Expanding Opportunities and Building Competencies for Young People

A New Agenda for Secondary Education

International Conference on 60 Years ofInternational Conference on 60 Years of Korean EducationKorean Education

Achievements and ChallengesAchievements and ChallengesSeoul, 14 June 2005

Ernesto CuadraThe World Bank

Secondary Education: Why now?Secondary Education: Why now?

• After primary education, What? Surging demand driven by EFA.

• “Youth-quake” The largest ever cohort of young people. A global risk or opportunity? Need to build/harness their skills

• Primary education is not enough Globalization and knowledge society present new challenges to human capital development

Demand for secondary education is

soaring

Confluence of 3 forces:

Political TensionsPolitical Tensions

• While there are strong national and international lobbies for primary or tertiary, there are no such thing for secondary education.

• Reaching political consensus for secondary expansion and reform is much more difficult than for primary or tertiary education.

• As a result, policy choices are more ambiguous and complex.

Secondary Education Secondary Education As a Policy ParadoxAs a Policy Paradox

• Terminal - Preparatory. • Compulsory - Postcompulsory• Uniform-diverse• Individual needs and interests -

Societal/Labor market needs• Integrate students and offset

disadvantages – Select and Screen according to academic ability

• Common curriculum for all - Specialized curriculum for some

Demands for Job-Skills is Demands for Job-Skills is Changing RapidlyChanging Rapidly

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1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1998

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Expert Thinking

ComplexCommunication

Routine Manual

Routine CognitiveNon-Routine Manual

Source: Autor, Levy, and Murnane (2003) “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration,” Quarterly Journal of Economics.

The Challenge is to Build up The Challenge is to Build up Meta-cognitive Capital Meta-cognitive Capital and Creative Capital (i)and Creative Capital (i)

Ability to integrate formal and informal learning, declarative knowledge (or knowing that) and procedural knowledge (or know-how)

Ability to access, select and evaluate knowledge in an information-soaked world

Ability to develop and apply several forms of intelligence, beyond strictly cognitive factors

Ability to work and learn effectively and in teams

The Challenge is to Build up The Challenge is to Build up Meta-cognitive Capital Meta-cognitive Capital and Creative Capital (ii)and Creative Capital (ii)

Ability to create, transpose and transfer knowledge

Ability to cope with ambiguous situations, unpredictable problems and unforeseeable circumstances

Ability to cope with multiple careers, learning how to locate oneself in a job market, choose and fashion the relevant education and training

Learning to Think and Learning to Learn

How Systems are RespondingHow Systems are RespondingOverall Trends in Curriculum Overall Trends in Curriculum

Reform (i)Reform (i)

• Deferring selection and specialization of pupils

• Ability grouping, tracking and streaming may raise the attainment of higher achievers at the expense of low achievers (Ireson and Hallam), which, apart from equity concerns, also raises worries about the loss of human and social capital

How Systems are Responding How Systems are Responding Overall Trends in Curriculum Overall Trends in Curriculum

Reform (ii)Reform (ii)• Increasing the status recognition of traditional

vocational education, in part by pushing it to the upper secondary level and then to post-secondary level.

• Departing from the disciplinary tradition of curriculum design and development, thus moving to broader curriculum areas, skill centered-approaches, etc., which amount to a more relevant and inclusive secondary curriculum.

Secondary Education Curriculum Secondary Education Curriculum Choices and Trade-offs Choices and Trade-offs

SCENARIO 1SCENARIO 1

• Highly specialized (tracking starts at 11 or 12) • Highly selective (examination at the age of 11-12

resulting in the attendance to different type of school)

• Vocational education a main option in lower secondary

• Emphasis on traditional disciplines in academic tracks

• Job-preparation and practice in the vocational track

Secondary Education Curriculum Secondary Education Curriculum Choices and Trade-offs Choices and Trade-offs

SCENARIO 2SCENARIO 2• Deferring specialization and selection until the end of

lower secondary• System of elective subjects is the only device to

introduce some internal differentiation• Vocational education is pushed to the upper

secondary level• Introducing vocational elements in the general

common curriculum• Cross-curricular issues and interdisciplinary

approaches are considered, but traditional areas continue to frame the secondary curriculum

Secondary Education Curriculum Secondary Education Curriculum Choices and Trade-offs Choices and Trade-offs

SCENARIO 3SCENARIO 3

• Deferring specialization and selection until the end of upper secondary school

• Elective system and homogeneous student grouping form the internal system of selection within a given high-school

• Vocational education is a fully pos-secondary enterprise• Vocational elements are built in the academic curriculum

to a greater and greater extent• Apart from the Languages and Mathematics, the rest of

the curriculum departs from the disciplinary tradition, so that skills-based, project-based and cross-curricular alternatives are widespread

The Shifting – and Fading – Frontier The Shifting – and Fading – Frontier Between General and Vocational CurriculaBetween General and Vocational Curricula

• The issue nowadays is not so much how to provide vocational skills but how to add basic vocational content to the general curriculum

• Emphasis given on the applied dimension of all sorts of knowledge, beginning with the most traditional curriculum areas

• Introducing greater diversity by diversifying upper secondary education through the development of multi-faceted programs offering alternative pathways for education and training

Some Regions are Catching UpSecondary GER by World Region

0

20

40

60

80

100

East Asia ECA LAC MNA SouthAsia

Africa

1980 1990 2001

Education Attaintment Gaps GrowPercentage of Population

With at Least Some Secondary Education

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010Year

Per

cent

age

ME & N Af

Sub-Sah Af

Lat Am/Car

E Asia/Pac

S Asia

Developed

E Europe

Pisa Results for Selected Developing Countries and OECD

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60

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<1 1 2 3 4 5Pisa Proficiency Levels

Cum

ulat

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% o

f le

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PeruIndonesiaBrazilMexicoThailandOECD totalOECD Average

Is Sustainable Expansion of Is Sustainable Expansion of Secondary Education Feasible?Secondary Education Feasible?

• Hong-Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Finland, demonstrate that it is possible

• And it can be done in a short period of time. Between 1990 and 2000 these countries increased the average years of schooling by more than 4.5 years

• Finland and Korea did it, by decreasing the fraction of the adult population with only primary education and increasing the opportunities for all to attend secondary education

Finland and KoreaFinland and Korea Balanced Expansion of Balanced Expansion of Educational Educational AttainmentAttainment

K O R E AP o p u la tio n o v e r 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

8 0 %

3 %

1 7 %

4 9 %

4 2 %

9 %

1 8 %

5 5 %

2 6 %

F IN L A N DF IN L A N DP o p u la tio n o ver 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

8 8 %

4 %

8 %

1 1 %

2 4 %

6 6 %

2 2 %

4 8 %

3 0 %

Colombia and BangladeshColombia and Bangladesh Unbalanced Expansion ofUnbalanced Expansion of Educational Educational AttainmentAttainment

C O L O M B IAC O L O M B IAP o p u la tio n o ver 1 5

1 9 6 01 9 6 0

1 9 8 01 9 8 0

2 0 0 02 0 0 0

8 4 %

1 4 %

2 %

7 3 %2 3 %

4 %

6 3 %

2 7 %

1 0 %

B A N G L A D E SHP opu la tion over 15

19601960

20002000

19801980

96%

0.4%

3%

1%

15%

84%

3%

14%

83%

Financial Gaps and ImbalancesFinancial Gaps and ImbalancesFast-growing economies

Countries succeeding in expanding secondary enrollment

Slow-growing economies

Countries not succeeding in expanding secondary enrollment

Per-student spending on secondary students as a ratio of per-student spending on primary students

1.4 1.4 2.2 2.6

Per-student spending on tertiary students as a ratio of per-student spending on secondary students

3.0 3.2 11.0 9.3

Access and Quality Access and Quality The Twin ChallengeThe Twin Challenge

• Develop a mass system of secondary education, with quality and equity

• Secondary education systems must generate effective demand among youth

• Improve quality, defined as different institutional responses to an increasingly diverse demand

Access and Quality are not just Access and Quality are not just twin goals but Siamese Twinstwin goals but Siamese Twins

• No country has expanded secondary education without creating the public opinion perception of a quality drop.

• Unchecked expansion can lead to increased inequality, particularly gender and ethnic inequality.

And The Role of the State is And The Role of the State is More Important than EverMore Important than Ever

• Mobilizing financial resources.• ensuring political consensus and

providing technical leadership and support.

• Creating conditions for alternative providers

• Targeting the poor and excluded groups.• Monitoring and evaluating service

delivery and system quality.

Looking Ahead: Looking Ahead: 3 Key Challenges3 Key Challenges

• Minimizing the inter-country/inter-regional education gap

• Sustainable financing of the expansion

• Address youth needs of relevant secondary education experiences