Abstract
Constant media reports about shooting and racial violence in the US and elsewhere lead us to suggest that our present-day is not a time for children; it is rather a time during which children’s wellbeing is being the cause of worry in the international media discourse. In many places, it is necessary to re-evaluate implementation of education to make schools safe, healthy and protective environments that build resilience and that meet the physical and psychological needs of children and adolescents. Contexts of adversity can be found in Western schools; and is endemic in the Majority World, where the relationship between schools, work, and marriage is complex. Many schools have a habit of operating in a vacuum, distanced from the learners’ culture, community, and work ambitions. Further, schools are neglecting risks. However, instead of analyzing the educational “situation” as a fixed entity and responding to a need to overcome pre-established “barriers” to go to school – we argue that the children’s situation is fluctuating, a becoming. Instead of providing recipes addressing barriers to education, we therefore argue that “intervention” (in the form of policies or programs) may be creating new feedback loops, such as less income to the family, more exposure to consumerist pressure at school, dangers on the school way, etc. Because of the existence of such complex adaptive systems, it is impossible to establish a foolproof formula for “good schooling,” because each intervention and effort is context-dependent and seldom adhering to a pre-knowable outcome.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Henceforth, I will use the most common acronym; ISIS).
- 2.
I do not find the dichotomy “developed” (or Western) and “developing” very useful, since many schools in the so-called Western world could be characterized as “adverse.” Also, within developing countries there are pockets of non-adverse areas and schools. Further, many regions would belong to neither developed nor developing. However, for clarity I find it practical to refer to what is generally perceived as the Western and the so-called “developing” – or “majority” world, without particularly preferring one term to another. I will generally be using the term Western or Minority World to designate the few countries that are perceived as “rich” together with the population that is both controlling and consuming a large part of the world’s resources. Developing or Majority World or again – “the South” (as in opposition to “the Global North” or the “West”) is used to designate the many who are poor.
- 3.
“Rating of countries against a set of 16 criteria grouped in four clusters: economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions.” http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/CPIA, accessed in August 2015.
- 4.
Some of the work, mainly in Cameroon, China, and Egypt, was focused on China’s education cooperation with Africa. However, I still collected materials and investigated issues related to “protection.” China’s education cooperation with African countries in itself did not have a clear focus on “protection” issues, but was chiefly concerned with language training, infrastructure projects, as well as capacity building in various fields.
- 5.
It should be underlined that the views expressed within this book are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the International Rescue Committee, UNICEF, USAID, USDOL, the World Bank or any other organization.
- 6.
It is out of the context of this book to discuss individual projects’ financing or particular challenges related to internal mechanisms in projects. Therefore, I have not specified project names (for interested readers, they can be found in the annexed reference list of evaluations and supporting documents).
- 7.
USDOL continues to provide financing of this type of projects, although they are no longer labeled Education Initiative.
- 8.
It should be noted that references to reports and other source documents not always contain page numbers, as various formatting styles of the reports may exist and page numbers may therefore vary. Where page numbers are included, they are usually referring to the online published PDF version of the report.
- 9.
An earlier review of complexity and education can be found in an article published by the International Journal of Educational Development, 30(1), 110–117, titled “Development as a complex process of change: Conception and analysis of projects, programs and policies” ( Nordtveit 2009). The argument of this article has been updated and transformed through ongoing discussions with Trey Menefee of the University of Hong Kong/Hong Kong Institute of Education. In particular, a personal communication from this latter, dated Mar 25, 2013, proved useful. Quotes from this latter will be referred to as Menefee 2013.
- 10.
See Nordtveit 2009 and 2010d for development of these ideas.
- 11.
Again, my use of the normative (and vague) term “abusive” is not meant as the imposition of a set of Western “standards,” but rather as recognition that in most cultural perspectives, some types of child labor and child marriage have been termed “abusive.” I recognize the difficulty of defining which type of “education as protection” would deal with which definition of “abusive;” and instead of trying to impose my own understanding of these terms, seek to bring them out in a debate on “what is education” – and “what are the aims of education.”
- 12.
This argument was initially posed in a paper published by the Comparative Education Review, titled “Schools as Agencies of Protection in Namibia and Swaziland: Can They Prevent Dropout and Child Labor in the Context of HIV/AIDS and Poverty?” ( Nordtveit 2010b). Here, the argument is reframed in a global context related to the same problems as in Namibia and Swaziland: a context of poverty, low education attainment, and high incidences of HIV/AIDS and child labor. In this book, I also expand on the argument to include child marriage, which in many contexts can be considered as another form of child labor.
References
2030 Agenda: see UN 2015.
Council of the European Union. (2007, November 19–20). Council conclusions on a EU response to situations of fragility. 2831st external relations council meeting Brussels. Retrieved August 2015, from http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/97177.pdf
Escobar, A. (1995). Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the third world. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Grotberg, E. H. (2003). Resilience for today. In E. H. Grotberg (Ed.), Resilience for today: Gaining strength for adversity. London: Praeger.
ICF International, & Nordtveit, B. H. (2012). USDOL-funded International Child Labor Elimination Projects (2009–2012): A synthesis review of evaluation reports. Washington, DC: ICF International/US Department of Labor.
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society. New York: Harper and Row.
Khalil, A. (2014, November 18). A teacher in Raqqa, living under ISIS rule. Syria Deeply, Retrieved August 2015, from http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2014/11/6391/teacher-raqqa-living-isis-rule/
Kinchin, J., & O’Connor, A. (2012). Century of the child: Growing by design 1900–2000. New York: The Museum of Modern Art.
Kuhn, L. (2008). Complexity and educational research: A critical reflection. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(1), 177–189.
Menefee, J. W. (2013). Personal communication with author (on complexity theory).
Nordtveit, B. H. (2009). Constructing development: Civil society and literacy in a time of globalization. Dordrecht: Springer.
ORC, MACRO, & Nordtveit, B. H. (2011). Vocational training for children and youth: Transitioning towards non exploitative employment. Washington, DC: ORC/MACRO/US Department of Labor.
Pikkety, T. (2013). Le Capital au XXIe siècle. Paris: Seuil.
Princeton-UNICEF Study. (2005). The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Princeton University “Nous Aimons Etudier!” Voices from rural Guinea on the education of girls and boys. Retrieved August 2015, from http://www.ungei.org/resources/files/princeton_unicef_guinea_report.pdf
Sachsenmaier, D. (2006). Global history and critiques of western perspectives. Comparative Education (Special Issue: Comparative Methodology in the Social Sciences), 451–470.
Schumpeter, J. (1994). History of economic analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skovdal, M., & Campbell, C. (2015). Beyond education: What role can schools play in the support and protection of children in extreme settings? International Journal of Educational Development, 41(C), 175–183.
UN. (2013). A new global partnership: Eradicate poverty and transform economies through sustainable development. The report of the High-Level Panel of eminent persons on the post-2015 development agenda. New York: UN Publishing. Retrieved August 2015, from http://www.post2015hlp.org
UNESCO. (2015). Global monitoring report. Education for all 2000–2015: Achievements and challenges. Paris: UNESCO.
UNICEF. (2011). State of world’s children. Adolescence: An age of opportunity. New York: UNICEF.
UNICEF. (2013). State of world’s children: Children with disabilities. UNICEF: New York.
UNICEF. (2015). State of the world’s children. Reimagine the future: Innovation for every child. New York: UNICEF.
USAID. (2011). USAID education strategy; education – Opportunity through learning. Washington, DC. Retrieved August 2015, from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACQ946.pdf
USAID. (2012). 2011 USAID education strategy; technical notes. Revised April 2012. Retrieved August 2015, from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdact681.pdf
Wallerstein, I. (2004). World-systems analysis: An introduction. Durham: Duke University Press.
World Bank. (2015). Harmonized list of FY16 fragile situations. Retrieved August 2015, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence
Wright, M. D., & Masten, A. S. (2005/2006). Resilience processes in development. In S. Goldstein & R. B. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children. New York: Kluwer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nordtveit, B.H. (2016). The Century of the Child. In: Schools as Protection?. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25651-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25651-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25650-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25651-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)