Created in 1970, the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) aims at furthering the development of comparative and international studies in education in all parts of the world. One of its main activities has been the organization of the World Congresses of Comparative Education. Previous Congresses were in Ottawa (1974), London (1977), Tokyo (1980), Paris (1984), Rio de Janeiro (1987), Montreal (1989), Prague (1992) and Sydney (1996). The Congresses bring together educationists from across the globe, providing a unique opportunity for examining and interrogating education theory and practice.
The 10th World Congress of Comparative Education took place July 12-17, 1998 in Cape Town, South Africa, the first such meeting in Africa. ADEA, along with two African educational research networks - ERNESA and ERNWACA - actively participated in the event by sponsoring the Commission on Education Policy Research in Africa. Throughout the Commission's panels, numerous issues were raised concerning the complex interface between education research and policy.
The overall theme of the Congress was Education, Equity and Transformation. Approximately 700 educators, scholars and policy-makers from 82 countries attended the Conference. With the exception of a few plenary sessions, most of the papers were presented in parrallel sessions organized by fourteen thematic Commissions covering the following areas: Basic Education for All in Africa; Curriculum; Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Learning; Education Policy Research in Africa; Dependency, Education and Development; Educating All for Peace and Justice; Equity and Transformation in European Education; Gender; Higher Education; Language and Literacy; Lifelong Learning; Policy; Teacher Education; Theories and Theory Shifts.
The Commission on Education Policy Research in Africa
The Education Policy Research in Africa Commission was sponsored by ADEA, the Education Research Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (ERNESA) and the Education Research Network for Western and Central Africa (ERNWACA). For ADEA, the advantages of participating in the Congress were threefold: (i) the venue enabled a large number of African educational researchers to meet together with the international educational research community; (ii) it provided an opportunity for peer review of the policy research undertaken in the ADEA context; (iii) the event was a unique opportunity for Ministers to interact with researchers.
The Commission's work took place over ten sessions and two and a half days. It was regularly attended by some 40-65 people. Most of the participants were African researchers or policy makers (represented by three African Ministers of Education and six Permanent Secretaries) ; the remainder were researchers from other continents. Each session included the presentation of two to four papers. This was followed by comments by two discussants - one researcher and one policy-maker - and then by an open discussion.
Presentations at the Policy Research in Africa Commission focused on eight sub-themes: (i) Educational access, equity and quality; (ii) Issues of access, and achievement for girls; (iii) Implementation capacity for reforms promoting equity; (iv) Analysis of sector policies; (v) Policy analysis within specific subject areas; (vi) Resource mobilization and utilization; and (vii) Interfacing education research with policy.
Exploring the interface of research with policy
The Commission was particularly concerned with the interaction between policy and research. Two panels explored this interface - defined as the communication system allowing the flow of messages from research to policy - and addressed questions such as "To what extent do policy-makers use information from research?" or "Are research results presented in a way that is policy-oriented?"
It was noted that the interface is under constant pressure from external forces such as the stability of socio-economic and political environments. Hence, policies are recommended within specific social, political and economic contexts which, in turn, play a central role in determining the extent to which the policies can be realistically implemented. Furthermore, the importance of political interests and societal aspirations is not sufficiently taken into account by policy research.
Problems with the interface
While the importance of research to inform education policy was aknowledged by both researchers and policy makers, many problems were identified, including the following:
- Policy formulation remains a top-down rather than bottom-up process which does not allow for the involvement of researchers and other stakeholders;
- Policy research remains scant and policy research capacities weak;
- Inhibiting factors - such as researchers' career concerns - may lead to "perverted" research which may fail to thoroughly interrogate the policy environment;
- In many countries, there is a history of conflict between universities and government which affects the free flow of policy ideas;
- Undemocratic societies and poor organizational structures can frustrate researchers and corrupt their relationship with policy authorities, thereby preventing effective dissemination of research results to policy makers.
Specific problems with researchers and policy-makers
The isues at-hand affect researchers and policy makers differently, each group having to confront a specific set of problems.
Concerning researchers, it was pointed out that : (i) Researchers tend to disaggregate problems instead of examining them from a holistic point of view, whereas policy makers tend to view things from a larger socio-political point of view; (ii) Researchers tend to be critical of policy without proposing viable solutions; (iii) Researchers do not base their research on dialogue with policy makers ; (iv) Recommendations emanating from research are not clearly articulated into appropriate and viable roles for government and other stakeholders; (v) Research is not followed up by researchers.
Concerning policy makers, participants pointed out that: (i) Planning and research units in the ministries lack capacities and resources; (ii) Policy makers are not appreciative of research efforts; (iii) Policy makers often have a crisis approach and call upon researchers when things go wrong; (iv) Policy makers use research for rubber-stamping ; (v) Policy makers are not willing to participate in the management of research; (vi) Policy makers don't read (often long) research reports.
Recommendations
The discussions led to an attempt to define the characteristics of the ideal interface and the following recommendations were made for improving the interfacing of research with policy:
- Researchers should undertake frequent policy evaluations as well as lobby for a greater role in the policy processes;
- Education policy research should be stimulated and promoted through the creation of special centers of excellence established specifically for that purpose;
- The institutional capacities for policy research should be strengthened;
- Cooperation between universities and the ministries should be encouraged;
- The research/policy interface should be strengthened with networking arrangements involving all stakeholders;
- An incentive system could be set up to encourage communication between researchers and policy makers.
Among the specific suggestions made to bridge the communication gap between researchers and policy-makers, were:
- Making the language of research accessible to policy makers;
- Holding constructive high-level seminars to promote dialogue and greater understanding between researchers and policy makers;
- Participatory research and team work comprising all stakeholders should be promoted.
During one of the panel discussions, participants pointed out that the technical and analytical skills of development partners enable them to influence education policy and strategies to a considerable extent; the reverse however is not true. In this regard, it was proposed that strategies and mechanisms should be developed to strengthen partnerships existing between African policy makers and African researchers, and their development partners.
Conclusion
According to the organizers and participants of the Education Policy Research in Africa Commission, the whole process demonstrated that the African professional community of education researchers is clearly increasing in size and in quality. However many African researchers still remain isolated both from the international research community and from the arenas of policy-making.
For this reason, the participation of a large number of African researchers in the 10th World Congress of Comparative Education - the first to be attended by so many African educational researchers - represented a step forward. The Conference was a unique opportunity for African researchers to interact with researchers and policy makers from Africa and other parts of the world and to present the results of their research to their peers in and outside of Africa.
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