Comparative and International Education Society “The Politics of Comparison” March 22-26, 2009 Charleston, SC Shannon Taylor

2 The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), founded in 1956 to foster cross-cultural understanding, scholarship, academic achievement and societal development through the international study of educational ideas, systems, and practices.

3 Who attended? Education researchers, development practitioners, educators, NGOs, Ministries, graduate students over 300 panels Big range of countries represented

4 What organizations? Universities Ministry of Education AED World Bank USAID CARE Save the Children INEE EDC Population Council Aga Khan Foundation Population Council Action Aid IRC Winrock International RTI international AIR World Learning

Theme: Politics of Comparison Traveling reforms- “best practices across country boundaries informing national policy making, practice, international standards and global benchmarks” Why has international comparison been championed as an effective policy tool and what effect does it have on local initatives and practices? Cross cutting presentations which combined researchers and practicioners

6 Themes, topics, questions Access to education- The Fast track initiative- Has the push to reach MDG of UPE superseded quality of education? Girls education and empowerment and the need for female teachers Education in conflict situations Early Childhood education and local languages Youth development ICT and education OVC- approaches to education Community and parental involvement in education Teacher training and professional development The intersection of education and child labour

7 Access at the expense of quality? Research mostly focuses on enrollment and occasionally completion indicators, rarely quality Teacher training and attendance Contract teachers The Fast Track initiative- at what cost? The example of Liberia and literacy;

8 # of teachers needed to meet UPE by 2015, 3,784,000 new teachers in Africa How to improve quality: CARE and USAID presentations on training and professional development Incentives in teaching: do they work? (Absenteeism:World Bank and FTI) –Debate on what to base incentives on Gender and education

9 Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Combined framework for approaches to education in emergency (panel: USAID, EDC, World Bank) How doeseducation affects fragility- both positive and negative-?The power of education to promote peace and create divisions. A framework that provides guidance but is flexibile for changing state Planning, service delivery, resource mobilization, monitoring systems