Alternative Routes to Foral Education

Public Disclosure Authorized Alternative Routes to Foral Education Public Disclosure Authorized Distance Teaching for School Equivalency Public Disclosure Authorized Hilary Perraton editor FILE GOIFY

Report No. :11180 Ty3e: -PUB') Title: ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO F(ORMAL i Auth,or: PEIRRAATON, HILARY Ext.: 0i Roomi: Dept.: OLD PLTBLICATION NOVEMBER 1984 Public Disclosure Authorized A World Bank ResearchPublication

Alternative Routes to Formal Education

A World Bank Research Publication 7 Alternative Routes to Formal Education

Distance Teaching For School Equivalency

Edited by Hilary Perraton

Publishedfor The World Bank ,, THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS Baltimore and London Copyright ) 1982 by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK 1818 H Street, N.W, Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore, Maryland 21218, U.S.A. The views and interpretations in this book are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to any individual acting in their behalf.

TEXT EDITOR Robert Faherty COPY EDITOR Jane H. Carroll PRODUCTION Christine Houle FIGURES Pensri Kimpitak BOOK DESIGN Brian J. Svikhart First published in hardcover edition October 1982 First paperback edition November 1984

Library of CongressCataloging in PublicationData Main entry under title: Alternative routes to formal education.

1. Non-formal education-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Correspondence schools and classes- Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Perraton, H. D. LC45.3.A45 374'.4 82-7233 ISBN 0-8018-2588-1 AACR2 Foreword

IN 1975, the Education Department of the World Bank initiated a review of experience with the use of radio for education.' That review concluded that one apparently attractive role for radio in education was as a component of "distance-teaching" systems designed to provide students with an alternative to the traditional route through formal education. Distance- teaching methods rely extensively on correspondence lessons and radio or television broadcasts in combination with varying amounts of face-to-face instruction; they have served the needs of both formal education and nonformal literacy and vocational programs. This volume focuses on experience with distance teaching for formal education-on its use to provide "equivalency" to formal school courses for individuals who, because of age, work commitments, lack of school places, or geographical location, are unable to attend regular schools. The Bank's 1975 study found that, although the use of radio as a component of equivalency programs appeared attractive, little hard data existed about the cost and effectiveness of distance teaching. Thus, as part of a larger research project on the economics of edacational radio, the World Bank's Research Committee provided resources to undertake additional research on the use and cost of distance teaching for school equivalency. The results of that research are reported here. Hilary Perraton introduces the volume with a chapter on the scope of distance teaching, which summarizes the chapters that follow and sets them in context. The volume then turns to case studies of individual projects; these case studies provide data on the methods, costs, and results of a range of projects, which divide naturally into two groups. The first group-including two projects in Brazil, as well as the Malawi Corre- spondence College and the Mauritius College of the Air-use distance teaching with daily student attendance at "schools." Each of these projects operates at the secondary level. Projects in the second group-from Ajl Korea,2 Kenya, and Israel-rely on much less frequent student attendance

1. The Bank's review of radio's role in education appeared in two parts. The first was a v-' collection of case studies: Peter L. Spain, Dean T. Jamison, and Emile G. McAnany, eds., Radiofor Education and Development: Case Studies, vols. I and 2, World Bank Staff Working Paperno. 266 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1977). The second part was a short overview book: Dean T. Jamison and Emile G. McAnany, Radiofor Education and Development (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1978). 2. The Republic of Korea, or South Korea, is referred to in this book simply as Korea.

v Vt FOREWORD at tutorials or listening groups. They offer courses at various levels: secondary, university, and teacher training. A final chapter reviews the cost-effectiveness information in the case studies and attempts to draw lessons that will be useful to planners. The volume concludes with three appendixes-one describing the methods of cost analysis used, a second summarizing information on alternative media for distance teaching, and a third evaluating a unique, privately operated distance-teaching system in Brazil (the Telecurso Secondo Grau). Though the World Bank provided most of the financial support for the research reported, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) provided additional support through an international colloquium, "Economic Analysis for Educational Technology De- cisions," held at the University of Dijon, France, in June 1978; an early version of this volume was prepared for the Unesco colloquium. As part of the preparation for the colloquium, Unesco provided much of the financial support for two ofthe case studies-those in Kenya and Korea- and we very much appreciate the support of Messrs. H. Dieuzeide and E. Brunswic of Unesco. Likewise, we appreciate the generous assistance we received from the institutions whose activities we report. The authors of the studies worked to a tight time schedule and for more time than they were paid; we hope our warm appreciation of their efforts will compensate them in part. The Bank contracted with the International Extension College (IEC) of Cambridge and London, because of its broad experience with distance learning, to edit this collection of studies; we are most grateful that Mr. Hilary Perraton of the IEC undertook this task. Needless to say, the views and conclusions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank, Unesco, or the Interna- tional Extension College.

SHIGENARI FUTAGAMI DEAN T. JAMISON OperationsPolicy Staff The World Bank r. Contents

Foreword v List of Figures and Tables ix

PART ONE Introduction 1. The Scope of Distance Teaching 3 Hilary Perraton

PART Two Case Studies of In-school Equivalency Programs 2. The Minerva Project in Brazil 31 Joao B. Oliveira and Fran,ois Orivel 3. A Madureza Project in Bahia, Brazil 62 Joao B. Oliveira and Francois Orivel 4. The Malawi CorrespondenceCollege 88 Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami 5. The Mauritius College of the Air 99 Tony Dodds

PART THREE Case Studies of Out-of-school Equivalency Programs 6. The Korean Air-CorrespondenceHigh School 129 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite 7. In-service Teacher Education in Kenya 173 David Hawkridge, Peter Kinyanjui, John Nkinyangi, and Francois Orivel 8. Everyman University in Israel: The First Two Years 215 Arthur S. Melmed, Benny Ellenbogen, Dean T. Jamison, and Uriel Turniansky

vii Viii CONTENTS

PART FOUR Conclusion 9. The Cost-Effectiveness of Distance Teaching for School Equivalency 253 Dean T. Jamison and Franqois Orivel

PART FIVE Appendixes A. An Introduction to the Methods of Cost Analysis 273 Dean T. Jamison B. Options for Delivery Media 278 Tony Bates C. Evaluation of the Brazilian Telecurso Secundo Grau: Summary and Policy Implications 324 Joao B. Oliveira and Dean T. Jamison Figures and Tables

Figures

2-1. Instructional Model for the Minerva Project 38 6-1. Comparison of the Present Value of Alternative Ways of Radio Education 166 7-1. Kenyan Enrollments, 1973-74 176 7-2. The Promotion Route for Kenyan Primary School Teachers 183 7-3. Progress of Students through the Correspondence Course Unit 191 7-4. Unit Cost According to the Number of Subject-Equivalents 205 B-1. Examples of 35-millimeter Color Film Viewers 286 B-2. Six Methods of Telephone Teaching 288 B-3. Viewdata Schematic 292 B-4. Electronic Blackboard System 294 B-5. Comparative Distribution Costs for Audio Materials at the Open University 315

Tables

2-1. Production of Printed Materials for Phase II of the Minerva Project, 1973-78 39 2-2. Enrollments in Minerva Phase II, 1973-78 41 2-3. Annual Costs of Minerva Radio Equipment, 1973-78 44 2-4. Recurrent Costs of the Production of Minerva Radio Programs, 1973-77 44 2-5. Use of Studios by Minerva Programs, 1973-78 45 2-6. Broadcasting Costs Paid Directly by Minerva, 1973-77 45 2-7. Broadcasting Costs Paid by Individual Radio Stations, 1973-77 46 2-8. Summary of Radio Costs, 1973-77 46 * 2-9. Production and Distribution Costs of Minerva Booklets, 1973-77 47 2-10. Minerva Reception Center Costs, 1973-77 48 2-11. Allocation of Administrative Fixed Costs to Minerva Programs, 1973-77 48 2-12. General Summary of Minerva Phase II Costs, 1973-77 49 2-13. Average Cost According to Number of Students, Using the 1977 Cost Function 50 2-14. Average Cost per Student over Time, 1973-77 51

ix X FIGURES AND TABLES

3-1. Enrollments in the First-cycle Madureza Examinations in Bahia, 1972-77 63 3-2. Enrollments in the IRDEB Programs, 1969-77 64 3-3. Enrollments in the IRDEB First-cycle Madureza, 1969-77 66 3-4. Annual Cost of IRDEB Miscellaneous Equipment, 1972-77 70 3-5. IRDEB Operating Costs, 1972-77 70 3-6. Costs of IRDEB General Administration, 1972-77 71 3-7. Costs of IRDEB Listening Centers, 1973-77 71 3-8. Costs of Equipment for the Production of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 72 3-9. Annualized Capital Costs of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 72 3-10. Allocation of Staff Costs to Different IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 73 3-11. Allocation of the Cost of Materials to Different IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 73 3-12. Recurrent Costs for Production of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 74 3-13. Total IRDEB Recurrent and Capital Costs for Production of Radio Programs, 1972-77 74 3-14. IRDEB Broadcasting Costs, 1972-77 75 3-15. Costs for Production of IRDEB Printed Materials, 1972-77 75 3-16. Costs of Printing IRDEB Accompanying Documents, 1972-77 76 3-17. Allocation of Administration Costs between IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 76 3-18. General Summary of IRDEB First-cycle Madureza Costs, 1972-77 77 3-19. Evolution of the IRDEB Unit Cost, 1972-77 77 3-20. Comparison of Unit Cost for Three Topics at Some Private Institutions in Salvador and at IRDEB 78 3-21. Unit Cost at IRDEB According to Number of Students, Using the 1977 Cost Function 79 3-22. Average Costs per Student at IRDEB over Time 79 3-23. Number of IRDEB Listening Centers, 1973-77 80 3-24. Pass Rate in First-cycle Madureza in Bahia State, 1973-76 81 3-25. Pass Rates for Students in Feira de Santana by Type of Institution, 1976 81 3-26. Pass Rates for Students in Feira de Santana by Subject, 1976 82 4-1. Enrollments in the Malawi Correspondence College, 1965-78 90 4-2. Enrollments in Mcc Junior Secondary Subjects, 1973-78 94 4-3. Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) Passes by MCC Students and Transfers to Regular Secondary Schools, 1977 96 4-4. MCC Costs Including Centers and Night Schools, 1977/78 97 4-5. Comparative Costs of MCC Centers and Secondary Schools, 1977/78 98 5-1. Number of Secondary Schools Enrolled with the Mauritius College of the Air, 1973-76 110 FIGURES AND TABLES xi

5-2. Number of Students Enrolled with MCA, 1973-76 110 5-3. Sources of MCA Finance, 1973-76 111 5-4. Total Costs of MCA Programs, 1973-76 111 5-5. Costs of MCA Schools and Nonschools Programs by Media, 1973-76 112 5-6. Costs to the MCA of Printed Materials, 1973-76 114 5-7. Cost of MCA Broadcast Programs, 1973-76 115 5-8. Costs of MCA Face-to-Face Services, 1973-76 116 5-9. Enrollment and Unit Costs in MCA by Medium, 1973-76 117 5-10. Unit Costs in MCA by Subject, 1973-76 117 5-11. Unit Costs in MCA by Medium in Constant Rupees. 1974-76 118 5-12. Unit Costs in MCA by Subject in Constant Rupees, 1974-76 118 5-13. Breakdown of Fixed and Variable Elements of Unit Costs in MCA, 1973-76 119 5-14.Cost Functions by Medium for MCA 119 5-15. Cost Functions by Media Combinations for MCA 120 5-16. Percentage of All Eligible Secondary School Students Enrolled in MCA Courses, 1973-76 122 6-1. Enrollment Distribution in Korean Educational Institutions, 1977 130 6-2. Key Indicators of the Korean Educational Sector, 1977 132 6-3. Number of Students Enrolled, Continuing, and Graduating in ACHS, 1974-77 138 6-4. Number of ACHS Students by Age and Sex, 1976 139 6-5. Rates of Attendance at ACHS, 1975 143 6-6. Internal Efficiency of the Korean Air-Correspondence Junior College, 1972-75 145 6-7. Tests of the Prerequisite Academic Level of ACHS and Regular High School Students, 1976 146 6-8. Comparison of Year-end Test Scores between ACHS and Regular High Schools, 1975 147 6-9. Share of Public Educational Expenditure in Korea by Financing Source, 1977 149 6-10. Financial Costs of ACHS, 1976 152 6-11. The ACHS Transmission Network and Fees, 1976 153 6-12. Comparisons of Time and Costs by ACHS Method of Instruction, 1976 154 6-13. Comparison of Annual Recurrent Costs of Regular High Schools with Average Costs of ACHS 157 6-14. Monthly Labor Earnings in Korea by Level of Education and Experience, 1976 159 t Appendix Table 6-1. Financial Costs of the ACHS Project, 1976 167 Appendix Table 6-2. Financial Costs of the Proposed KEDI Radio Transmission Network Operation 169 Appendix Table 6-3. A Summary of Cost and Benefit Streams of ACHS and RHS 170 Xii FIGURES AND TABLES

7-1. Provision and Revision of Courses for the Kenya Junior Secondary Examination, 1968-77 182 7-2. Enrollments in the Kenya Junior Secondary Examination (KJSE) and the Unqualified Teachers (UQT) Programs, 1968-77 184 7-3. Number of Pages of Study Guides Produced for KJSE Program, Including Revisions, 1968-77 187 7-4. Number of Pages of Textbooks Distributed for KJSE Program, 1968-77 188 7-5. Allocation of Air Time to KJSE and UQT Programs, 1968-77 190 7-6. KJSE Passes and Teacher Promotions, 1968-77 192 7-7. Costs of Radio, 1968-77 194 7-8. Costs of Printed Materials with U.S. Aid at the Kenyan Rate, 1968-77 196 7-9. Costs of Printed Material with U.S. Aid at the U.S. Rate, 1968-77 198 7-10. Costs of Residential Sessions, 1968-77 199 7-11. Costs of Administration, 1968-77 200 7-12. Total Cost of the Teacher Training Project, 1968-77 201 7-13. Fixed and Variable Costs of KJSE and UQT Programs, 1970 and 1977 202 7-14. Estimate of Total Number of Subjects Studied by KJSE Students and Number of UQT Students, 1968-77 204 7-15. Average Costs with U.S. Aid at the Kenyan Rate, 1968-77 206 7-16. Average Costs with U.S. Aid at the U.S. Rate, 1968-77 208 7-17. Financing of the Project by Source 209 7-18. Number of Teachers in Kenya, by Grades and Salaries, October 1977 211 8-1. Distribution of Students in Israel by Educational Institution, 1972-73 219 8-2. School and College Enrollments in Israel by Father's Country of Origin 221 8-3. University Enrollment in Israel by Continent of Birth, 1969-70 to 1973-74 222 8-4. Student Enrollment in Academic Higher Education in Israel by Age, 1969-70 to 1973-74 223 8-5. Ordinary and Development Budgets for Israeli Institutions of Academic Higher Education, 1975-76 224 8-6. Enrollments in the First Four Semesters of Operation at Everyman University 225 8-7. Projected Average Number of Students in EU for Each Academic Year and First-Degree Graduates 233 8-8. Projected Budget of the Academic Courses in EU in a Steady-state Year 235 8-9. Allocation of Funds in EU in a Steady-state Year between Academic and Other Courses 235 8-10. Total Cost and Average Cost per Academic Study Unit in EU in a Steady-state Year, by Number of Study Units 236 FIGURES AND TABLES xiii

8-11. Cost of a Degree in EU Using Two Different Approaches, by Number of Study Units 237 8-12. Cost of First Degree in EU and in Other Universities from Perspective of National Economy 238 8-13. Cost of First Degree in EU and Conventional Universities from Perspective of Student 239 8-14. Student Registration for Nonacademic Courses per Semester at EU, 1976-78 241 8-15. Student Registration for Academic Courses per Semester at EU, 1976-78 242 8-16. Student Enrollment in EU by Age and Cycle 243 8-17. Enrollment in Academic Studies Program at EU by Occupation and Cycle 244 8-18. Student Enrollment in Academic Courses at EU by Educational Background 245 8-19. Student Enrollment in Academic Courses at EU by Continent of Birth 246 8-20. Student Enrollment in Adult Education Program at EU by Continent of Birth 246 8-21. Student Enrollments and Performance in the Academic Program at EU, by Cycle 248 8-22. Academic Courses Available at EU at the Start of the Eighth Cycle 249 9-1. In-school Equivalency Programs for Which Cost Data Are Available 256 9-2. Costs and Effects of Some In-school Distance-teaching Projects 258 9-3. Out-of-school Distance-teaching Projects for Which Cost Data Are Available 260 9-4. Costs and Effects of Some Out-of-school Distance-teaching Projects 262 A-1. Example of Total, Average, and Marginal Costs 274 B-1. Comparative Distribution Costs for 320 Minutes of Audio Material at the Open University 314

PART ONE Introduction

The Scope of Distance Teaching

Hilary Perraton

UNTIL THE INVENTION OF PRINTING, the cheapest way to pass on learning- from one person to another, or from one generation to another-was by human contact. Schools, where one educated person could teach thirty, or fifty, were a convenient way of providing education to an elite. Most people, in contrast, have from the beginning of time learned how to manage their lives informally, from their parents and grandparents, from their elders, and from their fellows. Informal, though sometimes highly structured, systems of education have provided most of the world's population with the education they need to exercise the degree of control over their environment normal to their culture. Such informal systems have proved adaptable to changes in culture; it was, for example, through informal networks of information and education that African peasant farmers a thousand kilometers from the coast had learned to grow and use maize as a staple crop within a century of its introduction from America.' But, over the last century, changes in technology and in communications have made it far more difficult for informal systems to provide people with all the education they need or want. Parents throughout the world have viewed formal education as a route to mastery of twentieth- century technology and to increased wealth. Even though only a few children will work their way through the educational system, huge numbers begin, reasonably and hopefully, because the rewards at the end are so * great. In Uganda, for instance, in the late 1960s the "graduatejust entering the civil service could expect his income to be fifty times the average income per head."2 - The demand for school places is beginning to outstrip the capacity of many economies to supply them. At the same time, technical changes in medicine, in agriculture, and in engineering mean that new ways of living are open to many adults-but may be open only if they have received some relevant education. This double demand, for schools and for adult

3 4 INTRODUCTION education, puts a strain on educational systems that few can bear. The scale ofthe demand has led to a search for alternative methods of education that can reach more people, or reach different people, or do so more cheaply. Distance teaching offers some of these possibilities. In Tanzania, for example, an educational campaign using radio, print, and group discussion meetings has been used for health education directed toward millions of adults. Only nontraditional techniques made it possible to work on such a scale. At a quite different level of education, the Open University in Britain provides courses that combine correspondence lessons, tutorial help, broadcasts, and summer vacation courses to adults who can qualify for a degree part-time, working for the most part in their own homes. Similar methods have been used for over forty years in the Soviet Union, where it is normal for students to do part of their degree full-time and part by correspondence. In all five continents, correspondence methods have been used to help with the in-service training of teachers, called upon to teach beyond the limits of what they themselves learned at college, if they ever went to one. Ministries of education are attracted to a method that allows teachers to be retrained without being removed from the classroom. At the same time, attempts have been made to use distance-teaching methods to support and improve teaching within schools. In Nicaragua a new mathematics curriculum is being introduced to schools by means of radio programs with supporting printed materials, while in Mauritius distance-teaching methods have been used to improve inadequate secondary schools. The variety of jobs attempted through distance teaching makes a neat definition difficult but, for the purpose of this book, it can be taken to mean an educational process in which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/or time from the learner. In practice, distance teaching usually involves a combination of media. The more effective programs seem to benefit from linking broadcasts and print with some kind of face-to-face study. As a result, it is difficult to draw sharp distinctions between traditional education and distance teaching. At one extreme, a distance-teaching program using radio and correspondence lessons may teach students who never meet a teacher and have little or no contact with the regular educational system. At the other, distance-teaching methods are used to support schools and to supplement the ordinary work of classroom teachers. Indeed, it is often valuable to distinguish between the in-school and out-of-school use of distance teaching-that is, between its use to support teaching wherc students come together at least several times a week and its use to provide teaching for students who meet only once a week or even less often. But, despite the blurring of the distinction, a concentration on the use of centrally prepared materials does mark distance teaching off from orthodox education. SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 5

Distance teaching attracts the economist because it uses mass-production methods, which change the structure of educational costs. With traditional classroom methods, the costs of education rise in proportion to the number of children being educated. When every thirty or forty children need a teacher and a classroom, salaries and buildings swallow up most of an educational budget. Few economies are possible, unless the quality of education is sacrificed. With print and broadcasts, however, the marginal cost of each additional student is very small. Indeed, if radios are widely distributed, it costs no more to broadcast to a million students within reach of a transmitter than to a hundred. In theory, then, distance teaching can bring economies of scale to education. The purpose of this book is to discover how far these theoretical advantages can be achieved in practice and how far they can be reconciled with educational effectiveness and with the maintenance of educational quality. The case studies are drawn from both in-school and out-of-school projects, which are all designed to prepare students for qualifications equivalent to those within the formal educational sector. Our conclusions are thus mainly, though not exclusively, relevant to such equivalency programs.

The Essence of Distance Teaching

In a sense, the development of the printed book allowed student and teacher to be separated. Before print, books were dearer than teachers: print's threat to their livelihood led university teachers in Salamanca to protests in the sixteenth century.3 And, especially since the nineteenth- century development of cheap paper, the West has had a minor but important tradition of the self-educated man who has acquired learning from books rather than from teachers. But this is very much the exception, and most students need the support of an institution-whether it is a school, a learning group, or even a correspondence college. More important in the history of education is the use of books within an institution. Indeed, the use of textbooks by children in a classroom implies that they are learning from a distant textbook writer rather than from the classroom teacher who is with them. It is legitimate to ask whether there is anything more to distance teaching than the provision of textbooks, whether it can do more than would be achieved by the universal establishment of public libraries. In practice, distance teaching differs from simply publishing and distributing books in three ways: in its use of a variety of different media, in its structure, and in its system for feedback. Where possible, distance-teaching projects have used more than one medium in an attempt to balance the advantages and drawbacks of each and to provide reinforcement. Studying by correspondence alone, for 6 INTRODUCTION example, is almost a byword for boredom. Radio programs to support correspondence lessons offer a stimulus and a sense of personal concern to an isolated student. At the same time, the content ofthe radio program can reinforce the content of the print, and it may be possible to use each medium to present that part of the content for which it is most appropriate. Poetry, or mathematics for that matter, can be explained better if the text can be heard as well as seen. Radio conveys conviction or excitement more easily than print, although the permanence of print is essential if one wants to be able to refer back to what has been said. And, if we can use some sort of face-to-face study along with print or broadcasts, then we can aim for the best of both worlds-the economies of mass production together with the humanity and individualism of personal contact. The need to use a number of different media has led in turn to a concern with structure in distance teaching. In writing a book, an author can dodge questions of structure or can select the structure that he finds intellectually most rewarding. If, on the other hand, the objective is to produce a package of materials that will teach effectively, then we are forced into thinking about the structure of the content and the structure of the media-the way in which the different media will relate to each other. The criterion then becomes educational effectiveness: the best course is the one that teaches most effectively. Experience suggests that the most appropriate structure for distance teaching differs greatly from that of an orthodox book. Whereas the function of most books is to present the author's view, the function of distance-teaching materials is to stimulate the student to activity that will enable him to learn. The particular structure adopted will probably vary from subject to subject and from course to course. But a common feature of many distance-teaching programs is that the information presented to students is closely bound up with directions to them on activities they should undertake. Material offered to a student in the absence of a teacher needs to be structured in such a way that it encourages the student into learning activities that go beyond passively reading or listening or watching. The development of an appropriate structure makes effective distance teaching possible; it also sharpens the distinction between it and the regular production of books or broadcast programs. Good distance teaching also depends on a system of feedback. No matter how carefully educational materials are prepared, they will not meet the needs or answer the problems of all the students for whom they are intended. A system of feedback enables students who have problems with the preprepared material to receive some help; it also enables the producers of distance-teaching materials to assess how far they have been successful in what they were trying to achieve. Feedback is necessary both for learners who cannot otherwise overcome their learning difficulties and for teachers who cannot otherwise see how effective their teaching has been. Beyond that, there are ideological reasons for stressing the impor- SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 7

tance of feedback: unless it is built into the system, the hidden curriculum of a distance-teaching system is that the educator already possesses all the knowledge relevant to the student, and the latter's knowledge and understanding is of no importance to the educator. Feedback, though hard to organize, is the way of building dialogue between student and teacher into a distance-teaching system. If distance teaching is well structured, using a variety of media and providing for feedback, then it offers a method of education different from * that of an orthodox school and different, too, from the simple distribution of educational materials. Potentially, it allows education to be extended to people who cannot get to school for one reason or another. Distance teaching has also been used to support the orthodox educational system- directly, by providing courses for use in school; and indirectly, by enabling the in-service training of teachers. Distance teaching has received most public attention because of its potential to offer students outside institutions programs of education equivalent to those available within institutions. Such attention has increased dramatically over the past few years. In discussing innovations in higher education within the United States, for example, the Commission on Non-Traditional Study commented: Few innovations in higher education have met with more ready acceptance by a diversity of people and institutions than non-traditional study and its various forms-external degree, Extended University, Open University, University Without Walls, and others. Although the movement that gave birth to these models and plans is difficult to define with any precision, people share a common understanding about the nature of this new concept of education. Its greatest departure from traditional education is its explicit recognition that education should be measured by what the student knows rather than how or where he learns it. Beyond that it builds upon two basic premises-that opportunity should be equal for all who wish to learn and that learning is a lifelong process unconfined to one's youth or to campus classrooms.4 But distance teaching's value for equivalency programs is not limited to postsecondary (tertiary) education or to the rich world. Historically, it has offered equivalent routes for those seeking qualifications through part- time study; more recently, it has been adopted as a way of offering equivalency programs outside regular schools in many countries of the third world.

Developments 1880-1980

Distance teaching began with a concern to reach individuals who could not attend regular classes. In Sweden, for example, in the 1880s Hans Hermod, a teacher of bookkeeping, continued to teach a student who 8 INTRODUCTION moved away from his own town, by sending lessons through the mail. About the same time, an English teacher, William Briggs, who already ran a tutorial college, began to offer instruction by mail ("tuition by post") for students who could not attend. He went on to christen his institution grandly University Correspondence College, make much of its address in Cambridge, and employ H. G. Wells as a tutor. In the United States, the notion of a land grant college with a campus extending to the state boundaries led American universities to offer correspondence courses from the 1890s. In all these cases, and in comparable developments in Europe, the concern was to reach students who were isolated from regular institutional teaching and to try to compensate for some of the disadvantages of isolation. These early attempts at distance teaching relied heavily on an efficient postal service and on a high level of student motivation. Radio was not yet available; distance and long working hours made correspondence the only way many isolated students could get an education. In their isolation, they needed to be tough and single-minded to keep at their work. While correspondence provided them some sort of educational opportunity, it was not of sufficient educational significance to attract the attention of educational planners. In the late 1920s, the Soviet Union adopted distance teaching for a different purpose-to increase the output of the educational system. Ear- lier correspondence projects elsewhere had contributed slightly to the educational system, insofar as they produced graduates at one level of education or another. But their mainspring was a concern to offer something to small groups of disadvantaged students. By contrast, the USSR, desperate for educated manpower, saw correspondence as a way of expanding the educational system beyond the limits imposed by the shortage of teachers. Since 1929, correspondence education has formed a significant component in the Soviet educational system. Many universities have correspondence sections, and there are some fifteen external polytechnic institutes that teach both part-time and correspondence students. In contrast with the West, distance teaching in the Soviet Union has been closely integrated with the regular system of higher education. Students can transfer between full-time, part-time, and correspondence courses as they work toward a degree or technical qualification. Even students who are working by correspondence for the whole of a six-year professional course attend their polytechnic institute once or twice a year for full-time practical laboratory work, lectures, and examinations. They are granted paid study leave for these sessions, and their fares are paid. At the end of a six-year course, such students attend their institute full-time for four months of intensive project work. The Soviet distance-teaching system is also integrated with industry; students are encouraged to follow SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 9 courses relevant to their work and, in technical courses, to do practical exercises and projects at their place of work. The polytechnic institutes offer courses for which there is a demand from industry. The combination of correspondence teaching with face-to-face practical and laboratory work has made it possible for the Soviet Union to use distance teaching for technical education on a significant scale. What was adopted as an expe- dient to meet a temporary shortage of skilled labor has now become a well-established part of their system of higher education. Otherwise, the methodology of distance teaching developed more slowly. From the mid-1920s on, radio was used to support education in schools. In Britain, for example, 10,000 schools had radios by 1939. But, while correspondence had been seen primarily as a way of offering education outside school, radio was seen mainly as a support for classroom teachers. There were two important exceptions to this. In the early 1930s, several thousand listening groups were formed in Britain; they listened to adult education broadcasts and went on to discuss them. The movement faded away, however; antagonism on the part both of orthodox adult education agencies and of those who saw the listening groups as danger- ously left wing contributed to its disappearance. But the idea of an adult listening group survived and led to farm radio forums, first in Canada and then in India and Africa. The other unusual use of radio came in New Zealand, where from 1937 radio programs were linked with correspondence education. Curiously, their example was not to be followed by the United States, Britain, France, or the Federal Republic of Germany- which all had both correspondence and broadcasting organizations of one sort or another-until the mid 1960s. Then, a series of projects began that attempted to link the three components of broadcasting, correspondence, and face-to-face instruction.

Distance Teaching in the Third World

In the 1960s, many countries of the third world were beginning to look for unorthodox solutions to the educational problems they had inherited. In many African countries, for example, it was clear that the expansion of schools, within the limits imposed by finance and by the supply of teachers, could not meet the demand for education, even within a generation or more. Thus, the experience of multimedia distance teaching, which was only just being acquired in the rich countries, was seen as immediately relevant to the educational needs of the third world. The decision to use distance teaching to meet some of the demand for more education was closer to the experience in the Soviet Union in the 1920s than to that in Britain or America. Distance teaching was seen, not as a 10 INTRODUCTION device to offer an alternative route to education for a small disadvantaged minority, but as a resource that should be used on a large scale because of the economies it seemed to offer in terms of teachers and money. The pressure on other educational resources made distance teaching look attractive. As a result, attempts have been made in the third world to use distance teaching for all levels of education, from supporting literacy teaching to offering university degree courses. The big exception is, perhaps, in the most important area of all: there has been little success in using distance teaching to offer primary education. It seems fairly clear that young children need some type of formal institution like a school if they are to learn an orthodox basic curriculum effectively. Although a few attempts have been made to support primary school teachers in the classroom, the help that distance teaching can offer to the most basic education does not lie in creating an alternative to the regular primary school. Rather, it can help by providing a basic education to adults out of school and by offering in-service education to primary school teachers. The numbers of children seeking to enter primary school are dwarfed by the numbers of adults who never went to school, or who did not complete their school course. And nowhere in the world would it be realistic to contemplate sending all undereducated adults back to school. The costs of taking people out of work, let alone the direct costs of the education program, would make this impossible.

Adult Education Attempts have been made to use distance teaching to provide education for adults on a part-time basis, whether they are literate or not. Such attempts have usually involved group study. If a group of adults has one literate member who can be supplied with teaching material to read, and stimulated by a radio broadcast, then he can lead a discussion in which literates and nonliterates can both participate. Adult learning groups have been set up in at least three different ways. First, radio forums go back to the farm forum movement of Canada, which adopted the motto "Listen, Discuss, Act." They have, for the most part, been concerned with agricultural education, using a weekly radio program designed to stimulate group action toward better agriculture. In West Africa, in particular, government-backed farm forum organizations have been set up to provide information and support to forums, and to plan new programs in the light of feedback. In Senegal, the use of feedback has been taken one stage further. Here radio clubs have been deliberately used as a channel for peasant farmers to make their views known to the central government. For the most part, however, forums have dealt with basic agricultural SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 1l education and have not extended their interest more broadly to education for adults. A quite different approach to group learning has been attempted with radio learning campaigns in Tanzania. Whereas radio forums are social organizations that remain in existence for many months or for years at a time, the radio campaigns are short and occasional. In each campaign, the largest possible audience has been enrolled in study groups. The whole apparatus of the adult education movement and the political party organization has been used in Tanzania to set up groups, train group leaders, and deal with feedback from them. The subject matter of campaigns has varied from political education to basic health, but their consistent aim has been to use distance-teaching networks for basic education aimed at a large proportion of the adult population. In Latin Ame.rica, a third approach to group study has been tried through the radiophonic schools, set up first in Colombia in 1947 and later copied widely in Central and Latin America. Acci6n Cultural Popular (ACPO) of Colombia saw radio as the one way of reaching an audience of peasants. With strong backing from the Roman Catholic church, ACPO developed a system of producing books and broadcasts in basic education and supported that central activity by deploying a field staff to encourage the formation of radio schools, or learning groups. The groups are most often members of a single family, and courses may be followed by adults and children together. The curriculum of many radiophonic schools attempts to be both formal and nonformal-to reconcile the curriculum of the formal educational system with the day-to-day interests of its students, usually peasants and their families, often dependent on subsistence agriculture. All these methods demonstrate that distance teaching can do something to provide basic education for adults. But, despite their successes, the various projects do not amount to a regular system of education for adults analogous to the formal system of education; they do, however, point the way toward future basic educational programs. Although evidence about their effects and about their costs is scarce, it is sufficiently encouraging to say that under certain circumstances distance teaching is an appropriate tool for basic education for adults.

Teacher Training Distance teaching can also help with the primary education of children, although less directly. As C. E. Beeby suggested in his classic analysis The Quality of Education in Developing Countries, the educational background of primary school teachers is the major constraint on the quality of education 12 INTRODUCTION

they can offer. In many countries of the third world, the demand for primary education has outstripped the supply of trained primary school teachers. Untrained or undertrained and uneducated teachers have been pressed into service. Their own lack of education holds back the quality of what they do in the classroom:

The teacher in a village school who has himself struggled only to a doubtful Grade VI or Grade VII level is always teaching to the limits of his knowledge. He clings desperately to the official syllabus, and the tighter it is the safer he feels. Beyond the pasteboard covers of the one official textbook lies the dark void where unknown questions lurk. The teacher is afraid of any other questions in the classroom but those he himself asks, for they are the only ones to which he can be sure of knowing the answers.5

And yet, even hesitant, undereducated teachers are doing an indispensable job; without them the schools would close down or would make do with teachers even less educated. While the proportion of untrained teachers in an educational system should decline as more trained teachers graduate from colleges of education, the process is slow. Many educational systems will employ untrained teachers for generations to come. At the same time, the content of education will continue to change, rapidly and inexorably. To improve the schools, in-service teacher training is vital. Distance teaching has been seen as a way of providing in-service education to primary school teachers on a large scale. Its attraction is that the teachers are not taken away from the classroom while they study. If vacation courses are linked with correspondence lessons, radio broadcasts, and some supervised classroom practice, then it is possible to make qualitative improvements in the work of primary school teachers. Indeed, there may be advantages in using in-service training rather than pre- service training, as H. W. R. Hawes of the London Institute of Education has suggested:

First of all, the conventional idea of a course in a teacher-training college followed by teaching practice or short spells in one or two schools, is no longer the only practical way of organising teacher training. Teachers are now being trained in sandwich courses where the student teachers teach full-time for one school year and follow courses in education at a training college at other times, mainly during the vacations. There is a growing number of projects for inservice training of unqualified teachers where correspQndence courses are combined with residential courses.... I am coming to believe that a curriculum reform project run in harness with an inservice programme would have considerable advantages.6 An in-service course of this kind requires two different jobs to be done. The longer, more difficult job is to provide a complete training for teachers, not only raising their own academic subject knowledge but also SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 13

attempting to improve their classroom teaching. This has been the aim of teacher-upgrading projects in, for example, the Middle East refugee camps, Swaziland, and Sri Lanka. A second, more modest aim is to provide.a general education to teachers, making up for some of the schooling they lack. This is a simpler job because it does not involve the severe problems of teaching, at a distance, about classroom teaching. And, if the basic education of teachers is so weak that it reduces their effectiveness and imaginativeness in the classroom, then to improve that education is clearly important. This has been the rationale for the use of correspondence and radio at the Univer- sity of Nairobi, Kenya.

THE KENYAN CORRESPONDENCE COURSE UNIT. After independence in 1963, demand for education in Kenya grew rapidly; the number of children in primary school doubled in twelve years. The demand continues to grow, even though primary school qualifications no longer guarantee a paid job. Access to a good job in the modern sector of the economy now depends mainly on the possession of a certificate from secondary or tertiary education-but access to secondary schooling depends on the successful completion of primary school. The demand for primary school places has thus outdistanced the production of primary school teachers through orthodox pre-service training. In 1964, therefore, the Kenyan government began to explore the idea of using radio and correspondence to train unqualified and underqualified teachers. A Correspondence Course Unit was set up within the (then) University College with this as its major task. With financial support from the U.S. Agency for Interna- tional Development (AID), a team from the University of Wisconsin worked with Kenya in starting the unit. The unit now has ten years of experience teaching adults at a distance throughout Kenya. Its courses are in the major school subjects and each consists of four elements. Students receive the regular textbooks used in schools and correspondence notes, which provide the teaching and explanation needed to make the textbooks effective when used by the isolated student in his own home. Radio programs are broadcast to support the correspondence lessons. Each lesson includes work assignments for the students, which are marked by a postal tutor who provides * individual guidance to the student. The unit makes limited use of occasional residential sessions to back up its distance-teaching methods. The unit has two major programs-one leading to the Kenyan secondary school certificate, and the other leading to a qualification for unqualified teachers. The programs have the same aim: to provide an improved general education to teachers. They are intended not to provide education about teaching-to teach teachers how to teach-but rather to improve 14 INTRODUCTION their own background knowledge. The unit seems to have been successful in achieving that limited aim in that some 7,500 teachers were promoted over a six-year period after following the unit's courses, and more than 3,000 subject passes were obtained by students in the secondary-level examinations. But detailed figures are not available to compare the unit's costs with those of alternatives, or to examine the unit's dropout rates. While there may be no alternative to distance teaching as a means of in-service training-short of temporarily closing down the primary schools, which would be politically unrealistic-it appears that the unit has been working at too small a capacity to achieve the potential economies of scale.

Secondary Education In terms of numbers, the pressures on secondary education in many developing countries are less than those on primary schools. But pressures there are. As primary schools expand, the demand from students and their parents for more secondary school places increases. At the same time, as economies develop, the demand from employers and from tertiary education for greater numbers of well-qualified graduates from secondary school increases. The two sets of demands can conflict with each other: children struggling to get into secondary school are primarily interested in the number of school places, while employers and colleges or universities are at least as concerned with the quality of education offered in secondary school. There is, at least potentially, a conflict between the demand for quantity and the demand for quality. The principal ways ministries of education have reacted to the pressures on them are the regular expansion of secondary schools and the gradual process of raising the caliber of secondary school teachers. But distance teaching has been used to help meet the demand for good secondary education in three ways. The way with the longest history is to provide courses equivalent to the regular secondary courses for children or adults outside secondary school. The second is to go one step further and use distance-teaching methods for students outside school but to offer them a different kind of education, with a different curriculum related to their particular interests and needs. The third is to use distance teaching to raise the quality of existing secondary schools. Correspondence courses for secondary-level examinations have been the mainstay of correspondence education since it began. They have provided a small element of flexibility in education, offering a chance of getting qualifications to people who did not have the time to study at school, or lived in a place with no school. This kind of education has been offered by commercial correspondence colleges, by universities, and by SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 15 government agencies. And, as with the Soviet Union in the 1930s, a number of countries are today using distance teaching not for a handful of exceptional students who cannot get into school, but as a regular ancillary to the school system on a large scale.

THE KOREAN AIR CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL. In Korea, education is compulsory up to the age of eleven; beyond that 80 percent of the age group go on to middle school for three years, but only 50 percent go on to high school. Many of the others start work at about the age of fifteen but still want to continue their education. In order to meet that demand, Korea has created an Air Correspondence High School (ACHS), which offers courses using correspondence, radio lessons, and weekly face-to-face teaching sessions. The courses lead to the same examinations as those taken by full-time students in the regular high schools. The school was started in 1974 by the Korean Educational Development Institute, and in 1977 it enrolled 9,960 students for the first of its three grades. More than 85 percent of these students were between the ages of fifteen and twenty- three. The school works like this. Each student who has enrolled and paid the appropriate fee receives a basic textbook for each subject he is taking. The textbook is the equivalent of a correspondence course but, instead of being written from scratch, is an expanded version of the regular school textbook, with additional explanations and tutorial guidance. (A tribute to the value of these expanded textbooks is that there is a heavy and unsatisfied demand for them from students of the regular high schools.) The text provides exercises for the students, and arrangements are made for them to send their work for marking to a postal tutor. Few students use this postal system of tutoring, however, because they are also required to attend teaching sessions on the premises of regular high schools on alternate Sundays. Unless a student attends two-thirds of these sessions, he cannot go on to the next grade at the end of a year's work. Radio lessons are also broadcast to support the printed text six days a week for fifty-two weeks in the year. Unfortunately for the students, the programs are broadcast early in the morning or late at night and are not repeated. Despite this, it seems that students do in fact listen regularly, encouraged in part by the fact that their notes on the programs are assessed at some of the Sunday teaching sessions. The ACHS teaching system thus demands hard work and a high motivation from its students. They are expected to work four hours a day at their courses. Until recently, the students' fees (rather than the state) covered the greater part of the costs-an arrangement that appears normal in a country where much education is privately financed. As yet, the ACHS has attracted only a small proportion of the target age group, with less than 1 16 INTRODUCTION percent of those eligible between eighteen and twenty enrolling. But, of those who do enroll, the results are dramatic: 46 percent of all students enrolled are graduating with the equivalent of three years of full-time education, at a cost that may be as low as one-fifth of the cost of regular high school students. At the same time, one telling piece of evidence suggests that the quality of education achieved through the ACHS methods is high: the differences between the test scores of students in the ACHS courses and those of students in regular high schools seem to have declined as the ACHS students have worked through their courses. Students who started out at a disadvantage seem to have been catching up to those who could afford to go to school full time. ACHS has thus been doing something to iron out the differences between children who could afford to go to high school and those who went to work instead. There are clear potential economic benefits for those who enroll with ACHS and work with the intense determination needed for their high school diploma. While the school is not providing an alternative education for those who cannot afford its fees or find the time to study through its intensive methods, its results show that a teaching system based mainly on print, with supporting radio and strictly limited face-to- face teaching, can be effective at the secondary level. Too much should not be made of this conclusion from the Korean experience: social and cultural factors must play some part in the determination with which the ACHS students work toward their examinations.

THE MADUREZA SYSTEM IN BRAZIL. Examinations devised for school children may not be appropriate for adults out of school, but it is possible to devise examinations and create an educational system with the particular needs of such adults more in mind. Since 1891, Brazil has recognized that adults out of school may need an alternative route to secondary-level qualifications. They have worked toward a madureza, or equivalency examination, which is regarded as the equivalent of junior high school but is set and run specifically for adults out of school. Until recently, most students have studied privately to prepare for the madureza; the state's role was seen only as offering an examination, not as providing a system of education that led to the examination. The madureza was seen as an alternative for the few adults who could prepare themselves for this alternative route into better paid jobs. More recently, however, both federal and state ministries have tried to provide education that would lead to the madureza. As in South Korea, the main aim seems to have been to provide wider educational opportunities for highly motivated individuals rather than to make up for a lack of graduates at any one level in the educational system. To meet such demands, some states have provided evening classes as a way of working part time toward the madureza. The SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 17 federal government, as well as some states, has also used radio together with printed handbooks and organized study groups as a way of preparing for the madureza. The Minerva Project represents one attempt at providing a distance- teaching route to the madureza. Since 1974, half-hour radio programs have been broadcast at the peak time of 8:00 to 8:30 P.M. over the network of 1,100 Brazilian radio stations. The programs cover a syllabus that should lead toward the madureza examination: it is difficult to ensure that their content will correspond exactly with the examination demands because the programs are produced centrally while the examination is set and run by the individual states. Some learners listen to the broadcasts at home and use them, alone or as a supplement to other methods of study, to prepare themselves individually for the madureza. But it seems that much larger numbers become members of study groups who together listen to the broadcasts under the guidance of an instructor. The method of study here seems to have been modeled on the work of ACPO and the related radiophonic schools: the instructor is usually not highly qualified, and his role is to help the students discuss the program rather than to teach in the traditional sense. Students are also provided with texts that support the radio programs and are very tightly related to them, program by program. By the late 1970s, some 300,000 students were using the Min- erva system, with some 400,000 series of texts being distributed. The figures on costs and results for the Minerva Project are not as full, or as easily interpreted, as those on the Korean ACHS. But the Brazilian project seems to confirm that the techniques of distance teaching can provide an alternative to secondary schools for highly motivated adults, though the results may compare unfavorably with those of a program requiring attendance at evening classes. Where trained teachers are used, evening classes seem to be more successful. For the costs of distance teaching to be competitive with those of orthodox education, sufficient numbers of students are needed to balance the production costs of high- quality broadcasts and texts against the savings in teachers' salaries, by using teachers for a shorter time or by employing less qualified teachers or monitors. In Brazil, the costs are complicated by the federal organization of education, with responsibilities shared between the federal and state governments. In the state of Bahia, for example, the state ministry of education decided to set up its own distance-teaching scheme for the madureza and not to use the Minerva Project. This decision had clear educational advantages: both broadcasts and textbooks could be planned so that they related tightly to the locally set madureza examination. But these advantages must be set against the economic disadvantages and, in particular, against the fact that it costs no less to prepare good texts and broadcasts for 18 INTRODUCTION

a handful of students than for thousands or millions of them. In Bahia, the distance-teaching program for the madureza attracted only about one out of ten potential students; the rest used part-time and private courses leading to the same examination. While the state-run system economized on its running costs by using unqualified monitors rather than trained teachers, its high overhead costs meant that the system was more expensive than private schools also offering courses for the madureza.

THE MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE. Formal education has a shorter history in Malawi than in Brazil. After the country's independence in 1964, the demand for secondary education outstripped the government's ability to provide secondary schools and only about 9 percent of those completing primary school go on to secondary schools. In an attempt to provide an alternative route to secondary qualifications, the government in 1965 set up the Malawi Correspondence College (MCC), which, among other activities, offers courses in ten subjects at the junior certificate level. This examination is normally taken after two years in the full-time secondary schools. The college originally assumed that its students would work part time and it set up correspondence centers, intended to be places where young people could study in their spare time. But demand for correspondence courses has come, to an even greater extent, from students who are not at work and the centers now provide classroom teaching for up to six hours a day. The centers are usually the cheapest and simplest of buildings, consisting of two classrooms, one for each of the two years of the junior certificate course, with the minimum of furniture, a radio, and a blackboard. Students follow their courses by working through correspondence lessons and listening to a once-weekly broadcast in each of six subjects. The centers are not staffed by qualified secondary teachers, but by teacher- supervisors who are usually qualified as primary school teachers. Their role is to guide the students as they work through their correspondence lessons rather than to teach them in the traditional way. Students pay an annual fee, which entitles them to receive lessons from the college and to attend a center regularly. Both correspondence lessons and radio broadcasts are produced by the college. The college staff mark one out of every five assignments included in the correspondence lessons; the other four are designed to be marked by the students themselves. At the end of the first-year course, the MCC staff check the students' progress and try to arrange for the most successful ones to transfer to full-time secondary school. In 1977, 4 percent of all those enrolled in MCC's first-year course transferred in this way. The MCC students are those who failed to enter secondary school at the competitive, primary school-leaving stage, and they are then taught by SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 19

less qualified teachers in poorer buildings than the regular secondary school students. These facts are reflected in the junior certificate examination results. In 1977, only some 21 percent of the MCC students passed six subjects, as compared with 87 percent of students in boarding schools and 67 percent in day schools. The cost per MCC student is, at the same time, much lower than the cost per student in the regular schools: MCC students cost less than one-quarter as much as students in boarding schools, and * only 62 percent as much as those at day schools. The dropout and failure rates at MCC, however, are so high that the cost per graduate at the junior secondary level is higher than the equivalent cost for day secondary schools. Thus, while the college does provide an alternative route to secondary qualifications for a number of determined and hard-working students, the route is too difficult or demanding for many of those who embark on it. Proposals have been made to improve the work of the college and, if implemented, they may increase the effectiveness of its courses. That would help the many students who at present do not manage to get their examination passes through the MCC system and would reduce the cost per graduate to a better comparative level.

THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE OF THE AIR. The distance-teaching schemes of Brazil and Korea are intended to provide secondary education to those outside school-in effect, extending the secondary education system. In Mauritius, in contrast, distance-teaching methods have been used to improve, rather than to extend, secondary education. Nearly all children of primary school age in Mauritius go all the way through the six years of school. As a result, there is a heavy demand for secondary education, which has outstripped the government's ability to build, staff, and equip secondary schools. Access to better paid jobs is almost entirely through the possession of secondary-level qualifications. As there are so few government secondary schools, private entrepreneurs have been permitted, or even encouraged, to step into the gap. Mauritian secondary education is thus dominated by private secondary schools. Their often inadequate teaching is supplemented by private tuition, offered by regular school teachers, but in their own time and on payment of a fee over and above regular school fees. In the early 1970s, therefore, the Mauritius government was looking for ways to improve the quality of the education offered in private secondary schools. They invited the International Extension College to set up the Mauritius College of the Air (MCA), whose first major task was to provide distance-teaching courses that would improve the quality of private secondary education. MCA had to find a way of adapting distance teaching to the needs of pupils within school, rather than using it for students outside the school system. The college commissioned a range of courses, 20 INTRODUCTION choosing subjects such as agricultural science, woodwork, and human and social biology, as well as the more usual English and mathematics. They consciously attempted to move the education system away from well- established, but often irrelevant, subjects such as British Constitution and Christian religious knowledge, studied mainly by Hindus. Each course consisted of printed texts, to be studied in class, supported by television and radio broadcasts. At this time, the television service covered the whole island, and broadcasting time was readily available. The students worked in their ordinary classrooms under their regular teachers, but the work of both teachers and students was controlled by the courses produced by MCA. Thus, under the guidance of their own teachers, students in class listened to radio programs, watched television lessons, and worked at texts produced by MCA. Their written work was, however, marked by their regular teacher and not by an MCA staff member. The MCA staff ran occasional seminars and visited schools to advise them on the use of the courses. As most of the teachers were unqualified and had no more than secondary qualifications, they seem to have been willing to accept the firm guidance of their teaching demanded by this system. The number of schools and school children using the MCA courses grew rapidly and the available evidence suggests that the courses were successful in their first aim of improving examination results. It is more difficult to assess their long-term impact in trying to change the accepted curriculum of Mauritian schools. The costs of using distance teaching in this way, in order to improve schools, proves to be an extra cost: the provision of courses by MCA did not enable the secondary schools to make economies, and was not intended to. But, if the cost of the MCA system is compared with the cost of private tuition as an alternative way of increasing the effectiveness of secondary schools, then the cost of MCA looks reasonable. The Mauritian experience suggests that there may be an economic case for using distance teaching to improve secondary education, as well as to expand it.

University Education The unsatisfied demand for education at the primary and secondary levels has led most third world countries to concentrate their energies, and their use of distance teaching, at those levels. In Israel, by contrast, the government is already moving toward universal education up to the age of sixteen. Distance teaching there is being pressed into service to expand tertiary education, through the establishment of Everyman University as a complement to the range of well-established Israeli universities. The university was set up mainly as a result of a private initiative, with the Rothschild Foundation putting up most of the original money. One of the SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 21

motives for establishing it was egalitarian: there are sharp differences in Israel between Israelis from Europe and America on the one hand, and those from Africa and Asia on the other. The latter are underrepresented in higher education, and it was hoped that an open university with no entrance qualifications would make wider educational opportunities available to the more disadvantaged citizens and would provide wider access to higher education more generally. * The university began teaching in 1976 and offered three groups of courses: academic courses leading to a degree, preacademic courses, and vocational and technical courses. But the prestige attached to a degree is reflected by the enrollment figures, with 80 percent of the students enrolled in a degree course. Students in all three groups of courses follow the same method of study: correspondence lessons prepared by the university are the most important teaching method; they are supported by newly written textbooks and by radio programs. Study centers are also available, although not every center can provide tutorial help for every course. Students are not obliged to attend study centers and can, if they wish, work entirely by using the correspondence and broadcast lessons. In preparing and distributing materials, the university has been able to use the facilities of other organizations. It has, for example, used existing studio and production facilities and, in preparing courses, has been able to call on the services of many consultants from the other seven Israeli universities. As a result of this policy of employing consultants, it has kept its own full-time staff to a minimum, with only a small nucleus of subject specialists. The university enrolled 2,200 students in its first cycle of academic courses in 1976, and the figure rose to 6,200 by the fourth cycle. It looks forward to producing some 750 graduates a year. The future of the university and its place within the Israeli system of higher education depend on two decisions that were still awaited at the time of writing. First, the Everyman degree had not yet been accredited in the same way as degrees of other Israeli universities, although accreditation was confi- dently expected. Second, it was hoped that the government would take over responsibility for financing the university from the Rothschild Foundation, which had met most of the costs so far. If these problems are overcome, the first financial analysis of the university suggests that it has a place within higher education. Although figures on dropouts are not yet available, if these are kept within fairly wide limits, then the university * may be able to provide a degree at about half the cost of a degree from one of the regular universities. And, despite the university's concentration on degree work, it has had some success in making educational opportunities available to Israelis from Africa and Asia, and thus in trying to redress educational imbalances at the tertiary level. In general, the university's 22 INTRODUCTION

early results suggest that distance-teaching methods can be successfully used at the level of higher education where there is an appropriate technical and educational infrastructure. At this level, too, the regular costs of education are so much higher than they are in primary or secondary schools that it is possible to produce satisfactorv financial results with much lower enrollments.

The Costs

Distance teaching is not necessarily a cheap way of solving educational problems, and the final chapter examines more fully the circumstances in which it may work out cheaper or dearer than an alternative.7 In some cases, there is no alternative: distance-teaching methods may, for example, be the only means of providing in-service training to teachers who cannot be taken out of the schools. Under the circumstances, distance- teaching methods can be cheaper than their orthodox alternatives; this has been shown by studies in which direct comparisons could be made. In the Middle East refugee camps, for example, it was possible to compare directly the cost of producing a trained teacher through pre-service, residential courses and through in-service, distance-teaching courses. The cost of the latter was half that of the former.8 A study of the costs of the British Open University showed that it could expect to produce graduates at a substantially lower cost than the regular British univeristies.9 The evidence form the studies in this volume is more complex. In both Korea and Israel, distance-teaching systems appear to offer considerable savings over alternative methods of extending education to adults outside school or university. In Mauritius, the use of distance teaching to improve secondary schools is probably cheaper then alternative ways of making such improvements. But in Kenya, the number of students using the Correspondence Unit is too small for it to show the economies of scale that had been hoped for. The early evidence from Brazil suggests that, where there is a fairly cheap alternative to out-of-school education using orthodox methods, it may be difficult to attract the number of students that will make distance teaching attractive. Two general conclusions can be drawn. The first concerns the level of education. Usually, the more advanced an educational course, the more the teachers working on it are paid. And, as staff salaries are such a large item in most educational budgets, the total cost of more advanced courscs tends to reflect the higher salaries. (In the case of universities, the expensive equipment and facilities required by the university teachers ensures that their total budget is also high.) In distance teaching, many of the costs are the same regardless of the level at which courses are offered. The cost of preparing courses, or broadcasting lessons, or setting up a print shop SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 23

does not depend upon the level at which the courses are pitched. It is thus much easier for distance-teaching costs to look favorable when compared with the costs of higher education than when compared with secondary or, even more, primary education costs. At the lower levels, larger numbers of students are needed to make the costs of production and equipment look reasonable. The second point is related. The structure of costs of distance education * differs from the structure of costs of ordinary education in schools or colleges. Whereas staff costs generally dominate educational budgets, costs for the production of materials, and for specialized plant and equipment, form a much larger proportion of the costs of a distance-teaching project. If, therefore, the costs of distance teaching are to compare favorably with the costs of ordinary face-to-face education, then the staff costs for the face-to-face elements in a distance-teaching alternative must be kept down by employing teachers or tutors for a smaller number of contact hours, or by employing less-qualified teachers who will work at a lower rate of pay.

Mixing the Media for Effective Learning

Measuring the effects of education is more difficult than measuring the costs. At least with the formal courses, it is possible to fall back on examination results, and the evidence here is quite consistent. Those who keep working to the end of a distance-teaching course have high chances of passing the examination, sometimes higher than if they studied in a more conventional way. The results are naturally affected by motivation. Most students in teacher in-service courses keep working because promotion and increased pay depend on sticking the course out to the end, and they tend to pass their examinations. The evidence from the Korean study shows that, even without the direct incentive, distance teaching is an effective way of preparing for examinations. This confirms results from other countries. In Australia, for example, pass rates in tertiary education are better for students in distance teaching than for those in part-time study and nearly as good as for full-time students."' In Britain, the Na- tional Extension College has achieved better results in English, using a multimcdia course, than the average for all schools." In Germany and Sweden, students in secondary equivalency courses can do better than comparable students following traditional methods.) 2 But many students do not complete their courses, and so never take the examinations for which they were aiming. Motivation differs from person to person, and from society to society. The pressures that lead relatively high numbers of Korean students to complete their courses are quite different from those in many other societies that have adopted distance 24 INTRODUCTION

teaching. Again, it is important to find an appropriate point of comparison for students in distance-teaching projects. Often such students begin at an educational disadvantage as compared with full-time students: typically, they come from financially poorer homes, and often have performed less well at earlier levels of education. This presents a major problem for the researcher. In order to assess the efficiency of distance teaching, we ought to compare its results with an alternative method of education used for the same purpose and with similar students. But it has seldom been used that way. In practice, students of similar social and educational background are seldom offered a choice of working at a distance or through the regular educational system. Far more often, distance teaching has been used as a second-best route for students who have been eliminated, by poverty or examination, from the regular face-to-face system. Given these disadvantages, and comparing their performance with that of other part-time students, it is not surprising that, even in Sweden and the USSR, where distance teaching is well developed, dropout rates of about 50 percent appear to be normal. 3 The experience in these countries, like that in the case studies examined in this volume, confirms that distance teaching can be reasonably successful in overcoming educational disadvantage. But courses leading to formal examinations seldom retain more than one-half or three-quarters of those who start them.

The Conditions for Success Under certain circumstances, then, distance teaching can be effective in extending or improving education at all levels, for the in-service training of primary school teachers, through the offering of secondary equivalence courses, to the offering of university degree courses. At the same time, as with other forms of part-time education, dropout rates are often high so that there is a greater difference between the cost per student and the cost per graduate than in much full-time, face-to-face education. Where the number of students is small, the cost of producing high-quality learning materials may be so great that the cost per graduate rises above the comparable cost for full-time study. Within these limits, distance teaching is relevant to the twin problems of quantity and quality that beset educational planners around the world. Some conclusions can be drawn about the conditions that need to be met if a distance-teaching project is to be successful. The first is about motivation. If you are following a distance-teaching course that has no teacher with a custodial role, you can choose to drop out at any time. Unless there is a very efficient and sophisticated counseling service, no one may notice, let alone encourage you to go on. For distance teaching to be effective, in the sense of retaining its students to the end of their course, SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 25

they need to be highly motivated and to see the relevance of their studies to their own life and their own prospects. Second, the project must support the student with an appropriate and efficient organization. The case studies presented here show that the scale of the organization has an important bearing on its efficiency, as measured by the cost per student. The variety of specialized jobs within a distance- teaching institution creates pressure to employ a range of staff with different skills. As a result, it is difficult to imagine a distance-teaching equivalent to the one-teacher school.'4 Similarly, any distance-teaching institution needs access to a minimum of equipment for producing and distributing teaching materials and keeping records of its students. Thus, there is a minimum size below which it would be difficult to operate a distance-teaching institution. That minimum size demands a minimum number of students if costs are not to be out of proportion. Third, both practice and theory confirm that there are benefits for good teaching, and for keeping up student motivation, in using a variety of media. 5 Some of the particular strengths and weaknesses of particular media are discussed above and in Appendix B, but we are still a long way from having a prescriptive formula for the right mix of media. What is already clear is that problems of integrating the media are among the most serious to be overcome if a distance teaching program is to work well. To take just one example, in Korea it has proved difficult to relate what teachers do at their fortnightly Sunday classes with the radio programs, simply because the programs are broadcast at a time when teachers will not listen to them. Difficulties of this kind arise partly because distance- teaching institutions seldom control all their own activities. Broadcasts usually depend, for their timing if not their content, upon national broadcasting organizations rather than educators. Tutors, who run study centers, or study group leaders often are not staff members of the distance- teaching institution with which they are working. These are almost necessary difficulties: if distance-teaching institutions are to achieve economies by making greater use of teachers or buildings within the existing educational system, then they are forced into sometimes uneasy alliances with other educational bodies. Although the result is administratively uncomfortable, it makes for a more efficient use of national educational resources as a whole. Fourth, despite these difficulties, the organization of face-to-face study may be the most crucial activity. It is certainly the activity in which economic and educational pressures are likely to be opposed. The educator, concerned to humanize a system of education that depends on mass production, usually wants to increase the face-to-face element in the system. He will be especially determined to do this if he wants to ensure that centrally produced materials will be clearly relevant to the local needs 26 INTRODUCTION and interests of his students. But part of the economic strength of distance teaching is that it can save on the cost of teachers: there is an economic case for minimizing face-to-face contact, or at least for minimizing its costs. The programs examined here vary in the stress they put on face-to-face study. While there are opportunities for face-to-face study in the out-of- school projects like those in Kenya and Israel, they seem to be played down in contrast with the correspondence and radio elements. Some students work through their courses with little or no face-to-face study. Similarly, in Korea, face-to-face sessions are provided only for one day in every two weeks. Although qualified teachers are employed in Israel, Kenya, and Korea, they work as face-to-face teachers for such short periods that the cost of the face-to-face study is kept very low. The various in-school projects-those that require attendance several times a week at what, for convenience, we can call a school, even if it is a nontraditional one-provide face-to-face study in a number of different ways. Brazil has used regular sessions with a monitor, usually untrained, in a central place in the teaching system. In doing this, they have used a study technique that relies on group discussions and has been more widely used in nonformal than in formal education. In both Malawi and Mauritius, distance- teaching methods have been used within institutions, although again most of them with untrained teachers; as in Brazil, the support of print and broadcasting is intended to enable such teachers to work more effectively. Face-to-face learning does not, however, necessarily demand the presence of a teacher, whether trained or untrained. The use of study circles, originally pioneered in Sweden, in which a group of students are learning together and helping each other solve their educational problems, mav be one important way of resolving conflicts between economist and educator about the scale of face-to-face learning in a distance-teaching system.

The Future Finally, there are two unresolved questions: about the role of distance teaching in open learning, and about its future more broadly. Some distance-teaching programs, like those of the British Open University and the Israeli Everyman University, have set out deliberately to attract people with limited previous education, and have been open in the sense of requiring no entry qualifications. The belief that there ought to be alternative routes to formal education lies behind the long-established madureza in Brazil and the Air Correspondence High School of Korea. Distance teaching is not necessarily open, in the sense that courses are open to all comers; professional programs of continuing education may be limited to accredited members of a particular profession. But, where courses are open, and are designed as an alternative route to qualifications, the ques- SCOPE OF DISTANCE TEACHING 27

tion arises about the extent to which they should resemble regular school programs. Should they aim for equivalency programs, as the madureza does, or should they insist that their students take exactly the same examinations as those in the regular system? Are students better off with a course designed specifically for their interests-which may be regarded by employers or other educators as second best-or with a course less obviously suitable for adults, but leading to identical qualifications? Ques- tions of status as well as of education are involved. The second question is broader. Distance teaching has been used to solve educational problems of both quantity and quality, and is seen as a valuable tool in an educational crisis. It has been used to extend education beyond the limits of the school and college system, and to improve the weakest bits of that system. But does it have a permanent part to play, and a part to play in close relation to the regular system? In considering what that part might be-if it exists-it is worth noting the essential nature of distance teaching, where this includes a substantial element of face-to-face learning and a feedback system. In such distance teaching, the subject matter content can be recorded on print or on tape, thus liberating the teacher from much of his traditional role of conveying information and enhancing his role of helping learning. Distance teaching, then, can help toward the Copernican revolution in education for which many have been asking-the concentration on learning rather than teaching. (It will not always do it: correspondence courses can all too easily lend themselves to rote learning, and it would be ridiculous to pretend that distance teaching is a synonym for pedagogic excellence and enlightenment.) But when distance teaching is reflecting the better, rather than the worse, aspects of the regular educational system, its particular qualities suggest that it might have a continuing role to play, not merely in providing an alternative or second-best system of education for hard-pressed countries and sorely tried educators, but in providing a better educational system for all.

Notes to Chapter 1

1. Marvin P. Miracle, "The Introduction and Spread of Maize in Africa, "Journal of African 49 History, vol. 6 (1965), pp. 39-55. 2. Ronald Dore, The Diploma Disease (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976),p. 3. 3. Richard Hooper, "Education and the Mass Media," EducationalDevelopment Interna- tional,vol. 2 (April 1974),pp. 78-81. 4. K. Patricia Cross andJohn R. Valley, "Non-Traditional Study: An Overview," in PlanningNon-Traditional Programs, ed. K. Patricia Cross and others (San Francisco:Jossey- Bass, 1974),p. 1. - 5. Clarence E. Beeby, The Quality ofEducationin Developing Countries (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966),p. 5. 28 INTRODUCTION

6. H. W. R. and C. R. Hawes, "R6fornie des enseignements primaires," Recherche, pedagogieet culture,vol. 6 (1977),pp. 4-18. 7. Appendix A provides an introductory discussionof the methodsof cost analysisused in eachof the casestudies in thisbook and defines the terminologyused to describecosts both in the cases and in the final chapter. 8. J. Lyle, "The Inservice Training Programme for UNRWA/Unesco Teachers," in NVew Educational Media in Action: Case Studies for Planners, ed. Wilbur Schramm (Paris: Unesco, International Institute for Educational Planning, 1967), p. 207. 9. Leslie Wagner, "The Economics of the Open University," Higher Education, vol. 1 (1972), pp. 159-83. 10. P. Karmel, Open Tertiary Education: Draft Report (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1974), p. 38. 11. Hilary D. Perraton, Examination Results and Correspondence Courses (Cambridge: National Extension College, 1966). 12. TRU, Distance Education Systems in a Number of Countries (Stockholm: TRU, 1975), pp. 25, 26. (The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, is referred to throughout simply as Germany.) 13. Ibid.; and V. Zhamin and B. Remennikov, "Comparative Costs and Efficiency of Full-Time and Part-Time Education," in Educational Cost Analysis in Action: Case Studiesfor Planners, ed. Philip H. Coombs andJacques Hallak (Paris: Unesco/International Institute for Educational Planning, 1972), p. 309. 14. The best exception to this I know of is a rural distance-teaching project described to me as "twoJesuits in a mud hut with a hand duplicator and a pair ofbicycles. " Their program worked, too. Small is beautiful, though sometimes difficult to keep cheap. 15. Wilbur Schramm, Big Media, Little Media (Washington, D.C.: Academy for Educa- tional Development, 1973), pp. ix-x. PART TWO Case Studies -1 of In-school Equivalency Programs

The Minerva Projectin Brazil

Joao B. Oliveira and FranSois Orivel

LONG BEFORE the Brazilian school system was extended to the whole country, there already existed a special certification system intended to test the capacity of students wishing to continue their studies. This examination, called madureza, was regarded as equivalent to the completion of secondary school. It can be compared with the French baccalaureate. Since the madureza began in 1891, different versions have developed, with certain variations.' These changes have followed the chief education laws, particularly the Francisco Campos reform of 1931, in which the madureza appeared under Title 100, and the Gustavo Capanema reform of 1939, in which it was under Title 91. In the 1961 education legislation, the madureza became Title 99. Currently, it is governed by Parecer699/72, the regulation promulgated by the National Education Council in 1972. During the first half of the twentieth century, only small numbers of people took the examination, mainly because there were few opportunities for nonformal education or any other adequate preparation. More- over, education was not as highly esteemed as it is today. The demand for the madureza increased rapidly in the 1960s, and this trend became still more marked at the beginning of the 1970s.2 During this early period in its history, the madureza represented essentially a second chance for self- taught students and did not have the same features or the same value as it does today.3

The Madureza Today

As is frequently the case in developing countries, the Brazilian education system has high dropout and repeater rates and a low level of efficiency. In 1961, of 1,000 students cntering the first year ofprimary school, only 64 obtained the final secondary education diploma and 56 went on to higher education.4 The value attached to education and to the possession of a diploma increased greatly through the 1960s because of changing social

31 32 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY patterns and the sudden variations in labor market conditions caused by a fast expanding economy, together with the rapid spread of urbanization. Diplomas were recognized as the way to success in a professional career or to higher social status. As in many other countries, however, even though the demand for education rose sharply during the decade, school enrollment remained very low. This reflects not only the weaknesses of the formal education system, as revealed in the educational pyramid and in the large number of overage students, but also the social conditions that oblige certain categories of individuals to enter the labor force early. In an attempt to deal with these problems, special certification procedures have been introduced on a large scale. Various systems of continuing and vocational education-such as vocational training, apprenticeship, general supplementary education, and the madureza-now run parallel to the formal education system. The madureza today is considered as a particular type of supplementary education. Although the term desig- nates both the examination system and the preparation for examinations, attention nowadays is focused primarily on the preparatory courses themselves. The sense of this is that overage students must be given a means of studying and, if possible, of shortening the time spent in obtaining a diploma. So far, it is still possible for self-taught students to apply individually to take the examinations and to pass them. Thus, the new types of courses and examinations within the madureza framework must be examined in a broader educational context. First, they offer overage students a second chance for school study and certification. Second, they assume that, thanks to the natural process of maturing, adults using suitably adapted preparation methods are capable of making up their lost schooling in a shorter time than regular students. Third, as noted by Barroso and Oliveira, they may reflect the low expectations regarding the value of schools and of the teaching system, which can be replaced by a short-cut of the madureza type.5 Lastly, again according to Barroso and Oliveira, the way in which these examinations are conceived conditions the level and nature of the preparatory courses.

Types of Examinations and Courses The current legislation relating to the madureza provides for two types of examinations. The first is a general examination set by the secretariat z for education in each state. The other consists of special examinations that may be authorized by each state for preparatory courses and may take the form of continuous evaluation instead of a final examination. During the 1960s, certain schools were authorized to set final examinations, but the level sometimes fell so low that this alternative was eliminated. MINERVA PROJECT 33

The examinations are on two levels: the first corresponds to the end of the first cycle, covering the first eight years of school; the second corresponds to the end of the second cycle, covering the three-year secondary education and giving the right to apply for entrance to university.6 There are some age restrictions, which have recently been lightened: a student must be at least sixteen years old to qualify for the first-cycle examination (or grau) and at least eighteen for the second. Students may begin the courses earlier than the minimum age, provided that they are not taking all of them at once. Previous schooling is not required for taking either of these two examinations. The subjects on which the students are examined fall into three broad groups: communication and expression (Portuguese, foreign languages); science (mathematics, physics, chemistry); and social studies (history, geography, ethics and civic studies, knowledge of Brazil). There is one examination for each group of subjects, although certain states may give specialized examinations on particular subjects. Certificates are obtained for groups of subjects or for individual subjects. In the case of the continuous evaluation system, in which the examinations and diplomas are part of the teaching process, which lasts one or two semesters for each group of subjects, the diplomas are also given by subject groups. A student may take all the examinations at once, and may do so even if he has not taken the preparatory courses and their internal tests. On the other hand, he may take only one examination at a time, usually at the end of a period of preparation lasting one semester. The education authorities of each state organize the examinations, which are based broadly on a curriculum laid down by federal law. For this reason, the preparatory courses are not necessarily directly linked to the content of the examinations, except in the case of the continuous evaluation system. Each state is allowed to set up its own rules for holding the examinations. Certain states, like Ceara, hold them every two months; others do it twice yearly.

Existing Preparation Systems The preparatory courses are of several kinds. Private schools offer a large number of programs, as do some public schools in certain states. The courses are similar to the regular school courses, except that they usually last one semester and are divided according to subject matter. Students generally take courses in one or two broad groups of study at a time. Since 1970, some distance-teaching programs have been offered to the states, who are free to choose what suits them; in some cases, states have directly organized programs by themselves. The most important of these are: 34 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

* Supletivo Dinamico, a television program produced by the State of Sao Paulo in 1970-74. There was a course corresponding to the former primary level and another corresponding to the basic elementary education.

* Curso Supletivo, a radio program produced by FEPLAM, a private distance-teaching foundation. It offered courses at both levels (basic elementary and secondary). Some of the courses were bought by other states, which are still using them on a more limited scale.

* Jodo da Silva Project, a television program produced by FBCTVE, the educational television organization in Rio de Janeiro. It is aimed at making up the first half of the basic education cycle (the former primary school). A second part is now in production which will complete the eight-year course. * Minerva Project, a federal government venture started in 1970, which initially used the programs produced by ETV Sao Paulo and FEPLAM. After 1973, Phase II of the project, which corresponds with the complete basic education cycle, was produced and broadcast. * IRDEB, an institution under the Secretariat for Education of the State of Bahia. Its general purpose is to produce broadcast teaching programs. * Logos II, another federal education experiment, which uses correspondence courses and is aimed at providing professional training for the 300,000 Brazilian elementary school teachers considered to be insufficiently qualified.

The MOBRAL adult literacy program can also be regarded as a type of supplementary course, complementary or parallel to the regular education system. Since the MOBRAL audience is not yet capable of following the madureza courses like Minerva Phase II, this program offers other courses at the primary level. In theory, however, this level no longer exists in Brazil as a complete cycle of schooling.

The Madureza Public Very few studies have been made of the madureza system in Brazil. The first, by Barroso and Oliveira, examined the program produced in Sao Paulo for the first and second education cycles.7 A second group of studies analyzed the factors leading to success in the madureza examinations, using a sample of 1975 students in Rio deJaneiro. 8 These latter studies were preceded by a description of the typical first- and second-cycle candidates by Azevedo and Ramos.9 The variance analysis based on the Sao Paulo data showed that the dominant factor in success was age: the older the student, the better the chance of success. Students who had completed the first four years of MINERVA PROJECT 35

school had better chances than those who had not, but additional years of school were of no importance. Whether the student had taken preparatory courses, and whether particular techniques (radio, television, correspondence courses, direct teaching, and so forth) were employed in courses did not appear to have any significant effects. Very few students claimed to be completely self-taught. The average rates of success were 41 percent for the first cycle and 26 percent for the second cycle. The most difficult subjects in the first cycle were mathematics and Portuguese. In the second cycle, the average results in Portuguese, mathematics, and science were 10 percent below those obtained in the other subjects. The more recent observations in Rio de Janeiro show similar results. The general conclusions of these later studies can be summarized under two heads: characteristics of the candidates, and probability of success. The average age of the second-cycle candidates was twenty-one years; most were men and they had reached a higher level of education than their parents; most had never repeated a grade during their initial schooling, which shows that madureza candidates are on the whole good students. Over 50 percent of the students were self-taught-a difference from the observations in Sio Paulo. Those who had followed a regular preparatory course spent about one hour on average traveling to the school. Two- thirds of the candidates had already failed a madureza examination. The candidates spent more time watching commercial television than studying, which suggests that many did not take the examination seriously. The level of aspirations and expectation was high; most students expected to pass the examination, and over 50 percent hoped to go on to study at the university. These expectations are particularly unrealistic when one considers that only 29 percent of the candidates pass and 22 percent of those who obtain diplomas enter university. The type of candidate shows that the madureza examinations are generally regarded as a relatively easy second chance for those who were unable to continue initial schooling, and that the system is fairly successful in solving the problem of the distortion between theoretical and real ages in the schools. The examination results indicate that the system constitutes an instrument of social justice for those who were unable to finish normal schooling for reasons that, as a general rule, are not discreditable. The results of the Rio de Janeiro study show a strong correlation IL between success and nonscholastic variables. Among these variables are certain types of attitudes, such as a refusal to accept the strict disciplinary standards of the traditional schools. A second type of variable is age: the older candidates-those between thirty and thirty-five-have the best chance of success. In addition, the average candidate did not repeat any class during his earlier schooling. The length of such schooling-up to four years-also has a positive effect. The madureza examination in fact 36 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY calls up what remains of the learning skills acquired during those first few years in school. The study showed that students from more privileged social backgrounds had better chances of success. (These variables were measured by the occupation of the father and the degree of comfort enjoyed at home.) The relationship between level of education of the parents and success, however, is insignificant. On the other hand, the most successful candidates, from better social backgrounds, as a general rule, had worked less while preparing for the madureza examination than the others. Among other things, this means that it was not for economic reasons that those particular candidates had dropped out of the traditional school system. Another study by Soriano, Melo, and Naccarato on success in university entrance examinations shows that 12 percent of the candidates had a madureza diploma but that only 9 percent of those who were successful in the entrance examination were madureza students.'" The rate of success was 30 percent for students from regular schools and only 22 percent for madureza candidates. This latter group tended to choose subjects of study in literature or the arts. These courses generally cost less and the student can work during the day and go to evening class. The studies made in Sao Paulo and Rio dejaneiro were concerned with the second-cycle madureza. The study of the first cycle by Azevedo and Ramos showed that the results were not affected by the candidates' sex; that they were explained to some extent by previous schooling, particularly in the sciences; and that the preparatory courses made a difference to the results in mathematics." In conclusion, these three sets of studies show that some of the concepts and goals underlying the preparatory courses for the madureza examinations are not altogether in tune with the realities. The madureza does not offer a second easy chance for the lazy and incompetent. It is an instrument of social mobility for highly motivated students who have already had some years of formal schooling. For the samples analyzed, the preparatory courses did not seem to have had a decisive effect. Possibly, the recent adoption in certain courses of the continuous evaluation system will produce different results; once special examination or certification systems are in existence, however, and particularly where the new media are being used, direct comparisons will no longer be possible.

Cost Analysis of the Minerva Project

As part of a drive to promote school enrollments, the federal government gave a certain priority to the madureza, particularly in its access to the mass media. The Ministry of Education promulgated a decree requir- MINERVA PROJECT 37

ing all radio and television stations in Brazil to set aside five hours each week for free broadcasting of madureza courses and other educational programs. 2 The radio section of this program was called the Minerva Project. It involved the production, broadcasting, and organized reception of radio programs at the level of the four final years of elementary education. 3 During the first two years of its operation (1970-72), the Minerva Project used programs produced by other institutions, such as the Padre Landell e Moura (FEPLAN) and the Padre Anchieta de Sao Paulo Founda- tions, that could be used for the madureza. Phase II of the project began with the production of programs in 1973 and their broadcasting in 1974.

Minerva's Objectives The Minerva Project is designed for a national audience in all states in which the education secretariats have arranged for the organized or supervised reception of broadcasts. Although the potential listening public is numbered in millions, the actual target was initially estimated at 142,000 on the basis of local conditions and the interest shown by various states. Students must be over sixteen years of age and they need no previous education. So far, Phase II of Minerva has been given to three successive biennial classes (1973-74, 1975-76, and 1977-78), two years being necessary to complete the cycle. In total, the programs have reached more than 300,000 students. The curriculum is divided into three subject groups: communication and expression, social studies, and sciences. The project is a component of the Educational Television Service (Radio MEC), an agency of the federal Ministry of Education, which has studios at Rio de Janeiro and transmitters at both Rio and Brasilia. The project has five functions: - to produce supplementary courses, including printed texts, for Phase Il-that is, the four final years of elementary schooling; * to decide which programs are to be broadcast during the five hours a week of educational radio; * to organize reception centers for broadcasts throughout the country in the light of the special needs and concerns of each state; * to train inspectors and teachers capable of operating the systcm at the state level; and * to produce other kinds of educational and cultural programs.

Production National guidelines on madureza courses are available, although the states may make minor variations in certain parts of the program, espe- 38 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

cially in social studies. Production teams consisting of subject specialists in the three curriculum groups have been formed at Minerva headquarters to develop courses in line with the guidelines. The specialists work according to a fixed-price contract. They prepare the content, which is then adapted by producers into either scripts for radio programs or printed texts. The instructional model for the project is shown in figure 2-1. When the scripts are ready, the producers record the programs. A typical program lasts thirty minutes, with three sequences of ten minutes, each covering a different subject. The thirty minutes represent the time available to Minerva each day on commercial stations. Program styles vary and may, for example, assume the form of con- versations, explanations, exercises under the supervision of a teacher, or dialogues. To avoid periods of silence, music is always played in the intervals. No scientific evaluation of the programs has been made on the

Figure 2-1. Instructional Modelfor the Minerva Project

Curcl Instructional Objectives guidelnes development_

^ k j s * ~~~~~~~Contents Classroom activities

scripts~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~shee I~~~~~~~

Recording MINERVA PROJECT 39

Table 2-1. Production of Printed Materials for Phase II of the Minerva Project, 1973-78 Total Number Number Biennial booklets distributedat sold at news- classes printed receptionpost stands

1973-74 170,000 150,000 20,000 1975-76 140,000 120,000 20,000 1977-78 170,000 150,000 20,000

basis of tests of a representative sample of listeners, but many programs were revised in 1975 in the light of information available on the reaction of participants and in order to remove a certain amount of outdated material. The volume of programs produced in Phase II has varied from year to year. Including remakes, 6,760 minutes of programs were produced in 1973; 4,490 in 1974; 1,875 in 1975; 750 in 1976; and 180 in 1977. These numbers do not account for all of Minerva's radio programs, but only those made for Phase 11. Minerva also produces cultural programs for weekend and vacation listening. Some of these cultural programs, however, especially those broadcast on Saturday afternoons, have been regarded in certain reception centers as forming part of madureza courses. The printed texts have been prepared with extreme care. Each radio lesson corresponds to a given chapter in the student's handbook. For Phase II, fourteen sections have been issued; each section is 128 pages and contains 48 lessons. The students receive these texts free at the reception centers. Interested persons can also purchase them at newspaper outlets in all state capitals. Table 2-1 shows the scale of production. In 1977, some sections were partially recast, and one was totally revised. The sections are so designed that one lesson can be modified while the others are left untouched.

Broadcasting The Minerva Project was launched immediately after the government had decided to set aside five hours each week for educational programs on radio and television. Minerva was not, however, immediately ready to use all of this broadcasting time. Brazil is almost as large as the United States (excluding Alaska), and it extends over three time zones. In 1970, there were about 1,100 radio stations in the country, most of them with very limited range. Their signal quality varies and, during the evening time-slot set aside for Minerva, radio wave activity in the atmosphere increases. In addition, fluctuations in radio wave transmission in the ionosphere reduce signal quality. 40 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

All 1,100 stations broadcast Minerva programs at the same time- between 8:00 and 8:30 P.M., immediately following the official news bulletin known as Hora do Brasil, which transmits reports and news from the executive and legislative branches over the entire network. Since 1975, there has been a change enabling certain parts of the network to broadcast Minerva cultural programs instead of Phase II. Between Saturday and Monday, Minerva puts out three further half-hour daytime broadcasts to complete its five-hour quota. Because it is a national program that is relayed to the states, the Minerva Project cannot be overly attentive to local interests, problems, and special needs. With only a few exceptions, the states cannot use stations operating on their territory for other programs of local interest, as there is very frequently one powerful main transmitter broadcasting to large areas in adjoining states. Two major systems are used to broadcast Minerva programs. The first system uses two networks: the national microwave network, which is controlled by the EMBRATEL state corporation and provides access to a number of transmitters; and the Agencia Nacional network, which operates through a large number of stations. In both instances, relay stations act as intermediaries for transmitters that are not connected to either of the two networks. The second transmission system is based on tapes supplied from Rio dejaneiro directly to a certain number of independent broadcasting or relay stations. Tapes are sent fortnightly to the two networks and to isolated stations in the form of ten-hour program packages. In all, there are thirty recipients of the tapes. Each ten-hour package includes five hours of Phase 1I programs and five hours of cultural programs. The periodic distribution delays have been blamed on the cultural rather than the Phase II programs, which are always prepared well in advance.

Reception of Broadcasts Minerva Project broadcasting is planned so that it can be received in three ways: organized reception in a classroom with instructors, supervised reception with access to an educational counselor, and unsupervised home listening. Table 2-2 shows the total number of students enrolled at the beginning of the three biennial courses from 1973 to 1978. The table also shows the number enrolled for examinations in each subject group and the number of passes. No reliable data are available on enrollments for supervised reception, but the number appears to be no more than 5 percent of enrollments for organized reception. Little information exists on the number of serious, unsupervised students listening at home, although the number of texts sold by newsagents can give some indication. For each of the three biennial Phase II courses, MINERVA PROJECT 41

Table 2-2. Enrollments in Minerva Phase II, 1973-78 Category 1973-74 1975-76 1977-78 Total enrollments at beginning of course' 82,074 131,583 118,]18 Enrollments in examsb Communication and expression 7,005 22,089 n.a. Number present at exam 3,288 14,082 n.a. Number of passes Pass rate (percent) 47 64 n.a. Social sciences Number present at exam 7,525 19,125 n.a. Number of passes 5,185 14,096 n. a. Pass rate (percent) 69 74 n.a. Sciences Number present at exam 6,927 21,970 n.a. Number of passes 3,825 15,302 n.a. Pass rate (percent) 55 70 n.a.

n.a. = Not available. a. Data available only for initial enrollments; dropouts may reach 40 to 50 percent. according to the few reliable data available. b. Data available only for some states (7 out of 23 for 1973-74, and 17 out of 23 for 1975-76).

20,000 copies of the corresponding texts were distributed to newsstands; however, no data are available on actual sales. These numbers are difficult to assess because, in areas where there is no television, the Minerva Project is the only program that can be heard by listeners. Supervised reception has not been given a high priority, in terms of either organization or adaptation of educational materials. The idea was to have the students and educational counselors meet weekly to discuss the main difficulties encountered. In most instances, neither the quality of educational support nor the attendance rates are known. The organized reception of broadcasts takes place in classrooms equipped with radio receivers under the direction of specially trained instructors. In 1977, a total of 118,118 students were enrolled, with 2,446 instructors. The average ratio of students to staff was thus 48 to 1, although ratios varied widely between states, from as high as 122 to 1 in Minas Gerais to 13 to 1 for the thirty-six centers in Amazonas. The class itself begins at 7:30 P.M. and the broadcast at 8:00 P.M. After the broadcast, students study the lesson for an hour and a half under the guidance of the instructor. The students' texts follow closely the contents of the broadcast. As a result of local meetings and visits, project officials have discovered that the effectiveness of the instructor is reduced if for unforeseen reasons (poor signal, static interference) the program cannot be heard. 42 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Each state is responsible for organizing the reception of broadcasts in its area. Minerva, for its part, supplies the radio receivers, trains the instructors and educational counselors, and arranges the broadcasts and distribution of booklets. Some controls on classroom operations and attendance exist, but data on them have not been collected with sufficient care to provide any really useful information. In a few states, however, the project has been man- aged more effectively and some data are available on attendance rates, the quality of the reception of broadcasts, and other logistical factors, such as the distribution of texts. Moreover, students and instructors have written hundreds of letters to project headquarters, giving their impressions and views on the operation of the system. In addition, educational counselors supervise instructors at the rate of one counselor to ten instructors. In 1977, the project had a total of 406 educational counselors. Finally, no reception centers have been organized in some states, even though the program has been broadcast in them.

Evaluation Responsibility for organizing the madureza examinations is delegated to the states. During the 1960s, many states organized two-year madureza courses for adolescents and adults in the form of evening classes. The main emphasis in the Minerva Project has been on production, with the states retaining responsibility for organizing the local reception of broadcasts. This leaves the states with significant freedom in determining the relative importance they wish to attach to Minerva in relation to other systems of preparation for the madureza examinations and to other levels of regular education. Minerva encountered resistance when it was introduced, not only because the courses were produced outside the states but also because it used broadcasting, and the use of radio as an educational tool is by no means universally accepted. The main practical obstacles to Minerva's acceptance, however, were that the states lacked both funds to pay the instructors and experience on how to organize the reception of broadcasts. Moreover, initially, Minerva itself had many problems organizing the broadcasting of its programs over a network of 1,100 transmitters and, at that time, was unable to devote sufficient efforts to the reception structure. Finally, in certain states, the program content was too remote from what was needed for the madureza examinations, so that the preparation Minerva provided was not very useful for these examinations. It was not until 1975 that Minerva was able to obtain from some of the states information concerning the number of students participating in the system, the number of enrollments for examinations, and the pass rate. In MINERVA PROJECT 43 some cases, Minerva was able to introduce a system of internal evaluation and arrange for special examinations to be set for its students. The results of these examinations cannot, however, be compared with those for the normal madureza exams, although there is no reason to believe that they have been set at a lower level.

Cost Analysis of Phase II of the Project

The Minerva Project does not have a functional budget in which it is easy to identify the specific programs to which funds have been allocated. In general, however, the Minerva Project budget has been allocated to three major programs: Phase I, which accounted for about one-quarter of project funds in 1973-74 and was subsequently suspended; Phase II, which accounted for about one-half of the funds in 1973-74 and about two-thirds in subsequent years; and cultural programs, which accounted for about one-quarter of headquarter's funds in 1973-74, increasing to an estimated one-third in subsequent years. Phase II, which involves preparation for a qualification equivalent to a school-leaving certificate on completion of eight years of elementary schooling, extends over two calendar years; enrollments of new cohorts are made only each second year, the first having taken place in 1973-74, the second in 1975-76, and the third in 1977-78. The following examination of costs will take up in order the radio component, printed texts, reception centers, and general management.

Costs of the Radio Component Three sets of costs are examined in this section: production, broadcasting, and reception costs.

PRODUCTION COSTS. The project uses the recording studios of the broadcasting service of the federal Ministry of Education (Radio MEC), and its offices are located in the premises of the service. The Minerva budget neither includes nor charges these costs or related payments of any kind. This does not, of course, mean that, in strictly economic terms, these resources cost nothing. Their cost can be calculated by estimating the full replacement cost of the equipment provided in 1977, which amounts to 5 million cruzeiros (Cr$). The Minerva Project manager has estimated that Radio MEC and the project are sharing the use of these studios equally, so that the capital cost to the project is Cr$2.5 million or, depreciating these facilities over ten years, Cr$250,000 a year at a zero percent discount rate, Cr$365,000 a year at a 7.5 percent discount rate, and 44 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 2-3. Annual Costs of Minerva Radio Equipment, 1973-78 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros) Discount rate 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

0 percent 200 200 50 50 50 50 7.5 percent 292 292 73 73 73 73 15 percent 398 398 99 99 99 99

Cr$497,500 a year at a 15 percent discount rate (see table 2-3). These costs are expressed in 1976 cruzeiros; at this 1976 rate, Cr$12 are worth US$1. Table 2-4 shows the operating costs for the Minerva Project in both current and constant cruzeiros. As table 2-5 shows, the use of the studios by the various Minerva programs has shifted over the years, with Phase II accounting for only 20 percent of the use in 1975-78.

BROADCASTING COSTS. The broadcasts are transmitted by the 1,117 stations operating in Brazil in the form of five hours of free programming each week. Minerva Project programs are transmitted to the different stations in various ways: principally, through the use of EMBRATEL network; second, through the Agencia Nacional network; and third, through the direct supply of tapes to certain stations. The project itself meets the cost of duplicating tapes and of fees payable to the EMBRATEL and Agencia Nacional networks. The broadcasting costs chargeable to Minerva are shown in table 2-6. The broadcasting costs chargeable to the individual stations include any lost advertising revenues, capital depreciation, the cost of electric power, and personnel costs.

Table 2-4. Recurrent Costs of the Production of Minerva Radio Programs, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Unit 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Current cruzeiros 438 606 662a 128 16 Constant 1976 cruzeirosb 826 993 1,085 128 13 a. This includes 11 percent of the total production costs for Phase 11in 1975and 5 percent in 1976. b. The deflator used here is the one employed in the study of the Maranhao educational television project; thus: 1973 = 53, 1974 = 61, 1975 = 78, 1976 = 100, and 1977 = 120. See G. Arena, Dean T. Jamison, J. B. Oliveira, and F. Orivel, Economic Analysis of Educational Television in Maranlhdo, Brazil (Paris: Unesco, 1977). MINERVA PROJECT 45

Table 2-5. Use of Studios by Minerva Programs, 1973-78 (percent) Program 1973-74 1975-76 1977-78

Phase 11 80 20 20 Other programs 20 80 80

Whether the stations required to allocate five hours of broadcasting time to educational programs actually lose advertising revenues is highly con- troversial. Such revenues provide the funds required to operate the stations and, in particular, to produce programs. In the case of the Minerva Project, the stations do not bear the cost of producing the programs but only that of broadcasting them. Advertising losses are thus offset, at least in part, by savings in production costs. Moreover, it is not clear that any loss in potential advertising revenues can be attributed to the nonavailabil- ity of broadcasting time. The volume of advertising investments in a country is not determined by the potential advertising outlets, but rather by quite different factors that are beyond the scope of this study. It is therefore likely that, were the stations to get back these five hours of free broadcasting, they would not enjoy any increase in advertising revenues but merely acquire additional program production charges. According to certain sources, some stations unofficially recognize that they benefit financially from broadcasting programs they do not have to produce. In the light of these considerations, it appears that there were no advertising losses as such. For the depreciation of facilities, only the marginal cost attributable to Minerva programs is relevant. By definition, that cost is almost nil. The individual stations do have costs for electricity and personnel. The cost of electric power is equal to the strength of the transmitters multiplied by a coefficient of 2.5, the number of hours, and the price per kilowatt. Personnel costs are estimated on the basis of an average of two persons for stations of fewer than 10 kilowatts (1,010 stations in all) and six persons for those of 10 kilowatts and over (107 in all). Table 2-7 summarizes these costs for 1973-77.

Table 2-6. Broadcasting Costs Paid Directly by Minerva, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Unit 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Current cruzeirosa 105 263 292 806 1,170 Constant 1976 cruzeiros 198 431 374 806 975 a. Proportional to the number of minutes allocated to Phase 11. 46 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 2-7. Broadcasting Costs Paid by Individual Radio Stations, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Electricity 56 67 89 112 135 Personnel 699 932 1,398 1,863 2,329 Total in current cruzeiros 755 999 1,487 1,975 2,464 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 1,424 1,638 1,906 1,975 2,053

RECEPTION COSTS. In 1973, the Minerva Project purchased a supply of radio receivers for reception centers. Although most of the receivers were distributed almost immediately, some had still not been distributed by 1977. An accurate record of year-by-year issues is not available, but the cost of the receivers is relatively so small that to attempt a precise financial inventory is hardly worthwhile. Although the average life of these radios is not known, they have been depreciated over a ten-year period, giving an amortized cost, at a 7.5 percent discount rate, of Cr$285 a year. The costs of the radio component-including production, broadcasting, and reception-are summarized in table 2-8.

Costs of Texts The production costs of texts cannot be isolated from the costs of other Minerva Project activities. Only the invoiced cost of their reproduction is readily available. In 1973-74 and 1977-78, the total number of texts printed was 170,000; in 1975-76, that number was 140,000. The texts contain fourteen sections, each of 128 pages, for the two-year cycle. Contracts with the printers stipulate that they are responsible for distribution to the state secretariats of education. The printers increase

Table 2-8. Summary of Radio Costs, 1973-77 (thousands of constant 1976cruzeiros) Component 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Production Capital equipment (7.5 percent discount rate) 292 292 73 73 73 * Operating costs 826 993 1,085 128 13 Broadcasting Minerva Project 198 431 374 806 975 Radio stations 1,424 1,638 1,906 1,975 2,053 Reception (7.5 percent discount rate) 285 285 285 285 285 Total 3,025 3,639 3,723 3,267 3,399 MINERVA PROJECT 47

Table 2-9. Production and Distribution Costs of Minerva Booklets, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Unit 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Current cruzeiros 1,846 2,600 3,937 2,880 6.500 Constant 1976 cruzeiros 3,483 4,262 5,047 2,880 5,417 their invoice by 8 percent to cover the cost of distribution. The cost of each section of text has increased from Cr$2.2 in 1973 to Cr$6 in 1977. The total production and distribution costs of the texts are shown in table 2-9.

Reception Center Costs Reception centers operate for two and a half hours each evening from Monday to Friday in existing classrooms. The states and municipalities are responsible for problems associated with the reception of the broadcasts. Instructors with minimal qualifications supervise the classes. Their work is supervised, guided, and evaluated by a network of educational counselors. The remuneration of educational counselors and instructors varies widely from one state to another. Some of these discrepancies, especially the more egregious ones among the educational counselors, arise from the fact that some work part time, whereas others work full time. As a general rule, instructors and educational counselors are only paid for the eight months during which the system operates. Their remuneration apparently has kept up with the rising cost of living, indicating that in terms of constant cruzeiros it has remained stable. Printed tests constitute another cost to the reception centers. Each student takes thirteen tests in a full two-year cycle. For the first two cycles 100,000 copies of the tests were printed, and for the 1977-78 cycle 150,000 were printed. The tests cost Cr$0.50 each in 1973-74 and Cr$0.85 in 1977. The cost includes 8 percent for distribution, representing a total of Cr$325,000 in 1973 and Cr$830,000 in 1977. Table 2-10 presents a summary of thc reception center costs.

General Management Costs In thc foregoing sections, several categories of Minerva Project expenditures have been identified. The way the accounts are presented, however, often makes it impossible to allocate costs to specific functions. In practice, the heading of general management costs includes certain production expenditures (for texts or radio programs) that cannot be isolated. 48 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 2-10. Minerva Reception Center Costs, 1973-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros) Cost item 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Monitors' 17,513 17,513 28,028 28,028 25,205 Supervisors' 3,228 3,228 5,165 5,165 4,645 Testing 613 613 613 613 830 State administrationb 497 497 497 497 497 Total 21,851 21,851 34,303 34,303 31,177 a. Costs for 1973to 1976were calculatedby multiplyingthe unit 1977cost by the numbcr of students. b. Each state has one coordinator, with a monthly salary of 1,8001976 cruzeiros.

From the standpoint of unit costs, this is not a serious shortcoming to the extent that these are fixed expenditures. This is why we have extracted from the Minerva Project budget all expenditures that are readily identifiable (such as costs of production, reproduction of documents, broadcasting, purchases of radio receivers or programs from other institutions). The balance, displayed in table 2-11, represents the bulk of fixed production and management costs distributed among the projects. The project occupies old premises belonging to the government in the center of Rio de Janeiro. Their cost does not appear in the budget. To estimate their opportunity cost, it must be determined how much Min- erva would have to pay to rent similar premises, or how much the current premises would bring in if Minerva did not occupy them. The average annual cost of renting an equivalent area on a site of this kind is approximately Cr$1,700 a square meter (at rates prevailing at the end of 1976). As Minerva occupies 400 square meters, the annual opportunity cost of these premises is Cr$680,000. In this analysis, Phase II is charged Cr$340,000 for 1973-74 and CrS453,000 for 1975-77. Table 2-12 presents a general summary of the Phase II costs.

Table 2-11. Allocation of Administrative Fixed Costs to Minerva Programs, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Program 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Total administrative fixed costs 3,661 7,424 6,227 9,080 9,581 Phase 1 915 1,856 0 0 0 Cultural programs 915 1,856 2,076 3,027 3,194 Phase 11 Current cruzeiros 1,831 3,712 4,151 6,053 6,387 Constant 1976 cruzeiros 3,455 6,085 5,322 6,053 5,322 MINERVA PROJECT 49

Table 2-12. General Summary of Minerva PhiaseII Costs, 1973-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros)

Category 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Radio component Production Capital equipment (7.5 percent discount rate) 292 292 73 73 73 Operating costs 826 993 1,085 128 13 Subtotal 1,118 1,285 1,158 201 86 Broadcasting Minerva Project 198 431 374 806 975 Radio stations 1.424 1,638 1,906 1,975 2,053 Subtotal 1.622 2,069 2,280 2,781 3,028 Reception (7.5 percent discount rate) 285 285 285 285 285 Total radio 3,025 3,639 3,723 3,267 3.399 Booklets 3,483 4,262 5,047 2,880 5.417 Reception centers Variable costs 21,354 21,354 33,806 33,806 30,680 Fixed costs 497 497 497 497 497 Total reception centers 21,851 21,851 34.303 34,303 31,177 Administrative fixed costs Operating costs 340 340 453 453 453 Capital costs (7.5 percent discount rate) 3,455 6,085 5,322 6.053 5,322 Total administrative 3,795 6,425 5,775 6,506 5,775 Total fixed costs' 7,032 10,276 9,710 9,985 9,386 Total variable costs 25,122 25,901 39,138 36,971 36,382 Grand total 32,154 36,177 48,848 46,956 45.768 a. Includes radio costs other than for reception, as well as regional and central administration.

Functions of Costs and Unit Costs The unit cost in 1977 is calculated as follows: 45,768,000 = Cr$387.5, 118,118 assuming that the student year is one unit. Since a student remains in the system two years studying three groups of subjects, if preparation for a single examination is assumed to be one unit, the student-year cost must be multiplied by two-thirds, giving a unit cost of Cr$258. This is significantly less than the average cost of enrollment in a private course preparing for the madureza examination with equivalent facilities (two hours of evening classes each day): Cr$400. Moreover, in private courses textbooks are not included in enrollment costs. 50 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

In 1977, the total average cost, CT/N, is expressed as:

CT 77 /77 + CF77 = CV77 +-N77 where CT = total cost, ClV = variable costs, N = standard number of examinations prepared for-that is, actual enrollments x 3/2, and CF = fixed costs. Thus, CT7 7 9'386,000 - = 205 + ' =205 + 53. N\77 177,000 If N is modified, the variable cost CV remains constant but the unit fixed cost varies. Thus, an increase from 20,000 students to 100,000 lowers the average cost by 56 percent; beyond that point, however, the improvement is much less striking (see table 2-13). An increase from 100,000 students to 500,000 reduces the average cost by only 25 percent. The average costs over time, ACb,, can be calculated using the formula developed by Jamison, Klees, and Wells:4

XCk/(l + r)k-i C-k=i AC~= X k/ + r)k- k=i where Ck = the cost for year k, Nk = the number of students for year k, r = the social rate of discount.

Table 2-13. Average Cost According to Number of Students, Using the 1977 Cost Function

20,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 300,000 500,000 £ Unit Students Students Students Students Students Students Average cost in constant 1976 cruzeiros 674 393 299 252 236 224 Average cost per subject' 449 262 199 168 157 149 a. Each student is supposed to prepare the three exams in two years; that is, 1.5 subject equivalents in one year. MINERVA PROJECT 51

Table 2-14. Average Cost per Student over Time, 1973-77 (constant 1976 U.S. dollars) Discount rate/year 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 0 percent 1973 32 34 33 32 32 1974 - 36 33 31 32 1975 - - 31 30 31 1976 - - - 29 31 1977 - - - - 32 7.5 percent 1973 32 34 33 32 32 1974 - 36 33 32 32 1975 - - 31 30 31 1976 - - - 29 30 1977 - - - - 32 15 percent 1973 32 34 33 32 32 1974 - 36 33 32 32 1975 - - 31 30 30 1976 - - - 29 30 1977 - - - - 32

Table 2-14 shows trends in the ACij average cost per student year during the five years of Phase 11(1973-77). To obtain the average cost of preparation for each examination the average cost per student year should be divided by 1.5.

Analysis of Results

It is still too early to draw any firm conclusions about the success of Minerva. Moreover, the absence of data adds to the complexity of the evaluation process. It is, however, a fact that more than 300,000 students have been involved in the three repetitions of Phase It. Each student has been exposed to 500 hours of broadcasting. At least 60,000 students have passed the madureza examinations. More than 400,000 texts have been printed and distributed throughout the country. In addition, a certain amount of information is available on teaching techniques in the classes, the roles of the instructors and the educational counselors, the broadcasting function, training at the Minerva center, and the specific advantages of the project in certain remote regions such as Amazonia or in densely populated regions like the State of Sao Paulo. All these data, though sometimes sketchy in character, are significant, but they cannot be included in a report such as this. 52 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Production From the theoretical standpoint, Minerva is not a multimedia system in the sense that radio is being used for the purposes to which it is particularly well adapted. In point of fact, the medium was chosen before the objectives of the program were formulated and its content defined. Neither is Minerva a project in which radio plays an overriding role; the broadcast takes up only thirty minutes of each daily session of two and a half hours. Radio's role is central, however, since it is the primary source on which the instructors draw for the other parts ofthe course and it also provides an opportunity for supervised reception and unsupervised listening, even if the former has not always received much encouragement. The present report does not evaluate the quality of educational materials. In particular, it does not treat the relevance of curricula, the quality of instructional technique, and the adaptation of content to regional and individual differences. The printed text has been revised more because of the outdated nature of some of the information than because of anv process of feedback produced by local reactions. The quality and relevance of the educational materials produced by Minerva do present several fundamental problems. First, there is the question of fixed costs. In a project such as Minerva an increase in fixed production costs has little impact on the cost per student. The instructional materials might have been significantly improved if additional funds had been provided. The fact that curriculum experts were recruited from outside-on the basis of a contract narrowly defining their function-and had no part in the global planning of the project may well have inhibited the development of any new philosophy of adult education. Efforts have, however, been made to form permanent teams of experts to develop curricula. Second, more importance could have been attached to a process of continuing evaluation and to student testing-a course that would not have had any disproportionate impact on costs. It appears likely that such an approach would have added to the effectiveness of the project. Third, more attention might have been directed to providing for regional differences-that is, to allowing for local adaptability in a system of centralized production of educational materials. This question has been discussed at length, and several small states decided to develop their own programs outside Minerva, much as the State of Bahia did with its Educational Radio Broadcasting Institute (IRDEB). The radio programs themselves have undergone some significant dc- velopments and innovations, such as the use of popular music, intervicws, sketches, and references to current events. The broadcasts are not very MINERVA PROJECT 53

sophisticated and have not yet succeeded either in making effective use of silent intermissions or in developing student participation, although some efforts have been made on these lines. The duration of programs was set at thirty minutes solely because of a compromise with the commercial broadcasting stations. Further thought might be given to whether it would be possible and useful to extend the duration of broadcasts in terms of the needs of both supervised and unsupervised listening. Far too many radio stations broadcast the same program because they have no alternative. This points up the important fact that it is extremely difficult to mass-produce good educational programs. This problem will become even more acute when the federal authorities introduce a public educational broadcasting network on a national scale. Another lesson to be learned from Minerva is the importance of clearly enunciating the objectives of a project of this kind. So far, those of Minerva have been ill-defined. Should Minerva be limited to Phase II? Are there new and as yet unrecognized priorities? The present position appears to be that Minerva is preparing to become a major center for the production of educational materials for a limited range of rather ill-defined objectives.

Broadcasting Minerva is unique in the world in the sense that it involves more than 1,100 transmitters broadcasting the same program at the same time. According to the data now available, there appear to be on average, 2.5 reception centers to each broadcasting station-an absurdly low ratio. Moreover, almost one-half of the students are located in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio deJaneiro, where education at first hand can be organized without difficulty at a cost that may well be lower than in Minerva, especially if the project instructors are receiving the same salaries as regular teachers. Statistics indicate that Minerva is first and foremost an urban project and that most of the students come from the most favored regions of the country. One may well ask whether a thorough recasting of the project is not necessary. The first problem associated with broadcasting is how to use it properly and effectively. In the remoter and less densely populated regions, an increase in the length of radio programs might well stimulate both unsupervised and supervised listening. This would reduce the time spent traveling by some students participating in organized reception. Studies made in Rio dejaneiro show that students frequently spend over an hour traveling to the reception center. The second problem associated with broadcasting is its cost. Would it not be cheaper to use cassettes in some circumstances, since the partici- 54 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY pants are widely scattered except in only two or three states? Would it not be better to maintain a powerful station to serve these two or three states and to use cassettes in the others? Would it not be better to use the network of 1,100 transmitters to diversify programs and vary timetables? The full effect of Minerva cannot be determined, however, because no data are available on the unsupervised reception of broadcasts. The Min- erva broadcast is made at a peak listening hour to a captive audience with no alternative programs. Listeners are, therefore, exposed to educational programs that may create habits of mind and achieve positive results that have yet to be assessed among a significant section of the population. Finally, it should be emphasized that the Minerva Project has helped to create an understanding of education at a distance and that the experiment will greatly influence subsequent decisions in Brazil about educational technology.

Logistics In many respects, the implementation of the Minerva Project has been problem-free. Programs are broadcast regularly, except in the few instances when the distribution of the tapes is delayed. Texts are distributed to students at the appropriate stages. As a whole, the training of instructors, the periodic meetings between instructors and educational counselors, and the central organization of the project from Minerva headquarters all function smoothly. The few problems that have arisen relate mainly to the quality of reception. There is excessive static interference, and the quality of the signal is often deplorable, giving rise to frequent complaints.

Reception The organized reception of broadcasts is the responsibility of the states, although Minerva headquarters furnishes technical assistance. The states decide whether or not they wish to accept Minerva, together with their own system of further education for adults, in preparing students for madureza examinations. Consequently, the information available on reception comes from the written and oral reports made by state authorities to headquarters. These reports are frequently anecdotal, as no procedure exists for systematically collecting data. Initially, the states paid little attention to the arrangements for the organized reception of the broadcast courses, although authorities in certain states realized that the content of the courses was far removed from what was required for their madureza examinations. For this reason, Minerva has negotiated with states with a view to either persuading the MINERVA PROJECT 55 states to organize special madureza examinations for Minerva students, or requesting them to reconcile the programs and objectives of their madureza with the national format. The limited available data on the success of Minerva students in examinations show that, on average, the pass rate exceeds 45 percent, which is substantially higher than the 1975 national average of around 33 percent. These results are quite encouraging, although they should be regarded with some reservation since they relate to only a proportion of the students. The dropout rate on these courses is less well known, but it is undoubtedly quite high-probably about 40-50 percent. The absence of data is, to a large extent, attributable to the fact that the local organization of Minerva is highly decentralized. Visits by the small headquarters staff to each state are confined mostly to establishing reception centers and discussing curriculum and examination problems. The scope of such visits should also include the training of instructors and educational counselors, with emphasis on the role they should play and on methods of using radio broadcasts in the educational process. Because of these pressing demands, the staff has been unable to initiate a general evaluation.

Remarks and General Conclusions

A favorable cost-benefit ratio can be achieved in an education at a distance project through two principal means. The first is to organize the local reception of broadcasts so as to ensure that they are less costly than traditional forms of education. In this case, the decisive factor is the cost of teaching personnel. To achieve this objective, therefore, less well qualified personnel whose limited qualifications will be offset by the media must be recruited. The second means is to change entirely the pattern of local reception in order to increase the student-teacher ratio significantly. The Minerva Project opted for the first of these solutions in its Phase II.

Some Positive Factors Does the choice made by Minerva achieve a positive cost-benefit ratio relative to traditional forms of public education? The answer to this question is not clear; it depends on whether it is possible to find teachers who are as well qualified as the project instructors but who do not need to be paid more. Other things being equal, the fixed costs of production and management for such a project are always higher than those of traditional education, even if they are distributed among a large number of students. 56 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

What advantages does Minerva then have that might justify the choice that has been made? The effectiveness of instruction might provide some indication. It can be assumed that those engaged to prepare the curricula are better than average, that they have followed modern educational models reflecting the latest gains in educational science, and that a large number of students throughout the country therefore have access to an education of high quality. Regional differences are blurred and a high standard is universally available. Moreover, these courses are not intended only as preparation for the madureza examinations. They are designed as part of a national philosophy of adult education. They use special instructional and apprenticeship techniques in which the role of the teacher is modified, and they include numerous activities that are not linked directly to examinations but to the broader aims of adult education. A third argument in favor of Minerva is that it is the only approach that can provide a sound level of education for participants who wbuld otherwise be shut out, notably those in remote regions and scattered settle- ments who are inaccessible to traditional educational methods. A fourth argument is that much can be learned from a large-scale experiment with the technology of education at a distance. In the final analysis, the project's impact will depend on the quality of its educational input but, in any event, a certain number of individuals will be exposed to an experiment that may well enhance the prestige of the Ministry of Education. Another possible argument is that the project's unit costs have been somewhat lower than those of private education, although it appears likely that the ministry could organize similar courses along traditional lines that would cost less but would fail to have the merits described above. The cost argument may not be the decisive factor, however, at least in the case of students in organized listening groups. It is unfortunate that so little information on unsupervised listening is available, since this form of learning may provide the most effectivejustification for Minerva. Two short-term factors appear to threaten Minerva's slightly favorable economic balance. First, it is important that enrollments should not fall below 100,000 students because then the proportion of fixed costs would rapidly exercise a negative influence on the cost-benefit ratio. This is a real danger. Enrollments are more likely to fall than to rise. Typically, new systems quickly exhaust the supply of students for whom they are designed, and subsequently concentrate on a necessarily much smaller inflow. To avoid this danger, the states should expand facilities for the organized reception of broadcasts in those regions that have, up to now, been neglected. Second, after an initial stage of relative success, Minerva has received substantial appropriations for the provision of premises and facilities that MINERVA PROJECT 57 are no longer to be regarded as temporary. The temporary concept, however, has one overriding economic merit: its fixed capital costs are low. If Minerva is supplied with buildings consistent with modern professional standards, its fixed costs will be raised still further without any corresponding increase in the quality of services. Thus, when it receives these funds, Minerva should review its objectives and launch new programs in order to spread the additional fixed costs to the maximum extent possible.

Some Negative Factors To manage a broadcasting project on a national scale in a country such as Brazil requires a massive effort. A major reason for this is that the state education secretariats are autonomous with respect to establishing priorities, formulating guidelines for curricula, organizing the madureza examinations, and funding a new project. They are also responsible for liaison with other supplementary courses for adults and coordination with other departments of the federal Ministry of Education offering similar courses. Resolving all these complex problems satisfactorily and simultaneously for the country as a whole is a difficult task, and Minerva has not been able to surmount all the obstacles. One persistent, serious problem with the Minerva Project is the very low level of enrollments in some states. There are two arguments for expanding Minerva in these states. The first is that the radio programs are already being broadcast, and the second is that the marginal cost of introducing Minerva is lower than that of adopting any alternative system of supplementary courses. The point has been well taken by the State of Sio Paulo, which has eliminated all other systems of preparation for the madureza. From the logistical standpoint, Minerva has always faced immense difficulties. At the outset, its most delicate task was to negotiate the implementation of Portaria 408, which required commercial radio stations to make five hours of free broadcasting available each week. After an initial attempt to broadcast programs in the early morning hours, regarded as the best time of day in most of the states, agreement was reached on the present timing (8:00 to 8:30 P.M.), which appears acceptable to both Minerva and the stations. The problem of diversification then had to be solved, since there was no justification for broadcasting the same program on all stations. Problems of production arose when advanced stocks of educational materials ran out. Other problems were the launching of Phase II and the supervising of a considerable number of radio stations. In practice, Brazil's radio frequencies are allocated so that several stations can broadcast on the same wavelength but within a fixed range in 58 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

order to avoid mutual interference. Thus, there is no duplication when such stations broadcast the same program. In localities that have numerous stations-particularly state capitals-two networks have been set up; one broadcasts Phase II while the other broadcasts cultural programs. So far, no economic study has been made of thejustification for this system. This has not, however, prevented the Ministry of Education, in agreement with Minerva's authorities, from contemplating the establishment of a public radio network covering the entire national territory and com- prising fourteen high-power transmitters. Minerva has had to deal with different priorities at different stages. In the beginning, the main question was getting the broadcasts on at the preferred times. Then came the production problems, which called for a major effort in 1973-74, especially for Phase II. During the same period, financial problems connected with the reproduction of texts emerged. Then Minerva had to deal with reception problems so it could supervise somewhat more effectively introduction of the project into the various states. All ofthese problems are far from being solved yet, and few data are available on what has been achieved so far. It is known, however, that in the majority of the states the first, and part of the second, group of enrolled students have already sat for the madureza examinations without any close link to the Minerva programs. Other states have organized special examinations. This clearly illustrates the problems inherent in implementing a centralized educational program that is not autonomous under state laws. The costs and benefits of centralization and decentralization cannot be evaluated in the light of a single experiment. In principle, nothing prevents the nationwide broadcasting of a single curriculum subject to minor local adaptations. In practice, however, since the states are legally autonomous in the education sector, and since, on the other hand, the majority of them depend largely on the federal government for their budgetary resources, there appears to be a good case for prior negotiations with a view to reaching a national agreement. These difficulties also explain why few efforts have been made at evaluation. Forming a small team to examine this situation would not, however, significantly increase costs and would make it possible to obtain a more reliable picture of the situation than can be presented here. The Minerva experiment should, therefore, encourage the federal authorities to exercise a certain restraint in the development of education by radio in Brazil. The results so far are not wholly conclusive, and the interim views do not warrant a firmly optimistic conclusion. In its seven years of existence, Minerva has not produced more than 1,000 hours of radio programming, including both educational and cultural broadcasts. Many doubts persist as to whether the project is posi- tively cost-effective. No study has been made on the potential for alterna- MINERVA PROJECT 59 tives to the use of commercial broadcasting stations under the terms of Portaria 408. Practically nothing is known of any improvement in educational methods attributable to this new educational tool. The lessons of this experiment need to be thoroughly analyzed and evaluated before any decision is reached on the widespread adoption of Minerva as a solution to educational problems at the adult and other levels. If such a course is not followed, education at a distance may well end up as just another new and perhaps more costly educational ideology, imposing unnecessary centralization and standardization. The formation of a national educational broadcasting network in Brazil could lead to the neglect of other options that may well have a higher cost-benefit ratio.

Acknowledgments

This chapter and the following one are the product of collaboration among many institutions and individuals, to whom the authors wish to express their gratitude. The credit for initiating the study and assuming the greater part of its cost belongs to the Development Economics Department of the World Bank. Dean Jamison oversaw the project within the Bank. The Institut de Recherche sur l'Economie de l'Education (IREDU, Insti- tute for Research on Education Economics), the University of Dijon (France), and the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP, Study and Project Financing Agency) of Rio dejaneiro (Brazil) allowed the authors to devote part of their working time to this study. The authors were given constant assistance in the field by the Asso- ciacdo Brasileira de Teleducacao (ABT, Brazilian Tele-Education Associa- tion), which put them in touch with its own network of correspondents and specialists on the projects studied and gave them valuable logistical support. The Minerva Project directors were most helpful. The principal sources of information about the project were: Heitor Herberto Sales, director of Radio MEC; Solange Gerardin Poirot Leobons, project director; and Joel Dos Santos, director of planning and cost control. At IRDEB (Educational Radio Broadcasting Institute of Bahia), Aristoc- lea Macedo do Santos, the director, and her assistant, Gisele Figueiredo Passos, provided valuable and ready assistance. The preliminary data were gathered by Sheila Maria Cardoso de Castro Guimaraes on the Minerva Project and by Maria da Conceicao Abraao Dias on IRDEB. A first descriptive outline by madureza and Minerva was prepared by Mariza Rocha e Oliveira. Many other people working on these projects helped to assemble the necessary data. 60 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

The authors hope that the data and analyses brought together in these studies will lead to a better knowledge of distance-teaching programs in Brazil and will contribute usefully to the efforts of the World Bank and Unesco to determine the cost-effectiveness of such distance education. The information and data on the three projects were collected during a three-week mission; obviously, if the time had been longer, more data could have been collected and the study would have had greater precision. Nevertheless, the authors believe that the conclusions would not have been different.

Notes to Chapter 2

1. Madurezameans "maturity" in Portuguese. Originally, it signifiedthat older students were sufficiently mature to study by themselves to pass special equivalencyexaminations. Nowadays, the word refers to both the examination and the system of preparation for it. It has been replaced more recently by the term supletivo,which means "supplementary" (for example, special courses for late starters). 2. See Radio MEC-DESU (Departamento de Ensino Supletivo), Ensino Supletivo [Sup- plementary Education], Brasilia,vol. 1, no. 2 (1973);Radio MEC-DESU, Examesde Madureza [The MadurezaExaminations] (GT convenio InstitutoBrasileiro de Ensino Supletivo (IBEs)/ DESU-MEC; processed); and Radio MEC-INEP, Os examesde madurezana Guanabara[The Madureza Examinations in Guanabara] Rio dejaneiro: MEC-INEP-CBPE (Centro Brasileiro de Pesavisas Educacionais), 1971. 3. Carmen Lucia de Melo Barroso and Lolio Lourenco Oliveira, 0 Madureza em SaioPaulo [The Madureza in Sao Paulo] (Sao Paulo: Fundacao Carlos Chagas, Serie Pesquisas Educa- cionais, 1971). 4. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE), Anuario Estatisticodo Brasil [Statis- tical Yearbook for Brazil], vol. 36 (Rio deJaneiro: IBGE, 1975), p. 56. 5. Barroso and Oliveira, 0 Madureza em SaioPaulo. 6. Some vestiges of Brazil's former primary school system remain, in the form of courses and examinations corresponding to the first four years of school. There are a number of reasons for this survival. One is that students who had completed MOBRAL (the Brazilian adult literacy campaign) found the madureza courses too difficult to follow. A second reason is that the country still legally requires a person to complete primary schooling to obtain a regular wage-earning job. 7. Barroso and Oliveira, 0 Madureza em Sdo Paulo. 8. Miguel Naccarato, Condicionantesde escolaridadee exames supletivos de segundo grau no Municipio do Rio deJaneiro [Years of Schooling as a Factor in Second-Cycle Supplementary Examinations in the Rio deJaneiro Municipality] (M.A. thesis, Pontifical Catholic Univer- sity [puc] of Rio deJaneiro, June 1977); E. M. Soriano, Margarida M. G. Melo, and Miguel Naccarato, CondicionantesGerais do sucessoem exames supletivos de 2e grau [General Factors of Success in the Second-Cycle Supplementary Examinations] (Rio dejaneiro: PUC/INEP, 1977); E. M. Soriano, Margarida M. G. Melo, and Miguel Naccarato, Relacdoentre a aprovacio nos examessupletivos de 2egrau e apromocdonos exames vestibulares[Relationship between Success in Second-Cycle Supplementary Examinations and in University Entrance Examinations] (Rio dejaneiro: PUC/INEP, 1976). MINERVA PROJECT 61

9. Vanda Azevedo and Paulo Ramos, Influenciassocio-educacionais nos examnessupletivos da Guanabara [Influence of Social and Educational Factors in Supplementary Examinations in Guanabara] (Rio dejaneiro: Puc, 1974; processed). 10. E. M. Soriano, Margarida M. G. Melo, and Miguel Naccarato, Tipologiados candidatos aos exames supletivos de 2e grau [Typological Study of Candidates for the Second-Cycle Supplementary Examinations] (Rio deJaneiro: PUC/INEP, 1976). 11. Azevedo and Ramos, Influenciassocio-educacionais nos exames supletivos da Guanabara. 12. This decree, known as Portaria 408, was promulgated in October 1970 by the Ministry of Education. Under its terms, the television networks were to be supervised by the Central Foundation for Brazilian Educational Television (Fundacao Centro Brasileiro de T.V. Educativa), and radio stations were to become the responsibility of the Radio Broad- casting Service of the Ministry of Education. 13. Madureza courses (supplementary or late-starter education) are at the level of completion of either the first or the second cycle. The first cycle corresponds to the eight years at elementary school required by law. The second cycle corresponds to the completion of secondary studies. The Minerva Project is to produce preparatory courses for the madureza but is not involved in the organization of madureza exams. 14. Dean T. Jamison, StevenJ. Klees, and StuartJ. Wells, The Costs of Educational Media: Guidelinesfor Planning and Evaluation (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1978), p. 35. 3

A Madureza Project in Bahia, Brazil

Joao B. Oliveira and FranSois Orivel

THE EDUCATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTING INSTITUTE OF BAHIA (IRDEB) was established in 1969 to coordinate educational broadcasting activities in the State of Bahia, Brazil. Legally, IRDEB is a foundation that receives its basic financing from the State Secretariat for Education and Culture (SEC) and Programa Nacional de Teleducagao (PRONTEL), with the balance coming from student fees. Bahia is in northeast Brazil; its capital is Salvador. In 1970, the state had an estimated population of 7.58 million in a total area of 561,000 square kilometers. Generally speaking, the social and economic situation in Bahia is better than that in the other northeastern states, but serious problems still exist in the areas of health, education, employment, and the other problems that typically face a developing country. The SEC has been involved in setting up madureza programs since the early 1960s. It organizes special courses and examinations, in accordance with federal law. As indicated in a recent IRDEB report, however, the first efforts were inadequate to meet the growing demand for adult education.' Toward the end of the 1960s, therefore, the SEC and IRDEB undertook a sizable effort to deal with this problem. From 1969 to 1973, IRDEB offered madureza courses, using a number of radio stations in the state, and established a small number of reception' centers where listeners could meet to follow these programs under the guidance of an instructor. In 1973, in order to conform with the new federal law on education, a new curriculum was developed and an almost totally restructured program was introduced. This was still in use four years later, although a few modifications were made in 1975 and 1977, particularly in the instructor's manual. Table 3-1 shows the growth in enrollments in the first-cycle madureza examinations, which are taken after the equivalent of eight years of school.

62 MADUREZA PROJECT 63

Table 3-1. Enrollments in the First-cycle Madureza Examinations in Bahia, 1972-77 Year Number' 1972 12,458 1973 34,155 1974 61,438 1975 82,370 1976 65,482 1977 34,465 Source:Bahia State Secretariat for Education and Culture. a. In 1976, the average student took 1.64 examinations, which are offered separatelyfor each of the three groups of disciplines. b. First semester only.

Alongside the first-cycle madureza program, IRDEB has developed a number of other distance-education programs in recent years. The most important of these are the second-cycle madureza, equivalent to secondary school graduation; a set of correspondence courses; and a training course in shorthand, also conducted by correspondence. In addition IRDEB has developed training courses for teachers and is currently participating, for the distance-teaching component, in a major teaching-training project known as HAPROL, which has been developed by SEC and is intended for the 10,000 teachers considered unqualified in the State of Bahia. Table 3-2 shows the number of enrollments in the various programs offered by IRDEB. At the end of 1976, IRDEB completed the construction of its new headquarters. The building has an area of 2, 000 square meters and is equipped with three radio recording studios. Previously, IRDEB occupied the ground floor of an SEC building, with an area of only 200 square meters. By 1978, IRDEB will have its own station to broadcast radiovision programs, which combine radio teaching with the classroom use of various forms of illustrated teaching materials-such as charts, graphs, diagrams, or photographs-together with printed texts, which are distributed to the students. The project is intended to train unqualified teachers of the first four grades of elementary education. It is partly financed by the Canadian International Development Agency , which is responsible for the construction of two studios and personnel training. Future plans include construction of a shortwave station to reach almost all corners of the State of Bahia. The SEC in Bahia, as in Brazil generally, organizes the madureza examinations (both first and second cycle) independently of any preparation * systems, which are a relatively recent development. Until the 1960s, students prepared themselves for their examinations. Subsequently, pri- Iablc 3-2. Enrollments in the IRDEB Programs, 1969-77 Program 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

First-cycle madureza before reform 3,888 1,140 1,400 1,900 - - - - - C\ First-cycle madureza after reform - - - - 3,720 4,747 8,433 7,762 8,000 Second-cyclemadureza (cumulativc totals) ------208 1,162 1,304 Shorthand training ------98 114 Teachertraining ------242 - IHAPROL (teacher trainiing) ------4,000

I , MADUREZA PROJECT 65 vate establishments offered various preparation systems for a fee. In Bahia, besides the private schools, the SEC offers two types of preparatory courses. The first is that given by IRDEB; the second involves a system of direct classroom teaching in night school. The madureza examinations are held twice a year. Students receive an equivalency diploma after passing three examinations in the three main groups of subjects-communication and expression, sciences, and social sciences. The examination papers are drawn up by a SEC team of specialists and are based on a curriculum approved by the state education office. When the federal government began organizing madureza courses for the country as a whole through, for example, the Minerva Project, IRDEB had already started its own radio program.2 For this reason, and also because of the principle of state autonomy, the Minerva Project was not established in Bahia, which preferred to continue its own project. No studies were made to justify this decision. Because the Minerva Project makes use of the whole national broadcast network, however, the State of Bahia is not allowed to use part of the state commercial network for its own project, since some stations are needed to broadcast Minerva to other northeastern states.

The First-cycle Madureza Project

The equivalency examination program is intended for adults over nine- teen years of age who have not completed eight years of basic schooling. The IRDEB courses are broadcast by radio in two fifteen-minute slots a day, between 8:00 and 8:30 P.M., five days a week. The typical student registers at an organized reception center, but he can also listen to the program alone at home, with or without IRDEB supervision.3 At the reception centers, classes begin at 7:30 P.M. under the supervision of a monitor. Most of the monitors are not certified teachers, although they have generally completed secondary school. During the first half hour, they review the preceding day's work with the students and describe the objectives of the current day's class. The students then listen to one of the fifteen-minute programs. The monitors help the students to assimilate the program content. They have a teacher's manual, which tells them how to proceed. The exact instructions depend on the subject, but in any event the manual gives the answers to the exercises contained in the student's textbook. The manual also contains marking schemes. The monitors are not, in principle, required to teach but they can act as group leader and may even perform some teaching function if they are sufficiently at home with the subject. They are required to report on how the classes go and the difficulties encountered. Table 3-3. Enrollments in the IRDEB First-cycle Madureza, 1969-77 Learning system 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

IRDEB organized listening' 3,888 1,140 1,400 1,900 3,720 4,726 8,328 7,322 7,877 O\ > IRDEB controlled listening - - - - - 21 105 440 123 Total IRDEB 3,888 1,140 1,400 1,900 3,720 4,747 8,433 7,762 8,000 DESUb - - - 1,200 10,677 13,080 20,622 18,817 18,000 a. Until 1973, a system slightly different from the current one was in operation. b. Directorate of Complementary Education of the Secretariat of Education and Culture. This concerns figures for direct teaching. No statistics are available for students in private establishments. MADUREZA PROJECT 67

Each session lasts two and a half hours, including the fifteen-minute broadcast. In any given semester, each center specializes in a group of subjects, and students may prepare for only one examination at a time at the regular sessions. Each group of subjects is subdivided into four parts and the students are tested at the end of each part. They are told the results, although these tests are only for information purposes and do not count toward a diploma. Most students are twenty to twenty-five years old. According to a survey taken in 1974, there is no significant difference between an IRDEB student and the typical madureza examination candidate, although one may reasonably assume that the former is from a lower social class. Typically, he lives in an. urban area, comes from a lower-middle class background, and is unmarried. One out of every two holds a job. On average, these students have attended school for four years, sometimes more. Their main reason for not continuing their normal schooling was either the lack of any 4 school nearby or simply financial. IRDEB students enter voluntarily. They pay a fee of 50 cruzeiros (Cr$)-slightly more than US$4-a semester for each group of subjects. For this, they are given printed texts plus services of the monitor. Some students who live in Salvador prefer controlled listening at home; two monitors are available to provide help when needed. Table 3-3 shows the number of students registered with IRDEB for the first cycle in 1969-77. The figures are in terms of student-semesters, which means that any student who registers for two consecutive semesters will appear twice in the statistics. At examination time at the end of each semester, IRDEB students register like any other students. In Bahia, students may take one, two, or three examinations at the same time, as they desire.

Production of the Courses

The IRDEB staff is organized by projects, with special staff recruited for a given project. It also has a general services unit, a full-time technical team specializing in teaching methods and distance education. IRDEB produces programs such as the first-cycle madureza in accordance with the educational objectives set by SEC. Three teams, each specializing in a given group of subjects, develop the educational content both for the radio programs and for the supporting written texts, and they also write the teacher's manual. Each subject group consists of eighty-three sequences divided into four parts, with a test to be given at the conclusion of each part. After they have planned the content and activities for the students and monitors, the subject specialists work with the eight IRDEB inspectors responsible for evaluation and general supervision to check the quality and discuss the educational principles from a technical standpoint. 68 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Until 1972, the madureza programs were broadcast live, and the curriculum programmers needed only to prepare a general plan for each lesson. From 1972 to 1975, the program worked as described above, with a few minor changes each year. For social studies, an existing textbook was used and the curriculum programming team prepared only the in-class activities. In 1975, it was decided to prepare teaching materials to be used for at least three years, with only the tests being changed each year. Once the program content is ready, it is recorded by professional broadcasters at the IRDEB studios. The written texts are illustrated and are then printed either at IRDEB or by private printers. Under the system begun in 1975, the production teams change in number and composition each year. The inspectors also have a number of other duties to perform in connection with project supervision in the field.

Organization in the Field Madureza courses are normally organized by the states and municipalities. Although there is no active campaign to recruit students, IRDEB or the municipalities take steps to publicize the courses and to register students. More than 60 percent of the students are from Salvador and from another large neighboring city, Feira de Santana. The other 40 percent are from small towns in the interior of the state. There are hardly any broadcast reception centers in rural areas. Each monitor has thirty-five students on average. IRDEB uses the classrooms of state or municipal schools. It hircs the monitors and pays them at an hourly rate equivalent to that for primary school teachers in the State of Bahia. The municipalities are supposed to provide the monitors with some assistance, such as transport, radio receivers, and other minor expenses. The students' textbooks and the teachers' manuals are sent to the schools by IRDEB. The radio programs are broadcast on two networks, each of which links half of the participating stations, to enable IRDEB to offer three subject groups at the same time. Network A, for example, broadcasts sciences and social sciences, while Network B broadcasts sciences and communication/expression. Up to 1977, there were twenty-six transmitters or relay transmitters; starting in October 1977, there were fifty-two. These transmitters are generally low-power: forty-five of the fifty-two broadcast at one kilowatt or less. According to surveys taken regularly on the quality of reception, both students and monitors complain of static, interference, and the generally poor quality of the signal. Apart from Salvador and Feira de Santana, where the broadcast reception centers are inspected twice monthly, there is virtually no supervision of classes. Centers in the interior of the state are inspected once a semester. MADUREZA PROJECT 69

The monitors send IRDEB monthly reports, which describe the general operating conditions at the centers. They also forward test results to IRDEB. Controlled listening at home is not widely practiced. Little information is available about the frequency of student visits to their monitors.

Evaluation and Supervision Evaluation and supervision are conducted at three main levels. The first level is the production of teaching materials. Inspectors and cvaluators who are part of the IRDEB management team control the quality at this level. The second level is in the field. The general administration units and the central technical units of IRDEB are responsible for the programming on the radio networks, and for sending the tapes for broadcasting. A project chief recruits and trains the monitors and follows the operation of the broadcast reception centers. Information is transmitted from the field to headquarters through the monitors' monthly reports. At the third level are the madureza student examination results, which are discussed below.

The First-cycle Project Costs at IRDEB

During recent years, the number of educational programs developed by IRDEB has increased rapidly, and its budget has grown accordingly from Cr$603,000 in 1972 to Cr$13 million in 1977-that is, a growth of twenty- one times in current cruzeiros and ten times in constant cruzeiros (in 1976, Cr$12 = US$1). 5 Overhead has become very heavy, especially since the occupation of the premises built in 1976. In 1977, of the total of 107 employees, 10 were in the main office, 4 in accounts, 9 in administrative services, and 22 in general maintenance services. These 44 persons, or 42 percent of the employees, accounted for 45 percent of the 1977 payroll. In this analysis, the pay of these staff is allocated proportionately to the direct costs of the various projects.

General Administrative Costs The capital costs comprise the cost of the buildings, depreciated over thirty years; the cost of furniture, depreciated over ten years; and the cost of miscellaneous office equipment (typewritcrs and calculators) and vehicles, depreciated over five years. Until 1976, IRDEB had 200 square meters of office space, provided free by SEC. The opportunity cost of these premises is estimated at Cr$120,000 70 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-4. Annual Cost of IRDEB Miscellaneous Equipment, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Unit/discount rate 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Current cruzeiros 3 3 40 67 139 215 Constant 1976cruzeiros 7 6 66 86 139 179 Annual cost with amortization 0 percent 1 2 16 33 58 93 7.5 percent 1.2 2.5 20 41 72 115 15 percent 1.5 3.0 24 50 87 139

a year (at 1976 prices). In 1977, IRDEB moved into its new premises, with 2,000 square meters of office space. The construction cost of the new building was something over Cr$9 million. Depreciated over thirty years, the annual cost of these premises is Cr$300,000 at a discount rate of 0 percent, CrS720,000 at 7.5 percent, and Cr$1,368,000 at 15 percent. The value of the furniture used in the old premises is estimated to have been negligible. The new furniture cost Cr$1,650,000-that is, an annual cost of Cr$165,000 at a 0 percent discount rate, Cr$240,900 at 7.5 percent, and Cr$328,350 at 15 percent. The cost of miscellaneous equipment is shown in table 3-4. The operating costs of IRDEB rose dramatically between 1972 and 1977. Table 3-5 shows personnel, supplies, and miscellaneous services expenses in current cruzeiros. Table 3-6 shows the total costs for general administration, in constant 1976 cruzeiros,

Listening Center Costs The opportunity cost of the radio broadcast reception centers can be considered nil, since these are existing classrooms that have no alternative use in the evening at the time of the broadcast. IRDEB provides the classes with an inexpensive radio receiver and pays a monitor, for whom this is usually a second job. Other personnel involved are IRDEB inspectors, who supervise and evaluate the instructional process, and, since 1977, a local

Table 3-5. IRDEB Operating Costs, 1972-77 (thousands of current cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Staff 86 218 295 995 1,468 2,326 Materials and services 45 20 86 180 294 450 Total 131 238 381 1,175 1,762 2,776 MADUREZA PROJECT 71

Table 3-6. Costs of IRDEB General Administration, 1972-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros) Cost/discount rate 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Operating costs 291 449 624 1,506 1,762 1,936 Annualized capital costs 0 percent 121 122 136 153 178 375 7.5 percent 121 123 140 161 212 835 15 percent 122 123 144 170 227 1,497 Total 0 percent 412 571 760 1,659 1,940 2,311 7.5 percent 412 572 764 1,667 1,974 2,771 15 percent 413 572 768 1,676 1,989 3,433

Note: The figures in this table differ from those in the text because the latter refer to 1977 cruzeiros, not 1976 cruzeiros.

SEC employee who registers the students and runs the centers on an overtime basis. These costs are summarized in table 3-7.

Radio Costs The only notable radio costs are for production and broadcasting. Broadcast reception costs are very small, and the annual cost of the radio receiver is less than the margin of error on the other items.

PRODUCTIONCOSTS. Until 1977, when it moved into its new buildings, IRDEBused temporary installations, which had an estimated residual value of Cr$40,000 in 1972, according to the figures carried in the books. Depreciation ofthese installations over the 1972-76 period gives an annual cost of Cr$10,600 (in 1976 cruzeiros with a 0 percent discount rate). Table 3-8 shows the costs of the radio equipment in both current and constant

Table 3-7. Costs of IRDEB Listening Centers, 1973-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Monitors Number 100 150 242 205 208 Individual salary 0.8 0.8 1.64 2.0 2.2 Total for salaries 80 120 397 410 458 Supervisors: total for salaries 221.8 306 367 637 804 Total in current cruzeiros 301.8 426 764 1,047 1,262 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 569 698 979 1,047 1,052 72 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-8. Costs of Equipment for the Production Of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Unit 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Current cruzeiros 13 2 8 211 22 675 Constant 1976 cruzeiros 29 4 13 270 22 563

1976 cruzeiros. Table 3-9 illustrates the annualized capital costs for the studios and the radio equipment. The principal problem in calculating operating costs for radio program production is that IRDEB accounts do not distinguish this activity from the production of supporting texts. The curriculum programmers do both jobs simultaneously and thus half the production time was allocated to each activity. The second problem is broader. When there were more programs, the IRDEB accounts charged all of the permanent staff costs (salaries and benefits) to one account. The salaries of general administration staff have already been separated out for this analysis. The salaries of some of the staff involved in the production of educational programs have also been deducted from the total: the supervisors, the studio maintenance staff (eight members), the second-cycle correspondence course staff (twelve

Table 3-9. Annualized Capital Costs of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros) Item/discount rate 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Annualizedcapital costs for the first studio 0 percent 11 11 11 11 11 - 7.5 percent 12 12 12 12 12 - 15 percent 14 14 14 14 14 - Annualized capital costs for new studios (life of 10 years) 0 percent - - - - - 67 7.5 percent - - - - - 98 15 percent - - - - - 134 Annualizedcapital costs for other radio equipment (life of 10 years) 0 percent 3 3 5 33 33 33 7.5 percent 4 4 7 46 49 49 15 percent 6 6 10 62 66 66 Total 0 percent 14 14 16 44 44 100 7.5 percent 16 16 19 58 61 147 15 percent 20 20 24 76 80 200 MADUREZA PROJECT 73

Table 3-10. Allocation of Staff Costs to Different IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of current cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Total staff costs 149 694 938 1,334 1,944 3,150 Deducted from total Supervisors - 222 306 367 637 804 Studio maintenance staff - 70 120 170 210 288 Second-cyclecorrespon- dence course staff - - - 70 90 108 Staff of other projects - - - - - 288 Allocated to first cycle 149 402 542 727 1,007 1,662 Radio 75 201 256 363 503 831 Accompanying documents 74 201 256 364 504 831 members), and the staff of other projects such as HAPROL and radiovision (eight members). Of the balance of the staff costs, half was allocated to the first-cycle radio program production, and the other half to supporting texts, as shown in table 3-10. Various supplies are also included in the production costs of radio programs. Here again, it is often difficult to break down supplies between the two media. In this analysis, the cost of the reproduction of printed texts or the purchase of books, together with the expenses for other projects, was subtracted from the total cost of supplies; half of the balance was then allocated to each of the two media, as is shown in table 3-11.

Table 3-11. Allocation of the Cost of Materials to Different IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of current cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Total cost of supplies 307 131 507 805 260 1,125 Deducted from total Books and accompanying documents First cycle 80 - 37 114 110 90 Second cycle - - - 334 15 - Expenses for other programs - - - - 11 419 Allocated to first cycle 227 131 470 357 124 616 Radio 114 65 235 178 62 308 Accompanying documents 113 66 235 179 62 308 74 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-12. Recurrent Costsfor Production of IRDEB Radio Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Permanent staff 75 201 256 363 503 831 Temporary staff - - - 68 45 11 Studio staff - 70 120 170 210 288 Materials 114 65 235 178 62 308 Total in current cruzeiros 189 336 611 779 820 1,438 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 420 634 1,002 999 820 1,198

Table 3-12 shows the recurrent costs for the production of radio programs, and table 3-13 shows the total recurrent and capital costs for this production.

BROADCASTING COSTS. Radio time is provided free by the private stations in the State of Bahia, under their legal obligation to devote five hours a week to educational programs. From the economist's point of view, however, this service consumes resources and thus cannot be treated as free. Only the payer has changed. Four items of cost must be taken into account: the additional consumption of electricity; the time worked by maintenance staff; the amortization of capital; and the loss of advertising revenues by the station. A figure will not be given for the last two items. The marginal cost of capital amortization is nil, and IRDEB should be charged only marginal cost. Loss of advertising revenue presupposes-if the amount is positive-an unsatisfied demand for radio commercial time. In fact, however, the network as a

Table 3-13. Total IRDEB Recurrent and Capital Costs for Production of Radio Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros) Costs/discountrate 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Recurrent costs 420 634 1,002 999 820 1,198 Annualizedcapital costs 0 percent 14 14 16 44 44 100 7.5 percent 16 16 19 58 61 147 15 percent 20 20 24 76 80 200 Total 0 percent 434 648 1,018 1,045 864 1,298 7.5 percent 436 650 1,021 1,057 881 1,345 15 percent 440 654 1,026 1,075 900 1,398 MADUREZA PROJECT 75

Table 3-14. IRDEB Broadcasting Costs, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Electricity 1.5 1.9 2.8 3.0 3.8 7.4 Staff 9.0 13.5 18.0 27.0 36.0 90.0 Total in current cruzeiros 10.5 15.4 20.8 30.0 39.8 97.4 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 23.0 29.0 34.0 38.0 39.8 81.2 whole is underutilized and it would not be difficult for the stations to increase broadcasting time marginally (by seven minutes) to meet such a demand. The loss here is thus also considered to be nil. Electricity consumption is equal to 2.5 times aerial capacity. The number of broadcasting hours is thus multiplied by the installed capacity, then by the price per kilowatt/hour, and finally by 2.5. Ground personnel is estimated at two for stations below ten kilowatts and at six for stations above ten kilowatts. The results of these calculations are shown in table 3-14.

Cost of Printed Texts The production costs of the printed texts are a function of the assumptions already made about the allocation of the curriculum programmers' time between radio and printed texts, as shown in table 3-15. Texts are produced by one of three systems: publishing by outside firms, purchase of books available on the market, and printing on IRDEB premises. From 1974 to 1977, IRDEB operated a mimeograph service, with very low equipment costs (approximately Cr$15,000 a machine). This service occupied three people, who devoted 90 percent of their time to first-cycle texts. Similarly, four typists spent 80 percent of their time typing manuscripts for the first cycle. Since 1977, four graphic artists have

Table 3-15. Costs for Production of IRDEB Printed Materials, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Permanent staff 74 201 256 364 504 831 Temporary staff - - - 68 45 11 Materials 114 65 235 178 62 308 Total in current cruzeiros 188 266 491 610 611 1,150 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 418 502 805 782 611 958 76 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-16. Costs of Printing IRDEB Accompanying Documents, 1972-77 (thousands of cruzeiros) Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Books bought on the market 80 - 37 114 38 90 Printing outside IRDEB - - - - 110 - Printing inside IRDEB - - - 95 122 252 Total in current cruzeiros 80 - 37 209 270 342 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 178 - 61 268 270 285

been devoting 90 percent of their time to this sector. These costs are shown in table 3-16. The cost of distributing these texts is assumed to be negligible, and in any event less than the margin of error of preceding figures.

Allocation of Overheads to the Various Projects Overheads are assumed to be proportionate to the direct operating expenses of the various projects, giving the results in table 3-17.

Table 3-17. Allocation of Administration Costs between IRDEB Programs, 1972-77 (thousands of current cruzeiros) Costs 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

First cycle Listening centers - 302 426 764 1,047 1,262 Radio programs 189 336 611 779 820 1,438 Production of accompanying documents 188 266 491 610 611 1,150 Publishing of accompanying documents 80 - 37 209 270 342 Total first cycle 457 904 1,565 2,362 2,748 4,192 Other projects - - - 717 216 942 Total 457 904 1,565 3,079 2,964 5,134 First cycle as a percent of total 100 100 100 76.7 92.7 81.6 Total administration costs 131 238 381 1,175 1,762 2,776 Part of administration costs allocated to first cycle 131 238 381 901 1,633 2,265 MADUREZA PROJECT 77

Table 3-18. General Summary of IRDEB First-cycleMadureza Costs, 1972-77 (thousands of constant 1976 cruzeiros)

Cost item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

General administration Recurrent 291 449 624 1,155 1,633 1,887 Capital 121 122 136 117 165 306 Total 412 571 760 1,272 1,798 2,193 Radio programs Production 434 648 1,018 1,045 864 1,298 Diffusion 23 29 34 38 40 81 Accompanying documents Production 418 502 805 782 611 958 Publishing 178 - 61 268 270 285 Listening centers - 569 698 979 1,047 1,052 Total in constant 1976 cruzeiros 1,465 2,319 3,376 4,384 4,630 5,867 Total in thousands of constant 1976 U.S. dollars 122 193 281 365 385 489

General Recapitulation of First-cycleMadureza Costs Table 3-18 presents a summary of the costs of the first-cycle madureza for 1972-77. Up to 1976, capital costs were relatively unimportant and the impact of any given discount rate on the overall result is small. Therefore, to simplify the presentation of summary results, a rate of zero percent is used, since the choice of any other rate would not significantly change total costs. Table 3-19 shows the cost per student-semester in U. S. dollars for the same period.

Comparison of First-cycle Costs in Private Establishments and at IRDEB The private establishments that prepare students for the first-cycle madureza are not subsidized. They charge a registration fee which is supposed to cover production costs. The students must provide their own books, which are estimated to cost a maximum of Cr$100. Table 3-20

Table 3-19. Evolution of the IRDEB Unit Cost, 1972-77 (U.S. dollars) Item 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Total costs (thousands) 122 193 281 365 385 489 Number of student- semesters 1,900 3,720 4,747 8,433 7,762 8.000 Unit cost 64 51 59 43 49 61 78 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-20. Comparison of Unit Cost for Three Topics at Some Private Institutions in Salvador and at IRDEB (1977 cruzeiros) Private institution Fees Books Total unit cost

Laser 135 100 235 Curso Brazil 750 100 850 Curso Aguia 700 100 800 Universitario 250 100 350 London 250 100 350 Radar 350 100 450 Average cost 405 100 505 IRDEBfor one topic 733 IRDEB for three topics 2,200

compares the costs of several private institutions for three groups of subjects (three semesters) with the IRDEB costs. The comparison must be treated with some reservations, however, since IRDEB prepares for only one examination in the same amount of time (2.5 hours daily) that the private establishments prepare for three. If subject groups are used as the units of comparison, IRDEB costs are 4.4 times higher than the average for private establishments. If preparation time-that is, 2.5 hours daily-is used as the basis for comparison, IRDEB costs an additional 45 percent more than the private establishments.

Unit Cost Function

IRDEB'S fixed costs include overheads, the production and broadcasting of radio programs, and the production of supporting texts. Variable costs include the reproduction of texts and basic costs (monitors and supervisors). The 1977 cost function can, therefore, be expressed as follows: CT= CF+ CVx N, where CT= total cost, CF = fixed costs, CV= variable costs, N= number of students.

The IRDEB fixed costs are Cr$4,538,000. Variable costs are 1,052,000/ 8,000 = Cr$131. Unit costs are therefore: CT CF C = F + CV;

CT= 4,538,000 -- ±~~+131. N N MADUREZA PROJECT 79

Table 3-21. Unit Cost at IRDEB According to Number of Students, Using the 1977 Cost Function 1,000 10,000 12,000 20,000 30,000 50,000 100,000 Unit cost Students Students Students Students Students Students Students

Per subject group 4,699 585 509 358 282 222 176 For three groups 14,007 1,755 1,527 1,074 846 666 528

Table 3-21 gives the unit cost for various numbers of students using the cost function. Consequently, to be competitive with private educational establishments in terms of subject groups, IRDEB would need 100,000 students in order to amortize fixed costs and obtain similar unit costs. With course hours as the unit of comparison, a student body of some 12,000 would be required. The average costs over time are shown in table 3-22.

The Teaching Efficiency of the System

The first-cycle madureza was organized in 1969, but data regarding its efficiency are not available from that early period. The only standardized

Table 3-22. Average Costs per Student at IRDEB over Time (constant 1976 U.S. dollars) Discount rate/year 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 0 percent 1972 64 56 57 51 50 53 1973 - 51 55 49 49 52 1974 - - 59 49 49 52 1975 - - - 43 46 51 1976 - - - - 49 55 1977 - - - - - 61 7.5 percent 1972 64 56 57 51 51 51 1973 - 51 55 49 49 52 1974 - - 59 49 49 52 1975 - - - 43 46 50 1976 - - - - 49 55 1977 - - - - - 61 15 percent 1972 64 56 57 52 51 53 1973 - 51 55 50 50 52 1974 - - 59 49 49 52 1975 - - - 43 46 52 1976 - - - - 49 55 1977 - - - - - 61 80 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 3-23. Number of IRDEB Listening Centers, 1973-77 Year In Salvador Outside Salvador Total 1973 44 56 100 1974 n.a. n.a. 150 1975 67 175 242 1976 66 139 205 1977 66 142 208 n.a. = Not available.

yardsticks to measure the achievement of IRDEB students are the state examinations that were established in 1973. With these data, incomplete though they are, it is possible to make an overall evaluation that is not purely subjective. The total number of broadcast listening centers, in terms of semesters of operation, more than doubled between 1973 and 1975, declined somewhat in 1976, and remained about stable in 1977, as is shown in table 3-23. By definition, the number of monitor-semesters grew in the same proportion. The semesters last four months, with each center specializing in one group of subjects each semester. The number of classrooms used is, therefore, equal to half the figures shown in table 3-23. The monitors do not generally change from one semester to the next in spite of changes in subject groups, but exceptions do occur. As already indicated, the number of students was relatively stable between 1975 and 1977. IRDEB measures student results during the first-cycle course by in-house tests, which are intended to strengthen student motivation and to provide "formative evaluation."' A test of this type during the first semester of 1976 showed that approximately 45 percent of the students passed, which is an appreciably better result than that of the official final examination. The absentee and dropout rates for first-cycle students are not clearly known, mainly because the available data do not distinguish between these two concepts. The information available for the first semester of 1977 shows that approximately 15 percent of all students dropped out and the absentee rate was approximately 10 percent. The average rates tend to be higher in the interior than in the capital city, Salvador. As regards the pass rate for external examinations organized by the SEC, different types of data were obtained for the 1976 and 1977 sessions. Table 3-24 shows the average pass rate for the madureza examination in Bahia from 1973 to 1976. The national pass rate during this period was 33 percent. It is possible that the 1975 and 1976 figures for Bahia are under- estimates, since a sample check for those years gives higher results. The figure for enrollments refers to the total number of students, while the results relate to the number of examinations actually taken. Many stu- MADUREZA PROJECT 81

Table 3-24. Pass Rate in First-cycle MVadureza in Bahia State, 1973-76

N1umberof Pass rate Year Enrollments passes (percent) 1973 56,014 22,141 33 1974 100,958 37,838 37 1975 135,086 32,915 24 1976 107,390 22,874 21 Sources:Bahia State Secretariat for Education and Culture, and Directorate of Com- plementary Education (DESU). dents, however, take two or even three examinations. In the town of Feira, the students sat, on average, for 1.64 examinations; therefore, the number of registrations was multiplied by this coefficient to calculate the correct passing percentage. It is possible, however, that this coefficient may have changed and may thus have been the accidental cause of the reduction in the pass rate for 1975-76. The individual examination entries for the town of Feira de Santana were analyzed for two sessions. This town, the second largest in the state, has a population of over 150,000. Its main economic activity is stock- raising and marketing of livestock products. It is the commercial and transport center for the rest of the state, and is the last stage in the movement of migrants from the interior heading for the capital. Accord- ing to the IRDEB management, this town is fairly representative of the state in terms of population composition, social and economic classes, and educational levels. Table 3-25 shows the variations in the examination success rate for all students at Feira during the second 1976 sessions by type of preparation followed by the students. The results indicate tht IRDEB candidates are less

Table 3-25. Pass Ratesfor Students in Feira de Santana by Type of Institution, 1976

Nlumber of Distribution lNumber of Pass rate Distributionofpasses Institution candidates (percent) passes (percent) (percent)

IRDEB 1,075 56 395 37 51 DESU 302 16 190 61 24 Othersb 528 28 192 36 25 Total 1,905 100 777 40 100 Source: Discussion with officials of Feira de Santana Education Secretariat. a. "Direct" complementary teaching organized by SECwith qualified teachers. b. Private establishments and students who have not followed a formal course ofprepara- tion. 82 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY successful than those from the direct supplementary education stream and very slightly more successful than those from private establishments and individual candidates. DESU candidates had a pass rate of 61 percent in 1976; while representing 16 percent of the total number of candidates, they account for 24 percent of the passes. IRDEB, with 56 percent of the candidates, has only 51 percent of the passes. Table 3-26 shows the 1976 pass rate in terms of subjects. The IRDEB pass rate is equal to or below the average. The Departamento de Ensino Supletivo (DESU) rate is higher in every instance. For two groups of subjects, social studies and sciences, the "others" category of candidates obtained slightly better scores than IRDEB candidates, although that category is below the average pass rate in two out of three cases. The available data indicate that IRDEB candidates obtained lower scores in the first session of 1977 than in 1976, with pass rates of 29 percent for communication, 18 percent for social studies, and 32 percent for sciences. It would be difficult to draw any definitive conclusions from these results, which are not on the whole favorable to IRDEB from the point of view of examination passes. It is possible that factors tending to down- grade these figures have been given too much weight at IRDEB. Further multivariate research needs to be undertaken to establish more solid conclusions about the effective relationship between IRDEB courses and success in the madureza examinations.

General Conclusions

Is the financial effort being made in support of the first-cycle madurcza program justified? Is it a good investment for the State of Bahia?

Table 3-26. Pass Rates for Students in Feira de Santana by Subject, 1976 Communication Social Studies Sciences Pass Pass Pass Number rate Number rate Number rate Enroll- of (per- Enroll- of (per- Enroll- of (per- Institution ment passes cent) ment passes cent) ment passes cent)

IRDEB 375 117 31.2 324 104 32.0 367 164 44.6 DESU 107 50 46.0 93 68 73.1 105 72 68.5 Others 188 41 21.8 162 57 35.1 184 94 51.) Total 670 208 31.0 579 239 41.2 656 330 50.3 Source:Discussion with officialsof Feira de Santana Education Secretariat. MADUREZA PROJECT 83

Effectiveness

Although the current data on IRDEB student results in madureza examinations are not fully conclusive, one might suggest that IRDEB does not offer a better system of preparation than other systems offered by the state or by private institutions, and indeed that it is even slightly inferior. From the technological point of view, IRDEB seems to be somewhat inferior: the curriculum is about the same, the printed texts are not necessarily better than the ordinary manuals, and the supervision and inspection system is probably less efficient. The use of radio is too limited to generate any significant difference, with the possible exception of the motivation offered to adults. The IRDEB teachers' manuals and the exercises contained in the students' texts might generally be considered superior to those of other madureza preparation systems. In the other systems, however, the higher qualifications of the teachers may well compensate for the inadequacies of the teaching materials. In the final analysis, it would be difficult to say that the IRDEB first-cycle madureza offers better teaching facilities than other types of madureza offered by the state or by private establishments.

Cost

From an economic standpoint, the IRDEB results are certainly poor. The savings obtained at the broadcast reception centers through the use of unqualified monitors who cost less than qualified teachers are largely eaten up by much higher fixed costs. In 1977, these fixed costs accounted for 77 percent of total costs, or 4.3 times the variable costs. Ordinary direct teaching establishments have low fixed costs (approximately 15 to 20 percent of total cost) but high variable costs (slightly less than double the variable costs of IRDEB). IRDEB could be competitive with such institutions, assuming equal educational results, only if the number of IRDEB students was large enough that the additional fixed costs were compensated by a reduction in variable costs. If y is the variable cost of IRDEB, then the total cost of normal education can be estimated at 2y (slightly less than double the variable cost of IRDEB plus 15 percent of the fixed cost). How many students are required in order that fixed costs, which are equal to 4.3 times the IRDEB variable costs, will be compensated by the savings achieved through using the monitors? If X equals the number of students required, then: X x 2y + (X x y) + 4,538,000. 84 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

(total normal education cost x total IRDEB cost = variable cost + fixed cost.) In this case, y = 131; thus:

262X = 131X + 4,538,000, 131X= 4,538,000, X=35,000 students.

Consequently, the IRDEB first-cycle course would need at least 35,000 students before it would be competitive with, for example, the direct type of education organized by DESU in Bahia, assuming equal educational results. In 1976, however, DESU students obtained significantly better examination results (a success rate of 61 percent or higher). Assuming the same level of results, the IRDEB course would need 57,750 students before it could compete with DESU in terms of the number of diplomas granted. IRDEB also compares unfavorably with private educational institutions. In spite of the difficulties involved in such a comparison, assumptions at both extremes (35,000 and 57,750) were equally unfavorable to IRDEB. Depending on the unit of comparison, the number of IRDEB students must be multiplied by 1.5 or 12.5 to compete with private establishments in terms of costs. If examination results are the basis of comparison, the apparent similarity of the known results leads one to opt for the 12.5 multiplier-that is, a student body of 100,000. This is indeed at the heart of the whole problem: the level of fixed costs generated by IRDEB means that either the student body must be increased considerably (so that virtually all madureza students in Bahia are covered, which would mean eliminating all the other preparation systems), or the number of educational projects over which fixed costs can be spread must be increased, or these two solutions must be combined in some way.

IRDEB and the Minerva Project One might well ask why the State of Bahia financed the first-cycle madureza project, since the federal government was already financing the Minerva Project, which covers the same levels. Was the decision not to use Minerva a wise one? From an economist's point of view, the answer to this question is certainly in the negative. The Minerva costs payable by the states are limited to remuneration of instructors, inspectors, and a small administrative support staff. Minerva even provides the printed texts. The cost to Bahia would have been lower even than the current variable cost of IRDEB, approximately one-fifth of its total cost. From a more general social standpoint, it is also possible that Minerva, with its decreasing participa- tory cost structure, would have given better results than IRDEB, since MADUREZA PROJECT 85

Bahia's participation in the project would have helped to reduce the average cost. There may have been some political, administrative, and possibly even educational reasons for using locally developed curricula, and it is difficult to evaluate the costs and benefits of such decisions. IRDEB courses, for example, make much greater use of terms and vocabulary belonging to the local culture than does Minerva. This characteristic may help to motivate the students, but such an effect cannot be measured. It is probably not significant in scientific subjects, where the two curricula are very close. As regards the radio programs, these are much the same as those broadcast by Minerva. The only possible explanation for the overlapping of Minerva and IRDEB lies in IRDEB's history and its aim of becoming a parallel educational system in Bahia. From this standpoint, the IRDEB first-cycle madureza, which preexisted Minerva, was nothing more than a "practice run, " or a research and development project. The organizational know-how acquired from carrying out such a project would not only make IRDEB's role less passive in relation to education problems in the state but also enable it-thanks to its experienced staff-to launch more ambitious projects. It is difficult to say whether this has been the case with IRDEB, in view of the small increase in the number of first-cycle madureza students. Since obtaining the new contract to produce teaching materials for the HAPROL project, however, IRDEB has become more professional and sophisticated.

IRDEB Radio Programs After five years' experience, the Minerva Project still had trouble producing the five hours of radio program time provided free over the whole Brazilian network for both cultural and educational broadcasts. The results are even more discouraging when one considers IRDEB production, in terms of the stock of programs prepared in advance. The number of projects underway or planned, and the terms by which IRDEB is linked to other SEC projects, do not suggest any need for a substantial increase in the allotted amount of broadcast time. From the technical standpoint, the quality of service offered by the private radio stations is probably not entirely reliable, but no thorough check has been made to determine this. Since there will be fifty private radio stations in Bahia by the end of 1977, some of them relatively powerful, it would seem that IRDEB could negotiate to use some of these stations for more than the five statutory hours. Furthermore, now that IRDEB'S studio facilities have been tripled, they are likely to be increasingly underutilized. IRDEB is planning to construct two broadcasting stations in the next few 86 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY years, and they may be optimistically viewed as precursors of the nationwide government radio network that the federal authorities are setting up (Radiobras), and as a future part of this network. In that event, Radiobras would supply programs of general interest for national broadcasting, and IRDEB would produce only supporting programs of regional interest. IRDEB's decision to set up radio stations would be more convincing if cost and other studies regarding their use were undertaken before they come into service. IRDEB could probably attain its objectives at a lower cost by making better use of the five hours of private station time available each week, with the possibility of buying additional air time in small towns, and by redefining its role and its priorities.

General Comments

IRDEB has undergone substantial changes recently. After operating under difficult circumstances and in extremely precarious material conditions, IRDEB is now confortably installed and its material situation is very good. In spite of its rapidly increasing budget, however, the institute still does not seem able to overcome its most important problems regarding staff, salary policies, and its credibility in influential educational circles. From a review of the first-cycle madureza-IRDEB'S strong point-it is evident that the decisionmaking process at all levels of the institution is a stumbling block in the way of the changes in direction the institution needs. IRDEB urgently needs a more detailed information system and a more efficient system of supervision and evaluation. A recent internal study prepared at the request of the IRDEB management concluded that the main problems were as follows: the limited coverage of the first- and second-cycle madureza projects, which reach only 10 percent of the state's municipalities; the high cost of the monitors paid by IRDEB; the inadequately coordinated inspection system and lack of audience control for all the broadcast programs; the loss of some highly qualified staff because of an insufficiently competitive salary policy; and finally, the general lack of information on, and evaluation of, IRDEB activities over time. This same study suggested that IRDEB improve the organization of its internal information system and develop closer relations with SEC at both the political and operating levels. IRDEB'S increasing problems are certainly not unique among institutions concerned with innovations in the educational technology field. In the first place, there are the natural difficulties of developing and maintaining control over new markets, to borrow the language of economics. Then there is the problem of redefining objectives once the pioneering stage is past. Is IRDEB a production center? An innovator in the field of education? Another type of school system? An organization responsible for ex- MADUREZA PROJECT 87

perimenting in new teaching methods? The answers to these questions could help in defining new priorities and new organization structures, and in persuading the state to pay special attention to how it handles innovative institutions. The cost and effectiveness data for institutions such as IRDEB might suggest that, in the short term, they would be hard-pressed to justify their existence. But ifIRDEB really proposes to consolidate its role as a genuinely innovative institution, as provided in its statutes and as the complex educational problems of the State of Bahia require, it will have to prove that it has been an effective innovator and demonstrate what results have already been achieved and what can be expected later.

Notes to Chapter 3

1. Educational Radio Broadcasting Institute of Bahia (IRDEB) Diagnosticodo IRDEB fDi- agnosis of IRDEB] (IRDEB, 1977; processed). 2. The Minerva Project is a first-cycle examination course broadcast by all radio stations in Brazil, as described in chapter 2. Each radio station must devote five hours of broadcasts each week to Minerva. 3. Few students register for individually supervised study. No data are available regarding unsupervised study. 4. Many schools do not provide the full eight-year basic course, but only three or four years. This was especially true at the time when those currently attending madureza courses were of school age. 5. The following deflators have been used to convert current cruzeiros to constant cruzeiros: 1972, 45; 1973, 53; 1974, 61; 1975, 78; 1976, 100; 1977, 120. For a fuller explanation, see Eduardo Arena, Dean T. Jamison, Joao B. Oliveira, and Francois Orivel, Economic Analysis of Educational Television in Maranhao, Brazil (Paris: Unesco, 1977). 6. The term "formative evaluation" refers to a process of continuous evaluation during the course of a given cycle. It is intended to correct target errors, and to inform curriculum programmers about the adequacy of the content level in relation to the students' capacity to absorb, the pertinence of content form, and so on. With this feedback process, the course can be altered at any time, with "visual" piloting, so to speak. 4

The Malawi CorrespondenceCollege

Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami

MALAWI is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa. The country has a total area of 118,500 square kilometers, of which 24,200 square kilometers are lake surface (Lake Malawi). The land area in the north and central regions consists largely of plateau and mountains. The southern region is, for the most part, a low-lying flat plain about 500 meters above sea level. For its foreign trade, Malawi depends mainly on railroad and truck transport to the Mozambican ports of Beira and Nacala. Malawi's population was estimated at 5.2 million in 1976. The annual population growth rate is about 2.9 percent. Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa (fifty-five persons per square kilometer), although lack of a good road system makes communication difficult in some areas. Malawi's annual per capita income was estimated at equivalent to US$140 in 1976. Per capita income has been increasing by 4.7 percent a year since 1965 through increased agricultural exports and growth of labor-intensive industries. The formal education system of Malawi consists of eight years of primary education (five years in lower primary and three years in upper primary), four years of secondary education (two years ofjunior secondary and two years of senior secondary), and three to five years of higher education. Nonformal education includes literacy courses, agricultural education, and health education. Since independence in 1964, the government has invested principally in productive sectors and has restricted investment in social sectors such as education and health. Thus, in 1976 only 25 percent of the adult population was literate and only 11 percent of all children completed the eight- year primary course. Primary schools usually have very little or no furniture or equipment and are located in poorly constructed mud buildings.

88 MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE 89

Because of the high cost of secondary education and limited employment opportunities, the government has been restricting access to secondary education. Only 9 percent of children who take the "primary school leaving certificate" examination are accepted into secondary education. Social pressures to enter secondary education are so great that many children repeat the last year of primary education and take the examination two or three times, trying for a score high enough to permit them to enter the formal secondary school system. In general, the quality of formal secondary education is high and 92 percent of all teachers are qualified. With international and bilateral assistance, most secondary schools have satisfactory libraries, laboratories, and workshops. Because of the high social demand for secondary education, an alternative system at thejunior secondary level, based on radio, correspondence, and the use of unqualified teachers, has evolved under the aegis of the Malawi Correspondence College (Mcc). This case study describes, first, the overall program of the MCC and, second, the MCC junior secondary equivalency program, including an estimate of costs.

What the College Does

In 1965, a Schools Broadcasting Unit was established in the Ministry of Education to organize school broadcasts at the primary, secondary, and teacher-training levels. In the same year, the Malawi Correspondence College initiated a radio classroom to support its regular correspondence programs for secondary school equivalency. Since 1973, the two units have been combined under the principal of the Malawi Correspondence College. The National Committee for Education by Radio advises the Ministry of Education on matters concerning education by radio, and has an executive role in the overall program planning of the MCC. The committee comprises the chiefinspector of schools of the Ministry of Education, who acts as chairman; the director of programs of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC); the director of engineering of the Malawi Broadcast- ing Corporation; the principal of the MCC; the director of extension studies at the University of Malawi; the principal of Blantyre Teacher Training College; and a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture. The committee meets twice a year. In addition to the principal, the Malawi Corre- spondence College has about 100 employees in five sections: 13 in the tutorial section, 7 in accounting, 15 in broadcasting, 27 in printing, 31 in general services, together with 13 laborers and drivers. The MCC provides correspondence courses for primary schools, junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools, and in-service teacher train- Table 4-1. Enrollments in the Malawi CorrespondenceCollege, 1965-78 Courses 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Total Primary school leaving certificate 200 350 250 170 96 80 100 92 135 132 Junior 130 IIl 126 115 2,087 certificate 978 1,432 3,068 5,090 3,364 2,679 2,567 2,657 3,026 2,932 General 2,916 2,944 2,782 2,884 39,219 certificateof education "O" level - 250 205 165 84 59 90 151 164 Malawi 83 116 10 11 27 1,315 certificate of education "O" level ------T4-T3 - 213 444 431 536 657 2,281 teachers' upgrading - - - - 128 163 - 161 211 T3-T2 209 174 137 90 118 1,391 teachers' upgrading ------12 19 24 32 32 57 29 31 236 Annual total 1,178 2,032 3,523 5,425 3,672 2,981 2,769 3,080 3,560 Cumulative 3,601 3,712 3,590 3,574 3,832 46,529 total 1,178 3,210 6,733 12,158 15,830 18,811 21,580 24,660 28,220 31,821 35,533 39,123 42,697 46,529

* ~ ~ , & MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE 91 ing. Table 4-1 shows the enrollment in all of these courses from 1965 to 1978. In 1978, by far the greatest enrollment was at the junior secondary level-2,884 students. Enrollment in senior secondary school was next, at 657 students. Only slightly more than 100 students were studying for primary school equivalency and another 100 for teacher upgrading. In addition, the MCC broadcasts radio programs directly to primary schools to improve primary school instruction. The MCC broadcasts a total of about 143/4hours a week, or about fifty-five fifteen-minute programs and two thirty-minute programs, as follows:

* For primary schools: eleven program series a week plus eleven repeats dealing with English, Chichewa, music, health, agriculture, and science, provided directly to primary schools to enrich the regular curriculum. * For in-service teacher upgrading: one weekly program and one repeat on education. Those seeking upgrading listen to the radio programs and correspond with MCC. They may take a six-week residential training course after which, at the recommendation of the district inspector of schools, they may be upgraded and be eligible for a salary increase. The college has also introduced broadcasts to students in teacher-training colleges with five weekly programs and five repeats on education, Chichewa, social studies, English, and pedagogy. v For junior secondary schools: eight weekly programs and eight repeats. * For senior secondary schools: one program in English repeated once. * Of general interest to students and teachers: "Programme High- lights" broadcast at the beginning of the week and "Midweek Maga- zine, " which is repeated at the end of the week. "Midweek Magazine" is intended to provide stimulation and background experience and information to students who have little contact with educational enrichment. It is also used for quiz competitions and to broadcast messages from the MCC principal.

Radio programs are broadcast over the Malawi Broadcasting Corpora- tion's network, which is the only network in the country. At present, it covers about 65 percent of the country's area with seven transmitters. Two new 50-kilowatt transmitters will shortly be added to the network to ensure almost 100 percent coverage of the population. The Malawi Broad- casting Corporation has always functioned as an educational and cultural institution, and about 29 percent of its broadcasting time is available free of charge for educational purposes-with about 17 percent being used by the MCC. 92 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

The MCC has its own small studio-Studio E-with a complete subcon- trolling facility, where programs are taped for later broadcasting. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation supplies one of its technicians to operate and maintain the studio. The equipment at Studio E was provided by British assistance in 1967 and is now somewhat obsolete. The MCC also has a complete printing unit so that it can print its teaching materials. With the relatively efficient Malawi postal system, the MCC can send its courses directly to students and expect them to arrive in a timely manner. The Ministry of Education also uses the MCC printing facilities to print examination papers, an activity that sometimes taxes the MCC printing capacity. The MCC purchases books directly from the Malawi Book Service and can now buy radios locally from the Nzeru radio factory, which is located in the city of Blantyre and is capable of assembling about 24,000 radios a year.

The MCC Junior Secondary Equivalency Program

Since 1965, the MCC has overseen the development of a system of correspondence centers and night secondary schools providing junior secondary education to students. At present, there are fifty-eight correspondence centers and sixteen secondary schools enrolling 2,884 paying students, equal to one-third the enrollment in regular junior secondary schools. Actual enrollment in centers and night secondary schools is often higher than the number enrolled in a particular year because of students who repeat or students who enrolled in the previous year but could not find a place. The centers were originally designed as part-time centers for youth who were at work. They now provide classroom accommodation for up to six hours a day, so that students attending the centers are studying full time. The centers usually consist of two classrooms (for the first and second years of junior secondary education) with ten to fifty students per classroom and no equipment other than furniture, a blackboard, and a radio. They are located throughout the country, predominantly in rural areas. Centers are normally housed in simple school buildings, often constructed by the community next to a primary school, and are frequently accompanied by simple housing facilities for students and teachers. In some cases, the centers use primary school buildings available in the afternoon. Night secondary schools meet in the evenings in the premises of regular secondary schools and are usually staffed by secondary school teachers who are paid directly by the college for overtime work. Attendance in the centers and night schools is available to any student who has completed the primary school leaving certificate examination and MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE 93

who can pay an annual fee of 22 kwacha (K) to study six subjects.' The fee entitles a student to the lessons, all necessary textbooks, marking of tests by qualified teachers, a daily radio broadcast of forty-five minutes, and free attendance at a center or night secondary school. Many students travel * from remote villages to attend MCC centers or night schools, and live in nearby towns in makeshift dormitory quarters or private houses, paying K0.75-K1.50 a month for boarding. - A total of ten junior secondary subjects are offered by the college. Normally, each student studies English, mathematics, history, geography, Chichewa, biology, and a seventh subject, which may be commercial studies, health science, bookkeeping, or Bible knowledge. Table 4-2 shows enrollment by subject matter from 1973 to 1977. Courses are prepared by MCC tutors and normally consist of twenty- four lessons, each of which has a final test that can be marked by the student. Every fifth test is submitted by mail to the MCC for centralized marking. At the MCC headquarters, the progress of each student is monitored with a card for each individual. The textbooks provided are the same as those given to regular secondary school students. A weekly radio program, based on the correspondence material, is produced for each of the six subjects-English, Chichewa, mathematics, biology, geography, and history-and broadcast twice a week. The producers often ask contracted scriptwriters to prepare the script. Program series are broadcast for as long as five years without revision because of the shortage of production staff. Classes at the centers normally last a full morning-from 8 A.M. to 1 P. M.-and are taught by teacher-supervisors, who usually have a primary school teaching certificate. The teachers are appointed by the district education officer and are paid on a full-time basis according to their experience. They use the study guides prepared by the MCC tutors and tune in the radio programs to supplement the written material. The MCC supplies radios and batteries to centers and night secondary schools. By 1978, about 1,200 radios had been distributed, although by then most of them were more than eight years old. Even though children * seem to listen intensely to the radio, some programs appear too advanced for student comprehension and teacher follow-up of programs is limited. The reasons for these problems include the unattractiveness of some programs caused by lack of pre-testing and revision, the shortage of production staff, and a lack of training programs and good follow-up material on how to use radio programs. At the end of the first year in the centers, MCC headquarters tests each student's achievement and forwards the names of the best students to the Ministry of Education, which places them in a regular secondary school to replace those who have dropped out. In October 1977, sixty MCC students, Table 4-2. Enrollments in MccJunior Secondary Subjects, 1973-78 Commercial Health Book- Bible Year English Mathematics History Geography Chichewa Biology studies science keeping knowledge 4' 1973/74 2,486 2,261 2,174 32 1,998 2,432 355 2,261 229 1,032 1974/75 2,497 2,065 1,871 1,026 1,813 2,143 336 2,030 172 946 1975/76 2,455 2,214 1,905 1,278 1,806 2,329 330 2,085 201 1,335 1976/77 2,659 2,237 1,991 1,821 1,948 2,298 494 1,347 231 1,285 1977/78 2,476 2,238 2,185 2,087 2,025 2,550 488 - 214 1,813 MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE 95 or about 4 percent of first-year enrollment, were selected for entry to the regular secondary schools. At the end of the second year of schooling, all students sit for thejunior certificate examination, a national achievement examination that is required for continuation in the educational system and for entry to many jobs. A student must pass at least six subjects to enter senior high school. As table 4-3 shows, in 1977, out of 880 MCC students taking the examination, 184 students, or 21 percent, passed six or more subjects. Since about 1,440 students were enrolled in the second year, about 600 students apparently did not take thejunior certificate examination or did not report the results to MCC headquarters. On this basis, only about 13 percent of enrolled second-year students passed the examination. In addition to those who passed six subjects, 124 students passed five subjects, and another 100 passed four subjects. An unknown number of these children study on their own the following year and attempt to pass the remaining subjects to reach a total of six and, therefore, receive the junior certificate. Despite the uncertainty of the data, the examination results for students in the MCC program are clearly much lower than for those in boarding and day secondary schools, where 87 percent and 67 percent, respectively, pass the examination. The MCC centers and night schools, however, are open to any student who has passed the examination for a primary school leaving certificate and can pay the fees. The centers have no laboratories, workshops, libraries, or dormitories. Teachers in the MCC program are usually qualified only at the primary level, whereas teachers with diplomas and degrees predominate in the regular secondary schools. On this basis, the MCC centers and night schools have a satisfactory record, although there is still much room for improvement.

Costs

The costs of the MCC centers and night schools in the 1977/78 school year are summarized in table 4-4. Fixed costs are those not significantly affected by the number of students. They include costs of central administrative staff; maintenance and use of equipment and plant; editors, actors, and advertisements; air time; and depreciation of buildings and equipment. The cost of air time and depreciation of buildings and equipment is estimated as the percentage of all air time devoted to educational program times the total cost of operation of the Malawi Broadcasting Service. On this basis, total annual fixed costs are about K110,000, or about K38 per student (on the basis of 2,884 students). Variable costs, which depend on the number of students, include the costs of teachers, textbooks, radios, postal service, local materials, school boarding, refund of school fees, and 96 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 4-3. Junior Certificate Examination (JcE) Passes by MCc Students and Transfers to Regular Secondary Schools, 1977 Students Number Percent

Total taking JCE 880 100 Passed 6 subjects 184 21 Passed 5 subjects 124 14 Passed 4 subjects 100 11 Passed 3 subjects 92 10 Number transferred to regular secondary schools 60 7

depreciation of MCC centers. They are estimated at a total of K273,000, or K95 per student. They can be divided roughly into regular recurrent costs, equal to K175,000 (K61 per student), and depreciation of MCC centers, estimated at K98,000 (K34 per student). Depreciation of MCC centers is based on the costs of a proposed World Bank credit to construct simple classroom blocks to serve as MCC centers. Total cost is estimated at K383,000, or K133 per student. Since the variable costs are more than three times the fixed costs, expansion of the MCC program would not result in major savings. The cost of a program reaching 10,000 students, for instance, would be K106 per student, for a saving of about 20 percent per student. MCC costs per student are much lower than the costs of conventional secondary schooling, especially when taking into account the depreciation of buildings. As table 4-5 shows, the total annual costs per student are K216 for day secondary schools and K580 for boarding schools, as compared with K133 for the MCC centers. The main differences are that MCC teachers are paid less than half the salary of qualified secondary teachers and that MCC school buildings consist of only two classrooms, as compared with the specialized buildings and board and staff facilities of regular secondary schools. As noted in table 4-5, however, the MCC costs per graduate of K931 per student are higher than those of the day secondary schools (K583 per graduate), although somewhat lower than those of boarding schools (Kl, 276 per graduate). The cost to the student himselfin the Mcc centers is K22 a year, as compared with K20 in day secondary schools and K50 in boarding secondary schools.

Conclusions

The Malawi Correspondence College and Broadcasting Unit provides a second chance to children who cannot enter the regular secondary schools MALAWI CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE 97

Table 4-4. MCC Costs Including Centers and Night Schools, 1977/78 Cost per student' Cost item Total (Malawi kwachas)

Fixed costs Professionaland clericalstaff at headquarters 53,105 18.41 Plant, vehicles, library equipment, miscellaneous 10,838 3.76 Editors, actors, and advertisements 9,364 3.25 Air time (3.5 hours a week) 20,285 7.03 Annualizationof equipment and building costs 16,185 5.61 Total fixed costs 109,777 38.06 Variable costs Teachers Centers 78,600 27.25 Night schools 6,835 2.37 Radios 1,095 .38 Textbooks 30,903 10.71 Student boarding and local costs 10,094 3.50 Postal service 2,510 .87 Paper and printing 37,736 13.08 Audiovisualmaterials 6,249 2.17 Refund of school fees 937 .32 Total variable costs (except depreciation) 174,959 60.65 Depreciation of MCC centers 98,056 34.00 Total fixed and variable costs 382,792 132.71 a. Based on 2,884 students. because of low grades in the entrance examination to secondary education. While pass rates among MCC students in the nationaljunior certificate examination are low, they are satisfactory since the only entry requirement for MCC students is that they must have passed the primary school leaving certificate examination and have the ability to pay the school fees. The MCC centers have gradually evolved into full-time but small-scale secondary schools. Most teachers are qualified at only the primary school level but the teachers' guides, correspondence courses, and radio broadcasts provide guidelines to these teachers to ensure at least a minimum quality and appropriate content of teaching. Although MCC has never been systematically evaluated, in 1976 a consultant from the British Council reviewed its activities and concluded that, while the MCC was providing a valuable service, it needed to be strength- ened in five ways: implementing a team approach to the development of material (rather than contracting out preparation of material on an individual basis); setting up an evaluation department for pre- and post-testing of material; providing additional production staff, including technical assistance, so that more programs could be regularly revised; providing 98 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 4-5. Comparative Costs of mcc Centers and Secondary Schools, 1977/78 (Malawi kwachas) Day Boarding .MCC secondary secondary Cost centers schools schools Annual recurrent costs per student 99 139 310 Depreciation of school building per student 34 77 270 Total cost per student 133 216 580 Number of school years to produce one graduate (passingjunior certificate examination) 7.0-b 2.7a 2.2- Total cost per graduate 93lb 583 1,276 a. Calculatedon the assumptionthat pass rate in Form one is equivalent to the pass rate in Form two (PI = P2), where P1 is the pass rate in the first form and P2 in the second. b. Assumes total pass rate of 21 percent, which is only a rough guess becauseof incomplete reporting. Thus, since PI = P2 (by assumption),P, x PI = 0.21 or PI = 0.76. If, then, 100students enter the first year, 76 willbe enrolledthe secondyear with 21 graduating, or 176 student-years of study result in 21 graduates; that is, 7 student-years per graduate. Similar calculationsare used for the day and boarding secondary schools. radio cassette recorders to review programs already broadcast; and improving the studio and equipment at central headquarters. Because of a lack of funds, these improvements have not yet taken place. In July 1978, a World Bank mission visited Malawi and agreed to recommend assistance to the government in upgrading the MCC facilities in line with the British Council's conclusions. The mission also proposed that funds be provided to upgrade MCC printing equipment and to construct twenty-nine permanent MCC centers to replace the current makeshift quarters usually located in primary schools. Most of the new centers would include two classrooms, office and library space, and simple equipment including a radio, a radio-cassette recorder, and a science demonstration kit. In addition, it was expected that the British government would provide technical assistance in program production and in evaluation, and that the MCC would soon set up its own evaluation department and fill vacancies in its staff. These activities offered a hope of strengthening the already valuable service provided by the MCC and should lead to improvements in pass rates as well as to increases in enrollment.

Note to Chapter 4

1. One Malawi Kwacha (K) = USS1.20in 1978. 5

The Mauritius College of the Air

Tony Dodds

MAURITIUS is an island in the Indian Ocean approximately 2,000 kilometers off the east coast of Africa just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It covers an area of approximately 1,850 square kilometers and has a population of nearly one million, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. This population is composed of descendants of Indian, African, European, and Chinese immigrants. These different origins produce an immensely rich and varied cultural heritage and linguistic complexity. Sugar dominates the Mauritian economy. More than 90 percent of the nation's foreign earnings come from sugar. Because of this dependence, the country's internal development plans are highly vulnerable to international market fluctuations. In recent years, the country has made great efforts to diversify. A tea industry has been built up, and great emphasis has been placed on developing small-holder food-crop farming. At the same time, the government has encouraged both internal and external investment in a customs free zone for export-processing industries. The tourist industry has also grown significantly. A major purpose of the economic diversification policies is to create large numbers of new jobs, because unemployment is among the most serious social problems of Mauritius. In fact, most young people can expect a period of unemployment when they leave school. The only exceptions are those few who achieve good results on the school certificate examination or the higher school certificate, or who go on to higher education. The earlier students leave school, the longer their period of unemployment; many of the least qualified face the prospect of long-term unemployment or at least regular seasonal unemployment. The government has initiated a variety of relief-work or development programs, but the only hopes of solving the problem, or at least of preventing it from

99 100 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY getting worse, are agricultural diversification, industrialization, and the creation of small-scale self-employment enterprises. Communications in Mauritius are well developed by comparison with many other third world countries. This is mainly because of its size. A network of good roads connects all parts of the island. Most towns and villages have regular bus service, and most villages have several inhabitants who travel daily to work to the main towns. Moreover, electricity and water, as well as radio and television, are available most of the time in most villages. Thus, remoteness is not a serious problem, although there are distinct differences in physical and social amenities between the urban corridor, which runs from Curepipe to Port Louis, and the rural area. A few rural areas, mainly on the coast at points farthest from the capital, are distinctly neglected. During the early part of its inhabited history Mauritius was a French colony. The dominant, though smallest, group were the French settlers who built up the sugar economy and imposed a French culture on all other sections of the population who were brought to serve or came to service their estates. The island changed hands and became a British colony at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, though the French cultural dominance was preserved. English became the language of government and later of education, but of nothing else. With independence, the political power of the French settlers came to an end, though their economic power survives through their ownership of much of the sugar industry, and their important stake in tourism, commerce, and industry.

Education in Mauritius

In 1972, Mauritius devoted nearly 12 percent of its public expenditure budget to education.' For many years, more than 90 percent of the children in Mauritius have gone to primary school, so that at least officially the rate of adult illiteracy is very low. But achievement of basic language and numeracy skills is disappointingly low. Only a small proportion of those who get as far as the primary school leaving certificate pass the so-called scholarship exam which, until the end of 1976, was the qualification for free secondary education. No more than 6 or 7 percent of any age group are able to obtain places in the government secondary schools, which are excellent but few in number, while about an additional 10 percent get places in the comparable grant-aided secondary schools run by various charitable religious organizations. The vast majority of those who go on to secondary education go to private secondary schools. These were established throughout the island, mainly by private proprietors, to cater for the heavy demand by those who leave primary THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 101 school and by their parents. Until the end of 1976, these schools were largely unsubsidized and, like the grant-aided schools, charged fees. As in most parts of the world, the majority of children who go to the best primary schools, and therefore obtain the few places at the best secondary schools, are the sons and daughters of better-off, better- educated parents. The fee-charging private schools cater to the less well- off families, whose limited ability to pay fixed the ceiling for the fees the managers could charge. This in turn, together with the profit that individual managers considered appropriate to their efforts and investment, fixed the resources available for accommodations, equipment, materials, and the salary levels, and therefore the quality, of the teachers they employed. Inevitably, the facilities, the quality of teaching, and the success rates in secondary education in Mauritius vary enormously from the Royal Colleges, whose academic standards compare favorably with those of government secondary schools anywhere in the world, to the cramped and dilapidated shacks that pass for schools in some villages. Until recently, the government has been unable to exercise effective control or supervision over the private secondary schools. In 1976, however, as part of its election manifesto, the ruling party promised to introduce free secondary education. After a hair-breadth electoral survival, the party immediately fulfilled its promise, by taking responsibility for the selection of students and their assignment to schools, and by paying their fees at an agreed rate to the secondary school proprietors. A parastatal Private Secondary Schools Authority has been established to supervise this. Until this authority achieves control of educational standards, however, the variation in education from the excellent to the abysmal at both primary and secondary levels will continue. Mauritian education offers a prime example of the "diploma disease." The first, and most widely suffered, variety has been the intense struggle to get the primary school leaving certificate. Without secondary education, a student's future is indeed bleak, at least as regards obtaining a reasonably lucrative job and the wide range of status and comfort that comes with it. Until recently, only about 50 percent of any age obtained a place in secondary school; their next hurdle has been the school certificate. 2 For the very few who still survive with a good school certificate, the final barrier to the good life is the higher school certificate. Success there offers the prospect of higher education at home or abroad and the guarantee of a job and a secure place in the sophisticated and comfortable life of the Mauritian elite. Thus, the motivation to pass these exams is enormous and is an important reason for the remarkable record of success even with the often deplorable conditions for learning. It explains the intense emphasis on academic subjects in many of the schools, as it is indeed easier to obtain the golden certificate in literature, religious knowledge, and British constitution, than in physics, woodwork, or agricultural science. 102 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

The lack of technical education has been recognized since the end of the 19th century. The various attempts to correct the bias have met with limited success so far. Two government secondary schools with an emphasis on technical subjects and a series of junior technical schools were created in the late 1960s but they failed to swing parental or student preference away from the traditional academic subjects. Efforts are also being made to establish a properly controlled, supervised, and comprehensive apprenticeship system to include a government-subsidized training scheme.

Traditional Problems and Changing Needs The main subject of this chapter is an experiment in reform and support of secondary schools. Two major educational problems in Mauritius are largely untouched by this experiment. They are the poor status and poor achievements of primary teachers and the almost total lack of organized educational provision for out-of-school youth and adults. The problems considered here are those that dominate secondary education and the changing demand on secondary schools. In the past, the most obvious problem has been that of numbers. The achievement of nearly universal primary education in a system in which primary schools are mainly a preparation for secondary schools has produced huge numbers of primary school leavers with nowhere to go. Since the government provides so few secondary schools, private schools have grown up to fill this gap. Because young people have little or no chance of a job without secondary school qualifications, the government has not been able to limit the number of secondary places made available by the private sector, however unsatisfactory many of those places might be, until it can itself afford to provide alternatives. The second main problem is that of quality. To a large extent, this problem has arisen directly from pressure of numbers over the last two decades. The private schools have been set up in most cases with a minimum of investment. The accommodation is often a converted house. Every available square meter is used to cram in as many students as possible. Assorted tables, desks, benches, and chairs are packed into rooms as tightly as possible-inevitably in the serried rows traditionally associated with schools. Very few private schools have adequate laboratories or workshops in which practical science or technology can be taught, and where they do exist the equipment is usually deficient. Most students in most subjects have been unable to obtain or to be provided with suitable textbooks. Many classes have no textbooks at all. Where books exist, they are the out-of-date hand-downs of previous generations. Worst of all has been the quality of the teachers. The private schools have THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 103

rarely been prepared to pay salaries that would allow them to employ more than a small number of trained or graduate teachers. Most of the staff are young men and women who have themselves recently passed their higher school certificate or, more often, their school certificate and are waiting for a chance to go out to seek higher education and a better job. The turnover rate is frighteningly high, and quite regularly classes are left for several weeks without any teacher at all. The worst problem is in science and the technical subjects, where alternative jobs and higher educational opportunities are best. These inadequacies lead to the most blatant forms of rote learning and cramming. The third, and possibly the most serious, problem is the system of private instruction. This penetrates and distorts the Mauritian educational scene from about the fourth year of primary schooling through to university scholarships. Parents and children assume that the normal in-class work is inadequate to equip pupils for the intense competition of the public examinations. They view extra instruction with private tutors- often, though not invariably, the children's own teachers-as a necessary insurance policy. The teachers see this tutoring as a highly lucrative source of extra income, and therefore have an interest in maintaining the system. The best and most highly qualified teachers charge the highest fees for private instruction. The children of the poorest families can thus only afford the least well qualified tutors. Since the explicit and exclusive purpose of the system, even at its best, is to increase the pupil's chances of passing exams, academic learning is emphasized at the expense of practical application. The fourth problem is the culmination of the previous three. Over- crowding, inadequate facilities and teachers, and the dominance of examinations are the factors that determine what is taught and how it is taught in Mauritian secondary schools. The subjects chosen are those that require the least facilities and the fewest out-of-class activities; they can be learned most easily by heart. In this way, the schools' school certificate pass records are made as good as possible. Overseas authorities set the syllabuses for the examinations; in most cases, they set common exams for many countries. The special social, economic, and vocational needs of Mauritius are only incidentally reflected in the curricula; they do not form the central themes of what is taught. * In a country where the only hope for improved employment prospects and living standards depends on the growth of the technical and industrial sector and on efficient and scientific agriculture, both on the estates and in kitchen gardens, secondary education must respond to the need for technical skills and scientific understanding. A radical change of content is a prerequisite, and this can happen only if the prospects of examination success in practical subjects can be improved. At the same time, teaching 104 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY methods need to be changed so that they encourage practical experience and experimentation; methods of assessment and the award of qualifications must reflect an increasing emphasis on practical skills. In the midst of these conditions, the Mauritius College of the Air (MCA) was created in 1972. In large part, it has worked to overcome these problems and to improve the services of secondary schools.

The Mauritius College of the Air

The MCA grew out of a joint initiative of the Mauritian educational authorities and the International Extension College (IEC). The former recognized that they could give only limited help to the private secondary schools and to students who were no longer in school at all. They discussed the problem with the IEC, which agreed to set up the MCA for the Mauritius government. The initial purposes of the MCA were to be support for private secondary schools and the development of services for out-of- school youth and adults in cooperation with existing educational agencies. Its methods were to be a combination of correspondence courses, radio and television broadcasting, and various forms of face-to-face instruction. From the outset, the Mauritian government provided accommodation and some equipment, staff on secondment or loan, and a variety of subsidies in the form of duty-free import facilities and free postage. The IEC raised a grant to cover the initial costs of establishing the system, a five-year support grant, and the services of a skeleton expatriate staff for two years.

Stages of Development The first discussions took place at the end of 1970 and continued throughout 1971. The Act of Parliament that established the college was passed in December 1971, and the first staff members began work the following May. A small, experimental in-service training course in office management was launched in October 1972, and the first courses for use in schools started in February 1973. The original plan included two in- service courses-one for teachers and one for office workers-and two nonformal educational experiments. During 1973, under pressure from the government, school courses were given increased emphasis and the adult education work was mainly suspended. Initially, the school courses consisted of two courses for form five (the school certificate class) in English language and human and social biology. By 1973, three courses for the first year of secondary school had been added: modern mathematics, agricultural science, and woodwork. In succeeding years, the form THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 105 one courses were carried on into form two, and the form five human and social biology course was turned into a two-year course, starting in form four. From 1974 onwards, a separate careers advisory course was developed for forms four and five. The MCA also cooperated in producing nonexamination multimedia courses in integrated science and visual arts. By 1976, the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) had come into operation and was beginning to assume responsibility for the development of support services for secondary education. By 1980, it is envisaged that all school work will have been phased out of the MCA'S program and taken over mainly by the MIE. The MCA is turning its attention to further education services and informal education for out-of-school youth and adults.

Constitution, Organization, and Staffing

The MCA was set up as a corporate body under the ultimate control and supervision of the Minister of Education. Some of its staff members were seconded or loaned from government service, others were recruited directly, and a small number during the first two years were expatriate staff recruited by the iEC. Responsibility for policy and for supervision of the administration of the college rests with a board of trustees. Internally, the MCA consists of two main departments: the administration and production department, and the teaching and evaluation department. Its senior staff, therefore, consist mainly of subject tutors, liaison officers, and audiovisual specialists. Full-time senior tutors look after the development and writing of courses related to their own subjects. They then supervise how the course is used in the schools-whether by individual students or in further education centers. These duties include organizing seminars for teachers, part-time tutors, or private students to introduce them to the materials and methods of the courses and to help solve their teaching or study problems. A liaison officer is responsible for maintaining general contact with the schools using MCA courses and ensuring that problems relating to particular subjects are passed on to the tutor concerned. In addition, graphics, broadcasting, and editorial officers look after the production of the broadcast series or the printed courses. These senior staff are supported by a range of administrative and clerical sections. Throughout its history, the MCA has suffered from a lack of certainty about long-term constitutional relationships and funding. As a result, it has rarely had a full complement of staff to fill all the established posts and sections. For much of the time, officers have carried the combined duties of more than one post. The director from 1974 to 1977, for example, did much of the work of the senior broadcasting officer; the head of teaching 106 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

and evaluation has doubled as the senior tutor in mathematics; and the editor's job has been shared between the head of production and administration and the senior tutor in languages. This is an important factor to consider in assessing the costs of the services provided so far and in predicting the range of services and the volume of work that the MCA could undertake if it could recruit staff for all or most of its established posts.

The Teaching System The experience of the National Extension College in Britain and the system devised for the British Open University greatly influenced the design of the MCA program. They emphasized three-way teaching combinations that linked broadcasts, correspondence courses, and occasional face-to-face instruction. Their audience was individual adult students following the courses on a part-time basis. The MCA courses, on the other hand, have been used with secondary-school children studying full time, organized in regular classes, and supervised by teachers. The way MCA has employed the various media and the emphasis put on them has varied considerably from subject to subject. The basic pattern, however, has been the same. At the center of the system is the printed course. This consists of a number of units, which represent the work that should be covered in a week. Each unit includes a series of lessons following a similar pattern unit by unit. The lessons cover theoretical work, exercises, drills, practical work, notes on the content of related radio or television programs, and projects or assignments arising out of them. Most units contain one assignment that needs to be checked or marked by the teacher, as well as self-assessment tests. In its first year, the MCA followed the model of a correspondence course fairly closely and set up a system of sample marking of assignments by outside part-time tutors. This was found to be very expensive, and it did not provide the information about general progress that it was intended to give. In later years, the MCA left the marking of assignments entirely to the classroom teachers and relied on its contacts with the teachers and regular visits to schools by senior tutors to provide the necessary information on how the courses were being used. In the absence of textbooks, the MCA printed courses have been self-contained. No other book is required and the syllabus is adequately covered in the course itself. The lessons follow the format of a correspondence course in that they speak directly to the student and guide him step by step with detailed instructions through the process of learning, practicing, and revising what is put in front of him. An important characteristic of the printed materials-and, indeed, of all aspects of the course-is that they have been written in Mauritius for Mauritian students. Every effort is THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 107 made to ensure that biology or mathematics or woodwork or English is taught in the context of the Mauritian environment. The provision of regular and thorough texts at reasonable prices has without doubt been the most attractive part of the MCA courses to the managers of the secondary schools and probably to the students themselves and their parents. Television series have accompanied most of the courses. People thoughout Mauritius have access to television, although only a limited number of families have sets in their homes. Public sets are found in most villages in the social welfare center, so communal viewing is quite common. Because most secondary schools are usually drab, it was decided to use television to brighten and enliven the business of studying. To do so, schools had to be provided with television sets, at first on loan, then on a subsidized basis. The programmers have tried to bring into the classroom examples of applied learning, such as the use of English at work in Mauritius or the application of human biology to family diets, or the rearing and feeding of rabbits. They have concentrated on demonstration and stimulation rather than on repetition of what is in the printed text. This has necessitated a large amount of outside filming. When the MCA started to broadcast, the Mauritius Broadcasting Cor- poration (MBC) had no video recorders. The MCA, therefore, purchased and broadcast from half-inch recorders for the first two years until the MBC installed its own professional recorders. Although half-inch recorders are normally considered to be of subbroadcast standard, they enabled a much higher standard of content and interest at reasonable cost, which more than outweighed the loss of technical quality. Even though the MCA'S television costs have been a significant element in the total costs of its courses, the television programs have injected an element of excitement and stimulation into the classroom, and have enabled the college to highlight the practical application of what is being learned to everyday life in Mauritius. The MCA has made much more limited use of radio. One of the most important disadvantages of television programs, apart from their costs, is that they absorb vast amounts of time and skills, both scarce resources in a country like Mauritius. For a variety of reasons, including a shortage of radio airtime, the MCA has consistently neglected the potential of radio in its multimedia packages. The only regular radio programs have been used as part of the English language course to provide drills in oral English to give students practice in hearing and understanding continuous pieces of English spoken by people who use the language correctly. At times, the radio programs have begun to exploit radio's flexibility. In one series, almost by accident, the tutor discovered and exploited its ability to stimulate creative writing projects. Two (comprehension) passages were used as 108 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY installments in a Mauritius suspense drama, and some students could not wait for the next installment. They were, therefore, encouraged to produce their own conclusions. This led to a writing competition between schools, with the best results read out over the radio in later programs. The major difference between the MCA courses and courses for private students is that the MCA students do most of their studying in class with a teacher present. The teachers are usually with the students guiding them through the courses, listening to or watching the broadcasts with them, leading them into the assignments and projects, and correcting their work as they go. All of the courses' distance-teaching elements have, therefore, had to provide for teacher-led activities. The MCA has been determined to involve the teachers in the courses and to win their support for the teaching methods. This has been achieved mainly by careful and integrated liaison with the teachers throughout the courses. Sometimes, specialized teachers' notes have been issued, explaining the content of the programs and their relationship to printed materials, and suggesting ways to stimulate active learning. Occasional seminars for teachers have also been held to introduce them to the materials, give them a chance to preview programs, and train them in the practical work they will have to carry out with their students. The last, and possibly most important, part of the liaison has been regular visits to schools by tutors and by the liaison officer to observe classes and to discuss problems with teachers and students. The continued use of the courses in a very high proportion of classes, particularly in the less well-endowed schools, confirms that the teachers have generally welcomed and used the MCA courses. Perhaps the most important item in the MCA packages has been their assistance with practical subjects and practical work. Before 1973, few private schools offered subjects that demanded technical and practical facilities. The printed courses of the MCA, however, spell out practical experiments. The teachers' seminars and notes, and the tutors' visits all stress and explain the practical work that has to be carried out, and the television programs demonstrate the experiments. They have only been made possible in many schools by the design and provision of practical kits. Biology kits including microscopes, scalpels, slides, test tubes, and the basic chemicals necessary for tests have been lent or sold to schools for use in the crudest of laboratories. Woodwork kits including the essential tools for a basic woodwork course were made available, and agricultural science kits including sample rabbit hutches, young rabbits, seeds, and fertilizers were assembled and provided to schools.

The Student

When the MCA offered its pilot courses in 1973, publicity and enrollment were deliberately limited. These limits were removed in 1974. During the THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 109 first two years, only nominal charges were levied for the courses; from 1975 onwards, however, the MCA was forced to impose charges that paid most of the printing costs of the written courses. From 1976 onwards the Mauritius Institute of Education took over responsibility for the lower forms of secondary schools and provided courses, free of charge, in the essential subjects. These naturally replaced or took over the MCA courses. The first intake, into the form five courses on English language and human and social biology, was analyzed as follows: Thirty-four of Mauritius' 130 secondary schools enrolled for the English Language course, and twenty-six for Human and Social Biology. Through them nearly 2,500 students followed English and approximately 1,000 biology. ... On the whole students enrolled as a class, rather than individually, and the decision to enroll a class was taken by the school, rather than the students. Twenty of the schools were in the rural areas compared to fourteen in the towns; thus 45 percent of all rural 5th Formers were taking MCA courses compared to 15 percent of urban 5th Formers. Girls accounted for 45 percent of the English Language students and 35 percent of the biology students.3 The number of subjects offered, and the levels at which they were offered, increased dramatically, and the student enrollment reached its peak in 1974 at more than 14,000, drawn from sixty-one schools. That meant that approximately 50 percent of all secondary schools in Mauritius had students enrolled for MCA courses. With the significant increase in charges in 1975, the number of schools fell to approximately fifty-five and the student enrollment to about 13,000. In 1976, with only modern mathematics offered in the lower forms, with pure biology added at form five, and with a careers course made available to forms three, four, and five, the number of schools stayed at approximately the same level and the student enrollment fell to about 12,000. From 1977 onwards, with the introduction of free secondary education, the increase in the Institute of Education's output, and the provision of textbooks to all schools for forms four and five by the Private Secondary Schools Authority, the number of enrollments began to drop rapidly. By 1980, it is intended that the MCA will have entirely phased itself out of providing secondary school courses. Tables 5-1 and 5-2 show enrollments from 1973 to 1976.

Resources, Finance, and Costs

Financing the MCA

Throughout its history, the MCA has existed on three main sources of income: government grants in kind and in cash, overseas grants and gifts of equipment, and student fees.4 Although the proportions have varied from year to year, the basic trend has been an increase in income from 110 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 5-1. Number of Secondary Schools Enrolled with the Mauritius College of the Air, 1973-76 Secondaryschools 1973 1974 1975 1976

Total in Mauritius 130 133 n.a. n. a. Number enrolled for at least one MCA course 34 61 55' 55a n.a. = Not available. a. Approximately.

Mauritian sources, both from government grants and from student fees, and a decreasing proportion of the total income from overseas. Beginning with the 1974/75 fiscal year, the Mauritian government accepted the main responsibility for the costs of the MCA, and student fees began to form a significant proportion of the total income. Table 5-3 illustrates the changing proportions of cash income for recurrent costs from these three sources from 1973 to 1976.; These figures do not, however, reflect the provision by the government from the beginning of free accommodation, free postage, duty-free import privileges, and the loan of some staff. Nor do they include gifts of equipment and books by overseas agencies. Both have been important elements in the financing of the MCA and are included in the calculation of costs in a later section.

Table 5-2. Number of Students Enrolled with MCA, 1973-76 Subject Formn 1973 1974 1975 1976 English Five 2,500 4,200 1,988 2,162 Biology Five - - - 359 Human and social biology Five 1,000 1,650 973 486 Four - 2,100 1,057 752 Careers in Mauritius Five - - 1,421 1,396 Four - - 880 1,537 Three - - - 1,352 Modern mathematics Three - - - 1,076 Two - - 2,306 1,363 One - 5,150 3,119 1,539 Agricultural science Two - - 146 - One - 435 448 - Woodwork Two - - 187 - One - 484 593 - Total 3,500 14,019 13,118 12,022 THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE ll

Table 5-3. Sources of MC.4 Finance, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees) Source 1973 1974 1975 1976

Overseas grants 293,038 273,192 246,719 197.106 School charges and student fees 32,290 60,338 143,510 183,570 Ministry of Education grants - 177,900 514,566 733,910 Total 325,328 511,430 904,795 1,114,586

The Costs of the Schools Program

During the period under review, from 1972 until 1976, the MCA was predominantly engaged in courses used by the schools. Initially, this effort was expected to involve only about half of the college's total energies and resources; by the middle of 1973, however, the emphasis on work for schools had increased. Then, between 1973 and 1976, the MCA launched a variety of short nonschool projects, such as a population education campaign in 1973, a course in business English in 1975 and 1976, a consumer education project in 1976, and a general information radio series in 1975 and 1976. A course of modern mathematics for primary school teachers was a major activity for the MCA throughout 1973 and 1974. Though considerably fewer students took this course than took the school courses-about 450-the work involved, and the nonprint expenses incurred, were comparable. Throughout the whole period, moreover, a small but growing service of correspondence courses and occasional face- to-face instruction were offered to adult private candidates for the school certificate and the higher school certificate and for the general certificate of education (GCE) 0-level and A-level exams. Thus, significant costs were attributable to programs other than those for secondary schools. Table 5-4 shows the total costs of the MCA programs between 1973 and 1976. Administration plays a more prominent role, both in physical and in financial terms, in a distance-teaching institution than in a traditional

Table 5-4. Total Costs of MCA Programs, 1973-76 (Mauritianrupees) J Cost item 1973 1974 1975 1976 Broadcasting 158,500 219,800 292,900 442,600 Print 211,200 251,400 385,100 326,100 Face-to-faceinstruction 35,400 80,200 104,700 105,400 Administration 115,600 109,200 163,400 250,70(( Total 520,700 660,600 946,100 1,124,800 Table 5-5. Costs Of MCA Schools and Nonschools Programsby Media, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees)

1973 1974 1975 1976 Media Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent Broadcasting School courses 177,330 90 256,200 100 347,366 100 394,624 75 Nonsciool courses 19,703 10 - 0 - 0 131,542 25 Subtotal 197,033 100 256,200 100 347,366 100 526,166 100 Print School courses 179,810 72 276,300 96 430,755 98 401,483 98 Nonschool courses 69,925 28 11,500 4 8,791 2 8,183 2 Subtotal 249,735 100 287,800 100 439,546 100 409,666 100 Face-to-face School courscs 73,930 100 116,600 100 159,166 100 188,966 100 Nonschool courses - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 Subtotal 73,930 100 116,600 100 159,166 100 188,966 100 Total costs 520,698 660,600 946,078 1,124,798

9 , b THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 113 face-to-face school or college. All the teaching processes; the preparation, printing, and distribution of written materials; the production and broadcasting of radio and television programs; and the liaison, organization, and record-keeping aspects of occasional face-to-face instruction require elaborate and often linked administrative machinery. Since it is impossible to distinguish accurately the administrative costs of these different teaching methods, the annual administrative costs of the MCA are divided equally among the three. Table 5-5 shows how the costs are attributed to school and nonschool courses after (dividing the administrative costs among the three teaching methods. The subsequent tables and discussion of costs relate to the use of courses in schools.

The Costs of the Various MCA Media

By far the largest item in each year's MCA expenditure has been staff salaries. Division of staff salary costs among different activities is inevitably arbitrary. Often the same time and activity serve two functions-for example, when visits to schools provide face-to-face support, as well as the opportunity to record students for a radio program. Thus, it is difficult to attribute precisely staffing costs to print, broadcasting, or face-to-face instruction. The divisions recorded in tables 5-6, 5-7, and 5-8 are based on estimates macdeby senior members of the MCA administrative staff several years after the events described. Full costs for expatriate staff, including travel, are included in the figures. The costs of equipment and vehicles are depreciated over the periods shown, which are those used by the college's auditors in accordance with government accounting procedures. The figures include depreciation costs of all equipment, whether provided by the government, bought out of MCA funds, or given as gifts by overseas ald agencies. No special accommodation has yet been built for the MCA. Part of the accommodation used, the upper floor of a district courthouse, has been provided to the MCA rent free by the government of Mauritius. Since mid-1973, approximately the same amount of space has also been rented privately. In crder to calculate a total figure for rent, an amount equivalent to that paid in private rent is added to allow for a notional rent for the courthouse. TIhe total figure for rent is included in the administrative costs in table 5-4.

PRINTED MATERIALS. All of the MCA schools courses have been written, as complete courses, specifically for the program. Much of the writing has been done by full-time tutors, the rest on a part-time basis. All have been typed and printed internally. Ordinary electric typewriters and Gestetner 114 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY duplicating machines have been used. The main costs have therefore usually been staff salaries, followed closely and sometimes exceeded by paper costs. All school course materials are delivered by MCA courier service. Print costs are shown in table 5-6.

BROADCAST PROGRAMS. The MCA programs have been broadcast by the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), a part-government, part- independent, part-commercial institution. They have also been produced in the MBC studios, mainly on MBC equipment, and at the hands of MBC technical staff. The MCA has maintained its own graphics art team and, for much of the time, its own producers. Television and radio scripts have been prepared by the MCA. MBC producers and cameramen have been attached to MCA programs for varying proportions of their time. The MCA has obtained, either by purchase or by gift, various items of production equipment, such as audio and video tape recorders, cameras, and editing facilities. Audio and video tapes and film used in the programs have been provided and maintained by the MCA itself. Each year, the MBC has charged the MCA for production services, including the use of staff, equipment, and studios. No charge has been made for transmission. It has been impossible to calculate the actual costs of transmitting MCA programs which, except for the radio series, have been broadcast at times when MBC would not otherwise have been on the air. The costs included for transmission are, therefore, based on the MBC'S charges to commercial companies for advertising and sponsorship of programs. These charges are inevitably higher than actual transmission costs, because MBC intends to show a profit on sponsored time and thus offset some of its overall costs. The rates cannot

Table 5-6. Costs to the mCA of Printed Materials, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees)

Cost 1973 1974 1975 1976

Salaries and fees 67,500 144,200 171,300 198,600 Printing and stationery 68,400 71,000 177,400 88,800 Printing equipment (depreciation)' 10,800 14,400 14,700 14,700 Printing equipment (maintenance) 300 1,000 4,900 3,500 Distribution and transport 4,200 9,800 8,300 13,400 Vehicle depreciationb 900 900 800 600 Administration 27,700 35,000 53,400 81,900 Total' 179,800 276,300 430,800 401,500 a. Depreciation calculated at 15 percent of value per year. b. Depreciation calculated at 25 percent of value per year. c. Totals do not agree with figures in table 5-5 because of rounding. THE MAUIRITIUS COLLEGE 115

be justified for the MCA even on the basis of opportunity costs, since MCA'S broadcast times would not be acceptable to commercial sponsors. Conse- quently, the broadcast costs are inflated, but with no alternative basis for calculation it is necessary to include them. As already described, television and radio sets had to be purchased for installation in the schools when the programs began. These sets were at first provided for a nominal hire- charge and were later sold to schools under a form of hire-purchase agreement. Maintenance costs for the sets and for MCA'S production equipment are included in table 5-7. The largest item each year is staff salaries-if the MBC salaries, which are included in the MBC production charge, are a(dded to the MCA salaries-followed by transmission costs. The equipment costs include the video and audio tapes.

FACE-TO-FACE INSTRUCTION AND LIAISON SERVICES. Different courses put different emphasis on the face-to-face contact between the MCA and its teachers or students. All courses have relied mainly on visits by the MCA staff to classes in action and on occasional meetings between the MCA tutors and classroom teachers. These account for the two major elements in face-to-face instruction costs-staff salaries, and transport and traveling. The science and technical courses have another necessary component-the practical experiments that go hand-in-hand with theoretical learning and that are provided through kits. Thus, for such courses, the costs of face-to-face instruction are significantly higher than those for English or mathematics. Table 5-8 shows the overall costs of face-to-face

Table 5-7. Cost of MCA BroadcastPrograms, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees) Cost 1973 1974 1975 1976

MCA staff salaries 42,500 28.800 73,800 73,100 MCA production costs (including fees) 4,300 5,000 5,000 4,700 MBC production charge (including salaries) 31,500 56,000 69,500 76,100 MBC transmission costs 38,300 77,500 96.700 150,000 MCA equipment (depreciation)a 5,700 12,500 13,600 9,000 MCA equipment (maintenance) 400 1,000 5,000 2,700 Schools sets (depreciation)b 20,000 39.000 29.200 16,400 Administration 34,700 36,400 54,500 62,700 Total' 177,400 256.200 347,300 394,700

a. Depreciation calculated at 15 percent of value per year. b. Depreciation calculated at 25 percent of value per year. c. Totals do not agree with figures in table 5-5 because of rounding. 116 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 5-8. Costs of MCA Face-to-Face Services, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees)

Cost item 1973 1974 1975 1976

Salaries and fees Face-to-face I 9,233 20,500 29,800 28,800 Face-to-face 11 18,467 41,100 59,700 57,700 Subtotal 27,700 61,600 89,500 86,500 Kits depreciation Face-to-face I - - - - Face-to-face II 800 7,500 5,900 4,700 Subtotal 800 7,500 5,900 4,700 Transport and travelinga Face-to-face I 3,900 5,600 5,447 10,900 Face-to-face 11 3,100 5,600 3,853 3,300 Subtotal 7,000 11,200 9,300 14,200 Administration Face-to-face 1 12,833 12,133 18,167 27,900 Face-to-face II 25,667 24,267 36,333 55,700 Subtotal 38,500 36,400 54,500 83,600 Totals Face-to-face 1 25,966 38,233 53,414 67,600 Face-to-face 11 48,034 78,467 105,786 121,400 Grand total 74,000 116,700 159,200 189,000 a. Including vehicle depreciation calculated at 20 percent of value per year. instruction and liaison services broken down into those incurred for the English, mathematics, and careers courses-referred to as "face-to-face I"-and those incurred for biology, human and social biology, agricultural science, and woodwork-referred to as "face-to-face 11." The breakdown takes into account the number of students making use of each type of face-to-face support. Transport and traveling, and vehicle depreciation are treated as variable costs and are calculated on the assumption that each face-to-face 11 student costs twice as much as each face-to-face I student. An additional variable cost-depreciation of kits-is attributed entirely to face-to-face II students. Salaries and administrative costs are treated as fixed costs, regardless of the number of students involved; their totals are allocated one-third to face-to-face I and two-thirds to face-to-face II.

UNIT COSTS AND AVERAGE COSTS. To calculatethe unit costs per student enrollment, the media combinations used in the different courses must be taken into account, as well as the widely different enrollments in each subject. Three different media combinations have been used. In the modern mathematics course, print and face-to-face contact and liaison services THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 117

Table 5-9. Enrollment and Unit Costs in MCA by Medium, 1973-76 Year Print Broadcasts Face-to-faceI Face-to-faceII

Enrollment 1973 3,500 3,500 2,500 1,000 1974 14,019 8,869 9,350 4,669 1975 13,028 8,594 9,624 3,404 1976 12,022 7,685 10,425 1,597 Unit Costs 1973 51.37 50.69 10.39 48.03 1974 19.71 28.89 4.09 16.81 1975 33.07 40.41 5.55 31.08 1976 33.40 51.36 6.48 76.02 were used; in the English language and careers courses, television (and sometimes radio), printed materials, and face-to-face contact and liaison services were used; in the biology, human and social biology, agricultural science, and woodwork courses, television, printed materials, face-to-face contact, and practical kits and exercises were provided. Table 5-9 shows the number of students using each medium in 1973-76, and the unit costs. Table 5-10 illustrates the unit costs of each type of course, taking into account the different media combinations. These figures reveal one clear trend from 1974 to 1976-a dramatic increase in unit costs in all media, resulting from lower enrollment numbers. This accounts for the noticeable economies realized when enroll- mentsjumped from 3,500 in 1973 to 14,000 in 1974. It also accounts for the increasing cost from 1974 to 1976 of face-to-face services that included practical kits and support. The trend is even clearer if the inflation that prevailed in Mauritius during these years is taken into account. The consumer price index rose by approximately 30 percent between 1973 and 1974, by nearly 15 percent between 1974 and 1975, and by nearly 10 percent between 1975 and 1976. (Following reviews by government salary commissioners, MCA average annual salary increases were approximately 50 percent in 1973-74, 15

Table 5-10. Unit Costs in MCA by Subject, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees) Biology/human and social Modern English/careers biology/agriculturalscience/ Year mathematics in Mauritius woodwork

1973 - 112.45 150.09 1974 23.80 52.69 65.41 1975 38.62 79.03 104.56 1976 39.88 91.24 160.78 118 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 5-11. Unit Costs in MCA by Medium in Constant Rupees, 1974-76 (constant 1976 Mauritian rupees) Year Print Broadcast Face-to-faceI Face-to-faceII

1974 24.94 36.54 5.17 21.26 1975 36.38 44.45 6.11 34.19 1976 33.40 51.36 6.48 76.02 Average 31.57 44.12 5.92 50.91 percent in 1974-75, and 16 percent in 1975-76.) If the unit costs for 1974 and 1975, when enrollment numbers were comparable to those of 1976, are adjusted to 1976 levels in accordance with the inflation rate shown by the consumer price index, then an average cost for these three years can be calculated in constant 1976 rupees. Tables 5-11 and 5-12 show these figures. To understand this basic trend of decreasing unit costs created by increased enrollments, it is necessary to break them down into fixed and variable costs and to examine what happens to the costs of each medium and the media combinations at different enrollment levels. It is possible, on the basis of such a breakdown, to calculate cost functions for the unit costs of the various media and thereby to predict the economies of scale that can be achieved in each case: total fixed costs average cost = + umt variable costs. number of enrollments Table 5-13 shows the breakdown into the fixed and variable elements of unit costs of each medium, and table 5-14 shows the cost functions by medium derived from the 1976 figures. In a multimedia system such as the MCA, therefore, the unit costs of different combinations of media related to increasing student numbers would be as shown in table 5-15.

Table 5-12. Unit Costs in MCA by Subject in Constant Rupees, 1974-76 (constant 1976 Mauritian rupees) Biology/human and social Modern English/careers biology/agricultural Year mathematics in Mauritius science/woodwork

1974 30.11 66.65 82.74 1975 42.49 86.94 115.02 1976 39.88 91.24 160.78 Average 37.49 81.61 119.51 THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 119

Table 5-13. Breakdown of Fixed and Variable Elements of Unit Costs in MCA, 1973-76 (Mauritian rupees) Year/costelements Print Broadcast Face-to-faceI Face-to-faceII

1973 Fixed costs tO6,300 157,200 22,100 44,134 Variable costs per student 20.91 5.77 1.55 3.9 1974 Fixed costs 194,600 216,700 32,600 65,367 Variable costs per student 5.82 4.45 0.6 2.81 1975 Fixed costs 244,300 315,600 47,967 96,033 Variable costs per student 14.32 3.69 0.57 2.87 1976 Fixed costs 298,700 377,000 56,700 113,400 Variable costs per student 8.55 2.31 1.05 5.01

These calculations assume that the same number of students use each media combination. In reality, in 1976 (as in other years), the MCA enrolled widely different numbers in its courses, which each use different media combinations. Different numbers, therefore, used each medium, which accounts for the difference between the real unit costs of the courses quoted in tables 5-9 and 5-10 and the comparable unit costs shown in tables. 5-14 and 5-15. The cost function calculations, however, bear out the basic conclusion that can be drawn from the real MCA costs-namely,

Table 5-14. Cost Functions by Medium for MCA (constant 1976 Mauritian rupees)

Number of Print unit Broadcast unit Face-to-face I Face-to-face II students costs costs unit costs unit costs

1976 enrollment 12,022 students 33.4 - - - 7,685 students - 51.36 - 10,425 students - - 6.48 - 1,597 students - - - 76.02 500 students 605.95 756.31 114.45 231.81 1,000 students 307.25 379.31 57.75 118.41 5,000 students 68.29 77.71 12.39 27.69 10,000 students 38.42 40.01 6.72 16.35 20,000 students 23.49 21.16 3.89 10.68 120 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 5-15. Cost Functions by Media Combinationsfor MCA (constant 1976 Mauritian rupees) Print, broadcast, Print, broadcast, Number of Print and Print and and face-to- andface-to- students face-to-face I face-to-face II face I face II

500 720.40 837.76 1,476.71 1,594.07 1,000 365.00 425.66 744.31 804.97 5,000 80.68 95.98 158.39 173.69 10,000 45.14 54.77 85.15 94.78 20,000 27.38 34.17 48.54 55.33 that the system only begins to be economic when approximately 5,000 students are enrolled, and that the economies become increasingly significant for enrollments of 10,000 and upwards.

Comparison of the Costs of MCA and the Traditional System

The MCA school courses were not developed as an alternative to any existing provision. Their purpose was to improve the quality and relevance of the teaching and learning in private secondary schools. Their costs, therefore, have inevitably been in addition to existing costs. There are three other elements in the traditional private secondary education system in Mauritius: the costs of the secondary schools themselves, textbooks, and private instruction. Until 1977, the costs of all three were borne by the parents of the students. Only the textbooks were seen as optional aspects of the courses. The MCA course texts, which were provided in 1974 for a fee of 10 Mauritian rupees and in 1975 and 1976 for a fee of 15 rupees, were initially seen by many schools, and by parents and pupils, as a highly subsidized substitute for textbooks. The other elements in the MCA package were considered to be welcome extras at no additional cost. Prices of textbooks vary, of course, from subject to subject. In 1975, the only suitable human and social biology textbook for school certificate classes cost 20 rupees; a standard English language textbook for form five cost 45 rupees; and the average price of the various modern mathematics textbooks was 50 rupees. Textbook prices, like everything else, have risen as a result of inflation. The costs of printing and distributing the MCA written courses-which, unlike the normal textbooks, are specially prepared for Mauritius-compare favorably with the costs of the textbooks in all subjects, except human and social biology (where local relevance is particularly important). The projected costs of the most elaborate multimedia MCA courses, if all the media were used by at least 20,000 students, would be only fractionally higher than the average cost of standard textbooks at current commercial prices. School fees in the private schools varied enormously according to the THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 121 school's prestige and catchment area. The monthly fee in the smaller schools (for ten months a year) for a form four or form five pupil in 1976 appears to have been a minimum of 50 rupees. In these forms, pupils would be following a curriculum strictly geared to a school certificate and would, therefore, be taking five or six subjects. The annual cost per subject per student was, therefore, between 83 rupees and 100 rupees. This represented a slightly higher-than-economic cost of what was provided because it included an element for the owner-manager's profit. It also represented the cost of a distinctly inadequate education, as has already been described. The actual MCA costs per student enrollment in 1976 approximately doubled the total cost per subject for each student. If the total student enrollments had reached 20,000, the additional cost of MCA courses could have been reduced to 50 percent of the annual school fees per subject. The most expensive element in the traditional secondary education of most Mauritian children has been, and remains, private instruction. The prices do vary, however. In a society where most school certificate holders endure a period of unemployment, someone can be found whose tuition charges are low enough to suit almost anyone's pocket. The lowest reported charge in 1976 for a student in an instruction group taught by a school certificate holder was 25 rupees per subject per month (for no more than an hour a week) for ten months of the year. Average private instruction charges for a lesson a week in a small group by a tutor with a higher school certificate were 40 rupees per month per subject. Thus, for a year's instruction in one subject most students paid somewhere between 250 and 400 rupees. Much higher fees were charged by more highly qualified and prestigious tutors, graded according to their status and reaching into the highest ranks of the educational service. There is little evidence that parents saw MCA courses as a satisfactory substitute for private instruction. Such instruction, however, is only necessary where the in-school provision is inadequate. The MCA courses were intended to make up for this inadequacy. Certainly, the costs OfMCA courses compare very favorably with those of private tuition. It can be hoped that the courses, which remain available to private candidates, even though they are being phased out of the schools, will eventually win recognition as an adequate and cheaper substitute-perhaps even a prefer- able alternative-for the uncontrolled exploitation of the private tuition system.

Achievements and Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the MCA school program can be examined in at least four ways. Three of them relate to the college's own objectives and those 122 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY set for it by the gove nment; the fourth relates to the primary aim of the students, their parents, and the schools using the courses. Unfortunately, very little systematic information is available for the 1973-76 period on which to assess the achievement of any of these objectives. The first criterion is the MCA'S success in providing services for the significant proportion of Mauritian students in the smallest and poorest secondary schools, particularly those located in rural areas where the choice of school is most limited. As table 5-16 shows, the proportion of students eligible for MCA courses who were in fact enrolled with the MCA ranged from 41 percent in 1974 to 16 percent in 1976. As already noted, during 1973, 45 percent of fifth formers in schools in rural areas were enrolled in the experimental MCA courses. In succeeding years, the number of schools using MCA courses increased by two-thirds. Consequently, the MCA courses were reaching a large majority of children in rural secondary schools at those levels for which MCA was providing courses. A second objective of the MCA was to improve the quality of teaching in the private secondary schools. It is most difficult to measure achievement in this area because no surveys have been made of teachers' attitudes and classroom practice before and during the MCA courses. Large numbers of teachers have in fact used courses that have necessitated practical exercises and project work in schools where such activities were previously exceptional. Moreover, since most of the schools that enrolled in an MCA course for one year continued to take it in succeeding years, it would appear that the teachers welcomed and were prepared to use the methods and activities that were integral parts of those courses. Regular liaison visits from the MCA have helped to ensure that the new practices continued. In 1974, it was reported that:

First indications suggest that MCA services have helped teachers to provide more interesting and relevant lessons and to make use of more practical project-based teaching methods than were previously used. Some teachers are commenting that with the help of the distance teaching aids provided by MCA they are finding it easier to stimulate response and activity amongst their students, and that this is assisting the teaching and learning processes. Others are concerned that they themselves are losing control of these processes as a result of the imposition of MCA'S materials and that "students now have less respect for us, their teachers. 6

Table 5-16. Percentageof All Eligible Secondary School Students Enrolled in MCA Courses, 1973-76 Students 1973 1974 1975 1976 Total eligible 7,760 28,000 39,760 51,040 Total enrolled 2,800 11,500 9,000 8,000 Percentageenrolled 36 41 23 16 THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 123

A third objective was to increase the relevance of what was taught. Five out of the seven subjects in which the MCA prepared courses were new to most private secondary schools: human and social biology, careers, agricultural science, woodwork, and modern mathematics. All but the last of these were subjects of immediate practical application to the lives and especially to the vocational interests of the students. Three of the courses-careers, agricultural science, and woodwork-could not have been introduced into the school curriculum at that time without the MCA courses. They have now become integral parts of the curriculum of many of the schools. Finally, the students' aim was to improve their chances of passing the school certificate examination at the end of form five. The MCA set out at first to analyze the examination results of those who used MCA courses and to compare them with the results of those who did not. A full analysis proved impossible, not least because the Ministry of Education's statistics department decided that its rules of confidentiality did not allow it to give the MCA access to the central examination results. On the basis of a preliminary analysis of the 1973 results at both MCA and non-MCA schools, however, it was possible to draw the following conclusions:

First, the 1973 sc [school certificate] results in English language and human and social biology. It must be remembered that these exams were taken after only nine months' exposure to MCA methods and that for the first few months all concerned-students, teachers and MCA itself-found them somewhat new- fangled. It seems clear, however, that most schools which enrolled were able to improve their pass rates and credit rates on these subjects, compared with their average performance over the past three years. This improvement is distinctly more marked in the smaller and poorer schools than in the larger and better endowed schools and in the schools in the rural areas rather than in those in the towns. This latter fact takes on significance when it is realised that nearly 45% of all rural fifth formers were enrolled with MCA in 1973 and that the proportion is even higher in 1974. This compares with only 15% of urban fifth formers in 1973, and is important when one notes that all the best schools, both government and government-aided, are to be found in the towns. The average percentage pass rate and credit achievement rate in the schools enrolled with MCA for English language is slightly higher than the national average for all non-government and non-grant-aided secondary schools. The difference is noticeably greater if the results of the bigger schools are taken away where, by and large, the better facilities exist and where the better qualified members of the teaching profession are to be found. It is harder to analyse the human and social biology results as this is a new subject, replacing health science, and it is the first year in which it has been given the full status of a science subject. For this reason, moreover, comparatively few schools other than those enrolled with MCA entered students for the exam. As the MCA courses were the only courses in the subject available, we knew that the materials were used, unofficially and incompletely, by schools which were not enrolled. Nevertheless, insofar as the small numbers involved provide reliable indicators 124 IN-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

and a fair comparison can be made with previous results in health science, it appears that there was a significant improvement over past results in health science (even though the new subject is more rigorously scientific) and the higher pass rates achieved by MCA schools compared to non-MCA schools is more dramatic. It may also be worth noting that Mauritius achieved a more significant improvement in human and social biology results over previous health science results than was achieved in any other overseas country entering comparable numbers; the improvement recorded in MCA schools only is considerably above that achieved in other countries. This achievement is highly satisfactory in view of the lack of experience as biology teachers of many of the classroom teachers using the course.7

Altogether, in terms of these four criteria, the MCA experiment appears to have been successful. It seems to have been an effective way of improving the standards by which the private schools provide secondary education, and thereby of equalizing, at least to a small degree, the educational opportunities of those who failed to get places in the government or grant-aided schools with those of the lucky few who got places.

Conclusions

After five years of experiment, the MCA began in 1977 to phase out its support work for schools and to concentrate on providing services for out-of-school youth and adults. The achievements of its courses during those five years, though inadequately evaluated, seem to show that distance teaching can provide an effective support service to a poorly equipped, staffed, and financed secondary school system. It can supplement undertrained teachers by providing them and their students with self-study printed materials and with stimulating broadcast programs. It can inject practical work and project-based teaching and can guide teachers in implementing such new approaches. It can help to change the curriculum in the direction of vocational and technical subjects that the teachers themselves would be unable to introduce. And it would appear to be able to do these things while simultaneously increasing the students' chances of passing their examinations. Mauritius will need such a support system for its secondary schools for a long time to come. It will be many years before the Ministry of Education can exercise effective control over the standards and facilities of the private schools, and it will be at least as many years before a stable and trained teaching force is available to staff them. The evidence of MCA costs from 1973 to 1976 illustrates that such a support system can be provided, if it is on a large enough scale, at costs that compare favorably with the costs of other forms of support, such as textbooks and private instruction. To obtain the economies of scale that THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE 125

are possible, however, a large proportion of the private secondary schools will have to be enrolled. The most expensive element of the system is television, though the economies of scale here become even more significant with very large enrollments.

Notes to Chapter 5

1. World Bank, EducationSector Working Paper (Washington. D.C., 1974). 2. In 1973,less than 50 percent of any age group went to school at all. Because of a rapid decline in the birth rate in the mid-1960sand a substantialincrease in the number of private secondary school placesbetween 1975 and 1978,this percentage has risen dramaticallyand universal education is now in sight. 3. Tony Dodds, The MauritiusCollege of the Air: The First Two Years (Cambridge: International Extension College. 1975), pp. 15-16. 4. The figures on which the calculationsin this entire section on resources, finance, and cost are based were provided by the head of production and administrationand the accounts officer of the MCA. Without their valuable assistance, it would have been impossible to compile this case study. 5. Conversion rates during the relevant period were as follows: April 1973 Rs5.37= US$1.00 April 1974 Rs5.58= US$1.00 April 1975 Rs5.60= US$1.00 April 1976Rs6.87 = US$1.00 6. Dodds, The MauritiusCollege of the Air, p. 32. 7. Ibid., pp. 31-32.

PART THREE Case Studies of V Out-of-school Equivalency Programs

The Korean Air-Correspondence High School

Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite

THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (South Korea) has had a remarkable economic growth in recent years. Its gross national product, adjusted for inflation, increased at an average rate of 11 percent a year during 1965-70, and at about 10 percent a year in the 1970s. Even though the country has few natural resources, its growth has been achieved by rapid industrial expansion and the application of human skills to manufacturing. Although the rapid population growth of the postwar years at first outran the increase in agricultural production, this situation has now been rectified; in 1977, Korea resumed its export of rice. Education and training have played a more important role in Korea's economic development than in many countries. Indeed, the nation's greatest asset today is its literate, skilled, and highly motivated labor force. The literacy rate, only 22 percent in 1945, reached 92 percent in 1973. Elementary education is universal, and substantial proportions of the relevant age groups attend middle and high school (81 percent and 47 percent, respectively). The country has three types of educational institutions: national, financed exclusively by the central government; public, financed jointly by central and local governments; and private, financed by private organizations or individuals. Responsibility for educational administration in the public sector is shared between the Ministry of Education and the regional boards of education, which operate in nine provinces and the two largest cities. These governmental bodies bear a considerable portion of public education costs at the lower levels of schooling, while private funding shares an increasing amount at the higher levels. Table 6-1 shows the distribution of enrollments among national, public, and private institutions in 1977.

129 130 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 6-1. Enrollment Distribution in Korean Educational Institutions, 1977

Total Distribution(percent) Level (thousands) National Public Private Primary school 5,514 negligible 99 1 Middle school 2,196 negligible 60 40 High school 1,350 1 42 57 Higher education 363 26 2 72 Other institutions 150 3 2 95

The Ministry of Education's main work is undertaken through various departments. One of them, Social Education, assumes responsibility for the Air-Correspondence High School (ACHS). In addition, the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), an autonomous and independent research institution, provides information to the ministry. The educational system comprises the following levels: * Primary school (grades 1-6), compulsory for ages six to eleven. * Middle school (grades 7-9), for ages twelve to fourteen with open entry for all primary school graduates. * High school (grades 10-12), for ages fifteen to seventeen with entry on a selective basis from middle school. High schools are either general, emphasizing arts and sciences, or vocational, emphasizing technical, commercial, agricultural, or other vocational studies. * Higher education of two levels, with competitive entry for high school graduates. Junior college education offers two- or three-year courses in vocational subjects, including primary teacher training. University or college education is cf four to six years' duration. In addition, there are nearly 500 other educational institutions including civic, trade, and special schools, most of them in the private sector. Table 6-2 provides basic data on the South Korean educational system. The system, which now enrolls about 25 percent of the country's population, shows the emphasis Koreans place on education. Education confers substantial benefits, both directly in the form ofjobs and promotion, and indirectly in social esteem. The efforts made by individuals and their families to acquire education are indicated by the high proportion of private expenditure paid as fees in public high schools and higher educational institutions, and by the numbers who attend private establishments. The remarkable growth in education at all levels, despite the devastation of the war in the 1950s, has had some negative aspects, including the following: primary schools have to operate on the shift system; class sizes are large (up to sixty students a class in some high schools); the curriculum KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 131

in the general schools is overacademic; opportunities are greater in urban areas than in rural; and there is little provision for part-time evening school. Notwithstanding these problems (fewer than in many comparable countries), the system is administered by a relatively small bureaucracy and almost all teachers are qualified, if not always trained in pedagogy. The targets for further development, which are sound in nature and reasonable in scope, include providing free textbooks, reducing class sizes, increasing middle school enrollment to 90 percent, providing grants to help pay personnel costs at private schools, and extending vocational education. The ACHS project must be assessed and evaluated against this background of a population actively seeking the economic and social values of education.

The Origin of the Project

The government has enunciated equity and social development as key development goals of the five-year plans. Those who missed the chance of pursuing formal education for socioeconomic and other reasons are to be given a second opportunity. It is clear that there is a continuing demand for education in Korea. The statistics in table 6-2 show that up to and through middle school the demand for education is largely being met. More than half of the high-school-age population, however, is not attending school; most of them are now in the labor force. The government plans to provide universal middle school education for all relevant age groups and increase the places in high schools to accommodate middle school graduates, so that the proportion of high school graduates will progressively increase. Nevertheless, a residue will remain for a number of years, including older persons who did not get a chance to attend high school. It is estimated that about 1.4 million high-school-age children did not attend high school in 1977, and to them must be added well over half of the higher age groups. An even bigger shortfall exists at the postsecondary level. To meet this need, a new institution, the Korea Air-Correspondence Junior College * (KACOJUC), was established in 1972. This junior college, which is attached to Seoul National University, is intended to provide educational opportunity for those who missed out on higher education during their earlier years for economic reasons or lack of educational facilities. About 80 percent of its students are employed. The college operates through radio and correspondence courses, allowing students from two to six years to complete the equivalent of the two-year full-time course. Radio broadcasts are given daily from 6:05 to 6:50 A.M. and from 11:00 to 11:45 P.M. Table 6-2. Key Indicatorsof the Korean Educational Sector, 1977 Enrollment Number Percentin Percentof Number Pupil- of Total private relevant of teacher Level institutions (thousands) education agegroup teachers ratio

Primary school 6,408 5,514 1 98.4 112,997 49:1 Middle school 1,987 2,196 40 81.1 49,249 45:1 High school General 716 795 60 28.1 24,093 33:1 Vocational 499 555 51 19.6 17,771 31:1 Junior collegc 112 90 77 4.8 3,532 26:1 Juniior teachers college 16 4 0 0.2 725 5:1 Higher education 60 269 72 6.0 11,102 24:1 Other institutions 482 150 94 n.a. 5,988 25:1 n.a. = Not applicable. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 133

Texts, prepared by the college faculty, are supplied for self-study, and regular assignments are allotted, marked, and evaluated. Four weeks of regular attendance, two in each major vacation period, have to be undertaken at one of the forty-three higher educational institutions, where special courses are arranged for students. Courses of instruction are offered in agriculture, elementary teacher education, business management, public administration, and home economics. The inevitable shortcomings, typical of distance-learning systems, are present-for example, a 40 percent drop-out rate during the first year, and a modest overall pass rate (32 percent of total enrollment). Nevertheless, in 1977 the air correspondence college had an enrollment of over 52,000, with more than 92,000 applicants seeking 24,000 places. The government, which assists the college by providing the broadcasting service and paying its costs and by subsidizing the tuition costs to the students, is so im- pressed with what has been achieved that it proposes to extend the air correspondence college to four-year, full university level courses in 1980. Based on this experience, the government decided to provide similar opportunities at the high school level, even though the need at this level will gradually be reduced as full-time education is extended. The government approached KEDI to plan and operate the necessary services, including developing textbooks, marking, tutoring, and broadcasting. In March 1974, KEDI established the Air-Correspondence High School to provide at the high school level what was operating at the junior college level, using the same principles and the same media.

The Operation of the Project

This section covers the administration, the curriculum, the methods of instruction, and the students. It draws heavily from a 1976 report prepared by KEDI, entitled Development of the Air-Correspondence High School in Korea.

Administration

In establishing the Air-Correspondence High School, KEDI had to pay due regard to the responsibility for educational administration shared between the central Ministry of Education and the regional boards of * education, and to the views of the individual high schools that were to participate in the project at the local level. Responsibility was allocated as follows. The Ministry of Education is responsible for setting basic policy, developing the curriculum, approving the establishment of participating schools, approving textbooks, and generally supervising the project. The 134 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY regional boards of education select the participating local schools, assign students to these schools for their attendance requirement, and provide local supervision. KEDI develops the textbooks, produces and broadcasts the radio programs, selects the authors to develop course details, designs books and evaluation materials, and compiles relevant statistics.

Curriculum

The curriculum of ACHS is basically the same as that of a regular high school (RHS), with some adjustments for the unique instructional methods OfACHS. Consequently, the educational philosophy and objectives ofACHS reflect those of the regular high schools. To obtain the ACHS diploma, the student must complete 204 units of study over the three grades of the course. These units cover fourteen subjects including Korean, social science, mathematics, science, physical education, military training, English, German, music, and a vocational option. A unit represents fifty minutes of instruction a week per semester. The student is expected to put in 1,224 hours of study a year, divided among self-study (862 hours), instruction at a center (182 hours), and instruction by radio (180 hours).

Methods of Instruction

The ACHS relies basically on self-study instruction, but it offers considerable supplementary support to the student. This support consists of specially designed supplementary textbooks; carefully programmed assignments for the student that are duly marked and assessed; radio broadcasts that are integrated with the course; attendance at educational centers every other Sunday for further instruction; correspondence by mail between student and teacher if special problems are met; and monitoring and testing.

SELF-STUDY. The ACHS course is designed to enable students to do self-study at home for the majority of the time involved. The various aids merely supplement this basic requirement. Students are expected to work four hours a day for three or more years, following the pattern of programmed assignments that KEDI suggests annually. The student is not obliged to follow this pattern precisely, but is expected to keep and use a self-study notebook. The assessment of this notebook forms part of the final requirement for the high school diploma, which marks the successful completion of the course.

TEXTBOOKS. The student's work is based on the textbook prescribed for each course. As each course has more than one textbook, a student has to KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 135

buy and use about twenty books a year. The Ministry of Education approves the textbooks that are to be used in the various school grades. Because the ACHS is providing a regular high school course, merely using alternative methods, it has to use basically the same textbooks. While educators commissioned by KEDI have written some special textbooks, most of their efforts have been devoted to adapting and enlarging the existing textbooks. This has been done by adding substantial details of supplementary explanation to the standard texts, by incorporating suggestions to assist the student, and by providing supplemental exercises and self-evaluation tests. These exercises and additional data are interspersed in each chapter or section of the text. In addition, appendixes and glossa- ries are added, and answers to the exercises are given at the end of each book. The result is a bigger and longer volume that provides much more assistance to the student. Indeed, were it not for the fact that the Ministry of Education controls the number of such books produced, as well as their sale to registered ACHS students, the books would enjoy greatly extended sales. They are highly valued by regular high school pupils when they can obtain them. By 1977, some sixty-two textbooks had been prepared by KEDI, covering the whole range of the curriculum.

PROGRAMMED ASSIGNMENTS. Programmed assignments are of two types: one for self-assessment, and the other for marking by a teacher. Five to ten of the former are included in a textbook, at the end of each unit or chapter. Two to five of the latter are found at appropriate points in the texts; they are submitted to the teacher either by mail or at the Sunday instructional sessions. In addition, examinations are set each semester and each year. Students are expected to prepare self-study outlines to help them to schedule their work and to ensure that they maintain a regular program of work. This is essential if they are to keep pace with the radio broadcasts, since the broadcasts are fixed and the student must keep up to date in order to obtain maximum benefit. The KEDI staff writers or editors have prepared model study outlines that are available to the students.

RADIO BROADCASTS. KEDI has made instruction by radio an essential and integral part of ACHS teaching because of the prevalence of radios-127 radio receivers are available for every 1,000 persons, or about 0.7 radio per household. ACHS radio programs are broadcast 313 days a year, with each broadcast lasting thirty minutes and covering two subjects a broadcast. The broadcasts are aired 5:30-6:00 A.M. and, depending on the station, for half an hour between 10:00 P.M. and 12:30 A.M. (that is, up to and after midnight). Altogether, for the three grades of instruction, 792 radio lessons were broadcast in 1976. This means that the students have only one opportunity to hear each broadcast. They are expected to make notes of the radio lessons and, at least five times a semester, these are examined by 136 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY teachers at the educational center as part of performance evaluation. In addition to the regular radio lessons, special overview, guidance, and motivational programs are broadcast at the beginning and end of each semester; these account for 10 to 20 percent of the total programs produced. The ACHS section of KEDI's Research and Development Department is responsible both for compiling ACHS textbooks and for planning ACHS radio programs. As such, the contents of the radio programs are always produced along with the textbooks. The overall planning of the program production process is helped by two kinds of consultative committees: one comprises broadcasting teachers and KEDI staff, and the other comprises forty-five ACHS chief instructors and KEDI staff. The latter, which is more formal, meets once a semester to review the feedback from ACHS teachers and their opinions on the next semester's scheme. Each ACHS school appoints a chief instructor who controls all the ACHS activities in that school. Technical production and transmission of educational radio and television programs, including the ACHS programs, are handled by KEDI'S Educational Broadcasting Department. For the ACHS programs, one producer is responsible for the ACHS programs for each grade; thus, three producers are working for ACHS in the Radio Programme Production Section. (This section also produces school radio programs to be broadcast in the daytime.) These producers, in consultation with the ACHS section of the Research and Development Department, select the broadcasting teachers from among the best high school teachers in each subject after auditions in studios. Some of them are ACHS teachers. They usually write students' guides for the radio programs, which KEDI compiles for every semester to be distributed free of charge to all ACHS students. They also produce, if needed, radio program scripts. Programs are recorded at KEDI'S studios under the direction of KEDI's producers. KEDI has two well- equipped studios, one for talks and the other for dramatic presentation. ACHS programs, however, seldom use dramatic formats. After the ACHS programs are recorded, KEDI sends the recorded tapes to three major radio stations in Seoul (KBS, MBC, and CBS), each of which operates a nationwide radio network. KEDI has contracts with these networks to transmit the ACHS programs. All three networks have well- equipped and dependable facilities and together now cover more than 80 percent of the total Korean population. They are not, however, eager to allocate to KEDI the time most convenient to ACHS students. KEDI originally planned to cover the whole country with its own FM radio, using two tethered balloons as the platform for its television and radio transmitters. Unfortunately, this most recent technical advance in transmission systems did not work well, and KEDI dismantled the facilities except the relay KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 137

facility near KEDI'S main building. This facility will be converted to a regular studio-transmitter link. The failure of the balloon system not only delayed the completion of KEDI'S own transmission network, but also disturbed the integrated use of radio lessons in ACHS. KEDI now intends to build ground television and FM radio networks, using some transmission and linking facilities in common. The new FM network, consisting of forty-three stations, will be constructed during the 1978-80 period at a cost of about US$5.3 million. Also, two new radio studios costing about US$500,000 will be built. When the new radio network is completed, it is expected that ACHS will be able to use radio lessons more frequently and to interweave them fully with their other instructional methods.

ATTENDANCE AT EDUCATIONAL CENTERS. Every other Sunday, twenty- six times each year, the student is expected to attend an educational center for face-to-face education. The centers are existing regular high schools selected by the regional education boards. These centers have included prestigious public high schools in order to attract the ACHS target groups. Each Sunday session covers seven class periods. The teaching is provided by regular high school teachers, who attend that day for the appropriate time they are required. The school principal assigns the teachers needed, arranges for the school facilities, and gives general supervision. The teachers are paid for this duty. KEDI allocates the time to each subject to be taught at the centers. Emphasis is given to those subjects that are deemed difficult for the student to learn by self-study or by radio lessons, or to those subjects that include any practical work. In addition, the instruction period affords students the opportunity to raise questions and seek some measure of individual guidance from the teachers, although this is not easy to achieve in a typical group of forty students. The students have to make their own arrangements to attend and this can involve considerable time, trouble, and expense. If a student misses more than one-third of the total possible Sunday sessions, he is disqualified from promotion to the next grade. Some centers were begun with enthusiasm, but not enough students attended to justify their retention. Altogether, fifty-three centers have been started, but the number in operation in 1977 was only forty. About 78 percent of the ACHS students attend centers on Sundays. This is reasonable in view of the problems of travel, the costs, and the fact that some students have to work on Sundays, either regularly or on shift duties.

CORRESPONDENCE BY MAIL. If a student does not have the opportunity to get help from a teacher in a Sunday class, or when a student has a particular problem, he or she may write to the teacher concerned at the regular high Table 6-3. Number of Students Enrolled, Continuing, and Graduating in ACHS, 1974-77 Continuedto Continuedto Year of Enrolled grade2 grade3 Graduated Enrollment Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 00 1974 5,861 100 3,629 62 2,894 49 2,680 46 1975 12,269 100 8,081 66 6,733 55 - - 1976 7,827 100 5,278 67 - - - - 1977 9,960 100 ------KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 139 school and ask for help or advice. Each student is limited to two such occasions a semester. Clearly, the scope of such assistance is small, but it does afford a student some opportunity for help in particular difficulty- for example, in solving a mathematical problem.

MONITORING AND TESTING. The student's progress is monitored and assessed by the methods described. Each semester, two examinations are set and marked: one at midterm by the ACHS instructor, and the other by KEDI at the end of the semester. KEDI takes great care and trouble in developing, selecting, marking, and adjudicating these tests. In compiling the final assessment for the year's work, the weighting given to the various items is as follows: Item Percent Student's written assignments 10 Radio notebook assessment 10 Semester examination 30 Yearly grade examination 50 Total 100

At the end of the third grade, KEDI sets and marks the final graduation examination for the diploma.

The Students The number of students admitted to the schools each year from 1974 to 1977, the totals actively studying, and those promoted are given in table 6-3. Table 6-4 shows the distribution of the 18,782 enrolled students in 1976 by age. About 93 percent of the students are between fifteen and twenty-

Table 6-4. Number of ACHS Students by Age and Sex, 1976 Total students Male Female Age Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Below 15 184 0.98 80 0.77 104 1.24 15-17 4,700 25.02 2,387 22.92 2,313 27.64 18-20 8,364 44.53 4,709 45.21 3,655 43.68 21-23 3,330 17.73 1,601 15.37 1,729 20.66 24-26 1,131 6.02 739 7.10 392 4.69 27-29 557 2.97 468 4.49 89 1.06 30-32 249 1.33 213 2.05 36 0.43 33-35 165 0.88 135 1.30 30 0.36 36-38 57 0.30 47 0.45 10 0.12 Over 38 45 0.24 36 0.35 9 0.12 Total 18,782a 100.00 10,415 100.00 8,367 100.(0 a. This total is smaller than the initial enrollment in 1976. 140 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY six, and only 25 percent are between fifteen and seventeen. The majority of students in regular high schools fall in this latter range. Thus, three or four years have passed since most ACHS students completed middle school. The age profile shows no significant differences between male and female students. The majority of students (60 percent) live in large cities (with a population of over 1 million); the remaining students are evenly distributed between medium and small cities. A marked feature of ACHS is that approximately 70 percent of all ACHS students are currently employed, mostly as skilled and semiskilled workers or as service workers in enterprises or family business. A higher percentage of male students than of female are employed-76 percent of male students compared with 63 percent of females.

Evaluation of the Project

The ACHS project was initiated as part of government's general education plan: to provide equitable opportunities and personal satisfaction for those students who, because of financial or other difficulty, had been unable to obtain high school education through the regular day schools. Because evening high school courses can hardly meet the needs of this target population, most of whom are employed, and because such courses are not available to rural inhabitants, the government believed that ACHS would offer the best alternative. Government officials apparently believe that the ACHS has not been as successful in meeting this aim as the Air-CorrespondenceJunior College, on whose example and precedent it was established. The reasons given are that first, fewer older people than expected have taken advantage of it, and second, the number of young persons without a high school diploma, an important target group, will decline annually. This assessment does not, however, appear valid. In fact, students' motives appear to be practical, economic ones. They strongly expect economic benefits from the project-such as gaining higher-paid jobs or more interesting assignments in their present job, and enhancing their career prospects generally. The possession of a high school diploma is a prerequisite for higher-grade jobs in many fields, including the army and the police. In Korea, the earnings differentials between workers with a high school education and those with only a middle school education are substantial. In 1976, these differentials were as high as 74 percent at entry level and then tapered off gradually as employees gained experience or on-the-job training. The fact that few older people take advantage of the ACHS indicates the economic nature of the project's objectives. As workers get older, their investments in high school education produce returns over KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 141

a shorter period, and these returns are less attractive than those of on-thejob training. The second argument is also tenuous, because only 50 percent of the high-school-age population are in school, and it will be quite a while before that number reaches 80 to 90 percent. The planned middle school enrollment rate of 90 percent by 1990, coupled with an improvement in the rate of students who progress on to - high school from 75 percent at present to 90 percent by 1990, will lead to an increased high school enrollment. The scope and need for ACHS will thus diminish. Nevertheless, the ACHS would seem to be a viable institution for at least ten to fifteen years. It may well be that the government expected a higher enrollment in ACHS than has materialized. In 1976, the total population aged eighteen to twenty (among whom are the biggest group of the ACHS students) was estimated at about 2,580,000. About 43 percent of this age group may have obtained their high school diplomas in the regular high school, leaving some 1,440,000 who did not. Of this number, only 8,364, or 0.6 percent, were enrolled in the ACHS. The government certainly needs to help promote ACHS more actively since, with a greater enrollment, the project could take advantage of the economies of scale inherent in its instructional methods. So far, however, the government has taken relatively little active part in the project. It initiated ACHS without bearing any costs, and it has not appointed any full-time inspector to supervise the project's operation or to monitor its working or results at the national level. Local authorities have assigned some overseeing duties to some of their inspectors, but they are over- loaded and seem to have little direct contact with the ACHS.

Methods of Instruction

SELF-STUDY. Students in the ACHS are diversified in age and educational background (see table 6-4). Many have not attended school for one or more years since completing middle school, so learning is difficult for them. Both the teachers and KEDI generally agree that the greatest difficulty in teaching arises from the students' lack of educational background. On the other hand, it is to provide compensatory education to such deprived students that ACHS exists at all. This is recognized by KEDI, which has endeavored to help with the difficulties. It has produced and distributed free both a handbook to guide the students generally in how to learn and a corresponding handbook for the radio lessons and all the details in the specially prepared textbooks. In addition, in 1975 KEDI published two issues of a newsletter to assist students' morale; unfortunately, the publication was discontinued because of financial constraints. The students greatly appreciated this document, and its loss has been unfortunate. 142 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Despite continued efforts, the educational problems of teaching students with varied backgrounds will remain.

TEXTBOOKS AND PROGRAMMED ASSIGNMENTS. The students and teachers are all satisfied with the sixty-two textbooks developed by KEDI. They are so good, in fact, that many ACHS teachers use them in regular high schools. They also enjoy high esteem among students in regular high schools.

RADIO BROADCASTS. Radio broadcasts are not used as effectively as they ought to be for two reasons. The first is the times of the broadcasts, which are either early in the morning or late at night. Shortages of funds and air time prevent more conveniently timed broadcasts. Undoubtedly, a special broadcasting band and additional transmission services would solve the educational problem, but financial constraints have precluded this solution previously. Whether it would still be profitable for the government to invest in such hardware is examined in the appendix to this study. The second educational shortcoming derives from the short period ofthe radio lesson. When only fifteen minutes are available, the broadcaster inevitably attempts to do too much in the time. As lessons are not repeated, the student can miss many of them altogether. An early survey made by KEDI found that only 54 percent of the ACHS students listened regularly to the broadcasts and half of those sampled stated that the educational lessons went too fast; 85 percent, however, found the radio lessons valuable. Repeat broadcasts were available only in 1974. In addition to these major problems, the available funds allow only one broadcaster per program. No dramatic presentations can be financed, or special effects introduced, to enliven the programs. A rapid talk by an academic teacher who is attempting to pack the maximum data into his fifteen-minute allocation is hardly educationally desirable. A further difficulty is that the ACHS teacher ought to be aware of what is done on the radio and integrate his Sunday teaching with it. In fact, few teachers listen to the radio lessons because of the awkward hours of broadcasts. As few students listen either, the Sunday class teacher tries to cover the educational functions of the radio programs as well, thus aggravating the problem. To make matters worse, some students have only cheap radio sets which often do not pick up the ACHS programs. The present situation therefore is that the broadcast element of the ACHS, while making a useful contribution, is a good deal less effective than it could be. Because of this, KEDI has so far focused its attention on the printed media, its textbooks. Another reason why radio has not yet become an integral element in the ACHS course is that KEDI first compiles the ACHS textbooks and then, on the basis of their contents, plans the radio lessons. Unfortunately, the textbook authors, who are usually university professors, think little of the KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 143

integrated use of radio. This means that the broadcasting teachers and the KEDI staff members in charge of radio instruction must work to dovetail radio programs with printed texts that have already been produced. KEDI is fully aware of this shortcoming and intends to improve the planning process for radio program production. KEDI is scheduled to revise the ACHS textbooks in 1979; before finally deciding upon their contents, KEDI will coordinate the roles of all the media used for ACHS: textbooks, radio programs, classroom instruction, and students' assignments.

ATTENDANCE AT EDUCATIONAL CENTERS. The ACHS project faces two problems connected with attendance at the educational centers. The first is the physical difficulty of attending the centers. Because Korea is largely mountainous, traveling is difficult. Some potential students may live too far from a center to enroll in the course at all. Despite efficient bus services, the difficulty and the cost of getting to an ACHS center every other Sunday throughout the year put a strain on the student, and may have caused the high dropout rates in the first year. Nevertheless, as shown in table 6-5, the overall attendance rate is about 80 percent, which is remarkably high. Men attend less regularly than women because more of them work full time. Also, the older the student, the greater is his or her enthusiasm to attend. A second problem is how best to allocate the seven fifty-minute periods available in order to give the greatest help to the students. The teacher has to decide between giving individual help to students with problems and providing a group teaching session in accordance with the syllabus for the grade. Inevitably, the latter predominates and the individuals' problems remain unsolved. This is unfortunate, because a chief objective of the direct teaching sessions was to solve students' problems and answer the questions they face in self-study and radio instruction. Teachers trained in traditional instructional methods find it difficult to adapt to less formal techniques, and they require training in such methods. Because of the follow-up that KEDI has organized, it has been decided that the best way of using Sunday class time is to concentrate on the key elements of each subject. This does not, however, solve individual problems, and the lack of such help only contributes to the dropout rate.

* Table 6-5. Rates of Attendance at AC-IS, 1975 (percent) GradeI Grade2 Semester Male Female Total Male Female Total

First 78.8 84.5 81.1 78.3 83.3 80.3 Second 69.7 81.1 74.3 75.0 82.1 77.0 144 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Although workshops and laboratories of high schools are available for the Sunday classes, little use seems to be made of them. Lessons tend to be didactic and confined to desk work. A further shortcoming is that the number of class periods allocated to individual subjects has been too rigid. Certain subjects require more time in classroom teaching (for example, mathematics and science), while others are more amenable to self-study or radio instruction (for example, language). This issue can be solved by readjustment in the light of experience. The ACHS teachers are overworked. They have the normal load of g daytime high school teaching, often with classes of up to sixty, and then their Sunday class load. In addition, they have to mark and assess their students' written assignments and radio lesson notes. All these have an unfortunate effect on teaching in the regular high schools. One such effect is that absences from work in the day schools are noticeably higher on Mondays.

CORRESPONDENCE BY MAIL. Although the opportunity to get help by mail is excellent in design, the requirement of attendance at Sunday classes has made this method less important, and little use seems to be made of it. It is used mainly in mathematics and science.

MONITORING AND TESTING. No particularly difficult problems seem to have arisen in implementing the programmed assignments and periodic examinations. What has been missing is a built-in evaluation mechanism in the ACHS project. It would have been easier for research workers to assess the effectiveness of the project had a control group been selected, a pretest conducted on both the control group and the experimental groups of ACHS students, and longitudinal data on the academic achievement and cost trends compiled periodically.

Educational Achievement of the Project Evaluation of a project depends on the goals and objectives chosen, to which available resources have been devoted. In an educational project, the attainment of the objectives is assumed to be a function of educational achievement, which can be considered to comprise both internal efficiency and academic achievement.

INTERNAL EFFICIENCY. The data on the number of students admitted, enrolled, and promoted are given in tables 6-3 and 6-4. These data can be compared with those of similar projects in Korea. The most similar project in terms of objectives, target groups, and instructional methods is the Korean Air-Correspondencejunior College (KACOJUC) project. Table KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 145

Table 6-6. Internal Efficiency of the Korean Air- Correspondence Junior College, 1972-75

Graduated after Completion Number of 2 3 4 5 rate Year enrollments years years years years Total (percent) 1972 11,172 2,751 544 215 87 3,597 32.2 1973 10,525 2,599 590 128 - 3,317 31.5 1974 10,796 2,412 262 - - 2,674 24.8 1975 10,944 1,690 - - - 1.690 15.4 Source:The Korean Air-CorrespondenceJunior College.

6-6 shows the internal efficiency of KACOJUC, as measured by the number of students completing the course. Table 6-6 shows that, since the beginning of the project, some 22 percent of all enrolled students completed their course after two years of study (that is, 25 percent, 25 percent, 22 percent, and 15 percent of each of the four cohorts after two years of study) and 30 percent completed the course after three years. KACOJUC claims that this latter figure compares favorably with 19 percent in Japan. ACHS has achieved higher internal efficiency than KACOJUC. Since the precise dropout rate in KACOJUC cannot be measured, the two projects can be better compared in terms of the completion rate. The results of ACHS'S first final examination for graduates are: Successful completion Pass Students Known Students who Students who rate rate admitted to have took the passed the (4) . (1) (4) (3) in 1974 dropped out examination examination (percent) (percent) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) 5,861 2,967 2,894 2,680 46 93

The results for ACHS appear better than those for KACOJUC. The completion rate of 46 percent is quite remarkable and compares favorably with the corresponding figure of 25 percent in KACOJUC. Such a high completion rate is most unusual in any such part-time distance-learning scheme. And these results relate only to students taking the examination at their 4 first attempt, in the minimum time possible. As was indicated in table 6-6 relating to KACOJUC, subsequent attempts will raise the completion rate; thus, the 1977 figures should not be taken as the ultimate success rate. One reason that the completion rate of ACHS is so high may be that the examination is conducted by the individual high school concerned, and it is suspected that leniency was used on this first cohort. Because the diploma granted carries the name of the regular high school to which the 146 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

ACHS is attached, however, the usually prestigious high school is not likely to lower its standards unreasonably. The fact remains that the first-year results are unusually successful. Due credit must be given to the Korean student body, as well as the government authorities and KEDI, which has maintained a high level of r motivation. Distance learning is not easy in any circumstances. Often the student is employed and he or she has to study following a day's work, frequently in crowded or inadequate accommodation. Added to this is the lack of the stimulus and moral support of working alongside his or her e peers. To these problems, the Korean ACHS adds the time, cost, and difficulty of fortnightly attendance at a center, on the only free day in a week, plus the strain of rising early and staying up late to listen to radio broadcasts. These conditions must be taken into account not only in measuring internal efficiency, but also in assessing academic achievement.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. It must be assumed that the initial academic quality of the ACHS students is lower than that of regular high school students, since most of the former have been out of schooling two to three years and those able middle school graduates who were not prevented by poverty would already be in attendance at regular high schools. KEDI has made an assessment of this issue. At the outset of 1976, the same tests were given to samples of first-year regular high school and ACHS students. Table 6-7 shows three differences: the lower attainment level of students with whom ACHS has to work (on the average, 42 percent lower than the attainment level of regular high school students); the greater individual diversity within the ACHS group; and the particularly marked difference in national language and foreign language.

Table 6-7. Tests of the Prerequisite Academic Level of ACHS and Regular High School Students, 1976 (maximum score: 100) (1) ~~ ~~(2)(2-1 RHS students ACHS students Difference Subjects Score Index Score Index Score Index

Mean of all subjects 46.80 100 29.67 63 17.13 -37 Standard deviation 11.36 100 8.08 71 3.31 -29 Sample size 2,094 1,624 Korean 17.59 100 13.79 78 3.80 - 22 English 13.94 100 7.67 55 6.27 -45 Mathematics 15.27 100 8.21 54 7.06 -46 KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 147

Table 6-8. Comparison of Year-end Test Scores between ACHS and Regular High Schools, 1975 (maximum score: 100)

(1) (2)(2-1 RHS students ACHS students Difference Subjects Score Index Score Index Score Index

' Mean of all subjects 64.10 100 56.50 88 7.60 -12 Standard deviation 8.12 100 9.98 123 1.86 +23 Sample size 1,300 3,336 Korean 65.80 100 51.50 78 -14.30 -22 English 50.20 100 36.80 73 -13.40 -27 Mathematics 75.00 100 44.00 59 -31.00 -41

To compare the level of academic achievement between ACHS and regular high school students, the same tests were given to students of eight regular high schools to which ACHS was attached and two private high schools at the end of one year. The results are shown in table 6-8. The academic achievement ofACHS students was about 12 percent lower on the average than that of regular high school students, and the difference was greater particularly in mathematics, Korean, and English. The differences were statistically significant at a high level of probability (at 1 percent level). The same pattern of difference also appeared between sexes, and individual differences were greater among ACHS students, particularly among male students. Considering the difficult circumstances facing ACHS students, it is not unexpected that the academic achievement of ACHS students is lower than that of regular high school students. It has been shown in the experience with distance learning at university degree level in Australia, Holland, the United States, and the United Kingdom that adult students can achieve better results, since they are able to add maturity to motivation. In the Korean ACHS, the students are mostly below the critical age of about twenty-four, usually associated with success in other distance-learning projects. The relatively low test scores probably are not attributable to the instructional methods of ACHS. Indeed, a comparison of the scores of students in regular high schools and in ACHS shows that the gap in test scores narrowed from 37 percent at the outset of the courses down to 12 percent after one year of ACHS instruction (see tables 6-7 and 6-8). This improvement had taken place in every major subject, particularly in mathematics and English. In fact, the pace with which the score gap had been closed is so impressive that it may be postulated that the instructional method of ACHS has been much more effective than that of regular high 148 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY schools in improving the academic achievement level of high school students. (Of course, one must be cautioned that the two tests were not designed to test such a hypothesis. The year-end achievement test was given to a freshmen group earlier and the prerequisite capability test was given to another freshmen group one year later. Therefore, instead of one, two different groups took the two tests. There would be no reason to believe, however, that the two freshmen groups with a one-year time-lag would have substantially different prerequisite capability.) ACHS is less satisfactory if achievement is measured by the number of students who continued into higher education. The number who actually applied is not available, but KEDI estimates that about 200 graduates of 1977 proceeded to junior colleges, and a similar number to the Air- CorrespondenceJunior College. The actual number who gained places in a full four-year university course was only 43. Thus, about one-sixth (17 percent) of the first-year graduates may proceed to some form of higher education, but only one-sixtieth (1.6 percent) go to universities proper. Neither the government nor the majority of students, however, have set continuation into higher education as a goal or an objective of the ACHS.

Finance and Cost-Effectiveness of the Project

For Korea as a whole, responsibility for educational finance is shared by the central government, the regional boards of education, and private, nonprofit bodies. Depending on the shares of financial responsibility, educational institutions are classified as national, public, and private schools. Distribution of these types of institutions varies at the different levels of education (table 6-1). Even among schools of the same type, financial arrangements vary at different levels of education. Table 6-9 summarizes the share of public education expenditures by financing source. Three distinctive features of Korean educational finance can be observed. One is that, although provincial education boards are responsible for financing of public schools, a large part of public school expenditure (about 70 percent) is financed with central government grants, which are derived from general tax revenues. Another feature is that national and public formal education depend heavily on parents' contributions in the form of tuition fees and parent-teachers association (PTA) dues. This is particularly conspicuous at the middle and high school levels. The share of parental contributions at these levels ranges between 42 percent and 67 percent of the total. The last feature is that private schools receive little support from government-only 1 percent to 3 percent of their financing, except at the primary school level. Almost all the costs incurred in private schools are borne by parents. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGIH SCHOOL 149

Table 6-9. Share of Public Educational Expenditure in Korea by Financing Source, 1977 (percent)

Level of Type of Financing source education school Government Private Parent Other Total

Primary National 82 0 18 0 100 Public 96 0 4 0 100 Private 17 5 76 2 100 Middle National 45 0 55 0 100 Public 33 0 67 0 100 Private 3 2 92 3 100 High National 38 0 62 0 100 Public 58 0 42 0 100 Private 1 3 94 2 100 Junior College National 70 0 30 0 100 Public 60 0 40 0 100 Private 1 3 94 2 100 College National 69 0 31 0 100 Public 76 0 24 0 100 Private 1 4 92 3 100 Note: The figures include all expenditures deployed by the school, including expenses financed by parent-teachers association (PTA) dues and students' contributions for laboratory and practical work. Source: Based on preliminary figures supplied by KEDI.

The high proportion of education financed by fees is the result of the aggressive private demand for education, which has outstripped government's financing capacity to provide free places. As a high proportion of public high school expenditure is borne by parents, and as private schools provide the greater part of all post-middle school places, the high fees could constitute an effective barrier to less affluent but academically qualified applicants, and could cause social and economic inequity. At the high school level, students' annual fees in 1975 ranged, depending on the location of schools, between US$108 and US$170 in national and public schools and between US$126 and US$171 in private schools. At the central government level, the Ministry of Education is responsi- * ble for budgeting and programming of formal education. Since 1970 (except for the 1974-76 period), the ministry's education budget, which excludes expenses for central administration and science and arts organizations, has remained stable at around 17 percent of the total government budget. However, because of the important role of private schools and private contributions to public schooling, education expenditure as a share of gross national product is estimated at 5.6 percent; public expenditure accounts for slightly over one-half. 150 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Financing of the Project Unlike regular high schools financed by the central government and the provincial education board, the ACHS project has been financed entirely by the user fees. Although the central government allocates a budget for ACHS, this budget is based on the estimated receipts from the tuition and fees paid by ACHS students. Moreover, in certain years receipts from the r students might have exceeded the budgetary allocation for the ACHS project. Fees charged to ACHS students have been one-third of those paid by regular high school students. In 1976, they reached a maximum of US$60 a year in the special cities (Seoul and Busan). In addition, students have to purchase textbooks, which cost on the average US$20 a year. The Ministry of Education divides the total revenue from ACHS students into two parts: one is earmarked for the Korean Education Development Institute (KEDI), which is responsible for compilation of textbooks, production and broadcasting of radio programs, continuing evaluation of academic achievement, and research into the project; the other part is to be allocated to regional education boards, which are responsible for the establishment of the ACHS, selection of students, and supervision of the educational and administrative working of the ACHS. Each education board in turn allocates the budget to individual ACHS on the basis of the standard expenditure per class. Since this budgeting process is the same with the procedures used for all other levels of public education, the ACHS project does not add any additional overhead costs at the central and provincial levels. Realizing that complete self-financing is in conflict with the social equity objective of the project, and that even the comparatively low fees are burdensome to most ACHS students, the Ministry of Education decided to finance some major costs of ACHS. In 1977, the ministry paid the radio transmission fees with revenue derived from sources other than students' fees, and since 1978 it has also financed one-half of the textbook costs. The user fees, however, may account partly for the high degree of dedication and enthusiasm of ACHS students, and heavy subsidies might destroy the existing incentive system.

Cost Components Although the project started in 1974, detailed information on various components of the actual cost is available only for 1976, when the project schools had enrollments in all three grades for the first time. For the purpose of cost analysis, the total cost has been grouped into four instruc- KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 151

tional methods: printed materials, radio programs, classroom teaching, and administration and evaluation. For each instructional method, costs have been classified further by their nature: first, between capital and recurrent costs; second, between fixed and variable costs. In 1976, the total cost reached 553,711,000 won, which accounted for only 0.1 percent of the Ministry of Education's educational budget. Table 6-10 summarizes the financial costs of the project. (Details are found in appendix table 6-1 at the end of this chapter.) Some observations are in order. First, the total was evenly distributed among different categories of expenditure. This makes a sharp contrast with the cost pattern of conventional classroom teaching. This distinctive cost pattern of the ACHS draws mainly from that of the radio education method. As in many other countries, the conventional classroom teaching method allocated a great proportion (83 percent) of the total expenditure to personnel, whereas the dominating items in teaching by radio programs were nonpersonnel costs, especially the transmission of the programs. Although a large portion of textbook production costs may have included personnel costs, it was impossible to sort them out. The whole expenses involved in development, production, and distribution of the textbook had been included in a contract with the publishers. They in turn collected payments directly from ACHS students by sales of textbooks. Therefore, textbook costs have not been included in the government budget. Second, since the project has used existing broadcasting networks and did not invest in its own transmission facilities, a large sum has been paid for transmission fees. In 1976, which is a representative year, capital expenditure accounted for only 1 percent of the total cost. If capital costs are substantial, it would be correct to discount them at an appropriate rate over the life-cycle of capital. Capital costs involved in ACHS are so negligible, however, that no effort has been made to adopt such a method. Third, a large part (90 percent) of the total cost varies with the number of either students (N), student-hours (h,), broadcast-hours (hb), production-hours (hp), or student-hours involved in evaluation (Ne).

PRINTED MATERIALS. The major cost component in teaching by reading materials or self-study would be textbook costs, especially development and production costs. These costs are estimated at US$20 a student-year.

RADIO. In the cost of teaching by radio programs, there are three principal components: first, program production costs; second, program transmission fees; and third, production costs of guidebooks on learning through radio programs. The program production cost involves recurrent expenses for seven full-time persons (one announcer, three producers, one technician, and two administrators), and for materials and supplies.' The Table 6-10. Financial Costs Of ACHS, 1976 (thousands of won) Cost per student Reading Radio Classroom Administration Grand Thousands U. S. Item materials programs teaching and evaluation Subtotal total of won dollars Personnel services Fixed - 812 - 30,667 31 479 177 653 9.448 20 Variable' - 8,948 137,226 - 146,174f Percent - 6 83 77 32 Nonpersonnel services Fixed - 1,092 11,928 5,911 18,931 161 308 8.579 18 Variable - 139,581 2,796 - 142,377 Percent - 88 9 15 29 Materials and supplies Fixed - - - 2,313 2,313 211,920 11.132 23 Variable 188,020b 9,041 11,560 986 209,607 ' Percent 100 6 7 8 38 Equipment Fixed - 951 1,679 200 2,830 2,830 0.150 Variable - - - - - 2 Percent - 1 1 - I Total Fixed - 2,855 13,607 39,091 55,553 1 553 711 29.309 61 Variable 188,020 157,570 151,582 986 498,158I Percent 100 100 100 100 100

-= Negligible. Source: Appenidix table 6-1. a. Includes costs of persoinnel services atnd is paid dircctly by stuidenits. b. Variable with either the number of students or the number of studcnt-hours.

. * b , N'. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 153

recurrent production cost for a one-hour radio program is estimated at US$61. This cost stands at only 3 percent of the US$1,794 needed for production of a one-hour television program by the same KEDI team.' The transmission fees are one of the major components of total cost. In 1976, they reached 132,979,423 won, or 24 percent of the recurrent cost. It is difficult to estimate average unit costs for transmission because KEDI has had contracts with three networks (one national, KBS, and two private, CBS and MBC) and the unit costs for transmission have varied from station to * station and with the broadcasting time. Table 6-11 shows the transmission fees by network, coverage, and grade. It shows that fee differentials between national and commercial networks are substantial and reach as high as three times for the same broadcasting time. The table also shows the importance of economies of scale in terms of number of students covered. Costs per student-hour vary, ranging from US$0.027 to US$0.208. The annual average transmission cost per student-hour for the whole project stands at around US$0.10, and the annual average cost per broadcast-hour through six channels at US$307.

Table 6-11. The ACHS Transmission Network and Fees, 1976 Transmissionfees (U.S. dollars) Coverage Per student- Network Air time Areas Students Total hour

Grade I KBS 2 (600kWsa) 22:30-23:00 Seoul and its 3,665 18,421 0.027 vicinity CBS: 4 local stations 22:30-23:00 Busan and its 2.960 51,741 0.097 vicinity MBC: 8 local 24:00-00:30 Areas not 1,202 45,039 0.208 stations (900 kWs) covered by KBS and CBS Grade 2 05:30-06:00 Nationwide 8,081 116,069 0.079 MBc: National network (central and 19 local stations) Grade 3 KBS 2 22:00-22:30 Seoul and its 2,039 18,421 0(050 vicinity MBC: Busan station 22:30-23:00 Busan and its 855 25,059 0.162 (1,160 kWs) vicinity Total 18,802 274,750b 0.081 Note: For the period March 1, 1976, to February 28, 1977. Source: KEDI. a. Kilowatts. b. This amount is different from that of appendix table 6-1 mainly because of the differencein periods covered. Table 6-12. Comparisons of Time and Costs by AC-S Method of Instruction, 1976 Numberof hours Total cost Costper perstudent Costper studenthour Instructional Thousands student method Hours Percent of won Percent (U.S. dollars) U.S. dollars Index

Reading materials 862 69 188,020 34 20.00 0.02 40 Radio programs 180 14 160,425 29 17.63 0.10 200 Classroom teaching 182 15 165,189 30 18.15 0.10 200 Admsinistration and evaluation 28' 2 40,077 7 4.40 0.16 320 Total 1,252 100 553,711 100 60.84 0.05b 100

Sources:Ministry of Education and KEDI. a. Assigning seven hours to each of the four days that are set aside for evaluation at classrooms. b. The corresponditngcost for regular high schools is US$0.19. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 155

Every year, KEDI publishes a new guidebook on learning by radio programs and distributes it to all ACHS students. This publication costs about US$0.44 a student.

FACE-TO-FACE TEACHING. Teachers working with ACHS have had no special guidebooks. The costs for teacher training have been minimal because this has been provided mainly to the chief instructor responsible for coordinating instruction in each ACHS. These chiefinstructors, who are qualified teachers, receive training by attending national meetings organized by KEDI once or twice a year, and they in turn impart their knowledge and information to other instructors of each ACHS. The principal cost component in teaching in classroom is salaries and allowances for teachers and administrators working with ACHS. For each class-hour of teaching, ACHS teachers have received about US$2. In addition, each classroom master gets extra allowances of about US$30 a month. In 1976, these allowances were equivalent to US$0.09 a student class-hour. Although such allowances have been generous compared with salaries in regular high schools, few teachers are willing to teach ACHS on Sundays unless they are asked to do so. As an effort to provide additional incentives, in 1977 the government increased teaching allowances to US$4 a class-hour, which is comparable to fees paid to lecturers of Air- Correspondence Junior College vacation courses.

ADMINISTRATION AND EVALUATION. Central administration and evaluation involves two major fixed costs: one part includes salaries of KEDI'S research and evaluation team (six permanent staff) and allowances for task 'forces to develop tests; another part is earmarked mainly for advertisements through mass media with printing test and evaluation materials. This latter cost has been estimated at US$0.003 a student-evaluation hour. Since ACHS adopts a unique combination of instructional methods, it would be interesting to compare the time allocated to different instructional methods and their unit costs (see table 6-12). Although about two-thirds of a student's total time in an academic year is allocated to self-study or teaching by reading materials, the total cost (consequently the cost per student) is evenly distributed among instructional methods except for administration and evaluation. This situation can be attributable to the relatively high unit costs of teaching by radio programs and teaching in classrooms.

Cost Functions On the basis of information presented in the preceding section, we can prepare a cost function for each mode of teaching as well as one for the 156 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

ACHS project as a whole. The total cost function is assumed to be of the following form:

(1) TC(N) = F + VN, where F is fixed costs of the system, independent of the number of enrollments, V is variable cost per student enrolled, and N is the number of students enrolled. It is also instructive to express total costs as a function of the costs incurred by each medium; the cost incurred by each medium is then a function of N of the same form as equation (1). We then have:

(2) TC = Cn + Crp + C', + Cae, where C., is the cost of teaching by reading materials, C,., costs of teaching by radio programs, Cc , costs of teaching at classrooms, and Cae, costs of central administration and evaluation. On the basis of information available for 1976 on the actual expenditures, each subsystem cost function has been estimated as follows (with costs expressed in 1976 U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of 484 won to the dollar): (3) C, = 20 N, (4) C,p = 335,000 + 0.44 N, (5) C,, = 28,114 + 16.4 N, (6) Cae = 80,667 + 0.08 N. Since these cost functions have been estimated on the basis of the data available for only one year, it should be stressed that the cost function parameters presented above serve only as approximations. Further, the fixed costs associated with teaching by radio neglect the (small) capital cost of radio program production and assume that the number of hours of programming produced each year equals the number of hours broadcast. By adding together equations (3) to (6), we can obtain a total cost function for the project as a function of N, the number of students enrolled: (7) TC(N) = 444,000 + 36.9 N. From the total cost function we can compute average costs per student per year (expressed in 1976 U.S. dollars) for a range of values of N: N AC(N) 10,000 81.30 20,000 59.10 30,000 51.70 100,000 41.34 KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 157

As enrollments were 18,800 in 1976 and 22,000 in 1977, it seems reasonable to take US$60 per student per year as an estimate of average costs at the present level of operation of the ACHS.

Cost Comparisons with the Traditional System (RHS)

One of the objectives of the ACHS project was to provide the underprivileged groups with opportunities for high school education by a less expensive instructional method than the conventional method of classroom teaching in the regular high school. To measure how far this objective has been achieved, it will be useful to compare average costs of ACHS with recurrent costs of public high schools (see table 6-13). Two points in the table are worth mentioning. First, as in many other countries, personnel expenses dominate the recurrent cost ofRHS, whereas ACHS expenses are evenly distributed between personnel and operational categories. Second, the average cost per enrolled student of ACHS (US$41) compares favorably with that of public RHS (estimated at US$233), which ranks at the intermediate level when compared with costs in other developing countries. Since RHS has almost no dropouts or repeaters, a better comparison would be made if the average cost per ACHS student who was promoted successfully to the next grade between 1976 and 1977 were used. Even under this definition, the average cost of ACHS reaches only about 22 percent of the average recurrent cost of RHS. As such, the unique combination of instructional methods in ACHS has resulted in considerable cost savings over the conventional RHS system. Furthermore, were capital costs of school buildings taken into account, the potential cost savings of the ACHS over RHS would become even greater.

Table 6-13. Comparison of Annual Recurrent Costs of Regular High Schools with Average Costs of ACHS (U.S. dollars) Personnel Operationala Total Type of school Cost Percent Cost Percent Cost Percent

RHS (recurrent costs) National 154 66 78 34 232 100 * Public 176 76 57 24 233 100 Private 144 68 67 32 211 100 ACHS (average costs) Enrolled 20 49 21 51 41 100 Promotedb 25 49 26 51 51 100

Sources:KEDI and IBRD mission estimates. a. Textbook costs estimated at US$20 a year are excluded in operational costs. b. Takes into account only those students promoted between 1976and 1977,and does not include dropouts. 158 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Cost-Benefit Analysis of ACHS and RHS Judging the merits of the project only by cost comparisons would lead to erroneous conclusions. In order to make a balanced judgment on the relative effectiveness of RHS and ACHS, one has to take into account, in addition to the cost data, pedagogical effects and long-run benefits, which are more difficult to measure than costs. It is often said: "Economists frequently confuse 'profit-earning capacity' with effectiveness. Educa- £ tional aims are more varied and ambitious than mere economic viability [since] educational effectiveness deals with the viability of the individual."' This is a valid criticism; economic viability is only one dimension of educational aims. But economic viability lies within-not outside-the objectives of educational effectiveness. Moreover, it is an important element of the educational aims of developing countries. Therefore, it is necessary to try to weigh known costs and benefits together. Although the state of the art of accounting for costs and benefits is still primitive, investment decisions are too important to be left with comparisons of cost alone. There is another important reason to bring benefits into the equation. The ACHS project aims at filling gaps in the traditional system and eradicat- ing undesirable side effects. Consequently, effectiveness of the ACHS project should be defined mainly in relation to the objectives ofthe traditional system. However, the use of traditional measuring rods, such as the time required for the average pupil to attain the level of knowledge considered normal to complete a given course, and the percentage ofpupils attaining a given level of knowledge, would inevitably show ACHS students at a disadvantage. They are, by definition, underprivileged groups when measured by the traditional scale. While there are almost no dropouts in RHS, less than 50 percent of those initially enrolled complete the ACHS course. Despite its great advantages on the cost side, ACHS has considerable disadvantages on the effectiveness side. Unfortunately, these known advantages and disadvantages are expressed in terms of two different measuring units, and they are not readily comparable and are incapable of being offset. Naturally, one must have a frame of reference within which the advantages and disadvantages of ACHS can be transformed by a common measuring unit and assessed in comparison with those of RHS.

COST AND BENEFIT STREAMS OF RHS. To compare the profitability ofACEIS with that of an RHS project, it is assumed that an RHS project would start at the same time and on the same scale as the 1976 ACHS, with an enrollment of 18,800 students. This means that the same number of target groups KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 159 could be given the opportunity for pursuing high school education at either RHS or ACHS. Cost streams of RHS have three basic components: capital costs, recurrent costs, and forgone earnings. Capital costs are estimated on the basis of the cost data available from education projects financed by the World Bank. It is assumed that RHS would be constructed over four-year periods and thereafter incur expenditures for maintenance and depreciation. Re- current expenditures include both the public expenses and private contributions to schooling. Forgone earnings are important cost components since more than 70 percent of ACHS students are currently employed and they do not forgo earnings while they study at ACHS. Forgone earnings of RHS students are estimated on the basis of the 1976 Occupational Wage Survey Report of the Korean Office of Labor Affairs (OLA). These forgone earnings account for more than one-half of the total cost. Benefit streams have been constructed on the basis of the labor earnings classified by level of education, age, and experience, as provided in the 1976 Occupational Wage Survey Report. This earnings profile over the working life cycle has been adjusted for relatively high unemployment rates among youth and three-year military service. Table 6-14 shows observed labor earnings by level of education and length of experience in the present occupation. Substantial differentials in labor earnings have been observed between workers with high school education and those with middle school completion. The difference is particularly great at entry level (74 percent); it gradually tapers off as returns to schooling diminish and as returns to on-the-job training and experience compensate for less education. Such earning differentials partly explain why few older people have taken advantage of ACHS. In order to confirm the rationale for constructing benefit streams on the basis ofthe age-education specific earnings profile in the Korean context, a statistical test has been made. According to the human capital approach to

Table 6-14. Monthly Labor Earnings in Korea by Level of Education and Experience, 1976 (1976U.S. dollars) Length of experience (years) Level of education 1 1-4 5-9 10+ Middle school graduates 61 92 133 179 High school graduates 106 138 188 248 I)ifferentials (percent) +74 +50 +41 +39

Source: Korean Office of Labor Affairs, Report on Occupational Wage Survey, 1976. 160 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY labor incomes, the general earnings function would be expressed as follows:4 (8) Yii = xii + Ert Cti

That is, earnings of individual i in periodj (Yji) is expressed as the sum of the returns (re,)of all his previous net investments (C1 ,) and the earnings from his original endowment (Xji). The test made under the present study takes into account only the most typically observed investments by combining the simple schooling model and the on-the-job training model, which is capable of incorporating post-school investments. That is: 2 (9) . Log Y = aO+ a1 E + a2 T + a3T , where Y is the average monthly earnings before tax, E, the number of years of formal schooling, and T, the number of years of on-the-job training or experience-that is, T is age - 5 - E.

This equation has been estimated for the whole national sample by the ordinary least-square method. The results are:

(10) Log Y= 3.765 + 0.06018 E + 0.04273 T- 0.00070 T2 . (0.00436) (0.01270) (0.00034) R2 = 0.94109 (0.06851) As shown, about 94 percent of the observed variations in labor earnings have been explained by the differences in the level of education and training. Coefficients of all variables are significant at high level of probability (at 1 percent level) and have high t-ratios except for the last term (T2 ). For those who have the same amount of labor force experience, every additional year of schooling raises earnings of a Korean worker by 6 percent. For the same level of schooling, one more year of on-the-job training or experience improves workers' earnings by about 4 percent, indicating the relative importance of formal education with respect to labor earnings. Inclusion of the last term (T2) was justified on the basis of the declining part (or the concave and parabolic shape) of the age-earnings profile often observed in such other countries as the United States between ages forty-five and fifty-four.' The statistically insignificant coefficient (significant only at 10 percent level) of T2 may be attributable, not to the misspecification, but to the imperfect nature of the data, especially the open-ended interval at the end of the age and experience scale. On the whole, the statistical results support the method of constructing benefit streams of high school education on the basis of the observed age- education specific earnings profile of Korean workers. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 161

COST AND BENEFIT STREAMS OF ACHS. Cost streams of ACHS consist of facility-use costs approximated at 1.5 percent of the RHS facility Costs, recurrent costs at their 1976 level, and extra transport costs incurred by half of the enrollments. Since the courses are conducted on weekends, ACHS students in general do not forgo earnings. Benefit streams have been constructed on the same basis as those ofRHS students and also adjusted for unemployment rates (which are assumed to be higher than those among RHS students) and for military service. Not every ACHS student, however, would follow the same age-earnings profile as that of RHS graduates, because only about 50 percent of students have completed the ACHS course in three years. Although ACHS students are allowed to complete the course in a five-year period compared to three years for RHS students, it is assumed in this study that only 50 percent of students would follow the adjusted age-earnings profile. In this way, the relative disadvantages of the ACHS course in terms of educational achievements have been transformed to quantities comparable with the cost-savings advantages. A summary of cost and benefit streams for both ACHS and RHS is presented in appendix table 6-3.

RATES OF RETURN TO RHS AND ACHS. With full recognition of the state of the art of accounting for the costs and benefits of education projects, a conscious effort has been made to obtain an indicative basis for making a reasonable judgment on the advisability of the ACHS project. While the economic rate of return of the RHS project would be about 10 percent, the rate of return of the ACHS project would be 27 percent, which is almost three times as high as the rate of the RHS project. To judge the sensitivity of the assumptions on the cost and benefit streams of the ACHS, several alternatives-including 10 percent variations in costs and benefits-have been made, and in no case would the rate of return be lower than 25.6 percent. Even under the assumption that KEDI established its own transmission network for six hours of daily broadcast, the rate of return would be 19 percent, which is still acceptable. Since the major beneficiaries of the project are the poorer in the national income scale, the social rate of return-with appropriate social weights attached to the benefits of the target groups-would be much higher. However, the higher rate of return of the ACHS project compared to the RHS project should not be interpreted that investors should always opt for ACHS. It merely indicates the profitability of ACHS. Only in special cases where both projects are competing and mutually exclusive to serve certain target groups, would the rates of return of the two projects be a guide to decisionmaking. With the results of the cost-benefit analysis, one can make a tentative conclusion that, despite the low internal efficiency, ACHS is a socially viable and economically profitable project. In particular, if a society's 162 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY priority goal and objective is to help improve the living standards of thc lower-income groups, especially the urban poverty groups, and to meet their basic needs, ACHS has a great potential to increase the earning capacity of the poorer groups and redress socioeconomic inequity by providing some members of these groups with educational opportunities at a low cost.

Conclusion

The ACHS project in Korea is working, and it is working efficiently. In its first three years the whole machinery-the hardware and more important the software-was established and made to work. Although credit for this achievement must be shared among the motivated student body, the dedicated government officials at all levels, and the innovative KEDI staff, there remains also a set of comparative advantages inherent to the project that has made its successful implementation and progress possible. These are discussed below.

Goals and Objectives The goals and objectives of such a project can be clearly defined with respect to target groups and easily understood by government officials and potential students. In the case of ACHS, although the objectives were not well articulated at the outset, the target groups have been clearly defined and beneficiaries of the project have commonly shared the same objectives and expectations. The target of the socially recognized and economically valuable high school diploma was clear and unambiguous.

Costs and Finance Because the project depends heavily on the intensive use of existing human and physical resources, it has great advantages in terms of costs. The project does not require heavy investments in physical facilities or a great number of new teachers. Existing classrooms at any level of school, or nonschool facilities, can be used for face-to-face teaching; existing radio or television facilities and networks can be rented, existing textbooks can be adapted, and existing high school teachers can be contracted and trained. In most instances, the marginal costs involved in such an intensive use of existing resources would be very low. Because of this cost-saving advantage, the project can be an effective substitute for the traditional approach to the extension of educational opportunities. This advantage has great appeal when a country is constrained by a shortage of financial resources for education. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 163

Another unusual and important aspect of the project is its mode of financing. Although the project serves some of the poorcr groups in the national income scale, the project can be financed, to a large extent, by the user fees. This mode of financing is possible where unit costs are low, and where the majority of the potential students are in employment and are motivated to pay for the services they receive.

Methods of Instruction Other advantages derive mainly from the flexible, multimedia methods of instruction. Each educational medium has its unique strength and weakness. ACHS combines different media in such a way that one can complement the other, thus probably making its instruction more effective. The instructional methods of ACHS could be used, too, for other educational purposes and they can be applied to different levels of education including, for example, teacher in-service training. There are, of course, certain prerequisites to launching an ACHs-type project. These may include a relatively wide spread of opportunities at lower levels of education; a comparatively high, uniform quality at lower levels of education; relatively high public esteem for education; and the availability of a mass-media infrastructure. Moreover, despite the merits and advantages of the ACHS concept, the short experience in Korea suggests some necessary conditions for successful implementation of the project. First, distance learning is a lonely and painstaking process, and the high dropout rate is a major hazard that can easily cancel the cost-saving advantage. Aids to maintain motivation are, therefore, essential. In other types of distance learning, maturity can compensate for the lack of motivation and patience. In the case ofACHS, the average age of the student is lower than the minimum often thought necessary for success in distance learning. Thus, continuous efforts to maintain students' motivation are needed. Second, in order to maximize cost saving, special efforts are needed to monitor the expenditure patterns and cost behavior of the project on a continuous basis. Third, as the project is only three years old, a wide range of variations of the ACHS, which might be more effective, have not yet been tried. An evaluation and research mechanism is an essential part of a good project design. The relative success of the ACHS in v Korea owes so far a great deal to the research and monitoring support of KEDI. Finally, just as in any education project, the most important input in an ACHs-type project is the human element, especially the teaching force. Student achievement and maximization of the potential project benefits may depend, to a considerable extent, on the effectiveness of the teaching force. Teachers require specialist training in the new methods over and above what they require for traditional schools. 164 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Appendix: Cost Functions of Subsystems

Using the cost function parameters, one can examine properties of the functions for each subsystem as well as for the whole project. For example, if KEDI doubles broadcasting time from 0.5 hours a day per student to two hours, using the same six networks, equation (4) becomes: (11) CP = 1,290,718 + 0.44 N.

If N = 18,802 (the present ACHS enrollment), the average cost is US$68 per student-year or US$0.094 per student-reception-hour (compared with US$17.60 per student-year or US$0.10 per student-reception-hour with present broadcasting time). In other words, as the broadcasting time increases by 300 percent, the average cost per student, with constant N, rises 286 percent (elasticity with respect to broadcasting time is 0.95) and the average cost per student-reception-hour remains virtually constant (zero elasticity). If the number of students doubles-that is, N = 40,000- the average cost declines to US$32 per student year (elasticity with respect to N is -0.53) and US$0.04 per student-reception-hour (elasticity with respect to Nis - 0. 57). These figures compare favorably with the planned instructional television cost per student-hour (US$0.24) with N= 100,000. Only with N= 1,000,000, would the average cost of the television become US$0.04 per student-hour. 6 The above exercises indicate the great economies of scale of the use of radio with respect to enrollment, but not much to the student-reception-hour. This can be shown in another way. The ratio of the average cost (AC) to the marginal cost (MC) is a measure of the extent to which economies of scale can be realized. If AC is high relative to MC, expanding the system could substantially reduce average costs.7 In the case of Crp, relative inelasticity of the average cost with respect to changes in the broadcasting hour is confirmed by a relatively low ratio of AC/MC:

N ACIm/MChb 18,802 1.056 40,000 1.083 On the other hand, relatively high elasticity of the average cost with respect to the number of students enrolled is confirmed by a high ratio of AC,NT/MCN ( = 38.6). Analyses similar to those made on teaching by radio programs can be carried out on the cost functions for classroom teaching and evaluation, as KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 165

well as for the project as a whole. For example, if the number of students doubles-that is, N = 40,000-the total cost of the project will be about US$1,576,000, compared to US$1,144,000 at present, and the average cost per student will decline from US$61 to US$39 (elasticity is 0.36). It was suggested earlier that KEDI may be able to overcome the current problems with radio broadcasting by investing in its own radio transmission network. This investment would inevitably increase initial capital costs but, as broadcast hours increase, operational costs may become lower than they are at present when radio programs are transmitted by leasing other networks' time. To examine the relative advantage of the two alternative ways of providing radio education, either by leasing other networks' time (alternative I) or by establishing its own network (alternative II), one has to compare the present value of the outlays of these two alternatives. If the two investment plans are identically repeated ad in- finitum, the present value could be:

(12) Cl1 = al (1 + i) + bh (h)

2 (13) C1 1 = (1 ( i) - 1+ ()

where C is the present value of each alternative, a, the initial investment, b, the annual operation cost, h, the daily broadcast hours, and i, the discount- ing rate. The equations can be rewritten:

(14) C~=(1 + i)l 1 h

2 (15) C1ip= (1 + i)n - I+ b2(h).

The first term, a(1 + i)n

(1 + i)n 1 represents the sum that must be annually obtained by the investor in order to recover the initial investment after n years allowing for a rate of interest i. In the case of alternative 1, however, there is no initial investment in the hardware, and therefore the whole first term disappears and the only relevant costs are annual operational costs, which are expressed in equation (4). If the annual operational costs of alternative I are always smaller 166 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY than those of alternative II, the comparison of the present value of the two alternatives would become simple. However, if the annual operational cost of alternative II is smaller than that of alternative I and the dependence of the operational costs on the number of broadcast hours is linear, the cost functions would be as shown in figure 6-1. Because alternative II has a higher initial investment, its cost line starts at a higher level than that of alternative 1. As the number of broadcast hours increases, the cost of alternative I will increase at a faster pace than that of alternative 11.This is shown by a steeper slope of the alternative 1. On the assumptions we have made, there will thus be a uniquely determined critical point (hk) at which the two cost lines will cross each other. Therefore, it is the planned level of broadcast hours that decides which method of radio broadcasts is the cheaper. In the case ofACHS, KEDI is examining a proposal for establishing its own radio network by installing forty-three transmitters (one 5 kilowatts; twelve 3 kilowatts; thirty 1 kilowatt) and two studios in addition to thc two existing ones. The investment is estimated at about US$6.3 million, and the annual operational cost at US$1. 5 million (see appendix table 6-2). The operational cost function would be expressed as: (16) C,P = 1,451,000 + 5,258 h.

In the ACHS case, therefore, equations (14) and (15) can be expressed as follows:

Appendix Figure 6-1. Comparison of the Present Value of Alternative Ways of Radio Education

C(S)

Alternative I

Alternative 11

/ h 0 hk KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 167

(17) Cl i =5900 + 61hp + 307 hb + 0.44 N

(18) Cl i =6,300,000 i(l + i) + 1,451,000 + 5,258h (1 + i)n -1 1 Assuming that N= 18,800, n = 10, and i = 0.10, the critical level of broadcast hours (hk) is estimated at four hours-in other words, every student would receive four hours of broadcast per day, beyond which alternative II (that is, establishing KEDI'Sown network) will have relative cost advantage. The preceding discussions on the comparative advantage of the two alternative methods have taken into account costs only and excluded the benefits aspects of each alternative. In fact, as the number of broadcast hours increases, its impact on educational achievement might also be increased. If this occurred, and was taken into account, the critical point of (hk) would be determined at a lower level.

Appendix Table 6-1. Financial Costs of the ACHS Project, 1976 (thousands of won) Fixed Variable Category Item Cost Item Costa

Teaching by readitigmaterials Materials Textbooks (N) 188,020 Subtotal 188,020 Teacihingby radioprograms Personnel services Meeting allow- Production ances for lec- fees (hlp) 8,948 turers and teachers 812 Materials and Guidebooks (N) 3,959 supplies Tapes and other (h,) 5,083 Nonpersonnel Travel 770 Transmission services Utility 322 fees (h5) 139,581 Equipment Tape recorder, etc. 951 * Subtotal 2,855 157,570 Teaching in classrooms Personnel services Teachers' salaries and allowances (h,,) 137,226 Materials and Paper (h,,) 11.087 supplies Other (h,,) 473

(Table couztitnesotn thefollouwing page.) 168 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Appendix Table 6-1 (continued) Fixed Variable Category Item Cost Item Cost'

Nonpersonnel Travel 3,173 Heating (h,,) 2,796 services Utility 6,032 Fees 1,749 Other 974 Equipment Cabinet, etc. 1,679 Subtotal 13,607 151,582 Central administrationand evaluation Personnel services Salaries 21,907 Allowances for project development seminar 465 Allowances for tests development 8,295 Materials and Office supplies Printing of stu- supplies and administra- dents' testing tion printing 2,313 materials (Ne) 986 Nonpersonnel Advertisement 4,556 services Travel 1,122 utility 233 Equipment Typewriters, etc. 200 Subtotal 39,091 986 Grand total 55,553 498,158

Sources: Ministry of Education and KEDI. a. Variable costs are assumed to vary with the variables specified in parentheses, where N = number of students enrolled in the project, h, = number of hours needed per year for production of radio programs, hb = number of broadcasting hours through six networks per year, h, = number of student-hours per year in classroom teaching, and Ae = number of student-hours per year devoted to evaluation. KOREAN AIR-CORRESPONDENCE HIGH SCHOOL 169

Appendix Table 6-2. Financial Costs of the Proposed KEDI Radio Transmission Network Operation (costs in thousands of 1977 U.S. dollars)

Power (kilowatts) Total Total Item 5 3 1 number costs Capital costs Number of stations 1 12 30 43 Unit cost 140 130 120 (390) Total network cost 140 1,560 3,600 5,300 Four studios (two existing) 1,000 Total capital cost 6,300 Operational costs Number of staff 9 84 150 243 Salaries 33.5 312.4 557.9 903.8 Maintenancecost(parts) 14 156 360 530.0 Transport cost - 5 12.4 17.4 Power consumption (kilowatts)' 13 108 150 271 Cost 1.9 14.7 20.4 37.0 Total operational cost 1,488.2 Source: World Bank estimates. a. Assuming seven hours a day. Appendix Tablc 6-3. A Summary of Cost and Benefit Streams of ACHS and RHS (thousands of U.S. dollars in 1976 prices)

ACHS RHS Cost' Benefit Cost' Benefit Sub- sub- Sub- sub- Year C1 C2 C3 total total Cl C2 C4 total total

1 338 1,144 350 1,832 - - - _ _ _ 2 338 1,144 350 1,832 - 6,770 - - 6,770 - 3 338 1,144 350 1,832 - 11,280 - - 11,280 - 4 - 4,510 - - 4,510 - 5 - 1,240 9,417 13,762 24,419 - 6 - 1,240 9,417 13,762 24,419 - 7 4,659 1,240 9,417 13,762 24,419 - 8 1,342 - 19,854 19,854 - 9 5,189 _ 10 5,189 _ 11 5,189 9,317 12 508 9,317 13 508 17,010 14 6,644 17,010 15 6,644 10,378 16 6,644 10,378 17 965 10,378 18 965 22,650 19 7,395 13,288 20 7,395 13,288 21 7,395 13,288 22 7,395 13,288 23 7,395 13,288 24 7,395 14,788 25 7,395 14,788

33 7,395 14,788

40 7,395 14.788

- Negligible. Source: World Bank mission estimates. a. Cl = capital costs; C2 = recurrent costs; C3 = extra transportation costs; and C4 = earnings forgone. 172 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Notes to Chapter 6

An earlier version of this study with a differentemphasis appears in K. Lee, "Equity and an Alternative Educational Method," Comparative Education Review, vol. 25, no. 1 (February 1981). The authors are greatly indebted to Mr. Il-Je Sung of the Korean Educational Develop- ment Institute (KEDI) for his full support of their search for data and understanding. They also wish to acknowledgewith gratitude the cooperationand assistanceprovided by Ministry of Education officials, KEDI research staff, and faculty members of the Korea Air- Correspondence Junior College. The authors alone are responsible for the conclusions reached, as well as for any possible errors and omissionsremaining in this paper. 1. The cost of techniciansof the Educational Broadcasting Department is excluded. 2. Dean T. Jamison and Y. T. Kim, "The Cost of InstructionalRadio and Television in Korea" (a paper presented at the Open University, Milton Keynes, England, 1976; processed), p. 5. 3. J. C. Eicher, "Cost-Effectiveness Studies Applied to the Use of New Educational Media, " in The Economicsof New EducationalMedia: EducationalMethods and Techniques, vol. 1 (Geneva: Unesco, 1977),p. 24. 4. Jacob Mincer, "The Distribution of Labour Incomes: A Survey,"Journal of Economic Literature,vol. 7, no. 1 (1970), p. 9; also M. Blaug, "Human Capital Theory: A Slightly Jaundiced Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 14, no. 3 (1976), p. 849. 5. Jacob Mincer, "On-the-job Training: Costs, Returns and Some Implications,"Journal of PoliticalEconomy, vol. 70, no. 5, part 2, supplement (October 1962), p. 74. 6. Jamison and Kim, "Cost of Instructional Radio and Television in Korea," p. 19. 7. Dean T. Jamison and Stevenj. Klees, "The Cost of InstructionalRadio and Television for Developing Countries," InstructionalScience, vol. 4 (1975),p. 348. 7

In-service TeacherEducation in Kenya

David Hawkridge, Peter Kinyanjui, John Nkinyangi, and FranSois Orivel

KENYA is largely an agricultural country. About 90 percent of the population live in rural areas and derive their livelihood either directly or indirectly from farming. The country covers an area of 582,647 square kilometers and had an estimated population of 15.3 million in 1979, growing at the alarming rate of 3.5 percent a year. The population density varies in different parts of the country. The highest concentrations cover about a quarter of the country-namely, the well-watered, rich agricultural regions in the highlands-while the arid northern and southern reaches of the country are thinly populated.

The Country, Its Educational Needs and Educational System

Kenya was a colony of Great Britain for about seventy years but attained political independence in December 1963.1 Since independence, the economy has maintained a high rate of growth, sometimes averaging over 6 percent a year. In 1975, the gross national product stood at US$3.189 billion but, with a per capita income of about US$240 a year, Kenya is a poor developing country with large disparities in income distribution. Further, the acute differences in income distribution are exacerbated by great disparities in levels of regional development arising not only from varying natural geographical endowments but also from the colonial past and the contradictions inherent in the development model that has been pursued since independence.2 The present disparities, whether in incomes or in regional development, are better understood in a historical analysis. During the colonial period,

173 174 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY the economic organization of Kenyan society involved extensive farming by Europeans. In addition to providing an income for Europeans, this system produced exports, foreign exchange, and tax revenues for the colonial government. Others, both Asians (largely people of Indian and Pakistani descent) and Africans, benefited from the European settler- oriented development as tradesmen and shopkeepers (Asians) and as un- skilled laborers (Africans). This socioeconomic organization, with its implied division of labor along racial lines, was jealously protected through a host of discriminatory legislation and institutions. Stratified and unequal school systems based largely on race reinforced the occupational division of labor and the distribution of income. Further, colonial practice was to keep rural wages low, while at the same time offering relatively higher urban wages. Greater emphasis was put on development in urban areas (Nairobi, Mombasa, and some of the other large towns) in order to provide the goods and services demanded by the European settler and administrative classes. While these developments tended to be capital-intensive and generated considerable output, they did not create much employment for the Afri- can majority. The end result of this development pattern was greater geographic inequalities and an urban economy geared to meet the consumption patterns of Europeans. Thus, the process created a dual economy-a formal sector characterized by capital-intensive, relatively large- scale production of goods and services for the high-income groups (that is, a small European elite that accounted for about one-third of the total wage bill just before independence) and an informal sector characterized by reliance upon indigenous resources and small-scale production of goods and services consumed largely by low-income groups (that is, the majority of Africans).3 The most disturbing feature of this dualism was that by independence it had established the model life-style to which all who acquired certain academic qualifications could aspire. At the time of independence in Kenya, as in most other African countries, it was the possession of the necessary educational credentials that tended to determine and justify selection to the elitist positions left vacant in public and private sectors by departing European administrators. Along with these positions came wealth, power, and prestige-the three basic dimensions of social strat- ification. This pattern of development therefore created a new indigenous elitc with a vested interest in the perpetuation of imbalance-this time largely based on socioeconomic opportunity instead of race.4 In particular, it provided a system of rewards and incentives that buttressed the existing structure of education and acted as an extremely powerful catalyst for its TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 175

explosive expansion. Education, and ever more education, became the route to the jobs and incomes of the formal sector.5 This is illustrated by the massive increase in school enrollments after independence, which can be seen as a rational response by peasants to endow their children with an education through which they could exploit the opportunities presented by the growth of the economy and the process of Africanization. When political independence was attained in 1963, the overriding priority became that of reorganizing an economy and a society that had structured rewards according to race. The goals of the reorganization were the Africanization of both public and private sectors and the elimination of poverty and unemployment by achieving rapid rates of economic growth. The two government documents that outlined these approaches are entitled "African Socialism and Its Application to Planning in Kenya" and "High Level Manpower: Requirements and Resources in Kenya-1964- 1970." 6 Since independence therefore, enrollments have increased substantially at every level. In twelve years, enrollments at the primary level have more than doublcd, while in the same period secondary enrollments have quadrupled. Enrollments at the tertiary level have also increased greatly. In numerical terms, the greatest expansion has occurred at the primary level, since it is both the base of the educational pyramid and the level of schooling more readily accessible to members of lower socioeconomic status. The explosion of enrollments within the system has pushed the level of expenditures on education up at a rate that cannot be sustained without severely hampering other programs deemed crucial for economic development. According to a recent World Bank document, from 1964 to 1975 public recurrent expenditures on education increased at a rate of 14 percent a year at constant prices (over 21 percent in current prices), to reach 28 percent ofthe total recurrent budget in 1975.7Projections made in the early 1970s assumed that the rate of growth of recurrent expenditures on education would continue at 14 percent a year, and the rate of total government expenditure at 7 percent a year (both in real terms). On this basis, they indicated that recurrent educational expenditures would have reached 34 percent of the budget by 1976, 53 percent by 1983-84, and 73 X percent by 1988-89. In 1975-76, expenditures on education and training were about 7.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) compared with an average of 3.9 percent for all countries.8 Since 1967, the total Ministry of Education expenditures have grown at an average annual growth rate of 21.6 percent at current prices. This growth is higher than the rate of growth of total government expenditures of 14.8 percent and much higher than the rate of 176 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Figure 7-1. Kenyan Enrollments, 1973-74

University 98 Year 5 Kenyatta 93 University 4 Polytechnics College _ 152 954 19 3 Tertiary

143 967 182 2

379 1,536 352 1 Harambee_ _ _

1,120 4,820 309 Form 6

1,285 5,470 261 5 Technical I 852 Gmvent 9,700 7,873 4 _ Secondary 801 21,900 11,743 3

839 23,200 22,258 2

853 24,900 32,885 1

227,000 Standard VHI

221,000 VI

235,000 V

300,000 IV Primarya

369,000 III

439,000 \

981,000

Source: H. W. R. Hawes and others, An African Primary Curriculum Survey. Country Profile: Kenya (London: Institute of Education, 1976). a. Primary figures for 1974. b. Secondary figures for 1973. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 177

growth of GDP of 8.5 percent. Ministry of Education recurrent expenditures rose from 19.1 percent of government revenues in 1967 to about 29 percent in 1976. If recurrent expenditures on education and training by other government ministries are included with those of the Ministry of Education, the proportion of the government's budget devoted to the education sector reaches 31 percent.9 The 1974-78 Development Plan requires that this percentage should be held constant, thus imposing a strong brake on expenditures. This high proportion reflects not only the priority the government gives to education, but also the serious impact the provision of education has on other recurrent expenditures. At the same time that the educational system has been expanding so rapidly, with the attendant increase in costs, new concerns have become apparent and new problems have emerged that bring into question the continued suitability of the existing pattern of educational provision. Since upward mobility in the society is partly determined by the possession of higher education credentials, the emphasis on certification means that success at each level is the basis for selection to the next higher level. This mechanism is especially operative in selection for secondary schooling and accounts for high repetition and dropout rates, with the effect of further raising unit costs at the primary level."0 Despite its quantitative expansion, the Kenyan system at best provides education for a minority. On the one hand, the emphasis on certification cuts down access at each successive level. Only about 50 percent complete the basic seven-year cycle of primary education, while only 25 percent of this number continue to some kind of formal secondary education. On the other hand, the cost of education is particularly high at all levels, including the primary school, in relation to the ability of most families to pay for it. These factors and others combine to explain why enrollments in Kenyan education are so sharply pyramidal (see figure 7-1)." An education that imparts only academic training and little or no practical skills and at best prepares the majority of children for unemployment is one of the major contradictions of the Kenyan system. With wage employment growing at only 4 percent a year, it is estimated that there will be an increase of over 200,000 young people who cannot be absorbed by the modern sector of the labor market between 1974 and 1985. If the current trends continue unabated, it is estimated that the difference between the numbers seeking employment (or self-employment) and the numbers of jobs available will exceed 2 million by 1985.'2 To the extent that educational demand in Kenya can be explained in strictly functional terms, it has been hypothesized that this demand will change drastically when and if education ceases to yield the return on peasants' investment that it has in the past."3 Researchers have recorded 178 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY much disillusionment among parents and pupils alike.": Evidence of high dropout rates (especially at the primary level) may indicate that disillusionment is Increaslng.' Major disparities in access and educational provision exist within and across regions. The proportion of children enrolled in primary school, for example, varies by as much as a factor of nine between provinces. Even where school places are available, the quality of instruction and facilities varies considerably. Geographical differences are also expressed in rural and urban disparities. Thus, where children happen to grow up sharply affects not only their access to primary schooling but their performance as well. 16 Because there is a noted relationship between years and type of schooling and upward mobility, the long-term political effect of regional disparities in schooling can result in differential access to power and elite structures in society with serious implications for political stability.'7 Moreover, because access to primary education depends partly on the level of regional development in Kenya, implications extend beyond the issue of entry into the ranks of the elite. If it is assumed that participation in education has a long-range, nonspecific impact on human capital in terms of mastery of skills (literacy, numeracy, abstract thought, problem- solving ability, and modernization), then regional or community differences in access and participation can augment already existing basic differences across regions and communities."8 Education is still commonly seen as the path to a better life, despite these contradictions in the Kenyan educational system. This can be explained through the meritocratic ideology that pervades the country's development philosophy and by an official line of thought that proclaims association between education and various forms of development. The meritocratic ideology is clearly expressed in the current Develop- ment Plan, which states:

The present Plan provides opportunities for everyone to participate actively in the economy and in so doing improve his standard of living. Such improvements are bound to be achieved more quickly by some than by others, however. Equal income for everyone is therefore not the object of this Plan. Differencesin skill, effort, and initiative need to be recognisedand rewarded.9 (Empha- sis added.)

The ideology sees individual differences in wealth and status as necessary and beneficial and propagates a concept of socialjustice that aims less at the equalization of wealth and status than at the equalization of opportunities to compete for the most privileged positions. The corresponding educational system mirrors that same ideology and uses examinations to select, promote, and later confer rewards. The catch phrases of Kenya's TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 179 educational ideology therefore become expansion, equality of opportunity, and advancement by merit. This ideology is seen to work effectively in resolving conflicts in a stratified society since the existence of social mobility-which provides an opportunity for some to move from the lower ranks in society to the upper-tends to ease some of the incipient tensions associated with inequality.2 " By offering a personal escape route from low status, it tends to weaken faith in the efficacy of collective efforts among those who remain. To the extent that upward mobility is a reality for some and is believed to be possible for all, it serves to disperse some of the incipient antagonisms of the disadvantaged toward the advantaged. This explains why the ruling elites in Kenya have not directly tried to curb educational expansion. If expansion were curtailed, thus depriving some of education, while the reward system remained unchanged, then the deprived individuals would be cut off from any chance of qualifying for the higher rewards of Kenyan society. This deprivation in turn would tend to dis- credit the legitimacy of such rewards going to the elite.2" As was pointed out, the peasantry has not been slow to exploit this contradictory situation. The high enrollments experienced since independence are a result of poorer families seeking to benefit from the growth of the urban sector and from the job opportunities and statuses made possible or promised through the process of Africanization. The expansion of enrollments has sky-rocketed, however, placing a major strain on the government's budget and leading to a severe increase in unemployment of the educated. It has therefore become difficult to justify further expansion on the basis of preordained manpower policies. Accordingly, the policy justifications have shifted, emphasizing less the manpower contribution of continued expansion and more the extent to which it reflects a philosophy of expanded opportunity.2 2 In Kenya, the official line of thought, which proclaims associations between education and various forms of development, stresses the potential of education for fostering the knowledge, values, and skills necessary for productive activity. These goals are well spelled out in various development plans and in Ministry of Education documents, and they are regular themes in recurrent official pronouncements. Education is believed to contribute to political development by creating an informed and participating citizenry. It is also believed to equip people for new roles associated with an expanding range of occupations.23 The value assumptions implicit in this line ofthought are based on a concept of development that approximates the institutional forms and the underlying values of Western industrial nations and a belief that the movement toward this desirable condition can be accelerated by using schools to develop the types of knowledge and skills that have proved useful in those societies.24 180 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

In summary, Kenyan educational policymakers want to expand opportunities for education, particularly primary school education, in spite of the social system's obvious failure and inability to redistribute rewards through such lower-level education. To implement this policy, well-qualified teachers are desperately needed. Kenya has been obliged to employ tens of thousands of unqualified or poorly qualified teachers, and the task of providing these teachers with in-service training and further education has been and is a daunting one. In 1968, out of the 38,000 teachers employed, 10,000 were unqualified and 17,000 had only the lowest qualification (P3). In 1977, out of some 87,000 teachers employed, 30,000 were unqualified and 16,000 had only the P3 qualification. In these circumstances, Kenya chose to experiment with correspondence and radio methods in an attempt to upgrade its teachers as quickly and cheaply as possible. The pages that follow describe how this experiment was set up and provide an analysis of its costs and effectiveness.

The Project

Following independence, the nation's need to increase the speed of its educational development was recognized in the establishment of the Kenya Education Commission under the chairmanship of Professor Si- meon Ominde. The commission was charged with looking into the whole educational system and making recommendations to the Minister of Education. The Ominde Report, published in two parts in 1964 and 1965, has had great influence upon national educational policy in Kenya. In 1964, the commission urged consideration of a "combination of lessons by radio with an approved correspondence course" and suggested that, if the required facilities could not be provided by the already established correspondence colleges, it might be "necessary for the ministry itself to enter the field of education by correspondence."75 In the same year, a team led by Professor Wilbur Schramm of Stanford University and sponsored by the U. S. Agency for International Develop- ment (USAID) studied the feasibilityof using technology to increaseeduca- tional opportunity in East Africa.2 6 The team recommended that a first step might be to combine correspondence courses with radio broadcasts for in-service teacher training and upgrading."7 Kenyan interest in correspondence and radio courses continued to develop and was high when advisers from the University of Wisconsin. well-known for its correspondence courses, stopped in Nairobi en route from studying the feasibility of such courses in Tanzania. Subsequently, a second Wisconsin team visited the University College of Nairobi, now TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 181 the University, to discuss a plan for establishing a correspondence and radio instruction unit in the Institute of Adult Studies at the college. This visit led to negotiations between USAID, the college, and the University of Wisconsin. In April 1967, the Correspondence Course Unit was set up within the institute; soon three academics and one demonstrator from Wisconsin started work, together with Kenyan counterparts. The Minis- try of Education had thus entered the field of correspondence education, since the University College fell under the aegis of the ministry.

The Unit's Courses With the founding of the Correspondence Course Unit, the distance- learning project that is the subject of this case study began. The main emphasis of the unit's work was to be in-service teacher training in the light of the urgent national need for teacher upgrading. The plan was not for training teachers in classroom methodology. It was aimed principally at upgrading their basic knowledge and general educational level, although there was always the possibility that teachers' methods would improve as a result of the examples placed before them in the unit's courses. The fact that the unit was set up within the University College meant that it had a good chance of attracting staff of high caliber. In spite of this, there were difficulties in manning the unit in its first few years, owing to the high demand in the country for well-qualified Kenyans. The Univer- sity of Wisconsin supplied three academic staff under its USAID contract, and the ministry provided funds for Kenyan counterparts and facilities. By 1970, Kenyan staff under the leadership of Peter Kinyanjui had taken over operation of the unit. In that year, the unit also moved into its permanent quarters at the institute's Adult Studies Centre at Kikuyu, twenty kilometers from Nairobi. Besides manpower, the unit needed air time. Negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting resulted in an allocation of free air time for the use of the unit on the national medium-wave radio network in the late afternoons on weekdays. In retrospect, it seems certain that the unit's close association with national broadcasting system (the Voice of Kenya) and with the national university can only have assisted in establishing its reputation throughout the country. Correspondence education was not highly regarded in Kenya at the time of the commission's report. The numerous commercial colleges operating throughout the East African region had an unsatisfactory record. As a rule, they were based in Britain or America and offered courses that were frequently irrelevant or out of date. The fees were high and few students completed the courses. Large numbers of adults en- 182 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

rolled, however, because until the unit was set up there was no alternative. Hence, from its inception, the unit was faced with the challenge of overcoming prejudice against correspondence education and with the opportunity of offering high-quality Kenyan courses at reasonable cost to the students. The unit offered its first courses in 1968 in several subjects for the Kenya Junior Secondary Examination (KJSE), a national examination taken at the end of the second year (form two) by secondary school pupils (see table 7-1). The courses were offered not to such pupils but to primary school teachers in the P3 grade, who had not passed the KJSE. If these teachers could obtain the KJSE certificate, they would be entitled to promotion to P2. Before 1968, a candidate was required to pass at least five subjects at a single sitting in order to earn a KJSE certificate. On the recommendation of the unit, P3 teachers were allowed to take as few as two subjects a year, carrying forward credit for individual subject passes from one year to the next until they had accumulated passes in five subjects. The unit's courses offered instruction for the first and second years of each subject, and permitted teachers to take their time in preparing themselves for the examinations. In 1969, the unit undertook a second program to run concurrently with the KJSE courses. At the request of the Ministry of Education, the unit agreed to help the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) to upgrade the lowest categories of unqualified teachers (UQT). The complete UQT course was conducted in two phases. The first was training in methods of teaching. It was organized by the KIE and consisted of a year's study divided into three short residential courses during school holidays. Between the residential sessions, there were radio lectures. Candidates who successfully com-

Table 7-1. Provision and Revision of Courses for the Kenya Junior Secondary Examination, 1968-77 Physical Year English Kiswahili Math Geography History Biology science 1968 1 1 1 1 1 - - 1969 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 1970 1 1 1 2 1 1 - 1971 2 2 2 3 1 1 - 1972 2 2 2 3 2 2 1 1973 2 2 2 4 3 2 1 1974 2 3 3 5 4 3 1 1975 3 3 3 5 4 3 1 1976 3 3 3 5 5 3 1 1977 3 3 3 5 5 3 1

Note: 1 = first edition; 2 = second edition; 3 = third edition; 4 = fourth edition; 5 = fifth edition. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 183 pleted the first phase of the program were then admitted to the second phase, conducted by the unit. This phase consisted of correspondence and radio instruction based upon the first-year materials of the unit's KJSE courses. The unqualified teachers, however, studied only three subjects for a final examination, which until 1972 was set by the KIE and thereafter by the ministry's Examinations Section. All took English and mathematics and either history or geography. If they were successful in the examination, they were automatically promoted to the P3 grade the following year (see figure 7-2). Both the KJSE and the UQT courses offered by the unit attracted considerable numbers of applicants. Actual enrollments are shown in table 7-2;

Figure 7-2. The Promotion Routefor Kenyan Primary School Teachers

Teacher status and Teacher education or salary scale attained certification required

Primary I (P1)

East African Certificate of Education

Primary 2 (P2)

Kenya junior Secondary Examination

Primary 3 (P3)

Completion of in-service course

Unqualified teacher 1

Note: In 1974 policy changed. Since then, holding a certificate at the appropriate level is a necessary but not sufficient condition for promotion, which is now also based on factors such as classroom performance and supervisors' reports. 184 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 7-2. Enrollments in the Kenya Junior Secondary Examination (KISE) and the Unqualified Teachers (uQT) Programs, 1968-77

KJSE Program UQT Program N\ew New Year entriesa Continuersb entriesa Continuersb

1968 710 - - - 1969 876 519 2,002 - 1970 363 1,012 1,762 293 1971 243 1,164 1,222 135 1972 187 1,240 1,152 124 1973 185 1,297 852 72 1974 253 1,484 1,443 80 1975 747 1,998 - 97 1976 289 2,107 - - 1977 342 2,404 - - Total 4,195 8,433

-= Not applicable. a. New entries new enrollments during the particular year. b. Continuers = students submitting at least one written assignment every two months. KJSE continuers are numerous becausethe KJSE course normally takes two years of full-time study, but many teacherstake only one or two subjects eachyear, thus taking severalyears to pass the examinations in five subjects as required for the certificate. Continuers among the unqualifiedteachers are those who have not yet completedall requirements for promotion to the P3 grade, either because they did not complete the necessarynumber of assignmentsor becausethey did not pass the KIE examination. they total well over 12,000. Before long, the ministry was able to point to thousands of teachers upgraded after using the unit's courses. Right from the start, however, the ministry was aware that the country might not be able to afford to pay the larger salaries of the upgraded teachers, even if the upgrading could be undertaken at relatively low cost by using distance teaching. The ministry's awareness of this risk was well stated in the 1974-78 Development Plan, which referred to the "challenge of improving the quality of the teaching force while . . . anticipating the financial consequences."2" In December 1974, thejoint KIE-Correspondence Course Unit program for unqualified teachers came to an end because of changing needs and policies. The needs were changing because few teachers remained who wished to proceed from UQT status to the P3 grade. The number of unqualified teachers in the Kenyan educational system actually rose substantially following the introduction in 1974 of free schooling for the first four years of primary education, but most of the new teachers already possessed the KJSE certificate or the more advanced East African Certificate of Education (EACE) taken after four years by secondary school pupils. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 185

A new program of collaboration between the unit and the KIE was planned. The intent was to upgrade 5,000 unqualified teachers, most of whom possessed the EACE. The courses were to consist of three elements: short residential courses during the school holidays, to be organized by the KIE; correspondence instruction, to be provided by the unit; and radio programs on pedagogical topics on Friday afternoons, to be prepared by the ministry's Schools Broadcasting Unit. In the event, it proved impossible to fund immediately the development of correspondence courses by the unit, and the course was offered over three and a half years using the other two components. Some 4,200 of those who started the course in 1974 sat the final examination in August 1977. This course is not costed within this case study because the distance- learning component was minor, but its launching demonstrated the ministry's determination to continue upgrading its teachers through in- service training. The ministry is seeking to diminish the financial consequences by limiting actual promotions through a quota system. It remains to be seen how successful this system will be in the face of representations by the powerful Kenya National Union of Teachers. Although the UQT program ended in 1974, the unit continued to offer its KJSE courses for teachers. In the same year, ministry policy changed, making possession of the KJSE certificate only one of the conditions for upgrading from P3 to P2. The ministry announced that teachers would be assessed by written and practical tests in the skills of teaching and in knowledge of learning theory and by their actual performance on thejob, 29 as well as in terms of formal academic qualifications such as KJSE. Indeed, teachers wishing to gain promotion are now required to complete a lengthy form showing the contributions they have been making to education. The form is to be countersigned by their head teacher. If the evidence on the form is strong enough, the teachers will be examined by a school inspector. In these ways, the meritocratic approach now adopted by the government has been put into operation, it seems, but expenditures are being kept down through the combination of this approach with a quota system that limits promotions. These changes of policy did not have an immediate or dramatic effect on the numbers ofteachers coming forward to take the unit's courses for KJSE, however, as table 7-2 shows. Indeed, the numbers rose, rather than falling, for reasons unknown. In anticipation of a demand for correspondence and radio courses at a higher level, the unit began to develop courses in seven subjects for the East African Certificate of Education, normally taken by secondary school pupils after four years, two years after the KJSE. Form three materials were ready to offer to teachers in 1977, and a small group of eighty-four began their studies that year. Preparation of form four materials was due to be 186 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY completed by the end of the year, for offering in 1978, and a substantial publicity campaign was planned forJanuary 1978. For the purpose of this case study, the costs of preparing these materials and offering them have been excluded.

Organization In 1977, the Correspondence Course Unit staff consisted of its head, seven correspondence tutors, a course development tutor, a radio/television specialist, a course editor, plus administrative and clerical personnel. The unit draws upon the services of about fifty practicing teachers in and around Nairobi as part-time lesson authors and script-markers. It is equipped with its own printing, duplicating, and binding facilities. It has registration, mailing, records, and accounts sections; a self-contained recording and production studio for radio; and a small science laboratory. The Adult Studies Centre adjacent to the unit provides all the facilities for short residential courses held for KJSE candidates: about 180 places a year, within six such courses, can be offered. Not all the effort of the staff is committed to teacher upgrading, nor is this the only use of the facilities. For example, staff are heavily involved in tutoring the residential courses offered by the Institute of Adult Studies for the Diploma of Adult Education. Nevertheless, the project has been based upon these substantial resources. For each course a teacher takes, whether for the KJSE or (up to 1974) for the UQT program, the instruction consists of: * Correspondence study guides, prepared by the unit, which contain lessons covering the complete course; each lesson contains selective (rather than exhaustive) self-test questions, while alternate lessons include details of written assignments. * Textbooks from commercial publishers, supplied by the unit to each teacher taking the course. * Maps, sets of mathematical instruments, scientific experiment kits, and so forth, as appropriate, again supplied by the unit. *Marking of assignments that are sent to the unit. * Radio broadcasts linked to one or two lessons each week. Face-to-face teaching is not available to all; it is limited to the residential sessions already mentioned, for which individuals may apply. Enrollment is open throughout the year. Once enrolled, a teacher may study as fast as he wishes in preparing himself for the examination, depending on the time he is able to devote to his studies and his prior knowledge of the subject. Some have covered the KJSE course, which normally takes two years in secondary school, in as little as six months. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 187

Others who first registered in 1968 are still pursuing their studies, having obtained a few passes along the way. The unit was unable to offer a full range of courses in its first years. Table 7-1 shows the buildup of subjects available; it also indicates how frequently the course materials had to be revised. The revisions became necessary for three reasons. First, the ministry's curricula were evolving very quickly during this period, particularly in geography and history, which became more nationally oriented. Second, the commercially available textbooks, supplied to students enrolled with the unit as essential for their courses, were changed from time to time as new editions or better texts appeared. Third, errors, ambiguities, and obsolete information had to be removed from the study guides for the courses in the light of students' experience. Some courses underwent substantial revision, others only a little. The numbers of pages in study guides produced by the unit for the KJSE program (and used in part for the UQT program) appear in table 7-3. The pages produced for revised editions were either replacements for pages in earlier editions or, in some cases, additional. Table 7-4 shows the pages of print provided in the form of textbooks sent to students but not published by the unit. Together, the tables show the dominance of print in the distance-teaching system, particularly when compared with table 7-5, which reflects the limited air time per week available for each course.

Table 7-3. Number of Pages of Study Guides Producedfor KJSE Program, Including Revisions, 1968-77 Physical Year English Kiswahili Math Geography History Biology science

1968' 322 396 345 444 381 0 0 1969" 281 280 205 210 82 269 0 1970' 105 0 65 152 80 84 0 1971 39 61 85 129 90 105 0 1972 0 0 55 144 86 50 246 1973 0 68 0 102 60 0 0 1974 55 102 93 90 63 55 118 1975 45 0 0 0 0 0 156 1976 0 0 25 0 40 25 266 1977 0 0 75 0 0 0 0 a. All of these materials were at form one (first-year) level. b. All of these materials were at form two (second-year)level, except in biology, which was at form one level. c. All materialsproduced in 1970and succeedingyears were for revised editions, except in biology 1970(form two materials)and in physicalscience 1972 (form one materials)and 1974 (form two materials). There was a year's delay in offering the physical science form two materials. 188 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 7-4. Number of Pages of Textbooks Distributed for KJSE Program, 1968-77 Physical Year English Kiswahili Math Geography History Biology science

1968' 617 362 208 118 376 0 0 1969b 508 312 112 0 0 340 0 1970' 212 0 0 50 164 0 0 1971 250 140 150 0 0 0 0 1972 0 0 0 56 150 200 380 1973 0 0 0 0 0 0 401 1974 0 156 145 0 0 0 0 1975 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 1976 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1977 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a. All of these texts wvereat form one (first-year) level. b. All of these texts were at form two (second-year)level, except in biology, which was at form one and form two levels. c. All texts provided in 1970 and succeeding years were in accordancewith Ministry of Educationchanges in prescribed texts. The pages noted are additional to the original texts or sometimesreplace them. Physical sciencewas an exception;form one texts were provided in 1972 and form two texts in 1973.

Because many of the radio programs are repeats, the total stock of programs is much smaller than the annual total of hours of broadcasting for the courses. For the average teacher taking one of the unit's courses, radio probably occupies less than 10 percent of his study time, most of which is devoted to reading and writing. The unit depends upon the Voice of Kenya, within the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, for transmission of its programs, which are produced and recorded on the unit's premises by its own staff. The course materials are delivered through a satisfactory postal service, through which assignments are sent to the unit and returned after marking. When postal delays occur, these may not be critical because of the flexible schedule of studying adopted by most teachers taking the courses. Unlike some other distance-learning systems, the unit does not have a field organization. It is known that the teachers sometimes work together in groups, but the unit can only offer encouragement to them to do so. Further details concerning the unit's organization can be found in several reports by the unit's staff."

The Students All those referred to as "students" in this case study are teachers. In fact, teachers make up 90 percent of the unit's enrollments for the KJSE program, while the UQT program was for teachers only. Nonteachers are excluded from the tables that follow below. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 189

The unit does not collect data about the age or experience of its teacher- students, but the majority in the KJSE courses are likely to be fairly young, with short teaching experience. Those taking UQT courses (1969-74) had at least four years' teaching experience and were probably somewhat older on average than those doing KJSE.Table 7-2 shows enrollments since the unit began its courses. It is important to note that many enrollees studied other subjects for the KJSE privately in parallel with the courses taken through the unit. Thus, the apparent dropout between, say, 710 entries in 1968 and 519 continuers in 1969 may not be an actual dropout in the sense of candidates leaving the system because they have failed. Figure 7-3 shows what may have happened to the first group of enrollees. Unfortunately, it is impossible to identify from the statistics available the numbers of enrollees who become dropouts. It is not clear how many noncontinuers completed their KJSE, thus becoming "KJSE successes" who left the system because they did not require its help any longer. Without knowing the number of KJSE successes, one cannot estimate the number of dropouts. Even if this latter number were known, it would be of doubtful value; in an open learning system such as this, it is reasonable and feasible for students to come back after a period of quiescence. Table 7-6 shows the number of passes obtained in all subjects in each year in the KJSE by teachers studying through the unit. These teachers obtained further passes in subjects not studied using the unit's materials, but these passes have been omitted from the table. The table also shows the number of teachers obtaining promotion to P3 from their former UQT status. All of these were obliged to use the unit's materials, and to complete two-thirds of the assignments in their subjects, in order to prepare for the final examination. The two sets of figures in table 7-6 can be converted to a common base. The KJSE subject pass can be the basic unit. The Correspondence Course Unit's UQT courses employ two-thirds of the form one materials for KJSE. Each teacher wishing to qualify for P3 certification has to take three of these UQT courses. As a rough approximation, these three courses require the same amount of academic work as that required to obtain one KJSE pass. (23 x 3 = 2 years' work-the same as for KJSE.) Thus, the unit can be said to have provided the nation with more than 10,700 KJSE subject pass equivalents in the period 1968-77. .

Resource Use, Costs, and Finance

The facilities used by the unit are located at Kikuyu, in a building financed by the Danish government in 1970. This building is used not only for the project described here, but also for some others operated by the Table 7-5. Allocation of Air Time to KJSE and UQT Programs, 1968-77 Annual Physical total Year English Kiswahili Math Geography History Biology science hours 19681 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 108 1969 3 2 3 3 3 1 0 180 1970 4 2 4 4 4 2 0 240 1971 4 2 4 4 4 2 0 240 1972 4 2 4 4 4 2 0 240 1973 4 2 4 4 4 2 0 240 1974b 3 2 3 3 3 1 0 180 1975 3 2 3 3 3 1 0 180 1976 3 2 3 3 3 1 0 180 1977 3 2 3 3 3 1 0 180 a. Form one (first-year) level only. All figures in units of fifteen-minuteprograms except the annual total, which is in hours. b. The allocationof air time to the unit dropped in 1974from one hour per weekday to forty-five minutes, to make way for a national newscast. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 191

Figure 7-3. Progressof Students through the Correspondence Course Unit

1968 710 entries

710 enrolled

519 191 Continuers Noncontinuers

KJSE Dropouts successes

1969 876 entries entries Potential continuers

1,395 enrolled

1,012 383 Continuers Noncontinuers

KJSE Dropouts successes

Potential continuers 192 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 7-6. KJSE Passes and Teacher Promotions, 1968-77

KJSE: subject UQT: promotions Year passes to Grade P3 1968 339 - 1969 446 1,709 1970 460 1,627 1971 324 1,098 1972 192 1,080 1973 184 772 1974 299 1,346 1975 315 - 1976 276 - 1977' 250 - Total 3,085 7,632

-= Not applicable. a. Estimate. unit. Thus, only part of the building costs should be attributed to the project. The Danish government also financed six houses at Kikuyu for staff. These houses are rented, and the rent is a resource for the University of Nairobi. For that reason, these houses are not included as costs of thc project. The most delicate problem concerns the treatment of the funds provided by USAID, through the University of Wisconsin. At the start of the project (1967-70), USAID paid for U.S. specialists to the tune of nearly US$500,000. Foreign technical assistance of this magnitude may not be required in all countries adopting the technologies described in this case study. Experience in developing countries to date has shown that there is usually a high foreign cost component, however, in terms of personnel, advisers, and so on. It is therefore better to prepare two costings: one with the real costs of the U.S. aid, the other on the assumption that the U.S. experts would have been paid at the rate of their Kenyan counterparts.

Breakdown of Costs by Medium, Year by Year

RADIO PROGRAMS. The costs of radio programs include both the costs of production and the costs of transmission. Production costs include the costs of producing the tapes at the unit, but exclude the production of the scripts, which are direct subproducts of the printed materials. Costs of tape production include amortization of the studio and equipment, the costs of the tapes, and the salaries of the two persons who make the recordings. The total cost of transmission is a little more complicated to evaluate. To date, the Voice of Kenya (VOK) has borne this cost-out of the public TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 193

budget, since the deficit of the VOK is financed by the Treasury. The VOK has three sources of finance: the tax paid by customers buying radio sets, the selling of air time for advertising purposes, and the financing of the deficit out of the public budget. The last is the principal source. Up to now, transmission of broadcasts prepared by the unit has been charged to the voK; thus, no real costs have ever been calculated. The only estimate available-100 Kenyan pounds (K£) an hour-appears in Krival's (1970) report, in which the method of calculation is not indicated. The time may come when the VOK chooses to sell air time for educational purposes to reduce its deficit, although that would be only a transfer between two ministries, from Education to Information and Broadcasting. The method of calculation selected here is that of opportunity cost: what would have been the advertising receipts during that time? It seems that the result is a cost significantly higher than the marginal cost of using existing facilities, but lower than the average cost since the selling of free air time would not cover the total deficit of the station. The calculation of transmission costs on the basis of opportunity costs was the only method possible from the available information. Table 7-7 displays the costs of radio production and transmission. On the reception side, the costs of using radio sets to listen to the broadcasts are taken as equal to zero. Most of the teachers own radio sets. If not, the schools have them.

PRINTED AND WRITTEN MATERIALS. The costs of printed and written materials can be distinguished into three groups: costs of preparation, costs of printing, and costs of distribution (mail). Furthermore, there are three kinds of printed or written materials: course guides and the materials written and printed by the unit; textbooks bought on the market (which involve no production cost in the unit); comments on and marking of assignments. For the last, the salaries of the teachers who are tutors are included on the printing side, because they are a variable cost, varying with the number of students, rather than a fixed cost. The U.S. aid is reflected in the recurrent costs of the preparation of printed materials. Table 7-8 shows costs including aid at the Kenyan rate; table 7-9 shows them at the U.S. rate.

OPTIONAL RESIDENTIAL SESSIONS. KJSE students are invited each year to come twice to the Adult Studies Centre, in Kikuyu, for a week-long residential session. They pay a fee, which is one-tenth of the real costs for their accommodation, but they pay the full cost of transportation. Only a few of the registered students have taken up the invitation, for a variety of reasons related to costs and accessibility. Table 7-10 shows the costs of the residential sessions to the project and to the students, as well as total costs. Table 7-7. Costs of Radio, 1968-77 (Kenyan pounds) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Production (current pounds) Building 500 800 800 4,500 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 400 1,000 1,000 6,000 500 200 100 200 400 200 Recurrent 1,700 2,100 2,600 3,100 3,000 3,000 3,500 3,900 4,100 4,500 Production (constant 1977 pounds)a Building 920 1,450 1,400 7,900 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 740 1,810 1,800 10,500 840 320 150 260 440 200 Recurrent 3,130 3,810 4,700 5,600 5,060 4,740 5,240 5,050 4,500 4,500 so Production (with amortization of capital)b Building 80 200 320 990 990 990 990 990 990 990 Equipment 110 370 630 2,160 2,280 2,330 2,350 2,390 2,450 2,480 Recurrent 3,130 3,810 4,700 5,600 5,060 4,740 5,240 5,050 4,500 4,500 Transmission (constant 1977 pounds) Number of hours 108 180 240 240 240 240 180 180 180 180 Costs 12,960 21,600 28,800 28,800 28,800 28,800 21,600 21,600 21,600 21,600

Total (constant 1977 pounds)' 16,280 25,980 34,450 37,550 37,130 36,860 30,180 30,050 29,540 29,570

a. Current costs are deflated with thc following coefficient based on the inflation rate in Kenya. To obtain a figure in 1977 Kcryan pounds, multiply the figure in current pounds by 100/deflator coefficient: 1968 =54.3; 1969 = 55.1; 1970 55.4; 1971 = 57.1; 1972= 59.3; 1973 = 63.3; 1974 =66.8; 1975 = 77.3; 1976=91.1; 1977=100. b. Buildings are amortized over thirty years, radio equipment over ten, at the rate of 7.5 percent. c. One Kenyan pounid (= 20 Kenyan shillinigs) equalled US$2.40 in 1977.

4 , , TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 195

ADMINISTRATION. Table 7-11 shows recurrent costs for studies and evaluation of the project.

TOTAL COSTS. The total costs of the project are summarized in table 7-12.

Cost Funtctionsand Average Costs The aim of a cost function is to show how unit costs vary according to the number of students in the system. Distance teaching differs from face-to-face teaching mainly in two respects: * The fixed costs of distance teaching, at any time, are higher than in face-to-face teaching, and they have to be shared by a sufficient number of students to make the system competitive. * The fixed costs are higher during start-up of the system, when the printed materials and the tapes are being produced, than in the following years, when much of the same material can be used unrevised. Distance teaching is usually more capital-intensive than face-to-face teaching, which is more labor-intensive, requiring heavier recurrent expenditure per student, particularly on teachers' salaries. But a cost function gives only theoretical results: What would the average cost have been if the number of students were x, y, or z? Real average costs over time can be computed using the formula proposed by Jamison, Klees, and Wells.3"

COST FUNCTION. The cost function need not be calculated for each year of the project, but only for two significant ones, near the start (for instance, 1970) and at the present (1977). The cost function is written as follows: TC=FC+ VCxN, where TC = the total cost, FC = the fixed cost, VC = the variable cost, and N = the number of subject-equivalents (see below). In this case, the fixed costs are as in table 7-13. The total variable costs divided by the number of units in 1970 and 1977 will yield the unit variable cost. There are some problems, however, in defining what counts as a unit in this context. In the section above on students, KJSE subject passes and UQT promotions were converted to a Table 7-8. Costs of Printed Materials with U.S. Aid at the Kenyan Rate, 1968-77 t) (Kcnyan pounds)

1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Production (current pounds) Building 200 400 600 5,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 3,000 1,500 1,000 9,000 500 7,000 1,000 800 900 1,000 Recurrent 30,000 33,500 37,000 20,000 18,000 18,000 19,000 20,000 22,000 24,000 Production (conistant 1977 pounds)a Building 370 720 1,080 8,760 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 5,520 2,720 1,800 25,760 840 1,100 1,500 1,030 990 1,000 Recurrent 55,200 60,800 66,800 35,000 30,350 28,400 28,440 25,870 24,150 24,000 Production (with amortization of capital)b Building 30 90 180 920 920 920 920 920 920 920 Equipmenit 1,360 2,030 2,470 6,910 7,110 6,020 5,720 5,530 1,330 1,380 Recurrent 55,200 60,800 66,800 35,000 30,350 28,400 28,440 25,870 24,150 24,000 Total 56,590 62,920 69,450 42,830 38,380 35,340 35,080 32,320 26,400 26,300 Reproduction (currenit pounds)' Building 400 600 800 10,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 800 1,200 1,000 14,000 2,000 1,000 800 400 400 500 Recurrent 8,600 41,650 39,800 35,000 29,000 24,000 36,500 21,500 15,500 20,500 Reproduction (constant 1977 pounds) Building 740 1,090 1,440 17,500 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 1,470 2,180 1,800 24,500 3,370 1,580 1,200 520 440 500 Recurrenit 15,840 75,600 71,800 61,300 48,900 37,900 54,640 27,800 17,000 20,500 Reproduction (with amortization of capital)' Building 60 150 27(0 1,750 1,750 1,750 1,750 1,750 1,750 1,750 Equipment 360 900 1,340 7,390 8,220 8,250 8,010 7,700 1,760 1,050 Recurrent 15,840 75,600 71,800) 61,300 48,900 37,900 54,640 27,800 17,000 20,500 Total 16,260 76,650 73,410 70,440 58,870 47,900 64,400 37,250 20,510 23,300 Distributioni (currenit pounds) 3,600 10,800 10,300 10,200 10,000 8,500 11,700 8,700 5,700 6,850 Distribution (constant 1977 pounds) 6,630 19,600 18,600 17,900 16,900 13,400 17,500 11,250 6,260 6,850 Total (constant 1977 pounds with amortizationi) 79,480 159,170 161,460 131,170 114,150 96,640 116,980 80,820 53,170 56,450

a. See table 7-7, notc a. b. Buildings are amortized over thirty years, typewriters and printinig machines over five years, at a rate of 7.5 percent. c. Including textbooks and commenting/markinig. Table 7-9. Costs of Printed Material with U.S. Aid at the U.S. Rate, 1968-77 (Kenyan pounids) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Production (constant 1977 pounds with amortization) Building 30 90 180 920 920 920 920 920 920 920 Equipment 1,360 2,030 2,470 6,910 7,110 6,020 5,720 5,530 1,330 1,380 xs Recurrent 110,550 122,910 139,300 35,000 30,350 28,400 28,440 25,870 24,150 24,000 Total 111,940 125,030 141,950 42,830 38,380 35,340 35,080 32,320 26,400 26,300 Reproduction (constanit 1977 pounds) 16,260 76,650 73,410 70,440 58,870 47,900 64,400 37,250 20,510 23,300 Distribution (constant 1977 pounds) 6,630 19,600 18,600 17,900 16,900 13,400 17,500 11,250 6,260 6,850 Total 134,830 221,280 233,960 131,170 114,150 96,640 116,980 80,820 53,170 56,450

S * A Table 7-10. Costs of Residential Sessions, 1968-77 (Kenyani pounids) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Current pounds Transport 900 1,000 1,100 1,100 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,400 1,200 1,500 Personnel 800 1,500 1,400 1,500 1,200 1,200 1,400 1,700 1,800 2,000 Accommodation 700 800 800 900 900 900 800 800 750 1,000 Total 2,400 3,300 3,300 3,500 3,300 3,300 3,400 3,900 3,750 4,500 Constant 1977 pounds 4,420 6,000 5,960 6,130 5,560 5,210 5,090 5,050 4,120 4,500 Table 7-11. Costs of Administration, 1968-77 (Kenyan pounds)

1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Currcnt pounds Building 300 500 600 3,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 500 400 500 2,000 200 400 300 500 400 600 Recurrent 3,000 3,000 3,700 4,300 4,800 5,300 6,200 6,750 7,000 7,600 Constant 1977 pounds Building 550 910 1,080 5,250 0 0 0 0 0 0 Equipment 920 730 900 3,500 340 630 450 650 440 600 Recurrent 5,520 5,450 6,680 7,530 8,100 8,370 8,370 9,280 7,700 7,600 Constant 1977 pounds with amortization of capital (7.5 percent rate) Building 50 130 220 670 670 670 670 670 670 670 Equipment 230 410 630 1,490 1,570 1,500 1,430 1,370 620 650 Recurrent 5,520 5,450 6,680 7,530 8,100 8,370 9,280 8,730 7,700 7,600 Total 5,800 5,990 7,530 9,690 10,340 10,540 11,380 10,770 8,990 8,920

4 E S I A I I.1

Tablc 7-12. Total Cost of the Teacher Training Project, 1968-77 (constant 1977 Kenyan pounds) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Radio Production 3,320 4,380 5,650 8,750 8,330 8,060 8,580 8,430 7,940 7,970 Transmission 12,960 21,600 28,800 28,800 28,800 28,800 21,600 21,600 21,600 21,600 Total 16,280 25,980 34,450 37,550 37,130 36,860 30,180 30,030 29,540 29,570 Printed or written materials Production Kenyan ratea 56,590 62,920 69,450 42,830 38,380 35,340 35,080 32,320 26,400 26,300 U.S. rateb 111,940 125,030 141,950 42,830 38,380 35,340 35,080 32,320 26,400 26,300 Reproduction 16,260 76,650 73,410 70,440 58,870 47,900 64,400 37,250 20,510 23,300 Distribution 6,630 19,600 18,600 17,900 16,900 13,400 17,500 11,250 6,260 6,850 Total Keniyanirate' 79,480 159,170 161,460 131,170 114,150 96,640 116,980 80,820 53,170 56,450 U.S. rateb 134,830 221,280 233,960 131,170 114,150 96,640 116,980 80,820 53,170 56,450 Residential session 4,420 6,000 5,960 6,130 5,560 5,210 5,090 5,050 4,120 4,500 Administration 5,800 5,990 9,690 10,340 10,340 11,380 11,380 10,770 8,990 8,920 Total Kenyan ratea 105,980 197,140 209,400 184,540 167,180 149,250 163,630 126,670 95,820 99,440 U.S. rateb 161,330 259,250 281,900 184,540 167,180 149,250 163,630 126,670 95,820 99,440

a. With U.S. aid at the Kenyan rate. b. With U.S. aid at the U.S. rate. 202 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 7-13. Fixed and Variable Costs of KJSE and UQT Programs, 1970 and 1977 (constant 1977 Kenyan pounds)

Costs 1970a 1970b 1977 Fixed costs Administrative costs 7,530 7,530 7,530 Costs of radio programs 34,450 34,450 29,570 Preparation of printed materials 69,450 141,950 26,300 Total fixed costs 111,430 183,930 63,400 Variable costs Printing of materials and marking of assignments 73,410 73,410 23,300 Distribution of printed and written materials 18,600 18,600 6,850 Residentialsessions 5,960 5,960 4,500 Total variable costs 97,970 97,970 34,650 a. With U.S. aid at the Kenyan rate. b. With U.S. aid at the U.S. rate.

common base by making the KJSE subject pass the common unit. Here, enrollments can be reduced to a common base by counting subjects being studied through the unit. This is necessary because in the KJSE program each student can study between one and seven subjects at the same time, while in the UQT program each student is obliged to study three subjects, but only to a lower level. Thus, each UQT student has the same value as a KJSE student enrolled for only one course. The total fixed and variable costs are shown in table 7-13. Conversion to a common base is made clearer in table 7-14, which shows that in 1970 there were 3,650 subject-equivalents, made up of 1,600 subjects being studied for KJSE and 2,050 UQT enrollments. In 1977, there were 790 subject-equivalents, based entirely upon KJSE subjects being studied, since the UQT program had ended. Using these figures for subject-equivalents, it is possible to calculate unit variable costs:

VC70 = 3,650 = K£28.8 per subject-equivalent;

7 7 VC = 34,650 = KY43.9 per subject-equivalent. 790 The average cost function can be written as: TC FC N N TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 203

In 1970, with U.S. aid at the Kenyan rate 209,400/N= 111,430/ N + 28.8. In 1970, with U. S. aid at the U. S. rate 281,900/N = 183,930/N + 28.8. In 1977, without aid 98,050/N = 63,400/N + 43.9. These functions are represented in figure 7-4. At the start of the project, the number of subject-equivalents was sufficient to justify the high fixed cost of such a system. But, by 1977, although the fixed costs had decreased, the number of subject-equivalents was clearly too small, and at least three times more would be necessary to gain significant economies of scale.

AVERAGE COSTS. The Jamison, Klees, and Wells method of calculating average costs uses cost and enrollment data for all years of the project from i to j. The equation for calculating the average cost AC0j is:

XCk/(l +r)k-t AC 0j= k '

E Nkl(l +o)k-i k=i where C= the cost of year k, Nk = the number of students (or, in this case, subject-equivalents) enrolled in the year k, and r = the rate of interest. Tables 7-15 and 7-16 show the results for the two costings, with U. S. aid at the Kenyan rate and at the U.S. rate. Each table gives the results for three alternative rates of interest: 0 percent, 7.5 percent, and 15 percent. In the first years of the system, the average cost per subject-equivalent enrollment was about Ki60 (US$144), if we consider the costs of the U.S. participation at the Kenyan rate. The average cost increased to twice that figure-that is, about Ki120 (US$288)-in 1977. The main reason for this evolution was the decreasing number of subject-equivalents. Fixed costs are decreasing, but not as quickly.

Comparison with Costs of Alternatives How do these costs compare with those of alternatives? Comparisons are difficult because there are no really accessible alternatives for teachers. Other programs simply do not offer the same service. For example, even if teachers were not adults and were able to study at secondary schools set up for adolescents, these schools require daily attendance, which would be impossible for teachers employed in primary schools. Table 7-14. Estimate of Total Number of Subjects Studied by KJSE Students and Number of UQI Students, 1968-77 Item 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

KJSEsubjects' 1,470 1,350 1,600 1,260 1,400 950 1,080 940 790 790 k,) UQT students 2,000 2,050 1,350 1,280 920 1,520 100 - - Subject-equivalents 1,470 3,350 3,650 2,610 2,680 1,870 2,600 1,040 790 790

-= Not applicable. a. The data have not been obtainieddirectly, but from thc total feespaid, minus the total fees for the UQT students. Knowing thIefee per subject in the KJSEprogram, it was possible to deduce thc total number of subjects studied. A moving average was used to take into account the fact that, for onc subject, the students have to be in the system two years. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 205

Figure 7-4. Unit Cost According to the Number of Subject-Equivalents

220 I I l \ 1970 with 200 U.S. aid at Kenyan rate 180 I

160 1970 with - , 4---U.S.- aid at ° 140 -19778 \ U.S. rate 0. 140 197A \ >. 120

° 80

D 60__ ---- ' ==

40 -

20 - 20 _ i Il l I

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 Number of subject-equivalents

What is the subject-equivalent unit cost in a Kenyan private secondary school of the harambee, or self-help, type? Some expenses are paid by the community, but student fees are K£40 per subject-equivalent at the KJSE level. This is one-third of the average cost per subject-equivalent in 1977in the teacher education program operated by the unit. Private correspondence courses offered by British and U. S. institutions do not match well the syllabus for the KJSE, but the subject-equivalent fee is about K£12.5. These comparisons deal with the cost of enrollment in other programs. The fact that the private secondary schools and the correspondence courses yield very low pass rates, according to Kenyan educators, has not been taken into account. It is also important to note that "passing KJSE" is not the same in the unit as in other secondary institutions, because unit candidates need pass only one subject a year, while candidates from elsewhere must pass five subjects in the same year. For these reasons, it is impossible to make a detailed or accurate comparison between the unit's costs and those of other institutions offering similar services. On the basis of such superficial comparisons as can be made, however, the average cost of the unit's teacher education program cannot be said to be exceptionally low. Table 7-15. Average Costs with U.S. Aid at the Kenyan Rate, 1968-77 (constant 1977 Kenyan pounds) Discount rate Year (percent) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

1968 0 72.1 62.9 60.5 62.9 62.8 64.8 64.6 67.6 67.8 71.9 7.5 72.1 63.1 60.8 62.9 62.8 64.5 64.3 66.7 68.2 69.7 15 72.1 63.3 61.0 62.9 62.8 64.2 64.1 65.8 66.9 67.9 1969 0 58.8 58.0 61.5 61.7 64.1 63.9 67.3 69.6 71.9 7.5 58.8 58.1 61.3 61.5 63.5 63.4 66.1 67.8 69.4 15 58.8 58.2 61.0 61.3 63.0 63.0 65.0 66.3 67.4 1970 0 57.4 62.9 62.8 65.7 65.7 69.2 71.9 74.6 7.5 57.4 62.7 62.6 65.2 64.8 68.1 70.2 72.2 15 57.4 62.5 62.5 64.8 64.5 67.2 68.8 70.2 1971 0 70.7 66.5 70.0 68.1 73.3 76.5 79.7 7.5 70.7 66.7 68.9 68.7 72.5 75.2 77.6 15 70.7 66.8 69.7 68.2 71.9 74.1 75.9 1972 0 62.4 69.5 67.1 74.1 78.2 82.1 7.5 62.4 69.2 67.1 73.2 76.7 79.8 15 62.4 68.9 67.1 72.5 75.4 78.0 1973 0 79.8 70.0 78.8 84.9 89.5 7.5 79.8 70.3 79.2 83.8 87.7 15 79.8 70.6 78.8 82.8 86.1 1974 0 62.9 79.8 87.2 93.0 7.5 62.9 78.9 85.7 90.9 15 62.9 78.1 84.4 89.1 1975 0 121.8 121.6 122.8 7.5 121.8 121.6 122.8 15 121.8 121.6 122.7 1976 0 121.3 123.6 7.5 121.3 123.4 15 121.3 123.4 1977 0 125.9 7.5 125.9 15 125.9

4 ~ ~~~ I ~ ~. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 207

Finance If sums are quoted in constant 1977 Kenyan pounds, then during the first three years of the project U. S. aid was substantial (K£368,000). The total cost of the project over ten years to date has been K£1,689,000. Included in this figure are costs to students of fees (K£82,000) and postage (K£44,400), as shown in table 7-17.

Effectiveness

Criteria of Effectiveness Most criteria of effectiveness that might be applied to the unit's courses are likely to prove unsatisfactory on close examination. First, there are comparative criteria. Comparative retention rates, for example, are sometimes considered to be an index of effectiveness. These rates are easy to establish in a face-to-face teaching system, but they are notoriously difficult to fix in a distance-learning system because of the liberal policies adopted toward students' rates of study. Such policies constitute one of the important advantages of distance learning because the students work and study at the same time. Where students learning at a distance are obliged to reregister at the start of each academic year, then it is possible to identify rates of retention. But where students are able to drop out of their courses without much formality, this cannot be done. In some distance- learning systems, students do not even have to pay a further fee to restart if they can show they paid the fee for the course. Another comparative criterion of effectiveness of a distance-learning system may be its performance when compared with face-to-face instruction. In Kenya, there has been an attempt to compare the pass rates ofKJSE candidates who prepared themselves using the unit's courses with those of 32 KJSE candidates prepared by government and private secondary schools. Such a comparison is valid only when it can be shown that both the distance-learning system and the face-to-face system have been used to teach equivalent groups of candidates. In Kenya, much of the evidence points to gross differences: the teachers are self-selected candidates. They may be well motivated, but are obviously hard-pressed to work and study at the same time. Moreover, these teachers did not succeed in the selection examinations for secondary school. Had they done so, they would not have become teachers. By contrast, the secondary school students are highly selected from among those completing primary education. If there are no sound comparative criteria, are there other absolute criteria that should be applied? Table 7-2 indicates that some 12,600 Table 7-16. Average Costs with U.S. Aid at the U.S. Rate, 1968-77 (conistant 1977 Kenyan pounds) 1Discountrate Year (percent) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

1968 0 109.7 87.2 82.9 80.0 76.6 77.0 75.0 77.8 79.2 81.0 7.5 109.7 87.8 83.5 80.7 77.6 77.9 76.2 78.0 79.2 80.4 °°0 15 109.7 88.2 84.0 81.4 78.6 78.7 77.3 78.6 79.5 80.3 1969 0 77.4 77.3 75.5 72.6 73.6 71.9 74.8 76.8 78.8 7.5 77.4 77.3 75.7 73.1 73.8 72.5 74.7 76.1 77.5 15 77.4 77.3 75.8 73.5 74.1 72.9 74.6 75.6 76.6 1970 0 77.2 74.5 70.9 72.4 70.6 74.3 76.7 79.1 7.5 77.2 74.5 70.9 72.4 70.6 74.3 76.7 79.1 15 77.2 74.7 71.6 72.7 71.3 73.7 75.1 76.1 Note: From 1971 to 1977, samc as in table 7-15. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 209

Table 7-17. Financing of the Project by Source 1977 Kenyan Source pounds Percent Kenyan government 1,162,510 68.8 Danish government 32,090 1.9 U.S. government 368,000 21.8 Students 126,400 7.5 Total 1,689,000 100.0

persons enrolled with the unit during the period 1968-77. Some would say that this figure reflects considerable success on the part of the unit. Others would point to the high number of continuers (2,404 out of 4,195) for the KJSE program and would demand a faster throughput. The rate of completion of courses is not in the hands of the unit, however, and if teachers were to take more subjects each year there would certainly be an outcry the moment this led to neglect of classes. Other criteria may be sought by some observers in tables 7-1, 7-3, and 7-5, from which it is possible to obtain a fair idea of the effort put into producing and delivering the courses. These tables reflect the unit's productivity, however, not the effectiveness of its courses. The ultimate criteria are to be found in the effectiveness of the teachers in the classroom, yet here it is impossible to separate the effects of the unit's courses from other effects. Should students' views of the effectiveness of the courses be taken into account? Possibly, but to date it has proved impossible to secure sufficient data from students to support a valid study. The effectiveness of the unit's courses can best be judged in relation to the goals for upgrading teachers set for the unit by the Ministry of Education. These goals were twofold: to enable teachers to complete the requirements for upgrading from UQT status to P3 without leaving their posts, and to enable teachers to take subjects in the KJSE examination, a partial condition for promotion from P3 to P2, again without leaving their posts. Was the unit able to provide courses that were successful in these respects? It was, as tables 7-2 and 7-6 reflect.

Results Table 7-2 shows that, over the 1968-77 period, 4,195 teachers enrolled for courses of the KJSE programme. Table 7-6 shows that 3,085 subject- passes were obtained in the same period. Similarly, table 7-2 shows that 8,433 unqualified teachers studied through the unit's courses, while table 7-6 indicates that 7,632 promotions were obtained. These figures show 210 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY that the unit's courses were indeed successful in meeting the objectives set for them.

Conclusions

Is the use of correspondence and radio for teacher education costly in Kenya? As was shown above in the section on Resource Use, Costs, and Finance, it is indeed costly for the number of teachers being provided for in 1977. Have the correspondence and radio courses for teacher education been effective in Kenya? In terms of the objectives set for them, they have. It is quite a different question to ask whether the courses have been cost-effective. Could the same results have been obtained more cheaply by other means? Probably not. The cost of withdrawing teachers from their classrooms for residential training courses is too high. Peripatetic teacher educators would also be very costly. Correspondence and radio can reach most Kenyan teachers more cheaply. Yet the total cost of the unit's 107,000 KJSE pass-equivalents has been some Ki1,689,000, or over KM157 per pass. Comparative data are not available, but the cost to teachers in lost salary is not less than K300 a year if they have to leave their jobs for upgrading (see table 7-18). Yet another question must be asked: If the courses are effective, why are so few unqualified teachers taking advantage of them? The answer lies partly in the changing composition of the teaching corps. Fewer unqualified teachers seek P3 status now because many of them are well enough educated that they may seek higher status. The government has termi- nated the unit's involvement in the UQT program for the time being, though the most recent indications are that a new phase of the program once again utilizing the unit's facilities will soon be launched. The new East African Certificate of Education courses could well be used in this next phase. Demand for the KJSE courses has fallen off-again because fewer teachers now require that set of courses. This is not the whole answer, however, and it is the government's change in promotion policy that probably lies at the heart of the matter. Fiscal policy demands that fewer teachers are promoted to higher salary grades. The only way in which Kenya can avoid spending more than 29 percent of its national budget on education is by keeping down teachers' salaries. Yet a higher salary has been a powerful motivator of teachers wishing to upgrade themselves. Again the most recent indications are that government recognizes this and is prepared to guarantee a financial incentive, at least for unqualified teachers who upgrade themselves through the program when it is restarted. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 211

Table 7-18. Number of Teachersin Kenya, by Grades and Salaries,October 1977 Average annual salary Grade' Number (Kenyan pounds) Si 1,868 1,128 Pi 16,013 834 P2 21,003 633 P3 16,239 543 P4 1,689 453 UQT 30,006 300

Total 86,818 5 3 4 b a. Sl = the grade for secondary schoolteachers who are fully qualified.PI, P2, and P3 = the main grades for primary school teachers who are fully qualified at various levels (see figure 7-2). P4 = an old grade for very poorly qualifiedteachers now being phased out. UQT = the grade for all teacherswithout a teachingcredential, no matter what academiccertificate they may have (for example, East African Certificate of Education, a degree). b. Approximate average salary.

Kenyan teachers are comparatively well paid. Their average salary is five times the per capita GNP. In most countries, the averageof teachersis no more than double the per capita GNP. In Kenya, it could be said that teachers already belong to the advantaged social classes. It is hard to find any justification for increasing the gap between this group and others in Kenyan society. Indeed, there is a rapidly growing group of people with the same academic qualifications as the teachers but who are jobless. If money is not to be the motivator for Kenyan teachersto take courses by correspondence and radio to upgrade themselves, what is? The only alternative appears to be job security. Unqualified teachers have no such security, but qualified teachers do. Even teacherswith university degrees do not have security until they obtain a teaching qualification.Unqualified teachers are likely to be encouraged to upgrade themselves, lest their jobs go to those who have already done so. Under these conditions, the Kenyan government may well turn to the Correspondence Course Unit as the only way of providing for most of those who wish to become qualified. It cannot afford to increase its residential (face-to-face)facilities for teacher education. In fact, these may have to decrease in time to keep expenditureswithin the 29 percent limit. There is potential for increased efficiencyin teacher education, leading to cost reduction, if distanceteaching methods can be used on a wide front. It may not be cheap per capita unless large numbers come forward to take the courses. It will require money the government can ill afford out of its hard-pressed educational budget. But it may be the only option within reach. 212 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Notes to Chapter 7

1. Although Kenya was officiallyannexed as a British colony in 1920,British interests in this part of the world date to 1887-88 when the Crown granted exclusive rights to the Imperial British East Africa Company to penetrate, open, and administer East Africa from the coast inland through Uganda. See Richard D. Wolff, Britainand Kenya 1870-1930:The Economicsof Colonialism(Nairobi: Trans Africa Publishers, 1974),p. 42. 2. These disparities are well documented in InternationalLabour Organisation, Emnploy- ment, Incomesand Equality: A StrategyforIncreasing Productive Employment in Kenya, Mission Report (Geneva:ILO, 1972).For a good description of socioeconomicconditions in contem- porary Kenya, see Colin Leys, Underdevelopmentin Kenya: The PoliticalEconomy of Neo- Colonialism,1964-1971 (London: Heinemann, 1975); and for a good critique of the ILO Mission Report, see Colin Leys, "Interpreting AfricanUnderdevelopment: Reflectionson the ILO Report on Employment, Incomes and Equality in Kenya," AfricanAffairs, vol. 72, 289 (October 1973), pp. 419-29. 3. For a summary of the historical origins of the present social disparities, see ILO, Employment,Incomes and Equality, chap. 6; and Leys, Underdevelopmentin Kenya, chaps. I and 2. 4. Leys, Underdevelopmentin Kenya, chaps. 1 and 2. 5. For a comprehensive review of the Kenyan educationalsystem, see David Court and Dharam Ghai, eds., Education,Society and Development: NIew Perspectivesfrom Kenya (Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1974),especially chap. 1. 6. For a critique of the document on "African Socialism,"which is the cornerstoneof the Kenyan government's development ideology, see Leys, Underdevelopmentin Kenya, chap. 7, especiallythe sectionsentitled "Compradors and Socialists"and "Ideology and Repression." 7. World Bank, "Kenya, Education Sector Memorandum" (Washington,D.C., Eastern Africa Regional Office, 1977;processed), p. 4. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. Kenneth King, "Primary Schools in Kenya: Some Constraints on Their Effective- ness," in Education,Society and Development,ed. Court and Ghai. Repetition in the upper grades is clearly related to the secondary school selectioneffects. It is also related to pupils' socioeconomicbackground. Repeatersat these grades seem to be more likelyto come from those families that can best provide for the tuition fees, additional books, private coaching, and other necessary preparation to ensure selection to secondary school. Whereas poor families may also be able to amass scarce resourcesso that their childrencan repeat and hope to be selected to a secondary school, this seems to be at the expense of younger offspring either dropping out of school altogether or marking time in standards 1-4, where nominal school fees have been abolished. 11. For an extended discussionof these factors, seeJohn A. Nkinyangi, Socio-Economic Determinantsof Repetitionand Early School Withdrawal at the Primary Level and Their Implications for EducationalPlanning in Kenya, Working Paper 325 (Nairobi: University of Nairobi, Institute for Development Studies, September 1977). 12. World Bank, "Kenya, Education Sector Memorandum," p. 2 and annex 11,table 14. 13. Colin Leys, "Politics in Kenya: The Developmentof Peasant Society," BritishJournal of PoliticalScience, vol. I Uuly1971), pp. 307-37. 14. L. Brownstein, Educationand Development in RuralKenya: A Study ofPrimary School Graduates(New York: Praeger, 1972), p. 165. 15. Nkinyangi, Socio-EconomicDeterminants of Repetitionand Early SchoolWithdrawal. TEACHER EDUCATION IN KENYA 213

16. Kenneth Prewitt, "Education and Social Equality in Kenya," in Education, Society and Development, ed. Court and Ghai. 17. W. T. S. Gould, "Secondary School Admission Policies in Eastern Africa, Some Regional Issues, " Comparative Education Review, vol. 18, no. 3 (October 1974), pp. 374-87. 18. Marjorie Mbilinyi, "The Problem of Unequal Access to Primary Education in Tanza- nia," Rural Africana, vol. 25 (Fall 1974). 19. Republic of Kenya Development Plan, 1974-78 (Nairobi: Government Printer). 20. David Court, "The Educational System as a Response to Inequality in Tanzania and Kenya," Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 14, no. 4 (December 1976), pp. 661-90. 21. Ibid. 22. Ibid. 23. Exponents of such points of view abound. See, for example, James S. Coleman, ed., Education and Political Development (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965); Frederick Harbison and Charles A. Myers, Education, Manpower, and Economic Growth: Strategies of Human Resource Development (New York: McGraw Hill, 1964), p. 181; Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture (Boston: Little Brown, 1965); and Alex Inkeles and David H. Smith, BecomingModern (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974). 24. For an alternative point of view, see Martin Carnoy, Education as Cultural Imperialism (New York: David McKay, 1974), especially chaps. 1, 2, and 7. 25. Report ofthe Kenyan Education Commission, pt. I (Nairobi: Government Printer, 1964). 26. Arthur S. Krival, Radio/CorrespondenceEducation ProjectNo. 615-11-650-129, USAID/ uwEx, Project Report, pt. 1: Administration (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for Interna- tional Development. 1970). 27. Wilbur Schramm and others, Modern TechnologicalApproaches to Education in East Africa: Report ofa Mission to Kenya, Ugandaand Tanganyika (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for International Development, 1964). 28. Republic of Kenya Development Plan, 1974-78. 29. Ibid. 30. Peter E. Kinyanjui. CCU Student Survey (Nairobi: University College of Nairobi, Correspondence Course Unit, 1968); Peter E. Kinyanjui, "Critical Decision Points in the Implementation and Evaluation of Media Systems: Kenyan Case Study" (paper for the Conference on Communication and Education for Development, July 4-7, 1976, Stanford University, Stanford, California; processed); Peter E. Kinyanjui, "In-Service Training of Teachers Through Radio and Correspondence in Kenya, " in Radiofor Educationand Develop- inent: Case Studies, ed. Peter L. Spain, Dean T. Jamison, and Emile G. McAnany, World Bank Staff Working Paper no. 266 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1977); and Daudi N. Nturibi, An Analysis of CorrespondenceCourse Unit Students' KjSe Examination Performancefrom 1968 to 1970 (Nairobi: University College of Nairobi, Correspondence Course Unit, 1970). 31. Dean T. Jamison, Steven J. Klees, and Stuart J. Wells, Cost Analysis for Educational Planning (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for International Development, 1976). 32. Wilson Thiede, Radio/CorrespondenceEducation Project No. 615-11-650-129, USAIDI uwEX, Project Report, pt. 2: Evaluation (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for International Development, 1971).

Everyman University in Israel: The First Two Years

Arthur S. Melmed, Benny Ellenbogen, Dean T. Jamison, and Uriel Turniansky

IN OCTOBER 1976, Israel's Everyman University enrolled its first cohort of students. Everyman University (EU) offers both academic, university- level courses and vocational ones. While the majority of initial enrollments were academic, many were also in adult education subjects. Though it is only recently operational, the EU illustrates the possibility of efficient operation of a distance-learning system on a relatively small scale, and that was an important reason for its inclusion among these studies. The data that exist on resource utilization and effectiveness are of high quality, but necessarily somewhat preliminary. Nonetheless, some useful inferences may be drawn from these data by policymakers and educational planners. Perhaps the simplest fact of Israel is its small geographic size. By comparison, facts of demography, social structure, culture, and polity are complex. These facts, together with some on the existing educational system, form the necessary context for understanding the establishment of EU, and give meaning and purpose to its continuing development. We therefore provide some basic material on the country and some basic facts on the educational system. Everyman University is an initiative of private philanthropy. The Brit- ish Open University was its model. Course enrollments in the first semester of the operation of EU totaled 2,700; in the second semester, * 4,700; and in the third semester (ending in February 1978), 6,500. For the fourth semester, enrollments rose to about 8,000. The history, organization, and operation of Everyman University are described below, followed by an analysis and projection of costs, based on existing resource utilization data and a discussion of existing effectiveness data.

215 216 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

The Country

Pre-1967 Israel occupies an area of about 20,700 square kilometers. The area within theJune 1967 Cease-Fire Lines is some 89,360 square kilometers, of which Sinai is about 60,000. Historically, topographically, and in the Israeli national consciousness, the country runs north and south along the Eastern Mediterranean. Road distances between some better known cities are:Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, 61 kilometers; Jerusalem to Tiberias, 161 kilometers; andJerusalem to Eilat, 309 kilometers. The travel time by automobile between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, across the narrow waist of the country, is about eighty minutes. Israel's physical features are highly varied. The topography includes the coastal plain along the Mediterranean, rising slowly to the east toward the Judean Mountains, then falling precipitously to the west bank of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and thejudean Desert. Israel's south (Negev) is desert. Intensely cultivated areas occur in the coastal plain and in the northcentral Jezreel Valley. Climatically, Israel is situated between a subtropical wet zone (Leba- non) and a subtropical arid zone (Egypt). Most of the rainfall occurs in December, January, and February. The mean annual temperature in the coastal region is 21° Celsius, and about 30 Celsius lower inJerusalem than in Tel Aviv. These means conceal some extremes. Snow occurs regularly in the mountains of the upper Galilee (800 to 1,000 meters elevation), and during summer heat waves temperatures rise to 450 Celsius in the Jordan Valley and 380 Celsius in the coastal plain. From a figure including about 650,000Jews in 1948, Israel's population has grown to slightly less than 3.3 million in 1977. This includes about 3.1 million IsraeliJews, 500,000 Israeli Arabs (largely Moslem), and 50,000 Druses and various others. The administered territories of the West Bank and Gaza hold about 1.1 million Arabs. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, immigration has numbered some 1.6 million people. Of the current 3.1 million Israeli Jews, Asian and African Jewry and their descendents now slightly outnumber Western and European Jewry and their descendents. The great majority of Israelis are urban dwellers, with about 1.0 million living in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and another 0.5 million divided betweenJerusalem and Haifa. Despite intensive efforts by the government to disperse the population, about 61 percent now occupy 111percent of the land space-the coastal strip between Haifa and Ashdod. The Negev, with EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 217

65 percent of the land space, largely desert, holds less than 7 percent of the population. Less than 3 percent of the population lives in kibbutzim.

Society, Culture, and Governance The dominant value patterns of Israeli society are those of a technologi- cally advanced and politically democratic state. Supreme authority rests with the Knesset, a unicameral legislative assembly of 120 members elected by universal suffrage. In this forum must be resolved the tensions of a plural society of diverse cultural backgrounds and religious persua- sions. A major division in the Israeli Jewish social structure exists between Jewish immigrants and their descendents from (largely Moslem) Asian and African countries, and immigrants and their descendents from West- ern and European countries. The former had lived generally in conditions of poverty in countries where the basic values were those of traditional and authoritarian society. They arrived in Israel destitute. They have been characterized by an average family size of 4.7 children. Immigrants from Europe and the Americas came generally with a modern value orientation. They have been characterized by an average family size of 2.8 children. Although members of both immigrant groups generally arrived without a working knowledge of modern Hebrew, most of those from Asia and Africa came with an educational level far below that of native-born Israelis (Sabras), and that of immigrants from Europe and the Americas. Sharp social and economic differences between these groups remain today, contrary to the dominant egalitarian ethos of Israeli society. An important instrument of government policy to create a more integrated society has been the implementation of a wide range of special educational programs. They have been only partially successful. Significant differences, measured by income and quality of housing persist, and Sabras and the recent descendents of Western and EuropeanJewry continue today to be overrepresented in the educational systerm at all levels. There are, on the other hand, signs of progress. For example, the representation of the descendents of Asian and AfricanJewry in secondary school (which is not compulsory) is steadily increasing, and by 1971 some 19 percent of mar- riages conducted under Israeli law were by couples of mixed cultural origin.

Economics On the eve of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the gross national product (GNP) per capita of Israel-was lower than that of the developed European 218 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY countries-that is, US$2,300 compared with US$3,400 in the Nether- lands, US$4,000 in West Germany, and US$3,800 in France. The structure of the economy was similar to these others, however, with industry accounting for 25 percent of the national product, agriculture less than 10 percent, construction 15 percent, transport and communications slightly more than 10 percent, and the balance from other services. This level of per capita income reflects growth by a factor of three in constant prices in the thirty-year history of the state. While per capita income is high by the standards of developing countries, Israel and its educational system nonetheless share many of the problems of severe resource constraints that are felt in low-income countries. This results in substantial part from the allocation of an exceptionally large fraction of gross domestic product (GDP) to defense. Thus, aggre- gated data do not adequately reveal the conditions of economic life facing the average Israeli and potential student of EU. Selected, more illustrative data follow. Inflation (with full employment) has been a persistent fact of life, reaching and maintaining a level of about 30 percent since the Yom Kippur War. Automatic salary increases of 70 percent of salaries up to a limit are tied to the cost-of-living index. Housing is expensive, and little rental housing is available. The purchase price for a small apartment ranges upward from 200,000 Israeli pounds (I). By comparison, average yearly wages per employee in 1977 are estimated at I£40,000. Transport and communications services are good. The road system is extensive, and the bus is the mode of mass transportation. By 1973, the ratio of cars to inhabitants was 1:15 despite stiff import taxes. By 1968, the telephone system had become fully automatic, enabling any subscriber to dial directly any other in the country. In 1977, there were 290 telephones per 1,000 inhabitants, with a long waiting list of willing subscribers. The postal service is reliable, but fairly slow by Western European and U.S. standards. Men under the age of twenty-nine and women under twenty-six are called up for national service in the Israeli Defense Forces for up to thirty-six months for men and twenty-four months for women. For most, call-up occurs at about the age of eighteen, resulting in an average entry age of twenty-one for males embarking on a program of traditional higher education. After their term of national service, men serve in the reserves until the age of fifty-five and childless women until thirty-four. Until they are forty, men report for thirty-one days of training annually, and, from then until they are fifty-five, for fourteen days. Call-up for reserve duty can be on very short notice. Nonetheless, Israeli adults, including EU students appear to cope- despite tensions attributable to general economic conditions, the need to EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 219

hold down one and a half jobs to make it, national service and reserve duty, the threat of war, and what is said to be an unresponsive government bureaucracy. Disposable time is in short supply. The average Israeli adult has little spare time, and time (and a place) to study appear to be available only by the exercise of considerable self-discipline.

The Educational System

The proposed government budget for 1977 of 1I080 billion is divided into three approximately equal shares-one-third each for repayment of the national debt, defense, and everything else. If the amount allocated for education in the national budget is combined with local support for maintaining and constructing buildings and with student tuition in the last two years of secondary school and in higher education, then the nation's total annual expenditure for education is second in size only to its expenditure on defense. In addition, there have in past years been substantial contributions from abroad for capital construction in higher education. In 1973, out of a total population of 3.24 million people, some 918,702 were enrolled as students in full-time or part-time education, including about 50,000 in academic higher education, about 47,500 in special parochial schools, and the remaining 821,202 distributed by institutional type (including teacher training colleges) as shown in table 8-1.

Table 8-1. Distribution of Students in Israel by Educational Institution, 1972-73 Type of institution Hebrew Arab Total Kindergarten 121,135 14,921 136,056 Primary school 385,839 101,492 487,331 Intermediate school 38,828 5,221 44.049 Postprimary school Secondary school 54,492 9,381 63,873 Secondary evening 411 0 411 Continuation classes 7,036 0 7,036 Vocationalschool 63,778 1,272 65,050 Agricultural school 6,683 569 7,252 Preparatory classes to teacher training colleges 3,179 0 3,179 A Subtotal 135,579 11.222 146,801 Teacher training colleges 6,474 491 6,965 Educational system 687,855 133,347 821,202 Special Hebrew parochial schools n.a. n.a. 47,500 Universities n. a. n. a. 50,000 Total 918,702 n.a. = Not available. Source: Encyclopedia Judaica. 220 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Admission to one of the seven institutions of academic higher education (universities) requires a matriculation certificate (bagrut) acquired by examination. Of the students in postprimary schools, only a small fraction attempt and pass the matriculation examination successfully, leading to a relatively small enrollment of about 50,000 in academic higher education. Yet, in 1972, the percentage of university graduates in the total Israeli work force was about 14 percent-the world's highest, followed by about 13 percent each in the United States and Canada.'

Preprimary, Primary, and Postprimary Education The Compulsory Education Law of 1949 provided obligatory and free education: for children age five, one year of kindergarten; for children ages six to thirteen, eight years of primary school; and for youth ages fourteen to seventeen who had not previously completed primary school, some special education. The law reflected some of the special conditions of education in Israel at the time. A year of kindergarten was necessary to ensure that children entering primary school were sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew, the language of instruction in the schools, which in many cases was not the language of the home. At the other end of the scale, special provision had to be made for children above primary schoQl age, whose primary education was incomplete because of the inadequate education they received in their countries of origin. With changing conditions, in 1966 the government initiated plans for revising the structure of education from an 8-4 system to a 6-3-3 system, and increasing postprimary enrollment by the introduction of lower tuition fees through increased government subvention. As a result, by the 1971-72 school year, 56 percent of all postprimary students enjoyed total exemption from tuition fees, and over 20 percent partial exemption. Subsequently, in 1968, the government began implementing a program to extend compulsory education by two years, to age sixteen. With increasing allocations of the national budget to defense starting in 1973, this program has achieved full subvention of costs for all postprimary students to age fifteen, but only partial subvention thereafter. In keeping with the policy of the state to redress the social and economic imbalance between the two majorJewish cultural groups constituting the population, high priority is given by the Ministry of Education and Culture to the provision of special compensatory programs for the disadvantaged. A measure of the problem is 1973 data that reveal a decline in the percentage of pupils whose family country of origin is Asia or Africa from 61 percent in the seventh grade, to 35 percent in the twelfth grade, and to 14 percent in the universities. A selected, quantitative history ofthis problem, together with Israeli success in dealing with it, may be seen in table 8-2. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 221

Table 8-2. School and College Enrollments in Israel by Father's Country of Origin (percentage of total enrollments) Type of Europe- Africa- institution/school year America Asia Israel Total

Primary school 1961-62 43.0 49.8 7.2 100.0 1966-67 31.6 59.3 9.1 100.0 1969-70 26.9 61.2 11.9 100.0 Postprimary school 1961-62 67.4 26.2 6.4 100.0 1966-67 56.7 35.6 7.7 100.0 1969-70 45.0 43.6 11.4 100.0 Teacher training colleges 1961-62 63.2 26.7 10.1 100.0 1966-67 61.0 33.0 6.0 100.0 1969-70 55.9 35.2 8.9 100.0 Source: Encyclopedia Judaica.

Teacher Training To distinguish them from the prestigious universities, teacher training colleges are not included within the purview of the Council for Higher Education. They are, for the most part, three-year institutions. Historically, primary school and training-college teachers were employed directly by the national government, and other postprimary teachers by local authorities and other public bodies. Typically, with each change in the law extending the number of years of compulsory education, the affected cohorts of teachers were transferred to the direct control of the national government. Because of different standards and conditions of employment, the approximately 50,000 teachers in the educational system have varied qualifications; by present standards, many are regarded as unqualified. This results mainly from the years of mass immigration, which caused a rapid upsurge in the school population. Half of the teachers who were hurriedly recruited at this time were untrained and were given only a short, intensive preparatory course before being assigned to the classroom. The Israeli Defense Force permitted women to do their compulsory military service as teachers, especially in rural areas. For the most part, these recruits had no preparation to teach, though many remained in the classroom after completion of their military service. Estimates vary, but inquiries suggest that up to 20,000 (mostly primary and intermediate school) teachers could benefit significantly from further training. 222 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Academic Higher Education: The Universities The Council for Higher Education recognizes seven accredited Israeli universities, including the Weizmann Institute of Science, which offers graduate programs only. Their combined enrollment is about 50,000 students. A first, or bachelor's, degree requires three years of work, though it may take four years or more to complete; a second, or master's, degree requires a further two years. A first degree in Israeli universities is not general, but requires considerable subject concentration, and results in the award of a specific degree, for example, a BSc. in chemistry. A breakdown of student enrollment by father's continent of birth appears in table 8-3. A comparison of relative enrollments with demo- graphic data suggests a large, potential clientele for Everyman University among adults of African and Asian origin. A breakdown of student enrollment by age appears in table 8-4. The late age of peak enrollment is because of universal military service. Ser- vicemen also represent a potential clientele for EU, particularly if arrangements, which do not currently exist, for transfer of credit between EU and other institutions of academic higher education are successfully negotiated. Israeli universities operate under two budgets, called the ordinary and development budgets. The ordinary budget, to meet current expenditures, is financed by the government and other public bodies (principally

Table 8-3. University Enrollment in Israel by Continent of Birth, 1969-70 to 1973-74 (percent) Student heritage 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74

Israeli born Father's birthplace Israel 6 7 6 6 7 Africa-Asia 3 4 4 5 6 Europe-America 45 46 48 48 48 Subtotal 54 57 58 59 61

Foreign born Father's birthplace Africa-Asia 10 10 10 9 9 Europe-America 32 31 29 27 27 Others and unknown 4 2 3 5 3 Subtotal 46 43 42 41 39

Total 100 100 100 100 100 Source: Israeli Council for Higher Education. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 223

Table 8-4. Student Enrollment in Academic Higher Education in Israel by Age, 1969-70 to 1973-74 Age 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 19 and under 3.337 2,841 2,629 2,530 2,599 20-21 7,516 7,837 8,478 8,389 8,398 22-24 12,543 13,410 14,244 15,247 15,267 25-29 5,499 6,646 8,759 11,199 10,584 30 and over 4,488 5,402 6,301 6,997 6,497 Total 33,383 36,136 40,411 44,362 43,345 Source:Israeli Council for Higher Education. theJewish Agency), and by income from various sources. The development budget is financed by the government and by donations (principally from abroad); it covers such costs as new buildings, furniture, miscellaneous equipment, and more expensive basic scientific equipment. Table 8-5 gives a breakdown of the ordinary and development budgets by source and institution. An examination of these tables may lead the reader to wonder at the need and role of yet another institution of higher education in Israel. In the next section, we describe the operation of Everyman University in partial explanation to this question, but the statistics coming from the university go a long way to answering it. Everyman University offers two broad educational programs: academic studies, leading to a general BA or BSc., and adult education studies. The enrollment data for the first four operational cycles of EU are displayed in table 8-6.

The Project

Everyman University is an open, curriculum-based, distance-learning system of higher education. What do these descriptions mean? Open means that there are no barriers to admission based on previous level of educational attainment. More specifically, students may enroll without having passed the matriculation examination (bagrut) and without a secondary-school leaving qualification. Distance learning means that the student does not come to the university, but studies materials delivered by mail to his home at his convenience. The student passes or fails the course exclusively on the basis of his assignment and examination scores, and not on records of attendance in class. Curriculum-based in the EU context means that the materials the student studies are courses carefully developed in print form for self-study. As these materials did not exist before the university was established, they had to be developed by staff and consultants to EU. Table 8-5. Ordinary and Development Budgetsfor Israeli Institutions of Academic Higher Education, 1975-76 (millions of Israeli pounds at October 1977 prices)

Ordinary budget Development budget Participationby Estimated Approved government and total Participationby Institution budget Jewish Agency Income investment government

Bar-Ilan University 113.5 84.5 29.0 21.0 8.0 Ben Gurion University 41 ofthe Negev 100.7 86.0 14.7 13.0 10.5 Haifa University 89.1 68.0 21.1 41.0 28.0 Hebrew University 382.0 281.0 101.0 70.0 12.0 Teclinion 230.0 191.0 39.0 65.5 10.5 Tel-Aviv University 269.9 221.0 48.9 41.5 11.5 Weizmann Institute of Science 144.6 86.0 58.6 18.5 6.5 Total 1,329.8 1,017.5 312.3 270.5 87.0 Note: Conversion to U.S. dollars is at a rate of 1100 to US$1.00. Source: Israeli Council for Higher Education. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 225

Table 8-6. Enrollments in the First Four Semesters of Operation at Everyman University

Academic Adult Semester studies educationstudies

1 2,217 509 2 3,798 872 3 4,680 1,867 4 6,237 1,779 Source:Everyman University.

History and Origins

The history and origins of EU are important to understanding the current programs because they continue to influence current investment and expenditure decisions by management. There appear to be several clearly identifiable threads. These include the activities and recommendations of a Committee on Post-Secondary Education appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Council of Higher Education in May 1970 to review all aspects of Israeli postsecondary education, excluding university education. The committee's final report, submitted in December 1971, included recommendations for the gradual expansion of postsecondary education in Israel through establishment of a national network of colleges; and for the initiation of an experimental, open, distance-learning, university-level project. The committee appeared to believe that such a project was particularly well suited to provide for the in-service training of primary and intermediate-school teachers in mathematics and science, and that the development of successful distance-learning techniques would create a new alternative for postsecondary education in remote and sparsely populated areas of the country. A second, apparently independent thread in the establishment ofEU was activity by private philanthropy. The Rothschild Foundation, with strong British ties, and a previously established history in Israel of initiating and handing on to public authority successful pilot activities, was considering the possibility and role of an institution in Israel modeled on the British Open University. In October 1971, with the approval of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the foundation established a distinguished three- man external study commission with the charge to examine the feasibility, practicability, and economics of an open university in Israel. After two visits to Israel, the study commission released a report in September 1972. The report identified as a national priority meeting the educational needs of the less advantaged portion of the Israeli population, 226 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY made up largely ofJews of African and Asian origin, and Israeli Arabs. It argued against the earlier recommendation of the Committee on Post- Secondary Education for a national network of colleges, because of the great expense associated with such a development and the prospect that such institutions, once established, would tend to want to grow into full-fledged universities with the elitist values of existing Israeli universities. The report proposed instead an open university committed to delivering learning opportunities to people where they are, and when they are motivated to learn, and providing learning opportunities of the kind best fitted to their needs and capabilities. It identified specifically three potential student groups and their educational needs: a first degree for primary and intermediate-school teachers; a second chance to qualify for university education for anyone who had failed to complete secondary school or pass the matriculation examination; and continuing education for adults able to profit from learning opportunities at the postsecondary level. In August 1973, responding in part to the suggestions of the report, Israel's Cabinet approved the establishment of the Everyman University. In October 1973, the Council for Higher Education authorized establishment of the university. In November 1973, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Rothschild Foundation reached agreement on the principle of a foundation grant to cover all expenditures of EU for the first three years, and partial, decreasing funding for another four years, to a total of US$5 million, with the government to assume an increasing burden of support starting in the fourth year if the pilot project developed satisfactorily.2 In April 1974, Everyman University was legally incorpo- rated. The debate on the nature, standards, and quality of EU then gave way to the realities of decisionmaking by those involved in implementing an open, curriculum-based, distance-learning system of higher education within a limited budget and in the general environment of academic higher education in Israel. To this point, there had been no opportunity for the expression of student interest.

Current Educational Programs Everyman University offers to students two broad educational programs: academic studies, and adult education studies. The academic studies program consists of three levels of courses, of increasing difficulty, leading to either a general BA, or a general BSc. Students may take courses from the academic studies program without any declaration of intention to pursue a degree. This reflects EU'S goal of making available postsecondary learning opportunities of all kinds to adults capable of profiting from EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 227 them. Successful completion of a course is worth one credit toward a degree. A degree program requires completion of eighteen courses, with no more than six drawn from Level I (so-called foundation level courses), and no less than four drawn from Level III. The student's choice of course emphasis from among mathematics, the humanities, and the physical, biological, and social sciences determines the specific degree awarded. Everyman University's choice of an academic program of studies comparable in quality to the standards of traditional Israeli universities results from a clear decision that an academic program can succeed only if it is of appropriately high quality. EU'S choice of a general first degree (rather than the more specific first degree awarded by the traditional universities) may tend to diminish the competition and tension. The Council of Higher Education, which has the responsibility for deciding the accreditation of EU, will be the final legal arbiter over whether a general degree can represent comparable, if not equal, quality. EU operates two eighteen-week cycles a year and a shorter, summer session. Students who have successfully completed their first course may subsequently elect up to two courses per eighteen-week cycle. As course designers assume students will study for twelve to fifteen hours each week, and as most EU students also have ajob (the Israeli working week is forty-five hours), it appears that only a limited number of students are likely to be successful if they choose more than one course at a time. A degree program is therefore unlikely to be completed in much less than six years on the average, even by dedicated students, or twice the duration of the three-year (first degree) program of traditional universities. EU'S program of adult education studies consists of three tracks: the preacademic track, which is intended to assist students in preparation for the academic studies programs and the matriculation examination (bagrut); the technical and vocational studies track, which is intended to assist students in preparation for selected careers; and the general studies track, which offers courses estimated to have broad adult appeal. Although, in principle, the two educational programs represent missions of equal importance to EU, the academic studies program gives evidence at this time of the more rapid development. For example, over the three cycles of operation to date, some 80 percent of the students have been enrolled in the academic studies program. Two mutually reinforcing reasons may explain this. First, a degree program exerts a compelling force on management in the direction of accelerated course development, if the institution is to hold the interest of, and keep faith with, the committed student. Second, there is a prevailing belief at EU that only the existence of a quality degree program will give EU the cachet necessary to succeed in its other mission of providing adults with a wide range of more general curricula and learning opportunities. 228 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Organization and Course Development Course development and production are carried out by the staffofEu in a new building erected in a northern suburb of Tel Aviv, and adjacent to a building housing the Instructional Television Centre, an earlier Roths- child Foundation development project, now a component of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The advantages of private philanthropy as opposed to government funding in the early stages of so complex a project as EU are immediately apparent on site: EU is a thinly staffed, non- bureaucratic organization, closely linked to its funding source. The management of curriculum development has been a critical factor in the evolution of such distance-learning projects in higher education as the British Open University and the University of Mid-America. The flexibility of private funding, management, and operation at EU has permitted it to advance through various organizational arrangements and processes in search of a successful formula for course development suited to local requirements. Selected elements of this formula are presented below. The discussion is organized around an early policy decision: to provide a program of academic studies leading to a degree of comparable quality to that offered by the regular, traditional universities. The course development faculty, which is nontenured, consists of fifteen full-time people and two part-time; it was planned to increase that number to about twenty- five. In the third cycle of operation, the program of academic studies included 14 courses. By the fourth cycle, 24 courses were expected to be ready for use. It was planned to increase the number of courses available for use to about 100 over the next five years, a course development rate of about 15 new courses a year. Most courses consist of twelve modules, to be studied over a period of eighteen weeks. Students are exected to spend twelve to fifteen hours on each module. Courses are largely in print format, and no expense has been spared in assuring the attractive appear- ance of the printed courses. Kits are provided for science courses. There is limited use of open broadcast television and radio. The rate of course development is limited both by budget and by the availability of competent and experienced course authors. Outside consultants are used whenever possible, and they have participated in some 40 to 50 percent of the course development to date. Consultants have not, however, always been found to be successful in converting their expert subject-matter knowledge into courses for self-study. Course development begins with a detailed proposal, drafted either by an EU faculty member or by a consultant. Proposals are considered by a subcommittee of the academic advisory committee, reviewed by further EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 229 consultants or individual academic advisory committee members, and approved by the president of the EU. External reviewers and members of EU'S standing academic advisory committec are generally drawn from Israel's academic community, and are usually tenured faculty members at one of Israel's traditional universities. A loosely formed course-development team is organized for each approved proposal; this generally includes the proposal author, one or two assistants, a graphics advisor, and an editor. The average life of intense activity of a course-development team is twelve to eighteen months. After this, one of the team assistants continues to be associated with the course in the role of course operator, for the purpose of preparing student assignments, advising study center tutors, and making necessary revisions before the course is produced in final, high-quality, multicolored print. The policy and practice of evaluating courses-both at the formative stage and in summative form-is currently under review at Eu. There appear to be doubts among the faculty about the formal methodology of evaluation. They also have questions about the right balance between the costs of course development and the costs of review and feedback. Finally, there appears to be a philosophical question as to the nature and source of authority on the quantity and level of course content. Two practices continue with all new courses. Each course module is reviewed by four to six external consultants before being approved for printing in draft form. Each course is printed and used in draft form before being printed in its final version. But there appears to be no consensus at this time on the relative benefits and costs of formal or informal developmental evaluation with test students, and on formal, summative evaluation with real students, and current practice varies. Apart from one person experimenting part-time with the results and processes of summative evaluation, there is no organizational unit at Eu dedicated to that purpose. Courses in the academic studies program are divided into three levels of difficulty. Level III courses do not always include specially prepared teaching material, but may require students to prepare a thesis extending a topic taken up in a precursor Level 1I course. The student is assisted with his studies in every way possible, but there is no compromise on the level and amount of content per course. EU'S courses are designed to meet the standards for accreditation of the Council of Higher Education, and EU'S second-chance students will have to meet the standards set by EU'S courses. So far, this arrangement has been working reasonably well. Testing for the first cycle of EU course enrollments is now complete. Of the students who made full payment (in two installments) for a course in the academic studies program, 70 percent achieved a pass; not all students who completed payment elected to take the final examination. At the time of writing, testing for the second cycle 230 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY was incomplete. So far, of the students who made full payment, 52 percent had achieved a pass.

Organization and Course Delivery Bunching students in a classroom with a teacher or instructor is a remarkable organizational invention combining the possibility of mass education with economies of scale. Reaching students at a distance while creating a genuine learning opportunity at acceptable cost requires both organizational and technological inventiveness. EU'S model is described briefly below. The student's first interactions with EU are inexpensive and simple. In return for a small fee, he receives a sample of self-study material by mail. For a slightly larger fee, he can register as a student, and a student file is started in his name. A student enrolls in a course by selecting it from a list of offerings for that cycle, selecting a study center convenient to his home or place of work, and making payment of half the course fee. Because the final number and location of study centers is not decided until enrollment for that cycle closes, and because not every study center can provide learning support for every course offered, a prospective student may have to make some adjustment in his choice of course or study center. If his wishes can be met, the student receives by return mail a substantial proportion of the modules making up a course, the course outline, some assignments to be marked by computer, some assignments to be marked by his tutor, and a schedule for voluntary attendance at the study center with a course tutor. Such meetings average one every three weeks. Study centers are housed in borrowed or rented premises. The number and location vary with the size and distribution of enrollment. In the third cycle, there were twenty-five centers distributed about the country and thirty are being planned for the fourth cycle. Each study center contains a library of books and a video player. The study center has a tutor available at scheduled times for each course on which it is offering learning support. Students meet in groups with the tutor. A separate tutor is provided for up to thirty students for a nonsci- ence course, and up to fifteen to twenty students for a science course. All tutors work part time. They are recruited by newspaper advertisements and are selected by the course operator. Tutors generally have a first and second degree. Although they are often teachers, they receive no pedagogical training for their role as tutor. They are not expected to teach in the sense of giving tutorial lectures; they are intended to be responsive to questions, to grade tutor-marked assignments, and to supervise the viewing of video supplements to the course at the study center. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 231

The responsibility of the student is considerable. He must decide whether to view the occasional open broadcast television supplement provided for selected courses between 4:30 P.M. and 5:30 P.M. three times a week. He must decide whether to attend the study center at the scheduled times, and whether to make his second-half payment for the course. And he must decide whether to register any complaint. He may do so, or raise any question about course content, by mail or telephone. The student who makes his second-half payment for a course receives by return mail the remaining course modules, and the remaining assignments for computer and tutor marking. There are in general six computer-marked and four tutor-marked assignments a course. The course outline indicates the deadline for return of each assignment. Each assignment has a weight. The student must accumulate a total weight of twenty out of forty to be eligible to take the final examination for the course. The student has responsibility for deciding which and how many of the assignments he will return for grading. A computer-marked assignment may be a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. Each assignment submitted by the student is returned to him with his score, his weighted score, comments on incorrect answers, and his score relative to other students. A tutor-marked assignment contains open-ended questions. Each assignment submitted by the student is evaluated by his course tutor, and returned to him with his score, his weighted score, and detailed comments. A sampling of each tutor-marked assignment is reviewed by the course operator to gain insight into any consistent areas of difficulty students may be encountering in a course and to review the performance of tutors. Students who submit an adequate number of assignments to accumulate a total weight of at least twenty are invited to take the final examination for the course and are given four different opportunities to do so. The student may elect two of the four. The final examination is carefully supervised and is given at the same time at selected sites throughout the country. A student who, on the first or second of his attempts, scores at least 50 percent and has a weighted score for his assignments such that his score on the final examination plus his weighted score on assignments exceeds 60 percent gets a pass for the course.

The Future

The management of EU is now faced with two compelling goals: accreditation by the Council of Higher Education, and assumption of government funding. Achievement of these goals appears to depend on the development and use of self-study courses that meet high standards of 232 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY academic quality, and on the retention of second-chance students of all kinds. EU'S organization of courses is designed to assist the student with his studies in every way possible. But the decisions and work necessary to gain for the student a pass in his enrolled course are his own responsibility. The amount of government funding that will be necessary to sustain EU depends upon two factors: the recurrent costs for operation, and the investment cost to replenish the depreciating value of EU'S capital stock, its self-study courses. These matters are discussed in the next section.

Economic Analysis of Some Aspects of Everyman University

This section attempts to present an economic analysis of some aspects of EU'S activity, despite the limitation caused by the scarcity of data since the institution is new and in its early stages.3 As was pointed out in the previous section, EU was officially opened in April 1974, and the first cycle of students began their activity in October 1976. Although comprehensive information on the university's methods and on the economic parameters of its activity are available, the scope of existing data is too narrow to provide a solid basis for analyses and projections. EU is still growing and it will be some years before the growth rate stabilizes; only then will calculations based on a more or less steady range of activity be possible. Consequently, we chose to compile the following economic analysis on the assumption of a steady-state situation, which EU believes will be achieved in seven to ten years.

Basic Criteria in Preparing the Model

We assume that EU is complementary to the system of universities already existing in Israel, that it is intended for students with a potential for postsecondary studies, who for various reasons cannot find their place in the traditional universities. Everyman University will potentially be able to award about 750 bachelor degrees (BA and BSc.) annually, with a considerable proportion of graduates in natural sciences and mathematics. The established universities in Israel grant annually about 7,000 bachelor degrees in all fields of learning; consequently, if we account for slow increase over the projected period, the share of EU at the end of this period will be-in terms of graduates-about 8 to 10 percent of academic education in Israel. As has been mentioned, the EU student studying for an academic degree must complete eighteen courses at three levels. We assume that such a student will complete, on the average, three courses in one academic year EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 233

(two semesters), plus a shorter summer semester, with the average duration of studies thus being six years a graduate (twice the standard duration in the traditional universities). Because of the method of selection and the system of enrollment in EU (which differ greatly from those in the conventional universities) and since a considerable number of students do not study for a degree but only desire to increase their knowledge in certain fields, the number of dropouts will be higher than in the traditional universities. According to reasonable estimates, 750 students will graduate out of a cohort of about 2,000 students who enrolled and paid the second payment for their first course of study six years earlier. Of this initial cohort of students, on average 1,500 a year will remain during the initial two years (which, together, correspond to the first year in a regular university), about 1,000 a year will remain for the third and fourth years (corresponding to the second year in a regular university), and about 850 a year will remain for the fifth and sixth years (corresponding to the third year in a regular university). This process is shown in table 8-7. Thus, about 6,700 students will study each year in the academic track in a steady-state situation, with each student participating in three courses a year. The number of study units (number of students times number of courses a student) will reach about 20,000 a year in the academic track of EU. In addition, general and preacademic studies complement the academic courses and, in many cases, constitute the gate to them. We assume that, within the framework of general studies, about 3,000 students will participate, taking on average two courses a year, for a total of about 6,000 annual preacademic vocational and general study units. It can

Table 8-7. Projected Average Number of Students in EU for Each Academic Year and First-Degree Graduates Average number Students a year Total number Enrolled and made second payment 2,000 Remained during years I and 2 1,500 3,000 Remained during years 3 and 4 1,000 2,000 Remained during years 5 and 6 850 1,700 Total 6,700 Graduates 750

-- Not applicable. Source:Everyman University. 234 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY then be assumed that the grand total of annual study units will be about 26,000 units in a steady state.4 In order to fulfill the above-mentioned demand and to offer a reasonable variety of courses according to the students' wishes, EU will have to maintain a basic supply of 100 academic courses and 35 courses in general studies. Each course will be offered once a year at least, and, on the average, about 90 courses will be given each semester. The average number of students in a course will thus be 150, but the number of students in some more popular courses will no doubt be much higher.

Costs, Expenses, and Projected Budget

Three years of EU'S preparation and activity, and the experience accumulated in the development of more than twenty courses on an academic level and the running of three semesters, enabled us to obtain a set of reasonable factors for the costs of the development and operation of EU's academic system, and for their adjustment to the steady state projected for the future. The data below represent average costs, in U.S. dollars at 1977 prices, at an exchange rate of IG10 = US$1.00: - average development cost of a course: US$100,000; - average annual maintenance cost of a course: US$7,500; - average cost of operation per study unit: US$75; - cost of administration-present range of activity: US$550,000; * cost of administration-projected range of activity: US$850,000. With the help of these coefficients, we can build the framework of a budget for EU's academic program for a steady-state year of activity, based on the assumptions described.' For various reasons (such as teaching necessities, the addition of new subjects, and the introduction of more variety, especially at the third level), we assume that it will be necessary to continue to develop courses at a rate of ten academic and two general courses each year. Clearly, the entire stock of academic and general courses will have to be maintained. Table 8-8 details the budget forecast, in round figures. Since this analysis should also focus on the cost of the pure academic program, excluding general studies courses that do not grant credits for graduation, we divided the overall budget between the cost of maintaining the academic program and the cost of general studies. On the basis of budget and cost data on EU activity since its foundation, we projected that about 85 percent of the costs of developing and maintaining courses will be earmarked-in a steady-state year-for academic courses, with the remaining 15 percent being earmarked for general studies. The costs of EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 235

Table 8-8. Projected Budget of the Academic Courses in EU in a Steady-state Year Percentage Item Scope of activity Expenditure' of total expenditures Development of courses 12 courses a year 1,200 24.0 Maintenanceof courses 135 courses a year 1,000 20.0 Operation of courses 26,000 study units a year 1,950 39.0 Administration The whole system 850 17.0 Total 5,000 100.0 a. Thousands of U.S. dollars at 1977 price, basedon an exchange rateof Iil = USS1.00. Source:Everyman University. running the courses and administration were divided proportionately between the academic studies (about 77 percent of the total) and general studies (about 23 percent of the total). Table 8-9 was compiled on the basis of these coefficients. It shows that, of the total of US$5 million, US$4 million will be allotted to academic studies (20,000 study units) and US$1 million to general studies (6,000 study units). Hence, the average cost for a study unit in academic courses will amount to US$200, whereas the average cost for a study unit in general courses will amount to about US$170. Simultaneously, and according to the detailed financial reports of EU, we divided the total expenditure on the academic courses (general studies excluded) into fixed costs, which do not change with the fluctuations in the number of students, and variable costs, which depend on the number of students. Our calculations show that the fixed annual costs amount to about US$2 million, and thus the variable cost for a study unit amounts to US$100.

Table 8-9. Allocation of Funds in EU in a Steady-state Year between Academic and Other Courses (thousands of U.S. dollars) All courses Academic courses General courses Item Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Development of courses 1,200 24.0 1,000 25.0 200 20.0 Maintenanceof courses 1,000 20.0 850 21.2 150 15.0 Operation of courses 1,950 39.0 1,500 37.5 450 45.0 Administration 850 17.0 650 16.3 200 20.0 Total 5,000 100.0 4,000 100.0 1,000 100.0 Source:Everyman University. 236 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 8-10 sums up a sensitivity test of the system's total expenditure and the average cost for a study unit if the number of annual study units in academic courses varies between 10,000 and 50,000.

Cost of a Degree at EU Compared with That at a Traditional University The average cost for a degree can be computed by two approaches.

APPROACH A. In this approach, the total annual recurrent costs of the academic studies are divided by the annual number of degrees awarded. By this approach, the cost of a degree will be:

Total recurrent cost US$4,000,000 = US$5,330. Number of graduates 750 The drawback of this method is that it charges the entire cost on the graduates and does not take dropouts into account. Society in general benefits from the improved standard of these dropouts, and there is no justification for charging the graduates of the system with their costs.

APPROACH B. A more suitable approach, which does not charge graduates with the costs of the dropouts, is arrived at by multiplying the average cost for a study unit by the number of courses required for graduation. According to this approach, graduation costs will be: Average recurrent Number of cost for a x courses for = US$200 x 18 = US$3,600. study unit a degree

Table 8-10. Total Cost and Average Cost per Academic Study Unit in EU in a Steady-state Year, by Number of Study Units (U.S. dollars) Total variable Total Study cost cost Average cost per Number of units (millions) (millions) study unit graduates

10,000 1.0 3.0 300 375 15,000 1.5 3.5 233 562 20,000 2.0 4.0 200 750 25,000 2.5 4.5 180 937 30,000 3.0 5.0 167 1,125 35,000 3.5 5.5 157 1,312 40,000 4.0 6.0 150 1,500 50,000 5.0 7.0 140 1,875 Source: Everyman University. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 237

Although we used only the second approach, for purposes of demonstration we computed the cost of a degree by both methods for different quantities of study units in EU's academic courses (see table 8-11). Comparable figures for the traditional university system were obtained from a survey on the cost per student in universities in Israel, which was conducted by Benny Ellenbogen in summer 1977; the survey was commissioned by the Planning and Grants Committee of the Council for Higher Education. In that survey, which covered both long-established and new universities, expenditure on teaching was separated from that on research activities, and the cost of a first degree was computed by a similar method to that mentioned in approach B above. The results are as follows: * average first degree cost in long-established universities in humanities and social sciences: US$4,000; * average first degree cost in long-established universities in experimental sciences: US$10,000; * average first degree cost in long-established universities, with a degree mix similar to that projected for EU: US$6,000; * average first degree cost in younger universities with a degree mix similar to that projected for EU: US$8,000. In order to complete the picture, allowance must be made for the capital costs, both in EU and in the traditional universities. According to data collected in Israel on the cost, at 1977 prices, of establishing and running a university until it reaches stability, capital stock (land, buildings, equipment, training of academic and technical staff, and running-in) is:

Table 8-11. Cost of a Degree in EU Using Two Different Approaches, by Number of Study Units (U.S. dollars) Average costfora bachelor'sdegree Study Graduates Total cost Average cost Approach Approach units per year (millions) per study unit A B

10,000 375 3,0 300 8,000 5,400 15,000 562 3.5 233 6,220 4,200 20,000 750 4.0 200 5,330 3,600 25,000 937 4.5 180 4,800 3,240 30,000 1,125 5.0 167 4,440 3,000 35,000 1,312 5.5 157 4,190 2,830 40,000 1,500 6.0 150 4,000 2,700 50,000 1,875 7.0 140 3,730 2,520 Source:Everyman University. 238 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQVIVALENCY

* in EU (according to its own evaluation): US$20 million; * in a long-established university (for a number of graduates similar to that projected for EU): US$50 million; * in a younger university (for a number of graduates similar to that projected for EU): US$40 million. These data express the experience accumulated in Israel over the last thirty years, during which a network of seven universities besides EU has been established. A comparison is now possible between the cost of a bachelor's degree in EU and in the traditional universities, assuming that the general bachelor's degree awarded by EU will be comparable in its level with the specific bachelor's degree awarded by the traditional universities. In other words, the product compared-a bachelor's degree-is similar, if not identical, in quality. From the perspective ofthe national economy, the relevant components for comparison are the recurrent costs of teaching (research excluded), the capital expenditure (for example, land, buildings, equipment), and the output lost by the student not working during his studies. For the capital costs, a rate of 7.5 percent was imputed on the general investment. The loss of output is expressed in terms of the income the student forgoes because of his studies.6 As an estimate of the annual income of a student, the average income beforetax deductionof a worker in Israel with secondary education was chosen; this was about US$5,000 (at 1977 prices). The duration ofthe student's unemployment until graduation was estimated as two and a half years for a student in a conventional university and as one year in EU. The summary of the data is presented in table 8-12. The comparison of the cost of a degree at EU with that at the traditional universities from the student's perspective assumes that the student is able to choose between studies in a conventional university and those in EU. Such a student, who is influenced by the economic aspects of the alternatives, will bear in mind the following points:

Table 8-12. Cost of First Degree in EU and in Other Universities from Perspective of National Economy (U.S. dollars at 1977 prices) Long-established Younger Item EU university university

Teaching costs 3,600 6,000 8,000 Capital costs 2,000 5,000 4,000 Loss of output 5,000 12,500 12,500 Total 10,600 23,500 24,500

Source: Everyman University. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 239

* the tuition fees he will have to pay in each of the two types of institutions; * whether he can take up a full-time or a part-time job during his studies, or whether he will not be able to earn his living during these years; * expenditure on housing and subsistence in each of the two alternatives; and * other expenditure, such as textbooks and travel. Table 8-13 presents the results of all this comparison, based upon the following computations. First, in an ordinary university, tuition fees amounted to US$600 a year in 1977 (that is, a total of US$1,800, at 1977 prices, for the three years of study required for a bachelor's degree), whereas in EU tuition fees amounted to about US$50 a course (that is, a total of US$900, at 1977 prices, for the eighteen courses required for a degree). Second, average wages for a worker with full secondary education were again chosen to estimate the student's loss of income, but this time after deductionof income tax. The average tax for this level of income amounted to about 20 percent of gross income in 1977. Third, in determining expenditure on housing and subsistence, only the average additional expenditure of a student who lives away from his home during his studies in a traditional university was taken into account. The sum is comparatively small-US$1,000-because a considerable percentage of students in traditional universities in Israel live in their own dwellings or with their parents. It is assumed that all EU students live in their own homes.

Table 8-13. Cost of First Degree in Eu and Conventional Universities from Perspective of Student (U.S. dollars at 1977 prices) Conventional Item EU universities Tuition fees 900 1,800 Housing and subsistence 0 1,000 Books 0 200 Travel 100 300 Miscellaneous 100 200 Total direct costs 1,100 3,500 Loss of income 4,000 10,000 Total cost 5,100 13,500 Source: Everyman University. 240 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

To conclude, it should be remarked that these comparisons are only a few of possible comparisons between EU and the traditional universities in Israel. In a more comprehensive comparison it might have been necessary to consider the benefits-professional, social, and cultural-for the student in a conventional university from contact with fellow students, or the additional services that the universities supply to society as part of their output on the one hand and, on the other, the contribution of EU both to rectifying existing social inequalities and creating a stock of university- level texts in Hebrew. Detailed discussion of these subjects exceeds the narrow bounds of the cost analysis presented here.

Effectiveness

A number of conceptual and practical problems arise in discussing educational effectiveness. For the most part, these are not unique to Eu. The problems include the facts that the institution is young; that developmental processes dominate the data; and that data are sparse. The discussion that follows is therefore largely descriptive, based on observations and discussions with participants, and interspersed with selected data where they are available. The effectiveness ofEU can be measured in various ways. Because EU is a young developing institution, some relevant measures include growth in the number of available courses, growth in student enrollments, and the assumption of government funding in accordance with the conditions of the Rothschild Foundation grant. Figures on growth in overall enrollments have already been quoted (table 8-6). The government contribution tO EU for the year 1976-77 was about US$200,000, and its projected contribution for the year 1977-78 was about US$1.3 million, or about 30 percent of the amount ofthe initial Rothschild grant. Tables 8-14 and 8-15 show the growth of enrollments. A second set of measures of effectiveness includes the impact of courses and various aspects of the university's working systems on second payments, course passes, retention of students beyond one cycle, and student attitudes. Early figures suggest a relatively high ratio of second to first payments per course and a fairly high percentage of passes per course. At this time, EU provides no formal counseling service to students, and therc is no regular survey of students conducted, but all available anecdotal data indicate that student attitudes toward EU are manifestly positive. Outreach-in time, distance, and student age-is a third way of measuring effectiveness. The distribution of enrollments by age for both programs of education at EU is displayed in table 8-16. The average agc of students enrolled in the academic studies program is clearly older than that EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 241

Table 8-14. Student Registrationfor Nonacademic Courses per Semester at EU, 1976-78 (number of students) lst 3rd semester 2nd semester (October semester (October 4tli 1976- (March 1977- semester February 1977- February (March 1978- Course 1977) July 1977) 1978) July 1978) Electronics I (Part 1) 216 204 Electronics 11 (Part 1) 67 Electricians (Part 1) 63 192 Introduction to Computers 163 Total registration for lst semester 509 Electronics I (Part 11) 159 210 Electronics 11(Part II) 56 Electricians (Part 11) 41 Introduction to Computers 236 252 207 Chapters in Mathematics 99 68 Spoken Arabic 272 280 264 Total registration for 2nd semester 863 Electronics I (Part III) 121 Electronics 11 (Part III) 49 Electricians (Part III) 49 Everyman's English (Part 1) 760 198 Secondary Level Mathematics (Part 1) 99 75 Total registration for 3rd semester 1882 Electronics I (Part IV) 91 Electronics 11 (Part IV) 96 Electricians (Part IV) 45 Everyman's English (Part 11) 339 Secondary Level Mathematics (Part 11) 50 Total registration for 4th semester 1,767

Source: Everyman University.

of students enrolled in traditional institutions of academic higher education. Overall, EU students average about thirty-two years of age, and about 90 percent hold full-timc jobs. In a small country such as Israel, distance is less likely to be an important outreach variable, and early EU analyses of enrollment distributions by region of the country are only slightly weighted in favor of the rural, isolated studcnt by comparison with the regional distribution of population. 242 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 8-15. Student Registration for Academic Courses per Semester at EU, 1976-78 (number of students) lst 3rd semester semester (October 2nd (October 4th 1976- semester 1977- semester February (March 1977- February (March 1978- Course 1977) July 1977) 1978) July 1978)

From Jerusalem to Yavne 655 701 735 257 Introduction to Natural Sci- ence (physics and chemistry) 338 313 322 225 Introduction to Life Science 448 532 428 340 SelectedTopics in Mathemat- ics (introduction) 552 412 297 266 Introduction to Geology 206 281 165 47 Total registration for 1st semester 2,199 Differential and Integral Cal- culus for Science Students 594 439 423 English: Reading Comprehen- sion for Science Students 323 266 168 Philosphy of Science 150 113 124 Total registration for 2nd semester 3,306 The World of the Sages 603 142 InvertebrateZoology 187 104 InfinitesimalCalculus 1 319 182 Atoms, Molecules, and Prop- erties of Matter 58 80 Biochemistry:Proteins, Struc- ture, and Function 116 90 English:Reading Comprehen- sion for Students of Hu- manities 226 168 Total registration for 3rd semester 4,274 Themes from the Talmud 233 e Israel and Diaspora in Ancient Times 471 The Jewish People at a Time of Change 179 a Introduction to Social Psychology 1,130 The Disappearanceof the Tra- ditional Hero in the Modern Novel 213 Introduction to Music Appre- ciation 403 Curriculum Planning 140 EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 243

Table 8-15 (continued) lst 3rd semester semester (October 2nd (October 4th 1976- semester 1977- semester February (March 1977- February (March 1978- Course 1977) July 1977) 1978) July 1978)

Introduction to Statistics 380 Introduction to Electricity and Electronics 176 Vegetation and Flora in Israel 258 Total registration for 4th semester 6,199 Source: Everyman University.

Everyman University has the special goal of providing learning opportunities to selected clienteles. These include teachers, adults who did not complete secondary school or successfully pass the matriculation examination, and adults of African and Asian origin. A fourth set of measures of effectiveness is that of how well EU is succeeding in meeting this goal. Table 8-17 provides a breakdown of student enrollment in the academic studies program by occupation. Teachers represent the largest single category, although not a dominating one, and the categories of preprofessional technicians, and administrator/managers have nearly equal percentage enrollments. Military servicemen are also a high- percentage category.

Table 8-16. Student Enrollment in EU by Age and Cycle (percent)

Student age Academic studies program Adult educationstudies program in years Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03 Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03

Under 20 2.1 4.8 7.0 6 4 6 20-24 16.6 18.0 18.0 18 15 15 25-29 26.4 23.8 20.3 25 24 21 30-34 17.0 17.8 19.0 19 20 18 35-39 12.3 11.6 11.3 10 12 12 40-44 9.2 8.2 9.0 9 8 lO 45-49 6.1 6.3 6.0 5 5 7 50-54 4.3 4.0 4.4 4 5 5 55-59 2.5 2.5 2.0 2 4 3 Over 59 2.9 2.9 3.0 1 3 3 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 100 100 Source: Data from Everyman University. 244 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 8-17. Enrollment in Academic Studies Programat EU by Occupation and Cycle (percent) Academic studiesprogram Occupation Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03

Administration/management- public sector 10.6 11.4 10 private sector 6.7 6.9 6.3 Military service 7.5 9.8 8.5 Teaching/education 26.6 18.1 18.5 Health service 3.2 4.0 4.0 The arts 0.5 0.7 1.0 Free occupations (lavw,yers, accountants) 2.7 2.3 2.0 Science/engineering 1.0 1.1 1.0 Technology (laboratories, computers, etc.) 16.1 17.4 16.0 Industry/construction worker 2.5 2.0 2.2 Technical service (electrician, machinist, etc.) 2.0 2.4 2.0 General service (insurance, transportation, etc.) 4.4 4.3 3.2 Agriculture 5.0 4.4 4.3 Housewife 4.9 6.3 6.0 Student (elsewhere) 2.0 2.7 9.0 Not working 1.0 1.1 1.0 Other 3.3 5.1 5.0 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Everyman University.

Table 8-18 provides a breakdown of student enrollment in the academic studies program by prior level of academic attainment and reveals the consequences of the open enrollment policy of EU. Tables 8-19 and 8-20 provide breakdowns of student enrollments in both the academic studies program and the adult education studies program by continent of birth or origin and by cycle. Overall, it is clear EU is carrying out its mission, and it may be argued is doing so effectively. The reader will be aware that this discussion has provided only little insight into how effectively. Nonetheless, judgments on effectiveness often have to be made on the basis of far less information than is available here. Managers must make decisions, somehow.

Summary

This case study has examined the history, cost, and outcomes of the operations of Israel's Everyman University during its first two ycars. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 245

Table 8-18. Student Enrollment in Academic Courses at EU by Educational Background (percent)

Level of previous Academic studiesprogram educationalattainment Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03

No secondary school 8.5 7.1 6.0 9-12 years at high school (no certificate) 11.5 16.9 15.7 High school (with certificate) 16.7 19.6 24.0 1 year vocational school 3.7 3.0 3.0 2-3 years vocational school 8.2 7.5 7.0 4 years vocational school 5.9 5.7 4.0 Over 4 years vocational school 1.6 1.2 1.0 Junior engineer (Handesai) 6.7 6.6 6.0 Teacher's certificate 19.7 13.8 15.0 Bachelor's degree 3.1 3.5 3.0 Master's degree 0.7 0.7 1.0 Doctor's degree 0.2 0.2 0.3 Other certificate or qualification 14.2 14.2 14.0 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Everyman University.

Though the EU offers vocational courses, and plans to continue doing so, the bulk of its effort is directed toward provision of courses preparatory to a university bachelor's degree; this case study and cost analysis has emphasized this academic aspect of EU. While the EU has not yet received accreditation for the degree it proposes to offer, such accreditation (and transferability of credit to other Israeli universities) appears probable in the near future. It likewise appears probable that the Israeli government will soon take over financing of EU from the Rothschild Foundation, which has provided the bulk of resources in the EU'S formative period. Completion of these two transitions-to accreditation and to regular government financing-will mark the change ofEU from a pilot project to a full-fledged university. The cost of producing a bachelor's degree graduate (or equivalent in study units completed) at the EU is about US$5,600; the cost at traditional universities is a little over US$11,000. These figures exclude the cost of time spent by students; if reasonable estimates are made of the value of the students' time, the EU costs go up to US$10,600 and traditional university costs to US$24,000. Inclusion of the saving of productive time of students reduces the EU'S cost from 51 percent of that of traditional Israeli universities to 44 percent. These cost estimates are based on EU'S assumption of a steady-state operation that would produce about 750 graduates a year, perhaps 8 to 10 percent of the total number of graduates in Israel. Though it appears that EU will succeed in reducing costs, this was not its primary goal. Available enrollment statistics show not only that enroll- 246 OUT-OF-SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY

Table 8-19. Student Enrollment in Academic Courses at Eu by Continent of Birth (percent) Student heritage Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03

Israeli born Father's birthplace Israel 10 9 9 Africa-Asia 7 7 10 Europe-America 37 39 38 Subtotal: 54 55 57 Foreign born Own birthplace Africa-Asia 13 12 12 Europe-America 33 33 31 Others and unknown 0 0 0 Subtotal 46 45 43 Total 100 100 100 Source: Everyman University. ments have grown more rapidly than had been anticipated, but also that the EU'S outreach-in terms of time, distance, and student age-is meeting the open access goals for which the EU had been established. Further, it is meeting the goal of providing access to university training for selected groups now either temporarily or permanently excluded from the conventional system; these include members of the defense forces, teachers, individuals without the credentials required for admission to a conven-

Table 8-20. Student Enrollment in Adult Education Program at EU by Continent of Birth (percent) Student heritage Cycle 01 Cycle 02 Cycle 03

Israeli born Father's birthplace Israel 8 8 9 Africa-Asia 11 6 10 Europe-America 39 42 36 Subtotal 58 56 55 Foreign born Own birthplace Africa-Asia 17 12 14 Europe-America 24 32 31 Others and unknown 0 0 0 Subtotal 41 44 45 Total 100 100 100 Source: Everyman University. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 247 tional university (but with the willingness and ability to undertake university-level effort), and immigrants to Israel for whom learning English (virtually required in conventional universities) as well as Hebrew would provide an almost insurmountable obstacle to continued education. Everyman University thus appears to have important roles to play in Israeli higher education and, in its initial years, to show promise of carrying out these roles cost-effectively.

A Postscript

Since this report was prepared, Everyman's University has passed several milestones in its development. Principal among these has been accreditation in the spring of 1980 by the Council for Higher Education. In 1981, the council contributed 70 percent to EU's annual budget. Student tuition payments made up about 12 percent of the budget, which is typical of Israeli institutions of higher education, and a Rothschild Foundation development grant made up the remainder. Student enrollment in the academic program has grown in each successive cycle. Longitudinal data on new registrations, total registrations, and student performance are shown in table 8-21. The success rate of students taking the final course examination consistently exceeds 80 percent. Of those registered, the number taking the final course examinations consistently exceeds 50 percent. Course development has proceeded very rapidly. By the start of the eighth cycle, sixty-nine courses were available to students. A breakdown is given in table 8-22.

Notes to Chapter 8

The preparation of this case study benefitedenormously from the cooperation of the staff of Everyman University and, in particular, from its vice president for planningand technology. Dr. Yona Peless. The authors wish to express their appreciationfor the EU'S invaluable assistance.Though this study was prepared with financialassistance from the World Bank, and with the cooperationof EU, the views and conclusionsit expressesshould not necessarily be construed to reflect those of either organization. 1. The figure for Israel includes immigrants arriving from Western Europe. the USSR, and South America with university degrees, as well as Israelis who acquired university degrees studying abroad. 2. Respondingto subsequent appealsby the government, the foundation has since added to the original grant the amounts of US$6 million for development and operations, and US$1,006for capital construction. Table 8-21. Student Enrollments and Performance in the Academic Program at ku, by Cycle

Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Item 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Total registrations 2,201 3,303 4,269 5,459 6,885 6,514 6,942 7,918 New registrations - 2,115 1,870 2,392 3,493 3,044 3,623 4,008 Registrationcanceled or postponed - - - - 942 850 707 1,103 Abandoned studics (did not pay second installment) 420 528 579 724 644 721 654 743 Studied in this academic cycle 1,781 2,775 3,690 4,735 5,299 4,943 5,581 6,142 ) Eligible for final examination 1,720 2,394 2,422 3,176 3,794 3,432 3,998 _a °o Entered final examination 1,475 1,937 2,618 2,580 2,871 2,520 , b -' Awarded credit 2 922 1,265 1,652 2,253 2,240 2,403 2,152 2,450" _a Percentageof students who entered final examination of those who studied in this cycle 79.9 69.8 70.9 54.4 54.1 51.0 52.4" _b Percentage of students who were awarded credit of those who entered final examination 88.7 85.2 86.0 86.8 83.7 85.4 83.8b _a Source:Data from Everyman University. a. Result of second sitting not available. b. Results of third and fourth sittings not available.These numbers may increase by approximately 2 percent. EVERYMAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL 249

Table 8-22. Academic Courses Available at EU at the Start of the Eighth Cycle Type of course Number Credits Mathematics and the sciences Beginning level 5 Intermediate level 23 Advanced level 11 Total 39 33 Arts and the social sciences Beginning level 8 Intermediate level 11 Advanced level 11 Total 30 29 Source:Data from Everyman University.

3. The methodologyof the cost analysisfollows that of Dean T. Jamison, StevenJ. Klees, and Stuart J. Wells, The Costs of EducationalMedia: Guidelinesfor Planningand Evaluation (BeverlyHills and London: Sage, 1978). 4. The demand for academic studies in the 1977-78 academic year amounted to about 13,000study units. 5. This budget includes payment for televisionbroadcasting. It does not includepayment for radio broadcasting because this broadcasting time is supplied free of charge by the BroadcastingAuthority. The direct marginal cost for one broadcastinghour (at 1977prices) is estimatedby the BroadcastingAuthority sources at about US$100on the radio and about US$1,200on television. At present, EU broadcasts thirty-six hours on the radio and forty hours on televisioneach semester. The costs of development and maintenance do include costs of production and duplication (for study centers)of televisionand radio programs. It also includes payments for television broadcasts. 6. We do not treat leisure time forgone as income forgone, though this may be reasonable to do from some perspectives.

PART FOUR Conclusion

The Cost-Effectiveness of Distance Teaching for School Equivalency

Dean T. Jamison and Franvois Orivel

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS of low-income countries throughout the world share many or all of the following familiar problems: they have rising costs; fiscal constraints are limiting their budget growth; they provide a low quality of education; they exhibit slow response in providing education relevant to development goals; and they provide inadequate access to many groups-rural people, the poor, and those who must leave school to contribute to their family's earnings. In response to these problems, educational authorities in a number of low-income countries have explored the use of distance teaching to provide equivalency programs (leading to standard educational certification) that reduce educational costs, improve quality and relevance, or improve opportunities for access to education.' The case studies in this volume describe eight such projects in six different countries in order that others might learn from earlier experiences. An important purpose for the World Bank's commissioning the case studies in this volume was to improve the information available on the actual costs of these types of projects, and how those costs compare with those of alternatives. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the information on costs (and comparative costs) from those case studies and from others now available. To a more limited extent, we also review evidence on project effectiveness.

Background

Distance-teaching systems can be usefully classified according to the frequency with which learners assemble for supervised group study. With in-school systems, the learner spends a substantial proportion of his

253 254 CONCLUSION learning time in a classroom, usually attending daily, though most teaching in the classroom is mediated rather than face-to-face. With out-of-school equivalency programs, the learner does most of his studying alone with only occasional meetings with other learners and a tutor or monitor. Distance study will sometimes constitute all the activity required for a particular educational cycle or certification; in other instances, it will cover only a part of the work required. Part Two of this volume contains case studies of in-school projects in Brazil, Malawi, and Mauritius; Part Three contains studies of out-of-school projects in Korea, Kenya, and Israel. An appendix contains a brief summary of the evaluation of another out-of-school project, one privately operated in Brazil. While methods for the cost analysis of projects are reasonably well developed, it is far more difficult to measure effectiveness. The word itself embodies the idea of a rational utilization of resources, and so of a correspondence between costs or inputs on the one hand and effects, products, results, or output on the other. The preliminaries to an analysis of effectiveness therefore involve identification of the effects of the educational services under review, which are obviously multidimensional. Some are short-term, others long-term; some are economic in nature, or social, or cultural; some are internal, others external. In a word, numerous classifications are possible. A satisfactory taxonomy covering all sides of the question has still to be evolved before in-depth cost-effectiveness studies can be undertaken. The problem is somewhat simplified here, in the sense that we are dealing with equivalency programs-that is, programs that aim to achieve something relatively close to what an existing, familiar institution with similar objectives would do. In most cases, a comparison in terms of unit costs-together with some, even scant, indications about results-allows each equivalency program to be compared for effectiveness against the closest alternative. Stated in another fashion, this means that there is some measure of escape here from the need to evaluate the effects of a program in the absolute, since it becomes possible to form a relative judgment of the following type: * equally costly but quality or equity improved or more students educated; or * less costly but results as good or better. In such cases, the cost-effectiveness ratio will be better. Or again: * equally costly but poorer results; or * more costly but results only as good or less good. Here, the cost-effectiveness ratio will be worse. Or finally: COST-EFFECTIVENESS 255

* less costly but results less good; or * more costly but results better. Here, an economic conclusion is impossible unless the difference in cost can be compared with the difference in results. Of the fourteen project evaluations reviewed here, the majority were studied independently of each other and by different teams, although an attempt was made in all of them to apply the cost analysis approach described in appendix A. As far as outputs or effectiveness arc concerned, the teams gathered whatever information was available at the time the studies were in progress, but such information was often fragmentary and inconclusive. Thus, despite the use of a common methodology, the studies cannot claim to have accounted in a systematic manner for the full range of project effects. Nevertheless, in order to obtain some assessment of the impact of these projects, attention has been concentrated on two effects generally expected of any media-based educational project:

* one of an internal nature-namely, improved pupil performance using measures such as better test scores and exam results, or increased rates of promotion to a higher level; - one of an external nature-namely, improved probabilities of access to education for certain groups, such as those of modest social origins or from rural areas or working adults.

In addition, in order to obtain at least a partial idea of the price paid for one or other of these sets of changes, we have indicated by how much the unit cost differed from the closest alternative (cost on an enrollment basis and, when possible, cost on a graduate basis).2 This chapter summarizes the findings of the case studies reported in this volume and of studies of six other projects for which cost data are available. 3 When information on effectiveness is available, we briefly summarize it as well. The first subsection summarizes costs of projects with frequent group meetings (in-school projects); the second deals with projects having infrequent group meetings (out-of-school projects). This distinction appears to be a fundamental one since, in the quest for new educational technologies that break radically with traditional methods of instruction, the decisive change lies in capital-labor substitution-that is, the extent to which the teacher (labor) is replaced by industrially produced inputs (or production factors). From this standpoint, the likelihood of achieving a significant reduction in unit cost is far greater in the second case (infrequent contact between pupil and teacher) than in the first, where contact is not appreciably less than in traditional teaching. In general 256 CONCLUSION terms, in the first case the media do not substitute for labor but for the skill in labor. It is not that less labor is necessary, but less skilled labor. The teacher is a classroom supervisor, with less of the specific pedagogic skills of subject matter knowledge that the media are designed to contribute. In the second case, the level of skill is no different from that found in conventional teaching (and may even be higher), but contacts between tutor and student-restricted to periodic tutorial meetings and occasional short residential sessions-are less frequent. The bulk of the work is done by the student when he is alone, with the help of textbooks and electronic media. It is here perhaps that the expression "distance teaching" is most appropriate.

Costs of In-school Equivalency Programs

Table 9-1 provides brief descriptions of in-school equivalency programs for which we could obtain cost data and indicates the source of these data. Table 9-2 provides information on the cost and effectiveness ofthese projects.

Table 9-1. In-school Equivalency Programs for Which Cost Data Are Available Project Brief descriptionand source of cost data

Brazil, In Brazil, adults can take equivalency examinations at the levels of Minerva primary and junior secondary education. The federal government Madureza provides radio broadcasts with supporting materials as preparation Project' for this madureza. Students attend classes where they follow the broadcasts, for five evenings a week, and work under the guidance of a monitor. (See chapter 2.) Brazil, Similar to the Minerva Project but organized on a state basis, Bahia Madureza within the State of Bahia. (See chapter 3.) Project'

Malawi In 1965, what is now the MCC began an equivalency program to Correspondence provide the two-year junior secondary cycle to students unable to Collegea enter traditional schools. Mostly located in rural areas, the Mcc's centers provide places for students to study under supervision and to follow prescribed radio and correspondence programs. Enroll- ment in the junior secondary equivalency program is about one- third that of the comparable traditional schools. (See chapter 4.)

Mauritius College The MCA provides self-contained courses with text/workbooks of the Air' and about half an hour of radio or television a week in each subject to improve academic quality in private secondary schools. It offered courses in some fourteen subjects for much of the 1973-78 period, but some of its school work is now being phased out as the Mauritian government assumes fuller responsibility for funding all secondary education. (See chapter 5.) COST-EFFECTIVENESS 257

Table 9-1 (continued) Project Brief descriptionand source of cost data Brazil, The State of Maranhao instituted in 1969a system of educational Maranhao FMTVE television to provide instruction for the last four years of fundamental education (grades 5 to 8) in order to deal with a shortage of qualified teachers and to make schooling availableto children of poor areas of Sao Luis and the villages around. There are, for each class, four daily broadcasts of twenty minutes. Printed documents are distributed. Small group work represents a major portion of the daily activities, and student participationis very high.b Brazil, Since 1974, the State of Ceara in Brazil has provided television Ceara Educational programs and printed materials for the last four years of fun- Television Project damental education (grades 5 to 8). Schools of Ceara (state, municipal, private) participate in the system on a voluntary basis, buying the printed materials at the reproduction cost. Specialized teachers are replaced by monitors. The format of the system is similar to that of Maranhao FMTVE.' Mexico, Only a minority of rural primary schools in Mexico have the Radioprimaria three last grades (4 to 6) of primary school. Radioprimaria was initiated in 1969 to provide one additional teacher to cover these three grades, with the help of radio programs. Five radio programs of fourteen minutes are broadcast each day, between 9:00 A.M. and 12:45P.M. The teacher receivesa mimeographed document containing the radio lesson schedule and suggested activities to complement the broadcast.d Mexico, This system, which has operated since 1966, provides thirty tele- Telesecundaria vision programs of twenty minutes each week for students of 7th to 9th grades. Between televisionprograms, students work on the content of the lesson and prepare the following one, with the help of a coordinator (that is, a nonspecializedteacher, usually drawn from the ranks of 5th and 6th grade teachers). Printed materials are availableat a very low cost.' a. The project is discussed elsewhere in this book. b. Eduardo Arena, Dean T. Jamison, Joao B. Oliveira, and Francois Orivel, Economic Analysisof EducationalTelevision in Maranhao,Brazil (published by Unesco in French and English in mimeograph, 1977);also availablein Portuguese (Riodejaneiro: ABT-Av. Erasmo Braga255 grupo 401) and in Spanishin the Revistade Centro de Estudios Educativos, vol. 8, no. 1 (1978),pp. 121-40. An updated version byJoao B. Oliveira and Fran,ois Orivel is in The Economicsof New EducationalMedia, vol. 2 (Paris:Unesco, 1980),in three languages (English, French, and Spanish), with a comparison with a similar system, the Ceara Educational Television system. c. Data availableinjoio B. Oliveiraand FrancoisOrivel, "Analysesocio-economique des deux systemes de television scolaire au Bresil, dans les Etats du Maranhao et du Ceara" (Dijon:IREDU, 1978;unpublished draft). It appearsin summarized form in The Economicsof New EducationalMedia, vol. 2. d. See chapter 6 on Mexico's Radioprimaria in Dean T. Jamison, StevenJ. Klees, and StuartJ. Wells, The Costsof Educational Media: Guidelinesfor Planning and Evaluation (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1978). e. See chapter 11 on the Mexican Telesecundariain Jamison, Klees, and Wells, Costsof EducationalMedia. See alsoJ. Mayo, Emile G. McAnany, and StevenJ. Klees, "The Mexi- can Telesecundaria:A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," InstructionalScience, vol. 4 (1975), pp. 193-236. Table 9-2. Costs and Effects of Some In-school Distance-teachingProjects Cost finction in Average cost Project impacts Units for Value of 1978 U.S. dollars forgiven N measuring N at time at 7.5 percent in 1978 U.S. Onpedagogical On cost per On cost per Project N' of study discount rate dollars quality On access enrollment graduate Comments

Brazil, Number of 1977 TC(N)=907, 120 24.8 No evidence Slight im- Between 0 and No evidence Problemsof Minerva subject N= 177,000 + 19.7N provement 50 percent management Madureza equivalents from both decrease in the field Projectb a year geographical accordingto and social the alterna- point of tives view Brazil, Number of 1977 TC(N) = 437,900 67.4 Rather lower No effect Between 50 No evidence Fixedcosts Bahia subject N=8,000 + 12.6N than other percent and much too Madureza equivalents systems of 1150 percent high accord- Projectb a year preparation increase, ing to the to madureza according to number of exams the alterna- students tives Malawi Number of 1978 TC(N) = 132,000 160.0 Pass rates low- Increasesfrac- The cost is 62 Cost per Correspon- students N=2,800 + 117N er than in tion of percent that graduate is dence reached per traditional cohort en- of day 60 percent Collegeb year schools, but rolled; im- secondary higherthan students en- proves access schools and day second- ter much less in rural areas 23 percent ary schools, well pre- that of but 27 per- pared boarding cent lower schools than boarding schools r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *

Mauritius Number of 1976 TC(N) = 143,800 14.0 Probably im- No effect Project costs No evidence The costs for College course en- N= 12,000 + 1.98N proved qual- are add-ons MCA are add- of the Airb rollments ity in remote to approx- ons to the schools imately cost of US$77 per ongoing student per secondary year cost of instruction schools in which it was used Brazil, Number of 1976 TC(N) 235.3 Improvement Improves ac- Between tradi- No evidence Fixed costs, Maranhao students N- 13,000 1,551,000 + cess to dis- tional public especially FMTVE reached per 116N advantaged schools and administra- year group private tive costs, tend to be too high Brazil, Number of 1978 TC(N) = 971,000 136.6 No effect No effect Light decrease No evidence Ceara Edu- students N=19,800 + 87N cational reached per Television year Project Mexico, Number of 1972 TC(N) = 57,500 160.0 No effect Improves 38 percent de- No evidence Radioprimaria students N= 2,800 + 139.2N geographical crease reached per access year Mexico, Number of 1972 TC(N) = 842,700 235.7 Slight im- Improves 40 percent de- No evidence Telesecundaria students N=29,000 + 204. IN provement geographical crease reached per access year

a. N is the measure of the degree of utilization of the system; a subject equivalent is defined as the enrollment of a student for a course in one subject for one semester. b. The project is discussed elsewhere in this book. 260 CONCLUSION

Costs of Out-of-school Distance Teaching

Table 9-3 provides brief descriptions of out-of-school distance- teaching projects for which cost data are available. Table 9-4 provides information on the costs of those projects.

Conclusions

The projects (and their costs) that tables 9-1 to 9-4 summarize are reasonably comparable. Similar methods of calculation were used in all fourteen of the projects quoted, and this makes it possible to draw some

Table 9-3. Out-of-school Distance-teaching Projects for Which Cost Data Are Available Project Brief descriptionand source of cost data South Korea, The Air CorrespondenceHigh School was set up in 1974 Air Correspondence to provide the regular secondary school curriculum to High Schoola students who had not completed secondary school. ACHS uses radio, textbooks that are expanded to form the equivalent of correspondencelessons, and fortnightly tutorial sessions to prepare students for examinations leading to a secondary diploma. In 1977, there were 92,000 applicants for 24,000 places. (See chapter 6.) Kenya, An in-service teaching training service has been run bv the In-service Teacher Correspondence Course Unit of the University of Traininga Nairobi since 1968. It has provided courses to prepare unqualified teachers in remote areas to pass qualifying examinations. It combines forty-five minutes of radio programs a day with correspondencematerials including assignments and two annual residential sessions. (See chapter 7.) Israel, Everyman University uses a combination of textbooks, Everyman Universitya correspondencematerials, group tutorials, and broadcasts to offer courses leading to a bachelor's degree, as well as vocational courses. They began offering courses in 1976 and demand has substantiallyexceeded expectation. For- mal accreditation of the EU degree seems probable in the near future. (See chapter 8.) Dominican Republic, Radio Santa Maria provides elementary and lower second- Radio Escuela ary school equivalencythrough daily one-hour broad- Santa Maria casts, accompanied by lesson sheets and weekly meetings with a tutor. Five radio stations make the program available to most rural areas in the country. Students take Secretariat of Education examinations for official diplomas.b COST-EFFECTIVENESS 261

Table 9-3 (continued) Project Brief descriptionand source of cost data

Brazil, Telecurso Secundo Grau is an equivalencyprogram to pre- Telecurso Secundo Grau pare the final exam of secondary level. The most important private televisionchannel in Brazil provides (and pays for) highly sophisticated televisionprograms, and students buy, through newsstands, printed material accompanying these programs. Studentstake the same exam as given in all other institutions. The system began in 1978.c China. The Chinese Television University started in 1979to ex- Television University pand access to higher education and partially to compensate for the lack of higher education services during the cultural revolution. Students may enroll for a two-year college curriculum either full time or part time. They follow the televisionprograms in special rooms in the enterprises or agencies where they work. For the second year, 186,000full-time equivalent students (15 percent of total higher education enrollment) were enrolled. Plans to expand that number to 40 percent in 1985are in process). a. Project is discussedelsewhere in this book. b. The basiccost data on Radio Santa Maria, as well as evaluationinformation, come from R. White, An AlternativePattern of BasicEducation: Radio Santa Maria (Paris: Unesco, 1976). Dean T. Jamison summarizes the cost data in the cost function presentedin table9-4 in Cost Factorsin PlanningEducational Technology Systems, Fundamentals of educational planning series no. 24 (Paris: Unesco/International Institute for Educational Planning, 1977). c. Data on Telecurso Secundo Grau are drawn from appendix C in this volume. d. Data on the Chinese Television University came from R. McCormick, "Central Broadcasting and Television University," The China Quarterly,March 1980.

general conclusions about the economics of equivalency programs. We would summarize these as follows. First, the proportion of fixed costs within the total cost is important, often exceeding 50 percent and reaching 90 percent in the case of Every- man University in Israel. The importance of fixed costs in the projects reviewed here should be seen in conjunction with what is to be observed in traditional education, where for the most part fixed costs and administrative costs are far lower than variable costs. In traditional education, the administrative component is only slightly sensitive to marginal changes in system size. The same administrative unit is able to cope with an increase of up to, say, 20 percent in system size without having to increase its staff, and probably does not need to reduce its staff if system size is marginally reduced by, say again, up to 20 percent. On the other hand, a significant change in size necessarily involves a strengthening (or paring down) of the administration. Not only are the fixed costs of traditional education Table 9-4. Costs and Effects of Some Out-of-school Distance-teachingProjects Costfunction in Average cost Project impacts Unitsfor Value of 1978 U.S. dollars forgiven N measuring N at time at 7.5 percent in 1978 U.S. Onpedagogical On cost per On cost per Project N' of study discount rate dollars quality On access enrollment graduate Comments South Korea, Student enroll- 20,000 TC(N) = 51,500 68.4 ACHS students Improves ac- The ACIIS cost Because there ACHS is Air Corre- ments + 42.8N do less well cess for stu- per enrollee are repeaters financed spondence on tests, but dents who is about 24 and dropouts almost en- High evidence must work percent of from ACHS, tirely by user Schoolb suggests that to sttpport the S250 its cost per fees this is be- themselves t'a atstsual cost graduate (of cause they of the regu- one year) start at a lar high is about much lower schools USS73, 29 level than percent of regular high that of regu- school stu- lar high deists schools Kenya, Subject equiv- In 1977 TC(N) = 165,850 324.7 Improvement Improves ac- Though com- Though com- The main In-service alent per N = 790 + 114.8N cess in rural parisons are parisons are reason for Teaclser year' areas difficult, can difficult, Trainingb can the now in- be consid- be consid- creasing ered high ered high costs is declining enrollments with fixed costs remaining almost constant; this decreasing restults fronn discontinua- tion of auto- iiiatic salary increases for newly certified teachers cost If student time Israel, Course enroll- 8,000 in 1978; TC(N) = 740.0 No evidenice Improves ac- Less expensive Projected EU is inicluded in Everyman ments (18 26,000 in 5,286,500 + 284.0 cess for per cost of University' courses re- projected 81.7N (fixed geographi- graduate is quired for steady-state costs are long- cally and USS5,600 education, projected bachelor's term steady-state other dis- compared cost of EU degree) operation) advantaged with groups US$11,000 graduate is at traditional US$10,600; universities of traditional graduate US$29,000 No evidence Frequent stu- Dominican Student enroll- 20,000 TC(N) = 187,000 20.0 Test results Improves ac- Costs are about dent re- Republic, ments + 10.7N suggest that cess in rural half thosc of sponse and Radio Radio Santa areas traditional participation Escuela Maria stu- adult educa- in lessons Santa Maria denits score tion for as well as equivalency seems to students in have had traditional favorable adult schools impact on even though pedagogical they start quality further behind ('Fable rotlliiues oatthe following page.) Table 9-4 (continued) Cost function in Average cost Project impacts Unitsfor Value of 1978 UJ.S. dollars forgiven N measuring N at time at 7.5 percent in 1978 U.S. On pedagogical On cost per On cost per Project N5 of study discountrate dollars quality On access enrollment graduate Comments

Entoll- 40,000 TC(N) = 194.2 Inprovenielit Improvement Between 25 Likely at least Unit costs de- Brazil,' Student heavily Telecurso ments 5,632,100 + and 67 per- as much as pend Secundo 53.4N cent of dif- cost per en- on audience Grau ferent alter- rollmient size and on natives the actual life cycle of tele- visioni pro- granis to be China, Student full- 186,000 Not available Not available No evidence Strong inm- Clear indica- No evidence Is likely time equiva- provement tion of re- the most im- Television edu- University lent in urban duced cost portant areas cationalin- stitution at a distancein the world

a. N is the measureof the degree of utilization of the system; a subjectequivalenit is defined as the enrollment of a student for a course in one subject for one semester. b. Project is discussedelsewhere in this book. c. 1979 U.S. dollars.

A C COST-EFFECTIVENESS 265 systems fixed only within a certain range, but they are also proportionally quite low. In the case of media systems, fixed production costs are real fixed costs. If a film costing US$100,000.is seen by 1,000 pupils, the fixed production cost per pupil is US$100; if it is seen by 10,000, the cost per pupil falls to US$10; if it is shown to 100,000, the cost is as low as US$1; and if the number of viewers rises to 1 million the cost per head falls to a negligible ten cents. Second, this cost structure means that enrollment levels are of particular importance. For an equivalency program to succeed, it must be assured of an appropriate minimum number of students over a long enough period. To take one clear example, the Kenyan project has probably reached a stage where it no longer has enough students to justify its continuation; the Bahia project probably never will, because of the alternatives in Brazil, like Minerva or Telecurso. It is, of course, impossible to set a precise figure for the minimum number of students since this varies from project to project. But at the level of secondary education, projects with fewer than 10,000 students a year are generally at risk, and this figure may be a good enough estimate for general postsecondary education. Specialized, vocationally oriented projects whose audience is dispersed and working may sometimes be justified with far fewer students. In this type of project, seen quite often in teacher retraining, the closest conventional alternative would show particularly high unit costs, mainly because of four factors: * the need to assemble the participants in a single place, necessarily at a distance from where some of them reside; * the need for participants to abandon their usual employment temporarily, and therefore to receive payment equal to their normal salaries; * the additional cost of accommodation for nonresidents; * possible cost of family accommodation if the training course is a prolonged one, or the alternative psychological cost produced by the separation. Under these circumstances, the cost of the closest alternative is likely to be very high. In Kenya, for example, it was shown that the system could be economically justified if there were 2,000 enrollments for certificates. At all events, the general figure of 10,000 should not be regarded as a magic threshold. The threshold will actually depend on four factors: * the level of study (primary, secondary, higher, adult); * the choice between radio and television; * the cost of the closest alternative; * the extent of capital-labor substitution. 266 CONCLUSION

These factors are linked among themselves. It is in tertiary education that the costs of the closest alternative are likely to be highest and where it is easiest to go much further ahead with capital-labor substitution, since adults are more capable than young children of studying alone with the media, unassisted by a teacher. At the tertiary level, a relatively modest number of students-say, in the vicinity of 2,000-will justify a well- designed radio or radio-correspondence project economically. On the other hand, at the primary and secondary levels, where the teacher is crucial, many more pupils are necessary (several tens of thousands, usually) before a positive cost-effectiveness ratio can be obtained, especially when television is the medium used. For these reasons, it is important to look closely at the student target groups in a media project. Since many projects are experimental, or quasi-experimental, they involve small numbers of students, by definition, so that unit costs prove relatively high, since fixed costs must be spread over a small number of users.4 Third, projects that use television have higher unit costs. But television makes only a small difference to total costs where, despite the use of media, projects still rely to a great extent on teachers (as in the two Mexican examples). An additional factor is that television costs vary greatly depending on whether the system utilizes an existing network at its marginal cost during off-peak times, or whether it operates its own transmitter and its own network of ground relay transmitters. For out-of- school distance-teaching projects, it is usually impossible to use television unless members of the intended audience already own receivers. Fourth, most of the projects studied here are less expensive than equivalent traditional methods of education, especially if it is taken into account that many of them are aimed at adults in employment who, by studying part-time at a distance, avoid a loss of earnings while they study. This cost in salary may be borne either by the individual himself, who agrees to undergo training or retraining on a nonsalary basis-a rare phe- nomenon-or, as is more often the case, by the employer, who continues to pay the trainee's salary but must find a replacement and therefore pay two salaries. For many such students, these equivalency program systems are the only available way of studying. There was, however, substantial variation among projects in the extent to which they were cost-saving, as compared with traditional education. Since the costs of both electronic and print media are declining relative to the cost of teacher time, cost advantages for distance teaching can be expected to increase in the future.5 In the six out-of-school projects (tables 9-3 and 9-4), the reduction in cost compared with the traditional system is clearly the consequence of a sizable capital-labor substitution-that is, a substantial increase in the number of pupils per teacher. For the eight in-school projects (tables 9-1 COST-EFFECTIVENESS 267 and 9-2), where the presence of the teacher is more important, there is a variety of explanations for cost reductions: * In Minerva (Brazil), the teacher is employed half-time, in the evenings, labor costs thus being cut by half. * In Malawi, likewise, the teacher is with the pupils on a part-time basis. * In Maranhao and Ceara (Brazil), costs are generally lower than in the private schools (reputed to be better) and higher on the whole than in the public schools. The advantage over private schools is ascribable mainly to the replacement of single-subject teachers by polyvalent 'monitors," thus allowing small simultaneous gains in work time, pupil-teacher ratios, and remuneration ratios. * In Mexico, for the same reasons as in Brazil. * In Mauritius, there is an additional cost that may reflect an improvement in quality. * In Bahia (Brazil), the cost is higher, since fixed costs cannot be spread over a sufficiently high number of pupils. Fifth, equivalency programs seem to have a clear, positive impact on educational equity-in terms of making quality education more widely available, and in terms of making access to any education at all possible for previously excluded groups. The majority of projects examined here are relatively unsophisticated if one compares them with certain multimedia systems used in the developed countries (the British Open University, for instance). In the authors' view, this simplicity has proved a sound choice. It is clear that a systematic quest for programs of high artistic quality would have swung the cost-effectiveness ratio to the negative side, something particularly true of television-based systems. All the school television projects described here, except Telecurso, are the work of very small production teams, perhaps ten times smaller than similar professional groups in the high-income countries. The achievement of professional standards while maintaining a good cost-effectiveness ratio would be possible only if enrollments were far more numerous. In most cases, television personnel have gained their experience on the job, so that a certain amateurism is a feature of the production studios. If, instead of making do with modest local talent, reliance had been placed on a large complement of technicians from high-income countries, it is likely that in the absence of a significant increase in enrollments the cost-effectiveness ratio would again have been an inverse one.' The same can be said for the problem of media combinations. The combinations used in these projects are simple, but, given that present 268 CONCLUSION knowledge of the marginal effectiveness of any medium as a component of a complex combination is almost nil, the simplest combinations would seem the wisest as far as general economic effectiveness is concerned. The sole area where it is important not to compromise on matters of compe- tence and quality is that of curriculum preparation, although this is true of education generally, and not just of media-based technology.

Notes to Chapter 9

An early and abbreviatedversion of this chapter, with the title"The Cost-Effectivenessof Distance-Teaching Projects," appeared in EducationalBroadcasting International (December 1978),pp. 169-75. 1. In chapter 1 ofthis volume Hilary Perraton defineddistance teaching as "an educational process in which a significantproportion of the teachingis conductedby someone removed in space and/or time from the learner. In practice, distance teaching usually involves a combination of media. The more effectiveprograms seemto benefit from linking broadcasts and print with some kind of face-to-facestudy." 2. Costs in this chapter were converted from local currencies to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate prevailing at the time the cost data were gathered. It is sometimesdesirable to adjust for inflationby converting "current" dollars into those of some standardizedyear; the figures below allow computation of this adjustment by conversioninto 1978dollars. Tables 9-2 and 9-4 show all costs in 1978dollars. To convert from dollarsin any given year to 1978 dollars, one simply multipliesby the indicated conversion factor. Year ConversionFactor 1972 1.58 1973 1.49 1974 1.34 1975 1.23 1976 1.16 1977 1.09 1978 1.00 The above figures are computed from the U.S. consumer price indexesof the 1978Economic Report of the President(Washington, D.C., 1978), and from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "CPI Detailed Report" (August 1978). 3. This chapter discussesonly projects from developing countries; Wagner and Orivel have provided useful reviews of the evidence concerningthe economicsof distanceteaching for postsecondary education in high-income countries. See Leslie Wagner, "Costs and Effectivenessof Distance Learning at the Post-SecondaryLevel" in The Economicsof New EducationalMedia, vol. 2 (Paris:Unesco, 1980),and FrancoisOrivel, "An EconomicAnalysis of Distance Teaching in Higher Education" (paper presented at the 10th Anniversary Conference of the Open University, Birmingham, England, November 1979;processed). Subsequent to preparation of this chapter, a definitivetreatment of the major educational television project in American Samoa has been published; see Wilbur Schramm, L. M. Nelson, and M. T. Betham, BoldExperiment (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1981). 4. To take an example of the effect of high usage, the Ivory Coast educationaltelevision system is, though costly in total, expected to raise per student costs by only 3 or 4 perccnt when it is fully operational in 1990;this is approximatelythe same as the cost of reducing COST-EFFECTIVENESS 269

average class size from forty-two to forty. SeeJ. C. Eicher and Fran,ois Orivel, "School Television Costs in the Ivory Coast," in The Economicsof New Educational Media, vol. 2. Nevertheless,its costs have proved to be higher than the Ivory Coast government could bear and, for that reason, it has now been closed down. 5. This decline in the relative cost of mediated communication is a long-term phe- nomenon. Schramm concludesthat 600 years ago a 240-pagebook probably would have cost $310 in 1933 U. S. dollars (or $1,750in 1978 U. S. dollars);see Wilbur Schramm, "The Costs of Books in Chaucer's Time," Modern Language Notes, vol. 58 (1933), pp. 139-45. There would have been great variation around this figure in actual selling prices. Assuming such a book would now cost about 3 cents a page, the real cost decline has been at an average annual rate of 0. 91 percent. Another way of looking at this is that a book can now be purchased with a person's earnings in an hour or two (in industrialized countries), whereas in Chaucer's time several years' earnings were required; tutors must then have appeared cost-effective indeed. The costs of electronic media have, in this century, declined much more rapidly than the 0.91 percent long-term annual average for books. 6. The available evidence suggests, in fact, that relatively simple production techniques may be best for student learning. Schramm, in reviewing the evidence, concluded "at least two straightforward guidelines stand out from the research papers we have reviewed. Effective television can be kept as simple as possible, except where some complexity is clearly required for one task or another; students will learn more if they are kept actively participating in the teaching-learning process. Simple television: active students." Wilbur Schramm, "What the Research Says," in Quality in Instructional Television, ed. Wilbur Schramm (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1972), pp. 66-67.

PART FIVE Appendixes

An Introductionto the Methods of Cost Analysis

Dean T. Jamison

ANY CATEGORIZATION OF COSTS is necessarily somewhat arbitrary, but when considering the costs of distance learning it is, as a first approximation, reasonable to divide costs between those that are fixed independently of the number of students in the system and those that vary directly with the number of students. Fixed costs are incurred on such items as central administration and evaluation, program production (including the writing of textual material), and the transmission time for broadcasts. Variable costs are incurred for items like face-to-face instruction, students' copies of printed materials, and receivers. The remainder of this appendix presents a general framework for dealing with costs and then returns to the special case in which it is reasonable to separate fixed and variable costs. Finally, as some distance-teaching systems may involve substantial capital costs, the appendix briefly discusses the appropriate way of treating the cost of capital.'

Total, Average, and Marginal Costs

It is useful to think of costs as functions rather than as numbers: a total cost function gives the total cost required to finance a distance-teaching project as a function of the number of students to be reached. To take an example, let Total Cost = TC = TC(N), where TC(N) is the total cost required to provide service to N students. Total cost will, of course, increase as N increases. In analyzing the costs of distance-teaching projects it is important to be explicit about the units in which N is measured. For in-school projects, N will usually be measured in terms of the number of students reached per

273 274 APPENDIXES year; for out-of-school projects, there will often be a measure of academic qualifications, comparable to qualifications in the formal system, that will be an appropriate unit. In either case, the number enrolled for a year (or a credit) can be distinguished from the smaller number of those successfully completing it. The number completing credits or years can also be distinguished from the number graduating from the school cycle being attempted. To the extent that distance-teaching systems have higher failure or dropout rates than traditional schooling, their cost relative to traditional schooling will be higher if the measure is the number of graduates or of credits completed rather than of enrollments. In the remainder of this appendix, the measure of N need not be specified, but in chapter 9, which summarizes the case studies, this is explicitly done. The average-cost function (or, equivalently, the unit-cost function) is defined to equal the total cost divided by the number of students served: Average Cost = AC(N) = TC(N) /N. Just as the total cost depends on N, so may the average cost; typically, average cost will decrease as N increases. The marginal-cost function gives the additional cost of serving one more student as a function of the number of students already served. Thus, the marginal-cost function is given by:

Marginal Cost = MC(N) = TC(N + 1) - TC(N). That is, the marginal cost at any given number of students, N, is equal to the total cost for N + 1 students minus the total cost for N students. It is often reasonable to assume that the marginal cost of adding one more student to a system is constant-that is, independent of the number of students already served. To illustrate the concepts above, let us construct a simple example. In table A-1, the first column indicates the number of students served by a

Table A-1. Example of Total, Average, and Marginal Costs (U.S. dollars)

Average cost Marginal cost Unit (students) Total cost TC(N) MC(N'V) = N TC(N) ACN) ) N TC(N + 1) - TC(N,)

0 0 - 30 1 30 30 40 2 70 35 35 3 105 35 15 4 120 30 10 5 130 26 - METHODS OF COST ANALYSIS 275 project, while the second column indicates the total cost of serving that number of students. The table indicates that total cost increases as the number of students increases. From the information presented in the first and second columns, we can compute the average cost and marginal cost presented in the third and fourth columns. The average cost is simply the total cost divided by the number of students, while the marginal cost is the addition of total costs caused by the addition of one more student to the system. The average cost is most useful as an historical summary of the resources required by the system to do its task, while the marginal cost is more useful in examining the cost consequences of expanding or contracting the system from its ongoing level of operation.

Fixed and Variable Costs

When the total-cost function can be approximated by the simple and convenient linear form, TC(N) = F + VN, it becomes possible to separate costs into fixed costs and variable costs. In this example, F would be the fixed cost because the value of cost contributed by the first term on the right-hand side is independent of N; V is the variable cost per student served because the value of total cost contributed by the second term on the right-hand side varies directly with N. When the total-cost function is linear, the average cost simply equals the fixed cost divided by N plus the variable cost-AC(N) = F/N + V; the marginal cost equals V. Thus, the average cost declines as N increases (by spreading the fixed cost over more students) until, when N is very large, the average cost is close to the marginal cost. As already indicated, the above equation is a reasonable approximation to the cost behavior of distance-teaching systems. The costs of program preparation and transmission tend to be fixed independently of the number of students using the system. Face-to-face instruction and reception costs, on the other hand, tend to vary directly with the number of students.

Capital and Recurrent Costs

A capital cost is one that is incurred to acquire goods or services that will have a useful lifetime that extends beyond the time of purchase; recurrent costs are incurred for goods or services that are used up as they are bought. The principal cost of traditional schools is the recurrent cost of teachers' 276 APPENDIXES time; because teachers are paid while they provide their service, the useful lifetime of what is actually purchased simply coincides with the pay period. (In this example, we neglect the human-capital-forming aspect of teacher-training colleges.) The cost of a pencil would seem to be a capital cost because, depending on one's penchant for writing, it could last for several months. In fact, pencils are treated as recurrent costs because their expected lifetime is less than the accounting period (usually one year) of school systems. The line between capital and recurrent costs is, then, conventionally drawn at one year; if the lifetime of a piece of equipment exceeds a year, its cost is usually treated as a capital cost. An occasional source of confusion is between fixed costs and capital costs. Some fixed costs are recurrent; an example is the electric power required to operate a television transmitter. Likewise, some capital costs are variable; an example is the receiver component of reception costs. Thus, the concepts of fixed costs and capital costs are distinct, though it is often true that major capital expenditures are associated with substantial fixed costs. How does one construct the cost functions if capital costs are present? Say, for example, that a distance-teaching project buys a radio transmitter and 6,000 receivers in year one for a total cost of US$220,000. It would clearly be inappropriate to include the entire US$220,000 as a year-one cost in attempting to determine the unit cost of the system in year one; likewise, it would be inappropriate, in computing year-three costs, to consider the use of transmitter and receivers as free (since they presumably have alternative uses). In order to construct a useful cost function, it is necessary to annualize the expenditure on capital equipment. In annualizing a capital cost, one must take into account both how long the capital equipment will last and how much interest one could receive on the capital if it were invested in bonds, say, instead of in the transmitter and receivers. The resulting annualization can reasonably be thought of as the annual rent one would have to pay if the equipment were leased rather than purchased. To continue with the example above, if the US$220,000 worth of equipment had an expected lifetime of ten years, and if the interest rate were 7.5 percent a year, the annualized cost (rental value) of the equipment would be US$32,051 a year.2 Cost calculations for some instructional-technology projects are sensitive to the interest rate chosen; authors in this volume generally use 7.5 percent as a reasonable intermediate value. METHODS OF COST ANALYSIS 277

Notes to Appendix A

1. This appendix draws heavily on CostFactors in PlanningEducational Technology Systems, Unesco International Institute for EducationalPlanning, Fundamentalsof Education Plan- ning Series,no. 24 (Paris: Unesco, 1977),which is also availablein French. This documentis available in Portuguese as "Fatores de custo no planejamento de sistemas de tecnologia educational," Cadernosde Pesquisas. vol. 28 (March1979), pp. 67-94. Additionaldiscussion of the cost and economic analysisof educationaltechnology projects may be found in Dean T. Jamison, StevenJ. Klees, and StuartJ. Wells, The Costsof EducationalMedia: Guidelines for Planningand Evaluation (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1978);and inJ. C. Eicher, "Some Thoughts on Economic Analysis of New Educational Media," in The Economicsof New EducationalMedia, vol. 2 (Paris: Unesco, 1980). 2. The standard formula for expressing the annualized cost of capital equipment (or implicitannual rental value) is given in terms of the initialcapital cost, c;its lifetime in years, n; and the discountrate or prevailingrate of interest, r. The annualizedcost is then given by an annualizationfactor, a(r,n) multiplied by c, where:

a(r,n) = [r(1 + r)"]/[(l + r) -1]. B

Optionsfor Delivery Media

Tony Bates

ANYONE CONSIDERING USING MEDIA for education or development faces a wide and rapidly expanding range of choices. Because the use of media can involve considerable expenditure, planning effort, and sometimes radical and disruptive changes, the choice of media should obviously be based, as far as possible, on a rational attempt to analyze both likely costs and benefits. Even if decisions were always based on such an analysis, however, the decisions about the best selection and mix of media would differ from system to system. Local variables crucially affect even rational decisions based solely on an analysis of costs and benefits. For instance, in a small, densely populated, relatively prosperous country like Singapore, which has more or less full television coverage and a comparatively high percentage of the population owning television sets, television has tremendous potential for education and development. In a large, sparsely populated country like Afghanistan, where the terrain is difficult and where the population is scattered, to some extent nomadic, mainly illiterate, and very poor, radio would appear to offer more for the mass of the people than television. Therefore, it is not possible to give meaningful, simple rules of thumb for choosing media-such as "television is always better than radio"-even if decisions could always be made simply on a cost- benefit analysis. As much as educationists and international agencies may like such decisions to be based on such analyses, in reality other influences are equally as important. Decisions to choose certain media will always be influenced by political, cultural, and organizational reasons, and these pressures on local administrators arejust as rational to them as analyses of costs and benefits. Any attempt then to make a fully rational choice of media must incorporate all these influences, and indeed they are sometimes highly relevant even to cost-benefit analysis. What counts as a cost, and what counts as a benefit, will obviously be influenced by the values held to be important in different countries.

278 DELIVERY MEDIA 279

Thus, the problem of drawing up generalized rules or statements about the choice and use of media in different countries is great. Even so, a good deal of experience has now been built up in the use of media for development and education, the range of media and technological developments continue to increase, and many countries and institutions still look to media as a possible solution to some of their more difficult problems. Thus, the aim of this appendix is to provide information about the range of media now available that might be used together with radio, or instead of it; to make somejudgments about the comparative educational benefits and limitations of the different media described; and to give some idea of comparative costs-or rather, to give some idea of how to establish comparative costs within a system, since transferring cost data from one system to another is in most cases meaningless. It will then be up to the politicians and civil servants-who have to live, and occasionally die, by their decisions-to make the information offered, to examine its relevance in their own context, and, as always, to make the decisions in the end. It is hoped that this chapter will make their task a little easier rather than more difficult.

What Are the Alternatives to Radio?

The number of different media available to education is very large indeed. Also, in the last few years, several important technological developments have occurred in electronics that could have major implications for education. This section will be limited to a brief, nontechnical description of those media that can be used to reach large numbers of people, but that, at least under some conditions, are likely to have roughly the same costs as radio. It will also be limited to those media which are already available, or which could be generally available on a large scale in the next five to ten years.

Radio Everyone is familiar with radio, but one or two features of radio deserve mention. Radio programs are transmitted by means of electromagnetic waves. These waves can be thought of as invisible paths or highways (depending on their width). These highways are identified as frequencies, and there are strict international agreements and regulations that govern their allocation. Depending on the power of the transmitter, and the frequencies used, radio signals can be made to travel vast distances, crawl over or penetrate mountains, or be contained within a fairly small, local area. By linking transmitters together, by one transmitting station picking 280 APPENDIXES up the signal from another station and relaying it to the next (as well as transmitting it locally), a network can be built up, enabling the same program to be heard at the same time throughout the whole area covered by the network. There are very few countries in the world today that do not have at least one national network covering most of the country. To continue the analogy of invisible highways, radio requires a fairly narrow road, compared with television, which requires many times more space. Although technological development has, in the last thirty years, opened up a whole new range of frequencies for practical use, there are physical limits on the number of frequencies that can be used. The demand for the use of these frequencies is large and growing: for public broadcasting, for telecommunications, for private services such as taxis, police, ambulance, and fire services, and of course for national security. In many countries now, there is a shortage of available frequencies, which limits large-scale expansion of services and has implications for the costing of services. Since television is in need of much more frequency space than radio, it is possible to provide several, independent radio services within a country, using less space than a single television transmission (although in practice television tends to occupy a different range of frequencies than radio). These technical features of radio are important, because they have several implications for education and development:

* Radio can provide a range of services-local, national, or even international. * By using different frequencies, radio can be used for several different purposes at the same time. * Radio frequencies are a limited resource, with competing demands for their use. Radio production can range from a simple, one-man production studio, to a national institution employing thousands of people. In most cases, the operation of a radio station or network requires at least some highly qualified engineers and trained production staff. Even so, the operational costs of even a large radio network are minute in relation to the number of hours of transmission and the size of the audience. Once a transmission network has been established, its operation can be highly automated, requiring only two or three staff per transmitting station. Because of mass production and increasing miniaturization resulting from electronic developments such as the transistor, radio receivers can be purchased very cheaply. Some models retail in most countries at under US$20.1 In the third world alone, there are at least 75 million radio receivers, or one for every thirty to forty people, irrespective of age.2 DELIVERY MEDIA 281

(Given the difficulty of obtaining reliable statistics on this issue, the actual level of ownership is probably even higher.) Radio therefore has the capacity to reach a majority of the population in virtually every country in the world; in many countries, every home has at least one receiver. Furthermore, since radio receivers can be powered by batteries, they can be portable and can be used in isolated or nonelectrified areas, as well as in urban centers. Since one of the main uses of radio in most countries is for popular entertainment, radio tends to be used by all ranges of people. One does not need an education to use and enjoy radio, whereas one does need to be literate to use any kind of print. Radio therefore provides the potential for access to all kinds of people in a society. Furthermore, it does not cost the listener anything except time to listen to something new, different, or unexpected-a feature that has obvious relevance to education.

Audio Cassettes An audio cassette machine is basically the same as an open-reel tape recorder, with sound signals recorded onto magnetic tape, but, instead of the tape being exposed and wound onto a reel, it is enclosed inside a plastic box or cassette, thereby eliminating the need to thread the tape. This makes the operation of the machine and the storing and carrying of the tape much easier. Programs can be recorded onto a master tape (as with radio) and either reproduced on cassettes through multiple copying (fast copying machines that can produce sixty copies an hour from one master are now available) or transmitted and recorded off-air onto cassettes, though copies taken from the master tape are naturally of a higher quality. Cassette distribution is not limited by a shortage of airtime, as is radio, nor is the production of a cassette limited to a standard program length, as radio programs often are. Using cassettes, one can produce as much, or as little, material as is required. This can be important, since radio time has to be planned in advance, and it is possible to get into the situation where material is being produced not because it is educationally necessary, but because the production or transmission slot must be filled. Fast copying equipment is much cheaper than transmission equipment. However, while the cost of distribution or transmission of radio is fixed, irrespective of the numbers listening, distribution costs of cassettes increase directly with the number of users. Cassettes do not need recording facilities of as high a quality as are usually required for radio, but a soundproof recording room and editing facilities are desirable. Although a qualified technician is desirable, once a good master tape has been made cassettes can be produced in large numbers without the need for a highly qualified engineer or producer. 282 APPENDIXES

Cassette recorder/players nowadays are very cheap, and machines of an adequate quality can be found in most countries starting from $15 each. Cassettes can be made available to learners at a cost of between $1 and $2 for sixty minutes of tape. With the rapidly growing commercial use of cassettes for popular music, ownership of cassette players in many countries has also increased greatly. Accurate figures are hard to find, but a recent survey of Open University students in Britain found that 70 percent had cassette players.3 This was an increase of nearly 20 percent over two years. In the small number of courses that issued cassettes to students, ownership was much higher, suggesting a willingness to obtain machines if necessary. Figures for developing countries are even harder to obtain, but in Afghanistan, for example, while no accurate national figures exist, some local surveys found cassette machine ownership in rural areas approaching that of radio ownership.4 Thus, while ownership of cassette machines does not yet approach that of radio, there is evidence of rapid growth, both in developed and even in some developing countries.

Phonograph Records and Flexi-discs Sound or phonograph records are of basically two kinds. Both require a machine with a turntable, needle, and loudspeaker to play back the sound. The kind of records sold in shops are hard and shiny; with the right equipment, they give high-quality reproduction. A cheaper kind of record can be manufactured, however; it is called a "floppy" or "flexi-disc" and is usually no longer than 7 inches in diameter, compared with 12 inches for a long-playing hard record. (Flexi-discs are sometimes used as free gifts in advertising campaigns.) Although the sound quality for flexi-discs is not so good as for conventional records, it is adequate for speech. Flexi-discs are, however, more robust and do not need careful packaging, as records do. Hence, flexi-discs, which are extremely light, can be sent with printed material through the mail, at no extra cost, whereas conventional records require separate and more weighty packaging. Long-playing records specially recorded for educational purposes can be manufactured for as little as 50¢ each, although with packaging and individual mailing a minimum figure would be nearer $1. Both flexi-discs and records need runs of at least 1,000 copies because of the cost of cutting the master template and setting up the high-cost stamping machines, but on runs of over 3,000 copies flexi-discs could be made available to learners for as little as 6¢ each, if included with an already-planned mailing. Because of the equipment required to make records, the copying would normally be handled by a commercial record company or one of its subsidiaries (which exist in many countries), but the production of the master tape from which the template is made would still require some DELIVERY MEDIA 283 form of production studio. As with cassettes, records or flexi-discs would have to be physically distributed, either to shops, education centers, or learners' homes. Records and flexi-discs require a record player. Although simple to use, record players are more expensive and less portable than cassette machines; the cheapest record player retails at more than $30 in most countries. Record players can give better quality reproduction than cassette machines, but at a higher price; for speech, however, the differences are not important. Unlike cassette machines, record players cannot also be used for recording. Ownership figures in developed countries are high- around 90 percent for British Open University students. Figures for developing countries are less easily available, but it would be surprising if they were as great as for cassettes, and will almost certainly be less than for radio.

Print Except in very special cases, it does not make educational sense to consider radio as a replacement for print. While people live in literate societies, and while literacy remains a major aim of development, print will be an essential medium in education for many reasons. Apart from speech, print is still the most convenient and flexible medium for conveying new information and ideas, and print is much more suitable when more difficult or abstract ideas have to be grasped, or when details or reference are necessary. Literate people can cover information more quickly through print, because of the speed and selective nature of reading. Print is more flexible than radio for the presentation of knowledge, because it is less limited by constraints of space or time in presentation, and it has a highly flexible format for combining words, pictures, and color. Perhaps the most important advantage of print, though, is its convenience for learners, because they have more control over their learning, being able to study at their own pace and to choose when and where to study. The subject of print costs for development projects is well worth a study on its own. Analyzing these costs in brief, however, is extremely difficult, because the subject is so complex. At least three different kinds of costs are involved. One is a fixed cost: that of preparing for print a single unit such as a book or pamphlet, irrespective of the number of copies produced. This cost will include fees for authors; salaries or fees for editors, artists, and typesetters; and an allowance for equipment depreciation or hire. A second cost is variable, in that it will depend on the number of copies to be produced. These costs will be mainly paper, ink, and bindings. A third cost is that incurred in distribution, in getting the copies to where they are needed. 284 APPENDIXES

Each of these three kinds of cost contains a whole range of variables, which will differ not only from system to system but also for each kind of publication within a system. For instance, the cost of each published unit will depend on the format. It may be a few sheets of duplicated manuscript or typescript run off on an ink duplicating machine, manually collated, and stapled together. Such publications can be produced for as little as 20¢ a copy. Alternatively, the format may be a fully printed, color-illustrated, hardback textbook; in this case, single copies may cost up to $50 to produce. Furthermore, costs will depend on the number of different publications of the same format to be produced each year. At the Open University, for instance, over 200 different texts are designed and published each year; in that case, it makes sense to have a permanent team including editors, artists, and designers. Similarly, investment in equipment for printing will depend both on the main kind of formats likely to be used and on the range and volume of production. Printing equipment costs influence unit costs, either directly (if the material is produced on one's own equipment, which must be bought, maintained, and replaced) or indirectly (if printing is contracted out to other departments or organizations, since their equipment costs are likely to be passed on to the customer-although even this practice can vary). Sometimes an organization may wish to have its own equipment-even though there is spare capacity elsewhere-so that it has control and hence reliability in the production of its own printed materials. This, too, is a cost. Thus, it is impossible to give a single, simple unit cost for print materials. Costs will depend on what kind of print materials are required, the number of different titles to be produced each year, the number of copies of each title, the method of distribution, and the extent to which existing spare capacity can be used. In turn, the decision about the kind of print materials required will be determined by the money available, and by the educational aims of the printed material. Deliberate policy at the Open University, for instance, was to produce high-quality, well-designed and illustrated, professionally printed texts because of the need to motivate adults, working at home and in isolation, to long periods of study in their own time. The texts were seen as being the core of the learning materials, with radio (and television) as important but supplementary. In other projects, although support printed material may be necessary and important, it may not need to carry such a heavy teaching role, and therefore production quality-and hence costs-can safely be reduced. Even so, distance-education projects, particularly at their outset, need to consider carefully the balance of costs between broadcasting and print, in terms of effectively teaching their target audiences. In general, however, radio is not seen as an alternative to print, but as a supplement to it or an additional service. For this reason, this appendix DELIVERY MEDIA 285 concentrates on the use and cost of print when used in conjunction with radio or other audio media. There is, however, one exception. In most cases, at least the operational costs of an educational radio service must come out of the total educational budget. There may be circumstances where this means a reduction in what might otherwise have been spent on print materials for schools, such as textbooks. However, it is often suitable printed material that learners lack most in developing countries. If an educational media service is to be run at the expense of providing learners with adequate printed material, it is robbing Peter to pay Paul-when Peter is more in need. It is often difficult to tell, from the way budgets are decided and presented, whether or not this is in fact happening. Media projects tend to be dealt with under separate budget headings and in different ways from the provision of textbooks and other printed material. In general, however, an educational media service should be considered as an addition to the provision of print material, and not as a replacement. In fact, the introduction of an educational media service will usually result in an increased demand for printed materials, rather than a reduction.

Audiovision Audiovision is the simultaneous use of separate audio and visual media. The sound component may be in the form of radio, cassette, record, or flexi-disc. The associated visual material may be in the form of print, charts, diagrams, pictures, graphs, slides, filmstrips, or samples of materials (for example, everyday objects, models, specimens, plants). Basi- cally, the audio channel is used to talk the learner through the visual material. Audiovision takes two forms: radio-vision; and nonbroadcast audiovision. Radio-vision requires students to undertake activities based on visual media while listening to a radio program. Nonbroadcast audiovision requires students to carry out activities based on visual media while working through a cassette, record, or the like. Normally, the audio and visual media components will be designed at the same time, in an integrated way. Audiovision thus differs from the quite common practice of providing accompanying notes or booklets for radio programs. With audiovision, the learner carries out activities on the visual material while listening, as an integral part of the teaching process. The visual component can take a wide variety of forms. The most common is print; even with print, however, there is a great variety of formats. The sound component may be accompanied by a poster, with a single or several drawings illustrating important ideas; or by simple diagrams or pictures, mathematical problems, equations or formulas, songs or poems, musical scores, or extracts from texts, either typeset or 286 APPENDIXES

Figure B-1. Examples of 35-millimeter Color Film Viewers

Stereo X

W viewer <~~~~~viwe Single-frame v iewer

6-inch [j] -iewq;< ; / filmstrips

ViewC Master LZI

60-frame finMstrip and cannister

Halight 300 projection microscope and mnicrofiche reader

ESL Bristol Prima filmstrip viewer 0 -

Source: A. W. Bates and L. Kern, Alternative Media Technologiesfor the Open lUniversity (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed). DELIVERY MEDIA 287

done by hand and reproduced on a duplicating or multilith machine; or by fully printed audiovision handbooks, sometimes in full color, containing maps, photographs, diagrams, statistical data, and additional textual information; or by a single sheet, a map, a technical drawing, or a postcard of a painting. Color printing is expensive, so alternatives sometimes used in audiovision are 35 millimeter color slides or filmstrips (a set of single 35 millimeter or 16 millimeter transparent photograph frames, joined together). Slides cost about 25¢ each, whereas filmstrips cost less than 20 a frame. Slides and filmstrips require viewers, which can range in price from over $100 for a carousel projector, which throws a large picture onto a screen or wall and is suitable for group viewing, to less than 25¢ for a simple, single-lens filmstrip/slide viewer, which is perfectly adequate for individual users. Even stereo viewers can be provided for less than $2 each. To these prices must be added costs for design and distribution, but the cheap viewers can be folded flat and are very lightweight, being made of plastic, so mailing charges would be very small. Some examples of slide and filmstrip viewers are shown in figure B-1. The visual component could also be in the form of real objects, brought by learners or supplied by the course designers. These may be familiar objects available locally, such as plants, coins, insects, or mathematical shapes or models (which children may have made themselves). In these latter cases, costs would be negligible. The production of audiovision is more complex than that of straight radio programs. Even so, it can still vary enormously in complexity. For small-scale production, it would be possible (but exacting and not to be recommended) for one person to write the script, make a cassette recording, design accompanying diagrams and notes, make additional copies of cassettes, duplicate the notes, and distribute the notes and cassettes to learners. For large-scale production, especially where specialist departments already exist, as at the Open University or in multimedia production centers, audiovision programs can include inputs from subject specialists, producers, graphic artists, editors, sound technicians, photog- raphers, and printers. A successful audiovision package requires careful preparation of both the audio and the visual materials, and good coordination and cooperation between subject specialists, those responsible for the production of the audio components, and those responsible for the production of the visual components. Since the material goes through several different stages of production-designing and editing the graphical and print material, recording the sound and handing it over to contractors for printing and copying, thence distribution to learners-it is necessary for the material to be produced some considerable time before it is to be used.' Apart from radio, the sound and visual components have to be delivered physically. Apart from radio receivers and possibly cassette 288 APPENDIXES

Figure B-2. Six Methods of Telephone Teaching

Method I Method 2

Tutor Learner Learner Learner

Public lines Public lines

Method 3 Method 4

Different One center centers A A A -1 A A &A AA A A Ar~AA A A A A a AAA Tutor Tutor AAA AA AAA\^

Learners Learners

Loudspeakertelephone, Loudspeaker telephone, public or dedicated lines public or dedicated lines

Method 5 Method 6

Learners Learners IA A

Tutor

Home or center, Home or center, conference call conference call DELIVERY MEDIA 289 machines, most components would have to be supplied by those responsible for the teaching, but these costs need not be excessive. Of the media easily available at the moment, cassettes, records, flexi- discs, and audiovision are the most likely alternatives to radio in developing countries. Television is much more expensive, as is computer-aided instruction. There are, however, several new developments that might be available within a few years. Whether they actually become available will depend greatly on the interest shown by potential users, so it may be worth giving some space to these developments.

Telephone Teaching: Six Methods The telephone system has been around for a long time, but only recently have attempts been made to use it for direct teaching purposes. Particu- larly in developing countries, one of the drawbacks to using telephones has been the inadequacy, as well as the cost, of the system. Improvements to national communications infrastructures, however, have been a major priority for several aid agencies; consequently, increasing numbers of developing countries are obtaining improved and modern telephone systems, which incorporate the latest dialing, transmission, and exchange equipment. This can be exploited for education. Telephone teaching can be organized in various ways. Figure B-2 illustrates six different ways in which telephones could be used for teaching.

METHOD 1: TUTOR-LEARNER. When it is not possible to provide group teaching, either because of a shortage of teachers in an area, or because the area has insufficient students to make it worthwhile, learners could be allocated to telephone tutors. (The tutor could either be at home, if he has a telephone, or be available at certain times at a school or education center.) Learners could either pay for the calls themselves or be allowed to make a certain number of "free" calls as part of the course. This method of tuition has been used successfully in two separate experiments in Sweden, at the University of Lund and the University of Link6ping.6

METHOD 2: LEARNER-LEARNER (SELF-HELP). Again, where it is difficult to arrange for learners to meet in groups, learners may wish to telephone each other, to discuss difficulties or problems. (This might be useful, for instance, for paramedical training, where only one or two people in a locality are involved.) The only organization required is a knowledge of telephone numbers where other learners can be contacted and a set time when learners would be available (since in most cases institutional phones would be used). 290 APPENDIXES

METHOD 3: TUTORS-LEARNERS IN A GROUP. Where there are shortages of tutors, and where tutors would have to travel long distances or would have difficulty in reaching a center, a tutor could be linked by telephone to a class by means of a loudspeaker telephone in the local study center. Loudspeaker telephones are available commercially and cost between $100 and $200. Students could communicate back to the tutor, by means of a microphone linked to the study-center telephone. A tutor could cover several groups consecutively in this way in one evening, without having to travel. In Britain, the cost of such a call in 1981 was about $3.50 an hour, if at off-peak times (evening and weekends).

METHOD 4: TUTORS-LEARNERS IN SEVERAL GROUPS. This system is operated by the extension program at the University of Wisconsin in the United States. The central campus at Madison has direct, dedicated lines (only for university use) with over twenty centers around the state. Each center has several rooms, each with a loudspeaker and a set of micro- phones for use by students. In this way, a tutor can lecture up to 200 classes, or over 4,000 students, at once. Students can also communicate with the tutor, although obviously such a system is not highly interactive.7

METHOD 5: CONFERENCING (WITH TUTOR). With an ordinary public telephone system and the help of an operator, up to seven different numbers can be linked simultaneously with each other, so everyone can speak to and hear everyone else. In this way, a telephone seminar can be arranged without students or tutors having to leave their homes (if they have telephones); alternatively, seven local centers could be linked together. This system is being extensively used in place of face-to-face instruction in an increasing number of Open University courses.8 The cost for all seven lines is about $20 an hour.

METHOD 6: SELF-HELP CONFERENCE CALLS. This method is exactly the same as Method 5, but without a tutor.

Telephone Teaching: Constraints In all except Methods 1 and 2, the help and cooperation of the telephone company is necessary, and in many countries irritating technical difficulties will occur.9 These difficulties, however, should not be sufficient to prevent determined people from successfully using the telephone for teaching purposes where this is appropriate. Technical difficulties, though, are not the only constraints on teaching by telephone. In most countries, many of the target learners will not have DELIVERY MEDIA 291 telephones in their own homes, and thus telephone teaching will depend to a large extent on the willingness to make telephones in educational or other public institutions available for use by teachers and learners. Objec- tions to this idea from administrators may prove crucial, since they often consider the telephone to be for their exclusive use. Telephone teaching, though, could often take place during weekends and evenings, when most administrators are not at work, when rates are cheaper, and when working people are able to study.

Other Electronic Media Several other electronic media are in development but are not yet quite ready for full-scale educational exploitation.

VIEWDATA. Viewdata, called Antiope in France, makes use of the telephone system to access a potentially unlimited amount of data, which are displayed on a domestic television receiver. The user calls up the required information by means of a small push-button keyboard (see figure B-3). Before such a system can be used on a large scale for educational purposes, though, several developments need to take place. First, the system requires that domestic television receivers be modified. To make the modification economically feasible, all new television sets would have to incorporate the modification. Second, users would have to have access to both a telephone and a modified television set. Third, the software-that is, the information accessed by the learner-would have to be provided by the educational system. Viewdata, therefore, although offering considerable potential for education, is not likely to be of practical use for at least five to ten years. 0

ELECTRONIC BLACKBOARD. The electronic blackboard, and a related development, digital cassette vision, enable handwriting, sketches, and simple diagrams to be displayed on a standard television receiver. These can be transmitted through telephone lines, broadcasts (using spare capacity between existing transmission frequencies), or stereo audio cassette tapes (see figure B-4). An audio/video convertor or "black box" is necessary, however, to convert the signal for display on a television screen. Informa- tion is generated by an electronic writing tablet (using an electronic pen) or by a computer graphics generator. Equipment is being developed in Holland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the system has been experimented with for teaching purposes in Indonesia and Holland. Electronic blackboard has good educational potential, especially for the teaching of mathematics, economics, geography, and engineering subjects, since the teaching materials can be produced more cheaply and 292 APPENDIXES

Figure B-3. Viewdata Schematic

Information and data banks

Other Viewdata subscribers Course information Customers' telephone n ersity lines a isramo National Library Local bibliography telephone =exc

Progrtammed _ learning materials Lockheed _Viewdata Dialogue adaptor California l l | ~~~~~~~Open

l l l |: o l 0 | E~~~~~~~~~~~~~uropean|S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~pace |0 | TV set81 - 1 | Agency

Supplementary Viewdata information keypad

Local Remote

Source: A. W. Bates and L. Kern, Alternative Media Technologiesfor the Open University (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed). a. Computer-marked assignments.

simply than materials for television. Electronic blackboard would also allow teaching to be decentralized, using local or regional tutors. To date, however, no manufacturer has come forward with a production model. Without large-scale manufacture, the cost of the convertors will be too DELIVERY MEDIA 293

high for most educational purposes and, as with Viewdata, users would still need access to a television receiver.

TELEVISION GAMES. Games that use a domestic television receiver as a visual display unit also have considerable potential for education. The processor (the audio/video convertor) for television games is manufactured on a large scale and costs only around $40-50 a unit. The convertor could be designed to accept, instead of games, educational materials, and it may prove possible to allow learners to manipulate or alter the input themselves. For instance, a student could enter different values for a function in mathematics and observe the effect of such changes on a graph projected on a television receiver. Once again, however, manufacturers need to be persuaded of the likely demand before they will make the necessary adaptations and, in particular, the educational material or software must be designed. These, and possibly other, developments are not likely to be available for large-scale use in education within the next five years. They all require improvements in technology to be of practical use. Even more, each of the systems requires the production of large quantities of teaching material, designed to exploit fully the potential of each of the devices. Finding people who are capable of doing this is likely to be the most difficult problem to overcome for the successful exploitation of these new electronic media.

Comparative Benefits

Given, then, that several media other than radio might be used for distance teaching, what are the relative educational advantages of one audio medium over another? First of all, in practical terms, the most pertinent question is usually not: Which is the best medium? Rather, it is: which is the best combination of media? To answer even the second question adequately, however, requires an appreciation of the educational differences between media. For instance, if both radio and cassettes could be used, what would be their respective roles, if waste and duplication are to be avoided? * Second, using media for educational purposes is a creative process. The rules cannot be laid down in explicit detail beforehand. A creative teacher or producer will always find new ways to use the media, so any attempt to list the educational features of any medium is bound to be incomplete. Nevertheless, experience is as valuable as creativity, and a number of recent studies has led to more awareness of the various roles of radio and other audio media for education and development. McAnany reviewed 294 APPENDIXES

Figure B-4. Electronic Blackboard System

Microphone

Light pen Transmitting f studio TV monitor J

Wipe Erase Color Audio Audio Audio

Audio/video T ' LF/MF CLLJ convertor or VHF/FM transmitter Video

(b) (c) (a) LF, MF, C UHF TV Telephone line or VHF P transmitter

or VHF/FM U

T - ~~receiver X~ UHF

Audio Audio/video [i1 HJ ~~~~~~~~~~convertor

C ~~~~~~~~UHF

services Audio UHF/TV tape recorder receiver (stereo)

Source: A. W. Bates and L. Kern, Alternative Media Technologiesfor the Open University (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed). sixty-five development-oriented radio projects and from this summarized five major roles for radio in development." A previous study by the World Bank gave detailed case studies of about a dozen radio projects." Both these reports looked at the strategic, or overall, role played by radio in DELIVERY MEDIA 295 education or development, as did, to some extent, Schramm in his comparative study of different media. 3 Meed took rather a different approach. 4 He examined the content of nearly 200 radio programs at the British Open University to identify their teaching role in the context of a multimedia distance-teaching system. Also at the Open University, an analysis of successful bids for broadcast resources identified a set of sixteen functions unique to radio, when television and print are also available.' Very little, however, has been written about the unique features of radio, as compared with other audio technology such as cassettes or phonograph records. The increased use of these latter media at the Open University led to a cost-benefit analysis of the educational and cost differences between audio media."6 Taking all these various studies into account, it is possible to set out a number of advantages claimed for each of the various audio media. Research, unfortunately, does not always convincingly support some of the claims, so for each medium the claimed advantages are listed in roughly descending order of certainty. This section, therefore, does no more than refer the reader to the above references on the broader, more strategic roles for radio in education and development, and concentrate here on the educational advantages of radio over other audio media, and vice versa.

Radio

INEXPENSIVE. Perhaps the most important reason for considering the use of radio, at least initially, is that it is likely to be much less expensive than other media for reaching very large audiences. This issue, however, will be discussed more thoroughly later and, in any case, there is no point in using a less expensive medium if it does not produce any educational benefits.

INCLUSIVENESS. The second most important reason, which is related to the first, is the access through radio to virtually the whole population- radio has the potential to reach the whole community with educational and development messages. Once again, however, it is not sufficient just to reach an audience; there must be some effect as well.

IMMEDIACY. Programs can be made and broadcast at the time learners are studying. This has three major educational advantages over other audio media. First, programs can relate a course of study to current events. These events may be news stories; recent natural hazards such as storms, flooding, or serious accidents; recent social, environmental, or industrial developments; or initiatives on the part of the government. Indeed, recent 296 APPENDIXES events themselves may provide the basis or springboard for the course, around which the teaching or development message can be built. The importance of this aspect of radio will vary from course to course, but particularly for the teaching of adults it can be very important, emphasizing the relevance of what they are studying, providing interest and motivation, and, if the programs are well designed, enabling the student or learner to apply what he or she is learning to real events. A second advantage of radio's immediacy is that programs can be altered, brought up to date, or improved. Events may change during the life of a course, making some material less relevant or out of date. Remaking or replacing a radio program can be done much more easily than withdrawing or redistributing a new set of cassettes or records, or reprinting a textbook. The third advantage is that it may be possible to use this aspect of radio to build in feedback from learners, helping them over difficulties in the course that were not foreseen when the course was made. In practice, however, this is often difficult to do successfully. Just bringing together a few learners into the studio to discuss their problems in a course will rarely be successful. Their problems may not be representative of those faced by most learners, they may not be able to articulate their problems clearly, or it may be difficult to provide solutions to some of the problems raised. To make such use of the immediacy of radio, an effective and rapid system of feedback from learners is necessary, to identify accurately problems faced by most students. Nevertheless, the immediacy of radio can be a most valuable teaching asset, if it is properly exploited.

INTRODUCTION AND ILLUSTRATION. Radio can be valuable when the teachers or course designers are satisfied that only one or two hearings of the program material will be necessary. If the learner has to listen more than once or twice for full understanding, then radio is not an appropriate medium, unless the message can be repeated over and over again. Ho-w- ever, this is not usually the case in educational radio, where time is at a premium, and where repetition is likely to be considered boring for those not directly concerned (the casual listener and the general public also have to be considered when a national resource is being used). The ephemeral nature of radio is a crucial limitation to its use as a teaching medium. Research at the British Open University has shown that even highly motivated, previously well-educated adults have difficulty learning from radio. This was first noted in students' responses to open- ended questions on the evaluation of individual programs. Expressions such as: "I find radio a difficult medium to learn from" and "I find it difficult to concentrate for the whole twenty minutes" were found more frequently than similar comments from the evaluations of individual DELIVERY MEDIA 297 television programs. In a large-scale survey of over 16,000 students, Gallagher included a question asking students to give reasons from a precoded list for missing programs. 7 Although it was not the most common reason ("forgot" or "inconvenient times" were most common), six times as many students reported difficulty in learning from radio as from television. This should not be surprising. A substantial body of research evidence has clearly identified the difficulties people have in learning from radio, and the factors that increase this difficulty. Unfortunately, over the last two decades interest in television has diverted research away from radio, and the earlier studies are less well known than they deserve to be. Also, they were mainly carried out in the United States and the United King- dom, before the widespread public access to television. Vernon, for instance, reported from a large-scale study of the intelligibility of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBc) radio talks that, even when using a very lenient standard of marking, "The results showed, as has been feared, that little of the average broadcast gets across, except to listeners who have had some secondary education, or are of superior intelligence."" Trenaman found that comprehension test scores of the first fifteen minutes of radio programs fell by up to 50 percent if they were followed by exposure to a further fifteen or thirty minutes of the remainder of the program." Silvey quoted a study carried out by the BBC Audience Research Department in 1954:

The report on the experiment showed that the average listener to Topics for Tonight could only answer 28 percent of the questions correctly. . . . The trouble seemed to be of three kinds. First, there was an evident tendency for broadcasters to over-estimate learners' background knowledge of the subject. ... Second, the talks which fared least well were those where the listener was left to sort out the principal points for himself or where there was no obvious straightforward progression of ideas. Third, there were vocabulary difficulties-broadcasters too often used words which their listeners simply did not understand."2 These and other researchers have clearly identified factors that influence the intelligibility of radio programs. Programs that are likely to be more successful in enabling listeners to learn include those that deal with con- crete themes rather than abstract ideas; those that deal with a small number of major points rather than many individual points; those that use simple vocabulary and sentences; those that use dramatization and personalize issues; and those that are short, less than fifteen or even ten minutes in length. Unfortunately, these factors are not always found in practice in radio programs, and our own research at the Open University reinforces that of earlier workers who have consistently indicated the difficulties in using radio effectively for learning purposes. 298 APPENDIXES

Nevertheless, as long as its limitations are known and respected, and as long as it can be supported by other media or face-to-face teaching, radio can still be valuable for introducing learners to new ideas or experiences, or for enriching their learning experience. Radio can be used, for example, to introduce, summarize, or overview a topic dealt with at greater length or in more detail elsewhere. It is particularly useful for raising issues for the first time; follow-up discussions are then possible, particularly if thc presenter is an able and enthusiastic broadcaster. Radio can be useful for illustrating a general or abstract point through an example, case study, or story. It is useful for providing an aesthetic, emotional, or cultural experience, such as a music or drama performance, where enjoyment is more important than analysis. Radio can be useful for providing an alternative viewpoint to the main one contained elsewhere in the course. (If the program is meant as a substantive critique, however, learners are more likely to find such a single presentation more difficult to follow and, in practice, it may prove difficult to get alternative viewpoints presented. Meed found that less than 10 percent of Open University programs presented alternative viewpoints, despite the programs' being related to substantial correspondence texts.)2 Radio can also be useful as a way of reinforcing or supporting what has been taught elsewhere, by providing a different way of teaching the same thing. All these examples, however, are attempts to get around the limitation of a single, or at best a double, hearing. Except in certain instances discussed later, radio is severely limited as a hard teaching medium, where skills, or difficult ideas or concepts, or a systematic and comprehensive development of knowledge is required. Other audio media are much more effective than radio for hard teaching.

IMPACT. The limitation of radio as a hard teaching medium has possibly one exception: when it is used to get over simple messages through constant repetition. This is basically the application of a radio advertising technique to education. Gunter and Theroux report the use of such a technique by the National Institute of Nutrition in Ecuador.2 2 Very short, simple nutritional messages were carefully designed, pretested, and broadcast as spots interspersed throughout the normal program schedule. Each spot was broadcast several hundred times. In general, the techniquc was successful, in that the messages reached over 100,000 households and led in most cases to the desired changes in behavior. This technique, however, requires careful planning and implementation to be successful. Gunter and Theroux point out that the change of behavior required must be simple and within the control of the listener (for example, he or she must be able to obtain iodized salt), and that therc must be consensus among specialists and development personnel about DELIVERY MEDIA 299 the desired behavior changes. The spots have to be designed and approved by specialists, pretested, and broadcast many hundreds of times, and the problems chosen must affect a major part of the audience. From the Ecuador experience, though, Gunter and Theroux conclude that: "advertising does not seem to be suited to promoting profound psychological changes in individuals or groups."

INVOLVEMENT AND IDENTIFICATION. One advantage claimed for radio over other audio media is its potential for motivating the learner through involvement or identification. This can be done in a number of ways. Learners can be involved in the actual production of programs. Gunter and Theroux provide a good example of this from Ecuador.23 In the Tabacundo area, a local radio station, Radio Mensaje, operates a radio school. The voluntary group leaders (auxiliares) at the forty radio school centers were issued cassette recorders and encouraged to use them, in any way that they thought appropriate, to prepare and deliver tapes for editing and broadcasting in two half-hour programs a week. Thus, in Gunter and Theroux's words, the programs were: "produced by rural peoplefor rural people. " A content analysis of the programs produced in this way showed a gradual increase in the coverage of topics concerned with community development (one of the main aims of the experiment). Although no precise figures are quoted, audiences for these programs are reported to have increased dramatically. No evaluation, though, of the effect of the programs on behavior (other than a content analysis of the programs) is reported. However, the production of such material at a grass-roots level, and the subsequent increase in the number of listeners, suggest that this approach does lead to an increased involvement and identification on the part of the listeners, and this should make it easier to persuade listeners to implement themselves some of the innovations they hear on the radio. Another way in which education or development messages can make use of audience involvement is through "phone-in" programs, which are common in many developed countries. Members of the audience can telephone a radio station and join in a discussion on a political, social, or economic issue. Although the actual number of participants is small, it is possible that listeners will identify with those that do participate. The educational value of such programs, however, has received little evaluation, despite their popularity with listeners. It would seem important to find out whether such programs merely reinforce the existing views or prejudices of listeners, or whether they do provide new information, or even lead to changes in attitudes. Similar in concept to the phone-in is the radio tutorial, which is a broadcast of a seminar or tutorial with real students. The idea is that listeners will identify with the participating students and will benefit in the 300 APPENDIXES

same way. The evidence for the success of this use of radio, though, is not convincing. Some of the difficulties of using radio in a remedial or tutorial role have already been discussed. Koumi evaluated one such Open Uni- versity program, in which students discussed their problems about one- third of the way through their course.2 4 In terms of audience appreciation, the program was a disaster. Most listening students showed little concern with the problems of the participants, or indeed respect for their views or intelligence! Gunter and Theroux also advocate the use of quiz shows for putting over development messages, although they make the rather sweeping statement that no radio station has yet broadcast a quiz show that is deliberately aimed at being educational.2 " Quiz shows are occasionally used, in some countries at least, for informing listeners of the government's development plans or achievements. In Afghanistan, for instance, the Friday night quiz show was one of the most popular programs, and each show included some questions on the country's development plans, often with a detailed answer. Again, however, without adequate evaluation in the field, it is impossible to say how effective this technique is in actually teaching people something they do not already know. Perhaps the most subtle use of radio for teaching is by means of dramas or soap operas, into which an educational or development message is inserted, often so cunningly that the listener is unaware that he is being educated. Such use of radio has a long history. "The Archers" is a BBC radio program about a fictional farming family. The program has been running for over twenty-five years. Few people in Britain are aware that one of its aims has always been to keep farmers informed about new developments in agriculture, although nowadays its development messages can range much more widely, covering such diverse topics as fire prevention, safety in the house, and educational issues. Once again, however, there is little hard evidence about the effectiveness of such an approach in development terms, and what little is available is not positive. For instance, radio dramas have been used in some Open University courses, and this use has been evaluated.2 6 While the programs were undoubtedly enjoyed by most of the students who heard them, the evidence is less convincing on whether students were better able to understand the issues covered in the programs, despite detailed, printed notes that guided students in their listening. Indeed, research on a number of Open University radio and television programs suggests that the analysis of dramatized or case-study material appears to require considerable intel- lectual skill on the part of the student.27 The implication therefore is that it is by no means certain that learners will be able to pick up development or education messages from dramatized programs. DELIVERY MEDIA 301

The claim that radio can increase listener involvement or identification is certainly plausible in theory. Unfortunately, there has been very little empirical proof that this is so. Indeed, the evidence that is available does not offer much support, although the reason for this may be the specific context in which the research has been carried out. What is required is more experiment with these techniques, with careful evaluation to test their effectiveness.

INITIATION. One feature of radio is its ability to attract people to enroll or join in a course of study. This is usually done in two ways. Sometimes radio is used to inform people of relevant study groups or courses of study, and uses various techniques to encourage listeners to join up; more frequently, radio courses requiring or encouraging listeners to seek support services are provided. These support services may be in the form of village groups, with unpaid and untrained village leaders; classes at a local school, with a trained or semitrained group leader or teacher; or correspondence courses, designed to support the programs. In practice, although the programs act as a useful focus and guide, and may indeed carry the bulk of the direct teaching, the support services are usually crucial for effective learning and development to take place. The success of this approach has been well substantiated in a number of countries-for instance, India, Colombia, and Tanzania.2 8 Experience has shown, however, that radio will not always work successfully as a recruiting agent. For success, a number of conditions have to be met. First, the support services must be efficiently organized and convenient. The organization, and more particularly the support for local groups, can place a major burden on governmental or provincial agencies or on the radio station. If leaders need to be trained or paid-as they will for a number of development activities, such as adult literacy- not only do costs mount rapidly in proportion to the number of classes but also the administration and organization of the service becomes more complex and demanding. If printed material is to be used as a support- and often this will be necessary-costs will mount even further, and the need for the writing, printing or duplicating, and distributing of support materials will make the administration of the project even more demanding. Second, the success of radio as a recruiting agent will depend greatly on the part that radio plays in a given country, on the target audiences, and on the kind of courses being offered. Radio is more likely to be successful, for instance, where it is a major source of entertainment, where there are high rates of illiteracy or low levels of education, and where access to radio is widespread. Indeed, especially where illiteracy rates are high, radio may 302 APPENDIXES be the only way to reach large numbers of people at reasonable costs. Two examples from Britain will illustrate the need to avoid overgeneralization about the potential of radio to attract learners to education. In a recent adult literacy campaign in Britain, the popular music channels (Radio 1 and 2) were used successfully to recruit people through short items between pop music. (Those interested were given a telephone number on the program and, on calling this number, they were referred to a local orga- nizer.) However, an earlier attempt to recruit adults without high levels of education to a course called "Living Decisions" was less successful. The programs associated with this course were broadcast on the more serious cultural and music channels (Radio 3 and 4), which were just not listened to by the people at whom the programs were aimed.2 9 This leads to a more general point: Not enough study has been done on cultural differences in attitudes to radio as a learning medium. For instance, some evidence suggests that in developed countries many learners will accept radio in a minor teaching role, or for recruitment purposes, but will not accept radio in a central teaching capacity. This is certainly true of British Open University students, who are offered a wide range of teaching media. Two major surveys of students at the Open University, each based on data from over 10,000 students, showed clearly that radio was the least valued of all the media offered.30 For example:

All the evidence indicates that, with very few exceptions, students regard radio as the most dispensable course component; a high proportion of students who heard no radio programmes saw at least some television programmes, though the reverse was not true; radio was generally the least highly rated component, across all courses.. .. On the other hand, it is dear from other student responses that given a chance, radio can be very useful (for some students) even on courses where it is dismissed without trial by a high proportion of students."

What is puzzling is not the fact that radio is rated on average lower than other components; it is that those students who do use radio generally find it helpful. This suggests that students differ sharply in their appreciation of and ability to use radio, and that the availability-or lack of availability- of other media, together with differences in the role and position of radio in different countries, will strongly affect the power of radio for direct teaching purposes; this is probably less so, however, for recruitment purposes, especially if other media or support services are seen to be available as well.

IMPETUS. A more dubious claim for radio is that it maintains the impetus for study, in that it keeps the learner moving through a course of study, or paces him. The problem of the independent learner giving up because he gets stuck at a particular point in the course can be overcome, it DELIVERY MEDIA 303

is argued, by the radio moving him on to the next piece of work. One could equally argue, though, that the relentless pace of radio transmissions will force all those that cannot match the pace to drop out. Certainly, it is clear at the Open University that what paces students is not the broadcasts but the dates by which homework essays-which are called assignments, and which count toward the assessment of the final degree-have to be t submitted.3 2 Students at the Open University do not in general work evenly through a course, but in bursts, which are determined to a large extent by the approach of an assignment deadline. This factor is so strong that, even when a program requires prereading of the correspondence material scheduled for the program, students will usually not have done the necessary prereading, making it difficult for them to make any sense out of the program. Consequently, course design at the Open University now takes account of this factor and either staggers the programs or avoids making them too dependent on the texts.

IMPLEMENTATION. A more substantial argument for radio rather than other media is that it is easier to administer. Provided the staff are properly trained, radio programs can be made and transmitted without difficulty. All the listener has to do is switch on the set at the right time. Once established, a radio service will virtually run itself. Certainly for developing countries, this is a powerful argument. There is much to be said for a system of teaching that is self-contained, can function effectively without the need for help or cooperation from other agencies, departments, or ministries, since in practice such help and cooperation can be difficult to obtain. Particularly where the educational radio service is run by the Ministry of Education, organization and administration is simplified. Isolating an educational radio service from the rest of the education and development sectors in a country involves dangers, however, and in any event the effective use of radio will in most cases depend on the support of other media and other people. If an educational radio service does not relate closely with other sectors, it will quickly get out of touch with the needs of the country, its programs will lose relevance and be underused, and it will lose political support. To relate with other sectors will inevitably complicate the organization and administration of the service. Coop- eration with teachers, provincial authorities, teacher training colleges, curriculum specialists, and universities will make the planning and management of the service more difficult. The provision of supporting services, such as group work, trained tutors, and printed material, will make the operation of the service more complex. Without such activities, though, experience from many countries suggests that the service is not likely to be effective. Nevertheless, the transmission of radio programs to listeners in remote areas, or to areas where communications are difficult, is 304 APPENDIXES certainly far simpler than the distribution of cassettes, discs, or printed material.

INSPIRATION. The final argument for radio is that it can provide inspiration, by getting the best teachers, or by providing examples of the best kinds of teaching, and making them available to all the learners in the system. There is no reason, however, why such inspiration could not be provided through other media, such as cassettes, unless, as is unlikely, inspiring teachers would be willing to perform only on the mass media. Numerous benefits can thus be claimed for radio, but the effectiveness of using radio in the ways suggested depends on a number of limiting conditions and in some cases the empirical evidence does not support the claims made for radio. However, empirical evidence, based on measure- ment of the attainment of educational and development objectives, is scarce, either for supporting or for refuting such claims. Also, just as care must be exercised in transferring costs between systems, so must such care be exercised in transferring research results from one system to another. Radio has not in general been used successfully at the British Open University, but that does not necessarily mean that it could not be used successfully there or anywhere else, given the right conditions. What decisionmakers need to examine is the likely validity of the arguments for the use of radio, in contrast to other audio media, in their own special circumstances. Having said that, however, we can note four major limitations in using radio for learning, which the use of other audio media could avoid. First, learners lack control over the pace of a radio program. They cannot stop or repeat the material, to give themselves time to catch up with their thinking or to let their mind wander, without losing or missing some of the program. Second, learners are constrained to listen at a fixed time. This broadcast time may clash with work or social engagements, or may be inconvenient or impossible for the learner for other reasons. Research at the Open University has shown that this difficulty can be overcome to some extent by repeating programs at a different time from the original transmission.3 3 Repeats make it possible for Open University students to hear between 75 and 90 percent of the programs of a course. With a single transmission, however, the maximum number of programs that can be heard, on average, drops to 66 percent. Even when students are able to listen to a program, the time may not be conducive to effective study. The learners may be tired, or they may, if it is an early morning transmission, have to leave for work immediately afterwards, preventing them from carrying out follow-up activities, which are essential for reinforcing learning. DELIVERY MEDIA 305

Radio forces many learners to study at times that are unsuitable for them personally. Third, radio cannot provide two-way interaction between a learner and a tutor, or between a learner and other learners. This prevents a learner from testing his own ideas, from finding out whether he is working along the right lines, or from getting help when he runs into difficulties, either in t understanding the material or in solving practical problems, such as knowing the importance of missing a part of the course. This can be overcome, of course, if listening groups, radio farm forums, and the like, can be organized. In such a case, radio's role is to provide a stimulus for interaction rather than the interaction itself. Fourth, it is very difficult for people to concentrate fully and con- tinuously over the whole length of a radio program, and many people find it difficult to learn just from listening.

Cassettes and Records Cassettes and records can overcome some of the difficulties noted above with respect to radio.

CONTROL. Perhaps the most important advantage ofcassettes-and also records-is the control that a learner can exercise over the learning material. He can stop, go back over a section of the tape as many times as he likes, and return later to the tape for revision purposes; most important, he can listen to cassettes or records at the times that best suit him, enabling him to study the audio material along with other material.

ACTIVE LEARNING. Because learners can stop and come back to a tape, the learner can be more active, carrying out short exercises, returning to the tape to check his answers, and so on. In other words, cassettes lend themselves to a programmed learning style.

LENGTH. Cassette material can be as long or as short as necessary. (Cassettes have a slight advantage here over records.) Cassettes are not constrained to be of a standard program length.

LEVEL. Because of the control a learner has over the material, and because of the opportunity to be active in his learning, the level of difficulty of material contained on a tape, and its density, can be higher than for a radio program. With radio, there should be low points or padding in a program, when students can relax or regather their thoughts. 306 APPENDIXES

EASIER USE OF VISION. While both radio and cassettes can be used with visual materials, cassettes have certain advantages. Berrigan and Gibson noted that at the Open University: "Many of the early radio-vision programmes seemed to be in the form of visual materials 'tacked on' to radio . . . To describe some of the radio-vision programmes as 'illustrated talks' would be apt . . . Such programmes pulled the listener in different directions, the visuals seeming to detract from the content rather than adding to it."" They go on to point out that a radio broadcast limits the number of visuals that can be used, since it is difficult for a listener to sort through a large number of visuals during the course of a radio program and to concentrate on the sound at the same time. Cassettes also allow for more detailed analysis of the visuals. Furthermore, radio-vision usually requires prebroadcast preparation of the visuals (getting them ready before the program starts), which in practice often catches the student unprepared at the beginning of a program. Some of these problems can be avoided by careful radio production but, on balance, cassettes have advantages over radio for audio-vision, unless, as Berrigan and Gibson point out, the visuals are needed only to illustrate concepts or ideas in a program (for example, a painting that gives background or a setting to a topic).

MASTERY LEARNING. Because of the preceding features of cassettes (and to a lesser extent records)-above all, the ability to repeat the material over and over again-they can be used for mastery learning of ideas and particularly skills, such as language pronunciation, mathematical computation, and analysis of arguments.3 5 Radio is not generally suitable for mastery learning. From a teacher's point of view, then, cassettes and records are much more powerful teaching media than radio, since they can be used for direct or hard teaching.

DISADVANTAGES. The main disadvantages of cassettes and records are as follows. First, learners are less likely to have cassette or record players than radio receivers. Second, the distribution of cassettes and records requires more organization and administration than the transmission of radio programs, particularly if the mail service is unreliable. Third, it may be more difficult-or in some cases impossible-to get trained radio producers or a professional broadcasting organization to help in producing materials that will not be broadcast. Fourth, although cassettes could be interchanged between tutors and learners, interaction is difficult using cassettes. Finally, on a large scale, costs will be greater than for radio. DELIVERY MEDIA 307

Telephone Teaching The main advantage of telephone teaching over other audio media is that it can provide two-way interaction between learners and teachers. This kind of interaction is important for a number of reasons.

INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION. By using the telephone, the tutor can deal with a problem particular to the individual learner. Other learners are not kept waiting to see the tutor, and the learner gets his problems dealt with, rather than somebody else's.

DIAGNOSIS. By talking to or interrogating a learner, a skilled tutor can identify a learner's problem. Learners often do not know why they are having difficulties, or what is the real cause of their difficulties. Therefore, learners often find it difficult to articulate their problems. The telephone link allows tutors to diagnose difficulties more easily, and to try to solve them at the time.

WIDE COVERAGE. Where there is a shortage of specialists, such as in medicine or in remote areas, one specialist can cover a wide area through the use of the telephone, saving on time and traveling costs. This may also be an answer to a difficulty in many developing countries, where trained and educated people are reluctant to leave the metropolis and teach in the rural areas.

DECENTRALIZATION OF TEACHING. One danger of radio is the imposition of a standard approach to teaching. Using telephone tutors allows the teaching to be decentralized. Tutors could be rotated, so that learners are not subject to just one set of views on a subject.

REDUCING ISOLATION. Even though a learner may not make much use of a telephone tutor, his sense of isolation is reduced if he knows that there is someone he can talk to who can help with his problems. Telephone contacts between learners can also be useful in reducing isolation and providing encouragement, either through learners helping each other over difficulties or, when this is not possible, through learners knowing that other learners have the same difficulty.

LIMITATIONS. Telephone teaching, however, has several major limitations. First, learners may not have access to a telephone, at least not at the 308 APPENDIXES time or the place they need one. Even when learners do have access to telephones, the telephone system may be overused or unreliable, or it may have such poor quality lines that learning is difficult. Second, it is unlikely that all the teaching required could be done by telephone alone, and so other learning resources would have to be provided. Third, telephone teaching is expensive, particularly when used on a person-to-person basis, rather than in groups. Even with conferencing or group use, it is more expensive than using cassettes, and the bigger the ratio between tutor and students, the less chance there is for an individual learner to interact with his tutor. Often, telephone teaching will be as expensive as, or even more expensive than, conventional face-to-face teaching, particularly if there are large numbers of learners within a small area.

Summary of Comparative Benefits In terms of benefits, then, no single audio medium can effectively carry out all necessary functions for effective teaching. In most cases, the best solution, for those that can afford it, is likely to be a combination of audio media. One appropriate configuration might be radio to recruit and motivate learners, cassettes and print material to provide the hard teaching, and telephone teaching to provide the interpersonal communication. The best choice of media, though, in any circumstance will need to take into account the target audience, and what is known about their ownership or access to media; the kind of teaching to be done; and the resources available. A combination of media will usually be desirable, not just because a wider range ofteaching functions can be met in this way, but because variety in the kinds of teaching provided will go some way to meet the differences between learners in their ability to use different media. Multimedia approaches, however, increase enormously the problems of coordination, organization, and administration. Decisionmakers are likely to favor, on the spot, simpler and more centrally controllable projects rather than complex, multimedia projects. A decision to concentrate on a single medium is, however, more likely to result in ineffective teaching. This is particularly true if the choice is radio, which is very weak as a single medium of teaching. Radio's strength is its power to reach large numbers and all sectors of society, and its relatively low cost. DELIVERY MEDIA 309

Comparative Costs

Comparing the costs of different media raises several problems. One is the difficulty of transferring methods of costing from one system to another. What counts as a cost in one system may not count as a cost in another. In some countries, for instance, educational services are charged not only for production and the engineering costs oftransmission, but also for the value of the transmission time itself, or what could be obtained, for example, if the time were bought by a commercial television company. In other countries, educational services are charged only for the additional engineering costs incurred through an increased use of already existing facilities. Whether or not the value of air time is charged can make enormous differences to the cost of a system. There are many other differences in costing procedures in different countries, which reflect more differences in ideology than in economics or accountancy. Another difficulty, as Carnoy and Levin have forcefully argued, is the difference between data based on actual expenditure and data based on estimates.3 6 Estimates are nearly always too optimistic. Perry has described how a minister miscalculated the cost of the Open University in its early years by a factor of ten.3 7 (In 1977, expenditures approached $50 million a year, ten times more than the costs in the early years.) It is therefore dangerous to compare hypothetical costs for an untried system with actual costs for an existing system. A third problem is the difference between the costs of the same service in different countries. Labor costs tend to form a much higher proportion of operating costs in developed than in developing countries, and the cost of importing foreign equipment is much more serious for developing countries, especially since most media equipment is not manufactured in developing countries. One way around such difficulties is to compare costs of different media within a system, and to set out clearly what affects such costs. This will allow the method of costing to be adapted to the circumstances of other systems or countries, and therefore will also allow different but appropriate figures to be calculated. In this section, then, only comparative costs from within a system will be used. It should be emphasized that it is not the actual cost figures, or even the differences in costs between different media, that are important here, but the method by which such cost comparisons can be made. 310 APPENDIXES

Cost Comparisons between Audio Media The British Open University has provided an example of comparative costs between media. Because of the shortage of transmission time, the university commissioned a study on the costs of alternatives to direct broadcasts.3 8 One issue raised was: what are the cut-off points, if any, in terms of the number of students in a course, at which it would be cheaper to use other means of distributing audio media than by radio. Conse- quently, part of the study examined the comparative costs between radio, cassettes, records, flexi-discs, and telephone teaching in the form of conference calls between a tutor and seven students. (This form of telephone teaching was chosen because it provides a high degree of interaction both between tutor and students, and between students themselves. It illustrates the limitation ofjust comparing cost differences between different audio media, because the function of conference call telephone teaching is quite different from that of a radio program.) The original study sets out the background and examines the special financial relationship between the BBC and the Open University. Although such issues are highly relevant to the overall costing of a system, and to some of the organizational and political factors that influence decisions about the choice of media, this section will concentrate on the way comparative costings were made for the study, and in particular will concentrate on the additional, or marginal, costs incurred by using some media rather than others, since marginal costs usually matter most to decisionmakers in an existing multimedia organization. The study found that five main types of costs need to be taken into consideration: development, production, distribution, reception, and user costs. Development costs are those that are incurred in designing and producing new equipment or technologies, or in adapting existing technology, and in setting up a new system of production or distribution. Since this section is only concerned with the five audio media, all of which require no further technological development, the Open University could ignore development costs. (For new media, though, such as electronic blackboard, the high cost of development is a major reason for not using them.) Production was the most difficult factor to cost accurately and realisti- cally; this was complicated by the nature of the financial arrangement and special partnership between the BBC and the Open University. In the end, we concluded that, for comparative purposes, it was best to ignore differences in production costs between audio media. The reasoning for this is set out in full in the original study; briefly, however, the main problem was how to deal with overheads-fixed costs, such as salaries, deprecia- DELIVERY MEDIA 311 tion on equipment, and rent-that have to be paid whether or not programs are produced. At the Open University, overheads account for 88 percent of broadcast costs. Since records, cassettes, and flexi-discs would require recording facilities, however, and since there would be unused, but paid for, production facilities at the BBC if producers and studios were not used, it seemed sensible to assume that the BBC would still be responsible for producing cassettes, records, and flexi-discs, if these were to be used instead of radio. (The scope for radical change is far less in an ongoing working relationship than in a new situation.) Telephone teaching, of course, does not have production costs. In fact, the original study did attempt to estimate production costs for the other four media, but these were rather dubious and, since production costs did not in the end make any significant difference to the cost relationships between the different media, it is probably more valid to ignore them in the Open University case. In other systems, though, differences in production costs for different audio media may turn out to be significant. The crucial cost parameter in the Open University case turned out to be distribution-the costs of getting the audio material delivered to students. Such costs have two aspects. One is carrier costs, which for radio are the costs of transmission; for cassettes, records, and flexi-discs, the costs of packaging and mail; and for telephone, the call charge. The second aspect is the cost of the materials used to store the signal during distribution. For cassettes, records, and flexi-discs, this is the unit costs of the cassettes and records themselves; for radio and telephone teaching, there are no such costs. Another cost parameter that would be an important variable in most systems is the cost of providing receivers-that is, the costs of the equipment needed to play back or show distributed material, such as a radio receiver, cassette player, record player, or telephone. Once again, however, this turned out not to be an important parameter at the Open University, because a survey had shown that most Open University students had easy access to such equipment (94 percent had radio sets; 91 percent, record players; 88 percent, telephones; and 69 percent, cassette players, which fortunately can be obtained very cheaply, if necessary).3 9 The university therefore requires the student to provide his own receiver equipment. Such an obligation, though, may not be possible in other systems, or for some other equipment. The other factor is the cost to students of travel that would not otherwise have been incurred. All five media in this study are home-based, however, and thus do not involve students in travel. Therefore, in looking at the cost implications of different audio media, the only costs that appear to make a difference at the Open University are those associated with distribution. This is how distribution costs were 312 APPENDIXES

calculated. For comparative purposes, the base for the amount of audio material on a course was assumed to be the equivalent of sixteen 20- minute programs (the average for most courses), which amounts to 320 minutes. It was also assumed that a course-and hence the audio material-would have to last for six years (the average life). All figures are based on costs in 1976 and are converted from British pounds to U.S. dollars at the rate of $2 to i1.

RADIO. The BBC charged the Open University $216 an hour for radio transmission time. (This is the marginal cost of the extra engineering and operating incurred in making greater use of an existing facility.) Thus, over a six-year period, for a single transmission of each program, the charge for 320 minutes of audio material was:

320 x 6 x $216 = $6,912. 60 For a course with repeat transmissions, the cost will be $6,912 x 2 = $13,824. This cost will be constant, irrespective of the number of students in the course.

AUDIO CASSETTES. For audio cassettes, a tape copy of the material is sent to an outside contractor. The contractor's charges include the cost of each cassette, of copying, of packing each cassette in a plain cardboard box, and of delivery back to the university. The combined cost for a 60-minute cassette is 66¢. This price per unit is constant, irrespective of the size of the run. Cassettes can be sent to students in various ways: in home experiment kits, with correspondence texts, or separately in their boxes through the mail. Calculations are based on the latter, more expensive method. Allow- ing for a small handling charge (4¢), mailing costs would come to 18¢. (The minimum second-class mail at that time, plus handling.) Thus, the cost for distributing a single 60-minute cassette is 84¢. Students are allowed to keep the cassettes, because the cost of collection, redistribution, and administration would be greater than the savings made. For 320 minutes, 5.33 cassettes would be required. (One would not, of course, distribute 0.33 of a cassette-either five or six or eight cassettes or a 20-minute cassette would be used-but for costing purposes the distribution of 5.33 cassettes per student was assumed.) Thus, the cost for one student for 320 minutes of cassette material would be 840 x 5.33 = $4.4772. Distribution costs would vary proportionately to the number of students in a course. For a course with an average of 500 students a year over six years-or 3,000 students in all-distribution costs would be $4.4772 x 3,000 = $13,431.60. DELIVERY MEDIA 313

RECORDS. For records, a tape copy of the material is sent to an outside contractor. A plate master is cut, costing approximately $140. Thereafter, the cost per record depends on the size of the production run. Generally, it is not worth even considering runs of less than 1,000. The unit cost of manufacturing records in a run of 1,000 is 840 (including the cost of the plate master); for 10,000, it is 480. In addition to the records themselves, the university usually provides attractive sleeves (records are typically used for music or drama performances, and are therefore also available for sale). The sleeves require artwork and color printing. The average cost of these sleeves is 20-240 each. The records are then packed into cardboard envelopes, which cost 110 each, and postage costs another 20-240 a record. The label costs 4¢ a record. Thus, the cost for a 50-minute record with an initial run of 10,000 is: 480 + 220 + 110 + 220 + 40 = $1.07. For 320 minutes, 6.4 records would be required, so the cost for 320 minutes of material on records would be $1.07 x 6.4 = $6.85, for a run of 10,000. Costs per record decrease, however, with an increase in the number of students in a course. For a course with 500 students a year over six years, the cost of distributing records would be $1.22 a record, or $23,400 over six years ($1.22 x 6.4 x 500 x 6).

FLEXI-DISCS. For flexi-discs, as for records, a plate master is cut ($140). The unit cost of flexi-discs is much lower than for records-340 for 1,000 and 10.80 for 10,000. Flexi-discs however have only a 14-minute playing time. Flexi-discs are more robust than records and can be slipped into the correspondence packages, thus avoiding separate packaging and mailing charges. For 320 minutes, 22.86 flexi-discs would be required, so the cost for 320 minutes of material on flexi-discs would be 10.80 x 22.86 = $2.4689, for a run of 10,000. As with records, costs per record decrease with an increase in the number of students in a course. For a course with 500 students over six years, the cost for distributing flexi- discs would be 240 a record, or $16,459.20 over six years (240 x 22.86 x 500 x 6).

TELEPHONE CONFERENCING. The cost of telephone conferencing varies according to the geographical distribution of the participants. In the London area, the cost would be $6 an hour for the call charge. In regions that are more geographically spread, $20 an hour is more normal. We used the latter figure because it is the more geographically spread areas that are likely to have the greater need for telephone conferencing. In addition, there is the cost of the tutor, who in 1976 was paid $12 an hour. This cost has not been included, however, because it is a cost that would have to be Table B-1. Comparative Distribution Costs for 320 Minutes of Audio Material at the Open University (U.S. dollars)

Number of students per course per year! Number of students per course over 6 years 200/ 300/ 500/ 1,000/ 2,000/ 3,000/ Audio material 1,200 1,800 3,000 6,000 12,000 18,000

Radio (repeat transmissions) 13,800 13,800 13,800 13,800 13,800 13,800 Radio (single transmission) 6,900 6,900 6,900 6,900 6,900 6,900 Cassettes 5,400 8,100 13,400 26,900 53,700 80,600 Records 10,900 14,500 23,400 44,500 81,400 122,100 Flexi-discs 9,300 12,300 16,500 24,700 24,700 24,700 Telephone coniferencing (widespread) 18,300 27,400 45,700 91,400 182,900 274,300 Telephone conferencing (metropolitan) 5,500 8,200 13,700 27,400 54,840 82,300

Note: Assutiies a six-year life for a course. Source: A. W. Bates and Larry Kern, Alternative Media Technologiesfor the Open UJniversity(Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977). DELIVERY MEDIA 315

Figure B-5. Comparative Distribution Costs for Audio Materials at the Open University

60,000 _ /, Telephone conferencing / 50,000 - (widespread) / Records .1 Telephone - conferencing (metropolitan) ,,

^s ;40,000/,'. '~~~'40,000 -- .~~~~~~~~ ,~~.'t ~~Cassettes

m 30,000 _/ , /D ,' ,Er^ Flexi-discs ~~~/ ,' _ G 20,000 / -. Radio (repeat transmissions)

10,000 Radio (single transmission)

I I Il 0 200 300 500 1,000 2,000 Course population per year, over six years

Source: A. W. Bates and L. Kern, Alternative Media Technologiesfor the Open University (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed).

borne if the teaching was on a face-to-face basis, and it could be considered akin to a production cost. Thus the cost per student for one hour of telephone conferencing would be $20 - 7 = $2.86 (seven students is the maximum number of students that can be accommodated at one time). For 320 minutes of telephone conferencing, the cost would be: $2.86 X 5.33 = $15.24 per student. Costs are proportional to the number of students who use the service; thus, for a course with 500 students over six years, the costs for telephone conferencing would be $15.24 X 500 x 6 = $45,720. Table B-1 uses this method of costing to show the distribution costs for courses of various sizes. Figure B-5 is plotted from this table. The figure shows that, with one exception, there is very little difference between the distribution costs for the various media for courses with fewer than 500 students a year-or 3,000 over six years-if a repeat broadcast facility is provided. The one exception is telephone conferencing over a widespread area. As the number of students increases, records become increasingly expensive. Flexi-discs level off in costs at around 1,000 students a year, but begin to increase again when total numbers 316 APPENDIXES increase beyond 25,000 (this cannot be seen in the figure). There is not a great deal of difference in costs between cassettes, flexi-discs, radio, or telephone conferencing in a metropolitan area for courses with up to 1, 000 students a year. (The difference between radio and flexi-discs is about $11,000 over six years, or less than $2,000 a year, for courses with between 1,000 and 4,000 students a year.) When telephone conferencing covers a wide area, costs are dramatically higher than when confined to a metropolitan area~ In the latter case, they remain as economical as radio transmissions for courses with up to 500 students a year. Given the strong educational advantages over radio of cassettes, flexi-discs, and telephone conferencing, there are good arguments for using these media for courses with up to 1,000 students a year, or 6,000 overall. It is clear, however, that in the Open University, as soon as courses increase in size beyond 1,000 students a year, radio has a distinct and increasing cost advantage. But are audiences of fewer than 6,000 likely for educational radio? First, it should be remembered that the balance point of 6,000 at the Open University refers to individual reception units-individual students in their own homes-and not to group listening. Second, nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of the Open University's 112 courses have fewer than 500 students a year enrolled. In McAnany's study of the twenty projects for which audience data were given, seventeen had audiences of fewer than 15,000.4 Afghanistan has had an educational radio service for more than six years that has broadcast only in-service training programs to teachers-no direct teaching broadcasts to pupils-in about 1,000 schools. In Thailand, a survey in 1973 found that some radio transmitters were broadcasting programs that were being picked up by only one or two schools. Although the costing will work out differently in other countries, it would be worthwhile for many educational and development services to work out the comparative costs of using media other than radio. The sad fact is that radio is rarely used as a mass medium for education and development, but only when it is used on a large scale are its cost advantages likely to be exploited.

Costsfor Support Services In the previous section, costs related solely to the audio component were considered. In practice, though, the audio component will rarely be used on its own. In most cases, it will require support services, such as teachers, listening groups, group leaders, print materials, and set maintenance. The cost of these services can be a major part of an audio project; indeed, these costs can be greater than those for the audio component. An accurate and meaningful analysis of the cost of support services, however, DELIVERY MEDIA 317 is much more difficult to work out. For instance, such costs will depend on the extent to which they are marginal. If an organization already has an operational unit for the production of printed materials with spare capacity, then the production of printed support material will cost far less than if a new unit has to be set up, or if the material has to be prepared and printed outside the organization on a cost-plus basis. The most difficult aspect of costing support services, though, is separat- ing the production costs for the audio component from those for the support material. For instance, a subject specialist and a producer are likely to work on the design of the supporting printed material at the same time as the production of the radio program itself. Deciding what part of their time should be counted as audio production costs, and what should count as support material costs, is a rather dubious academic exercise. There is no doubt, however, that the inclusion of good quality support materials demands much more time from producers and subject specialists than the production of self-standing radio programs. The difficulty is quantifying this difference. The costs of providing paid leaders (and training them) for listening groups or classes can also make a large difference to the overall cost of an audio project. Again, however, it is not always easy to separate costs. In some cases, the groups might have been organized in any event, whether or not there was audio support. Another major factor that complicates the costing of support services is the role of donor agencies in developing countries. Although there are many exceptions, donor agencies tend to provide loans or grants for capital equipment, initial training, and foreign specialists, but the recipient country is expected to carry the bulk of the running costs. A radio station, once set up, has comparatively low operational costs-mainly salaries for production and technical staff, plus occasional replacement of equipment. But support services have comparatively high operational costs, which the recipient government often has to carry on an annual basis. In other words, when the foreigners and their money have gone, the host country is left with the baby. This relationship between donor agency and recipient country can have a dramatic effect on an audio-based project. For instance, Unesco and UNICEF funded an educational radio project for six years in Afghanistan (including, in this case, the costs for print support materials and for receiver maintenance). When external funding ceased, the Afghan government continued to fund the operation of the radio station and transmissions, but it did not provide a budget sufficient for the purchase of paper supplies or for the maintenance of sets. Within three years of the end of external funding, no one at the production center knew whether any of the sets in schools were still operational, or indeed whether teachers were still 318 APPENDIXES aware that the programs were continuing, since no teacher manuals, or even printed program information, were being supplied. Finally, in most government and educational institutions, in both developed and developing countries, the system of accountancy and budgeting makes it very difficult to assign realistic costs to support services, particularly the production of print material, when produced on duplicating or multilith machines. Nevertheless, despite the difficulty of giving precise costs, the cost of support services is usually a major component in the budget of audio projects. Three examples will illustrate this statement. At the Open Uni- versity, a course entitled Urban Development, requiring thirty-two weeks of part-time study had thirty-two printed correspondence units, which were the core of the course, but it was also accompanied bv a substantial audiovisual component of seventeen television programs, thirty-two radio programs, and thirteen flexi-discs. To support this audiovisual component, four fully printed audiovisual handbooks were supplied. The total printing cost of these handbooks was $6 a student, excluding academic manpower and distribution costs. Altogether, over six years, there were 5,000 students in the course, so that the total costs of these audiovisual handbooks came to $30,000. The radio distribution costs for this course were $27,000, although the total audiovisual distribution costs (including the handbooks) came to $120,000.41 Second, it is estimated that a new in-school radio service for Afghanis- tan would cost $42,000 a year to provide the minimum print support necessary for an effective service. In this scheme, print support costs would constitute just under one-third of the total cost.4 2 Third, in a proposal to use radio for basic literacy and numeracy for out-of-school children in Afghanistan, almost 90 percent of the costs would go toward the payment of group leaders and their training. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration what support services are likely to be needed, and their likely costs. Different audio media-and different target audiences-require different levels of support. For instance, cassettes may be suitable for some projects aimed at adults, since they allow for independent study and would have less need for tutor support, but they would probably require extensive print support. Radio may be suitable for in-school projects, or projects requiring trained teachers, where teachers and print materials (for example, textbooks) are likely to be already available. In any comparative costing exercise, though, the cost of support services will be an important factor.

Cost Comparisons between In-school Radio and In-school Television Realistic estimates of the costs for support services may reduce the cost arguments for the use of audio media rather than conventional methods DELIVERY MEDIA 319 for some projects. Without doubt, however, audio projects are nearly always far cheaper than television projects. Thus, television has not been considered as an alternative to radio, since television costs are in a different order of magnitude. Also, television is likely to play quite a different educational role from radio. That radio is much cheaper than television can be simply shown by comparing the costs of an in-school television service with those of an in-school radio service in the same country at the same time. In Afghanis- tan, the educational radio service, operated by the Ministry of Education, had considerable spare production capacity, broadcasting in 1977 only two programs a week. These were in-service teacher-training programs, broadcast to those schools that were issued with a total of 1,200 radio sets several years earlier. Transmissions were carried on the national, government-owned broadcasting network, run by the national broadcasting organization, Radio Afghanistan. An improved and expanded national radio network, scheduled for completion in 1980, would have given good quality reception over an area covering 75 percent of the school population, although it was being provided primarily for general broadcasting purposes. In March 1978, Afghanistan's first television station was due to open, covering primarily the area in and around the capital, Kabul. This station and transmitter were built as a result of a low-interest loan from the Japanese government. One of the arguments for the opening of a television service was its value for education and development, but it was subsequently discovered that the television studio built for Radio Afghan- istan would not have had sufficient capacity to produce programs for schools as well, so the government decided that there should be a separate educational television service run by the Ministry of Education. A Unesco communications planning team calculated the costs both for expanding the educational radio service to cover in-school programming for children, and for introducing an educational television service for the same purpose.4 3 The cost for expanding the radio service to 950,000 children in schools-including the provision of new receivers, the replacement of worn-out equipment, and the provision of adequate print support material-would have been $436,000 over a four-year period, including capital and development costs, some of which it was expected would be provided by donor agencies. At the end of the four-year period, the annual running cost, including depreciation of equipment, but excluding loan interest charges, would have been $149,000 a year. The service proposed would have provided each child covered by the system with thirty hours of programming a year, for all eight grades covered by the school system, at an average cost per child of 16¢ or half a cent per contact hour per child. The cost for introducing an educational television service to 240,000 children in Kabul and the surrounding areas-including the conversion of 320 APPENDIXES

a surplus school building to a temporary studio and the provision of receivers in schools, training, and adequate print support material- would have been $1.876 million over a five-vear period, including capital and development costs. It is more difficult to estimate a subsequent annual running cost, but it is likely to have been around $250,000 a year, excluding loan interest or capital repayments. The proposed service would have given a similar amount of programming as the radio service, at an average l annual cost per child of $1. 11, or 4¢ per contact hour per child, but this average cost per child was arrived at by excluding costs for high capital investment and overseas training, since the Afghan government would almost certainly have looked to donor agencies to cover these costs. These are only estimates, however, based on maximum coverage and maximum utilization of production facilities. Under any circumstance, television would have been much more expensive than radio for education in Afghanistan, and would have covered far fewer children. In the first four to five years, costs for television would have run at three times those for radio, and perhaps more significantly as far as the Afghan government was concerned, after the first five years, annual recurrent expenditures for television, excluding loan interest or capital repayments, would have been nearly twice those for radio. In terms of contact time per pupil reached, radio would have been seven times more economical than television. Furthermore, the introduction of television to schools in Kabul was likely to widen the gap in educational provision between different sectors of Afghan society. Kabul already provides more school places per capita than any other area in the country, and all the best endowed schools are located in Kabul. Since television would have been located only in those schools that have a main power supply, those children attending the more modern or more accessible schools in the Kabul area would have benefited most. Costs were not the only consideration, however, since it was important for the new television service in Afghanistan to be used as quickly as possible for educational purposes, in the government's judgment. Unfor- tunately for the government, these and other reforms did not come quickly enough, since the government and its plans for educational television were brought to an abrupt end by the revolution of 1978.

Conclusions

One would like, at the end of this appendix, to produce some magic formula that would act like a sausage machine, into which one could pour all the facts, crank the handle, and out would come the ideal choice or DELIVERY MEDIA 321 combination of media. Not being apprenticed to a sorcerer, I am unable to do that, so in the meantime it will be necessary still to rely on personal judgment and intuition, but at least that can be tempered by an understanding of the cost and educational factors that should influence such decisions. First of all, as should be abundantly clear, because of the range of variables to be considered, each organization must carry out its own comparative analysis regarding the choice of media options. Numerous questions can be answered only at an individual or local level. For instance, the likely educational benefits associated with different audio media will depend on the local conditions. Perhaps the most important factor is the nature of the intended target groups. What is the likely size of the audience? Where will they be reached: at home? at work? in village listening groups? in educational centers? What receiver equipment will be available to the target audience? A second major factor that can be decided only at a local level is the kind of teaching required. Will students study independently or will some form of tutoring, monitoring, or correction be necessary? Will interaction with other students be important? Most of all, will the learning require mastery of concepts or skills? A third factor is the nature of the support services already available, or of those that need to be established. What room for maneuver is there in working with other organizations? To what extent can the institution handle complex organization and administration? The answers to all these questions, which will affect the choice of medium, can be answered only on a project-by- project basis. Generally, though, it is possible to conclude that cassettes are a more powerful teaching medium than radio if mastery of concepts or skills is required, but that radio will be much cheaper. Nevertheless, many projects currently using radio are not reaching a mass audience, and it would be worthwhile in such cases to look at the possibility of using cassettes as an alternative. Even when it does reach a mass audience, radio can be ineffective as an educational medium, if the correct teaching role is not carefully chosen, or if it is not adequately supported by other media or services. The cost of such support, however, can be substantial and can remove some of the more obvious cost advantages associated with radio. Nevertheless, radio has clear cost advantages over television, and while some of the new media such as electronic blackboard, television games, and Viewdata offer considerable promise for education and development, they require further development and piloting before their widespread use can be justified. The most likely solution for most projects will be a mix of media, providing not only a more comprehensive coverage of teaching functions 322 APPENDIXES and objectives, but also more variety for the learners. A multimedia approach, however, will inevitably increase the cost and administrative complexity of a project. The recent revival of interest in radio is welcome. Radio has been neglected in many places because of the more glamorous attractions of television. This is unfortunate, as it has clearly a valuable role to play in education and development. Radio is not, however, a panacea for difficult education and development problems, and its successful use will depend on a careful and sophisticated analysis of its benefits and limitations, together with those of other media and methods with which it might be used.

Notes to Appendix B

1. All costs in this appendix are given in U.S. dollars ($) and cents (¢), at 1979 prices, unless otherwise stated. 2. Unesco, Statistical Yearbook, 1974 (Paris: Unesco, 1974); Unesco, CommunicationPlan- ning in Afghanistan(Paris: Unesco, 1978). 3. Margaret Gallagher,Broadcasting and the Open UniversityStudent (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977). 4. See, for example, T. L. Stockley, Assistanceto RuralBroadcasting in Afghanistan(Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, 1977). 5. For more detailed discussionof audiovisionproduction methods, see FrancesBerrigan and Anne Gibson, "Radio and Audio-Visionat the Open University" (MiltonKeynes: Open University, 1977;processed); Larry Kern and John Mason, "Non Broadcast Media Tech- nologiesat the British Open University," EducationalBroadcasting International, vol. 10, no. 3 (September 1977);andJohn Richmond, "Communication by Cassette," OpenLine, no. 16 (1977). 6. Rune Flinck, The TelephoneUsed in an Experimentof DistanceEducation at the University of Lund (Lund: University of Lund, 1976); N. F. Davies, The Use ofthe Telephone in Distance Teaching (Link6ping: University of Link6ping, Department of English, 1976). 7. University of Wisconsin, The Telephone in Education (Madison: University of Wiscon- sin Extension Conference Proceedings, 1976). 8. Ben Turock, "Telephony: A Passing Lunacy or a Genuine Innovation?" Teaching at a Distance, no. 8 (1977). 9. For a discussion of technical aspects of teaching by telephone, see Chris Pinches, "Some Technical Aspects of Teaching by Telephone," Teaching at a Distance, no. 3 (1975). 10. Peter Zorcoczy, Viewdata: An Appraisal (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed). 11. Emile G. McAnany, Radio's Role in Development: Five Strategiesfor Use (Washington, D.C.: Academy for Educational Development, 1973). 12. Peter L. Spain, Dean T.Jamison, andEmile G. McAnany, eds., RadioforEducation and Development: Case Studies (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1977). 13. Wilbur Schramm, Big Media, Little Media (Washington, D.C.: Academy for Educa- tional Development, 1973). 14. John Meed, The Use of Radio in Open University Course Design, 1971-1974 (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1974). DELIVERY MEDIA 323

15. A. W. Bates, "Criteria and Guidelines for the Allocation of Broadcasts," in Open Learning,ed. Norman MacKenzie,Richmond Postgate, andJohn Scupham (Paris:Unesco, 1975). 16. A. W. Bates and Larry Kern, AlternativeMedia Technologiesfor the Open University (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977). 17. Gallagher, Broadcastingand the Open UniversityStudent. 18. P. E. Vernon, "The Intelligibilityof Broadcast Talks," BBC Quarterly,vol. 5 (1950). 19. J. M. Trenaman, The Lengthof a Talk (London: British BroadcastingCorporation, 1951). 20. Robert Silvey, Who'sListening? The Story of BBC AudienceResearch (London: Allen and Unwin, 1974). 21. Meed, The Use of Radio. 22. Jock Gunter and James Theroux, "Open Broadcast Educational Radio:Three Para- digms," in Radiofor Educationand Development:Case Studies,ed. Peter L. Spain, Dean T. Jamison, and Emile G. McAnany. 23. Ibid. 24. Jack Koumi, "Studying the Novel-A Discussion," BroadcastEvaluation Report no. 19 (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1976;processed). 25. Gunter and Theroux, "Open Broadcast Educational Radio." 26. Gallagher, Broadcastingand the Open UniversityStudent. 27. A. W. Bates and Margaret Gallagher, "Improving the Effectivenessof Open Uni- versity Broadcast Case Studies and Documentaries" (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977; processed). 28. PaulNeurath, RadioFarm Forums in India (Delhi: Government ofIndia Press, 1960);H. Bernal, El usay influenciade lasescuelas radiofonicas enlosprogramas de desarrollo (Bogota: Acci6n Cultural Popular, 1971);Bud Hall, "Revolution in Rural Education: Health Education in Tanzania," CommunityDevelopmentJournal, vol. 9, no. 2 (1974). 29. Michael Stephens, Living Decisionsin Familyand Community(London: BBC Educa- tion, 1976). 30. A. W. Bates, Student Use of Open UniversityBroadcasting (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1974);Gallagher, Broadcastingand the Open UniversityStudent. 31. Gallagher, Broadcastingand the Open UniversityStudent, p. 86. 32. Susan Ahrens, Gordon Burt, and Margaret Gallagher,"Analysis, " BroadcastEvalua- tion Report No. I (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1975; processed). 33. Bates, Student Use of Open UniversityBroadcasting. 34. Frances Berrigan and Anne Gibson, "Radio and Audio-Visionat the Open Univer- sity" (Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977;processed). 35. "Mastery learning" is the ability to carry out successfullyan activity in a range of circumstances without serious error whenever required. 36. Martin Carnoy and H. M. Levin, "Evaluation of Educational Media: Some Issues," InstructionalScience, vol. 4, nos. 3/4 (1975). 37. Walter Perry, Open University(Milton Keynes: Open University, 1977). 38. Bates and Kern, AlternativeMedia Technologies. 39. Gallagher, Broadcastingand the Open UniversityStudent. 40. McAnany, Radio'sRole in Development. 41. Bates and Kern, AlternativeMedia Technologies. 42. LeslieSargent and others, A CommunicationPlanforAfghanistan (Paris: Unesco, 1978). 43. Ibid. c

Evaluation of the Brazilian TelecursoSecundo Grau: Summary and Policy Implications

Joao B. Oliveira and Dean T. Jamison

AN EVALUATION of the Brazilian Telecurso Secundo Grau (TSG), a distance- teaching system commencing its second eighteen-month operational cycle, was completed in 1980. This appendix provides brief background material on the context and operations of the Telecurso and summarizes the evaluation. It then draws out the implications for policy (both in Brazil and internationally) of the evaluation findings.'

Background and Evaluation Summary

To serve the educational needs of individuals who have left the formal education system, Brazil provides equivalency examinations, the madurezas, which when successfully completed allow conferral of a school diploma. Two madurezas exist. The PrimeiroGrau certifies equivalency to the first eight years of schooling; at the secondary level, the Secundo Grau certifies equivalency to the next three years of education, which complete the secondary cycle. Students in regular secondary schools do not take these examinations; rather, they receive certification directly from their school. (To enter university, however, any student must successfully complete the vestibular examination.) To meet a large and growing demand among adults for primary and secondary school degrees, a system of adult education, the ensino supletivo or simply supletivo, provides continuing education through a large network of cursinhos that offer the

324 BRAZILIAN TELECURSO SECUNDO GRAU 325

relevant instruction. Most cursinhos are private, profit-seeking enterprises, though state governments operate a number of them. Some cursinhos, like regular schools, are certified to grant their own primary or secondary degrees-although abuses of this authority are leading to a growing sense that degree-granting responsibility should be separated from instructional responsibility. For most cursinhos, however, this separation is already in effect and their role is simply to prepare students for the appropriate state-administered madureza examination. 2 The existence of the madurezas and the tradition of private enterprise in the cursinhos have created a climate conducive to innovation in equivalency instruction, and, among other approaches, there are a number of projects utilizing distance teaching to prepare students for the madureza.3 A recently introduced distance-teaching system for preparation of students for the secondary level madureza is the Telecurso Secundo Grau, which is unique among important distance-teaching systems around the world in that it was conceived by, and is implemented by, a major commercial communication conglomerate, the Globo Network (Rede Globo).4 The Globo group publishes the largest circulation newspaper in Brazil (O Globo), and its television network both dominates ratings and covers most of Brazil's population. For a variety of reasons, the management of Rede Globo decided a number of years ago to offer educational materials and, through subsidiaries, began offering TSG in 1978. TSG is divided into three phases that prepare students to take the madureza in three separate sittings, spread over eighteen months. Each phase offers the student 150 fifteen-minute television broadcasts and twenty-five printed fasciculos, which are thirty-two-page newspaper-like documents containing textual material, problems, and general information about TSG and the madurezas. Students purchase fasciculos at newsstands (in February 1980, for CR$35 or about US$0. 85), and, since neither the television broadcasts nor the fasciculos generate advertising revenue, sale of fasciculos (at 18,000 newsstands around the country) is the only source of revenue that TSG generates for Rede Globo. Television programs and fasciculos are all the instruction that TSG offers: there are no textbooks, no correspondence lessons, no radio lessons (or audio cassettes), and, perhaps most important, no organized group meetings with tutors. This sole reliance on "open" media, with no correspondence or group meetings, is perhaps unique among distance-teaching systems for formal education. * TSG is unusual, then, both in its financing and implementation and in its open style of operation. In order to learn from TSG's experience to date, Unesco and the World Bank cooperated with Funda,co Padre Anchieta and Funda,cio Roberto Marinho in undertaking an outside evaluation of 5 TSG. In brief, the evaluation found: 326 APPENDIXES

* In terms of outreach, the television programs (which are intended for a general audience) are viewed by perhaps 600,000 people; fasciculo sales declined from over 100,000 early in Phase I July 1978) to 18,000 by the end of Phase III (December 1979). Sales for the sixth fasciculo in Phase I of the second round of TSG were 48,000 (through February 1980). * In terms of scores on tests administered for the evaluation, multivariate analyses indicate that TSG students perform at about the same level as do students in the cursinhos that are authorized to grant their own degrees. * In terms of madureza passes, the relative performance of those who studied by TSG tends to be about the same as that of those who studied by other means (principally cursinhos offering about fifteen hours a week of classroom instruction).

* Again in terms of madureza passes, the absolute performance of TSG students is low indeed, ranging from a high of about 35-40 percent passing in courses such as literature and geography to lows of 5-10 percent in mathematics and natural sciences. * In terms of cost, assuming 40,000 students regularly follow TSG, the cost per student is about US$200 a year; because of substantial fixed costs in the system, per student costs would decline to about US$110 if enrollments increased to 100,000. TSG costs compare favorably with those of cursinhos, which vary widely-as does quality-and which are mostly in the range of US$300 to US$800 a year (including the cost of textbooks, but not of travel and time on the part of students, which can be substantial).

Policy Implications

The evaluation found that the TSG is capable of attracting a large audience (though perhaps smaller than had initially been hoped), and that its television programs are widely viewed even among individuals not preparing for the madureza. The costs are quite reasonable compared with alternative supletivo systems and would be more reasonable still if the program would further expand. Availability of the TSG offers opportunity for madureza preparation among students who would otherwise find such preparation very difficult, and it reduces the time (particularly travel time) required for following a supletivo program. All in all, these attractive features of TSG suggest the desirability of encouraging its further expansion and the importance of improving the cost-effectiveness of its operations. BRAZILIAN TELECURSO SECUNDO GRAU 327

This said, and while it is unambiguously true that TSG has provided (and is continuing to provide) a worthwhile service to adult education in Brazil, the system has some potential shortcomings. One is that the commercial production quality of the educational programming may become too much of an end in itself and may make it difficult for other educational television productions operating on more limited budgets to retain their audiences. A second drawback of TSG is one common to any large-scale media project-namely, the necessity for serving a nationwide audience diminishes its capacity for flexibility and for meeting local pedagogical requirements and needs. A final possible source of difficulty is that, when a large commercial enterprise such as Rede Globo provides educational services, the economic power of the organization could potentially distort local educational decisionmaking processes and create frictions in the administration of state-level supletivo programs. In the Brazilian context, these potential shortcomings of the TSG system are clearly outweighed by its strong points. Perhaps the most important policy implications of the evaluation emerge when the operational style of TSG is juxtaposed with those of projects in other countries that use mass media to provide equivalency programs. This juxtaposition provides useful suggestions both for the operation of projects elsewhere and for the evolution of the TSG itself. Our suggestions for the TSG are taken up in the paragraphs below. One important observation concerning TSG was that the actual amount of time that students spend learning (through watching television and reading the fasciculos) is very small indeed; a related issue is that the presentation of pedagogical material in the fasciculos is quite difficult. In some of the third-cycle science courses, for example, many new and intrinsically difficult concepts are introduced in only a few pages, and it is unrealistic to expect students on their own to master these concepts with the amount and type of instruction provided. Either the objectives of the supletivo courses need to be scaled down, or the allocation of instructional time to the topics to be covered should be more realistic. The preceding point leads directly to a second one: the potential desirability of media in addition to the television programs and fasciculos. Two possibilities seem particularly likely candidates for inclusion. One would be supplementary textbooks in each of the nine subject areas required for the madureza system; these texts could be prepared by the TSG activity or selected from those already available, or perhaps a mix of the two. A second possibility for a supplementary medium would be the use of audio cassettes to provide guides to the lessons and supplements to the television programs. The current television programs are designed to attract an audience much broader than those actually preparing for the madureza, and this is as it should be. Audio cassettes, on the other hand, could be 328 APPENDIXES designed to meet the needs of individuals who are seeking the more detailed understanding required for the madureza examination, and they could provide a very useful supplement to the instructional materials now available. As has been indicated, TSG is virtually unique in the extent to which it is directly an open broadcast system, and this is an important factor in limiting costs and administrative complexity. On the other hand, expcri- f ence in many countries (and from the dropout rate in the TSG itself) strongly suggests the desirability of providing a forum for student interactions and involvement with the system. One important mechanism for this would be regular group meetings with tutors who would clarify difficult points and stimulate interactions among students. Not all students would wish to use such facilities, and, since savings oftravel time to such meetings is an important cost advantage of the TSG, tutorial meetings should not be too frequent. Nonetheless, having the TSG system itself organize regular tutorials at convenient locations in important population centers would be perhaps the single most important way to increase enrollments and reduce dropout rates. Finally, another way of reducing the disadvantages of an open broadcast system is to provide correspondence lessons and an organized way of having them graded. One of the most important lessons concerning pedagogical technique that has been learned in other media projects (and indeed in virtually all other studies of teaching and learning) is the extreme importance of active student response-writing and problem solving-to facilitate the learning process. Passive watching and passive reading are simply no substitutes for active writing, computation, and response preparation. The correspondence component to the TSG would ensure that this was done, which is particularly important given the extremely small numbers of exercises that now appear in the fasciculos. The above paragraphs, then, suggest a number of definite directions that TSG could explore to improve the quality of its instruction, to increase its enrollments, and to hold its enrolled students better. Each of the four areas in which we have recommended change would result in increases in the costs of serving each additional student, and these increases must be weighed carefully against the advantages that have been described. We do feel, however, that in most cases the additional costs would be more than repaid in improved effectiveness. In addition, larger levels of enrollment, which might well result from quality improvement, would spread the large fixed costs of program production and transmission over many more students; this could have the effect of actually reducing the average cost per student even if the marginal cost of dealing with one more student in the system were larger than it now is. BRAZILIAN TELECURSO SECUNDO GRAU 329

This evaluation also carries a lesson for Brazilian government policy concerning the supletivo system in general. The difficulty level of Madureza Secundo Grau is clearly set at so high a level that it strongly discourages many would-be students. A more realistic examination policy would provide a much improved incentive for students, not only in the TSG but also in other cursinhos. The additional education that these students would collectively acquire would generate an important national asset at virtually no cost to the government. Further, there is an equity element involved: the madureza examinations as they now exist set a much higher standard for secondary school completion than do the existing schools, and this provides a strong element of discrimination in favor of those who already have the privilege of being able to attend the traditional secondary schools.

Notes to Appendix C

1. This evaluation, which was coordinated by Dr. Joao Batista Oliveira (then of the Ministry of Planning and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), has been supported financially by the TSG itself, by Unesco, and by the World Bank (RiPo671-54). This summary of the evaluation and listing of policy implications were prepared from information collected on a mission to Brazil by Dean T. Jamison in February 1980. The evaluation is now available as Telecurso Secundo Grau, byjoSo Batista Araujo e Oliveira with the collaboration of Evair Aparacida Marques, Claudio de Moura Castro, Fernanda Spagnola, Steven Klees, Herbert Marchl, and Dean T. Jamison (Rio dejaneiro: Associacao Brasiliera de Tecnologia Educa- cional, 1980). 2. State governments have traditionally administered the madureza examinations; recently, however, the federal government is attempting to coordinate the timing, content, and standards of state-set examinations. 3. Distance-teaching systems provide some mix of radio, television, print, and correspondence as a partial or total substitute for classroom teaching; see chapter 1. 4. It has been estimated that Rede Globo's operations account for about 0.4 percent of Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP). 5. Fundacao Roberto Marinho is the Rede Globo subsidiary responsible for educational and cultural activities, including operation ofTSG;Funda,ao Padre Anchieta is the educational and cultural television complex in Sao Paulo that has assisted in aspects ofproduction ofTSG. HILARY PERRATON is the director of the Interna- tional Extension College in Cambridge, England. The full range of World Bank publications is described in the Catalog of World Bank Publications; the continuing research program is outlined in World Bank Research Program: Abstracts ofCurrent Studies. The most recent edition of each is available from the Publica- tions Unit, Department B, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.

03 THE WORLDBANK

BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST FROM THE WORLD BANK AND JOHNS HOPKINS

Attacking Rural Poverty: How Non-FormalEducation Can Help Philip H. Coombs and Manzoor Ahmed Educational efforts outside the formal school system that offer potential for rural development and productivity.

The Economic Evaluation of VocationalTraining Programs Manuel Zymelman A methodologyfor appraising the cost effectivenessof alternative methods of industrial training in developing countries.

The World Bank Catalog of Publications Describes more than 600 publications in 20 categories:agriculture and rural development, analytical methods, commodities,country studies, development, economic and social data, education, employment and income, energy, finance and debt, food and nutrition, industry, population and public health, procurement, telecommunications,trade, transportation, urban development and housing, water supply and sanitation, and World Bank.

For free copies of the latest edition, write: The World Bank Publications Sales Unit Department B 1818H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433

The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore and London

Cover design by GeorgeParakamannil ISBN 0-8018-2588-1