Thinking Differently About Teacher Education
Professor Jeremy B. Williamswww.jeremybwilliams.net
Chief Academic Officer, Knowledge Universe Education, SingaporeAdjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Australia;
and Reims Management School, France.
ISSA 10th Annual Conference: Seeds of Change
Effective Investments in Early Childhood for Enduring Social Progress
RIN Grand Hotel, Bucharest, RomaniaOctober 14-17, 2009
Themes to be discussed …
The economics of ECDE… why it makes sense now and into the future
The pedagogy of ECDE… what modern learning theory tells us
The delivery of ECDE … how to address chronic teacher shortages
SC
SR
A B C
Years in education
Social Costs/Returns
EDCE/K-8 9-12 Post-Sec Life-long learning
The net benefits to society of education
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The economicdebate is over
J.J. Heckman (2000)‘Policies to foster human capital’, Research in Economics, 54(1), 3-56.
A few words from the father of child psychology
Jean Piaget 1896-1980
Vygotsky
Piaget
Dewey
Bruner
Gardner
The pedagogical debate is over
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Professor W. Steven Barnett Director of the National Institute
for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University
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Education for All (EFA) by 2015
• Universal primary education would cost $10 billion a year… about half what Americans spend on ice cream (Source: Action Aid)
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• Projected global teacher shortage by 2015 … 18 million
• India will need the greatest inflow of new teachers in the world – more than 2,000,000
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• Population: 1.15 billion; 1.6% p.a.
• Per capita income: US$1089 (US$4542 in PPP)
• 50% of the population is below 25 years
• 360 million children of school-going age
• The largest child population in the world
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India ranks 99th out of 125 on the EFA Development Index
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3.4% of children aged 2-4 yrs are in pre-school (cf. 14.4% in the US)
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The Indian government estimates that 12.6 million children under the age of 14 are engaged in child labour
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By any standard, the public education system has failed
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361 million should be in school
219 million are in school
Drop-out rates …
Grades 1-4: 16% (25m)
Grades 5-8: 43% (39m)
Grades 9-12: 68% (78m)
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90m children attend 75,000 private schools
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129m children attend 950,000 public schools
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800,000 of the public schools are in rural areas
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80% of rural schools do not have electricity (cf. 32% in urban areas)
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With a female literacy rate of 47.8%, India is in fifth bottom position in the world
(UNESCO)
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• Considered to be at expense of investment in boys’ education
• There is an acute shortage of women teachers
• Adolescent girls may stop attending schools due to absence of toilets
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Teacher absenteeism on any given day is around 25%
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Household spending on education ranks 2nd after food and groceries
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Ex-child labourers in rural India. This school opened to hold 50 children. On the first day, 150 turned up.
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Public-private partnerships may offer a solution …
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Could India’s ECDE/ primary teachers be junior high school graduates delivering on an online curriculum?
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Outdated infrastructure and pedagogies can be
replaced through …
… third party provision of buildings, solar power,
curriculum and ICT
Thank you for listening
This presentation is available at: www.jeremybwilliams.net/jbw/Presentations.html
jeremybwilliams
authenticlearning.wordpress.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alokputul/http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyhorizons/
Source for India data