Successful Implementation Of Child Friendly Schools Education Essay
This article explores the part of Comparative and International Research in the successful execution of Child Friendly Schools in Kenya. Emphasis will be placed on the background of CFS, current patterns and emerging critics, success narratives, jobs and booby traps and what CIR can make to repress some of these challenges. In the debut subdivision, the essay will get down by analyzing literature environing the constructs of CIR and CFS in relation to planetary docket ; research how CFS came into being and the drive forces behind it. We so go on to concentrate on a instance survey of CFS in Kenya, discoursing the function of CIR in the Kenya ‘s CFS, reasoning that CIR is used as a political tool in making educational policy, instead than a research method or an rational enquiry. The article will further critically analyze challenges confronting CFS and how cognition on CIR can lend to accomplishing the purposes and aims of CFS. A decision based on the literature and writer ‘s experience will so be drawn. Throughout the article we build a instance in favor of CIR reasoning that the strength of voices of comparative research workers lie on “ noncritical ” transportation of policies and patterns from one context to another which could otherwise open a Pandora ‘s Box.
Introduction
Possibly, one of the turning Fieldss in instruction in the modern age is comparative and international instruction, judged by the volume of surveies reported in the literature. Cardinal to this is that many states around the universe have formulated some of their educational policies based on findings from CIR. With the current moving ridge of globalisation, research workers and experts, particularly in the field of instruction, are ever seeking to happen ways of streamlining their educational policies with the planetary tendencies. Harmonizing to Giddens ( 1990:64 ) , globalisation is ‘the intensification of world-wide societal dealingss which link distance vicinities in such a manner that local occurrences are shaped by events happening many stat mis off and frailty versa ‘ . Global forces hence have an impact on determining local patterns with planetary tendencies. In order to make this tactically and critically, comparative and internal research remains cutting border in informing people about the worlds, the challenges and the possible effects of noncritical transportation of thoughts.
Interestingly, planetary docket in affairs related to instruction are prioritized towards basic instruction as opposed to adult instruction or higher instruction. In Africa, this would be likely because, as Oketch ( 2004 ) points out, basic instruction outputs higher rates of returns compared to higher instruction. This has later caused authorities and non-governmental organisations to concentrate more on bettering the quality of basic instruction. Child-friendly schools ( CFSs ) in Kenya is an illustration of a non-governmental enterprise sponsored by UNICEF with the purpose of non merely supplying kids right to education but the right to the “ right ” instruction. In other words, CFSs are more concerned with the quality of basic instruction in add-on to its entree. The outgrowth of CFSs in Kenya was catapulted by the forces of agendas 1 and 2 of Millenium Development Goals ( MDGs ) which emphasizes on the proviso of basic instruction. The term “ quality ” in instruction is dynamic because of the societal, political and economic context at which it is used. Because of differences in contexts, it is imperative that cognition of comparative and international research be used in planing policies and teaching method in CFS that fit that peculiar context. But the inquiry is: how can CIR be helpful in successful execution of CFS in Kenya? To reply this inquiry, this essay hinges on two wide constructs: Comparative and International Research and Child Friendly Schools.
Literature Review
In this subdivision, the writer will look ataˆ¦
Concepts of Comparative and International Research ( CIR ) and Child Friendly School ( CFS )
CIR is a merger of two wide countries of research: Comparative Research and International Research. To understand its full significance, it is of import we define the two countries of research individually. In his definition of comparative research, Mills et Al ( twelvemonth ) argue that:
‘Comparative research is a wide term that includes both quantitative and qualitative comparing of societal entities. Social entities may be based on many lines, such as geographical or political 1s in the signifier of cross-national or regional comparings ‘ . ( p. 621 )
A similar perceptual experience was echoed by Noah and Eckstein ( 1969: 127 ) , who described comparative instruction as “ an intersection of the societal scientific disciplines, instruction and cross-national survey [ which ] efforts to utilize cross-national informations to prove propositions about the relationship between instruction and society and between learning patterns and larning results ” .
In visible radiation of this definition, comparative research in the context of instruction can be defined as a survey of two or more entities or events ( Crossley & A ; Watson 2003 ) with the underlying end of seeking for similarity and discrepancy. Cross-national or regional comparings may include comparing educational policies, teaching method, educational leading and so on. Harmonizing to Mills et Al ( 2006: 621 ) , “ the hunt for discrepancy topographic points more accent on context and difference in order to understand specificities ” .
International instruction, on the other manus, can be defined as “ the application of descriptions, analyses and penetrations learned in one or more states to the jobs of developing educational systems and establishments in other states ” ( Wilson 2000a: 116 ) . Thus, international research is concerned with research carried out across two or more states, frequently with the intent of comparing responses between them. This might be done in order to invent schemes that work good across both or all these civilizations or to propose local accommodations to a planetary scheme
There is a close relationship between comparative and international instruction. Epstein ( 1994: 918 ) points out, that international pedagogues “ use findings derived from comparative instruction to understand better the procedures they examine, and therefore, to heighten their ability to do policy ” . We can therefore draw from the above two definitions that CIR in instruction as a method of comparing both qualitative and quantitative entities in instruction across different states, societies or civilizations with the purpose of placing similarities and differences. It is nevertheless of import to observe that non all international research is comparative, and non all comparative research is international or cross-national.
Harmonizing to UNICEF, a child-friendly school is both a kid seeking school and a child-centred school: It is child seeking because it actively placing excluded kids to acquire them enrolled in school. It is a child-centred school because it acts in the best involvements of the kid taking to the realisation of the kid ‘s full potency, is concerned about the “ whole ” kid: her wellness, nutritionary position, and well-being and concerned about what happens to kids before they enter school and after they leave school. A CFS system recognizes and respects kids ‘s right and duties ; it provides the enabling environment to recognize kids ‘s right non merely in schools, but besides in kids ‘s place and their communities. These include kids from struggle zones, street kids and kids with disablements. The Child-Friendly Schools theoretical account ( see fig 1 ) is based on simple, rights-based constructs that would hold all schools be:
Safe, healthy and protective ;
Staffed by trained instructors ;
Provided equal resources and the appropriate physical, emotional and societal conditions for kids to larn, develop their endowments and make their possible.
Fig 1: Model of the Child-Friendly School
Beginning: United nations children’s fund, 2009.
The CFS theoretical account provides a model for planning ( and supervising the effectivity of ) schemes for increasing entree to quality basic instruction with the specific focal point on the development of schemes to include those kids hitherto excluded from instruction ( UNICEF, Global Education Strategy, 2007 ) .
International and Local Pressures and their influences to formation of CFS in Kenya
Education in sub-Sahara Africa, and so in Kenya, is crafted from both influences by planetary tendencies in instruction and the bequests of colonialism. Chisholm and Leyenderker ( 2008 ) observe that:
“ Since 1990, the ends and intent of instruction in sub-Sahara Africa has been reshaped by four interrelated developments: globalization, the changed focal point of international assistance bureaus towards development aid, the version of sub-Sahara African states to the new universe order with its new political accents, and the spilling over of new pedagogical thoughts from the USA and Europe into sub-Sahara Africa ” . ( p 198 )
Kenya is a signer to a figure of conventions in instruction, including the Convention to the Rights of the Child ( 1989 ) , the World Declaration on Education for All ( Jomtien, 1990 ) , the Dakar agreement and the Millenium Development Goals ( 2000 ) . In accomplishment of instruction development ends, Kenya is bound to, among other things, quality instruction by MDGs. The Jomtien call for entree for entree, equity, quality and democracy in instruction appeared to assure both societal and economic development ( Chisholm and Leyenderker, 2008 ) . Social and economic development, and continues to be believed, requires educational alteration and educational alteration is necessary for societal and economic development ( ibid: ) . Educational alteration, in bend, is perceived to depend on, amongst other things, the input from relevant development aid undertakings. These undertakings, in the sphere of instruction, are typically formulated with mention to internationally negotiated development dockets ( like the MDGs ) and precedence ( Crossley & A ; Watson, 2003 ) . An illustration of these undertakings in Kenya is CFSs which are supported by United Nations Children ‘s Fund ( UNICEF ) . The Education Section of UNICEF ‘s Programme Division introduced the Child Friendly Schools ( CFS ) model for schools that “ function the whole kid ” in 1999 ( Chabbott, 2004 ) .
Theoretical underpinning of presenting CFS model in Kenya
The increased trust of foreign assistance to back up instruction reform in Kenya has been accompanied by a passage, from “ understanding instruction as a human right and the general good to sing it chiefly in footings of its part to national growing and wellbeing through the development of the cognition and accomplishments societies are deemed to necessitate ” . ( Arnove & A ; Torres 2007:359 ) . Occasional voices continue take a firm standing that “ instruction is emancipating, that acquisition is inherently developmental ” ( ibid: 359 ) .
With the planetary concern that Sub-sahara Africa states may non accomplish Universal Primary Education ( UPE ) by 2015 unless the advancement is accelerated ( Carceles et al. , 2001 ; Bennel, 2002 ) , Kenya responded by presenting Free Primary Education ( FPE ) policy in 2003 with both local and planetary force per unit area. The principle behind presenting FPE was ( apart from the force per unit area from planetary and international dockets ) to relieve poorness attributed to miss of literacy accomplishments. The success narrative behind execution of FPE policy is the increased registration at primary schools by about 50 % , from 5.9 million in 2003 to 9.38 million students harmonizing to the Kenya Economic Survey 2011. One of its standout accomplishments was the registration of the late Kimani Maruge, the universe ‘s oldest individual to get down primary school, he enrolled in the first class in 2004, aged 84, he holds the Guinness World Record for this. Besides the tremendous registration rates ensuing from free primary instruction, there are concerns about the quality of schooling in primary schools in Kenya. There are non adequate text editions, schoolrooms are overcrowded and the substructure in many schools is unequal for the Numberss of students go toing. Many of the schools do non hold sanitation installations. The teacher-pupil ratio is rather high: harmonizing to UNESCO there are more than 40 students per instructor, on norm. All of these factors militate against the proviso of quality instruction. There is no charming wand for repairing this job of quality in instruction. In response to this CFS were introduced in Kenya by UNICEF. Harmonizing to UNICEF ( 2006 ) :
“ The challenge in instruction is non merely to acquire kids into school, but besides to better the overall quality of schooling and address menaces to engagement. If both quality and entree are tackled, kids who are enrolled in primary school are likely to go on, finish the full rhythm, achieve expected learning results and successfully passage to secondary school. ” ( p. 1 )
The CFS model ( see appendix 3 ) purposes at advancing child-seeking, child-centred, gender-sensitive, inclusive, community-involved, protective and healthy attacks to schooling and out-of-school instruction with a general end of bettering the quality of acquisition.
Since CFSs are concerned with the quality of acquisition, it is of import we look at the significance of “ quality ” . The national scrutinies to obtain the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education ( KCPE ) at the terminal of primary rhythm and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education ( KCSE ) at the terminal of secondary rhythm are designed to measure the extent to which the primary and secondary alumnuss master the course of study content. In other words, the national trial tonss are used as the indexs of quality. The restriction of this index is that it does non take into history the context at which larning takes topographic point i.e. the acquisition environment, scholars ‘ alone features etc. There are many definitions of quality but one of the descriptions of quality which emphasizes on the context was by Coombs. In his definition, Coombs ( 1985 ) suggests that quality:
“ aˆ¦ pertains to the relevancy of what is taught and learned – to how good it fits the present and future demands of the peculiar scholars in inquiry, given their peculiar fortunes and prospectsaˆ¦ in the nature of its inputs ( pupils, instructors, installations, equipment, and supplies ) ; its aims, course of study and educational engineerings ; and its socioeconomic, cultural and political environment. ” ( p. 105 )
From his definition, Coombs puts context into consideration i.e. demands of the scholar, cultural and political contexts. In add-on, he emphasizes on “ the relevancy of what is taught and learned ” and how it fits the nature of peculiar scholars in inquiry. The fact that CFS emphasizes on learner-centered teaching method and puts the kid at the “ Centre ” or “ focal point ” in the acquisition procedure raises the thought of “ what is regarded as valuable cognition ” and “ how this cognition is acquired ” in this peculiar context. This leads us to the enquiry on the school of idea or paradigm behind presenting a contextualized CFS model. CFS as an attack to instruction is premised on constructivism, a theory of cognition reasoning that worlds generate cognition and significance from interaction between thoughts and existent experiences. Harmonizing to constructivists, the impressions of world and truth are socially constructed and in different context with the apprehension that cognition is subjective and embedded in multiple worlds. Therefore, quality of acquisition should be viewed in the context in which it is occurs.
Mainstreaming CFS theoretical account into the Kenya ‘s educational system: Whose voice Matters?
Challenges in implementing CFS in Kenya
Access and Quality Dilemma: Which one should be first precedence?
As I mentioned earlier, one of the function of CFS in Kenya is to better the quality of larning. But the entree to instruction is still a challenge in Kenya and there is fright that Kenya will non hold achieved EFA ends 1 and 2 by the twelvemonth 2015. As we near the 2015 set deadline for the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals, at a clip when hopes should be high, cosmopolitan entree to primary instruction in Kenya seems to be stealing off. Many comparative research workers argue that different states have different educational jobs and it is the state ‘s duty to place what should be the precedence and why. Aksoy ( 2008: 218 ) insists that:
“ While developed states are chiefly engaged in activities to increase the quality of instruction, or they pattern and seek new techniques and methods of acquisition and instruction, developing states struggle to supply equal chances for instruction, seeking to increase the rate of engagement of all citizens in basic instruction, which is really mandatory. To cover with its educational jobs, each state works out countrywide or local solutions, depending on the nature of the job. ”
The tone of such statement is more closely allied to the inquiry of precedence. Precedence in one state may non be a precedence in another. In Kenya, the major job basic instruction is confronting is of entree while higher instruction is confronting the job of quality. CFS focus more on quality, but in the Kenyan context, entree to instruction is still a job in basic instruction even after the debut of FPE. The CFS construct of quality can nevertheless accommodate really good in little province commonwealth states which have about cosmopolitan entree to basic instruction. It has been noted that little sates have now shifted instruction precedences towards focal point in school effectivity, quality and inclusion ( Crossley & A ; Watson 2003 ) and CFS in Kenya should larn from little provinces that the precedence should now be on entree to basic instruction before switching to quality.
“ Atomizing ” the kid: is child-centred the solution to quality CFS?
A cardinal characteristic of a right-based, CFS system is that it is linked tightly to the child-centred acquisition procedure. CFS advocates for child-centred acquisition where a kid is treated as a individual entity or an “ atom ” in larning procedures. The thought of “ atomising ” a kid has its drawbacks derived from child-centred acquisition. First, there is an inadvertence on early twelvemonth development behavior of the kid. Psychologists believe kids undergo assorted degrees of development and their acquisition behaviors are different at each degree. For blink of an eye, Vygotsky ‘s ( 1978 ) construct of the zone of proximal development ( ZPD ) implies that a kid can non ordinary create ZPD by himself ; he needs the more adept single to bridge the spread between his current development degree and his proximal degree of development. Second, a child-friendly, democratic larning environment may non work successful in overcrowded schoolrooms and school with limited resources like it is the instance in Kenya. Third, child-centred acquisition weakens the function of the instructor. The thought that a kid must be active in building of cognition is frequently understood to connote a diminishing function for the instructor in larning procedure who now becomes a “ manager ” or a facilitator ” . A call for paradigm redevelopment, from an entirely child-centred acquisition to a combination of both child-centred acquisition and teacher-centred acquisition attack is of import so that the failing of one method is complemented by the other method. Several comparative surveies concur with this blended attack.
What Lessons can Kenya larn from other Countries in Implementing CFS? A Review on the Contribution of Comparative Research
The term that is normally used in Kenya and so many Africa states in the initial procedures of planing an educational policy is benchmarking. Basically, this is normally a comparative survey which is carried out either locally and/or internationally in seeking to compare different theoretical accounts of policy model with the purpose of critical adaptation or acceptance. Lessons are good learnt when a comparings are made, and this underscores the strength and significance of comparative research. Furthermore, since jobs transcend national boundary lines, it is prudent to seek possible solutions from a similar experience in another state, and this explains why international research is of import. Kenya can larn from other states that are either come oning or neglecting to implement CFS because lessons can either place chances or spreads, based on comparative analysis.
The first lesson to be learned is that documenting the emerging good patterns and lessons learned within the parts is utile in informing grounds based scheduling and protagonism to enable us to accomplish better consequences. For illustration, a Global Evaluation Report published by UNICEF in 2009 on comparative surveies of how to six states ( Guyana, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand ) with different experiences implementing CFS, demonstrated the followers:
CFSs in changing contexts successfully use the three cardinal rules of CFS models-inclusiveness, child-centredness and democratic engagement.
Schools runing in really different national contexts, with different degrees of resources and functioning populations with different demands have succeeded in being child-centred, advancing democratic engagement, and being inclusive.
Schools that had high degrees of household and community engagement and usage of child-centred pedagogical attacks had stronger conditions for acquisition, that is, pupils felt safer, supported and engaged, and believed that the grownups in the school supported the inclusion and success of each pupil. ( UNESCO, 2009 )
Kenya can utilize this success study to help in supplying a broader position on the ways in which CFSs can lend to quality in the state ‘s alone context. The cautiousness should nevertheless be that any stairss taken should hold hindsight of the current context in the state to avoid noncritical transportation of pattern which may stop up opening a Pandora ‘s box.
Second, through CIR, surveies of educational systems that portion similar jobs can supply information for larning possible effects. A recent comparative rating research conducted by UNESCO in Nigeria, Gunaya, Thailand and the Philippines on CFS teaching method gave different findings. While instructors in Nigeria and Guyana chiefly focused on meeting basic instructional stuff demands ( text edition, paper ) , many instructors in Thailand and the Philippines focused on holding greater entree to information and communicating engineering ( UNESCO 2009 ) . Kenya experiences the same challenge as Nigeria and Gunaya, and informations from these states can be used to larn how they get bying with unequal basic instructional stuff. The cautiousness here should be, that “ common jobs may predominate in different states, but ‘common theoretical account ‘ can non be applied because each state has different culture/context ” ( Crossley & A ; Watson, 2003:39 ) . This provides priceless information of what to follow, modify or avoid.
Decision
It is worthy repeating Crossley ‘ ( 2003 ) accent that “ context affairs ” and different states have different demands and precedences even if they are faced with the same challenges. The value of CIR is analyzing foreign systems of instruction in order to go “ better fitted to analyze and understand our ain ” ( Sadler 1900, reprinted 1964:310 ) . Therefore, this essay has non provided, and has non sought to supply, solutions to empirical jobs impacting CFS, but has presented an overview of the part of CIR in bettering successful execution of CFS in Kenya. As such, the essay acknowledges the function of CIR in exciting critical thought and contemplations about CFS system, its success and failures, strengths and failings. This critical contemplation facilitates self rating in our ain context and the footing for finding appropriate classs of action. The article besides hints that CIR helps us understand planetary docket and how they shape educational development undertakings from organisations and development bureaus like UNICEF.
Recommendations and Way frontward for Comparative and International Research in Education
While policy adoption and cross-national educational comparing have been cardinal concerns of the field of comparative instruction since its origin, political, economic, and cultural alterations worldwide have challenged comparativists to see new inquiries of power, political relations and relevancy in relation to educational policy transportation and diffusion procedures. First, it has been argued that politicians who talk about “ educational development ” or “ economic development ” talk less about instruction and its function in economic development. This means that if comparative researches are to hold their voice heard, so it should concentrate on beef uping multidisciplinary waies both in perpendicular and horizontal orientation. Second, in 1980s, comparative instruction focused majorly on the issue of policy, but it has now been shifted to qualitative research with an purpose of deriving information at grassroots degree. This has been catalyzed by the fact that civilization is a complex phenomenon and understanding it requires research workers to concentrate more on specific, small-scale contexts.
