Costs of educational inputs and unintentional consequences for equity and access to education

• In Event: Comparing Equity and Access

Proposal

Objectives or purposes of paper:
Minimizing the visibility of the economic differentials amongst children of various socioeconomic backgrounds is often the driving force behind the school uniform requirement. Yet, education development literature has continuously highlighted the obstacles that added expenses of school inputs like that of school uniforms pose to school access for poor and vulnerable children in many nations (EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2015). Uniforms reify the fragile line between education as a public good, propelled by the Education for All movement and the costs of private goods such as uniforms and textbooks which parents and guardians of low socio-economic position often obtain with difficulty.
Our paper conceptually reviews work conducted globally to study, understand, and address the issues of educational equity and social justice as impacted by differentials in access and affordability of educational inputs. In particular, we reflect on the studies focused on access and equity as affected by the school uniforms’ affordability. Our paper also builds on the primary data collection study addressing the cost of school uniforms in Mongolia. The Mongolia school uniform study centered on primary data collection and was conducted by two of the co-authors of this study. The primary proposition of that research is that the non-standardization of school uniforms poses a substantial cost to students. The authors assert that reducing the cost of school uniforms plays a significant role in the economy of school access. They further argue that current suppliers’ behavior in the free market propels greater disparities.
In this paper, we conduct additional regression analyses on the primary data collected during research in Mongolia to test whether school attendance is in part associated with the ability of a child to afford school uniforms and to analyze the cost of school uniforms’ effect on families disproportionately across demographic variables. We test those hypotheses through examining the survey data and analyzing the emerging themes from interviews conducted with students, teachers, and parents.

Theoretical framework:
The recent framework of social justice has the ability to address with acute nuances the inequities that arise in education systems (Tikly &Barrett, 2011). Tikly& Barrett (2011) note that Fraser(2008)'s definition of justice is 'parity of participation'. We consider the ways that participation in schooling is affected by access to uniforms as well as uniform differentiation.

Research modes:
This article systemically reviews current literature on the linkages between school uniform costs and access and equity in education. It is further enhanced by conducting additional analyses and deriving related insights from a mixed-methods empirical research undertaken by the two co-authors of this paper to inform the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (“MECS”), “the national and central authoritative body” for education in Mongolia on ways to lower the school uniform cost in the Mongolian market (UNESCO, 2009). The data was collected via focus groups and interviews with school/educational representatives, manufacturers, teachers, parents, and students. In addition, 462 parents, teachers, and students were surveyed on questions relating to their school uniform practices.

Results, substantiated conclusions and/or warrants for your arguments/point of view:
Surprisingly, very little international research has been conducted on school uniforms and their impact on school access and equity. This paper therefore serves as a central port that summarizes and reviews literature to date. It also provides further insights on questions of equity and access. Most importantly, the paper examines the rarely studied relationship between school uniforms, equity, and access, concluding that this frequently neglected educational input matters to disadvantaged families and children for whom it serves as a barrier to access and equitable participation in education.

Scholarly significance, originality and/or creativity of the paper:
Research on school uniforms in the developing context is scarce. In considering the consumer and market forces that create inequities in the education system, this unique research contributes significantly to literature on international education development.

Reference:

Sabic-El-Rayess, A. and Otgonlkhagva, S. (2013). School Uniform Cost Reduction Study: Standardization, Simplification and Supply Policy. Funded by Asian Development Bank and Mongolian Ministry of Education Culture and Sports.


Tikly, L., & Barrett, A. (2011). Social justice, capabilities and the quality of education in low income countries. International Journal of Educational Development, 31(1), 3-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.06.001


UNESCO, 2009. Secondary Education, Regional Information Base: Country Profile. Retrieved from UNESCO: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/Mongolia.pdf

UNESCO, 2015. EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from UNESCO:http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232205e.pdf

Authors

• Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Naheed Natasha Mansur, Penn State University

• Batjargal Batkhuyag, Mongolian Education Alliance

• Sarantsetsg Otgonlkhagva, Mongolian Education Alliance