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A.A.SUBJECT PRIMARY TEMPORARY
r.LASSI FICATION b. 3§ r~tJIlA0V
2. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Research priorities for educational planning
3. AUTHOR(S) Benveniste,Guy
4. DOCUMENT DATE 5. NUMBER OF PAGES 6. ARC NUMBER 1964 44p. ARC 7. REFERENCE ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS IIEP
S. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES (Sponsoring Organization, Publishers, Availability.) (Presented at the 2d sem.on Major Research Needs in Educational Planning, Bellagio,Italy,1964)
9. ABSTRACT (EDUCATION R & D)
10. CONTROL NUMBER II. PRICE OF DOCUMENT PN-AAD-235
12. DESCRIPTORS 13. PROJECT NUMBER
14. CONTRACT NUMBER CSD-844 Res. 1S. TYPE OF DOCUMENT
AID 590.1 (4.74) s2A C ) I)W- '4
)riginal: /',Englisht V/!,' -,
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
Second Seminar at Bellagio, Italy from July 8 to 18, 1964 on
"MAJOR RESEARCH NEEDS IN EDUCATIONAL PLANNING"
Research priorities for educational planning
A draft of the final report of the Bellagio Seminar prepared for discussion at Bellapio by
Guy Benveniste of the IIEP
15 June 1964 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements•...... ''....''" ii
iv The use of this draft report at Bellagio ......
I. A framework for establishing research priorities ...... 1
II. Research priorities ...... ,...... *.... "°' 6 6 A. Getting the planning process under way ...... 1. The preconditions for educational planning ...... 6 2. How to start a plan: A study of the experience of selected countries . s * so 7
B. Methodologies for setting educational targets ...... 8 1. Manpower studies in developing countries .... 9 9...... • a) Comparative international data on high and medium manpower needs in the modern sector of developing countries . 9 b) A study of special high and medium manpower needs for the modernization of the traditional sector ... 10 c) A study of the demand and supply of teachers in developing countries ...... 11
2. Studies on the demand for education ...... 13 a) Methodologies for estimating the demand for education ...... 13 1...... b) Studies of the means of guiding the demand for educ ation ...... 00...... 000. ...000 ...... 00a 14
3. Studies of the education and training requirements for high and medium level manpower in developing countries ...... 16
C. Selected problems of content and technique ...... 17
1. Studies of educational priorities in the rural sector.. 18 2. Studies of the role of vocational education in deve loping countries ...... 20
3,. A study of the economics of using modern educational technology in developing countries ...... 21 D. The cost and efficiency of education ...... 23
1. An introduction to educational cost analysis in developing countries ...... 23 2. A study of educational unit costs in developing countries ...... a ...... * 0* * . . . .0..0 ...... 23 3. Opportunities for cost savings in the education systems of developing countries ...... 25
E. The financing and implementation of education plans ...... 26
1. A study of the limits for financing education in developing countries ...... 26
2. A study of unconventional means of financing education.. 27
3. Studies of the administration and Amplementation of education plans ...... 28
F. Foreign aid and educational planning ...... 29
1. A study of opportunities and problems of the inter national flow of students and trainees ...... 30 2. A study of criteria and procedures of providing external aid for education ...... 32 3. A study of the experience of providing assistance for education planning 33
III, Strengthening the research community 0...... 34 iii
ACKNOWLEDG1EMENT
This draft of the Bellagio report is based in part on earlier
contributions received from the following: Friedrich Edding, Edward
Denison, Rashi Fein, Alice M. Rivlin, Mary Jean Bowman, C. Arnold
Andersons Leslie Palmier, Giovanni Gozzerp J. Capelle, E.E. Hagen,
Bernhard von Mutius, Michel Debeauvais, Harold Enarson, M.C. Kaser,
Richard A. Humphrey, Charles Myers, Orville G. Brim Jr., Donald
K. Adams, Seth Spaulding, George Baldwin, Robeft Jacobs, Herbert
M. Phillips, Guy Hunter, Jan Auerhan, Paul Hanna, Isao Amagi and on
the recommendations of the International Conference on Educational
Planning in Developing Countries held in Berlin in July 1963.
Much of the substance of this report was discussed in April
1964 during the first seminar of the IIEP on problems and strategies
of educational planning in Latin America. Special thanks are due to:
Prof. F. Harbison, Gabriel Betancur, S. Louri6, J. Hilliard, H.S.
Parnes, J. Medina Echevarria, Rafael Fernandez Herez, Eduardo Rivas
Casado, T. Balogh, Ricardo Diez-Hochleitner, G. Dutra Fonseca,
S. Romero Lozano, Manuel Bravo, Marshall Wolfe, Carlos Malpica Faustor,
Gilberto Mantilla, J. Velez Garcia, Agustin Silva and Oscar Vera who
all made important contributions.
Useful contributions to this report were made by A.C.R. Wheeler of the IIEP who prepared an inventory of research needs for educational planning and by Messrs. P. H. Coombs, R. Poignant, R. Lyons and H. Correa who commented on earlier drafts. iv
TIIN USE OF THIS DRAFT REPORT AT BELLAGIO
This draft report has been prepared to serve as a basis for the
discussions at Bellagio. It is therefore neither final nor complete.
It is expected that additional papers will be discussed during the
course of the seminar. (Messrs. Vaizey, Auerhan, Hutasoit, Anderson
and El-Koussy had already submitted papers by the time this report
was written).
The Bellagio seminar will discuss research priorities for edu
cational planning with particular attention to the problems of the
developing countries. The aim of the seminar is to pin-point where
research efforts are most needed for the rapid advance of the art
and science of educational planning. It should result in a list of
practical research projects, a list which can serve as a guide to
research institutions interested in problems of education planning'and
development and to institutions interested in financing such research.
This priority list will never be final nor complete. In selecting
research priorities judgment must be exercised to evaluate the state of
the art of educational planning, and the nature of the immediate pro
blems confronting planners. Care must be exercised to distinguish those
problems for which research can actually provide new knowledge of use
to educational planners. Selectivity must be imposed to keep the list meaningful and practical.
There are of course many fundamental questions requiring answers.
How does education actually change the attitudes of people in developing countries? Which attitudinal changes result from which educational processes? V
What type of education makes sense in the second half of this century when the acceleration of technological change presents people everywhere with problems of adjustment to a continuously changing environment? These and other important questions are probably not treated sufficiently in this report. This has been done purposely. We have attempted to select specific projects that could be undertaken and terminated in a short time and which would answer the immediate and pressing concerns of planners and adminis trators. In selecting priorities we had the following considerations in mind:
1) Is the problem important?
2) Is the problem researchable?
3) Can research results be obtained in reasonable time?
4) Is the probable cost of the research within practical limits? - 1 -
I. A F Mi.Y ORK FR ESTABLISHIING RESEARCH PRIORITIES
The underlying premise of this report is that the major problems of educational planning in the developing countries must be studied syste matically in their real setting in Africa, Asia, Latin America or in the Middle East. There already exists a wealth of practical experiences whichj if systematically examined, can yield a rich harvest of useful insights and knowledge. Moreover, many new insights can be achieved by the use of new research approaches in actual planning situations. This report assumes that general theory in educational planning, if it is to have validity and practical usefulness, must be advanced by enlarging the available body of systematically analysed practical experience of different countries.
I'hat is educational planning? The concept used in this report is broad. Educational planning should provide a comprehensive view of a nation's educational system and needs. It should relate the development of education to the economic and social objectives of the nation. It should provide for the balanced development of all the related part of the education system and be concerned with the education and training needs of children and adults, in school and out of school. Education planning should be concerned not only with the quantitative expansion of education but with the internal reforms and innovations necessary to make tomorrow's schools and universities not merely larger versions of today's but more efficient, relevant, and effective. - 2 -
preparing plans on Educational planning should consist not only of action and reality. Edu paper but also of translating these plans into which runs the gamut cational planning should be a continuous process needs, the formulation from diagnosis of present conditions versus future and evaluation to of the plan, its formal approval, its implementation the participation the formultion of the next plan. This process requires parents, students, of many forces in a society: teachers, educators, all involved at any financiers, economists and politicians. In one sense in a narrower sense, point in this process are educational planners. But and who through used here, those placed at the vortex of these forces are planners. their specialized work make the process possible,
which they Thus educational planners face many problems, most of with the public share with others: with educators, with other planners, planners at large. Before planning actually gets underway the would-be must draw must be concerned with initiating the planning process. They must gra up the necessary institutional framework for planning. They a prac dually develop this planning framework in order for it to become
tical basis for the formulation and implementation of future educational
policy.
Once the planning process is under way, planners must be concerned
with setting education development targets that relate education to the
needs of individuals and of the society. This concern they share with
students and teachers, with economists and politicians and with all the
forces in a society interested in education development. They must be
concerned with the content of education, its usefulness to the individual and to the society and with the quality of this education, and these concerns they share naturally with all educators. They must be concerned with the cost of education and the alternatives available to reduce costs be while maintaining or improving the quality of education. They must in concerned about the salaries and other benefits needed to attract the cost creasing numbers of good teachers. They must be concerned about the and quality of school buildings, the cost of each graduating pupil, few cost of drop out, the cost of vocational education, to mention a of examples. They must be particularly concerned about the feasibility an education plan and they must share this concern not only with educators but also with finance people, with economists, with architects and builders and with the administration of the education system.
The planners must therefore take into account and put in perspective many aspects of a complex picture. They can never be experts on all these aspects but they must be able to point out the principal problems and obtain the help of other specialists to tackle them. In practice educational planners must limit their action to the possible and to the most important.
This selection of research priorities to improve the art and science of educational planning is purposely limited to the practical every day problems faced by planners. In some instances these problems are not theoretical or glamorous and the research needed is of very practical nature. In some areas it is still necessary to understand what the problems really are. In others it is necessary to gather information about what is going on, what is being done, how these approaches are working out. In some instances radically new approaches must be invented and tested out -4
new ways to think about problems must be thought through and new solutions
evolved.
There are many ways to classify research priorities. It is possible
to classify them in terms of subject fields such as pedagogy, psychology,
economics, sociology and others. But most of the problem of educational
planning call for an interdisciplinary approach and this type of classi
fication does not wiork out in practice. It is possible to classify these
problems along lines more familiar to educators such as problems of primary,
secondary, and hither education, problems of the administration of education systems, special problems of content and of teaching techniques. But such a
classification avoids many of the issues which confront the planner daily
and which go beyond the usual concerns of educators.
The classification adopted in this report reflects the practical
problems that interest educational planners. The report covers six major
areas:
A. Getting the planning process under way.
B. Ilethodologies for setting educational targets.
C. Selected problems of content and techniques.
D. The cost and efficiency of education.
E. The financing and implementation of education plans. And,
F. The use of foreign aid for educational planning.
Most of the proposed research is action oriented, applied and practical.
In many cases it is not even research, it is the divulgation of past expe riences or even the preparation of simple to read manuals. Generally speaking, it is not the type of theoretical research that normally attracts -5
or interests University scholars, although some of the proposed research projects will fall in this category. Nevertheless universities and specialized institutions certainly have the ability to undertake this type of work.
Most of the research is multidisciplinary in character. In many cases it is not the type of work which one professor assisted by a few graduate students can undertake as a part of a conventional program of teaching and research. Most of the studies can best be undertaken by a small team, two, three, four or more professionals from various disciplines working full time together for 6 months, a year or more.
Most of the research must be undertaken in developing countries.
Each of the studies described requires reviewing relevant past research, the gathering of new information and data in one or several developing countries; in some cases the entire research needs to take place in developing countries; in other cases the analysis of the data could probably take place elsewhere: in specialized universities or research institutes of Europe or North America.
Much of this research could be undertaken as part of the elaboration of educational plans in selected developing countries. Thus a considerable portion of the work could best be undertaken by the statistical and re search services of existing educational planning services in cooperation with universities and research institutions in other countries.
XXooKaXXXn II. RESEARCH PRIORITIES
A. Getting the planning process under way
What basic reports could be of practical use to would-be planners in countries where educational planning has not yet been started? First of all there is a need for basic manuals, some of which already exist and others of which are in preparation. Manuals describing what educational planning is all about and what are some of the well known techniques and methodologies that can already be used for this purpose.
But in aedition to these manuals two studies "are suggested: The first would be a study of the preconditions necessary for planning; the second would be a study of the experience of a selected number of countries that have recently started to plan.
1. The preconditions for educational planning
This report would first review the possible scope of educational plans, the type of planning institutions needed, and the type of people needed as planners. This part of the report should be relatively short, fifty pages at most, and should not attempt to be exhaustive. But it should first present an easy-to-read overview of what educational planning is all about, what different forms it can take and how it evolves in time.
On the basis of this information the report would go on to analyse what are the minimum environmental, institutional, technical and other conditions necessary before a country can really start to plan. The report should review the type of decisions that must be taken by governments before planning can be initiated. How can the concepts of planning be explained and made generally understood? What type of problems must be tackled in planning? And what type of planning institutions are necessary for this purpose?
How can these institutions be linked with all the forces in the society
that can contribute to the planning process?
The report should pay special attention to the information gathering
and research that must be undertaken before planning can be initiated. What
is the minimum information necessary? How can it be obtained? The report
should briefly describe the use and relative importance of demographic data
to estimate school age populations, methodologies to estimate future school
enrolments, the use of economic projections to estimate the future charac teristics of the labor force, the use of norms to determine education needs of the future labor force, quantitative methods to estimate education targets by levels, techniques to test the internal consistency of these estimates.
Techniques to translate overall estimates into projections of teacher requi rements, school buildings, books, materials, equipment, etc. The use of cost projections to estimate financing needed for an education plal and techniques to test the feasibility of a plan.
The report should also examine what other information is necessary for effective planning. What type of information and research on the content of education is necessary? How can planning deal with the fundamental pro blems of education development, with the qualitative aspects, with the substance of what is being planned?
This report would provide would-be planners with an analysis of the necessary prerequisites for effective planning: a practical guide of the complexities of the tasks to be undertaken.
2. How to start to plan: A study of the experience of selected countries
A study of the initiation of the process of educational planning in selected countries should examine the nature of the practical problems - 8
encountered and the various initial approaches adopted. What institutional
arrangements were created at first? What pre-planning activities were ini
tiated, how comprehensive were the first education plans? To what extent were they prepared in harmony with economic and social objectives? How
have the scope and concepts of educational planning evolved? What seem to
be the natural stages of development of the process of planning?
Such a study should compare half a dozen or more different initial
planning experiences to determine what minimum environmental, institutional,
and technical level of preparation was needed before planning could actually
get under way in these countries. How did governments and external aid
agencies make the necessary "pre-planning investment" to insure that the
planning process got under way? Who undertook the initial work? Commissions
appointed by the Government? Universities and research institutions? Existing
administrative services? Foreign experts? What are the lessons to be learned
by others from the experience of these countries?
This second study would take longer to complete than the first but
it would complement it.
B. Methodologies fox setting educational targets
The methodologies developed to date are weak in many respects. Most have been developed in industrialized countries and further work needs to be done to adapt them to the needs of developing countries. This is particularly true
of manpower projections. Other methodologies such as those needed for making projections of the demand for education are just beginning to be used and
still require further work. Much more work is also needed on methodologies to translate needs into educational and training requirements that make sense in developing countries. - 9
1. Manpower studies in developing countries
Three res6arch areas should receive priority attention. First the
development of comparative international data on high and medium manpower
needs in the modern sector of developing countries, second high and medium
manpower needs for the development of the traditional (or subsistence) sec
tor of developing countries, and third the study of the manpower needs of
education: the demand and supply of teachers.
a) Comparative international data on high and medium manpower needs in the modern sector of developing countries
With the exception of certain Eastern European countries where there exists basic information about the norms for middle and high level mbnpower in all branches of activity, the data available for developing
countries is scant. It is therefore difficult to make good estimates of
future manpower needs even when there exist good projections of the economy.
Future manpowsr needs for each branch of activity vary according to numerous factors, all of which vary at differing levels of economic deve lopment: the structure of the active population, the relative availability of labor and capital, the wage structure, the level of technology and auto mation in each branch of activity, employment policies of government and private management, the availability of trained manpower, etc.
A major international, study should be conducted on a sector per sector basis to determine the range of variations in the utilization of high and medium level manpower per unit of production in a large sample of coun tries at various levels of economic development.
The main objective of this study would be to provide a means of assessing the evolution of the normsrfor.the employment of high and medium - 10
development are reached and as new manpower as higher levels of economic permit countries to situate present technologies are introduced. It would sample of countries. employment norms in the context of a large
data would require a major The compilation and analysis of such rapidly by asking specialized research effort. But it could be initiated economic sectors. It should research groups to start work on selected of reports such as: manpower re therefore be possible to issue a series in developing countries; quirements in selected checmical industries and communication sectors of manpower requirements in the transportation for public administration in developing countries; manpower requirements
developing countries, etc.
manpower needs for the b) A study of special high and medium modernization of the traditional sector
two separate economies In most developing countries there exist sector and a large that literally co-exist side by side: a small modern high and medium level traditional subsistence sector. What are the special social transformation manpower needs required to accelerate the economic and
of the traditional sector?
What high and medium level skills are needed for community
development, agricultural extension service, agricultural credit and land
reform programs, industrial estate and small industries extension services, health production and marketing cooperatives, family planning and public these programs and for other undertakings of this nature? On what basis can to make needs be estimated? What are the minimum manpower norms required are the most such activities effective? How can these needs be met? What high effective means and what new type institutions are needed to train
and medium level manpower for these services? - 11 -
A study of the actual experience of selected countries where
considerable work of this type has been successfully undertaken should be undertaken by a small int-erdisciplinary team of experts familiar with these development activities. A study tour of six or more such countries to gather necessary data and the analysis of these data should lead to a most important publication in this area where comprehensive generalized information is still lacking.
c) A study of the demand and supply of teachers in developing countries
Education's own manpower requirements can be a most difficult
bottleneck during the rapid expansion of any education system. In developing
countries the situation is greatly complicated as good teachers are often
the largest manpower pool from which other needs of a growing economy are
supplied.
A basic study of the teaching profession in developing countries
should examine the factors that affect the demand and supply of teachers.
H.ow is the time of teachers utilized? How can teachers be utilized
more effectively? What are the other factors that affect the demand and supply
for teachers? What training requirements are imposed? At what. age are teachers
allowed to retire? How is the socio-economic status of teachers modified in a
growing economy? Do teacher salaries tend to keep up with salaries in competing
professional fields? What are the practical policy implications of trying to
maintain an adequate supply of teachers when the manpower demands of other
sectors of the economy become more acute? How fast must teachers' salaries
increase relative to competing demands if an adequate supply of teachers is - 12
be estimated? to be maintained? How can the evolution of such salaries
can be This study should also examine what additional steps to the teaching taken by Fovernments to attract and keep good teachers been given to teachers professions. What non-economic incentives have teaching more attractive? in aifferent countries? ',dhat factors can make countries? What What types of career opportunities exist in different of developing solutions seeri best adapted to the special conditions and keepin. teachers countries, particularly to the problems of finding
for the rural areas?
pre Lastly, the study should examine alternative means of arise. That has paring teachers, particularly when supply emergencies about programs been the experience and what conclusions can be reached teachers to upgrade, retrain, reemploy or accelerate the training of to be in developing countries? T:hat lead time do such programs require cost? implemented? How effective are they and how much do they
Such a study covering a substantial number of countries coula under take time to undertake unless it was conceived from the start and
taken as part of the normal process of planning in selected cooperating
countries. To ret such a cooperative project under way it would be
necessary for a team of experts to spell out in detail the type of basic
data and analysis wanted. This might take several months' work. Subsequently
this team could visit a dozen countries and make the necessary cooperative have arrangements for this basic research. The original team would probably
to visit each country while the work is under way. In the end the work
undertaken in several countries could be analyzed and the results compared.
From this analysis new ideas and new approaches to these problems should emerge. - 13
2. Studies on the demand for education
TWo research avenues are promising: First, the development of
methodologies to estimate the demand for education and second, research
on methods to change this demand. The demand for education is the sum of
individual wants for specific kinds of education. In most developing
countries the demand for education is generally implicitly assumed: "If
more schools were available they would be filled". The problem of demand
is usually expressed in terms of the supply of education. 3ut in practice
in each country there exists a pattern of demand for education with definite
characteristics. Too often certain types of schools are built, staffed but
not filled. It is not always wise to disregard this reality in the elabo
ration of plans. Jhat methodologies can be used to assess this demand? How
can it be affected?
a) Methodologies for estimating the demand for education in developing countries
A series of pilot studies should be conducted in several
developing countries to determine how the demand for education can effec
tively be assessed. These studies should result in a practical methodolo&y
for this purpose.
These studies would examine the various socio-economic factors
that affect the demand for all levels of education. Which of these factors
can be readily measured? Wnat about the others? How can these measurements
be made in practice? What type of statistics can be used? Similarly the
studies would examine the principal characteristics of education which
also affect this demand. Which of these characteristics can be readily
measured and how can these measurable characteristics be taken into account?
(distance from schools, cost of education, length and timing of studies, admission procedures, etc.) - 14 -
The s tudies would also examine how sampling techniques might be used to assess the attitudes of parents and students from different social groups towards selected studies. For example, what are typical attitudes of different groups towards the selection of professional careers? How are these attitudes changing? What are attitudes in rural areas towards primary education? What type of education is wanted?
These studies should result in a practical methodology to assess present and future demands for all levels of education and for significant types of medium and high level training. The research should be undertaken in a few developing countries, possibly as many as three or four. But the work could be undertaken as a contribution to the elabo ration of education plans in these countries. It should be coordinated by an interdisciplinary team, consisting of educators, economists and sociologists. This team should design the project, travel to selected countries to assess existing research capabilities and obtain the necessary cooperation. In several years' time an important experience would be acquired and could be made available generally.
b) Studies of the means of guiding the demand for education
The demand for-education reflects today's condition. Parents and students tend to demand the type of education which meets present economic ard social opportunities. But economic and social development will change the characteristics of the society. New opportunities will arise which parents and students are not usually aware of, thus today's demand may not match future social needs and individual opportunities.
An important and unique contribution of educational planning is to guide, ahead of time, the demand for education towards tomorrow's realities. The problem for research is how can this be done in practice? - is -
Research on the uses of incentives including economic, financial, social and psychological incentives to help reorient the demand for education is at best scant and recent. In fact there have been few if any comprehensive approaches to the use of incentives which can be studied. Incentives are used for in isolated programs which in one way or another help direct the demand of education and the demand for the educated. Counselling services, the use skills, psychological tests to r asure intelligence and ability for certain campaigns to inform parents and students of new careers and opportunities, and diplomas, employment services and forecasting, the use of examinations wage financial encouragements to help with studies in certain fields and policies can all be considered component tools of a conscious policy of 4 incentives to orient the demand for education.
A comprehensive experimental pilot project should be undertaken at least in one country to determine what are the problems and practical means of coordinating a government-wide effort to guide the demand of education towards specific future goals. Such a project should be undertaken
in a developing country where there exists an important mismatch between specific estimated future manpower needs of the economy and the present demand and output of the education system. To make the problem more manageable,
such a pilot project might be limited to the high and medium manpower needed for the development of the rural areas where the problem has most significance today.
Would reorienting educational capacity be a sufficient remedy?
If new technical schools and new agricultural extension training schemes coordinated are established will these schools find students? If not, how can and comprehensive programs of incentives be designed to use all the tools which governments can actually use to orient and affect the demand for this incentives? type of education and training? What will be the cost of these -1 16 -
What results can be achieved?
to get under way and Such a pilot project would require time But in three or four years' time results could not be expected overnight.
important new ground could be broken.
requirements for high and 3. Studies of the education and training
medium level manpower in developing countries
standards of the indus Most developing countries have adopted the and administrators are usually trialized countries. Thus doctors, engineers in Europe'and in Africa, Asia or trained according to similar standards sense? In some fields they may be Latin America. Do these standards make or too high. Studies in developing adequate, in others they may be too low and training requirements for key countries of the desirable education better basis for answering this development activities should provide a
question.
this purpose. They A series of studies should be undertaken for which come in great should cover a range of key functional activities
demand when an economy takes off: surgeons down through a) Medicine and public health (running from food inspectors, rural sanitarians, lab technicians, nurses, innoculators,
etc.)
b) Engineering (including sub-professional technicians, draftsmen,
surveyors, etc.) levels, but in c) Teaching (mainly at the primary and secondary
cluding university) engineers, and d) Agriculture (from university trained scientists, credit administrators, veterinarians on down through extension agents,
innoculators, and village development workers) - 17
e) Administration (from high level government administrators to tax collectors, custom inspectors, foreign service officers and local administrators and judges) and management including entrepreneurs for both large and small industries.
f) Modern manual skills, mainly urban (electricity, printing trades, automative mechanics, building tradesmen, moulders and foundrymen, and key clerical skills).
Each of these studies should be limited to five or six important of specialities. Each study could then be undertaken by selected groups qualified experts familiar with employment needs and educational practices the in both industrialized and developing countries. Taking into account each conditions and problems existing in a sample of developing countries, study should review existing patterns of education and training. Major existing differences between countries should be highlighted and analysed.
For example what basic differences and variations exist in the examination and professional certification for key professional activities? What minimum education and training are recognized as necessary by professional and trade organization and by employers? Why?
Based on an extensive survey of this type, each study should supgest what are minimum standards which could be adopted in developing countries.
If five principal research teams were organized for this purpose and if the research was conducted in half a doten cooperating countries, it would probably be possible to have useful results in a year or eighteen months.
C. Selected problems of content and technique
All problems of content and technique are the concern of educators. But certain of these problems are of particular interest to educational planners, usually because they have repercussions that go far beyond education. For - 18 example the problems of literacy, adult education and rural education have evident social and economic repercussions that concern planners. The same is true of many other problem areas such as the content of primary and secondary education, the content of vocational education, the modernization of hipher education, the education of women, the use of mass media for education, the setting of national research and science policies, to mention a few examples.
In this report, three of these problems areas have been selected as initial priorities for intensified research. They are: education in the rural sector, vocational education and the use of modern educational technologies in developing countries.
1. Studies of educational priorities in the rural sector
In most developing countries the gradual expansion of primary education in the rural areas seems to result principally in accelerating the exodus of the few educated from the empoverished countryside to the modern urban centers. In most countries educational planners confront difficult choices. What are the real priorities for education in the traditional rural areas? Should the major effort go into adult education?
In literacy campaigns? In the rapid expansion of primary schools? Of what type of schools?
This is an area where much more experimentation must take place before any new answers can be expected. Basically there is still little knowledge about the potential role of education in the rapid modernization of traditional rural areas. The experience to date seems to reveal as many negative as positive effects. In theory, investments in education in the rurhl areas should receive a first priority since economic development must depend on the modernization of these regions where the majority of the population lives. 3ut in practice, the past education policies of the in
dustrialized countr'es which c:-nsisted in expanding primary education to
their rural areas cloes not seem to succeed as well today in the developing
countries.
Many novel experiments in rural education have taken place in
recent years and it would be useful to review the lessons that can be
learned from all these undcertakinFs. T1hen did they succeed and when did
they seem to fail? -y? 3evond this it will be necessary to undertake
other aoproaches and the more promising might be projects designed so
that education is closely intewoven with a comprehensive reional program of development. It would be useful to undertake one or more major experiments
to find out just how%much and what type of education and training can help rural populations adjust to major socio-economic changes as these chanes take place. Such experiments should be conducted in large rural areas undergoirg fundamental cian7es, w.here modern technology is being rapidly introduced, where major social reforms are under way, possibly in river basins where electricity and irrigation are being made availahle and where comprehensive regional development plans are being elaborated. Such pilot projects should experiment with various approaches and attempt to determine the nature, the content and the least cost of the education and training needs of the entire propulation including both children and adults.
The key to the success of these pilot projects will be whether they can be undertaken in a comprehensive way, dealing with all aspects of education (i.e. literacy, adult education and basic training, use of mass media, school education, etc.) so as to think through the necessary content and utilize facilities and resources to the maximum. This means that educa tion ministries will have to agree to leave the administration and reorga nization of the existing education system in the selected rural areas - 20
entirely in the hands of the projects. A difficult but necessary prerequisite.
These pilot rural education projects should therefore become an
integral part of regional development schemes and the planning of the
education projects should be timed to coincide with other development-pro
grams. Such schemes require aggressive, development-conscious, regional
administrations with a sufficient mandate not to fear to be imaginative.
With adequate financing and appropriate support from international expert it research groups, good work could be done and in several years' time
might be possible to have new answers.
2. Studies of the role of vocational education in developing countries
In developing countries there usually is an acute shortage of middle
level skills. Well trained nurses, extension workers, technicians, foremen,
clerks, executive assistants are nearly always in far more acute shortage
than are doctors, engineers or lawyers, so that doctors often have to do the
work of nurses or assistants, engineers the work of foremen and lawyers the
work of clerks. At the same time there exists much confusion about the role
of vocational education to train for middle level skills and this confusion
does not make the tasks of the planners easier.
Training can be provided in vocational schools or can be provided
on the Job. Training can be provided together with general education over
a longer period or it can be provided in accelerated form at the end of a
general education course. Training for service in rural areas can be pro
vided in urban centers or in rural areas.
A series of studies should be undertaken of the factors that can be taken into account by planners when deciding between different forms of
training for medium level skills. Such studies should be preceded by a
selection of the skills which are most needed in developing countries.' - 21
One hundred medium level skills could be selected and grouped in manageable categories. A study for each of these categories would examine all the alternative means of training that are now used or could be used.
What is taught? When? How much do these alternative means of
training cost? How effective are they? How long do they take? What are studies their implications to existing education structures? Each of these selecting should analyse what are the factors that must be considered when
between alternative forms of training; to what extent can these different are they forms of training be substituted one for the other? To what extent
complementary? How can combinations of these different forms of training
be used most effectively and economically? What approaches would seem to
make more sense in the selected developing countries?
These studies could be undertaken independently by small teams
composed of economists and specialists having a broad vision of vocational
education. Each study would provide a wealth of fresh information in a
significant area where many new innovations are possible.
3. A study of the economics of using modern educational technology in developing countries
Most thoughtful educators realize that the solution to the problems
posed by the rapid quantitative and qualitative expansion of education
systems in developing countries calls for radically novel approaches using,
as much as possible, new educational technologies.
In the last years a considerable amount of research has taken
place both in industrialized and in developing countries to create new
technologies of education. For example the use of programmed learning,
film, radio and television together with creative approaches to teaching - 22 the sciences have resulted in a wide array of unconventional pilot projects in education. But until now most of this research in developing countries has been oriented to creating new approaches and testing whethere these new approaches actually work. The time has now come to find out what are the economics of these new approaches. How much do these approaches cost? How can they be combined and used economically in the context of the realities prevailing in developing countries?
Sufficient economic data can be obtained from pilot projects in
Africa, Asia and Latin America and from Europe and North America ta undertake one or more economic feasibility studies of introducing modern developments and innovations in selected developing countries.
Such feasibility studies should preferably be undertaken in a few countries where different economic realities prevail. The research should answer the following questions: What are major education problems or bottlenecks where these new approaches could be useful? How could the various techniques be combined to solve these problems or bottlenecks?
For what type and level of education programs does it make practical sense to use these new approaches? How much would they cost? How would these costs compare with the costs of conventional approaches?
These studies should be undertaken by an international team which should include educators, economists, other social scientists and broad gauge specialists in the principal new techniques. The first phase of the work would involve gathering existing cost information. The second phase could be undertaken in selected countries in cooperation with edu cational planners and as contributions to the formulation of the education plans. - 23 -
D. The cost and efficiency of education
Cost analysis is one of the principal instruments of educational planning.
Cost analysis can be used for two principal purposes:
1. To estimate the future cost of education, and thus provide a basis to assess both the alternatives and the ability of a country to support the expansion of education.
2. To highlight apparent inefficiencies in the education system, to help determine how and where important cost savings can be achieved and to provide a cost basis for comparing alternative ways of mdeting education or training needs.
1. An introduction to educational cost analysis in developing countries
This report could serve as an introduction to educational cost analysis in developing countries. The report would briefly indicate the type of budge tary practices usually employed in education ministries of developing countries, it would introduce and explain the concepts of program budgeting, it would indicate the type of statistics and reporting needed for this purpose and provide a general guide as to how to go about reorganizing the cost accounting practices of an education ministry. This report should be written by qualified experts in the field, and it should be based on an analysis of existing prac tices in developing countries.
2. A study of educational unit costs in developing countries
There do not exist comparative cost data to permit planners or aid agencies to analyse how estimated costs of any expanding school system compares with costs in countries with similar economic and social conditions. - 24 -
A study of the unit costs of education in a sample of developing each part countries should determine 1) the principal cost components of as edu of the system together with an analysis of how these costs vary what extent cational systems expand and as GNP per capita rises; 2) to higher do average costs of existing education systems seem to be lower or designed than "minimum effective" costs based on the cost of samples of well schools with adequate numbers of qualified teachers and with sufficient equipment, books, paper, pencils, etc.)
Such a study should examine in each country the ratio of recurrent to development expenditures and the ratio of administrative to operating expenditures. It should analyse the principal cost components of these expenditures: teacher salaries, maintenance, books, paper, pencils, etc. and examine how future cost trends for these components can be estimated.
Particular attention should be given to the cost component for school construction including how much is spent in local currencies and how much in foreign currencies.
To estimate "minimum effective" costs it would be necessary to establish "austere and adequate" standards that provide for salaries adequate to attract good teachers, buildings efficiently designed and maintained, a minimum of books and supplies, etc. Cost data from a sample of "model" schools could be used for this purpose.
This study would require a major research effort. At least a dozen countries should cooperate in the undertaking if the data is to have validity. Fortunately much of this research would be of direct benefit to the cooperating countries and should normally be undertaken as part of planning. - 25 -
A qualified research institution should be entrusted with the detailed design of this project and with making cooperative arrangements with the educational planning bodies in selected countries. This insti tution could provide expert assistance to each country so that it can directly undertake its share of the research and feed it the results for analysis.
3. Opportunities for cost savings in the education systems of developing
countries
A review of practical ways of achieving dost savings in education could provide useful guide lines to planners and administrators. Such a study should review how significant cost savings were achieved in the education systems of both industrialized and developing countries. It should describe significant achievements in at least five principal areas: school construction and maintenance costs, equipment and text books costs,. teacher costs, overhead costs and student wastage.
The study should analyse the different types of approaches that have been used to achieve cost savings (i.e. standardization, mass production, inter-country cost sharing for point projects, etc.) and generalize from the available evidence what are promising approaches in developing countries.
The study should pay attention to costs related to the utilization of teachers and students and it should pay special attention to the costs of student wastage and the costs of possible remedies.
To be well done such a study might require an experienced team composed of several broad gauge educators, school construction architects, economists and statisticians. With time to visit a significant sample of countries and to prepare a clear and lucid report such a team might repay its own expenses a thousand fold. - 26 -
E. The financinF and implementatiin of education plans a limited utility. To Education plans that do not gct implemented have willing and able go from paper to reality requires 'inancin. and institutions, often wish they had some to implement the plan. Planners and policy makers the level of financing kind of yeardstick against which they could assess and policy makers often they proposed to devote to education. Most planners other countries in express the desire to know about the experience of and policy makers financing education along unconventional lines. All planners about the actual ex wish they had readily available practical information planning institutions perience of other countries that have set up educational research could that produce plans both on paper and in reality. The following
meet these needs.
countries 1. A study of the limits for financing education in developinr
There always exists a practical limit beyond which any one country country is not able to finance additional education expenditures. In each federal or this limit depends on the nature and composition of local, state, through national budgets, and on the extent education can be financed directly
voluntary cintributions, fees, taxes and direct borrowings.
It would be useful to find out 1) whether it is possible to
determine what this limit is in a sample of countries at different levels
of development and 2) whether these data could be used to establish an
overall financing parameter for investments in education.
Such an instrument of analysis could be used readily with comparisons
of the percentages of GNP going to education, to assess in very general terms
where the education effort of any country stands in an international context. - 27 -
This study would require an analysis of existing maximum percentages
of government budgets for education and of the factors that allow such levels
of effort. Similarly the study would have to analyse what maximum additional
resources can be tapped for education in countries at different levels of
development.
A talented research group in a University could attempt to design
such a project and thus find out in a few months' time whether this avenue
of research offers any possibility. If it does, it would ultimately provide
a simple and convincing tool to plan levels of financing for education and
to assess the financial feasibility of any plan.
2. A study of unconventional means of financing education
In many developing countries the largest share of education expen
ditures come from the national government budget. 3ut givernment cannot
provide much more to education and still provide for competing demands
such as those of public health, communications, transportation power,
justice and the military. ".hat other means of financing can be created?
A study of the education financing experience of selected countries
that have rapidly expanded their education system would shed light on
unconventional approaches which have been tried and also suggest others
that may not have been tried.
Such a study should briefly review the economic and social theory behind various approaches to the financing of education. It should examine and describe in detail how unconventional means of financing education were established. The study should review such programs as the organization of voluntary brigades for rural school construction, the - 28
issues and the possibility financing of vocational education, the use of bond for this purpose, the financing of using "education banks" to channel savings of promising students. of higher education and the financing of the studies
and economists A good team composed of educators, finance experts a number of interesting would have to visit a number of countries, select the results, assess their and significant experiences, describe them, assess issue an interesting relevance to developing countries. They would probably and thought-provoking report.
education plans 3. Studies of the administration and implementation of of A set of detailed studies of the administrative practices should provide countries w it h odu c a t iona 1 planning experience following valuable guide lines on how these countries have solved the problems: plan; a) The institutional framework for the fcrmulation of the i.e. participation of parent-teacher organization% student organizations, links with administrators, the private education sector, the universities; with overall and regional planning bodies, with other government agencies,
aid institutions, etc.
b) The special mechanisms needed to insure that education plans pay sufficient attention to the need and results of educational innovation,
research and development.
c) The research and analysis services needed for planning. Role
of government services, universities and private institutions, role of aid
agencies, foreign experts and research groups. d) The institutional framework for the implementation of plans, indicative vs imperative planning. The use of program budgets, the use of normal implementation administrations and "extra-ordinary" institutions.
e) Geographical aspects of planning, how is centralized planning
coordinated with regional planning? The geographical breakdown of imple mentation responsibilities, etc.
These studies are already being initiated by the IIEP which will analyse the practical planning experience of the USSR and France in 1964 and 1965. A number of similar studies should be undertaken in developing countries to provide comparative information. The studies of
the Institute will usually be undertaken by national teams working in
cooperation with a group of international experts. This research effort will provide a valuable documentation on the actual planning experience
of these countries. Within a year a new literature in this field may begin to be published.
F. Foreign aid and educational planning
Educational planners are concerned in using foreign aid effectively.
They therefore need to know how to benefit most from existing opportunities
for sending students abroad, they need to know what different types of aid
are available and what are the criteria of aid giving agencies. They need
to know about the procedures of each aid agency, how projects are selected
and how they should be submitted. In countrios alroady obtaining considerable
external aid, planners may be concerned with coordinating these aid efforts
and insuring they are integrated in overall plans. Research on all these
questions could be of practical utility. - 30
1. A study of opportunities and problems of the international flow of students and trainees
A study of the opportunities and problems of sending students and trainees abroad should be conceived as an analysis of the flow of students and trainees from developing to more advanced countries and their utilization
upon return, with the aim of identifying possible opportunities and ways to
raise the productivity of this flow. Such a study should pay special attention to the following:
- In which fields of specialization is the content of what is taught in other countries relevant to the problems of developing countries?
- In which fields of specialization is study abroad more economic than attempting to create local faculties to train people in developing countries? When are these economic conditions changed?
- In which fields of specialization are employment opportunities very attractive abroad and is there danger that students will not return home?
Such a study should over fifty to one hundred specializations of relevance to the developing countries including specializations in public health, medicine; science, engineering, agriculture, public administration and other social sciences. It should be based on 1) a careful examination of conditions in both the industrialized and in the developing countries,
2) the analysis of the pattern and composition of existing flows of students and trainees.
The second part of the study should examine the implications of the first part for the future implementation of programs for foreign students:
- On what basis are students and trainees normally selected and guided for studies abroad? What seem to be effective selection and guidance processes? What type of institutions have been established for these
purposes in both sending and receiving countries? How can these different
'institutions cooperate? What avenues exist to improve these programs? How
can these selection and guidance programs take into account the results
of the first part of this study?
- To what extent and how can countries receiving many foreign
students and trainees adapt their education and training programs to
meet their needs? In what fields of specialization is this desirable and
possible? What efforts have been undertaken in these directions? What
additional efforts seem promising?
- flow do the sending countries keep in touch with students abroad?
What practical steps can they take to keep them informed of developments
in their country and to keep them interested in the development issues
facing their nation? flow can sending countries assist students on the point
of terminating their studies to find employment when they return? What
programs have been established for this purpose and how successful have
they been? What are the avenues for further work in this area?
Such a study would take time and a considerable effort. It should
be undertaken by a multidisciplinary team including practical operators
familiar with these issues. They would first have to assess the considerable
literature that exists on these problems. They would then have to obtain
the cooperation of a significant number of countries that send many students
and trainees abroad and of at least four or five countries that receive them.
The team would have to visit the sending countries to get a first hand view
of the problems as seen from there and to initiate the economic and cost.
studies. The team would also have to conduct extensive research in the - 32 receiving countries. A team of talented people should with sufficient time and support be able to say things about the issues and problems of foreign studies which have not yet been said and bring out a comprehensive report on what can be done about them.
2. A study of criteria and procedures of providing external aid for education
A study should be undertaken of the criteria, the procedures and the nature of the different programs of the principal aid giving agencies working in education in developing countries. The study should first describe each aid institution, its programs, its objectives, the rough order of magnitude of the financial resources at its disposition for education, the criteria and approaches followed in providing assistance to education, the countries where it operates and the detailed procedures it follows for providing aid.
On the basis of the information obtained, the study should also provide a manual describing the minimum information needed to submit an education project to aid agencies and how this type of information can usually be obtained.
The study should then analyze the type of assistance generally given by aid agencies for educational development in the light of the problems faced by developing countries. For what types of problems can educational planners assume that foreign aid might be forthcoming? For what types of problems is aid generally harder to obtain? How can edu cational planners use aid most effectively in an education plan? What are probable future levels of external aid for education and how do these levels compare with needs? In view of these limits what should be the - 33
criteria for external assistance for education so that aid may have a
significant impact on education development in developing countries?
3. A study of the experience of providing assistance for education planning
In many countries, educational planning has been made possible or
greatly assisted through the work of external agencies. This is true not
only in Latin America, Asia and Africa but also in Europe. In the last
years varied experiences of providing aid for educational planning have
taken place. A study of these experiences in selected countries could provide a guide of the mistakes to avoid and of the valuable experiences that might be repeated elsewhere.
Such a study should seek to determine what type of international
assistance and cooperation is most effective for this purpose, what is
the role of short term missions, of long terni advisors. How effective are
regional approaches and confrontations such as those undertaken in Europe? The study should also examine the problems that have arisen when several aid agencies have attempted to provide assistance for educational planning
and development in the same country. How have the receiving governments
handled these problems? How successful have been joint cooperative arran gements between aid agencies?
Such a study should also pay attention to the need for educational planners and the means of training them. In short, it.should provide an
indication of what are the most desirable ways of .assisting governments of developing countries to undertake educational planning. What type of programs should aid agencies concentrate on?
A high level team financed by an independent Foundation could write a useful report which would provide valuable guidance to multilateral ,and bilateral agencies and to the governments of developing countries. - 34 -
III. STRENGTHENING THE RESEARCH COWMUNI=
in this report undertaken? Why is little research of the type listed somewhat expensive (in terms Probably because it is difficult to organize, research is usually conducted on a fam.iliar to the social sciences where a level of international cooperation shoe string!/) and because it requires research institutions which involving different disciplines and different There arei nevertheless, normally does not take place spontaneously, years, the number of universities important exceptions and in the last few this type of work have and specialized institutions that have undertakel research capabilities to undertake greatly increased in number. The necessary universities and specialized this work therefore exist. They exist in these countries. They also risearch centers in both industrialized and developing institutions, in departments exist in regional and international research bureaus and planning agencies of multilateral agencies and in the research A worldwide listing of of the governments of the developing countries. planning has institutions active in research on problems of educational now includes about 75 recently been prepared by the IIEP. This listing
institutions in some 40 countries.
undertaken if a Far more research of this type could therefore be I financial support mechanism could be devised to provide the necessary foment cooperative and impetus to orient the work under way and to
usual pattern in most Except for market reseatch and opinion polls the projects that can of the social sciences is still to undertake research on the one be handled by a few individuals. This pattern corresponds of research hand to the requirements of academic life: the undertaking and on for theses and the need to publish to maintain academic standing research the other to the lack of financial support for multidisciplinary in the social sciences. - 35
This necessary arrangements between institutions in different countries. impact since support and impetus could have a considerable multiplier many of these practical problems interest institutions who are already some of giving attention to some of them and who would therefore devote their own resources for this purpose.
of future re- Whtt are the practical means of orienting the course cooperative arran search towards these problems? And how can practical
gements between research institutions be established?
It will un The publication of the Bellagio report will be useful. and to scholars doubtedly provide some guidance to research administrators the course of interested in these problems. It may therefore help orient of money are future research, Nevertheless unless fairly substantial sums research earmarked for this research by those institutions able to finance the foundations, in this field, particularly by the aid agencies and by
the result of the Bellagio meeting may be very slow to germinate.
expensive. This As we said, this type of research tends to be somewhat of the research must is due to a number of factors already mentioned. Much exist. Even be undertaken in one or more countries where the raw materials to finance before the research can be initiated support must be obtained have the major the pre-research stage during which those people who will its objectives, responsibility for undertaking the research must define the cooperation its scope, the method of approach that will be followed, the research has that will be needed and its expected time and cost. Once obtained from been formulated in sufficient detail, cooperation must be undertaken. This the governments of the countries where the work is to be - 56
initial pre-research stage can already be expensive. Once the pre-research
stage is passed financial support must be found for the undertaking. If it
is found the research team has. to be constituted. The team will in most cases
have to travel and stay in one or more countries; it may have to give sub
contracts to local research groups to have specific work undertaken; it may
have to call on a larger group of experts to test out some of its conclusions. .It will write a report and the report will have to be printed and distributed
if it is to have an impact. All this requires time, patience and adequate
funding.
What type of funding will be needed to get this type of work going?
This is a difficult question to answer ahead of time and the question will have to be discussed further at Bellagio. As mentioned two types of funding
are needed. First there is need for catalytic money to undertake the pre
research stage. This is money to finance the formulation of each research
project, to find out what research institutions can participate in the
work, and to obtain necessary cooperation from governments. Second there
is need for funds to support part of the total cost of the research. How
much will be needed? Certainly something in the order of several hundred
thousand dollars for the pre-research stage. The total cost of the research is difficult to estimate but the projects listed here would probably run
somewhere between five and ten million dollars per year for several years.
But money is only one aspect of the problem. Another difficult issue
is the lack of cohesion that exists between the various institutions and
individuals interested in these problems. There exist today a multitude
of schools of thought in this field, a multitude of research groups and
practical operators, each with a different approach and concept of what the - 37
problem is all about and how it can be attacked. These differences make
the problem of achieving real cooperation between institutions more
difficult.
The seminar at Bellagio should therefore consider how this research community can be knitted more closely together. It is certain that international seminars such as Bellagio help in this direction but conferences and seminars are probably insufficient. One proposal made recently by the Comparative Education Center at Stanford University would provide for an international association of university institu tions interested in this field.-Such an association would provide a mechanism for the exchange of staff members, of students, of training materials, of research results and for the organization of joint research projects. Such an approach merits attention.
It has also been suggested by some that this field needs a better communication device: a news bulletin, a journal or something. Anyone who has recently contemplated the existing galaxy of professional journals can only shudder at this thought. But the Bellagio seminar should discuss how existing professional journals might be used more systematically by the planning community as a vehicle of communications.
These last practical problems lead us to the end of this report.
The participants at the Bellagio meeting will want to consider what are the next steps in this endeavour. How can the guidelines established at
Bellagio be implemented?
Sholid meetings of selected research institutions be organized to spell out in detail specific research projects? - 38 -
Should the creation of an association of institutions interested in these research questions be encouraged?
How can governments of developing countries and aid agencies take practical steps to foment this type of research?
What is the role and what are the priority tasks for the IIEP in this effort?