Privatisation in Education: Analysing Choice, Quality, Equity and Social Justice in Peru, Vietnam and Ethiopia

IMPACTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOOLING ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM: EVIDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA Educational achievement in primary schools varies according to the type of school pupils attend. This paper examines... [ view full abstract ]

IMPACTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOOLING ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM: EVIDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA

Educational achievement in primary schools varies according to the type of school pupils attend. This paper examines school-type achievement variance and the role of school inputs in educational achievement in Ethiopia. This study uses data from the Young Lives project; 11,990 Ethiopian pupils surveyed at the school level with additional individual and household information. The study employs a multiple regression framework to measure the impact of school type on Mathematics and Literacy scores of primary school pupils and mean decomposition analysis to examine the educational achievement gaps between private and non-private school pupils. Descriptively, more pupils from private schools attended pre-school, had more specialised teachers and engaged less in work outside school than their colleagues in government schools. After controlling for other factors, the study finds that pupils that attend private school types outperform their counter parts in non-private schools and while individual and household characteristics of the children are key drivers of their educational achievement, school factors explain a large share of the educational achievement gaps of primary school pupils in Ethiopia. This paper concludes that policies which aim to empower poor households and discourage child labour are very important, and in terms of school factors, policies that encourage quality learning through lower class sizes, more qualified and specialised teachers as found in private schools are vital for pupils’ achievement because their impacts on achievement were found to be highly significant.

ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPANSION ON COGNITIVE ABILITIES: EVIDENCE FROM URBAN PERU This paper examines the medium-run impacts of a deregulatory policy to enhance private school initiatives in Peru. The Law to... [ view full abstract ]

ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPANSION ON COGNITIVE ABILITIES: EVIDENCE FROM URBAN PERU

This paper examines the medium-run impacts of a deregulatory policy to enhance private school initiatives in Peru. The Law to Promote Private Investments in Education, issued in 1997, prompted private school enrollment rates to double in fifteen years. This expansion was framed in a discrediting wave of state education associated to the publication of government’s national education assessments (of 1998 and 2001); PISA 2000’s results (published for Peru in 2003); and outcomes of the first study of Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education, or LLECE, of 1997 (published in 2001). Moreover, the transition from a lower to upper middle income country in 2000 allowed a larger group of the population to pay private education services: still low-fee low-quality schools were perceived as better than state education. Within such processes we focus on students’ cognitive abilities measured as math and verbal test scores in private schools. We employ a longitudinal student’s dataset from the Child Survey (Round 1 to 3) and School Survey that were part of the Young Lives Study (YL) in Peru. Using a joint model of private school choice and learning outcomes we give interpretation to empirical IV treatment effects. Our main identification strategy exploits the large private school expansion set off in 1997. Preliminary results indicate that private attendance influences test scores through two main channels of persistence: initial cognitive abilities and study hours at home.

SOCIALIZATION AND EDUCATION IN VIETNAM: PRACTICES AND IMPACTS ON PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT LEARNING QUALITY In the context of global efforts to define the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda, a growing body of research... [ view full abstract ]

SOCIALIZATION AND EDUCATION IN VIETNAM: PRACTICES AND IMPACTS ON PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT LEARNING QUALITY

In the context of global efforts to define the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda, a growing body of research focuses on the impacts of development initiatives on education policies and practice. This paper seeks a deeper understanding of 'socialization' policies for development in Vietnam and the discourse in which ‘socialization’ of education is implemented. It also examines the effects of institutionalized practices emerging from the enactment of 'socialization' on Vietnamese primary student learning quality. Using Young Lives school survey data (2011-2012) and Hierarchical linear modeling, the study investigates the associations between whether students paid for full-day schooling, which represents family expenditures on education, and private tutoring hours (predictors) and student learning quality, as characterized by academic achievement, confidence, and effort (outcome variables). The findings show that spending on full-day schooling was not associated with variance in primary school students’ academic achievement and confidence, but had a positive relation with students’ effort. In addition, while the number of private tutoring hours was not a significant predictor of student learning quality, it was evident that private tutoring was prevalent even in the rural, remote areas. Such evidence suggests important implications for educational inequality that have been reinforced by the unintended impacts of ‘socialization’ policies, particularly on marginalized groups of students. The paper calls for long-term commitment and concerted efforts from citizens, the state, and international community in making education a sustainable pathway to a better future for all.

Education is a political endeavour rather than a technical exercise; education systems are central not only to the economic growth of nations but to the political, social, and cultural development of societies. In recent... [ view full abstract ]

Education is a political endeavour rather than a technical exercise; education systems are central not only to the economic growth of nations but to the political, social, and cultural development of societies. In recent years, many low and middle-income countries have experienced shifts in educational enrolment at the primary level towards non-state providers and an increase in various forms of supplementary education such as private tuition. The commodification of education is problematic from a social justice perspective which views the relations between individuals as important and requires that the gains and benefits for one are not at the expense of another. This poses particular challenges for governing education systems which, over time, tend to reproduce inequalities. Private schooling and private tutoring thus raise important questions for research and policymaking, particularly concerning the implications of privatisation for school choice, quality,
governance, equity and social justice.

In 2014 the Privatisation in Education Research Initiative (PERI) and Young Lives (YL) jointly commissioned a number of policy-oriented research papers which employ Young Lives school survey data from its longitudinal study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. The symposium will present three fellowship papers from Ethiopia, Peru and Vietnam that together reflect on the manner and extent to which varied supply of schooling types and private tutoring influences the pivotal role of education in societal development and building sustainable futures for all.