Enhancing dialogue among researchers, policy makers, and community members in Uganda: Complexities, possibilities, and persistent questions

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 45, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 257-279

  Carasco, Joseph ^a   Clair, Nancy ^a   Kanyike, Lawrence ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0035588841     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447664     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Seaburt, 1970), pp. 76-77.
2. Brenda Turnbull, Technical Assistance and the Creation of Education Knowledge (Washington, D.C.: Policy Studies Associates, 1996).
3. Mark B. Ginsburg and Jorge Gorostiaga, "Relationships between Theorists/Reseachers and Policymakers/Practitioners: Rethinking the Two Cultures Thesis and the Possibility of Dialogue," in this issue.
4. Henry Levin, "Why Isn't Education Research More Useful?" in Knowledge for Policy: Improving Education through Research, ed. Don Anderson and Bruce Biddle (London: Falmer, 1991), pp. 72, 77.
5. Bruce Biddle and Don Anderson, "Social Research and Educational Change," in Anderson and Biddle, eds., p. 6.
6. Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge (New York: Pantheon, 1980).
7. D. Pan, "Ivory Tower and Red Tape," Telos 86 (1990): 109-17.
8. Fernando Reimers and Noel McGinn, Informed Dialogue: Using Research to Shape Educational Policy around the World (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997), p. 5.
9. J. Bradley Cousins and Kenneth Leithwood, "Current Empirical Research on Evaluation Utilization," Review of Evaluation Research 56, no. 3 (1986): 331-64.
10. The Improving Education Quality Project is funded by USAID and undertaken by the American Institutes for Research in collaboration with the Academy for Educational Development; Education Development Center; Juarez and Associates; and the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for International Studies in Education.
11. Joseph Carasco, John C. Munene, Deborah H. Kasente, and Mathew Odada, Factors Influencing Effectiveness in Primary Schools: A Baseline Study (Kampala, Uganda: Ugandan National Examinations Board and Improving Education Quality Project, 1996); John C. Munene, Mathew Odada, Deborah H. Kasente, Joseph Carasco, W. Epeju, Obwoya Kinyera Sam, Modesta Omona, and George A. Kinyera, Teachers' Work Experience and Pupils' Schooling Experience as Determinants of Achievement in Primary Schools (Kampala, Uganda: Ugandan National Examinations Board and Improving Education Quality Project, 1997).
12. Joseph Carasco, John C. Munene, Deborah H. Kasente, and Mathew Odada, Factors Influencing Effectiveness in Primary Schools: A Baseline Study (Kampala, Uganda: Ugandan National Examinations Board and Improving Education Quality Project, 1996); John C. Munene, Mathew Odada, Deborah H. Kasente, Joseph Carasco, W. Epeju, Obwoya Kinyera Sam, Modesta Omona, and George A. Kinyera, Teachers' Work Experience and Pupils' Schooling Experience as Determinants of Achievement in Primary Schools (Kampala, Uganda: Ugandan National Examinations Board and Improving Education Quality Project, 1997).
13. Joseph Carasco, Lawrence Kanyike, and Nancy Clair, "From Baseline to Insight: A Look at the Process of Change through Uganda's Improving Educational Quality Project" (paper presented at the Tenth World Conference of Comparative Education, Capetown, South Africa, 1998).
14. For conditions, see Carasco et al., Factors Influencing Effectiveness in Primary Schools; Munene et al. Universal Primary Education has caused considerable controversy in Uganda as many schools do not have the infrastructure to provide education for all students.
15. For conditions, see Carasco et al., Factors Influencing Effectiveness in Primary Schools; Munene et al. Universal Primary Education has caused considerable controversy in Uganda as many schools do not have the infrastructure to provide education for all students.
16. Peter Reason, "Three Approaches to Participative Inquiry," in Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1998); Robert Chambers, "Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal," World Development 22, no. 7 (1994); and Eileen Kane, Seeing for Yourself: Research Handbook for Girls Education in Africa (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1995).
17. Peter Reason, "Three Approaches to Participative Inquiry," in Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1998); Robert Chambers, "Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal," World Development 22, no. 7 (1994); and Eileen Kane, Seeing for Yourself: Research Handbook for Girls Education in Africa (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1995).
18. Peter Reason, "Three Approaches to Participative Inquiry," in Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1998); Robert Chambers, "Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal," World Development 22, no. 7 (1994); and Eileen Kane, Seeing for Yourself: Research Handbook for Girls Education in Africa (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1995).
19. Ernest T. Stringer, Action Research: A Handbook for Practitioners (Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage, 1996).
20. Despite the fact that researchers approach the work as partners with community members, there are still differences in status and division of labor between researchers and community members.
21. Reason, p. 84.
22. Nancy Clair, "Teacher Study Groups: Persistent Questions in a Promising Approach," TESOL Quarterly 32, no. 3 (1998): 465-92.
23. Andrea Rugh and Heather Bossert, Involving Communities: Participation in the Delivery of Education Programs (Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for International Development, 1998).
24. The IEQ core research team consisted of Joseph Carasco, principal researcher, Makerere University; Lawrence Kanyike, research leader, Ugandan National Examinations Board; Modesta Omona, lecturer, Institutes of Teacher Education, Kyambogo; Vincent Birungi, tutor, Bushenyi Core Primary Teachers College; Denis Nuwagaba, Action for Development; Imelda Kemeza, CCT Kazo Coordinating Center; Nekemiah Mwesigwa, county inspector of schools, Kazo County; Patience Namanya, recent graduate, Makerere University; Nancy Clair, senior research advisor, Education Development Center. At the beginning of 1999, N. Mwesigwa was transferred and replaced by Michael Tindikira, District Education Office (DEO). All team members are Ugandan except Clair, who is North American. For work on interpretive theory, see Frederick Erickson, "Qualitative Methods in Research on Teaching," in Handbook of Research on Teaching, ed. Merlin C. Wittrock, 3d ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1986), pp. 119-61. For work on qualitative data analysis, see Mathews Miles and Michael Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis, 2d ed. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1994).
25. The IEQ core research team consisted of Joseph Carasco, principal researcher, Makerere University; Lawrence Kanyike, research leader, Ugandan National Examinations Board; Modesta Omona, lecturer, Institutes of Teacher Education, Kyambogo; Vincent Birungi, tutor, Bushenyi Core Primary Teachers College; Denis Nuwagaba, Action for Development; Imelda Kemeza, CCT Kazo Coordinating Center; Nekemiah Mwesigwa, county inspector of schools, Kazo County; Patience Namanya, recent graduate, Makerere University; Nancy Clair, senior research advisor, Education Development Center. At the beginning of 1999, N. Mwesigwa was transferred and replaced by Michael Tindikira, District Education Office (DEO). All team members are Ugandan except Clair, who is North American. For work on interpretive theory, see Frederick Erickson, "Qualitative Methods in Research on Teaching," in Handbook of Research on Teaching, ed. Merlin C. Wittrock, 3d ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1986), pp. 119-61. For work on qualitative data analysis, see Mathews Miles and Michael Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis, 2d ed. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1994).
26. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln, "Entering the Field of Qualitative Research," in The Landscape of Qualitative Inquiry, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1998), p. 27.
27. Miles and Huberman; Amanda Coffey and Paul Atkinson, Making Sense of Qualitative Data (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1996).
28. Miles and Huberman; Amanda Coffey and Paul Atkinson, Making Sense of Qualitative Data (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1996).
29. A PAR workshop had already been held with IEQ researchers and community members.
30. Miles and Huberman.
31. Carasco and Clair had numerous ongoing discussions about data representation in oral cultures. Carasco questioned the necessity of written field notes in oral cultures.
32. At the time of this research TDMS was the organization responsible for implementing most of the primary education reforms. TDMS is comprised of a small core technical staff at headquarters and a network of core primary teachers' colleges (Core PTCs) responsible for zones in the country. There are 18 Core PTCs. The schools within the jurisdiction of each Core PTC are grouped in clusters called coordinating centers, each supervised by a CCT.
33. During meetings, community members, teachers, and pupils used the language in which they were most comfortable. Teacher meetings were conducted in both languages, community meetings were in Runyankore, and pupil meetings were in both languages. Translators were used in meetings when all stakeholders were present.
34. Kane (n. 14 above).
35. For further details on teachers', pupils', and community members' perspectives on improving education, see Uganda IEQ Project Core Research Team, Perspectives of Quality Learning: From Research to Action, IEQ Uganda Case Study (Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for International Development, September, 1999).
36. Initials refer to IEQ core research team members, fn refers to field notes, and am refers to analytic memo, cited in parentheses in the text.
37. In Ugandan English, "facilitation" is slang for payment to induce somebody to accomplish a task. It originally acknowledged inadequate salary scales.
38. Ugandan school governance is representative. The PTA and SMC members represent the community regarding education. The potential for participation is there if a representative structure is in place. The challenge is to widen opportunities for those who are not represented and to apply principles of participation.
39. Nancy Clair, Lawrence Kanyike, and David Smith, producers, Joining Hands in Education (Washington, D.C.: Improving Education Quality Project, in production), videotape.
40. Clair (n. 18 above); Rugh and Bossert; Sheldon Shaeffer, ed., Collaborating for Educational Change: The Role of Teachers, Parents and the Community in School Improvement (Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning, 1992).
41. Clair (n. 18 above); Rugh and Bossert; Sheldon Shaeffer, ed., Collaborating for Educational Change: The Role of Teachers, Parents and the Community in School Improvement (Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning, 1992).
42. Clair (n. 18 above); Rugh and Bossert; Sheldon Shaeffer, ed., Collaborating for Educational Change: The Role of Teachers, Parents and the Community in School Improvement (Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning, 1992).
43. Clair.
44. Graebner is cited in Michael W. Apple and James A. Beane, eds., Democratic Schools (Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1995).
45. Clair.
46. The IEQ core team members have continued the work without funding from USAID. They are disseminating project publications (the Principles and Case Study) throughout the country. In a letter to Clair dated May 2000, Imelda Kemeza writes that a head teacher's house is currently under construction in one local community.
47. Joe Kincheloe, "Meet Me Behind the Curtain: The Struggle for Critical Postmodern Action Research," in Critical Theory and Educational Research, ed. Peter McLaren (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1995).