29 May 2013

Call for Papers - Marketization, Privatization, and Shadow Education

In March and June, 2014 European Education will publish a special issue in two volumes dedicated to marketization, privatization, and shadow education in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia. This special issue will be published in collaboration with the Privatization in Education Research Initiative (PERI), which is a global initiative supported by the Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundations. PERI seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms and outcomes of the marketization, privatization, and private sector participation in education.
This region has a unique contribution to make to the body of research already growing under PERI because of the ways that private funds have flowed to education in the 20 years since the collapse of the socialist bloc. Rather than overt privatization visible through the development of private schools, this region has seen a hybrid of public and private financing as state budgets have not been sufficient to maintain the quality and range of educational services offered in the past. Parents have supplemented public education budgets by making informal payments directly to schools or school-based NGOs, by topping up teacher salaries, and by paying for private tutoring to ensure that their children have access to the entire school curriculum necessary for passing tests and university admission exams.
We welcome submissions that explore the changing nature of public/private education provision and address some of the following key questions: What are the main facets of privatization or marketization of education in the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia? What are some of the policy changes relating to marketization or privatization of education in the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia and how have these policies originated and resonated in the national contexts? Why have countries with similar historical and transitional paths experienced different scope, intensity, and nature of privatization in education? Given current trends in privatization the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia, what are the major concerns related to equity/educational justice and education quality that are either already manifesting themselves or are likely to manifest themselves in the future.
For more information about this call for papers and directions on how to submit papers, please see this .pdf document.

Creating Germans in Africa

In the most recent edition of European Education, we featured four papers about the export of European education to places around the world. One of these comes from Daniel J. Walther. He is the Gerald R. Kleinfeld Distinguished Professor in German History at Wartburg College. He is also the author of the book Creating Germans Abroad: Cultural Policies and National Identity in Namibia and several articles on the German experience in Namibia and on German colonialism. He is currently working on a study of the interplay between the medical profession and indigenous agency within the context of venereal diseases and prostitution. His paper in our journal is entitled "Creating Germans Abroad: White Education and the Colonial Condition in German Southwest Africa, 1894–1914." The abstract of the paper is provided below. If it looks like something that you would like to read, please follow this link to find out more about subscriptions.

Creating Germans Abroad: White Education and the Colonial Condition in German Southwest Africa, 1894–1914
From the perspective of German colonial supporters and authorities, appropriate white education in the settler colony of Southwest Africa (SWA) was essential for maintaining German hegemony in the territory. In order to reach this objective, the German colonial administration in SWA, with assistance from pedagogues and institutions in Germany, embarked upon a program to turn the colony’s white youth into productive and loyal members of the German Empire. The educational policies pursued provide a lens to explore how colonial enthusiasts defined what it meant to be German. However, this image and the policies intended to create it did not exist in isolation. Other populations, colonial economics, and geography resulted in a German educational system that could not be exactly replicated in SWA. Thus, a system and ultimately a population emerged that were shaped by both German educational philosophies and colonial exigencies.

08 May 2013

European Education in the Philippines

The most recent addition of European Education features four great papers that each discuss the ways that European education was implemented outside of Europe. One of these is by Erin P. Hardacker. She is a doctoral student in Educational Policy Studies and Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research interests include colonial education systems and policies, civic and language education in American and colonial contexts, and the history of childhood. Her paper is entitled "The Impact of Spain’s Educational Decree of 1863 on the Spread of Philippine Public Schools and Language Acquisition." An abstract is provided below, and if it piques your interest, you can find out more about subscriptions here.

"The Impact of Spain’s Educational Decree of 1863 on the Spread of Philippine Public Schools and Language Acquisition"
The Educational Decree of 1863 was an effort by Spain to reform the Philippine colonial education system. The Decree established a complete system of education in the archipelago—it required two elementary schools in each municipality (one for girls and one for boys), standardized the curriculum, and established normal schools, thus making systematized education available to the masses. In the nineteenth century, educational opportunities opened to a segment of society previously kept under control by the religious orders through a selective curriculum of rudimentary academics and a heavy dose of catechism. The colonial logic was to create a cadre of clerks and officials in service of the new, liberal colonial state, but the Educational Decree of 1863 had an impact the reverse of what Spain intended. The formal system of education created in the Philippines under Spain, even when unevenly implemented, provided Filipinos with the tools to function outside of colonial rule.