This section of the website looks at comparing various aspects/themes of Primary Education in England and Uganda.
Curriculum
Jemma Armitage
In this critique, I will be comparing the curriculum and issues causing the deterioration of the curriculum for primary education in England and Uganda. I will be aiming to judge each curriculum impartially and with attentiveness in order to analyse them to the best of my capability. I will be using various sections of literature to gain knowledge and understanding of the curriculums. This will enable me to outline the resemblances and variances of the syllabuses.
Firstly, this paragraph will be concentrating on the differences in objectives for primary education, in Uganda and England. Primarily, in Uganda education is split into eleven aims, one of these aims is as follows, ‘Developing the prerequisite for continuing education and development’ (Najjumba and Marshall, 2013). I believe this aim can be seen as the highest priority for education in Uganda, this is because primary completion rate in 2011 was only 53% of students (Data.worldbank.org, 2014). Thus, implying that a reduced amount of students’ can progress on to secondary education and so failing the purpose of the aim. In comparison, In England ‘a teacher’s job is not only about transmitting culturally valued knowledge: to raise standards of achievement in tests and examinations and prepare children for the world of work’ (Driscoll, Lambirth and Roden, 2012). Therefore, the curriculum can be seen to be based on examinations to succeed in the working world. Consequently, offering a comparison as England and Uganda’s curriculum can be perceived to be concentrated on unconnected aims. England is essentially engrossed with exams and ensuring a prosperous career, whereas Uganda is attentive to refining and developing their student’s education.
In addition, the variance in issues surrounding England and Uganda’s curriculum will be compared in this section. Firstly, In Uganda the ‘Quality of education at primary level remains largely unsatisfactory…Various studies have also shown that the majority of Ugandan students were failing to achieve adequate levels of literacy and numeracy’ (Altinyelken, 2010). Subsequently, providing the interpretation that even though there is a curriculum in place the quality of the syllabus is failing its students, as they are incapable of achieving satisfactory levels of literacy and numeracy. In comparison, in England the curriculum can be seen to be failing because ‘Rather than keeping a critical eye on the detail of international developments in curriculum, eyes looked inwards, towards the myriad changes in domestic arrangements necessary to implement the new curriculum effectively’ (Oates, 2011). In general, providing the insight that the curriculum for primary education in England can be seen to be continually failing its students due to inadequate observation of competitive international curriculums, which provide a superior education to its students. Consequently, providing a comparison as England and Uganda’s issues surrounding the curriculum are dissimilar. England’s concerns emphasise upon failure to observe and utilise international perspectives. While, Uganda is failing to produce an adequate curriculum to offer a virtuous education for its pupils.
Overall, the curriculum of primary education in Uganda and England can be seen to be failing its students. Firstly, Uganda’s curriculum is not providing its students with an adequate education and is consequently failing to educate its students. However, England’s curriculum can be seen to be focusing too much on examinations and internal issues, instead of improving their system by using international inspiration.
References
Altinyelken, H. (2010). Curriculum change in Uganda: Teacher perspectives on the new thematic curriculum. International Journal of Educational Development, 30(2), pp.151-161.
Data.worldbank.org, (2014). Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group) | Data | Table. [online] Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.CMPT.ZS/countries [Accessed 18 Nov. 2014].
Driscoll, P. Lambirth, A. and Roden, J. (2012). The primary curriculum. London: SAGE.
Najjumba, I. and Marshall, J. (2013). Improving Learning In Uganda. Problematic Curriculum Areas and Teacher Effectiveness: Insights from National Assessments, 2, pp.1-12.
Oates, T. (2011). Could do better: using international comparisons to refine the National Curriculum in England. Curriculum Journal, 22(2), pp.121-150.
Structure of the Primary Education System
Daniella Tona
It is my intention to analyse the primary education system in Uganda and England unbiasedly. I will be focusing specifically on the structure of the respective countries education systems and I will be looking at the social/historical aspects which have led each respective country into having the education system that they have today.
In Uganda, a child’s primary school education starts at the age of 5 or 6 and usually lasts for 7 years (Kavuma, 2010). According to Kavuma ‘it is not unusual to find teenagers sitting primary exams’ as many pupils drop out of primary school and return at a later date. The school year begins in February and ends in December and they have 3 terms (Salve International, 2014). Before 1997, parents had to pay for their child to attend primary school; however, in 1997 the Ugandan government introduced a policy which entitled four children from any one family to access primary education for free. This became known as the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy (Bategeka and Okurut, 2006). According to Elwana (2014), the introduction of the UPE has seen enrolment figures rise from ‘2.5 million in 1997 to 6.5 million to date.’ The UPE scheme was introduced to encourage more families to allow their primary school aged children to attend school and receive an education (Bategeka and Okurut, 2006).
Similarly in England, primary school education starts at the age of 4 or 5 and lasts 7 years (DfE, 2012). The school year begins in September and ends in July with 3 terms per year (Riggell and Sharp, 2008). According to the World Bank (2014) in 2002 enrolment figures were at 100% but 10 years later in 2012, enrolment figures rose to 109%. One of the most notable changes in English history was in 1891 which saw the introduction of the Elementary Act (Gillard, 2011a). The Act stated that elementary education was to be to be provided free due to payment to schools from the government; ‘there shall be paid, out of moneys provided by Parliament…a fee grant in aid of the cost of elementary education in England…at the rate of ten shillings a year for each child’ (Gillard, 2011b). Prior to 1891 primary education had to be paid for.
In conclusion, it can be suggested from the evidence presented above that the structure of the primary education systems in England and Uganda are similar. In both countries, students attend primary school for the same number of years and they both have 3 terms. The largest difference is that in England the school year begins in September and ends in July and in Uganda the school year begins in February and ends in December. Another difference is the social/historical aspects which have affected each countries current primary education system. In Uganda, the introduction of the UPE in 1997 had the biggest effect as it means that more children have access to free education; whereas in England it was the introduction of the Elementary Education Act 1891 which meant education was provided free for all children – a difference of almost 100 years. Therefore, it could be argued that in terms of education, Uganda is approximately 100 years behind England.
References
Bategeka, L. and Okurut, N. (2006) ‘Universal Primary Education: Uganda’ Policy Brief 10. London: Overseas Development Institute.
Department for Education (2012) Education System in the UK. Online. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219167/v01-2012ukes.pdf. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014]
Elwana, D. (2014) Uganda hits Universal Primary Education target. Online. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/know_sharing/grassroots_stories/uganda.shtml. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
Gillard, D. (2011a) Education in England: A brief history – Timeline. Online. Available at: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/timeline.html. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
Gillard, D. (2011b) Elementary Education Act 1891. Online. Available at: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1891-elementary-education-act.html. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
Kavuma, R. (2010) ‘Explainer: The Education System in Uganda’. The Guardian. Online. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/katine/2010/feb/08/education-system-explainer. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
Riggell, A. and Sharp, C. (2008) ‘The Structure of Primary Education: England and Other Countries’. The Primary Review. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. p.4
Salve International (2014) Education in Uganda. Online. Available at: http://www.salveinternational.org/salve-explained/education-in-uganda/. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
The World Bank (2014) School Enrolment, Primary (% gross). Online. Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRR?page=2. [Accessed on: 8 November 2014].
Economic Factors
Norelle Kolano
It is my intention to comparatively analyse the economic factors affecting primary education in both England and Uganda. I aim to fairly portray how these economic factors can have a lasting effect on an education system and how important it may be to be developed economically in order to run what some may consider, a decent education system.
Firstly, The Ugandan Government provides the bulk of educational resources and funding. Poor performance of the economy due to internal conflict for decades adversely affected financing of education (Education.stateuniversity.com). They continue to state that parents pitch in by raising money to supplement low teacher salaries and to fund many school operating expenses that the government find unaffordable. Teachers in Uganda often fail to receive their salaries, or do not earn enough; as a result they take second jobs to pay the bills which consequences in no one being there to teach the children. The World Bank also emphasised this as during a report for Uganda’s progress in schools it reported that teacher absenteeism, whatever the cause, meant that 40% of public school classrooms did not have a teacher in them. Uganda receives external aid from the United States, Great Britain, Denmark and Norway. This educational assistance is used to help build additional schools, maintain existing schools and fund educational research.
Comparing both countries here you can already notice the economic difference as England is assisting the Ugandan education system financially, which already conveys they are in a healthier financial position. In terms of teachers salaries in England teachers are paid some of the highest salaries despite working fewer hours than their counterparts in other countries like Germany and Italy (Telegraph.co.uk 2013). However we have to be critical of the telegraphs political position here and acknowledge that there are other significant troubles in the English educational system.
Now teachers in the UK have to compete with expectations raised by the technology children have at home including iPods and computers (BBC NEWS 2007). Resources such as Iboards can cost up to £3000 each and Ministers were so excited by the technology that they gave schools 50 million in 2004 to install them into classrooms; now nine out of ten schools use them. However in Uganda the circumstances are entirely unlike as according to (Coughlan, S BBC News 2014) teachers and pupils in Kiira View mention the huge demand for computers, but the school does not have access to mains electricity. He continues to declare that an affordable, reliable electricity supply could be the biggest innovation for education. The World Bank education report supports the above evidence by highlighting how many schools lack basic equipment such as texts books. I view this as an economic setback for Uganda as they clearly are not receiving the funds from the government in order to contain the basic requirements of a classroom or simply using the money on other things. Observing both countries comparatively, you can evidently see the economic divide as the UK are perhaps spending too much money on what some may consider unnecessary technology where there are countries like Uganda that are lacking the funds simply for basic text books.
To conclude, it is clear to see the economic difference between both countries. As it appears that England are able to have a more advanced primary education as there is more finance put into schools and better qualified teachers. The fact that Uganda is a developing country has a strong influence in the country’s education system; as this has resulted in problems in schools such as underpaid salaries and a high demand for the standard resources in English schools.
References
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cie/projects/completed/tpa/uganda
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education/
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1585/Uganda-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html