middle school) was

chosen as the focus of the study, as it represents a turning point in

Chinese students‘ pursuit of higher education and career choices and,

in the researcher‘s opinion, a crucial period for the construction of

their gender identities.

Aim and Objectives

The thesis sought to explore the concept of gender equality and

education from the perspective of a cohort of Chinese students who

have lived through and experienced Chinese schooling first-hand.

More specific objectives were to:

1. Present an overview of pertinent concepts and theories in gender

equality and education (from practical and theoretical standpoints), as

well as a review of some key policies implemented by the Chinese

government to address gender equality in education and society.

2. Explore the educational experiences and belief systems of a

group of Chinese students in Stockholm through their personal

narratives, and determine how gender-based preconceptions were

encountered and perceived by the research participants.

3. Discuss the emergent core themes and the implications for

policymakers in achieving gender equality in education in China.

Significance of Study

In light of China‘s economic successes and growing integration into

the global system, empirical explorations such as the present study

which provide insights into the Chinese context are deemed to be

relevant and significant in current times. Prevalent discourse on

gender issues in China, including a proliferation of media attention on

the country‘s ―missing girls‖ and gender ratio imbalance, is further

indication that world attention is being directed to concerns of gender

inequality there.

Much dialogue and media attention can be found on issues

of gender inequality in China. In the realm of academic research,

quantitative studies on multifarious facets of China‘s educational

system abound. However, a search for qualitative research

investigating people‘s lived educational experiences (told from the

first person perspective) as related to gender equality yielded little

results. The thesis aimed to fill this information gap by contributing to

Gender Equality and Education

58

the knowledge of individuals‘ experiences, beliefs and attitudes in

relation to gender roles and education in China.

The unique sample of research participants in this study –

Chinese students who were pursuing higher education in Sweden –

should also be highlighted. It is hoped that with their confluence of

Chinese schooling experiences and exposure to Swedish gender role

ideals, the participants‘ stories will offer richer, more contextually

relevant insight into the global discourse on gender equality.

Finally, the study hoped to send the following message to

policymakers, politicians and other key stakeholders: Unless a

phenomenological approach is adopted, by delving into how gender

inequality is lived, experienced and constructed in schools and society

by students, true gender equality will remain an elusive goal.

Limitations of Study

By sampling a small and unique cohort of Chinese students in

Stockholm, it is stressed that the researcher makes no claims as to the

external validity of the findings (that is, whether they can be

generalized beyond the specific research context). Rather, it is hoped

that the participants‘ stories will offer additional insight into current

discourse on gender inequality in China, as well as serve as fodder for

possible future research. The fact that the participants were located

and selected in Sweden may be considered a weakness by some (for

example, the issue of their viewpoints being skewed due to the mere

fact that they were a unique, privileged group of students who were

living outside of China). However, it is the researcher‘s belief that

their narratives will be richer and their belief systems even more

interesting to study as a result of their exposure to the Swedish model.

On the language front, although the researcher is able to speak and

understand Chinese, her lack of reading skills – particularly in

locating and understanding prior research studies that were written in

Chinese – posed as a limitation to the study.

Ethical Considerations

Every research participant has been guaranteed confidentiality; all

participants were given fictitious names in order to preserve

anonymity. A verbal consent was obtained from each participant prior

to each interview, in which details about the research study were

provided and agreement to participate in the study was confirmed.

Permission to record the interviews was also gained before each

interview began. Respect, honesty, common courtesy and sensitivity

Patsy Kng

59

to potentially thorny topics were upheld to the best of the researcher‘s

ability before, during and after each interview.

II. Concepts and Theories

What does gender equality mean? The gender and development

approaches of Women in Development (WID), Gender and

Development (GAD), and the Gender Equality Framework put forth

by United States Agency of International Development (USAID) were

highlighted, as they were found to be relevant and useful paradigms to

inform the study. It is intended that the development framework offers

a practical perspective on gender equality in education, whilst feminist

theory and phenomenology provide a more theoretical lens through

which to explore the concept.

Gender and Development

It is the generally accepted view of policymakers that gender equality

is integral to a country‘s development and globalization process.

Advancing gender equality and empowering women is, in fact, third

on the list of eight Millennium Declaration Goals (MDGs) aimed at

achieving the overall objective of eradicating poverty in the world.

Based on the MDG declaration, a country‘s progress towards MDG

Three is based on the following indicators: the ratio of girls to boys in

primary, secondary and tertiary schooling; the ratio of literate females

to males aged 15-24 years; the percentage of women in paid non-

agricultural employment; and the proportion of parliamentary seats

held by women.

As the overview of some of China‘s educational policies and

reforms in Part Four illustrates, this emphasis of education as a tool

for national development has been adopted by the Chinese

government, with the education of girls (particularly in poor areas)

often highlighted as a major challenge and priority. Numerous

development frameworks have been conceptualized and employed to

theorize gender equality. However, the WID and GAD approaches and

USAID‘S Gender Equality Framework were found to be the most

insightful in understanding the central concepts of gender parity,

gender equity and gender equality in the present study.

Women in Development (WID) vs. Gender and Development (GAD)

The WID approach which emerged in the 1970s is generally

connected with an emphasis on ―women as an isolated and

homogenous group‖ whilst GAD, which developed in the 1980s, is

Gender Equality and Education

60

associated with a focus on ―the roles and needs of both men and

women‖ (International Labour Organisation, 2010). Smyth (1999)

describes the two approaches as the following two policy viewpoints:

―WID (Women in Development), which aims to include women in

development projects in order to make them more efficient, and GAD

(Gender and Development), which addresses inequalities in women‘s

and men‘s social roles in relation to development‖ (p. 9).

According to Mannathoko (2008), ―The WID approach views

schools as the vehicle through which girls can gain access to

education‖ (p.129), whilst ―…GAD goes beyond access to examine

the quality of education once girls are included‖ (p.131). Vavrus

(2003) differentiated the two approaches by explaining that WID

―…described a process that was done ‗to women‘ or ‗for women‘

rather than ‗by women‘‖ (p. 9) and the GAD approach as ―…shift[ing]

the focus from ‗women‘ as a biological category to ‗gender‘ as a

social construct‖ (p. 6).

By exploring students‘ educational experiences and

understanding of gender roles as socially constructed phenomena, it

can be said that the present inquiry was conducted with the GAD

perspective in mind. Jaquette and Staudt (2006) point to Carolyn

Moser‘s work in pioneering the GAD model, stating that ―Moser

called for a deeper analysis based on gender, that is, on an

understanding that women‘s and men‘s roles are socially constructed,

not biologically determined‖ (p. 28). Although not without its

criticisms, the GAD approach was deemed to be an appropriate

approach for the present study given the complexity of Chinese

cultural norms, changing social realities and shifting gender roles.

USAID‟s Gender Equality Framework

Readers of gender and education discourse might encounter the words

―parity‖, ―equity‖ and ―equality‖ without perhaps questioning: what is

the difference? While some authors use these terms and concepts

interchangeably, it is central to the present discussion to clarify and

distinguish them. It is for this reason that the Gender Equality

Framework set forth by USAID was selected as a guiding model, as it

emphasizes the importance of extracting the ―nuances‖ between these

concepts and understanding how they are inter-related. In essence, the

framework demonstrates that although ―[p]arity and equity are the

building blocks to achieving gender equality in education‖, they alone

cannot ―guarantee the realization of equality‖ (USAID, 2008). The

three key concepts as presented by the framework are as follows:

Patsy Kng

61

Gender Parity

According to USAID (2008), ―parity‖ refers to the ―[p]roportional

representation of boys and girls in an education system relative to the

population per age group‖ (p. 2). Using this definition, it would mean

that there are equal numbers of boys and girls who are enrolled in

primary, secondary and tertiary schools in China, proportionate to the

country‘s population. Gender parity can be surmised, then, as

primarily being concerned with girls‘ and boys‘ educational access,

enrolment and participation, as measured using UNESCO‘s GPI.

While gender parity is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, it only

represents what Subrahmanian refers to as ―formal equality‖.

According to Subrahmanian (2005), ―Gender equality rests on, but is

not the same as, achieving gender parity, or females being represented

in equal numbers as males in education, although the latter offers a

‗first stage‘ measure of progress towards gender equality in

education‖ (p. 397).

Gender Equity

―Equity‖, according to the USAID framework, refers to: ―Strategies

and processes that provide fair and equal chances for all to pursue and

benefit from educational opportunities‖, such as ―[s]cholarships,

teacher training on gender sensitive pedagogies, curriculum revisions

to remove gender bias, separate safe and clean latrines for girls and

boys and programs to promote math and science among girls‖

(USAID, 2010).

The Chinese government is working towards the promotion of

gender equality in education through, for example, the amendment of

The Law on Compulsory Education in 2006 which emphasizes the

need to protect girls‘ rights to education. The international community

is also committed to helping remove obstacles to girls‘ education,

particularly in rural China. A compendium compiled by the UN

Theme Group on Basic Education and Human Resource Development

for UNGEI shows international organizations such as Asian

Development Bank, Save the Children UK and UNICEF supporting

the push for gender equality in China through countless equity

initiatives (UNGEI, 2005). However, as the thesis suggested, gender

equity processes such as these are not enough to achieve gender

equality in Chinese education.

Gender Equality and Education

62

Gender Equality

In USAID‘s Gender Equality Framework, the term ―equality‖ means:

―Females and males have equal rights, freedoms, conditions, and

opportunities for realizing their full potential in society‖ (USAID,

2010). The model presents four different dimensions of gender

equality in education: equality of access, equality in the learning

process, equality of educational outcomes, and equality of external

results. The study explored these dimensions in Chinese secondary

education by delving into the educational experiences of a group of

Chinese students, paying particular attention to equality in the learning

process or ―pedagogic processes and the school environment‖ (ibid.).

Modern Feminist Theory

In addition to gender and development frameworks, this study was

also guided by modern feminist theory; more specifically, theories of

gender difference and of gender inequality which according to

Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley (2004) argue that ―[w]omen‘s

location in, and experience of, most situations is different from that of

men in the situation‖ and that ―[w]omen‘s location in most situation is

not only different but also less privileged than or unequal to that of

men‖ (p. 311).

According to Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley (2004),

gender difference theories offer the following explanations for

women‘s different experiences: 1) innate biological dissimilarities

between women and men; 2) different institutional roles that men and

women play within the society; and 3) phenomenological analyses

which view ―the marginalization of women as Other in a male-created

culture‖. Theorists of gender inequality take up these suppositions

further by arguing that inequality is not only based on the above

differences, but rather ―…results from the organization of society, not

from any significant biological or personality differences between

women and men‖ (p. 312-314). These ideas were crucial in framing

the current study and will be touched upon again in the research

findings.

Gender vs. Sex

The distinction between gender and sex is a central concept in

feminist theory. Many feminist theorists (including those in the

development strains) associate gender with social and cultural forces

influencing a person‘s identity, while sex is connected with biological

traits. March et al. (1999), offer the following explanation:

Patsy Kng

63

Sex is a fact of human biology; gender is not. The

experience of being male or female differs dramatically

from culture to culture. The concept of gender is used by

sociologists to describe all the socially given attributes,

roles, activities, and responsibilities connected to being a

male or female in a given society. Our gender identity

determines how we are perceived, and how we are

expected to think and act as women and men, because of

the way society is organized (p. 18).

Francis (2006) discusses the sex/gender division by putting forward

two opposing perspectives: the determinist stance that sex equates to

―innate difference‖, and the social learning perspective that views

gender as ―socially constructed‖ (p. 8-11). Dillabough (2006) also

reviews the sex/gender debate, conveying that ―[t]hese distinctions

further clarified the importance of viewing gender as a relational

social construct which was ultimately more flexible than previously

understood within sex-role theory and sex as a highly deterministic

concept deriving from the biological sciences‖ (p. 48).

The present investigation into a group of Chinese students‘

educational experiences was very much informed by these theoretical

deliberations about sex and gender. In exploring whether gender-

based preconceptions exist in Chinese secondary schools, the study

also revealed if the Chinese students who participated in the study

perceived gender relations and roles from the gender difference

(biological/deterministic) stance or from the gender inequality (social

construction) position.

Gender as an Adjective

The concept of gender can be explored further with Unterhalter‘s

(2007) insightful three-pronged definition in which she classifies

gender as a noun, an adjective, and a verb. Here, gender as a noun

generally refers to ―the female‖ and the number of girls and boys

attending school or achieving certain grades. As a verb, gender is

explained as ―… a process of being or becoming ‗girl‘ or actions in

accordance with particular forms of masculinity‖ (p. 3). Gender as an

adjective, according to Unterhalter, ―…entails looking at gendered

relations within schools, households, and the broader political

economy‖ (ibid).

Gender Equality and Education

64

Phenomenology

The thesis employed a third theoretical perspective, that of

phenomenology. It contended that the phenomenon of gender

inequality in China‘s education sector cannot be truly comprehended

without closely examining how students experience gendered relations

and expectations in schools, and how they construct their gender role

beliefs in the educational setting. It investigated the ways in which

gendering of learning content, tracking or streaming of students into

gendered subjects, as well as gendered school dynamics help to shape

gender identities, further suggesting that gender inequality is

institutionalized and perpetuated through such gender differentiation

in schools. By applying the sociological discipline of phenomenology

and George Herbert Mead‘s concept of ―Self‖, the construction of

female and male identities and how individuals perceive their social

reality was explored.

According to Mead, there is within the ―Self‖ a distinction

between the ―I‖ and the ―Me‖, a concept that is explained by Calhoun

et al. (2007a) as follows: ―Mead argued that a person‘s self is

composed of a part that is unique and spontaneous (what he called the

‗I‘) and a part that comes from the internalized expectations of society

(the ‗Me‘)‖ (p. 277). Applied to the educational context, it can be said

that girls and boys possess within themselves two identities: the

distinct ―I‖ which sets them apart from other individuals, and the

socialized ―Me‖ which is a reflection of the social reality (for

example, the school) in which they are part of.

III. Methodology

Research Design

The research study entailed the collection of qualitative data within

the conceptual frameworks of gender and development, feminist

theory and phenomenology. Several factors contributed to the choice

of qualitative research as the appropriate strategy to tackle the

research question set forth, including the emphasis it places on

understanding meanings of social phenomena as constructed by the

individuals being studied; its association with feminist sensitivities;

and its inductive approach wherein theories or general conclusions are

generated by observations and findings.

Keeping in line with the GAD approach and its premise that

gender roles are socially constructed, the study took a constructionist

Patsy Kng

65

ontological position: attitudes towards gender roles and the meanings

of these concepts are seen as being continually fashioned and moulded

by people rather than being independent of them. Following on from

this ontological stance, the study was underpinned by the interpretivist

epistemological position, which Bryman (2004) explains as the

postulation that ―…the subject matter of the social sciences – people

and their institutions – is fundamentally different from that of the

natural sciences‖ (p. 13). The researcher does not believe that methods

of studying natural sciences can be applied to a study of people and

their social reality.

Credibility and internal reliability of the study were addressed

by recording and storing interview data mechanically, and employing

the research participants‘ actual words as much as possible in the

research findings. This process is known as using ―low-inference

descriptors‖ which, according to Seale (1999), ―…involves recording

observations in terms that are as concrete as possible, including

verbatim accounts of what people say, for example, rather than

researchers‘ reconstructions of the general sense of what a person said,

which would allow researchers‘ personal perspectives to influence the

reporting‖ (p. 148).

Semi-Structured Interviewing

The study utilized the semi-structured form of qualitative interviewing

for data collection. The interviews were conducted face-to-face with

the aid of an interview guide in private rooms at the Institute of

International Education (IIE) and at Stockholm University (SU) Main

Library, enabling a quiet, personal and accessible setting for the

participants to feel more comfortable and uninhibited. A recording

device was used, with the participants‘ consent, for storage and later

transcription of the interviews as well as for ensuring that participants‘

responses were captured in their own words. As mentioned earlier,

this method was chosen to enhance credibility and reliability of the

study. Seale (1999) states: ―…mechanical recording is another means

for describing data while inferring as little as possible about its

potential meanings‖ (p. 148).

Sampling Strategy

With the help of SU‘s Chinese Student Union, the researcher was able

to recruit ten students (five female and five male) from China who

were willing to share their stories. Selection of the interview

participants was based on purposive sampling, in which

Gender Equality and Education

66

―…researchers handpick the cases to be included in the sample on the

basis of their judgment of their typicality or possession of the

particular characteristics being sought‖ (Cohen, Manion and

Morrison, 2007, p.114). The characteristics in question were: having

grown up in China; an educational background in China; being

physically located in Stockholm; and being willing to discuss their

personal lives and viewpoints. The research participants were all

assured of their anonymity in the dissertation.

Description of Research Participants

All of the research participants were born and pursued their secondary

schooling in China. At the time of the study in January 2010, all were

members of SU‘s Chinese Student Union. With the exception of

Guowei who was studying at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) /

Royal Institute of Technology, all were pursuing their studies at SU.

The group, aged between 22 and 30 years, included one undergraduate

student at the Bachelor‘s level (in English Literature) and nine

postgraduate students at the Master‘s and PhD levels. Seven

participants (including all female) were pursuing studies within the

Faculties of Social Science, Humanities and Law, while three (all

male) were studying within Faculties of Science.

The participants came from all parts of China: from Jilin

Province in the north to Hainan Province in the south, and from

Shanghai in the east to Shaanxi in central China. When asked to

categorize their hometowns in China (specifically, where they were

born and spent their childhoods) as ―the countryside‖, ―small town‖ or

―big city‖, seven described their native homes as ―cities‖, two as ―the

countryside‖ and one as a ―small town‖. All five female participants

came from cities, whilst two of the five male participants came from

rural China. Of the five female participants, four are the only children

in their families, whilst two out of the five male participants are the

only children.

Although the study did not seek to generalize findings due to the

small, non-random sample, it can be said that there is variety and

diversity to some degree within the sample and that one can grasp an

idea of several shared educational experiences of some Chinese

students.

IV. Data Analysis

Data analysis for the study was conducted during the data collection

process as well as after. Topics and issues which arose provided the

Patsy Kng

67

researcher with new angles to pursue and the process was what

Merriam (1998) described as ―recursive and dynamic‖ (p. 155). The

interviews were interpreted using the narrative analysis approach,

which was selected for the importance it places on stories that

research participants tell. Narrative analysis is understood as ―…a

term that covers quite a wide variety of approaches that are concerned

with the search for and analysis of the stories that people employ to

understand their lives and the world around them‖ (Bryman, 2004, p.

412). Categorization of emergent themes was conducted based on

thematic analysis, one of four models of narrative analysis presented

by Riessman (2005) which focuses on the content of what research

participants said. The use of codes was not employed in organizing

and analyzing the data, but rather, thematic categories.

V. The Chinese Context

Outline of China‟s Present-Day Education System

Education in China is state-run and based on a nine-year compulsory

education system. Adopted in 1986, the Compulsory Education Law

guarantees every school-aged child of Chinese nationality access to

free primary education and the first three years of secondary education

(junior middle school for children aged 12 to 14). China‘s education

system is intricate and still undergoing reform. However, to give the

big picture, it is comprised of three main categories: basic education,

higher education and adult education (China Education and Research

Network, 2010).

Secondary education was the focus of the study. It is composed

of two parts: junior middle school (three years and compulsory) and

senior middle school (three years and not compulsory). Students who

complete junior middle school have the option to enter into general

academic senior middle school or specialized vocational and

professional schools. Senior middle school students are required to

choose between the science and arts track, in preparation for national

college entrance examinations which are divided into science and arts

forms.

Overview of China‟s Educational Policies and Reforms on Gender

Equality

A review of some of the key laws and policies implemented in China

since the country proclaimed itself ―New China‖ in 1949 was

conducted, indicating an impressive push for gender equality in all

Gender Equality and Education

68

facets of Chinese life – including that of education. Recent data for

school year ending in 2008 from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics

(2010a) show that female teachers accounted for 43% of teaching staff

in China, and that gender parity was achieved in literacy rates for both

adults and youth with GPIs of 0.94 and 1.00 respectively. According

to the World Economic Forum‘s (2010) Global Gender Gap Report

2010, China ranked 61st place out of 134 countries surveyed, as

compared to India, for example, which took the position of 112th

place.

The degree to which reality matches policy and rhetoric is, as

pointed out before, open to debate. It is hoped that the insights derived

from the research participants‘ narratives would offer a glimpse of

some of the actualities of gender relations and perceptions in the

Chinese context and, in turn, support policymakers and civil society in

their continued strive for gender equality in China.

Traditional Gender Ideologies in China

The Chinese government is dedicated to eliminating gender inequality

through the ratification and implementation of wide-ranging laws and

policies, and as a result, women‘s positions in society have greatly

improved. However, deeply-rooted cultural and traditional ideologies

favouring males continue to persist. The philosophies of Confucius,

for one, continue to influence Chinese society and gender relations,

even after 2,500 years since his death. Amongst his many teachings,

the most pertinent one in the current context is his representation of

women as subordinate to men. Confucian writings advocated that

women were inferior to men; that a good woman was one who served

her husband and whose only purpose in life was to perform

housework and produce male offspring.

Patriarchal values and norms stemming from China‘s long

feudal history still linger, particularly in rural China. During the feudal

era, women were forbidden to own private property or work for pay

outside of the home, and were economically dependent on the men in

their families. As a result, sons were favoured in order to continue

land ownership and family lines. The present study looked at whether

such deeply entrenched male-centred ideologies and values were

present in the educational experiences of a group of Chinese students

and how they are understood by the students themselves.

Patsy Kng

69

VI. Research Findings: Presentation and Discussion

With the overarching research question of whether gender-based

differential treatment and partiality existed in the secondary schooling

experiences of a group of Chinese students in mind, the following four

key themes emerged during analysis of the participants‘ interview

responses: 1) division of academic fields of study into ―girl subjects‖

and ―boy subjects‖; 2) separation of female and male students in PE

classes and playtime; 3) differential treatment of female and male

students by teachers; and 4) difference in parental attitudes and

expectations for sons and daughters.

Gendered Fields of Academic Study and Career Choices

Of the ten students interviewed, all five female participants were

pursuing graduate studies in the social science and humanities

academic fields, whilst three out of the five male participants were

studying in the science and technology sectors. This is perhaps not a

surprising finding, given the much discussed global phenomenon of

more males pursuing studies and careers in scientific and

technological disciplines than females. The focus here, rather, was on

what the students thought of the fact that (whether of their own

accords or influenced by parents) more boys are opting to study

science and technology subjects and more girls are preferring social

sciences and humanities.

In listening to their stories, it was revealed that almost all of the

participants held the shared belief that boys are inherently better at,

more suitable for, or prefer the natural sciences whilst girls are better

performing in, or better suited for the arts and social sciences. The

female participants tended to link the disparity in terms of

performance and preference, while the male participants associated it

with the gendering of career choices. Statements expressed in the

interviews indicating that girls are less suited for careers involving

physical strength and working outdoors point to gender difference

lines of thinking on some of the research participants‘ part, in which

differences between men and women are linked to biology and social

expectations.

Gendered Physical Education and Playtime

The analysis of the participants‘ responses revealed gender-based

preconceptions in the area of PE. Although not all participants

reported institutional separation of female and male students in PE

classes, all differentiated between ―girl sports‖ and ―boy sports‖ either

Gender Equality and Education

70

during class time or free playtime. According to the majority of the

participants in the study, ―girl sports‖ included skipping, gymnastics,

badminton and table tennis. Boys, on the other hand, were mostly

associated with football and basketball. When asked what they

thought of the gendering of sports and PE, almost all participants

(both male and female) agreed that it was accepted and ―natural‖ for

girls and boys to do different sports. Several of the female participants

voiced the opinion that sports like basketball was too vigorous for

girls.

In addition to the view that certain sports were too physically

demanding for girls, some of the participants pointed to the ingraining

of cultural beliefs or socialization of students into what constitutes

―girl sports‖ and ―boy sports‖. One of the most prominent themes to

emerge from the interviews was the belief that it is ―natural‖ to

separate girls and boys in physical education classes due to their

biological and physical differences. This commonly shared perception

of boys being physically stronger than girls is very much in line with

gender difference ideology and the biology vs. social attribution

debate often discussed in feminist discourse.

Throughout the interviews, both female and male participants

expressed an acceptance and internalization of the belief that sports

and PE classes should be gendered. The majority of the research

participants did not seem to question it – that it just ―made sense‖ or

that it was ―natural‖ – reflecting an ―institutionalization‖ of PE as a

gendered educational arena. Berger and Luckmann (2007) state: ―The

typifications of habitualized actions that constitute institutions are

always shared ones. They are available to all the members of the

particular social group in question, and the institution itself typifies

individual actors as well as individual actions. The institution posits

that actions of type X will be performed by actors of type X‖ (p. 44).

Applied to the present study, it can be said that both male and female

research participants shared the belief that actions of the female ―type‖

should be performed by girls, and that actions of the male ―type‖

should be performed by boys.

Gendered Teachers‟ Perceptions and Treatment

Teachers‘ differential treatment of students and their preconceptions

of girls‘ and boys‘ abilities further contributed to the gendered

educational experiences of the research participants in the study.

According to Blumberg (2007), ―[t]eachers also propagate

stereotypes‖. Citing a 2003 study of science teachers by Song, the

Patsy Kng

71

author explains: ―Fully 71 percent of teachers who read a description

of a student with a male name rated him as a good science student,

whereas, when the same description was used but the student was

given a female name, only 20 percent of teachers rated her as a good.

Such gendered attitudes of teachers were manifested in the

grading of examinations, as revealed by a female research participant,

who recalled boys being given preferential treatment and higher

examination grades, even if their answers to examination questions

were on par with the girls‘. When probed further as to why she

thought the teachers in her class preferred boys, she suggested that

perhaps because there were so few boys, it was easier for them to

capture the teachers‘ attention – especially female teachers.

A further example of teachers treating the students based on their

perceptions of students‘ inherent characteristics was in the selection of

class monitors (banzhang) – students who are chosen by teachers to

assist them in classroom activities. In one female participant‘s class,

the selection of monitors reinforced the association of humanities

subjects with girls and mathematics with boys. She told the

researcher:

―Yeah, um, for each class you need to choose one student

to be representative? For maths class, yeah, must be a

boy. Never girls... never be. But for Chinese and English,

yeah, always girls. Yeah, always girls (laughs).‖

The belief that it is ―natural‖ to polarize boys and girls based on their

different biological traits and physical attributes was a common theme

throughout the research findings, and could be seen further in several

narratives of physical separation in the classroom seating of boys and

girls by teachers. Gender-based differentiation of physical attributes of

girls and boys – as explored earlier in the gendering of PE – was also

evident in the way teachers assigned classroom tasks. For example,

girls were asked to perform tasks such as decorating and cleaning

classrooms, and boys with manual work such as carrying water

bottles. Such interview responses are deemed to be good examples of

gendered teacher-student interactions, as they illustrate how gender

typecasting and preconceptions are evident in the way teachers

interact with and treat female and male students differently, based on

perceived differences in inherent academic inclinations, personality,

and physical attributes. They also demonstrate how gender identities

can be shaped and formed through social behaviours and relations in

schools. Recalling Mead‘s (2007) concept of ―Self‖ and Paechter‘s

Gender Equality and Education

72

(2007) expression of the ―learning of masculinities and femininities‖,

it can be said that the research participants have developed and learned

what it means to be ―male‖ and ―female‖ from their social reality of

gendered teacher and classroom interactions, and that schools are a

vehicle for perpetuating gender difference ideology and inequality.

Gendered Parental and Social Attitudes

The research participants‘ narratives also exposed gendered

preconceptions about education both in the homes and society at large.

Several of the participants voiced the parental and social belief that

women do not require higher education and that, in fact, higher

education was seen as a negative factor, particularly in relation to

women‘s marital chances. The belief that pursuing higher education

jeopardizes a woman‘s marital prospects and that these prospects

diminish with age was shared and described by several of the research

participants. The responses revealed how the Chinese students who

participated in the study were confronted with deeply entrenched

social and traditional values above those experienced in schools. They

illustrated how women are still socially perceived as better suited for

marriage and family than careers, or as ―weaker‖ than men and

needing the ―protection‖ of fathers and husbands. Furthermore, these

findings suggest that although schools are arenas for the perpetuation

of gender inequality, they cannot be held solely responsible for the

construction of the research participants‘ gendered social reality.

Deeply embedded traditional values which have evolved from China‘s

extensive history must be brought to light and addressed.

VII. Conclusion

Beyond parity is gender equality, subtler and harder to

achieve (UNESCO, 2007, p. 85).

The Chinese government has shown its commitment to improving

women‘s social status through the implementation and ratification of

extensive gender equity policies and programs. The success of these

policy implementations can be seen in the country‘s education sector,

particularly with its attainment of gender parity in primary, secondary

and tertiary education and literacy rates, as well as its commendable

ranking on the World Economic Forum‘s Global Gender Gap Report

2010. Nevertheless, according to civil society and public discourse on

both international and Chinese fronts, traditional gender ideologies

persist and inequities remain a persistent social ill which not only

Patsy Kng

73

represent a significant obstacle to greater gender equality but, it is

argued here, they are being perpetuated by gendered learning and

social environments.

Aided by the nuances of what defines ―gender equality‖ offered

by USAID‘s Gender Equality Framework, it is posited that gender

equality means more than gender parity and equity measures of

boosting girls‘ access to compulsory education, educational

achievements or literacy rates. Inequality cannot be eradicated without

first unravelling the source of gendered preconceptions through an

understanding of how girls and boys construct their gender identities

(in essence, how they learn to be girls and boys), and secondly how

policymakers perceive the phenomenon of gender inequality in

education.

The study revealed that gender-based differential treatment and

partiality for males were present in the educational experiences of a

group of Chinese students, through gendered fields of academic study

and career choices; separation of PE and other classroom activities;

gendered teachers‘ perceptions and treatment of students; and

gendered parental and social attitudes. It also unearthed a social

construction of gender identities in line with the gender difference

belief that students are inherently predisposed to excel at certain

subjects based on their sex; that boys are stronger than girls based on

physical and biological differences between the sexes; and that it is

―natural‖ to hold these perceptions.

To achieve true gender equality in education – beyond parity and

equity – it is critical to consider the ways in which policymakers and

politicians acknowledge and problematize gender inequality as a

social phenomenon, as well as to acknowledge it as a societal

problem. Perhaps a shift in focus is needed from gender difference

explanations and WID policy approaches to gender inequality and

GAD stances, and from a preoccupation with policy and rhetoric to a

phenomenological approach of comprehending how gender identities

are socially constructed in schools and homes.

Recommendations for Future Research

Although a small, non-generalizable cohort of research participants

were sampled for the study, it is believed that their stories and

experiences shed valuable light on the issue of gender inequality and

education in China (especially given limited empirical research on

gender relations and individuals‘ perceptions in the Chinese context).

The themes which emerged from the findings point to several

Gender Equality and Education

74

challenges in combating gender inequities and warrant further

investigation of a wider scope, involving a larger sample size in

China.

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Wen Zhang

77

Education and Rural Development:

A Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training

Programs in Yunnan Province of China

Wen Zhang

I. Introduction

For the next two decades, it is estimated that the majority of the

population living in developing countries will continue to be rural.

This is even more the case for the least developed countries where

rural people will exceed 55 percent of the total population in 2030

(IFAD, 2010). Whilst this large proportion of world‘s population are

often neglected in the development framework, widening gaps

between urban and rural areas in terms of income, welfare, resources

and educational status are to be found in most developing countries.

This implies that the development challenge of these nations will still

be related to rural trends and conditions.

As one of the essential parts of Education for All (EFA),

education for rural people is not new. Previous focus of rural

education was given to providing basic education to all since the

declaration of EFA. However, as stated by Chinapah (2010) at the

International Symposium of Education for Rural Transformation

(ERT), ―the dynamics of rural transformation in the ‗globalized‘ world

has created new educational imperatives that call for a re-evaluation of

present educational policies and priorities and the re-examination of

the role of education and learning (formal, non-formal and informal)

for rural people from rather new perspectives‖ (p.1), there is an urgent

need for rethinking education for rural contexts. The role of education

should be reinforced in tackling problems of today‘s world – such as

poverty alleviation, pursuing sustainable development, ensuring food

security and cultivating the culture of peace and tolerance (Manzoor,

2010).

Re-examining education in rural areas requires first reviewing

the characteristics of the rural sector, and then considering the position

of education in the current rural development debate (FAO&

UNESCO, 2002). Non-formal education (NFE) which was formerly

perceived as a second choice compared to formal education, with its

merits of diversity and flexibility, then become popular within

assistance projects, especially in those for comprehensive rural

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

78

development. There are various kinds of NFE which can be utilized,

while the acquisitions of literacy and numeracy as well as practical

technical and vocational skills are centrally positioned. One single

type of education can neither meet diversified learning needs of rural

people nor to cope with the changing situation. In an environment

increasingly shaped by non-farming activities, and in a policy context

dominated by the poverty reduction agenda, education for rural

development requires a holistic approach going beyond the narrow

boundaries of the traditional education and training.

In China, around 900 million people live in rural area. As a

result, rural development has always been the first priority of the

country. Particularly with economic and social development, changing

industrial structure and rapid urbanization, rural China is experiencing

dynamic changes. On one hand, agricultural industry needs productive

workforce equipped with modern agro-technology, on the other hand,

huge amounts of surplus labour force are migrating from rural to

urban areas and seek to work in non-agriculture industries. Also it is

essential for reaching the most disadvantaged groups in remote rural

areas for reducing disparities between urban and rural area. Then,

education and training for rural people stands out as a core for tackling

comprehensive development of rural residence, villages and

agriculture industry. Firstly, 9-year-compulsory tuition- free education

was regulated since 1986. Favourable policies were continuously

imposed in rural area for ensuring access to basic education. Also, in

coping with the complex reality in rural areas, central government has

financed and launched various kinds of programs to help rural people

deal with the social change. Local community also actively initiated

many programs to empower themselves.

Previous research about rural education, for example, studies

done by McClymont (1975), Khan (2006) and a series of study on

higher education for rural development and poverty alleviation by

IIEP have focus on the influence of formal system for rural people.

Research conducted by Reinhold (1993), Amedzro (2005), etc. mainly

concerned with single innovation or program, little study explores the

overall situation of non-formal education. This study, by analyzing the

national context of China at macro level and in-depth through a

comparative study of two cases, aims to investigate the role of non-

formal education in the process of rural development and how tailor-

made non-formal programs planned were implemented in order to

meet different learning needs.

Wen Zhang

79

II. Conceptual framework

The role of education

In most modern societies, education is considered as a key instrument

of social purpose. On the one hand, education is expected to maintain

traditions; on the other hand, it is expected to promote political,

economic, and social development.

Educational institutions are generally considered to be highly

conservative because one of the primary effects of formal educational

systems is cultural reproduction. This process of socialization is

conservative in that it preserves current cultural patterns and

discourages deviation from them (Parelius, 1987). The concept of

education as an agent of cultural reproduction is less directly

explained by the material and a subject, but rather more so through

what is known as the ―Hidden curriculum‖

3

. Through this

socialization process, one acquires the ‗appropriate attitudes and

values‘ needed to further succeed within education and society. Via

transmission of knowledge, values, attitudes, perceptions, and

behaviour patterns from one generation to the next, mainstream

culture is legitimated and perpetuated. One of the pioneer scholars on

cultural reproduction, Bourdieu argued that the education system was

used solely to ‗reproduce‘ the culture of the dominant class in order

for the dominant class to continue to be in power. According to

Bourdieu, inequalities are recycled through the education system and

other social institutions (Bourdieu, 1977). Only those members of the

dominant culture can acquire knowledge in relation to the way it is

taught within this cultural system. Therefore, those who are not

members of the dominant culture are at a disadvantage in receiving

cultural information, and therefore will remain at a disadvantage.

Although education often functions to stabilize and maintain the

status quo, it can also promote social change and development in a

number of ways. At least, schools modify the content of their curricula

so that they reflect new scientific and technological advances.

Changing norms and beliefs might also be incorporated so that each

succeeding generation learns something new accordingly. In addition,

education can promote the critical analysis of traditional institutions.

Education institutions, especially colleges and universities, are

expected to be centres of research and development. The newest ideas

3

The ―hidden curriculum‖ is a term to use to describe the unwritten social rules and expectations of

behavior that we all seem to know, but were never taught (Bieber, 1994).

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

80

often come from educational institutions, especially from higher

education. For instance, during periods of rapid industrialization and

modernization, education has been used to teach new values, such as

achievement, competition, and instrumental activism, and new habits,

such as saving and punctuality, in order to facilitate economic

development (Parelius, 1987). Some argue that expansion of education

can help to reduce social inequalities and contribute to greater social

mobility. As in modern societies, education qualifications have

become an increasingly important factor in the labour market and also

in determining social class position of people (Iannelli & Paterson,

2005). Therefore, education can both modify and transform traditional

socioeconomic hierarchies.

The link between educational credentials and occupational

placement highlights another function of education, which is selection

and allocation of individuals for various positions in society. As stated

by Hirsch (2000), education is in its economical function the filter and

factory. This point of view is also supported by consensus and conflict

theorists. They agree that a primary function of educational

institutions is to prepare youth for productive employment. This

involves developing not only technical skills but also moral values and

attitudes. There is a broad correspondence between the needs of the

economic sector for particular types of workers and the training

provided by the schools. However, it is important to note that

economic development is a dynamic process. At one stage of

development, a large number of relatively unskilled labour forces

would be most useful; at another stage, a highly differentiated and

technologically sophisticated workforce would be more appropriate

(Parelius, 1987). If educational institutions are to supply a continuous

stream of suitable workers to facilitate economic development, those

educational institutions will also have to change and be more

responsive to learning needs.

Education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social

development. Following Kant‘s philosophy, the ultimate goal of

education is to reach the perfection of each individual which he is

capable of. In the 1960s, Schultz wrote that investment in education

and skill formation was as significant factor in economic growth as an

investment in physical capital. He saw that the quality of the

workforce was a variable element in the economy and could be

improved to increase the human variable in the economic equation,

and therefore increase productivity. Efforts to promote investment in

human capital were seen to result in rapid economic growth for

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81

society (Olaniyan & Okemakinde, 2008). The social and economic

development of nations is fundamentally an education process in

which people learns to create new institutions, utilize new

technologies, cope with their environment, and alter their patterns of

behaviour. Education in a broad sense improves the capabilities of

individuals and the capacity of institutions, and becomes a catalyst for

the closely interrelated economic, social, cultural, and demographic

changes that become defined as national development.

As Becker (2006) mentioned, this is the ‗age of human capital‘

in the sense that human capital is by far the most important form of

capital in modern economies. The economic success of individuals,

and the whole economies, depends on how extensively and effectively

people invest in themselves. That is to say, in order to achieve

economic growth and social development in this knowledge-driven

society, it is critical to improve the quality of a nation‘s workforce.

When it comes to the quality of a workforce, there are two factors

involved. One is labour productivity which refers to the value of the

goods and services produced by a worker. The second is the flexibility

of the labour force, or the ability of workers to move across sectors of

the economy and between industries as the structure of the economy

changes. The higher a country‘s labour productivity and the more

flexible its workforce, the better able that country is to acquire and

adapt the technology needed to produce better quality goods and

services at lower cost and to shift the structure of production to new

markets and products(World Bank, 1993). Thus, to come back to

human capital theory, countries need to invest more on education and

training so as to improve the quality of workforce if they are to

compete successfully in an era of rapid economic and technological

change.

The changing rural scenario

More than half of the world‘s population, and more than 70 percent of

the world‘s poor are to be found in rural areas where hunger, literacy

and low school achievement are common(FAO& UNESCO, 2002).

Rural people have often been referred to as a ―neglected majority‖ in

development processes. Sustainable development cannot be achieved

unless rural people are fully engaged in the design and implementation

of programs aimed at improving rural livelihoods. Until the needs of

rural people are fully addressed, this sector will continue to be a drag

on any national and international efforts to reduce poverty and to

alleviate hunger.

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

82

When tackling the issue of rural development, one has to bear in

mind that the term connotes overall development of rural areas with a

view to improve the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it is a

comprehensive and multidimensional concept, and encompasses the

development of agriculture and village and above all, the human

resources in rural areas. As Singh (2009) stated, rural development

can be conceptualized as a process, a phenomenon, a strategy and a

discipline. As a process, it indicates the engagement of individuals,

communities and nations in pursuing their cherished goals over time.

As a phenomenon, rural development is the result of interactions

among various physical, technological, economic, socio-cultural and

institutional factors. As a strategy, it is designed to improve the

economic and social well-being of the rural people. As a discipline, it

is multidisciplinary in nature overlapping agricultural, social,

behavioural, engineering and management sciences. In short, rural

development encompasses agriculture, education, infrastructure, and

health, capacity-building for other than on-farm employment, rural

institutions and the needs of vulnerable groups. Rural development

aims at improving rural people‘s livelihoods in an equitable and

sustainable manner, both socially and environmentally, through better

access to assets (natural, physical, human, technological, and social

capital), and services, and control over productive capital (in its

financial or economic and political forms), that enable them to

improve their livelihoods on a sustainable and equitable basis (FAO &

IIEP, 2003).

Empirical evidence has shown that rural areas in developing

countries are experiencing dramatic changes brought by

modernization. Growing urbanization, as reflected in the increasing

proportion of the urban population or reclassification of rural places,

is one of the consequences of the development process in rural areas.

Urbanization is result from growing concentration of infrastructure

and capital intensive industrial enterprises in urban centre. This type

of concentration has resulted in the existence of what is known as

‗dualism‘ -coexistence of two separate economic subsystems in an

economy. On the one hand, there exists a small but highly modern and

developed urban subsector in the economy, which absorbs most of the

material, financial, and educated and talented manpower resources. On

the other hand, there is a very large but traditional and underdeveloped

rural subsector, characterized by widespread poverty, unemployment

and low productivity, which forms the majority of the population

(Singh, 2009). Furthermore, expanding on the notion of a two-sector,

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83

―dual economy‖, Chenery and Syrquin (1975) showed that as a

country grows, the share of GDP derived from the agricultural sector

shrinks, while GDP from capital-intensive industries expands. For

macro level, the overall economy of a country develops and shifts

from agriculture to manufacturing and services, while for micro level,

rural households‘ participation in farm activities declines while

participation in non-agricultural activities intensifies(Winter et al,

2008). These changes imply change of needs in labour market and so

require re-consideration of education and training provided for rural

people.

Rural education

More and more, the basic problems of rural areas as well as their

solution seem to be essentially human. Indeed, the human resources of

the rural areas are seen as their greatest potential asset. Education

which supposed to bring out the potential of an individual is one of the

key elements for the service of rural development. Education and

training in the context of rural development needs to be linked to a

vigorous and effective policy for the development of agriculture, rural

crafts, and local industries. As commented by David Atchoarena

(2003), Senior Program Specialist at the UNESCO International

Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), ―Education for rural people

lies at the heart of rural development and this is fundamental for

reducing poverty worldwide.‖(p.234).That education contributes to

higher incomes is a well-established observation. While discourses on

poverty articulated during the last decade, including the concept of

―Human Development Index (HDI)‖ and capability deprivation have

brought the role of education into wider focus not just in its

instrumental role in alleviating poverty but also as a core constituent

of development and human well-being (Khan, 2010).

As discussed above, agricultural sector will shrinking and

technology development, there would be much surplus labour force

that has to enter into second or third industry. As households

accumulate education, they tend to adjust their allocation of time to

activities offering higher returns. Physically demanding, low

productivity, and low-paying agricultural work becomes less attractive

as individuals use their elevated levels of human capital to gain entry

into high-productivity, high-income occupations. If demand for skilled

workers in the non-agricultural industries is not great, workers often

take up part-time, high-productivity occupations or self-employment

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

84

professions. This may involve migration into urban centres if the

returns are high enough (Winter et al, 2008).

When it comes to education for rural people, there has been long

debate in terms of its curriculum and organization. Should urban and

rural schooling be different and to what extent urban and rural schools

can be substantially diverging from each other is an issue that has

been debated with a variable degree of intensity for well over a

century. Some stressed the necessity of providing basic education for

people in rural areas. Others argued that it is necessary to make

learning in rural areas more relevant to real life. Even where it can be

assumed that the rural areas are achieving some sort of parity in terms

of the allocation of educational resources, the point can still be made

that the kind of education provided is poorly adapted to rural needs.

Of course, it is in one sense true that schools were initially an urban

phenomenon and their curricula and activities reflect demands of the

urban environment. In effect, the major target population for

agricultural or rural education is not children but adults who are

already more or less committed to an agricultural or rural future.

Then, although it is reasonable to assume that formal schooling plays

some role in rural and agricultural development, it is quite apparent

that schooling alone is not likely to affect any major rural

transformation. Cooperation between all levels of government and

local agencies are highly important in the process of rural

development (Wilson, 1973). In fact, as long as well planned and

delivered, different forms of education all contribute to development

of individual in meeting different learning needs. If rural development

is to be achieved, all levels and forms of education should be fully

utilized and well connected.

Education for All (EFA)

Rural education is one important component of Education for All

(EFA). The EFA movement was initiated at the World Conference on

Education for All in 1990. Since then, governments, NGOs, and the

media have taken up the cause of providing basic education for all

children, youth and adults. In 1990, representatives from 155 countries

and 150 organizations assured to provide education for all by the year

2000 at the World Conference on Education for All. The intention was

that all children, youth and adults would benefit from educational

opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs.

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85

Beyond EFA

As pointed out by EFA assessment report, over-conservative systems

were out of touch with young people‘s needs

4

. Rural people and rural

areas are not homogeneous, and so for education to be relevant, it

needs to respond to the diversity of rural situations. It is clear that the

centralized planning apparatus in most countries simply cannot

develop effective programs for diverse rural population. Educational

activities have to be linked to the specific needs of the rural

community for skills and capacities to seize economic opportunities,

improve livelihood and enhance the quality of life. A multi-sectoral

educational approach involving all ages and formal, non-formal and

informal education is necessary.

NFE is a term that is often used with terms such as community

education, adult education, lifelong education and second chance

education. Non-formal education is defined as any organized and

systematic educational activity situated outside of the traditional

education system and aimed at providing certain types of education to

specific population groups, adults as well as children. One of the

objectives of non-formal education is to expand the learning

opportunities of children not enrolled in the traditional school system

and to meet the needs of the population more effectively. Thus,

previously, non-formal education has subject to criticism, in which

relating to its marginal status with respect to the formal education

system and to its low social status. For example, most children

enrolled in non-formal schools have no possibility of returning to the

formal school system. In addition, the Non-formal curriculum

generally does not lead to a diploma that affords access to the labour

market. For these reasons, in many cases people turn to non-formal

education not as a result of a real choice but owing to the impossibility

of gaining access to the education system. This phenomenon may

have reinforced the notion that non-formal education is ‗second-rate

education‘ attended only by the most disadvantaged groups, whose

future prospects remain limited. Whereas, the concept of NFE requires

be re-considerate. As in rural education, the multiplicity of forms and

the flexibility of non-formal education are major assets that promote

the adaptation of programs to various rural contexts. Depending on

country contexts, it may cover educational programs to impart adult

literacy, basic education for out-of-school children, programs like

4

Source: retrieved Nov.9, 2010, from http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

86

community learning centre (CLC) which provide life skills, work

skills, and general culture activities to local community.

There is general recognition that NFE delivery systems

servicing rural communities must be appropriate for the needs of the

individuals and the communities as a whole. As with curriculum,

delivery modes for NFE must be complementary to the needs of the

rural communities being serviced. What is most appropriate for one

country or one rural community may not be appropriate for another.

The extent of physical infrastructure development, the availability of

NFE facilities, the level of education achievement and the extent of

social and economic development of a community, as well as the

types of enterprises providing work opportunities, should all impact

on the decision as to the most effective delivery model. In all cases it

is crucial to take a team approach and to follow the principles of

active community involvement, relevance and flexibility of the

training program. Rural communities often can offer significant

human, material and intellectual resources. Once these resources are

mobilized and given adequate support and direction, rural

communities and their members can become both beneficiaries and

important actors in the provision of NFE and in the transformation of

the rural space. Non-formal education is not only an alternative means

to provide education to children and youth unable to attend school, but

also as part of providing youth and adults alike with lifelong

education. It is becoming popular to include non-formal education as a

component within assistance projects, especially in those for

comprehensive rural development. In such non-formal education, the

acquisition of literacy and numeracy as well as practical skills for

making a living are centrally positioned. The issue of education and

rural development is a recurrent theme. Throughout the world, a great

many projects and studies have been conducted with a view to enable

education to fully play its role in the agricultural and rural

development of developing countries. Current trends in the world such

as globalization of trade, rapid advancement of technologies,

urbanization in developing nations and migration of labour force

within and between countries have a significant impact on rural life.

NFE has long been considered a crucial means of providing competent

power of individual for socio-economic development in rural areas.

Facing the above mentioned changes in today‘s economic life,

however, a serious question has been raised, i.e.: how to deliver NFE

in an effective and efficient way in order to improve rural life and to

facilitate the process of development (IIEP& FAO, 2003).

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87

III. Method of the study

In this study, secondary analysis will be utilized in order to

comprehensively interpret the topic. This study tries to provide

holistic pictures of socio-economic and education status of

contemporary China and then goes in depth to two non-formal

educational programs to investigate the role of education in the rural

development process. Using secondary data is relatively inexpensive

in comparison to collecting one‘s own data and it is easy to acquire.

Also the breadth is one outstanding advantage of secondary data.

Secondary data can embrace a whole spectrum of empirical forms;

they can include data generated through systematic reviews, through

documentary analysis as well as the results from large-scale datasets

such as the National Census or international surveys. Secondary data

enables the research form extensive analysis on documentary, policies

and go in-depth into cases study. Besides, secondary data is often

generated by well-resourced teams that have access to specialists, so it

is of high quality and strong on external validity.

The data source in this research consists of two parts: the first

part is reports which provide information about contemporary China,

i.e. economic and social changes, rural transformation process,

policies that promotes rural development, etc.; the second part of the

dataset is reports about two cases which are selected for this study.

One is a national wide program called Sunshine Program which

provides training for people migrating from rural to urban areas, the

other one is one of the CLC. The data used in this study was originally

collected for interpretation of the rural development process and to

study education for rural people, etc. It basically falls in line with the

purpose of this study which is to provide overall picture of

contemporary China as macro background, and to investigate the role

of non-formal education in the rural development process within this

particular context. Whereas, this study went further by recoding and

re-analyzing different sources of data and pull them together in order

to answer the research question.

In order to understand and examine the processes of training

activities, case study method was chosen. This method enables the

research to go deeper into the complex real-life activities. Two

programs are selected for the case study. One is a national-wide

program called the Sunshine program which provides training for

people migrating from rural to urban areas; the other one is one of the

Community learning centres (CLCs) in Yunnan province. This study

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

88

Macro level: National Context

Micro

level

Case A

Micro

level

Case B

Comparison

chooses Yunnan office of Sunshine program for the purpose of

comparison. The same location of both cases confirms the same socio-

economic and cultural background and makes the comparison

feasible. Through comparison of differences and similarities of the

two non-formal programs, the research question of the study would be

better answered.

Rationale for choosing these two programs is because in spite of

the non-formal nature, these two programs are established under

different ideology principles and executed by different models.

―Sunshine‖ Program uses a top-down approach which is planned by

central government and implemented by local offices under the

guidelines. While the CLC can be seen as a bottom-up model that

values and utilizes the power of community.

To identify the role of education in the rural development

process, analytical framework was developed. For this study, analysis

will be formed at macro and micro level. At macro level, economic

status, educational situation and national policies will be analyzed.

National context serves as broader ground for understanding the

process of rural development, and then goes in depth to micro level

where two cases will be presented and analyzed. Figure 1 depicts the

logic model underlying the analytical framework.

Figure 1: Analytical Framework of the Study

IV. Findings and Discussion

Rural Scenario of China

In China, around 713 million people live in rural area (Han, 2010). As

a result, rural development has always been the first priority of the

country. As pointed out by Han (2010), the Minister of Agriculture in

the Central rural working conference, China has made considerable

progress in rural transformation in the duration of 11th Five-Year Plan

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89

(2006-2010). These positive outcomes include 1) the fundamental

position of agriculture has been strengthened, 2) agricultural

productivity has been significantly improved, 3) the process of

industry modernization progressing smoothly. However, accompanied

with rapid economic, social, demographic, cultural and political

changes domestically and internationally, there are still great

challenges that need to be addressed in promoting balanced and

sustainable development of rural China. Firstly, continually provide

adequate food for the large population and assure food security. It is

estimate that, during the period of 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015),

the urbanization rate will exceed 50%. In such rapid pace of

urbanization, continuing provide adequate food and ensure food

security is one of the most urgent challenges as less people working

on agriculture while more demand from urban areas. Secondly, the

growing income gap between urban and rural areas has increasingly

widened, reflecting growing discontent. Although income of rural

people increased 9.5% in 2007, the urban-rural income ratio reached

3.3:1- the largest gap of urban-rural income in the world (Cui, 2010).

Ge (2008) found out that China was still on the ascending side of

Kuznets‘ curve which implies the quicker the development, the higher

the inequality will be. Thirdly, in China, land holdings per household

are very small compare to other developing country like India and

other resources are extremely scarce. Effort has to be made to

establish welfare system and allocate more resources to rural areas to

attain a more equitable society. Finally, as continue- modernizing of

agriculture industry, there will be a huge amount of surplus labour

force. Provide proper training and create employment opportunities

for them should be seen as an important part of the transformation

equation (Huang, 2010). From 1983 to 2009, internal-migrants

increased from two million to 152 million. For those internal-

migrants, only 67% have basic education and 64.8% have no technical

and vocational training.

Policies for Rural Transformation

In 2006, the 11th 5-year Plan had specially designed a framework for

rural development and the concept of ―Building a new socialist

countryside‖ was initiated. As a strategic guidance, the concept of

―contracting new countryside‖ - incorporating development in

infrastructure, health, and education, socio-economic status and a

grassroots democratization process - leads all tasks (Guo, Yu, Todd,

Henehan, & Li, 2009). Activities that aim to promote rural

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

90

transformation and development were launched within this strategy.

Over these years, China‘s rural development policies mainly focus on

three aspects: 1) increase income of rural people; 2) building a new

socialist countryside; 3) narrow gaps between urban and rural area.

While in witnessing achievement and addressing new challenges, in

the period of 12thFive-Year (2010-2015), industrialization,

urbanization and agricultural modernization are perceived as one

integrated and interacted process. Focus should be given to accelerate

the transformation of agricultural, ensure national food security,

promotion of income increase of farmers and improving

comprehensive productivity, anti-risk capability and market

competitiveness of rural products. This proposed strategy pursuits not

only economic growth, but comprehensive, balanced and sustainable

development in political, cultural, social and ecological dimension

(Han, 2010).

Rural Education

In relation to the notion of ―building a new socialist countryside‖,

researchers in educational field initiated the concept of ―new rural

education‖ which composes of universalized compulsory education,

technical and vocational education with high relevance, and high

utility and efficiency adult education.

Researchers have found out that rural education in China has

three different functions. First, education for further education:

promote social mobility for rural youth. Second, education for

urbanization: training surplus rural labour force for non-agriculture

jobs. Third, education for agriculture advancement: cultivating human

resources for local community. However, the education system has

not been evenly developed in China for historical, geographical,

economic and policy reasons. Also the curricula in rural school lack of

relevance to local conditions which lead to no interests of students.

Poor quality of teachers and unqualified infrastructures still exist in

some remote and ethnic residence. Obviously, the task of ensuring the

access, quality and equity of education is a big challenge for the

government.

Comparative Case Study

Case A

Sunshine program is a technical and vocational training program

launched by central government. Its aim is to help rural people to get

employed in non-agricultural industries in urban areas through proper

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91

training. It is a national-wide pilot program which operates under

cooperation of Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry

of Labour and Social Security, Ministry of Education, Ministry of

Science and Technology and Ministry of Construction since 2004.

It is a typical top-down model where planning, implementation

and supervision of the program are strictly controlled by national

office. Trainees‘ voices cannot be heard and they have no chance of

participating but accept the training program. But, as Sunshine

program is carried out by central government, its breadth spreads to

the whole country. And the mission is imperative to local government

which expands access of learning opportunities to rural people. The

national office, by judging funding, labour force and employment

situations of different provinces, determines the training task the

number of rural people that need to be trained during a period of time.

Then, local offices take the responsibilities of planning and

implementing a specific program in order to meet the assignment.

Through public bidding, training institutions are chosen. According to

the ―Provisions of Management of Sunshine Program (For Trial

Implementation)‖, the training institutions have to fulfil the following

conditions to be legitimate: 1) an independent legal representative and

qualification for vocational education and training; 2) qualified

infrastructures and teaching staffs for required training; 3) has well-

established contact with labour market as to facilitate employment of

trainees; 4) familiar with education and training for rural people and

has good outcomes from previous training; 5) geographically close to

the targeted training population. The training unit has to provide

detailed report about the specific program in terms of training subject,

time duration, number of trainees, employment possibilities and

tuition fees to local office to be approved. Once the application has

been accepted, it will be reported to the national office. The local

office is also requested to provide quarterly progress report of the

program to the national office for quality control.

As the goal of Sunshine program is to provide vocational

training for rural migrants, data about outcomes are mainly about the

quantity of trainees. Take the year 2008 for example, the result of the

program are shown in Table 1. As we can see, the number of training

increases from month to month, and more and more trainees get

employed after completion of the program. However, due to lack of

data (there is only one year of intact data of outcomes), it is fair to say

that Sunshine program contributes to cultivating human resources and

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

92

raising employability of rural people. However, to what extend and

scope education helps in the changing process is not so clear.

Table 1: Outcome of Sunshine Program in Yunnan 2008

Yunnan

Province

Number of

students who

complete the

training

program

Number of

students who

get

employment in

non-agriculture

industries

Completion of

the training

mission (%)

Jan.-Jun.

21000

18000

23.33%

Jul.

29347

27590

32.61%

Aug.

37421

34851

41.58%

Sept.

53433

49675

59.37%

Oct.

67499

63032

75.00%

Nov.

84984

78744

94.43%

Case B

A CLCis a local education institution outside the formal education

system, usually set up and managed by local people to provide various

learning opportunities for community development and improvement

of people‘s quality of life (IIEP, 2006). In order to explore a way that

fully utilizes the power of schools and local community as to promote

socio-economic development and empowering rural people, a CLC is

an exploratory program was found in 2001 in Liushao County and

Lianhe County (both are minority group residence) of Yunnan

province. Through seven years of practice and investigation, the CLC

which composes of four pillars in structure, namely, a training centre,

a library, a development centre and a cultural activity centre is well

functioning. The idea of participatory- learning and closer links

between schools, community and society seem to resulting in a clear

comprehensive benefits and positive social response.

The CLC is rather a bottom-up model, where trainees from local

community establish the training centre by themselves and they can be

involved in the implementing phase. The principle of CLC is

empowering people which not only focus on income generating or

skill development but the well-rounded development of human

resources.

The CLC is designed by a research group of Yunnan Normal

University. According to education and social situation of Liushao

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93

County and Lianhe County, a specified local model was adopted.

School is the core operator, local government provides support and

higher education institutions provide research guidance in organizing

different training activities. The CLC was directly established by local

primary schools and community committees, aiming at fulfil learning

needs of teachers, students, parents and villagers of the county. In this

unique case, four different pillars- a training centre, a library, a

development centre and a cultural activity centre constitute the CLC.

The four parts on one hand has comparatively different and

independent functions; on the other hand, however, serve a shared

goal, which is to improve overall quality of human resource, facilitate

economic growth as well as preserve and promote minority cultural

heritage in the area. The training centre provides three kinds of

training: firstly, training for rural teachers; secondly, training for the

whole community member (includes literacy, numeracy, basic

knowledge and etc.); and finally, training and promoting modern agro-

technologies. The library was found in 2005 in order to enrich

knowledge and spiritual world of local people. The development

centre which serves as a platform, not only offers opportunity for

trainees to apply knowledge learnt from the CLC in practice, but also

generates incomes during study-work activities. New and advanced

agro-technologies are also demonstrated and promoted by the

development centre. The cultural activity centre of the CLC is a

unique unit compares to other CLCs. As located in minority group

residence, preserves and promotes culture of the ethnic group is one of

the functions of the CLC. Via the addition of traditional cultural

knowledge into textbooks as well as holding various kinds of

traditional culture activities, trainees are supposed to confirm and be

proud of their ethnic identity.

Since setting up of the CLC, the training centre successively

carried out a variety of training activities. Around 1500 people

benefited from education and training provided by the centre. The

training not merely raises human capital of trainees, but also improves

their understanding of the rural development process and institutional

changes in education. The library enriches spiritual life of training

recipients, and strengthens their connection with outside world.

Moreover, the CLC also took advantage of geographic condition in

Liushao and Lianhe County, as a potato growing laboratory was

established, through four years of research and practice, growing

potatoes have become a competitive industry for those two counties.

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

94

Besides, numerous cultural promotion activities have also enhanced

respect of ethnic group culture.

Comparison of the Two Programs

Firstly, the two programs are compared from aspects of background,

program content, aim and goals, implementation and outcomes to

grasp the overall situation as demonstrated in Table 2.

Table 2: Comparison of Sunshine Program and CLC

Case A

Sunshine Program

Case B

Community Learning Centre

Background

1) 85% of literate adult in Yunnan, Primary school enrolment rate is 99.6%;

2) Needs for income generating; low quality of labour force; disadvantaged

ethnic group; the industrial structure changed as raising the proportion of

secondary and tertiary industry, and improving product quality of primary

industry; a large number of surplus labour force.

Introduction of the

Project

Time span: 2003-now

Time span: 2001-now

Place: Yunnan province

(Liushao County and Lianhe County)

 Launched by central

government.

 Local offices operate program

under instruction of national office.

 Technical vocational education

and training. Training provider is

determined by public bidding.

 Period progress report is

required due to quality control reason.

 Launched by research team of

Yunnan Normal University.

Operated by local schools and

community committee, supported by

local government.

 Four different pillars- a

training centre, a library, a

development centre and a cultural

activity centre constitute the CLC.

 Progress report delivered to

National Office for Education

Sciences Planning in 2008.

Purposes and Goals

Short-term vocational training, aiming

at developing a national-wide training

system for surplus rural labour to

transfer to non-agricultural industries.

Aims at empowering rural people,

cultivating human resources and

promoting ethnic culture.

Implementing Model

 Top-down model, guided and

controlled by national office;

 Trainees have no chance of

influencing the design or delivery of

the program.

 Bottom-up model, local

community, local government and

schools coordinate the project;

 Trainees actively participate

in planning, implementing and

learning process.

Outcomes

 Achievement of certain

enrolment and completion rate.

 Successful employment in

secondary and tertiary industry in

urban areas.

 Improvement of quality of

human capital resources.

 Enriches spiritual life of

training recipients.

 Income generation.

 Preservation and promotion of

ethnic culture.

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Planning and Implementation

NFE is flexible in delivery method and responsive in teaching content.

These merits can be easily extracted from these two cases. For case A,

its aim is to establish a national-wide vocational and technical training

system for surplus rural labour force to improve employability in

urban centres. Thus, the program is planned and supervised by

national office and the training task is imperative to local office which

guarantees its wide spreading. The training only lasts for 15 to 90

days, and the curricula are skills related to catering, hotels, health care,

construction, etc. that are in high demand in terms of labour force in

urban areas. For the successful employment of the trainees, to have a

strong network with labour market is also one of the criteria for

choosing training provider. In its design, local offices are in charge of

implementing the training program with regard to the policy made by

the national office. This bureaucratic structure prolongs the decision

making and feedback process from central to local, from policy-

making to where practices happen. The whole process takes three

levels to get down to the training recipients and they have no chance

to influence the training process. But meanwhile, this strictly

centralized operation system is strictly supervised in terms of use of

funding, training outcome by national office through quarterly

assessment of the local office report.

For case B, as there are multiple purposes of the CLC, namely,

to empowering rural people, to cultivate human resources and to

promote ethnic culture, the CLC gradually established four paralleled

pillars, a training centre, a library, a development centre and a cultural

activity centre to fulfil its tasks. While as a participatory-approach

program, the planning of the program was accomplished in

cooperation between local community committees and local schools.

As the CLC was founded to empower local community, training

activities organized by the CLC includes basic knowledge, income

generating activities as well as ethnic minority culture preservation

and promotion. In the operation process, trainees can participate in the

designing and implementing of the program. There is no obstacle

between dialogue formation between training recipients and training

providers. However, due to the rather decentralized structure, the

assessment of the program is weaker in comparison to Case A.

Outcomes

It seems that these two programs are both successful in meeting their

aims. It is difficult to say which program is more successful or better,

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

96

for it serves different purposes. While, it is fair to say that both non-

formal programs, to some extent, have contributed to development of

rural people and the rural community.

But Case B is comparatively generating more comprehensive

benefit to rural people. As Case A only provides technical vocational

training to rural migrants, rural people who are benefited from the

program are basically literate male adult. As showed by NBSC (2008),

only 36% of inter-migrants are female. Case B targets the local

learning needs, not only focus on income generating or skill

development but well-rounded development of human resource.

Besides, Case B focuses on local, while Case B influences of the

whole country.

Case A and Case B as different non-formal programs obviously

have some distinct features: 1) Top-down model vs. Bottom-up

model: a top-down model is often political-driven. Which means it is

often a government initiative and the whole program was planned,

executed and supervised by government. Some have argued that such

centralized mandate is not effective since what matters is at micro

level, for instance, local motivation, teaching-learning process,

commitment and so on (Fullan, 1994). Nonetheless, in the case of

China where central government is so powerful, this top-down model

of Case A seems well-functioning. And the merits of a top-down

model, such as abundant available resources in terms of financial,

human resources really stand out in the case of China. Of course, for

successful operating of the program, central government has to devout

power to local authorities at some point. It is noticeable that one of the

outcomes of Case A is successful employment of the trainees. This is

because local government has good connection with local labour

market which ensures the training to be responsive to labour market

needs and employability of trainees are profoundly increased. The

Bottom-up model is usually resulting from grass-roots initiatives. This

model operates by the ‗insider‘ and cherishes opinions and

involvement of participants. 2) For Case B, trainees has chance to

participate in different phases of the program. While in Case A,

trainees passively accept what has been provided. 3) It is also notable

that compared to Case A, in the case of CLC (Case B), the evaluation

and quality control of the program is somewhat weaker. Although

after completion of seven-year-research, the research team provided a

progress report. It is only for evaluation of the research, no assessment

mechanism was found in Case B. This may due to the decentralized

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administration structure of CLC. In the operation of CLC, cooperation

is emphasized more than control.

Despite the differences, there are similarities showed in these

two cases. 1) Government support, in terms of funding, policy and

resources, seems to be one essential of both programs. 2) Educational

institutions play an important role in successfully delivering the

program. This is self-evident as educational institutions are the entities

for training.3) Participation of local community. The active

involvement of local communities is critical as they are familiar with

local conditions and would be a positive influence. In Sunshine

program, trainees are not involved in planning and implementing. But

the training provider is from the local community and has good

connections with local labour market entities-who are potential

employers. This might be one key point of high employment rate in

the program.

V. Discussion

Education in Rural Development Debate

Over these years, despite the rapid economic growth in China, the

growing income gap between urban and rural areas has increasingly

widened, reflecting growing discontent. Although income of rural

people increased 9.5% in 2007, the urban-rural income ratio reached

3.3:1- the largest gap of urban-rural income in the world (Cui, 2010).

Ge (2008) found out that China was still on the ascending side of

Kuznets‘ curve which implies the quicker the development, the higher

the inequality will be. In China, land holdings per household are very

small compare to other developing country like India and other

resources are extremely scarce. Effort has to be made to establish

welfare system and allocate more resources to rural areas to attain a

more equitable society as well as input on education. In the sociology

of education, neo-Marxists consider education as conservative

institutions that its role only lies in maintaining and reproducing social

order. While, in this study, evidence supports that education is

perceived by Chinese government as a mean to facilitate and to be a

catalyst for social development. Favourable policies and financial

support were imposed to education in order to fully unleash beneficial

effects of it and so to achieve individual and national development.

Sunshine program is a technical vocational training project in its

essence. The principle of the training lies in the fact that any

significant socio-economic development is based on the effective

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

98

delivery of scientific knowledge, practical skills and applied

technologies through a functional education system. Technologies and

education have been widely recognized as effective instruments for

fostering the empowerment of a nation and its citizens. In this

connection, in rural areas in China where the majority of the nation‘s

population live and work, vocational education is regarded as being an

essential ingredient for preparing a productive labour force. It is

indeed an important medium through which to use science and

technologies as ways of creating desired productivity and social

wealth. As a result, the quality and scope of technical vocational

education impact significantly on labour force performance and on the

level of community development (Zou, 1996). Besides, the living

standards of rural farmers have been shown to correlate closely with

their level of education. Thus, effective dissemination of new, applied

technologies through rural vocational education and training has the

potential to change the types of economic activities and economic

performance levels of rural populations, so contributing to improving

their quality of life and level of community development.

On the other hand, CLCs emphasize on the concept of

empowerment from grassroots level. CLC embraces more than

technical vocational training; it usually contains other functions in

order to achieve well-rounded development of human being. And

CLC is run by local people and for local people. It is highly

participatory for training recipients. The CLC establishment is an

effective practice on the idea of education for community

development, not only to tackle on the contemporary social economic

problems but also to meet the learning needs of local people in

achieving sustainable all-round development in rural areas

(Wijayaratna, 2004).

From analysing the general background of China, and through

comparison of the two cases, it is explicit that in fostering rural

development in China, education is supposed to:

conduct research on applied agro-technologies and disseminate

advanced ones among appropriate rural areas for the

development of agriculture industry (Zertuche, 2005);

increase the human capital of the rural labour force, improve

overall quality of human resources in rural areas;

furnish different localized programs for different levels of the

rural labour force to meet diversified learning needs;

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help rural migrants to raise employability and gain employment

in non-agriculture industries in urban areas;

empower the disadvantaged groups by teaching them to adjust to

and cope with changes during development process; improve

living quality of rural people;

in special situations, for instance, in ethnic group residence (like

in Case B), culture preservation and promotion is one

important task for education.

Rethinking Education for Rural People

Although a certain common base of knowledge is needed for the well-

rounded development of human beings, it is rational to say that there

is no-one-size-for-all program that can fulfil all the learning needs in

rural areas. Since the declaration of EFA, providing basic education

has been the top priority for rural education for many years, and it still

should be. However, to cope with the changing process of rural

development, it is necessary to pay more attention on what‘s beyond

formal system. Non-formal education, with the advantages of

flexibility in teaching content and delivering model seems more

suitable for rural people. In order to make full use of non-formal

education, the concept of NFE should be re-examined and broadened.

Traditionally NFE has been viewed as a substitute for providing basic

education to those who have failed to benefit from the formal

schooling. Now, as appropriate, readily implementable initiatives of

education and training institutions, it becomes institutionalized

strategies of intervention in the rural development process without

limitation of confined content and time.

There are various types of NFE programs, for instance,

programs for imparting basic literacy and numeracy to out-of-school

youth and adult illiterates, skill-building activities related to the

productive life of individuals, etc. Also preparing learners for tertiary

education, training learners in basic ICT skills, and improving their

business and marketing capabilities have become legitimate concerns

for NFE (UNESCO, 2002). As presented by the case study, education

and training can be flexible and responsive to different learning needs,

be it short-term technical training or long term empowerment, and

only in this way can education be the vehicle of positive

transformation of rural areas. There are no better or worse modes of

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

100

NFE, nonetheless, some crucial elements can be derived from both

cases in order to successfully install NFE programs:

NFE program should be well planned to ensure that the learning

inputs provided are relevant to the lives of the people;

Continuous government support for NFE program is essential.

NFE programs are invariably dependent on support from

government or from donor agencies. The support required is

both financial and technical, as without initial guidance, it is

difficult for community members to establish a program

alone (ibid.). Favourable government policies encourage and

enable the effective empowerment of rural communities

through abundant available resources and incentives for

people to accept training. Consistent support also raises the

question of accountability and sustainability of the program

(Zhang, Xing, Sun & Wang, 2004). Development is a long

term process and the intangible benefits of education takes

time to happen. In the case of China, because of its strong

power and highly centralized administration structure,

government plays a vital role in facilitating development.

Community participation is also functionally important for the

success of NFE program (FAO& UNESCO, 2002). It

provides better sources for identifying the basic learning

needs of its members. Further, such participation, enables

‗outsiders‘ better and more quickly to understand the culture,

the politics and the social fabric of the community.

Participation of local community ensures the quality of the

program design. It is clear that each NFE program functions

with unique locally relevant inputs and processes. The

general macro-systemic approach to educational planning and

implementation that functions in the formal sector is

unsuitable for NFE. Success stories in NFE effectively also

verified the importance of involving the people themselves in

the planning and management of every aspect of the NFE

program at the grassroots level. Community involvement is

important not only for making the NFE initiatives responsive

to the needs of the people, but also for creating a sense of

ownership among the participants in the program (Zhang,

Xing, Sun & Wang, 2004). Besides, NFE must be based on

local demand. Demand here refers to infrastructure needed

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101

for the program. The need for adopting a demand-based

paradigm for initiating NFE programs rests with not only

effective use of the resources but also reinforces

accountability among the users, who thereby cultivate a sense

of ownership. NFE programs can be carried through most

effectively by education and training institutions being

readily available in the local community, since no sustainable

change can occur unless the actual benefits are felt in

concrete and observable ways by target groups at the

grassroots level (UNESCO, 2002). Local participation can

come from local schools, training recipients and entities in

labour market.

Evaluation is crucial for quality control of the program. It also

provides empirical evidence for amendment of the program

or shed some lights for further initiatives.

Education Cannot Do All

Social development is a complex process result from multiple factors.

Education alone cannot achieve desirable results. Cooperation

between every aspect of the society is essential for foster development

in rural areas. As promoted by Chinese government, research and

science concerning agriculture should be closely related to local

conditions and needs; as well as cooperation between education

institutions and labour market enterprises should be formed as to

improve quality and relevance of education. Also, the need for more

effective coordination of the work of the different government

departments and non-governmental agencies should also be stressed

for rural development. So the development strategy promoted by

central government can be successfully installed in local level.

Mechanism should be established in order to provide a basis for

coordination and cooperation between the works of the various bodies

directly involved in rural development. To be fully effective such

cooperation must clearly exist at all levels and, in particular, at the

community level (Velez, 2007).

Besides coordination between government and non-government

agencies, ―network should also be established so that technology,

research, education, and organization can mutually reinforce each

other during the developmental process‖, stated by Han C. F (2010),

the minister of agriculture, on the National Conference on Human

resource of Agriculture and Rural Areas. There is a very important

Comparative Study of Two Non-Formal Training Programs

102

need for research and planning at the national level and within

institutions to carefully study market needs in order to achieve a

balanced and integrated system of agricultural education geared to

meeting real life needs. Effectiveness of education and training is

lowered if these efforts are not paralleled by a substantial research

input. It is in this sense that the connection between higher educational

institutions and field is so important: there is such variability in local

geography conditions is unlikely to be successful unless it is backed

up by agricultural research substantially geared to the needs of

particular context. Higher education can then make important

contributions by doing research in promoting local economy and

through special support and help for teachers and trainees at all levels

(Liu & Zhang, 2004). Like in the case of China, central government

stresses the cooperation among research, education and the agriculture

industry. And this strategy has already achieved good outcomes. Take

case B as an example, the potato growing centre was found and after

four years of research, it promoted potato growing industry in Liushao

and Lianhe county, and benefits both trainees and the local

community.

VI. Concluding Remarks

Change in rural areas is inevitable, marked by movement of people,

demographic transition, and new economic pressures and

opportunities. It is crucial to turn the unpredictable consequences

resulting from changes into positive developments and enhancement

of people‘s capacities to cope with change.

If investment in education in general is so justified, investment

in rural education is even more so. This is accentuated by the fact that

countries have largely continued with the urban bias in the allocation

of resources. While the most disadvantage group live in rural area

which causes disparities between urban and rural and which lead to

unsuccessful harmonious development of the country.

In the time of knowledge society, education can no longer be

seen as a time- bonded endeavour but rather a continuous activity

through one‘s life. The point of education for rural development is to

provide opportunities for the underdeveloped group to understand and

cope with the changing reality and so to have better choice to improve

their lives. In NFE program, education becomes a continuing activity

that can be transformed into skills and capacities rather than

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something that begins and ends in itself. The merits of NFE should be

profoundly explored and so to benefit rural people. Nevertheless,

education is not a magical cure, to reach prosperity in rural areas;

cooperation should be formed in every sense and level.

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Education for Rural Transformation:

A Literature Review

Jiaying Zhang

I. Introduction

Making education the inter-medium for rural

transformation demands re-examining policies and

priorities for education and role of education for rural

people in new perspectives. All forms of education at

different levels, including tertiary, professional and

advanced education as well as basic education, literacy

and continuing education to vocational and technical skill

development have to be made relevant and responsive or

to be assessed and reoriented to serve the needs of rural

transformation (INRULED, 2001).

China has captured the attention of world for its rapid economic

growth as well as wider and deeper involvement of international

affairs. The rural transformation, paralleled with urbanization resulted

in the shift of more people towards urban areas. According to Urban

Blue Book (China Social Science Academy, 2009), at the end of 2008,

the rural population fraction in China declined from 74 percent in

1990 and 64 percent in 2001 to 54 percent, with 723 million residing

in the rural (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). Nevertheless,

the UN has forecast that China's population will keep a balance with

about equal number of people staying in the rural and urban areas by

2015 (State of World Population, 2007). It is estimated that by 2020,

despite the rapid pace of urbanization, when China reaches 55 percent

of urbanization, there will still have had over 0.7 billion people living

in the rural areas, and more than 0.4 billion rural employment

population (Lv, 2005).

As China ―opened the door‖ from the late 1970s, by creating

―Special Economic Zones‖ and ―Open Cities‖ in the provinces of the

costal south-east, preferential policies such as fiscal advantages were

attributed to the enterprises of these areas. The new development

strategy favouring coastal provinces is leading to increasing regional

inequality (Bhalla, 1990; Chen and Fleisher, 1996). The most salient

regional inequality appeared between coastal south-east and west

Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

108

provinces. Paralleled with regional inequality, rural income and

consumption inequality in China have increased, as shown in EFA

Global Monitoring Report (2009), the population living on less than

$1 and $2 per day are 10 percent and 35 percent of the whole nation‘s

population in years 1990-2005, and the poorest 20 percent holds four

percent while the richest 20 percent holds 50 percent of the share of

income or expenditure, with the Gini index 47 in years 1992-2005.

Majority of poverty population live in the western rural areas of

China. Despite substantial progress on poverty reduction over the last

decade, it is estimated that almost 150 million people still live below

international poverty lines. In 2005, China still ranked 85th globally

on the Human Development Index. The recent China‘s National Plan

for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development

(2010-2020) has singled out how education for rural transformation is

determinant for the country‘s human resource development strategy.

The paper provides a discourse on critically and historically reviewing

the concepts of ―rural‖, ―transformation‖, and ―rural transformation‖

in the context of China.

II. A Review of Concepts

Rural Education

There remain controversies in defining ―rural‖. Rural areas can be

defined by ―settlement size, population density, distance to

metropolitan areas, administrative division, and importance of the

agricultural sector‖ (World Bank, 2008, p. 58). Population and

geographical areas are the most commonly-used criteria. China,

instead of using population number, uses other characteristics such as

metropolitan faculties leading to a declared legal status of urban or

rural. This paper adopts the common features that characterize ―rural

communities‖ including:

People and economic activities are much more dispersed

than in urban areas; Livelihood is largely dependent on

growing and extracting primary products; and access to

basic and services is rudimentary or limited because of the

absence of a concentration of service recipients and

policies that favor urban areas. (INRULED, 2001, pp. 6-7)

The concept of rural education experienced being refreshed and

updated gradually. Rural education was defined as ―[the] education

provided the school-age children residing in rural areas,‖ The

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109

confusion caused by the definition resulted in debates, which

remained until the first International Rural Education Forum held in

Tai‘an, Shangdong Province in 1992, when rural education was firstly

raised and defined as ―[an] integrated system composed of literary

education, basic education, vocational and technical education and

adult continuing education‖. Higher education was excluded from this

system. Until 11 years later, in 2003, higher education was finally

added to the system. In addition, in today‘s information society and

knowledge economy, educational systems, embracing lifelong, formal,

non-formal and informal learning opportunities for all have to become

a vital influence in shaping and fulfilling the vision of rural

transformation (INRULED, 2001). All education, in spite of its forms

or levels, is considered rural education if it serves for rural

transformation, development and rural people.

Rural Transformation

The concept, ―transformation‖ in social science studies, is usually

explained by two other concepts, stock concept, i.e. from lower level

of equilibrium to a higher level of equilibrium and flow concept, i.e.

from a higher level of equilibrium to a lower level of equilibrium

(Lingappa, 1997). Koppel and Zurik (1988), defines ―rural

transformation‖ as ―…fundamental changes in the composition of

rural economic life and social organization-changes that are associated

with greater complexity and more pervasive linage with non-rural

economic and social life‖. Economic diversification is a hallmark of

rural transformation. The changes can be marked by movement of

people, demographic transition, and new economic pressure and

opportunities. ―[T]he term rural transformation seeks to convey a

vision of pro-active and positive process of change and development

of rural communities in the context of national and global change in

which education is a key instrument for shaping and fulfilling the goal

of rural transformation‖ (INRULED, 2001, p.12; Chinapah, Zhao,

et.al., 2009). The concept, ―rural transformation‖, according to

Chinapah, Zhao, et.al. (2009), ―[should] be defined in the context of

[country], which needs further clarification for fitting the

developmental and situational context‖. According to World

Development Report (2008)--Agriculture for Development, China is a

typical transforming country in ―Agriculture Three Worlds‖, with the

criterion adopted in the classification, i.e. ―agriculture is no longer a

major source of economic growth, contributing on average only 7

percent of GDP growth, but poverty remains overwhelming rural (82

Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

110

percent of all poor)‖. In addition, due to its huge regional disparities as

well as large population, the country itself was categorized into three

levels, urbanized, transforming and rural under the framework of

―Agriculture Three Worlds‖. Wang (2007, p. 97), in a journal article,

entitled, Chinese Rural Transformation: Analysis on Modes,

Characteristics and Trends, gives a definition to rural social

transformation-- ―a process where economic and social structures have

taken fundamental changes in rural sectors‖; he also states that the

intension of the concept ―rural transformation‖ in Chinese rural

sectors is ―a transforming process shifting from a traditional

economic, political and cultural rural society with surplus rural off-

farm labours, which smallholder production mode dominates to a

modern agricultural production mode and modern rural society‖.

Wang (2007) also analyses the transformation mode in Chinese

rural society. According to the same paper, there are four types of

modes, 1) mode of utilization of rural collective land resources—some

southeast coastal regions of China have adopted the means of land

renting and selling to attract investment in establishing local township

enterprises, which brought the rural industry into the old traditional

economic structure, with planting as their dominants. The

development of the rural industrialization has resulted in the

reconstruction of the rural economic structure, promoting the

transformation of self-sufficient economic structure to market

economy; 2) mode of utilization of rural labours, which applies to the

medium and western rural regions of China. From year 1979-2005,

there are about 0.2 billion migrant labours have been transformed to

non-agriculture employment labours. In addition to the remittance

return to the rural sector, the new lifestyle, way of communication and

ideology have experiencing great changes while they have been

brought by the migrant labours to the rural sectors; 3) mode of

utilization of human historical and natural environment resources, i.e.,

many rural villages have established new industry such as, ecological

village, farm tourism etc.; 4) mode of utilization of agriculture

industry, i.e., by introducing modern administrative and agriculture

technology and uniting rural households, some rural sectors have

developed their featured agriculture products (Wang, 2007, pp. 97-

98). Liu (2007, p. 4) also characterizes Chinese rural transformation

into five areas, 1) changes in social production structure, i.e., major

labours in rural sectors as non-agricultural population, agriculture as

side-line production, diversification of income of peasants, non-

agricultural income as the main source of income for peasants; 2)

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changes in basic social unit--individual and family as the basic unit of

the society, which is one of the greatest characteristics of social

transformation--such as, the increase of total population, decrease of

labour-age population supply and rapid population aging,

miniaturization of family scale, etc.; 3) changes in social mobility

mechanism, i.e., internal migration due to the development of

openness and freedom of rural society; 4) changes in social class

structure, i.e., the changes of production and distribution modes

resulted from the market economy, have gradually changed the

Chinese rural society from a politically layered to an economically

layered society; and 5) changes in organizational structure, according

to Liu (2007, p.5), the Chinese rural organizational system has been

witnessing transformation in adjustment and development in

reconstruction as the result of the re-emergence of non-regular

organizations, and degradation of regulation of the basic

organizations. Wen (2008) also historically reviews the process of

rural transformation development in China from 1949 to 2008.

Drawing the conclusion of the characteristics and previous studies,

Wen categorizes the past fifty years into three major phases, 1949-

1978: rural transformation development with focus on productive

forces in the context of transformation of political system; 1979-1993:

rural fluctuation development with economy as focus in the context of

transformation of economic structure; 1994-now: rural transformation

development in the context of evolution of development ideas under

various economic environments. The rural transformation in China

has two characteristics, i.e., the first one is that efficient, specialized

and organic agriculture will receive a full-grown development; the

second is the urbanization of rural areas, which leads to an emergence

of two types of peasants, professional peasants, and part-time

peasants, and the latter occupy higher portions as the rural

transformation. Part-time peasants move from rural areas to cities or

towns to find jobs but do not have urban ―Household Registration‖

(Hukou), thus they become the ―floating population‖. It usually refers

to those who migrate from rural areas or less developed places to big

or medium-sized cities or towns, but stay in a certain place on a

temporary basis.

III. A Review of Theoretical Studies

Nobel Prize winner, Myrdal, a Swedish economist, proposes

―Backwash and Spread Effects‖ to explain the increasing economic

Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

112

inequality between developed countries and underdeveloped

countries, and within a country, developed regions and

underdeveloped regions. He also adopted a theory of circular

cumulative causation to explain the positive and negative effects by

the economic development on underdeveloped regions. Backwash

Effect, according to Myrdal (1957), refers to, economic growth in one

area adversely affects the prosperity of another. Wealth and labour

move from poorer, peripheral areas to more central regions of

economic growth and the industrial production of wealthy regions

may well undercut the industrial output of the poorer regions. This

draining of wealth and labour together with industrial decline is the

backwash, or polarization effect, and is a feature of core-periphery

relationships. While, according to Myrdal (ibid.), this may also cause

the Spread Effect, the filtering through of wealth from central,

prosperous areas, to peripheral, less wealthy areas. Thus, increased

economic activity at the core may stimulate a demand for more raw

materials from the periphery, and technological advance in the core

region may be applied to other regions. A belief in the spread effect

lies behind the planning of growth poles; in a sense, the spread effect

is the spatial equivalent of trickle-down economics. Dual Economy

theory refers to an economy in which rich, capital-intensive modern

sectors exist in the same model as comparatively poor, traditional,

labour intensive sectors. Economists have deliberated over whether an

economy should achieve economic growth through its technically

advanced sectors or whether resources should be spread evenly across

the whole economy to achieve a more balanced growth.

Human capital according to Becker (2002, in Lauder 2006, p.

292) ―…refers to the knowledge, information, ideas and health of

individuals.‖ Becker (ibid.) also indicated that ―…human capital is by

far the most important form of capital in modern economies‖. Both the

success of individual and the whole economies largely depend on the

effectiveness and extensiveness of investment that people put onto

themselves (Becker, 2002, in Lauder et. al., 2006).

Furthermore, there are mainly two research approaches in social

stratification theory, which is usually concerned with social mobility,

namely, Marxian Class Theory and multidimensional approach

developed by Webber, who emphasized the difference between class,

status, and party, and treated these as separate but related sources of

power, each with different effects on social action. He found that

stratification is based more than wealth or capitals, and he also argued

that power can take a variety of forms. ―A person‘s power can be

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shown in the social order through their status, in the economic order

through their class, and in the political order through their party. Thus,

class, status and party are each aspects of the distribution of power

within a community‖ (Hurst, 2007, P 202). Weberian Stratification is

also recognized as the Three Class System, i.e. wealth, prestige and

power.

Wealth: includes income, the economic gain derived from

wages, salaries, income transfer, etc., and property such as

buildings, lands, farms, houses, factories, cars as well as other

assets - Economic situation

Prestige: the respect with which a person or status position is

regarded by others - Status Situation

Power: the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals

despite opposition from others – Parties (Weber, 1964)

The relationship between education and the extent of intergenerational

mobility has to be concerned. Inter-generational mobility is a measure

of the changes in social status which occurs from the parents' to the

children's generation. It can affect anyone in the population, as one‘s

economic standing can increase or decrease from the position they

were born into. Our society is constantly changing, and because of this

various opportunities can cause one to advance or digress in their

economic standing. One‘s talents can cause them to surpass the

economic position into which they were born (Blanden, 2005).

Intergenerational mobility is often considered as a way of measuring

the equity present in the economic opportunities of a society. Shapiro

(2004) uses the term ―head-start assets‖ to refer to the assets that

children can inherit from their parents that give them a ―head-start‖ in

life when compared to individuals who do not have these head-start

assets. It takes a realistic approach of how much of your future

economic standing is determined by your childhood experience and

how much is determined by an individual‘s talents and capabilities.

Inter-generational mobility can best be determined by analysing where

children from the least or most affluent families end up in terms of

incomes and earnings as adults. Their income as adults is then

compared to what their parents earned (Shapiro, 2004). Inter-

generational mobility is generally measured in terms of

intergenerational elasticity, or a statistical correlation between parent‘s

and children‘s economic standings. The higher the intergenerational

Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

114

elasticity, the less social mobility a society offers. In other words, the

higher the intergenerational elasticity, the more of a role childhood

upbringing plays when compared to individual talents and capabilities

(ibid.).

Michael Apple (1982) argues that education is not a neutral

enterprise, that by the very nature of the institution, the educator is

involved, whether he or she is conscious of it or not, in a political act.

He attempts to analyse and understand the relationship between

education and economic structure, and the connections between

knowledge and power. Apple approaches his analysis from three

points: l) the school as an institution, 2) the educator him or herself,

and 3) the knowledge forms. Each of these [is] situated within the

larger context of society (P. 9).

IV. A Historical Review

In this paper, the process of rural transformation will be during the

past three decades, from 1978 to 2010. Based on the literature review,

the author will divide it into three stages: Forming Phase (late 1970s-

early 1980s), Initial Phase (middle 1980s-late 1980s), and

Development Phase (1990s -).

Forming Phase (late 1970s-early 1980s)

It is commonly assured that there is an accidental but inevitable event

as the symbol of the beginning of the contemporary rural

transformation in China. In 1978, a poor village, named Xiaogang in

Anhui Province attracted the whole nation‘s attention for its

milestone-styled implementation of ―all-around contract to

distribution‖. As a result, commune-based collectivization was rapidly

replaced by various forms of ―all-around contract to distribution‖,

under ―…which land remained public yet each household was

contracted with land and farm tools, and peasants could keep or sell in

free markets any products that exceeded the contracted quota‖

(Friedmann, 2005, p. 9). ―The abolition of the communes released a

flood tide of human inventiveness and energy, and marked the

beginning of a frenetic process of rural industrialization‖ (Friedmann,

2005, p. 35). In 1979, only one percent of ―Production Team‖

(shengchandui) took the form of ―all-around contract to distribution‖

within whole China, but the number increased to 14 percent in 1980,

and it sharply climbed to 45 percent, 80 percent and 98 percent in

1981, 1982 and 1983 respectively, and in year 1984, the ―all-around

contract to distribution‖ occupied 100 percent in whole China.

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Initial Phase (middle 1980s-late 1980s)

The symbolized event for transition from forming phase to initial

phase is the establishment of the ―Special Economic Zones‖ like

Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen in 1980, and 14 ―Open

Cities‖ in year 1984, i.e., Shanghai, Shenzhe, Xiamen, Guangzhou,

Qingdao, Wenzhou, Tianjin, Dalian, Zhuhai, Nongbo, Yantai,

Nantong, Fuzhou and Qinghuangdao. Preferential policies such as

fiscal advantages were attributed to the enterprises of these areas,

which created many new jobs and attracted the initial ―floating

population‖. As China‘s ―open door policy‖, and encouraging policies

on economic development, more coastal ―Special Economic Zones‖

were set up. In 1988, Hainan Island, the second largest island in China

was set up as another ―Special Economic Zone‖.

Developmental Phase (1990s -）

In year 1992, Chinese Central Government decided to further open

another five cities along the Changjiang River Valley, 13 border cities

in northeast, southwest and northwest areas, and 11 capital cities in

central areas. In the meantime, Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning

Province and Jiaodong Peninsula, in Shangdong Province were

opened. Many migrant labours move from rural to urban, less

developed to more developed areas to find jobs.

V. Conclusion

Rethinking education for rural transformations in China requires first

reviewing the concepts, related theories as well as characteristics of

the rural sector, particularly in less developed regions, and then

considering the role of education in the current rural development.

The paper applies theories of Social Stratification Theory,

Intergeneration Mobility, Critical Theory into analysis of the

relationship between education and social transformation and

development; circular cumulative causation, backwash and spread

effects, and dual economy into the analysis of rural-urban disparities,

and in addition, it also apply related theories produced by some

Chinese educator and theoretician which takes regional inequality into

consideration.

Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

116

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Blanden, Jo, Paul Gregg, and Stephen Machin. Intergenerational

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make it? (2009). UNESCO Publishing & Oxford University

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Minnesota Press.

Hurst, Charles E. (2007). Social Inequality Forms, Causes, and

Consequences Sixth Edition. Allyn and Bacon Boston, MA.

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Education for Rural Transformation: A Literature Review

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Anna Toropova

119

A Study of the Relationship between Student

Background Factors and Science Achievement

Based on TIMSS 2007 Results in Ukraine

Anna Toropova

I. Introduction

Background

The quality of education has been internationally recognized as one of

the key goals to be reached within Education for All agenda. In 1990,

the World Declaration of Education for All noted that the overall poor

quality of education needed to be improved. It recommended that

education should be made both universally available and more

relevant (UNESCO, 1990).

Recent international assessments on student learning

achievement in a number of countries point out two key continuous

challenges: wide global inequalities in learning achievement and low

absolute levels of learning in many poor countries. Millions of

children are leaving school without having acquired basic literacy and

numeracy skills (UNESCO, 2010).However, as observed by Chinapah

(2010), from an international comparative research perspective, there

is scarce information available about what makes effective teaching

and learning in different countries. Furthermore, differences in access

to quality education for children from different socio-economic and

cultural backgrounds in different types of schools and locations

require more attention.

TIMSS, which stands for Trends in International Math and

Science Study, is an IEA (International Association for the Evaluation

of Educational Achievement) study of mathematics and science

performance of fourth and eighth grade students. It was in 2007 that

Ukraine first joined international assessments of educational

achievements, the TIMSS study in particular. Participation in a large-

scale study of educational achievement, such as TIMSS, was viewed

by the Ukrainian government as an opportunity to obtain reliable

comparative information about the level of students‘ educational

attainment in the country that would lead to the development of well-

grounded education policy recommendations. These, in turn, could

Student Background Factors and Science Achievement

120

become foundation for improving educational process as well as

updating the content of education and teaching methods.

Aims and objectives

The overall aim of this study is to explore major student background

factors related to learning achievement of the Ukrainian students

based on TIMSS 2007 results. The more specific objectives are: to

identify student personal/family characteristics or experiences related

to 8th grade student achievement in science and to analyse their

relationship to student learning outcomes. The rationale for this study

is supported by the literature review which suggests that student

background factors are significantly related to their academic

achievement. It was assumed that both student personal and family

characteristics would be related to academic performance and that

family background characteristics would have a strong association

with student achievement.

Research questions

The proposed study is based on a secondary analysis of TIMSS 2007

science achievement of the 8th grade Ukrainian students and their

responses to TIMSS background questionnaires to answer the

following research questions:

1. What personal and family background factors are related to

student learning achievements in science?

2. How do these factors correlate with student science

achievement, i.e. how differences in student factors relate to

differences in achievement?

3. Which of the correlations stand out as the most significant?

Limitations and delimitations of the study

Secondary analysis in itself holds some limitations such as complexity

of and lack of familiarity with the data, and no control over data

quality (Bryman, 2008). While every effort is made to ensure high

quality data in TIMSS, there are some other challenges for secondary

analysis of the study results. Robitaille & Beaton (2002) note that due

to the complex design of TIMSS it is difficult to interpret and link the

study‘s findings. The study only explores statistical association

between variables, which cannot be automatically interpreted as

having a causal link. Another important limitation is that the study is

Anna Toropova

121

based on data collected in 2007 during administration of TIMSS

testing in Ukraine. The actual situation and circumstances in 2010

may not be entirely the same. The main delimitation of the study is

that secondary analysis of TIMMS 2007 data for this study will only

focus on the 8th grade Ukrainian students and their science

achievement results in relation to background factors as provided by

the TIMSS student questionnaire.

Significance of the study

Although TIMSS is often criticized for being a kind of between-

countries competition with the purpose of producing league tables of

achievement, ―the real depth of data is beginning to emerge through

secondary analysis‖ (Howie & Plomp, 2006, p.78). TIMSS

achievement results become more meaningful when interpreted

through the contexts in which students learn. Secondary analysis may

also reveal how contextual factors can be used to improve student

learning in mathematics and science (Martin et al., 2009).

For Ukraine, secondary analysis of TIMSS results bears even

more significance as it was for the first time in 2007 that the country

took part in the study. Until then it has never participated in

international comparative studies of educational achievement. Not

only was it a unique opportunity for the country to obtain objective

information on student learning achievement in mathematics and

science, but also, provided that a detailed secondary analysis of the

national results is carried out, it can shed light on factors related to

students‘ learning to further improve it.

II. Education System in Ukraine

Country profile

Ukraine is the state in East-Central Europe, occupying an area of

603,700 sq. km. It is the second largest country in Europe, with a

population of 45.7 million people as of July, 2010, according to the

UN statistical data (2010). About 72% of the population is Ukrainian,

and 22% is Russian. Other major ethnic groups are Polish, Belarusian,

Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Tatar, Roma and Armenian. The

official language in the country is Ukrainian, and the majority of the

population speaks Russian as their second language.

Ukraine‘s GDP amounts to USD 180 billion. Despite its

growing economy, Ukraine faces many challenges in the field of

human development. In 2010 UNDP report, Ukraine ranks 69th out of

Student Background Factors and Science Achievement

122

169 countries on the Index of Human Development (HDI). According

to UNESCO (2010), 20% of the Ukrainian population lives below the

national poverty level. Overall unemployment is about 6.5% for the

14-70 year old population.

Current education system

Since independence in 1991, there has been a significant commitment

to maintain quality, to extend compulsory schooling and to expand

tertiary education. New laws and regulations to improve the system

were introduced by the Ukrainian government and reforms were

directed towards lifelong learning and equal access to quality

education (Darvas, 2003).

Ukrainian education has a European-style structure, including

pre-school education, comprehensive secondary education,

vocational/technical education, higher education, and post-graduate

education. The State guarantees the Constitutional right of each citizen

to obtain and have free access to complete general secondary

education and mandates 9 years of compulsory schooling (ages 6-15)

(MoES of Ukraine, 2010).

Access, quality and equity in education issues

Access to education faces challenges at all levels in Ukraine.

According to UNICEF country profile (2008), access to pre-school in

Ukraine is below both the regional and sub-regional average, with

only 56 percent of children being enrolled in pre-primary education.

In primary education the net enrolment ratio (NER) is 90 percent

which is far below the sub-regional and regional average.

Additionally, 296,000 children remain out of school, which is the third

highest number in the region. In secondary school, the NER is 84

percent. The gross enrolment ratio in higher education in Ukraine is

69 percent, which is significantly higher than the regional average.

Prior to 2007, Ukraine has not participated in any of the

international learning assessments, nor has it carried out a national

assessment of student learning achievements. Therefore, the

government did not possess any reliable instruments to diagnose

objectively results produced by education system. A serious challenge

for the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine remains a lack

of official and reliable data on out-of-school and drop-out children.

Despite the lack of official data, there are clear indicators that school

quality needs improvement with special attention given to left-out

children.

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123

Gender equity in education enrolment is high in Ukraine

(UNICEF, 2008). In primary school, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) is

1.00, which is similar to other countries in the region. In secondary

school the Index drops to .94, which is high overall, but low for the

region. In higher education, the GPI is 1.2, which indicates that girls

in Ukraine are more likely to complete secondary education and to

enter higher educational institutions.

Teaching force

Teachers‘ salaries in Ukraine are equal to 80 percent of the national

average wage. The low salary and prestige of the teaching profession

negatively affects education quality. The best teachers leave school

when offered a better-paid job, and qualified young people are not

willing to pursue the profession. This has already led to shortages of

public school teachers, especially in the fields of foreign languages

and computer sciences. Overall, since 2001 the number of teachers

declined by 12 percent. At the same time, there is an increasing

number of teachers older than 55 years, and a decreasing number of

young teachers (MoES of Ukraine, 2010).

Teachers who continue working in schools have to look for

additional jobs to support themselves and their families. Often school

administrators and teachers introduce student fees for tutoring, special

classes, and extracurricular activities. This allows teachers to earn

additional income but at the same time leads to greater inequity within

the school since many families cannot afford to pay for such services

(UNESCO, 2000).

Educational Reform

The educational reform process in Ukraine is guided by the National

Doctrine for the Development of Education (2001), key elements of

which are standards, quality and relevance. Priority areas of the

Ukrainian education include introduction of a learner-centred

approach, life-long learning, and equal access to quality education and

integration into the European Education Area (ETF, 2009).

External assessment of educational achievements

One of the most significant reforms implemented in Ukraine since

independence was introduction of the external assessment of student

educational achievement, carried out from 2002 until 2006. The

reform was part of the comprehensive policy towards the

Student Background Factors and Science Achievement

124

improvement of educational quality and providing an objective

assessment of student attainments (Lokshyna, 2003).

The Ukrainian examinations system prior to the reform was an

internal one and ―[a]s such, could not be fully transparent or provide

objective assessment of student knowledge‖ (Hrynevych, 2009, p. 61).

This situation affected the interests of students as well as a society in

general. At the student level, internal assessment based only on a

teacher‘s judgment did not objectively measure student development,

which could timely diagnose a learning problem and provide an

adequate assistance. Moreover, there was no objective certification to

provide a real picture of student performance and make school-leaving

certificates valid, giving the students equal opportunities in access to

higher education. At the national level, the absence of external

assessment made it impossible to establish links between educational

results and resources input, which would serve as an indicator for the

education system in general. This also hindered development of

appropriate educational policies, in particular for diagnostic purposes

(ibid.).

International comparative studies of learning achievements

In the time of introduction of examinations reform in Ukraine, there

were significant transformations in education sector in general. New

forms and methods of teaching as well as new types of educational

institutions appeared. At the same time, Ukraine‘s socio-economic

situation led to larger disparities in the quality of educational services

and access to them. Under these circumstances monitoring the quality

of education acquired a special significance.

In 2007, Ukraine participated in TIMSS study and was ranked in

math 26th and 25th respectively for grades 4 and 8 (with the average

scores 469 and 462); and in science 26th and 19th respectively for

grades 4 and 8 (with the average scores 474 and 485). Ukraine‘s

results were close to those of Armenia, Bulgaria, Israel and Romania.

Ukraine‘s ranking in TIMSS, which was just below the international

average, was quite expected by the educational community. The

country had very little, if any experience in administrating such kinds

of studies and students were not quite familiar with the test-taking

process.

Analysis of the Ukrainian students‘ science achievement shows

that they successfully solved those items that mainly required

reproduction of the known facts. The most difficult were items that

required practical application of the theoretical knowledge, comparing

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125

and classification of objects, understanding nature as a complex

system. This leads to the conclusion that in the Ukrainian schools

students acquire fundamental science knowledge and can easily

reproduce it. However, many of them find it difficult to apply their

knowledge in everyday-life situations. Students experience difficulties

when the problem is formulated in an unusual way, and is

accompanied by a picture or scheme; when they need to read and

interpret information from graphs, tables, diagrams, etc. These results

reflect significant problems with the science education in Ukraine

such as subject-centred and knowledge-centred science curriculum,

the lack of time devoted to laboratory work and conducting

experiments during science classes, inefficient organization of

learning/teaching process during the lessons, the lack of emphasis on

student ability to apply scientific skills and knowledge to solve

problems (MoES of Ukraine, 2009).

III. Literature Review / Key concepts and theories

Education Quality

There are various interpretations of the concept of education quality.

The World Declaration of Education for All (UNESCO, 1990)

identified quality as a prerequisite for achieving the fundamental goal

of equity. While the notion of quality is still being developed, it was

recognized that expanding excess alone would not be enough for

education to contribute fully to the development of the individual and

society. Emphasis was accordingly placed on assuring an increase in

children‘s cognitive development by improving quality of their

education.

UNICEF report (2000) outlines the following basic dimensions

of quality education: 1) healthy, well-nourished learners ready to learn

and participate, and supported in learning by their families and

communities 2) safe, healthy and gender-sensitive environments; 3)

content reflected in relevant curricula and materials for the acquisition

of basic skills; 4) processes that include child-centreed teaching and

assessment approaches; 5) outcomes that include skills, knowledge

and attitudes.

European Report on the Quality of School Education by the

Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European

Commission (2000) suggests sixteen indicators on quality of school

education that cover four broad areas: attainment levels; educational

Student Background Factors and Science Achievement

126

success and transition; monitoring of school education; and

educational resources and structures.

Equality of Educational Opportunity

The issue of equality of opportunity has long been a major concern for

policymakers and sociologists of education. However, there has been

a lack of agreement on how equality of opportunity should be

understood.

Lauder et al. (2006) presents four examples of equal

opportunities in education: 1) equality of access to education to all

children despite their social background; 2) equality of treatment

which means equal access to the same curriculum of all children,

despite their ethnic, gender or social class background; 3) equal

opportunities of results that implies that it is social groups, rather than

individuals, that suffer inequalities on the basis of social class, gender,

ethnicity, or disability; 4) equality of results which states that groups

in society should achieve in education in proportion to their numbers

in the population as a whole (ibid.).

Theories of Cultural, Social and Economic Capital

Differences in student achievement can be explained with the help of

theories of economic, cultural and social capital. Bourdieu in his work

―Forms of capital‖ (2007) distinguishes between economic capital, or

possession of economic resources, which is ―immediately and directly

convertible into money and may be institutionalized in the form of

property rights‖ (Bourdieu, p. 86); cultural capital, or one‘s

knowledge, skills and education, which can be ―institutionalized in the

form of educational qualifications‖, and a social capital, linked to

―possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized

relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition‖ (ibid.).

According to Bourdieu (2007), social capital is the ―aggregate of

the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of

durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of

mutual acquaintance and recognition, which provides each of its

members with the backing of the collectively-owned capital, a

―credential‖ which entitles them to credit, in the various senses‖ (p.

91). Coleman (1988) viewed social capital as a product of social

relationships and involvement, or connectedness between a child,

family, friends, community and school. He noted that the higher

degree of connectedness within a family can lead to higher student

academic achievement.

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There is no agreement among researchers reached on the relationship

of cultural capital to educational achievement. Some have found a

strong correlation with achievement and years of schooling completed

(DiMaggio, 1982); others have proved that only certain cultural

activities matter, e.g. reading (De Graaf et al., 2000).

It appears that the relationships between various forms of capital

possessed by a family and student achievement are rather complex.

First of all, there is no unanimous definition of the forms of capital

and what constitutes one or another. Secondly, different forms of

capital interact with each other in various ways. And last, but not the

least, the process of transmission of various forms of capital through

parent-child interaction seems to be more important for children‘s

development and their future academic performance than a mere

possession of capital as a static indicator of the family background.

Determinants of achievement

According to Lauder et al. (2006), there may be distinguished two

general views to explain differences in student academic achievement.

The first one is that of geneticists who stated that intelligence, which

is a major determinant of educational outcomes, is genetically

inherited and remains stable throughout life. The second view stresses

the importance of the environment in determining student educational

achievement. Many studies on determinants of student achievement

indicate that family socio-economic status, educational level of

parents, gender and motivation are strong determinants of children‘s

individual ability, which in turn effects achievement. However, the

emphasis has been redirected from the use of global static indicators

of home and school environments to the use of dynamic process

indicators measuring what actually takes place between students and

their teachers and peers and between children and their parents at

home (Chinapah, 1983).

Achievement and student personal factors

Student aptitude, age, gender and motivation have been regularly

found to be associated with learning in different subjects under

various conditions (Robitaille & Beaton, 2002). A number of studies

show significant differences between boys and girls in science

achievement. Boys tend to perform consistently better than girls

especially in certain science subjects, such as physics (Postelthwaite

and Wiley, 1992; Martin at al., 2009). International comparative

Student Background Factors and Science Achievement

128

studies consistently reveal positive relationships between science

achievement and science attitudes (Martin et al., 2009).

Achievement and student family background

It has been recognized since the early 1930s that differences in social

background are strongly related to educational outcomes in most

countries (Shangwu, 1993). Different studies, including international

large-scale surveys, have suggested that home and family

characteristics play a key role in determining students‘ academic

achievement.

Coleman (1966) in his report on the equality of educational

opportunity discovered that for the most part, variation in school

resources had little direct relation to variation in students‘

achievement, and that family background together with student

attitudes were the most important predictors of student learning. Based

on Bordieu‘s notion of cultural capital, there is numerous research

suggesting that cultural and educational resources of parents are vital

to children‘s cognitive development and school performance

(Feinstein, 2006; Nash & Harker, 2006).

Achievement and school and teacher factors

Research on this topic has mostly been based on the belief that

educational resources, such as teacher education and training, school

and class size, expenditures per student, and school facilities would

have greater impact on student academic achievement than non-school

factors. Shangwu (1993) points out that all of the research on the

influence of school and teacher factors on student achievement carried

out since the 1960s shows a relatively small influence of the school.

The IEA international studies reinforced the conclusion that school

resources tend to be rather weakly related to learning outcomes (ibid.).

A conceptual model of school learning

A conceptual model of school learning presents the relationships

between important factors associated with student learning at school.

A number of school-based learning models have been developed

(Chinapah, 1983; Huitt, 1995; Guo, 2007).

Chinapah (1983) developed a conceptual model of school

learning that includes both home and school environments of learning

and differentiates between global characteristics and process variables.

The model includes five blocks of variables among which are: (1)

Home and Student characteristics, (2) Home processes, (3) School

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characteristics, (4) School processes, (5) Student scholastics

performance. Huitt (1995) presented a transactional model of the

teaching/learning process which may explain difference in student

achievement due to a number of factors, among which are context,

input, classroom processes, and output. Guo (2007) developed a

modified version of Huitt‘s model of school-based learning by adding

one more component to it – ―driving forces‖ (Figure 1).

Figure 1: A school-based model of science learning

Source: Guo (2007, p. 229)

The suggested model emphasizes both internal and external factors

associated with student learning outcomes and suits the purposes of

the current study, as it provides broad conceptual categories and

indicates possible relationships between variables.

International assessments of learning achievement

The results obtained from major cross-national studies such as Trends

in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) provide

valuable information on the state of science learning in participating

countries.

INPUTS

Teacher Characteristics

Student Characteristics

Science Curriculum

Resources and Facilities

Learning Opportunities

PROCESSES

Teacher Behaviors

Student Behaviors

Learning Approaches

Meta Cognition

Classroom Interactions

PRODUCTS

Science Achievement

Science Literacy

Learning and Thinking

Skills

Self-Confidence

DRIVING FORCES

Constructivism

TIMSS, PISA, SAS

Globalization

Advance in Science, Technology,

ICT

CONTEXTS

Physical Environments

Socio-cultural Conditions

Educational Goals and Policies

Science and Technology Capacity

Theoretical Foundations

International Conditions

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130

TIMSS is one of a number of studies conducted by the IEA. It is

conducted on a 4-year regular cycle, with the first assessment held in

1995 followed by assessments 1999, 2003, 2007 and the forthcoming

in 2011 (Foy & Olson, 2009a). The study‘s assessment instruments

include tests in math and science, each of the two subject areas is

divided into content and cognitive domain (Martin et al., 2009). The

study covers two populations of students: Population 1 (Grade 4 in

most countries) and Population 2(Grade 8 in most countries). Besides

assessing student learning outcomes, TIMSS also provides

information about home, school, and national contexts within which

mathematics and science learning takes place (ibid.).

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA),

administered by OECD, is an international standardized assessment in

reading, mathematics, scientific and problem-solving literacy. PISA

assesses students who are approaching the end of compulsory

education (about the age of 15) and the extent to which they acquired

the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in

society (OECD, 2000).

Both TIMSS and PISA collect background information on

students and school data, and TIMSS also administers teacher

questionnaire. In addition, TIMSS conducts curriculum analysis in

participating countries. The main difference between PISA and

TIMSS is that the former stresses functional literacy while the latter

emphasizes curricula. Both studies are an important source of data for

policy-makers, curriculum specialists and teachers (Hutchison &

Schagen, 2006).

Secondary analysis of TIMSS results

Despite the fact that TIMSS and other international studies face a lot

of criticism for resembling a horse race where each participating

country strives for a higher ranking (Smith, 2008, p. 34), an accurate

and profound secondary analysis of its results may yield a lot of useful

information about the contexts in which students learn. The TIMSS

contextual framework includes five broad areas in which information

is collected: curriculum, its goals and organization; schools, resources

and facilities; teachers and their qualifications; classroom activities

and characteristics; student personal and family background

characteristics.

One of the most recent compilations of secondary analysis of

TIMSS results from different countries is the Contexts of Learning

Mathematics and Science (Howie & Plomp, 2006). The analyses are

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presented on the school, student, class and teacher levels from more

than forty countries. Variables that were found significant at a student

level included socio-economic status of the family (in three countries),

students‘ attitudes towards the subject (in eight countries), student

motivation (in four countries) and self-concept (in three countries).

Secondary analysis of TIMSS results in Eastern Europe

The most comprehensive regional study of the effects of home

environments, school conditions and teaching practices on

achievement in Central and Eastern European countries up to date was

carried out under the IEA NCEE project. Secondary analysis of

TIMSS-1995 results from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia,

Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic and Slovenia led to

producing a regional report ―Are we similar in math and science‖

(Vari, 1997). The report included findings on how the differences

among students‘ background characteristics and homes are associated

with differences in achievement. In all countries participating in the

project it was the home learning environment that had the most effect

on mathematics achievement.

The study of educational production during transition in Eastern

Europe (Ammermuller et al., 2004) used student-level TIMSS 1995

data to analyze the determinants of schooling quality for seven Eastern

European countries by estimating educational production functions.

The variables of the student background (grade, age, gender,

immigration status, parental education and the number of books at

home) present the largest and most significant coefficients of the

production function in the study.

The study commissioned by 2010 Education for All Global

Monitoring Report (Altinok, 2009) analyzed cases of marginalization

by assessing potential differences in the level of achievement using

test results of 4th and 8th grade students in TIMSS-2007. The study

aimed to find out whether groups of students sharing the same

characteristics performed worse on a test than the other students.

Marginalization was viewed as failing to reach the minimum

achievement level set in TIMSS, i.e. the Low International

Benchmark.

IV. Methodology

TIMSS research model

The design of TIMSS is based on a conceptual framework that

consists of several assumptions about the ways students learn. The

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132

framework proposes four basic research questions reflecting ideas

about which factors related to learning and how they interact with one

another. These questions are: 1) what kinds of mathematics and

science are students expected to learn, 2) who provides instruction, 3)

how instruction is organized, 4) what have students learned (Howie &

Plomp, p.33).

Sampling

In TIMSS two-stage stratified cluster method was used for sampling

design, i.e. students were nested in classes and classes were nested in

schools. The students in each country were selected using probability

sampling procedures; one class in each school was chosen. For the

purpose of the present study, TIMSS 2007 international database was

used to obtain the national dataset for Ukraine. The 4,424 Ukrainian

8th grade students from 149 secondary schools that participated in

TIMSS 2007 form the sample in this study.

Variables

Independent variables for the analysis were chosen based on the

literature review in the field of secondary analysis of TIMSS study.

TIMSS 2007 student questionnaire (Foy & Olson, 2009b-c) was

reviewed to select relevant background variables among the following

categories of interest: (1) student personal background, (2) student

family background, (3) academic expectations of students, (4) student

experiences. Selected variables for analysis are presented in Table 1

below.

Table 1: Independent variables selected from the TIMSS 2007

student questionnaire

VOICES FROM WITHIN Redefining the “Spaces” of International and Comparative Education, a Collective Contribution

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