Southern Africa: Access to information in quality education standards

Call for Papers

Access to Information in Quality Education Standards: Should Access to Information be a Cornerstone Standard to Achieving Quality Basic Education in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Organisation: Idasa Economic Governance Programme,
Conference Dates: February 2011, 14-16 / Livingstone, Zambia

From 14-16 February 2011 the Right to Know, Right to Education project will host a regional conference to address the issues of quality basic education for all. The conference will provide a platform for regional bodies, academics, civil society organisations and international aid organisations to deliberate critical questions such as the role of international quality standards for Sub-Saharan African countries; the effective monitoring of education standards in-country; how the right of access to information could be promoted by multi-lateral agencies; and whether quality education can be realised without stakeholders’ free and open access to relevant information? Also, the contentious notion of the nexus between resource and outcomes will be discussed. The latter is important especially in the context of delivering targeted resources to poor and vulnerable schooling communities. Finally, the conference will probe the role of regional institutions such as SADC, PAP and the AU in promoting a quality basic education agenda.

Background and Rationale

According to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to receive and disseminate information and this is the basis upon which state parties should establish national level policies and legislation to allow citizens access to information. Since this declaration was made, access to information has been viewed as a basic human right as well as a leverage right, enabling citizens to secure other fundamental rights. It is widely accepted that by preventing citizens from accessing information, their basic rights will not be addressed and this sets in motion a vicious cycle that makes it difficult to address with any precision the concerns of especially poor and vulnerable groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The right to basic education is a right that has a great impact on other rights such as the right to health, security and the right to food. Over the past decades, a great deal of international resources have been mobilised to securing the basic education goals set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With enrolment numbers increasing each year, the focus has inevitably shifted to the quality of education that children are receiving. However, the idea of quality basic education for all, reliant as it is on effective and efficient processes, has not really been well understood, leave alone effectively implemented. In this regard, there are a number of on-going debates about whether countries should adopt country-specific or regional educational quality standards, or if education systems should be geared towards the realisation of international input or output standards. There is growing support for the adoption of in-country standards but a complimentary demand is the development of rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems.

The Education for All campaign under UNESCO has stated a number of input standards for the realisation of quality education, yet none of these provisions include access to information. This Idasa regional conference seeks to explore the linkages between the right of access to information and the right to quality basic education. The proposition being tested is that access to information matters as much as physical access to schooling. Access to information is often overlooked as a secondary right, yet without it, citizens are unaware of their entitlements and therefore cannot often demand other basic rights. The conference will provide a platform for policy makers, academics, community members and CSOs to discuss their views, and through debate, propose the way forward to making quality education a norm across the region.

Key Outcomes of the Conference

• A networked group of activists, government officials and academic professionals creating space for in-country and regional discussions about the state of quality basic education in Sub-Saharan Africa;
• A better appreciation of the intimate connection between the realisation of quality basic education and the right of access to in formation;
• An improved understanding of the respective roles of governments, civil society, regional and international bodies, and schools and communities in the realisation of quality basic education; and
• An improved understanding of the relationship between resources and outcomes and how targeted resource interventions may promote quality basic education in poor schooling communities.

Sub-Theme 1: Access to Education, Quality of Basic Education and Linkages with the Right of Access to Information

Physical access to basic education is a critical condition that must be addressed before considering seriously the concept and reality of quality basic education. This may sound unnecessarily linear but many African countries continue to go through processes of reconstruction and restoring education in its most basic sense. This forces the attention on enrolment, retention and survival ratios, which is entirely appropriate given local challenges. However, physical access in the absence of quality education not only threatens viable social and economic outcomes, but may encourage the idea of education not being relevant as a lever for change. Recent shifts to making agriculture and small-scale agriculture the key anti-poverty tool of some African governments confirm just how vital it is that a quality education agenda be advanced. In response to the quest for quality education a number of developed countries have begun to link school quality to the academic outcomes achieved by publicly-funded schools. This has occasioned tremendous controversy because initially such results did not take into account the socio-economic composition of the learner body, which has an enormous impact on results. This raises formidable question about the appropriate standards that governments and schools need to be guided by in establishing and maintain quality outcomes in public schools. Following from this, what should be the informational regime to allow countries to chart a quality path and what is the role of civil society and international aid agencies in driving the demand for relevant information? How do countries develop rigorous monitoring and evaluation frameworks that provide regular information to stakeholders that will allow them to hold governments to account? And is there a coherent and compelling case for the linkage between the right of access to information and the right to basic education and does this differ according to country contexts? And finally, what role does the right of access to information play in creating the conditions for quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Sub-Theme 2: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Policies and Outcomes: The Role of Governments, Civil Society and other Non-State Actors

National governments play a critical role in the implementation of quality education standards. Looking at how governments and regional bodies respond to and allocate funds for education is generally monitored by multi-lateral agencies and international finance institutions. A central concern relates to the way national governments put in place extensive monitoring and evaluation plans to ensure that valuable State resources are used in the best possible way to achieve quality basic education. While civil society is potentially in a good position to monitor the roll out of funds and the delivery of quality education, inadequate access to relevant information has seriously attenuated civil society’s ability to hold governments to account. So apart from governments and civil society, we also have to ponder the role of regional bodies, multi-lateral agencies and the private sector in the delivery of quality basic education. In a nutshell, this theme will explore the role of multi-stakeholders in realising quality basic education and whether it’s possible to map a coherent multi-stakeholder approach to quality basic education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies of country interventions as well as regional interventions by multi-stakeholders in securing quality basic education will be examined. In what way has the involvement of multi-lateral institutions and donors bolstered the capacity of governments to deliver quality basic education? Has civil society taken a lead role in the monitoring and assessment of education policy and is there evidence of impact on government’s policy decision-making? Are CSO’s in a legitimate position to demand information and to monitor government progress, if not what alternative systems can be put in place to ensure that progress is being made? Is there a role for regional bodies in shaping the governance and quality agenda in basic education?

Sub-Theme 3: The Nexus between Resources and Outcomes in Basic Education

School resources and their relationship to academic outcomes have been a contentious topic for the last 30 years. While some researchers unequivocally claim a weak to non-existing relationship, more recent research affirms the importance of school resources in determining academic outcomes (achievement, drop-out rates etc.). Solid answers to these questions are important especially in the prevailing economic context where government resources are stretched and where policy-makers have to make the best possible decisions about where to spend scarce State resources. One of the key questions to clarify is what are the key components of what we want to define as “school resources”? And, given this, is there a positive relationship between school resources and academic outcomes? If we regard social capital as a resource, is there evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa, that it makes a difference to the realisation of quality outcomes? Does poverty (however defined) affect the academic outcomes of children of male-headed and/or female-headed households differently? This theme will examine case studies from different parts of the continent using both quantitative and qualitative methods in answering this important question.

Abstracts

We are inviting abstracts for any one of the three themes and our aim is to have a fair distribution of abstracts and papers across the three sub-themes. The abstract should be citation-free and should not exceed 150 words. They should include the title of the paper, name(s) of the author(s), organisational affiliation(s) and contact information of the author(s). All abstracts should be sent to Francina Mhundwa at [email][email protected] and Rose Hemmer-Vitti at [email][email protected] by October 31, 2010 for consideration.

Final Papers

Final papers should be evidence-based and theoretical; they should also include case studies and relevant policy information. The papers should be unpublished and reflect on the critical gaps in the debate on quality education. The papers should not exceed 6000 words or 20 pages in length. They should be typed in 12pt Times New Roman with 1.5 margin spacing.

The paper should include the following:
• Title of paper
• Full name(s) of author(s)
• Contact details of author(s)
• Biographical note of the author(s) (100 words max per author)

Note for presenters

Presenters must be able to present their findings at the conference that will be held on 14 to 16 February 2011 in Livingstone, Zambia. Subject to peer review, some papers will be chosen to be published in an edited conference book through a reputable publisher. For further inquiries, please contact Rose Hemmer-Vitti at [email][email protected]