Xavier Rambla Sociologia

The recent debate on the OCDE Programme for International Student Assessment in The Guardian retrieves a number of deep questions about the use of knowledge in education policy-making. In fact, although it is obvious that such policy deals with knowledge as far as the curriculum is concerned, it should also be noticed that research produces telling evidence on  policy designs and evaluation reports. Advocates of Big Data insist on the possible contribution of the huge amounts of information produced by satellites, social networks and geographic information systems for many dimensions of human development. Recently, an officer working for the World Bank Group argued that this source of evidence could be extremely helpful for designing innovative teaching methods tailored for poor students.

The proposal of using these new technical services to tackle poverty raises a number of questions about the involvement of Public-Private Partnerships in their procurement. To the extent that a variety of providers is entering the sector, such a policy may transform the rules of the game that schools are playing. Particularly, Big Data could reinforce the role of large corporations that run for-profit schools in poor communities and make a short-term profit by availing of the alleged economies of scale produced by this new mode of knowledge management. Potential harms for equity are also at stake.

However, two further implications affecting the scope of selected knowledge should be also taken into account. First, if complex algorithms that analyse Big Data are used to lead effective teaching, the resulting guidelines will very likely neglect the role of professional knowledge in the very activity of teaching. Besides short sets of explicit instructions, an exhaustive map of knowledge should be aware of both simple and complex explicit knowldge as well as of relational, somatic and collective tacit knowledge. All these components are crucial for teaching and learning. Notably, many of the arguments posited to invest in Big Data are locked in one of the old myths taken for granted by Positivism in the nineteenth century, namely: that data are the only component of knowledge.

Second, these algoriths can only provide sound recommendations to teachers depending on specific research questions. Findings do not come out from a mathematical pattern that fits data, but from a theoretical understanding of this match between data and a model. This is a basic principle of epistemology and methodology whose consequences have been widely discussed. Do we need these amounts of data for answering to the main questions of educational research? Do these data account for all the aspects involved in teaching and learning? Can we really extrapolate the conclusions of classroom data collected in a given setting to a large variety of schools? Another myth of that old Positivism precisely consisted of overlooking this type of questions.

Current prevailing ideologies emphasize the importance of both the knowledge economy (i.e. ‘smart growth’ powered by high-technology) and the knowledge society (i.e. economic competitiveness improving the skills of the labour force). Unsurprisingly, these ideas have important implications for the design and justification of educational policies. Critical Discourse Analysis provides a set of very helpful tools to disentangle the messages that these ideologies are sending.

Assumptions and catchwords are two indexes of hegemony in discourse. In linguisitc terms, hegemony can be defined as a number of rhetoric traits that hinder dialogue by portraying a political project as an inexorable reality. Assumptions are implicit statements that discourses take for granted, and thus are often retrieved in indirect and varied ways. Catchwords are general terms that define the core themes of discourses. All of them contribute to shaping meaning by means of frames which are not explicit in the grammatic traits of a given discourse.

The following sample of very short videos shows a variety of hegemonic discourses on skills and jobs. Recently, I could discuss some of these examples with students of the Univ. Aarhus master’s degree on Lifelong Learning.

• EU Agenda for New Skills and Jobs
• EU Policy Framework Against Early School Leaving
• EU Social Inclusion Conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGPftX4oilU
• OECD Better Skills for Better Jobs
• EFA GMR Youth and Skills 2012
• World Bank Building Skills for Youth in Kenia

Significantly, three common catchwords can be detected in all these messages, which have been disseminated by diverse international organisations working in very different world regions. In all these cases the catchwords tend to overlook societal issues (e.g., inequalities in the OECD PISA and GMR reports). These catchwords contrast education with exclusion from the job market, entail that people live their biographies by choice, and look at the individual and the collective cost of early school leaving (before achieving an upper secondary education credential).

As a rule, two common assumptions underlie the use of these catchwords. They share these two statements about the causes and consequences of educational problems. Notice that the second one is an apparent statement of fact since it completely conflates diagnosis with recommendation.

·        Weak learning and early school leaving are a problem because they hinder economic growth.

·        Public- private partnerships are necessary to improve educational results throughout the world.

Las distintas facetas de la pobreza multidimensional condicionan seriamente las oportunidades educativas.

Artículo en UAB Divulga

The 2020 Strategy of the European Union expects to curb early school leaving and boost graduation in tertiary education. These two objectives are defined as the main contributions of education to a knowledge society.

Between 2011 and 2013 a series of meetings have been hold in the corresponding Thematic Working Group convened by the Commission. Apparently, governments have reported to the TWG how they are intervening on the problem and struggling to compensate for it. Common measures include early warning systems, mentoring, flexible grouping, systematic support and second-chance education. However, the recently published report of the TWG also reminds governments of prevention, a concept which makes reference to wider action such as good quaility early childhood education, a relevant and engaging curriculum, flexible educational pathways, integration of migrants and minorities, smooth transitions between educational levels, high quality VET, teacher training and strong guidance systems.

This policy framework assumes that early school leaving may be effectively prevented if preventative strategies are ambitious enough and coherent. However, some of these strategies are politically very sensitive. For instance, integrating migrants and minorities may lead to reforms in school choice schemes in order to counter-act socio-economic segregation. In this vein, some of these recommendations may even have a perverse effect if they are only partially put in place. Thus, flexible pathways and a renewed rhetorical emphasis in VET may convey a selective policy that fosters early and durable tracking in comprehensive school systems.

The final outcome is likely to depend on the official understanding of these policies in a given country. This crucial factor has a political and a cognitive side. The political angle depends on the agenda of priorities and the balance of power between interests, social movements, lobbies, parties and other political players. From the cognitive side, governments normally make sense of their challenges by means of causal beliefs articulated in small “theories” about which may be the probable consequences of their policy. Since these theories are not always coherent with research findings, their evaluation and the resulting feed-back are indispensable to take stock of past experiences and improve the design of new programmes. This gap may be the outcome of an ideological bias, or simply, of a difficulty to translate mixed evidence into a relavant enough language for decsion-makers. Both causes are eventually very difficult to overcome.

So, a careful and complex account of interaction between policy-makers and researchers will be extremely necessary to make sense of the final outcomes and the reflexive reviews of former policies.  But new and more effective approaches can only be outlined through the process of (sometimes controversial) decision-making, complex implementation and partial evaluation. New and more accurate approaches can only arise from these intricate circuits where politics meets expertise and expertise meets politics.

Enlace a este capítulo de libro.

La Unió Europea i l‘Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos han endegat plans educatius continentals per a la dècada de 2010 a 2020. En ambdós casos aquestes  iniciatives intenten posar en pràctica una política educativa sensible a l’equitat que, alhora, contribueixi a la integració de cadascuna de les dues regions mundials.

En aquesta classe del Màster en Política Social, Treball i Benestar de la UAB voldria comparar aquestes dues iniciatives tot seguint aquests quatre eixos.

1. Quins precedents institucionals han inspirat aquests plans educatius? De fet, no sorgeixen del no-res sinó que a Europa ja es va dur a terme una (fallida) Agenda de Lisboa amb els mateixos objectius entre 2010 i 2020, i a l’Amèrica Llatina la iniciativa de l’OEI respon a diverses valoracions del Consens de Washington i de l’Educació per Tothom.

2. Quins actors han intervingut en la formulació d’aquestes polítiques? Encara que el paper dels governs no és pas secundari, cal remarcar que aliances i tensions entre organismes internacionals, així com el paper de la societat civil. Caldria, doncs, cridar l’atenció sobre la col·laboració entre la UE i l’OCDE, d’una banda, i sobre el desplegament paral·lel de les iniciatives de l’OEI i del PREAL, d’una altra. A més, els grups de treball temàtics de l’Estratègia Europea d’Educació i Formació han convocat diverses associacions, de la mateixa manera que el llibre blanc de la proposta iberoamericana va ser debatut públicament en diversos països (el cas de Brasil potser és un dels més paradigmàtics).

3. Aquestes polítiques poden tenir un impacte positiu sobre les desigualtats educatives a tots dos continents? Probablement el puguin tenir sobre els indicadors que han adoptat com a fites, almenys s’observen tendències positives a l’Amèrica Llatina. Tanmateix, és difícil que, per si mateixes, neutralitzin els efectes perversos de la pobresa econòmica, la segregació urbana, l’exclusió laboral i la reproducció intergeneracional de les desigualtats educatives.

4. Aquestes iniciatives són programes socials o tan sols col·leccions de mesures heterogènies? Totes dues han intentat elaborar la seva “teoria del canvi” i fer-ne un seguiment a través d’un observatori oficial. Mentre que la UE confia en les sinergies entre el creixement intel·ligent, inclusiu i sostenible, l’OEI espera que unes sinergies similars s’estableixin entre els diversos nivells educatius, així com entre l’educació i les polítiques socials. L’observatori europeu és aquest, i l’iberoamericà aquest altre.

Aquests dos vídeos recullen el missatge central de l’Estratègia Europea (EU policy against early school leaving) i dels objectius iberoamericans (Metas Educativas 2021). És interessant analitzar-hi alguns trets del discurs (vegeu el mètode d’anàlisi crítica del discurs de Norman Fairclough) com ara el “gènere político-científic” i l’ús de judicis aparents de fet.

The recent death of Prof Ferran Ferrer at a premature age is certainly a blow for those of us who worked with him, as well as a reverse for the academic community. This post is a simple way to remember a colleague and a friend.

While available comments of Prof Ferrer’s work remind of his role in introducing rigorous debate on the evaluation of education policy in Catalonia (find a short obituary in Catalan here as well as a brief bio in English here), I would like to elaborate on one of his contributions to international and comparative education, which I was lucky to share with him.

Professor Ferrer was actively interested and involved in the “inclusive education” approach to education policy. Such label stresses the relevance of the necessary pedagogic, organisational and policy changes in order to guarantee a basic education to all students regardless of either their physical and psyschological condition or their social background and cultural origin. Actually, this approach underscores the wider notion of basic education that was mentioned in the general statements of Education for All in 1990 and 2000 but was narrowed down by the ulterior definition of both EFA indicators and Millennium Development Goals.

Fortunately, I could collaborate with him on an article about the importance of educational action against social inequalities in the frame of inclusive education. Drawing on the proceedings of the 2008 International Conference of Education we observed that the understanding of this concept varied dramatically across world regions. Furthermore, we realised that the bulk of educational anti-inequality strategies were addressed to single schools, thus overlooking the policy cycle.

Prof. Ferrer also collaborated in other collective works on this issue, mostly the article that produced a general picture of the most relevant questions for education policy. Besides reminding of research findngs on comprehensive education, dealing with possible conceptual misunderstandings, and framing the necessary links between inclusive education and human rights, this other piece of academic work also made a very relevant point. Notably, it argued for the necessary connection between EFA and inclusive education if the broader notion of basic education was to be fully implemented. In the view of the authors, inclusive education must be understood as a process whereby a variety of strategies are deployed in order to improve the learning of all students. In the view of the authors,  the necessary success of such a process requires both improved initial and in-service teacher training, and if necessary, significant changes in professional cultures.

This video is a Spanish summary of  some findings about the drivers of over-age enrolment in Brazil. It is the outcome of a recent article in Education Policy Analysis Archives (written in Spanish too).

Over-age enrolment rates reflect the mismatch between students age and academic year. In this country many youth are still attending primary and lower-secondary schools in their late teens and early twenties. As a rule, this situation is linked to severe academic underperformance due to difficulties in attending classes regularly.

The analysis explores the impact of the Brazilian index of multidimensional poverty on the risk to experience over-age enroment. Four dimensions provoke a very significant effect. Problems in child development are the first one.  It means that children and youth who live with other children and youth suffering from extreme conditions (drop-out, illiteracy, child labour, or over-age enrolment too) are more likely than others to be schooled in years correspoding to a lower age. A second factor is informal labour. The youth are likely to be enrolled over-age when their household depends on insecure jobs which are not supported by a contract and a formal wage. The third factor is family vulnerability, that is, the presence of children or elderly and/or the absence of employed adults in their household. The forth dimension is economic deprivation due to a very low income.

This analysis is helpful to discuss two mechanisms that provoke educational inequalities according to the international specialists. These are the accumulation of material, social and cultural deprivation along people’s life, and opportunity hoarding through social closure.

La Editorial Miño y Dávila ha publicado un libro, producto de una investigación colectiva dirigida por mi mismo, sobre La Educación para Todos en América Latina. Este video presenta un breve resumen.

Summary video (in Spanish).

In March, 2013, PUC Minas is publishing a collective book based on the proceedings of a seminar on educational inequalities and poverty organised by the Fundaçao Joao Pinheiro of Minas Gerais and the research center on Globalisation, Education and Social Policies of UAB in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) in August 2011.

Generally speaking, the authors document the progress and limitations of educational development in Brazil and Latin America. Across-the-board progress is noticeable in terms of enrolment to the extent that almost all children have a place in primary schools, a growing share is enrolled in secondary schools, and even a number of students from a background of social vulnerability have availed of the dramatic increase in higher education places. Although any appraisal cannot overlook that some children are still excluded from primary education, and this shortcoming is harder at the pre-primary, secondary and tertiary levels, the positive trend has been remarkable. As to academic performance, in Brazil international data such as the OECD PISA indicators observe that half of fifteen-year-olds have not acquired the most basic intellectual competencies despite being schooled; however, the Index of Basic Education detects a sound advancement in academic results school by school that is slowly compensating for such a huge shortcoming.

In addition, an array of innovative policies has been implemented. The Bolsa Familia programme, an internationally recognised best practice in the field of Conditional Cash Transfers, delivers social benefits to families conditioned to the effective vaccination and school attendance of their offspring. This programme has produced a positive impact on school attendance and the reduction of child labour in Minas. In the same state, the Programa de Educação Profissional has also contributed to significantly improve vocational education and training as well as career guidance.

Nevertheless, this collection of studies has to highlight important, persisting problems that link educational inequalities with poverty. The most obvious one is the strong effect of parental socio-economic background on educational indicators concerning enrolment, graduation and performance. But a further constraint is due to the perverse effect of crime and violence. Besides self-evident consequences in terms of death rate and imprisonment for many youngsters, the climate of insecurity is also disrupting educational processes such as school attendance and leisure education in many Latin American cities.

Last but not least, the dramatic improvement of access to higher education has a negative face too. On the one hand, ethnic discrimination is still damaging the opportunities of black and coloured students. A ‘race and colour’ classification distinguishing ‘white’, ‘yellow’, ‘coloured’, ‘black’ and ‘indigenous’ groups is widely accepted in the country, and normally included as a variable in official statistics. These data show that ‘black’ and ‘coloured’ students often deal with worse circumstances than their mates from a similar socio-economic status. On the other hand, the proliferation of many new private universities that cater for the students who cannot pass the examinations of the prestigious public universities has produced a segregative effect. Unfortunately, most students from the more humble social origin cluster in the same low-prestige, low-quality programmes in the Brazilian system of higher education institutions.