The Politics of Education in Developing Countries OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi The Politics of Education in Developing Countries From Schooling to Learning Edited by Sam Hickey and Naomi Hossain 1 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University ’ s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2019 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2019 Impression: 1 Some rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, for commercial purposes, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. This is an open access publication, available online and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), a copy of which is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of this licence should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961975 ISBN 978 – 0 – 19 – 883568 – 4 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi To my parents, Maureen and Brian Hickey, for helping to make the value of learning clear to me, and to so many others. To Samer and Sophia, for all they have taught me about schooling and learning. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi Preface and Acknowledgements This manuscript brings together the fi ndings and analysis from a project entitled ‘ The Politics of Social Provisioning ’ that was undertaken within the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre (ESID) between 2011 and 2016. ESID is based at the Global Development Institute, The Univer- sity of Manchester, and consists of researchers located across the global North and South. Since 2011, its aim has been to identify the political conditions under which elites become committed to, and states become capable of, delivering inclusive development. ESID has examined the politics of development across several different policy domains, including growth, natural resource governance, social protection, gender equity, urban governance and health, as well as the topic of education that we focus on here (www.effective-states.org). Undertaking comparative research and publishing the results in an edited collection relies heavily on a great deal of teamwork and goodwill, and we have been fortunate to fi nd these qualities in abundance amongst the col- leagues we have worked with on this study. As editors, our fi rst and foremost round of thanks goes to the stellar cast of researchers and authors who contributed such fascinating country case studies to the collection. From the initial meetings in Buxton and Manchester, where the ideas were set in place, through the research design workshop in Nairobi and sharing of initial drafts in Cape Town, the research team has been a pleasure to work with. In addition to the chapters produced by the ESID-education research team, we are delighted to include chapters from two leading authorities in the fi eld, namely Merilee Grindle and Lant Pritchett, both of Harvard University. Our decision to engage with the ‘ learning crisis ’ as a critical problem facing coun- tries in the global South owed much to Lant ’ s ground-breaking work on this topic, whilst our decision to do so from a political perspective that focused on the critical role of coalitions owed a great deal to Merilee ’ s landmark (2004) text on the politics of educational reform in Latin America. We were grateful and honoured when both agreed to contribute critical commentaries to help close the book by identifying what the collection contributes, what it misses and where work on the politics of the learning crisis should move to next. Our thanks to them both for taking on this challenge and delivering in such style. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi We have accumulated many other debts along the way, and are particularly grateful to the ESID research associates who have provided outstanding sup- port at different stages of the project. Early on, Sophie King produced an excellent literature review on the politics of education that saved us priceless time and identi fi ed the gaps in the fi eld to take aim at. Towards the end, David Jackman helped us to convert the last of the extensive working papers into much shorter and sharper book chapters, ensuring integration between the chapters, liaising with the publishers, and the many other time-consuming tasks required to bring a book project through to completion. So swift and incisive was his grasp of our material that he joined us as co-author for the closing chapter, much improving the product in the process. The ideas within this book have been sharpened by many fruitful intellectual exchanges along the way, at seminars, conferences, and workshops. These include seminars at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the World Bank in Washington DC, at the German Development Institute in Bonn, and at academic conferences in Bath, Oxford, San Diego, and Barcelona, all of which encouraged us to take this work forward and think harder about how to frame the fi ndings. Our thanks go to the many anonymous reviewers who gave their time to offer peer review comments on our early working papers, and in particular to Professor Leon Tikly of Bristol Univer- sity who offered insightful comments on early versions of all of the country papers. Samer Al-Samarrai provided valuable insights into the policy debates about the learning crisis, and on indicators and data sources. The ESID network has provided many opportunities for this work to be pored over, critiqued and sharpened, and we thank our colleagues for their critical comments and encouragement, including Kunal Sen, David Hulme, Pablo Yanguas, Sohela Nazneen, Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, Badru Bukenya, and Fred Golooba-Mutebi. The initial framing of the project fl owed directly from the (2013) ESID Working Paper on ‘ Researching the Politics of Social Provisioning ’ produced by Brian Levy and Mike Walton, to whom we owe a signi fi cant intellectual debt. We have also bene fi tted from the guidance of the Centre ’ s Advisory Group, including David Booth, Barbara Harriss-White, Duncan Green, Margaret Kakande and Peter Evans (at Brown University) as well as Peter Evans (at the Research Department in DFID). Our thanks to these esteemed colleagues and to those who also acted as critical discussants and participants at our various workshops, including Nic van de Walle, Heather Marquette, Anu Joshi, and Merilee Grindle. An initial discussion with Steve Kosack at Harvard in 2011, just before his own excellent book on the politics of education was published, helped to orientate the project in the very early stages. At Manchester many people have assisted with the management of this project. They have facilitated our meetings, organized workshops, handled budgets, OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi viii Preface and Acknowledgements and done all the other administrative work without which research — especially international collaborative and comparative research — would not be possible. In particular, we are grateful to Kat Bethell, Julia Brunt, Clare Degenhardt, Julie Rafferty, and Anna Webster. Finally, our thanks to Adam Swallow at OUP for supporting the project from the outset and to his colleague Katie Bishop for guiding it through contracting and production. Sam Hickey, Manchester Naomi Hossain, Washington, DC This document is an output from a project funded by UK Aid from the UK Government for the bene fi t of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of, or endorsed by, the UK Government, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information, or for any reliance placed on them. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi ix Preface and Acknowledgements OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi Contents List of Figures xiii List of Tables xv List of Abbreviations xvii List of Contributors xxi 1. The Problem of Education Quality in Developing Countries 1 Naomi Hossain and Sam Hickey 2. Researching the Politics of Education Quality in Developing Countries: Towards a New Conceptual and Methodological Approach 22 Sam Hickey and Naomi Hossain 3. Decentralization and Teacher Accountability: The Political Settlement and Sub-national Governance in Ghana ’ s Education Sector 44 Edward Ampratwum, Mohammed Awal, and Franklin Oduro 4. The Politics of Learning Reforms in Bangladesh 64 Naomi Hossain, Mirza M. Hassan, Muhammad Ashikur Rahman, Khondoker Shakhawat Ali, and Md. Sajidul Islam 5. The Downsides of Dominance: Education Quality Reforms and Rwanda ’ s Political Settlement 86 Timothy P. Williams 6. Political Transformation and Education Sector Performance in South Africa 105 Brian Levy, Robert Cameron, Ursula Hoadley, and Vinothan Naidoo 7. The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia 132 Tim Kelsall, Sothy Khieng, Chuong Chantha, and Tieng Tek Muy 8. The Political Economy of Education Quality Initiatives in Uganda 152 Anne Mette Kjær and Nansozi K. Muwanga OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi 9. Identifying the Political Drivers of Quality Education: A Comparative Analysis 172 Sam Hickey, Naomi Hossain, and David Jackman 10. Understanding the Politics of the Learning Crisis: Steps Ahead on a Long Road 197 Lant Pritchett 11. Similarities and Differences in Policy Reform Destinies: What do Political Settlements and Domain Politics Explain? 210 Merilee S. Grindle Index 221 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi xii Contents List of Figures 1.1 Primary enrolment rates worldwide, 1970 – 2015 5 2.1 Domains of power 24 2.2 A typology of political settlements 29 2.3 A framework for researching the politics of social provisioning 34 3.1 Structure of education policy implementation at the district level, Ghana 48 3.2 Teacher attendance at primary school level, Ghana 52 3.3 Teacher attendance at primary school level in TM district, Ghana 53 3.4 Teacher attendance at primary school level in AK district, Ghana 53 6.1 The governance of education in South Africa — a multi-level framework 106 6.2 Governance ‘ episodes ’ in South African schools 123 7.1 Cambodia ’ s political settlement, 1998 – 2013 137 7.2 Politics of Cambodia ’ s education domain, as of 2013 141 10.1 Learning score and GDP per capita (countries with GDPPC < US$10,000) 200 10.2 Per cent of teachers absent from the classroom during the scheduled period 202 10.3 Per cent of teachers with minimum subject knowledge (as de fi ned by SDI) 202 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi List of Tables 3.1 Comparative educational statistics for two districts in Ghana 52 4.1 PEDP3 components and key reforms in Bangladesh 73 6.1 Distribution of educational outcomes — within and across countries 108 6.2 Some educational outcomes in Southern and Eastern Africa, 2007 108 6.3 MPAT assessments of South Africa ’ s education departments (selected provinces 2012 – 13; distribution of scores, by level for assessed key performance areas) 113 6.4 Two divergent contexts in South Africa 114 6.5 Distribution of social classes in South Africa, 2014 115 6.6 Grade 6 mathematics SACMEQ scores — the ‘ Western Cape ’ effect (coef fi cient on Western Cape dummy variable) 122 6.7 Governance and performance in the case study schools in South Africa 124 8.1 Uganda education performance compared with Tanzania and Kenya 154 10.1 Typology of political orders 205 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi List of Abbreviations ANC African National Congress (South Africa) ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BECE Basic Education Certi fi cate Examination CAMPE Campaign for Popular Education CAO Chief Administrative Of fi cer CDD-Ghana The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development CDRI Cambodia Development Research Institute CFS Child Friendly School COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CPP Cambodian People ’ s Party CSO Civil Society Organization DA District Assembly (Ghana) DA Democratic Alliance (South Africa) DCE District Chief Executive DED District Education Directorate DEO District Education Of fi cer DEOC District Education Oversight Committee DET Department of Education and Training (South Africa) DFID Department for International Development DHS Demographic and Health Survey DPE Directorate of Primary Education (Bangladesh) DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EA Expatriate Advisor ECDoE Eastern Cape Department of Education ELRC Education Labour Relations Council (South Africa) ERC Education Research Council (Cambodia) ESID Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi FBO Faith-based Organization FG Focus Group FGD Focus Group Discussion FMRP Financial Management Reform Programme FUNCINPEC Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Independent Neutre Paci fi que et Cooperatif (Cambodia) GDP Gross Domestic Product GDPPC Gross Domestic Product Per Capita GED General Economics Division GES Ghana Education Service GoB Government of Bangladesh GPS Government Primary School HoR House of Representatives IRI International Republican Institute IS International Scholar JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KG Kindergarten KPRP Kampuchean People ’ s Revolutionary Party LC Local Council MDGs Millennium Development Goals MINALOC Ministry of Local Government (Rwanda) MINECOFIN Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Rwanda) MINEDUC Ministry of Education (Rwanda) MMDA Metropolitan Municipal and District Assembly MoE Ministry of Education MoEYS Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (Cambodia) MOPME Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (Bangladesh) MP Member of Parliament MPAT Management Performance Assessment Tool NDC National Democratic Congress (Ghana) NE National Expert NER Net Enrolment Ratio NGO Non-governmental Organization NISR National Institute of Statistics Rwanda NM National Ministry of Education Youth and Sport of fi cial (Cambodia) NPP New Patriotic Party (Ghana) NRM National Resistance Movement (Uganda) OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi xviii List of Abbreviations OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PEDP3 Third Primary Education Development Programme PIRLS Progress on International Literacy Study PMO Prime Minister ’ s Of fi ce PTA Parent – Teacher Association PTC Parent – Teacher Committee PTI Primary Training Institute RDC Resident District Commissioner REB Rwandan Education Board RMG Readymade Garment RNGPS Registered Non-Government Primary School RPF Rwandan Patriotic Front RSA Republic of South Africa RWF Rwandan Franc SACMEQ South African Consortium on Monitoring Education Quality SADTU South African Democratic Teachers Union SASA South African School Act SBM School-based mentorship SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SEO Sector Education Of fi cer SGB School Governing Body SIP School Improvement Plan SMC School Management Committee SSA Sub-Saharan Africa TDMS Teacher Development and Management System TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study TPAP Teacher Policy Action Plan TTC Teacher Training College TTCA Teacher Training College Province A TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training UNATU Uganda National Teachers ’ Union UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scienti fi c and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children ’ s Fund UPE Universal Primary Education USAID United States Agency for International Development WCED Western Cape Education Department WDR World Development Report OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 5/2/2019, SPi xix List of Abbreviations