Dr Robin Shields (School of Management), Professor Hugh Lauder and Dr Andres Sandoval Hernandez (both Department of Education) will work with schools in Mumbai and Kathmandu for three years. They will explore how management models, such as state-run, community-led or privately-funded, impact children’s learning and community interaction.
This work could inform educational policymaking and funding, and lead to better understanding of the links between schools, students and families.
The team will collect data on students' abilities in areas such as literacy and numeracy and combine this with case studies. These will involve interviews with parents, teachers and school leadership.
Analysis of this data will reveal stakeholders’ understanding of communities’ engagement with and awareness of schools. As well as this, it will look into the impact of different models of school management on accountability and children’s learning and wellbeing.
Speaking about what he hopes the project will achieve, Robin said:
In coming years, urban areas of developing countries will account for an increasing share of global enrolments.
This project will contribute evidence on how different models of school management relate to students’ cognitive abilities and social inclusion, providing an evidence base for future policymaking in this area.
The Bath researchers will collaborate on the project with:
- Dr Swati Bannerjee and Professor PK Shajahan at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India
- Professor Ganesh Bahadur Singh and Professor Min Bahadur Bista at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal
- Dr Stephen Carney at Roskilde University in Denmark
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Department for International Development (DFID) are funding the project.
Consultation with an international advisory group made up of experts on international development, educational assessment and urban education will form part of the work.