Digital Commons Network^™

Out Of School Factors Affecting Indigenous Girls’ Educational Attainment: A Theory Of Change For The Opening Opportunities Program In Rural Guatemala, Emma Z. L. Richardson, Mary Phillips, Alejandra Colom, Ielaf Khalil, Jennica Nichols

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Guatemalans have the lowest education rates in Latin America, and within Guatemala, Indigenous, rural and poor girls have much lower education rates than their peers. The ‘Opening Opportunities’ program attempts to invest in the poorest girls from rural Guatemala to build their personal, social, health and economic assets. Realist evaluation attempts to understand the key mechanisms in complex social interventions, and is under-used in education research. Based on data from life history interviews from graduates, this paper presents a Theory of Change to understand the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of the ‘Opening Opportunities’ Program relating to educational attainment. The four …

The Long Journey For Afghan Teacher Training Colleges: Accreditation And Quality Assurance, Tim Goddard, Mohammad A. Bakhshi, Jim Frideres

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

The authors, having spent five years working in Afghanistan provide a first-hand description of the processes that evolved over that time in the development of an accreditation and quality assurance policy and program for Teacher Training Colleges. The paper provides a brief historical sketch of the educational system in Afghanistan and the steps taken by the Technical Advisors in helping the Ministry of Education formalize a policy for accreditation and quality assurance. The second part of the paper focuses on the structure and content of the accreditation process that was successfully piloted on three Teacher Training Colleges. The Ministry of …

Grading Policies In Canada And China: A Comparative Study, Liying Cheng, Christopher Deluca, Heather Braund, Wei Yan

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

The current trend towards globalization, immigration, and internationalization of schools and universities around the world has led to the increased use of grades across educational systems. Given the use of grades for student promotion, mobilization, and admission into educational programs internationally, there is an urgent need to understand how grades are constructed differently in diverse systems of education. This study specifically examines grading policies across two educational contexts – Canada and China – to gain a nuanced understanding of how grades are constructed in these two systems where we see a large fast increase of Chinese students studying at Canadian …

The Centrality Of Participant Voice In Illuminating The Gender Regime In Education Research Using A Human Capabilities Analysis, Catherine Vanner

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

The human capabilities approach distinguishes between capabilities (a person’s ability to choose what she wants to do/be) and functionings (actually doing/being what she wants). When used to analyze gender equality in education, it draws attention to the nature of education and the extent to which it is equally empowering for girls and boys. This research synthesis examines the use of the human capabilities approach as an analytical framework for gender and education research. The approach’s emphasis on participant voice as a means of articulating what is valued in education highlights contradictions and similarities within a given community and attends to …

Diagnostic Des Conceptions En Sciences Susceptibles D’Expliquer Les Différences De Performances À Une Évaluation Internationale Entre Le Québec Et Le Maroc, Guy Norbert Loubaki, Patrice Potvin, Lalla Rabia Hijazi, Jesùs Vàzquèz-Abad

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Cet article présente un aperçu des résultats d'une étude doctorale qui s’inscrit dans une perspective de recherche d’explications des différences de performance à une évaluation internationale pour des sujets habitants des contextes géographiques où les habitudes de vie diffèrent considérablement.

Cette étude poursuit l’objectif de mieux comprendre et d’expliquer les différences de performance réalisées par des jeunes marocains et québécois de 15 ans dans une évaluation internationale combinant les questions en sciences des enquêtes TEIMS 2007 et PISA 2006.

Les résultats de cette étude permettront éventuellement de proposer des hypothèses de recherche portant sur l’équité dans l’explication des différences de …