Project updates

Results of survey of Southeastern European school principals now available

In June 2008, the Education Support Program of the Open Society Institute, in partnership with the Center for Educational Policy Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, carried out a cross-country survey of school principals in eight Southeastern European countries. These countries have adopted reforms institutionalizing parental participation in school governance, and are in the process of delegating decision-making authority to school level. The general aim of the nationally representative surveys was to better understand the participatory opportunities created for parents by school leadership. The purpose was to gather evidence in view of providing an enhanced and contextualized understanding of school principals' perceptions and actions related to parental participation (in decision-making, extracurricular activities, and the education of one's own children) in public elementary schools. The data was collected using two-stage random sampling.

The overall findings indicate that principals in all countries view parental participation in school life as yielding benefits both in terms of the educational attainment of pupils and in terms of overall school atmosphere; and that participation is better in those schools in which the principals are convinced of such benefits. However, when asked about the effectiveness of home-school communication and the involvement of parents in school governance, principals report limited efforts on the school side and also limited effectiveness in the meaningful engagement of parents. In the overwhelming majority of schools in all eight countries under study there are no rules that would prohibit the participation of parents' representatives in school decision-making. While this is a positive finding, when it comes to the involvement of parent councils in shaping school policies and regulations, participation takes place on an invitation basis in a significant proportion of schools.

In 2009 a cross-country survey of parents will be carried out. This additional component of the project is being implemented to test and possibly refine the findings obtained from the school principal survey and thus gain more in-depth information about parental needs, expectations and experience regarding schools' efforts towards their engagement in and influence on school life.

More information about the project, including all eight country reports and the comparative survey report, are available at http://www.see-educoop.net/aeiq. For more information, please contact Gordana Miljevic at gmiljevic@osi.hu

Celebrating Romani high-school students' graduation in Macedonia

On October 17, 2008, Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) held a ceremony and reception to celebrate the graduation of 198 Romani high-school students who were recipients of scholarships and mentoring of the Roma Education Program (REP) funded by USAID.

More than 250 people, including all the REP beneficiaries, their parents, teachers, USAID and Ministry of Education representatives attended the event, which was covered by the mass media. U.S. Ambassador Philip Reeker, President of the Republic of Macedonia Branko Crvenkovski, Minister without Portfolio - National Coordinator of the Decade of Roma Inclusion Nezdet Mustafa, FOSIM Executive Director Vladimir Milcin and REP Chief of Party Spomenka Lazarevska gave speeches. REP beneficiaries Fetije Demirovska and Akif Kariman shared their experiences of participation in the program.

The Roma Education Program is implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia from pre-school to university. It aims to improve the retention and achievement rate of targeted Romani youth. REP prepares 250 pre-school age Romani children to enter primary school, provides after-school support and subject-based tutoring to 740 primary-school students as well as scholarship, mentoring and additional academic support to 262 secondary and 65 university students.

For more information, please contact Spomenka Lazarevska, slazare@soros.org.mk

Sacred Heart College operates afternoon school for primary-school refugee children in Johannesburg, South Africa

There are thousands of unschooled refugee children in Johannesburg who have been refused access to state schools. Legally these children are entitled to an education in South Africa. However, many of these children are refused access to state schools due to xenophobia, insufficient resources at state schools, inability to pay fees, and language difficulties.

In an effort to address the crisis, Sacred Heart College, an independent Catholic school in Johannesburg, started an afternoon school based at the college for 175 primary-school refugee children. The Three2Six School makes use of unused classrooms in the afternoons, applying a cost-effective way to provide additional schooling. The project provides this interim solution to ensure that the children affected do not miss out on valuable schooling, and at the same time advocate with the Department of Education and local schools to secure places for these children in state schools. Sacred Heart provides mentorship and training in the South African school curriculum to the teachers. In addition, the children receive uniforms, transport and one meal per day as well as immunization for them and their siblings.

Contact: Elinor Kern, email: elinork@sacredheart.co.za

Developing a new framework for evaluating the REFLECT adult learning program

One of the most exciting innovations in adult literacy over the last 15 years has been the development and spread of the REFLECT approach, which won the UN Literacy Prize in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008 and which is now used by over 500 organizations in 70 countries. REFLECT is an innovative approach to adult learning and social change that fuses the theories of Paulo Freire with participatory methodologies developed for Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).

REFLECT has been successful in linking literacy with empowerment and basic rights, but as practitioners operate in diverse contexts and approaches to evaluation have been equally varied, it is difficult to consolidate evidence and learning. In response, REFLECT practitioners have come together to develop an evaluation framework. In 2007, 39 practitioners from Africa and Asia met in South Africa to develop a framework draft. A review of existing evaluations was also undertaken and a website resource center created on Basecamp. For project consolidation, a vast online discussion went on during June and July 2008. Eighty-eight practitioners from 42 countries in four languages participated in the discussions in Anglophone, Francophone and Portuguese/Spanish-speaking groups. The framework is currently being finalized and will be piloted in Guinea Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, El Salvador, Senegal and Sierra Leone from November 2008 to February 2009. The project plans an extension for 2009 to disseminate the framework and the broader topic of literacy and participatory evaluation for adult education towards CONFINTEA VI and beyond.

This project was financed by Action Aid, DVV International and the Open Society Institute (OSI).

For further information on the REFLECT Evaluation Project contact:
M.J. Cascant i Sempere (Kas) from SARN
Reflect Evaluation Framework Project Coordinator
South Africa REFLECT Network
www.sareflect.org
kas.sempere@sareflect.org +27 (0)11 403 7321

The Right to Education Project launches new website marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Right to Education Project has been supported by the Education Support Program (ESP) of the Open Society Institute since the beginning of 2008, with the aim of continuing the groundbreaking work of former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Katarina Tomasevski.

Jointly steered by ActionAid International and the Global Campaign for Education, in partnership with Amnesty International among others, the Right to Education Project aims to promote social mobilization and legal accountability. The cornerstone of the project is an up-to-date and wide-reaching website on education rights: a definitive one-stop location for everything you need to know and an initial point of support for anyone seeking legal or mobilization advice.The website (www.right-to-education.org) provides country-specific information; accessible explanations of countries' legal obligations; a country database of constitutional guarantees, education laws and policies; national and international case law; and country-specific observations from the United Nations and regional human rights monitoring bodies. The website aims to be a place for seeking knowledge and sharing experiences.

To ensure continued relevance and engagement with activists and the academic community the project undertakes comparative research to advance an understanding of the right to education. Initial research efforts revolve around indicators of the right to education, which will form the basis of a human rights impact assessment tool. Further information will follow later.

For more information about the website and the comparative research, please write to info@right-to-education.org or visit www.right-to-education.org

Events, conferences

ESP supports 48th Session of the UNESCO-IBE International Conference on Education

The 48th session of the International Conference on Education (ICE), "Inclusive Education: The Way of the Future," took place from November 25-28, 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland. The long-term objective of the 48th ICE is to support UNESCO member states to provide social and political conditions which every person needs in order to exercise their human right to access, take an active part in, and learn from educational opportunities.

Four workshops were organized on the following sub-themes and aims:

• Inclusive education: approaches, scope and content: to broaden the understanding of the theory and the practice of inclusive education.
• Inclusive education: public policies: to demonstrate the role of governments in the development and the implementation of policies on inclusive education.
• Inclusive education: systems, links and transitions: to create education systems which offer opportunities for lifelong learning.
• Inclusive education: learners and teachers: to foster a learning environment where teachers are equipped to meet the learners' diverse expectations and needs.

In the final debate, participants discussed proposals for action on an international policy agenda for inclusive education.

The Education Support Program (ESP) provided direct financial support for conference organization, as well as for the trip and accommodation of the authors of the papers. ESP also prepared papers for the conference and provided a rapporteur for the Inclusive Education: Approaches, Scope and Content workshop.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/ice/48th-session-2008.html

The Network of Education Policy Centers holds third General Assembly

The 3rd NEPC General Assembly took place in Bucharest, Romania on December 7-8, 2008, organized by CEDU 2000+ (http://www.cedu.ro/progrcuren.php) The representatives of 18 NEPC member centers attended. The assembly approved membership for two new applicants: the Center for Educational Policy (Serbia) and the Forum for Freedom in Education (Croatia).

Besides discussing NEPC organizational issues, NEPC member centers had the opportunity to present ongoing projects of interest to other members. One such presentation introduced a private tutoring project, the next phase of which will be carried out in 2009. NEPC also introduced a new initiative for an education corruption index, which they aim to establish as a valid monitoring system respected by local, national and international educational stakeholders including parents. Members were asked to comment and try to find possible ways to fund this project in their own countries. In addition, the NEPC board presented the idea of organizing the second NEPC Summer School in Georgia in July 2009. More information will be available soon on the NEPC website: www.edupolicy.net. During a workshop for NEPC members, "From NGO to Business," the CEDU 2000+ team shared their experiences in becoming a company.

For more information please contact: lana@idi.hr

Major international conference held on democratic practices in education

Democracies will thrive throughout the world only when all children learn and experience the fundamental principles and values of democracy from the earliest age. To explore how education for active citizenship helps children learn democratic values, 350 early childhood practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and NGO activists from more than 70 countries in Europe and around the world convened in Budapest, Hungary on October 9-12 2008, at the international Active Citizenship: Democratic Practices in Education conference.

The event was hosted by the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), a leading network of ECD professionals and organizations primarily from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Through the event, ISSA and other key international organizations involved UNICEF, the World Forum Foundation, the Open Society Institute, Children in Europe, the Roma Education Fund, Early Years, and the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Education.

Building on the increasing prominence of early childhood education and care in European policy agendas, this exciting and prestigious international event focused on the crucial role of citizenship education as an important part of early childhood development. During the conference, participants explored how the promotion of democracy, both in practice and through advocacy, can affect the quality of children's lives.

For more information about the conference, please visit the the conference website: http://www.diamond-congress.hu/issa2008/00home/00home.htm or contact Eva Izsak at eizsak@issa.hu