NN39, October 2007
Best Practice in Education and Training: Hype or Hope?
ICT As Best Practices In The Asian Development Bank
By Jazira Asanova, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
KeywordsICT, Asian Development Bank, Best practice
----
International organizations? impact on national education policies can be institutionalized through promotion of particular strategies for educational change as ?best practices?. It is essential to understand such best practices and the reasons why they are construed as exemplary approaches, as discursive frameworks of international institutions shape the ?limits of the possible? (Mundy, 2007), by constructing the challenges to current institutional forms of schooling and preferred solutions, with implications for the structure, culture, and organization of education at national, sub-national, and regional levels (Robertson, 2005). The Asian Development Bank (thereafter ADB, also bank), for example, has selected on its web site a few practices in education that it views as exemplary and refers to them as ?good? rather than ?best? practices, suggesting a cautious approach to the notion of best practices within the bank. These ?good practices? in education include Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and sector-wide approaches, among a few others. In the following sections I discuss the reasons why ICT lends itself to being selected as a best practice by a multilateral development bank and the limitations of ADB?s construction of ICT as a best educational practice.
Broadly, ICT support several focal points in multilateral development banks? policies: poverty reduction, cost-effectiveness, decentralization, and public-private partnership. Given the location of multilateral development banks in the international financial marketplace, it is not surprising that ICT?s cost effectiveness is among its main virtues. According to the ADB, increased computing power, wireless access, satellite technology, and reduced telecommunications costs will reduce the cost of delivering education. Similarly, ICTs are convenient for rapid knowledge transfer through, for example, a ?cluster leader schools? concept in Uzbekistan, providing ?an institutional infrastructure for the rapid development of teacher training? (ADB, 2006, p.8). However, there is some indication that the technology package itself could not sustain the onslaught of electricity cuts, telephone line cuts, and inadequate fibre optic cable in developing countries. For instance, distance learning ?requires national level infrastructural development in the areas of phone and computer networks, email Internet service provision, as well as substantial subsidizing of these systems to allow a larger group than those who can afford these links to join the educational process? (Halileh and Giacaman, 2002, cited in Dicum, 2004). Thus, addressing concerns about maintenance and sustainability of ICT projects requires evaluating the ICT-readiness and needs in the recipient countries, including the enabling environment in recipient countries.
As Ellerman argues in this Norrag issue, en vogue development practices, often identified as ?best practices? have to show quick results on the ground, results which can then be amplified through public relations activities couched in terms of the latest rhetoric. In this regard, ICT can be quantified in terms of inputs and outputs (the number of computers supplied, computer labs opened, and the number of teachers trained using ICT) and the ADB?s approach to ICT focuses on such inputs and outputs. This input-driven approach to ICT, while facilitating the reporting of project results, encapsulates computer-assisted learning processes and outcomes in a black box. The bank?s existing ICT projects are guided by the assumption that e-learning, e-training, and e-textbooks generally enhance education quality. ADB?s discussion of ICT as a best practice lacks supporting evidence on specific ways in which information and communication technologies improve learning outcomes and on the effectiveness of computer-based learning systems in individual countries in the Asia-Pacific. While the bank has proposed pilot studies in Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, and Samoa under the project ?Technical assistance for innovative information and communication technology in education and its potential for reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region? in 2004, results of these pilot studies are difficult to locate.
Further, consistent with development agencies? equity and poverty reduction concerns, ICT is envisioned as essential for bridging the digital divide and for reaching the poorest members of society (ADB, 2006, p.14). However, ICT is envisioned to support mainly formal education, with little attention to the role and impact of ICT in reaching migrant, refugee, and street children, and children in conflict and emergency situations.
ICT in education is also construed as a best practice given its purported role in the ?global competition?: ?Intense global competition and rapid technology change require a well-educated and technologically skilled workforce, producing high value-added and knowledge-intensive goods and services? (ADB, 2006, p.6). Thus, ICT skills are legitimized as important as reading and other literacy skills. Given the importance of knowledge-intensive societies, ICT is seen as important in providing crucial linkages to knowledge hubs (e.g., breaking down ?isolation from information and support mechanisms faced by rural teachers?). In brief, inclusion of ICT as a best practice requires attention to the core matters of educational process, including measuring the impact (i.e., learning outcomes) of ICT-driven projects.
References
ADB (2006) ADB Review ? News from the Asian Development Bank, 38(3), downloaded on February 20, 2007 from
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Periodicals/ADB_Review/2006/vol38-3/vol38-3.pdf
Dicum, J. (2004) Opening Discourse: Using Technologies for Supporting Learning in Complex Emergencies. In Jim Hewitt & Isha DeCoito (eds) OISE Papers in Educational Technologies. Toronto: The Imperial Oil Centre for Studies in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. pp. 3-16.
Halileh, S. & Giacaman, R. (2002, Oct 1) Distance learning - An educational survival
strategy in war-like conditions at the Institute of Community and Public Health,
Birzeit University. Downloaded on April 23, 2003 from
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/c7ca0eaf6c79faae852567af003c69ca/bd2c4be
b30ce946785256c7e0073c14e?OpenDocument
Mundy, K. (2007). Educational Multilateralism: Origins and Indications for Global Governance, in Eds. Martens, Kerstin; Rusconi, Alessandra; Leuze, Kathrin,
New Arenas of Education Governance ? The Impact of International Organisations and Markets on Educationnal Policymaking, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Robertson, S. (2005). ?Re-Imagining and Rescripting the Future of Education: Global Knowledge Economy Discourses and the Challenge to Education Systems?. Comparative Education, 41(2): 151-170.
Back to full contents of NORRAG NEWS 39.
Download the full issue of NORRAG NEWS 39 in pdf.