Making the elementary schooling system in India work for disadvantaged learners: a cross-scalar comparative study of accountability relations
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Politics and International Studies
Abstract
Global development policy is concerned with equitable learner participation and achievement, yet low learning outcomes and stark learning inequalities are persistent. Marketisation of provisioning is a growing trend in education that has complicated relations of accountability and regulation. This study aims to advance an understanding of accountability for improved learning outcomes for disadvantaged children by departing from the established approach of isolating specific variables for reform. Instead, it conceptualises accountability as systemic and relational. It is designed to show how multiple actors across the home, community, school and bureaucratic scales have particular norms and interests, modes of participation and regulatory roles that shape learning outcomes for disadvantaged children. It examines both the formal rule-based relations of these system actors, and the informal, everyday practices of accountability - all of which bear significantly on progress towards policy goals, yet are so far poorly understood.
This project focuses on learning outcomes for 'disadvantaged learners' in India: children of primary school age who are disadvantaged by a range of structural inequalities, which are often cross-cutting, such as gender, location, caste, and class. It takes key quality and equity provisions in India's Right to Education Act (RTE) and examines how these are taken up in different ways, and with respect to differing understandings of education quality and equity held by actors across the four system scales of home, community, school, and bureaucracy. Empirical work takes place in two States, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, focusing on two districts and within each, two blocks which are purposively selected to enable intra-block, inter-district and inter-state comparisons. In each block, we sample ten schools, which include government, private and large scale 'alternative' provision to examine the accountability relations that surround differently positioned learners. The study design follows a sequential mixed methods approach, beginning with qualitative investigation and then using a quantitative survey to validate and extend the qualitative analysis. We will use an innovative process tracing approach, anchored in the sample schools, to track how specific policy initiatives stemming from RTE directives are understood by multiple actors across system scales. This enables the study to identify how their practical actions converge and diverge with goals for learning - as understood both by the RTE and these actors - and the impact on children's learning outcomes.
Our partner NGO, CSEI will co-deliver our impact strategy. We will co-facilitate workshops for bureaucratic actors that promote discussion of relational accountability and its implications for improving learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners. Co-produced outputs will include: a new Education Equity, Quality, and Accountability Audit (EEQAA) tool which community-led organisations will administer with CSEI support; a professional development module for Cluster Co-ordinators (who lead teacher meetings and have monitoring roles); a draft multidimensional framework for 'quality of education' which CSEI will disseminate nationally via its civil society networks.
The project's approach to analysing multi-scalar accountability relations will challenge existing understandings of systemic reform, and provide empirical knowledge and tools with direct application for improving quality and equity in elementary education in India. Beyond this, its conceptual advances, outputs, and innovative process-tracing methodology will deliver analyses with international significance for state and non-state actors concerned with improving learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners.
This project focuses on learning outcomes for 'disadvantaged learners' in India: children of primary school age who are disadvantaged by a range of structural inequalities, which are often cross-cutting, such as gender, location, caste, and class. It takes key quality and equity provisions in India's Right to Education Act (RTE) and examines how these are taken up in different ways, and with respect to differing understandings of education quality and equity held by actors across the four system scales of home, community, school, and bureaucracy. Empirical work takes place in two States, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, focusing on two districts and within each, two blocks which are purposively selected to enable intra-block, inter-district and inter-state comparisons. In each block, we sample ten schools, which include government, private and large scale 'alternative' provision to examine the accountability relations that surround differently positioned learners. The study design follows a sequential mixed methods approach, beginning with qualitative investigation and then using a quantitative survey to validate and extend the qualitative analysis. We will use an innovative process tracing approach, anchored in the sample schools, to track how specific policy initiatives stemming from RTE directives are understood by multiple actors across system scales. This enables the study to identify how their practical actions converge and diverge with goals for learning - as understood both by the RTE and these actors - and the impact on children's learning outcomes.
Our partner NGO, CSEI will co-deliver our impact strategy. We will co-facilitate workshops for bureaucratic actors that promote discussion of relational accountability and its implications for improving learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners. Co-produced outputs will include: a new Education Equity, Quality, and Accountability Audit (EEQAA) tool which community-led organisations will administer with CSEI support; a professional development module for Cluster Co-ordinators (who lead teacher meetings and have monitoring roles); a draft multidimensional framework for 'quality of education' which CSEI will disseminate nationally via its civil society networks.
The project's approach to analysing multi-scalar accountability relations will challenge existing understandings of systemic reform, and provide empirical knowledge and tools with direct application for improving quality and equity in elementary education in India. Beyond this, its conceptual advances, outputs, and innovative process-tracing methodology will deliver analyses with international significance for state and non-state actors concerned with improving learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners.
Planned Impact
Closing policy-implementation-outcome 'gaps' and improving learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners remain significant challenges many low-middle income countries. This study provides a conceptual framing of accountability relations, an innovative methodological approach to analysing them, and outputs that, accompanied by a rich empirical evidence base from India, have strong potential for national (India) and international impact. The impact strategy has been co-developed with our partner NGO, the Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion (CSEI), which is an active member of the India's national Right to Education Forum, and of the National Equity Forum with over 100 community led organisations across 9 Indian states, and has international links.
India's 2009 Right to Education (RTE) Act legislates for 'quality' and 'equity' in learning, but what each means in practice is shaped by differing norms and interests, modes of participation and regulation of learning quality and equity across the system. The study will carry out a process tracing exercise, examining these aspects of RTE implementation, in two states. This aims to reveal relations of accountability within and across four scales (home, school, community, bureaucracy), to explain how and why these relations across the system 'converge' and 'diverge' with goals for learning, and to identify implications for disadvantaged learners. The impact objectives are to: draw on the research evidence and conceptual advances to deepen understanding of constraints and possibilities for change in India and beyond; generate and apply research-led outputs that enhance systemic capabilities for equitable reform in India and are of interest for other contexts; and facilitate discussion of multi-actor accountability relations and systemic change that betters deliver learning outcomes for disadvantaged children, with immediate impact in India and implications for reform in other countries.
Identifying multi-actor accountability relations and their implications will generate findings that can be articulated as a focus for discussion and action via workshops with policy actors and civil society organisations, and linked networking activities. Effectiveness of the mixed methods, cross-scalar process tracing approach will be evaluated and the approach shared with national and international audiences of academics and practitioners, via conferences and the team's networks, with the intention of making it available to actors interested in investigating accountability relations in other country contexts.
We will co-develop self-standing case studies of effective practices of equity and inclusion for disadvantaged learners as a briefing output, and include these in an in-service education module for teachers that enhances teachers professional capabilities on these topics. We will assist state agencies in promoting systemic take-up of this module and extend its impact via discussion in our national and international civil society networks. The team will also co-develop an Educational Equity, Quality, and Accountability Audit (EEQAA) tool, which will be administered by local Community-led Organisations and, once trialled, will be advocated via CSEI's links into appropriate national civil society Forums. The project will also produce a draft multidimensional quality and equity in education framework ready for further development and advocacy led by CSEI, again drawing on national Forums that promote the right to education and accountability for delivering it, operate across India, and have potential to reach thousands of learners. As with the EEQAA tool, the Leeds CSDD research cluster and the team's international civil society links will be drawn on to promote international outreach.
Research training will help develop civil society research capacity in India and impact positively on knowledge generation capacity; and community-level capabilities in auditing for equity will be promoted.
India's 2009 Right to Education (RTE) Act legislates for 'quality' and 'equity' in learning, but what each means in practice is shaped by differing norms and interests, modes of participation and regulation of learning quality and equity across the system. The study will carry out a process tracing exercise, examining these aspects of RTE implementation, in two states. This aims to reveal relations of accountability within and across four scales (home, school, community, bureaucracy), to explain how and why these relations across the system 'converge' and 'diverge' with goals for learning, and to identify implications for disadvantaged learners. The impact objectives are to: draw on the research evidence and conceptual advances to deepen understanding of constraints and possibilities for change in India and beyond; generate and apply research-led outputs that enhance systemic capabilities for equitable reform in India and are of interest for other contexts; and facilitate discussion of multi-actor accountability relations and systemic change that betters deliver learning outcomes for disadvantaged children, with immediate impact in India and implications for reform in other countries.
Identifying multi-actor accountability relations and their implications will generate findings that can be articulated as a focus for discussion and action via workshops with policy actors and civil society organisations, and linked networking activities. Effectiveness of the mixed methods, cross-scalar process tracing approach will be evaluated and the approach shared with national and international audiences of academics and practitioners, via conferences and the team's networks, with the intention of making it available to actors interested in investigating accountability relations in other country contexts.
We will co-develop self-standing case studies of effective practices of equity and inclusion for disadvantaged learners as a briefing output, and include these in an in-service education module for teachers that enhances teachers professional capabilities on these topics. We will assist state agencies in promoting systemic take-up of this module and extend its impact via discussion in our national and international civil society networks. The team will also co-develop an Educational Equity, Quality, and Accountability Audit (EEQAA) tool, which will be administered by local Community-led Organisations and, once trialled, will be advocated via CSEI's links into appropriate national civil society Forums. The project will also produce a draft multidimensional quality and equity in education framework ready for further development and advocacy led by CSEI, again drawing on national Forums that promote the right to education and accountability for delivering it, operate across India, and have potential to reach thousands of learners. As with the EEQAA tool, the Leeds CSDD research cluster and the team's international civil society links will be drawn on to promote international outreach.
Research training will help develop civil society research capacity in India and impact positively on knowledge generation capacity; and community-level capabilities in auditing for equity will be promoted.
Publications
Dyer C
(2022)
Connecting families with schools: the bureaucratised relations of 'accountability' in Indian elementary schooling
in Third World Quarterly
Dyer C
(2022)
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT AND INDIA'S RIGHT TO EDUCATION
in Development and Change
Dyer C
(2022)
The Social Contract and India's Right to Education
in Development and Change
| Description | The 'Researching Accountability in the Indian System of Education (RAISE)' project explored accountability relationships, using in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews with parents, teachers and head teachers from 62 government, private, NGO and religious-run schools, and with community leaders and government officials, supplemented by a quantitative survey that sought to check/validate qualitative findings. It focused on the states of Bihar and Rajasthan, examining the key themes of access, participation and monitoring in primary education. Initial data from the study showed that there are wide differences among and between these stakeholders about what education access, participation and monitoring mean. These meanings are expressed in their actions, behaviours and expectations which combine in ways that have favourable and unfavourable effects on children's learning outcomes. Often, these effects are the least favourable for children from marginalised and vulnerable communities. The project identified uneven power relations which constrained children's right to education, in a 'social contract' that envisaged education engagements that are largely not possible on the ground. We also found that bureaucractic accountability relations dominate even in interactions between parents and schools, and across all schooling management types including low-cost private and non-formal education centres. We also found high prevalence of what we term 'interrupted learning and fragile attendance', which suggests that the current binary in- or out-of-school accounting of children needs to be addressed, as it inaccurately represents current attendance patterns in our study area, with important implications for their learning. The research indicates that structural disadvantages for a child greatly affects a child's basic opportunity to learn. In rural areas, students, particularly from lower-caste groups, have less support from their families to attend school. Families often need children to work to support the family income, irrespective of school attendance. Schools struggle to respond to these realities of rural lives. The research also found a social distance between teachers and parents, reflecting caste and class differences. Teachers tend not to live in the village where the school is located. Instead, many commute to work, and this often means that teachers plan their class schedules around the timetables of public transport, rather than the expectations of the school timetable. In contrast, school-going is more readily accepted - as well as encouraged - in urban areas, with students attending regularly and able to access a range of schooling options. Mothers are more likely to be able to take responsibility for getting children to school, are very motivated to educate their children and have high aspirations for them. The research finds that the formal system tends to fail disadvantaged learners in several ways. Initial findings indicate: • Variability in school admission processes In some rural areas, parents do not know the birthdates of their children, meaning that students who appear older are enrolled in the wrong class, in some cases resulting in students losing out one or two years of schooling. • Challenges of implementing clause 12(1)(a) of the Right to Education Act that mandates a 25% reservation for students from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in private schools In some cases (particularly in rural areas), parents have not been made aware about the EWS provision. Those who were aware often found the process of online submission difficult because they do not necessarily have digital literacy. • Shortage of teachers leading to large, mixed grade classrooms A shortage of teachers often results in students of various grades learning together in one class. Teachers' coping strategies in multi-grade multi-level classrooms range from focussing on a handful of students at a time, to lowering the difficulty level of their content to cater to the students who need the most academic support. These strategies ultimately lead to classroom participation that is unequal and usually lower than what is needed to progress. • Lack of teaching time for teachers in Government-run schools due to non-academic administrative duties Teachers in government schools note that administrative work takes up a lot of time and keeps them out of classrooms, resulting in less time for teaching and opportunities for engaging with students. |
| Exploitation Route | Outcomes of the RAISE research include its evidence of how inequalities influence everyday school practices resulting in learner disadvantages in India; and policy insights. Key decision makers at state and central level could take forward and use the following insights to influence practices that support improved learning outcomes for primary school children: • Pay much greater attention to the realities of family livelihoods and to how schools can respond more flexibly to sustain access and participation. • Increase awareness about the provision of 25% reservation for EWS students amongst parents in rural areas and broaden the range of means by which applications can be made; • Design teacher training on the lived realities of multi-grade teaching, multilingualism and classroom diversity. Training should help teachers identify students who are not participating or facing difficulty learning. It should include contextual data collection and analysis of student outcomes, as well as understanding students' living conditions and aspirations; • Create opportunities for regular and continuous interaction of teachers with parents and community, especially in case of learners where appropriate family support is mostly absent; • Give teachers the time and space to focus on students' needs. Adding administrative support staff in schools will free up teacher time for teaching. We are now taking this forward in our renewed focus, with ESRC/FCDO funding support, on the patterns of interrupted learning and fragile attendance that were prominent in our Udaipur site, which we will address with government functionaries at State level, national policy actors and development partners, notably UNICEF which runs the global Out of School Children Initiative. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | We began this award with a strong engagement with the Impact Initiative to provide evidence to policy communities in India. We presented findings, along with other research teams working on accountability, at a national event in New Delhi which the II convened, as well as discussing the award at a round table II convened in Oxford at the UKFIET conference. In India, the project team presented an in-house seminar at Vidya Bhawan to summarise key findings towards the end of the project term. This which attended inter alia by representatives from VB's sister NGO, Sewa Mandir, in Udaipur. Sewa Mandir took key findings from the RAISE team's work on accountability into consideration when revising and revamping its own provision of non-formal education centres, and community management; and requested copies of our TWQ article with its insights into the 'field' of bureaucratic accountability relations to use in internal staff briefings. Under a new CEO, VB is the partner for follow-on funding (ILFA project) which has now been granted, and we are working towards co-developing our impact via VB's new collaboration, Shiksha Sambal, with government schools in Rajasthan (advocacy around systemic accountability) and VB's teacher education programme. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Interrupted Learning, Fragile Attendance and 'Out of School' Children in India (ILFA) |
| Amount | £147,438 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/X013871/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2023 |
| End | 01/2024 |
| Description | RAISE and ICY collaboration |
| Organisation | Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dyer, C., Jacob, S., Patil, I., Gupta, S. and Thomas, N. (2020) How do families participate in schooling? Educational relations and home-school disconnects in rural India, ICY-CCPP Workshop, University of Leeds. This paper was presented at a cross-centre workshop organised by the Inclusion, Childhood and Youth Research Centre, and the Centre for Curriculum, Pedagogy and Policy of University of Leeds, on 13th October, 2020. The paper drew on case studies from Udaipur site to argue that unless addressed, the family - school disconnect can perpetuate educational inequalities and injustices, particularly among highly disadvantaged groups such as tribal communities and socio-economically vulnerable families. Among these children, irregular and fragile attendance, low learning outcomes and higher dropping out rate are already a growing concern. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ICY-CCPP hosts speakers and develops academic networks in its focal areas. |
| Impact | Dyer, C., Jacob, S., Patil, I., Gupta, S. and Thomas, N. (2020) How do families participate in schooling? Educational relations and home-school disconnects in rural India, ICY-CCPP Workshop, University of Leeds.Draft of paper which is being developed for the 2020 CIES conference. Cross disciplines of education, sociology, economics and development. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | RAISE and ICY collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dyer, C., Jacob, S., Patil, I., Gupta, S. and Thomas, N. (2020) How do families participate in schooling? Educational relations and home-school disconnects in rural India, ICY-CCPP Workshop, University of Leeds. This paper was presented at a cross-centre workshop organised by the Inclusion, Childhood and Youth Research Centre, and the Centre for Curriculum, Pedagogy and Policy of University of Leeds, on 13th October, 2020. The paper drew on case studies from Udaipur site to argue that unless addressed, the family - school disconnect can perpetuate educational inequalities and injustices, particularly among highly disadvantaged groups such as tribal communities and socio-economically vulnerable families. Among these children, irregular and fragile attendance, low learning outcomes and higher dropping out rate are already a growing concern. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ICY-CCPP hosts speakers and develops academic networks in its focal areas. |
| Impact | Dyer, C., Jacob, S., Patil, I., Gupta, S. and Thomas, N. (2020) How do families participate in schooling? Educational relations and home-school disconnects in rural India, ICY-CCPP Workshop, University of Leeds.Draft of paper which is being developed for the 2020 CIES conference. Cross disciplines of education, sociology, economics and development. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Co-Facilitation of impact session at UKFIET conference in Oxford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Participants examined key dimensions of designing impact and reaching policy/practitioner audiences in academic work related to raising learning outcomes for disadvantaged learners. The workshop was held within the academic conference to support capacity development in an applied format that enabled discussion and clarity on 'impact' and how to achieve it in research project design and delivery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Ideas for India briefing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Patil, I. (2020) Teacher Accountability: Non-teaching work over classroom engagement, Ideas for India. Ideas for India is concerned with development in India and has a range of outputs which are widely read by national and international audiences. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and quantitative survey in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, the paper discusses why government-school teachers prioritise non-teaching work over classroom engagement, and how this impacts on the school choices that parents make. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/human-development/teacher-accountability-non-teaching-work-over-... |
| Description | Impact Initiative briefing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The RAISE research project was featured in the ESRC-DFID Impact Initiative's Research for Policy and Practice: Education Accountability Relationships between Schools, Communities and Government in India, published in September 2020. Our contribution, Understanding how accountability relationships affect school participation and achievement, presented evidence from our research and argued that in order to improve learning outcomes for disadvantaged children, there must be a greater understanding of the role and influence of families, schools, communities, and government. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/15673/R4PP_IndiaAccountability_FINAL3.1_Online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Participation in Dragon's Den Impact Initiative Workshop in Delhi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Participants examined dimensions of accountability in the system and its performance in relation to disadvantaged learners. This raised the profile of the RLO programme and the evidence base that several projects are generating in India to stakeholders who attended the workshop. It also helped to train academic researchers in the preparation and delivery of impact orientated briefings and workshop activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | RAISE project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Website for project established as a platform for dissemination of evidence, reports, photos, etc. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://raise.leeds.ac.uk |
| Description | Recommendations briefing for NFE centres |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A research dissemination event was organised on 29th January, 2020, with Seva Mandir, one of the largest NGOs working in Rajasthan on livelihood and development issues, including education, focussing particularly on out-of-school children. The RAISE project includes one of Seva Mandir's 'Shikhsha Kendra' (non-formal education centre) in Udaipur, as one of its case study schools. Key research findings of the RAISE project that specifically concerned NFE centres were discussed at length at the event, and recommendations and strategies collaboratively arrived at to improve learning experiences and outcomes for children attending NFE centres and transition to mainstream schools. The event also explored the possibilities of future action research projects with Seva Mandir and Vidya Bhavan on community and parental involvement in children's education, as well as enhancing children's participation in classroom learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | YouTube influencing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In July 2021, Mr Mohak Mangal who runs a Youtube channel called "Soch by Mohak Mangal" published a video called "Why the Indian education system has failed" in which he quoted Indira Patel's RAISE informed Ideas for an India article - "Teacher Accountability: Non-teaching work over classroom engagement". The video is in Hindi and has about 614k views. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |