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