 THE QUALITY PUZZLE

Measuring quality

In many countries the rapid expansion of school enrolment since the 1960s has been accompanied by a perceived decline in the quality of education. Children commonly compete for a place in overcrowded classrooms, with poorly prepared teachers and few if any textbooks.

Against this background the Jomtien Conference called for quality improvement: making the learning environment better so that children actually learn how to improve their lives. Quality has also been a main theme of most national Education for All policy roundtables and action plans that have followed the Jomtien Conference.

But what is `quality' in education? What factors contribute to it? And how can it be defined in operational terms that permit it to be measured?

The Jomtien Conference called for quality improvement: making the learning environment better so that children actually learn to improve their lives

In the context of schooling, the concept of quality is linked to how efficiently learning occurs. This is believed to be strongly determined by the teacher's subject knowledge and pedagogical skills, the availability of textbooks and other learning materials, and the time spent by pupils actually learning their lessons. Learning achievement against established norms is usually assessed by means of tests. However, this "model" for explaining and measuring quality is difficult to apply in countries that have problems each year merely counting pupils, teachers and classrooms. It is also difficult to apply to basic education programmes outside the school. Furthermore, it does not take into account another important dimension of quality: the relevance and effectiveness of learning. The proof of quality in this regard becomes evident only after the learner leaves school or other basic education programme to seek employment, establish a family, and participate in community life.

Nevertheless, some available data on primary schooling can be used as "proxy indicators" of quality, but unfortunately there are virtually no such data to measure quality in adult literacy and other non-formal programmes. This is an important lacuna in education analysis that planners, statisticians and researchers will need to fill in the coming years. This section attempts to present those pieces of the quality puzzle that are available today, however incomplete they may be.

Starting school too late or too early

Less than 60% of first-graders have the official school entry age

The age at which pupils enter school is believed to be a critical piece of the quality puzzle. in general, it is presumed that the closer to the official school-age children are when they start school, the better are their chances for effective learning. A recent study indicates that a little less than 60 per cent of first-graders have the "official" school-starting age in twenty-eight out of thirty-three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, twelve out of twenty-one countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and two out of the three participating countries in South Asia.

The pattern found for four African countries typifies countless other developing countries: more than half of the children enter school either earlier or later than they normally should. The data also suggest that girls starting school tend to he slightly younger than boys. Some 20 per cent or more of the first-graders were children who had passed their 10th birthday. Such age ranges confront teachers with a formidable pedagogic challenge, as they have neither the training, nor the teaching aids to cope with such disparate learning needs and abilities, especially in overcrowded classrooms. But there are signs of improvement: an increasing number of boys and girls appear to be starting school at the official school entry age. It will be necessary to monitor this phenomenon closely in the years to come before any final conclusions can be drawn.

Incomplete schools

One of five primary schools is "incomplete"

One in every five primary schools in the world today does not provide the full number of grades. This phenomenon of "incomplete schools" is a major factor contributing to high drop-out rates. Often these are village schools and so-called "feeder" or "satellite schools", usually poorly equipped, with children of all ages crowding into one single classroom. Despite the dedicated work of many teachers, it is not surprising that little learning is achieved there.

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