Secondary Education Governance Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Thurseday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Education reforms in diverse contexts

Proposal

A) Summary

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) is contributing to a research effort initiated by the MasterCard Foundation to examine the role of secondary education in preparing African youth for the future of work by providing an updated review of the current knowledge and to highlight best practices and positive developments. The effort will involve stakeholders from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and propose a forward-looking agenda that highlights successes while acknowledging areas for improvement. This paper explores three key areas: a) decentralization and school-based management; b) accountability, and; c) impact of technology on education governance and management. Each section includes multiple country case studies and specific examples from across SSA sub-regions.

B) Research questions

1) How is the topic relevant to comparative and international education, sustainability, or a SIG?
Education governance in SSA is relevant to the theme of Education for Sustainability in two ways. Firstly, strengthening education governance is an essential requisite for sustainable development and represents a key pillar in the strategy to help the youth become employable in today’s globalized and digital economy. SSA is a region with one of the fastest population growths in the world. Sustainable economic growth and development cannot be achieved when significant portions of the youth are not able to learn and scale up their skills. Secondly, the paper goes into detail with examples on how governments, development agencies and the private sector are helping address shortfalls in education quality and equity. The positive case studies and examples presented in the paper offer actionable and replicable examples to policymakers and education leaders within the international education community.

2) In reviewing literature or alternative perspectives, how does the contribution build on existing work?
The paper builds on the existing research literature on secondary education in SSA by providing an updated review of the current state of education governance and the progress made, in order to provide a forward-looking approach. The paper has found that good education governance is a requisite for improved access and quality of secondary education. Despite improved access to secondary education across the SSA region in the past decade, ensuring good quality education remains a challenge due to lack of funding, infrastructure, and qualified teachers, difficulty in implementing and institutionalizing effective accountability systems, and the need for constant monitoring and evaluation. To address these challenges, the paper has provided specific and detailed policy recommendations.

3) How is the theoretical contribution situated in terms of linguistic, national, or geo-political contexts?
The authors argue that a strong decentralized education governance system that utilizes technology to enhance accountability is crucial to the success of education reform efforts in SSA whether funded by governments or by international organizations and donors. Since several SSA countries are struggling with development and some are suffering from political instability as well, this paper advocates for adopting efficient decentralized education governance systems that enable the achievement of ambitious but necessary goals efficiently. Success stories and case studies provided allow for transferability of lessons learned in countries across the region.

4) What are the implications of the critique for future practice, policy, or theory?
It is critically vital that researchers and policymakers propose forward thinking action plans that are achievable, measureable and concise. The project will culminate with a final report, which will feature thematic, and country case studies, policy briefs, and consultations and engagements with stakeholders. This paper and the final report might be the starting point for more specific impact assessment and other types of studies to be conducted by governments, donors, NGOs, and other stakeholders.

5) How original is the contribution? What do we learn that we did not know, and why is it important?
Although extensively drawing on secondary research sources, the present work brings three contributions. First, it emphasizes the importance of education beneficiaries such as parents, guardians and schoolchildren, in the policy development process, for instance through pilot projects and feedback mechanisms before policies are implemented. Second, it presents successful replicable examples from across the region. Third, it discusses the increasing importance of technology in the area of education governance and school management.
What readers of this paper learn is that SSA is making progress on improving the quality and access of secondary education. However, much work remains that requires improved transparency and accountability measures, and organized decentralization of governments. The contributions from this paper, and other papers in this project will inform the broader narrative on Secondary Education reforms in SSA, as the continent pursues its Education for All agenda.

C) Presenters Profiles:

Ahmed Baghdady is an education and research management professional with over twenty years’ experience. He is currently Research Manager at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation. Ahmed has held research and program management positions at the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute (RQPI) and the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Qatar as well as AMIDEAST in Egypt. Ahmed has Masters (MSc) and Doctor of Education (EdD) degrees in Educational Leadership from the University of Leicester.

Julius Agbor is an Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Vanguard University of Southern California and is a holder of a Ph.D. in Economics in 2010 (University of Cape Town). Formerly, a research fellow for the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and a consultant for several organizations, including The World Bank. His research agenda centers on understanding the economic disparities between nations. He has published in high profile journals as well as in The New York Times.

Omar Zaki is a Research Associate at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). Prior to his current position, Omar interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), specifically in the Governance and Public Sector Management section of the Macroeconomic Policy Division. Omar helped work on the Commission’s flagship African Governance Report IV and wrote a sub-chapter for the Commission’s Corruption in Public Procurement working paper. Omar has a BA in History from SOAS and a MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Authors

• Ahmed Baghdady, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development

• Julius Agbor, Vanguard University

• Omar Zaki, World Innovation Summit for Education