Negative Capability? Measuring the unmeasurable in education

This introductory article to the special issue of Comparative Education on measuring the unmeasurable in education considers measurement as reflecting facts and uncertainties. The notion of negative capability is used metaphorically to depict some limits of what is measurable, and portray aspects of the process of education, associated with uncertainty and public scrutiny of complexity. Four overarching questions – what, when, why and how – have guided the reflections of the authors who have contributed to the special issue. What are we measuring when we try to measure the unmeasurable in education and what are we not measuring? When have attempts been made to measure the unmeasurable in education, what metrics have been adopted in which contexts, and with what outcomes? Why have measures been adopted as indicators of the unmeasurable, such as human rights? How have particular historically located organisations approached the problem of measuring the apparently unmeasurable in education, with what epistemological, normative and conceptual resources, and consequences? The introductory article looks at measurement as a form of negative capability in some discussions of history of social statistics in education, the current debate over indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals, and how to measure gender equality in education

Desigualdades globales, multipolaridad y compromisos de los organismos supranacionales con el asunto de género y de educación

This paper seeks to identify the emergence of a multi-polar space regarding international development in the last ten years that stands between agendas associated with human rights and basic needs, security, the environmental agenda, and responses to the 2008 financial crisis. In this environment, gender and education, notably issues associated with girls’ access to school, have come to occupy a particular resonant space, signalling both an end to all development ills, and the dissolution of differences between, for example, the state and the private sector, equality oriented NGOs and those linked with profit. The paper discusses how in this process supra-national organisations concerned with education deploy a number of key terms –empowerment , effectiveness and evidence – and how the ambiguities associated with these allow policies concerned with gender and education to signal both a social justice project and processes which sanction or sanitise relations of commodification, exploitation or continued inequalities. The analysis comprises three threads of discussion. In setting the scene I first present a montage of some features of global inequalities associated with gender and education and some of the slippery dimensions of multi-polarity. I then consider some of the ways in which multi-polarity has been deployed in discussions of international relations and radical democracy, and use some of the metaphoric aspects of this notion to characterise the present moment in international development policy. Through this I attempt to theorise approaches to gender, education and international development that I term dispersal. In the third section I outline some of the relationships of supra-national organisations with national and local institutions working on gender and education, and show, using the example of the Department for International Development (DFID) Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) programme how features of dispersal are evident in policy declarations, programme descriptions and framing discourses. The conclusion draws out the implications of this analysis for some of the key global policy declarations being negated in 2015, such as the Sustainable development Goals (SDGs).Este artículo busca identificar la emergencia de un espacio multipolar sobre desarrollo internacional en los últimos diez años que se enmarca entre agendas asociadas con los derechos humanos y las necesidades básicas, seguridad, la agenda medioambiental y respuestas a la crisis financiera de 2008. En este contexto, género y educación, temas notablemente asociados con el acceso de las niñas a la educación, han venido a ocupar un espacio notablemente resonante, señalando ambas un final a todas las enfermedades del desarrollo y la disolución de las diferencias entre, por ejemplo, el estado y el sector privado, ONGs orientadas a la igualdad y aquellas relacionadas con el lucro. El artículo aborda el tema de cómo en este proceso las organizaciones supranacionales involucradas con la educación despliegan un número de términos clave – empoderamiento, efectividad y evidencia- y cómo las ambigüedades asociadas con éstas permiten que se lleven a cabo medidas sobre género y educación para indicar ambos un proyecto de justicia social y procesos que sancionen o saneen las relaciones de comercialización, explotación y continuas desigualdades. El análisis engloba tres hilos de discusión. En la presentación del tema abordo una serie de características de desigualdades globales asociadas con el género y la educación y algunas de las dimensiones resbaladizas de la multipolaridad. A continuación, trato algunas de las formas en que la multipolaridad ha sido debatida en discusiones sobre relaciones internacionales y democracia radical; y uso algunos de los aspectos metafóricos de esta noción para caracterizar el momento presente en política internacional de desarrollo. A través de esto, intento teorizar enfoques de género, educación y desarrollo internacional que yo denomino como disperso. En la tercera sección trazo algunas de las relaciones entre los organismos supranacionales y las instituciones locales que trabajan en el tema de género y educación; y muestro, usando el ejemplo del Programa Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) del Departamento para el Desarrollo Internacional (DFID en sus siglas en inglés) cómo las características de dispersión son evidentes en las declaraciones sobre políticas, descripciones de programas y discursos de encuadre. La conclusión dibuja las implicaciones del análisis para algunas de las declaraciones de política global habiendo sido negadas en 2015, como son los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)

Measuring Gender inequality and equality in education

Since 1995, considerable expertise has built up in measuring aspects of gender inequality and equality, and in researching these in education, particularly formal schooling. Existing international and national measures used for reporting on gender in formal schooling chart gender parity in school enrolment, attendance, progression, and learning outcomes. Gender parity measures the number of girls as a proportion of the number of boys. This measure generates some insights regarding the distribution and use of resources, but it is narrow. However, gender parity as a measurement technique tells us very little about the institutions which help reproduce gender inequalities within and beyond education. It also fails to give us a sense of the dimensions of gender equality, and the processes and investments in schooling which will develop, support and sustain this. Thus it does not generate sufficiently multi-dimensional insights for policy makers and practitioners with regard to where gender inequalities and equalities are located in education and how change in these processes can be evaluated and tracked using quantitative and qualitative information and a range of strategies for measurement

Global inequalities, multipolarity, and supranational organizations engagements with gender and education

This paper seeks to identify the emergence of a multi-polar space regarding international development in the last ten years that stands between agendas associated with human rights and basic needs, security, the environmental agenda, and responses to the 2008 financial crisis. In this environment, gender and education, notably issues associated with girls’ access to school, have come to occupy a particular resonant space, signalling both an end to all development ills, and the dissolution of differences between, for example, the state and the private sector, equality oriented NGOs and those linked with profit. The paper discusses how in this process supra-national organisations concerned with education deploy a number of key terms –empowerment , effectiveness and evidence – and how the ambiguities associated with these allow policies concerned with gender and education to signal both a social justice project and processes which sanction or sanitise relations of commodification, exploitation or continued inequalities. The analysis comprises three threads of discussion. In setting the scene I first present a montage of some features of global inequalities associated with gender and education and some of the slippery dimensions of multi-polarity. I then consider some of the ways in which multi-polarity has been deployed in discussions of international relations and radical democracy , and use some of the metaphoric aspects of this notion to characterise the present moment in international development policy. Through this I attempt to theorise approaches to gender, education and international development that I term dispersal. In the third section I outline some of the relationships of supra-national organisations with national and local institutions working on gender and education, and show , using the example of the Department for International Development (DFID) Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) programme how features of dispersal are evident in policy declarations, programme descriptions and framing discourses. The conclusion draws out the implications of this analysis for some of the key global policy declarations being negated in 2015, such as the Sustainable development Goals (SDGs)

Transforming education for girls in Tanzania: : Baseline research summary report

The data from the baseline study suggests that TEGINT is working in complex local environments in which educational and socio-economic contexts vary considerably. However, girls identify a number of common obstacles to education, and the support given by the school to learning and teaching, progression and exam performance is an important aspect of helping girls to be more aware and articulate about these obstacles and how to overcome them. The generation gap between girls, members of the SMC and VEOs, is an important area for further discussion and work. The relationship between girls’ aspiration and understanding of change and a number of processes associated with school organisation is a key area for further research and action. There appear to be important links between girls’ attainment and capacity to reflect and teachers’ qualifications, outlook, and their work in classroom. There also appears to be an association with the outreach work by SMCs and the presence of women in those organisations. Both areas need further investigation, as do the form of levies charged, and the effects of how schools have worked on aspects of HIV. The findings suggest that working to improve teaching and learning in school is as important as working to support extra-curricular activities like girls’ clubs. The baseline study confirms the importance of further investigation into the form of working in a sustained and strategic way at multiple levels with teachers, parents, VEOs, school management committees, communities and girls themselves to transform the education of girls. It highlights the importance of looking at both in-school and out of school factors to bring about significant change for gender equality

Assessing gender mainstreaming in the education sector: depoliticised technique or a step towards women's rights and gender equality?

In 1995 the Beijing Conference on Women identified gender mainstreaming as a key area for action. Policies to effect gender mainstreaming have since been widely adopted. This special issue of Compare looks at research on how gender mainstreaming has been used in government education departments, schools, higher education institutions, international agencies and NGOs .1 In this introduction we first provide a brief history of the emergence of gender mainstreaming and review changing definitions of the term. In the process we outline some policy initiatives that have attempted to mainstream gender and consider some difficulties with putting ideas into practice, particularly the tensions between a technical and transformative interpretations . Much of the literature about experiences with gender mainstreaming tends to look at organizational processes and not any specificities of a particular social sector. However, in our second section, we are concerned to explore whether institutional forms and particular actions associated with education give gender mainstreaming in education sites some distinctive features. In our last section we consider some of the debates about global and local negotiations in discussions of gender policy and education and the light this throws on gender mainstreaming. In so doing, we place the articles that follow in relation to contestations over ownership, political economy, the form and content of education practice and the social complexity of gender equality