Getting Schools to Work Better
Educational Accountability and Teacher Support in India and China
Discount code (for Routledge website purchase): 'AFL04' (20% off)
To be released on February 29, 2024
Pre-order available at Routledge, Amazon UK, Amazon India, WHSmith, Thriftbooks on February 8, 2024.
Getting schools to work better is a challenge just about everywhere. Many policy experts prescribe measures for strengthening school accountability either by government command and control or through alternative market and societal actors.
Against this conventional wisdom, this book examines how China and India are tackling the challenge of getting schools to work better, with a specific focus on supporting teachers, along with traditional accountability-strengthening measures. The book draws implications from its case studies for how education systems can be designed to enhance student learning towards the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal 4. It further develops the concept of “Accountability 3.0” to elucidate a novel and more holistic reconceptualisation of the appropriate means needed to fulfil multiple purposes of accountability, in which providing support to frontline workers is viewed as an integral component.
This book will appeal to a wide spectrum of scholars and practitioners in the fields of comparative education, public administration, public policy, and development studies, among others. It will be especially interesting to those from the developing world facing similar accountability challenges described.
From Anjana Mangalagiri, Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi:
A compelling study that challenges conventional perceptions of teacher accountability in schools, demystifying the raison d’etre of poor quality of learning outcomes. Based on an in-depth, empirical and comparative analysis of two large education systems – India and China, Yan deconstructs and re-conceptualizes teacher accountability, designing a holistic approach built not exclusively on bureaucratic but on a professionally motivated teacher support system. With the timely emphasis that a competent and soundly supported teaching workforce is essential for educational improvement, the book offers a fresh, non-Western perspective on educational governance and is an invaluable contribution to the larger theory of public administration.
From Anne West, Professor of Education Policy, Department of Social Policy, LSE, UK:
Accountability is a key issue in the field of education. In this timely and original book, Dr Yifei Yan addresses education accountability in two of the world’s largest developing countries, China and India. The book provides a novel conceptualisation of accountability, in which the support provided to teachers is seen as a crucial component. Through surveys and interviews with teachers, school principals, government officials and NGO workers in Beijing and Delhi, Yifei Yan shines a light on support provided to teachers, policy challenges, potential solutions, and implications for accountability. This important book should be key reading for policy makers, teachers, teacher trainers, scholars and others concerned with strengthening education governance and school systems.
From Giliberto Capano, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Bologna, Italy:
This is a brilliant and innovative book on how to improve school quality and performance through a focus on teachers. Based on a multidimensional concept of accountability 3.0 and a deep, fine-grained, and compelling comparative study of India and China, Yifei Yan shows how it would be possible to improve policy design in support of educators to make schools work better. This is a book that needs to be read because of its ability to show how well-done analysis can lead to promising and potentially highly effective policy solutions.
To be released on February 29, 2024
Pre-order available at Routledge, Amazon UK, Amazon India, WHSmith, Thriftbooks on February 8, 2024.
Getting schools to work better is a challenge just about everywhere. Many policy experts prescribe measures for strengthening school accountability either by government command and control or through alternative market and societal actors.
Against this conventional wisdom, this book examines how China and India are tackling the challenge of getting schools to work better, with a specific focus on supporting teachers, along with traditional accountability-strengthening measures. The book draws implications from its case studies for how education systems can be designed to enhance student learning towards the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal 4. It further develops the concept of “Accountability 3.0” to elucidate a novel and more holistic reconceptualisation of the appropriate means needed to fulfil multiple purposes of accountability, in which providing support to frontline workers is viewed as an integral component.
This book will appeal to a wide spectrum of scholars and practitioners in the fields of comparative education, public administration, public policy, and development studies, among others. It will be especially interesting to those from the developing world facing similar accountability challenges described.
From Anjana Mangalagiri, Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi:
A compelling study that challenges conventional perceptions of teacher accountability in schools, demystifying the raison d’etre of poor quality of learning outcomes. Based on an in-depth, empirical and comparative analysis of two large education systems – India and China, Yan deconstructs and re-conceptualizes teacher accountability, designing a holistic approach built not exclusively on bureaucratic but on a professionally motivated teacher support system. With the timely emphasis that a competent and soundly supported teaching workforce is essential for educational improvement, the book offers a fresh, non-Western perspective on educational governance and is an invaluable contribution to the larger theory of public administration.
From Anne West, Professor of Education Policy, Department of Social Policy, LSE, UK:
Accountability is a key issue in the field of education. In this timely and original book, Dr Yifei Yan addresses education accountability in two of the world’s largest developing countries, China and India. The book provides a novel conceptualisation of accountability, in which the support provided to teachers is seen as a crucial component. Through surveys and interviews with teachers, school principals, government officials and NGO workers in Beijing and Delhi, Yifei Yan shines a light on support provided to teachers, policy challenges, potential solutions, and implications for accountability. This important book should be key reading for policy makers, teachers, teacher trainers, scholars and others concerned with strengthening education governance and school systems.
From Giliberto Capano, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Bologna, Italy:
This is a brilliant and innovative book on how to improve school quality and performance through a focus on teachers. Based on a multidimensional concept of accountability 3.0 and a deep, fine-grained, and compelling comparative study of India and China, Yifei Yan shows how it would be possible to improve policy design in support of educators to make schools work better. This is a book that needs to be read because of its ability to show how well-done analysis can lead to promising and potentially highly effective policy solutions.