Literacy, Equity and Equality

Issues in Education
Harrison Daka (PhD)
Department of Educational Administration
and Policy Studies
2023
Cont…
 Lecture Outline
▪ By the end of this topic you should be able to:
▪ Define literacy and its forms
▪ Justify the essence of functional literacy in Zambia
▪ Identify ways through which literacy can be promoted
in Zambia
▪ Define equity and equality in education provision
▪ Show the importance equity and equality in education
and how they can be promoted.
 Introduction
▪ This topic introduces you to the concepts of literacy,
equity and equality in education.
▪ It shows the importance of these aspects in so far as
education provision is concerned and how they can
help bring about socio-economic development in
Zambia.
 Discussion

▪ What is literacy?
▪ How is literacy affected by equity?
▪ How is equality different from equity?
 Definitions

▪ LITERACY: It is also the ability to read and write.

▪ EQUITY: In education means fairness in admitting
students (fairness and justice)
▪ EQUALITY: means “sameness and uniformity”
 Introduction – cont…

▪ According to UNESCO, literacy is the ability to identify,

understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute
using written and printed materials.
▪ It is the ability to write coherently and quite fully. It is the
ability to discuss issues coherently.
▪ Literacy is also about the ability to understand all forms of
communication i.e. to listening, reading, speaking and
viewing.
 Cont…

▪ It entails one reading and expanding that knowledge

to develop ones thinking
▪ Literacy entails achievement of a broad range of
skills embedded in cultural and technological
contexts (Sauntson, 2020)
 Cont...
▪ There are acceptable extensions of literacy that a society
might impose on its people i.e computer literacy,
historical literacy, scientific literacy.
▪ Literacy entails a sense of achievement in a subject.
▪ Possessing reading and writing skills is at the heart of
student achievement
▪ This is also essential in attainment of equity
• Literacy may also depend on the need. For example
computer literacy.
• Literacy is a lifelong process. People must be given
opportunities to acquire skills.
 Cont…
▪ According to a 2013 study report, in Africa, Zimbabwe had
the Highest Literacy rate of 90.7% while Zambia is the13th
with the literacy rate of 80.6% and Burkina Faso has the
lowest rate with only 21.8% of its population able to read and
write.
 Cont…
▪ TYPES OF LITERACY
▪ There are basically two (2) types of literacy. These include
the following:
▪ Basic Literacy: refers to some skills in reading and writing. It
is general and formal.
▪ It concentrates on communication skills and it is used
depending upon where we are.
▪ Functional Literacy: Ability to read and write and calculate
figures well enough to carry out activities that many
consider necessary to the functioning of society.
▪ What is learnt is taught in line with what you want. It has
its own principles, objectives or requirements.
▪ The content is in line with the needs of the locals.
 AIMS OF FUNCTIONAL LITERACY
▪ The following are the functions of literacy:
▪ To improve the social and economic conditions of people
▪ Provision of training and improving the occupational skills
of the particular trade
▪ Provision of literacy skills.
▪ Providing the participants with the necessary knowledge
and skills to improve and maintain their wealth.
▪ Examples of Functional Literacy Include the following:
Reading newspapers; reading training manuals;
understanding highway maps; balancing a cheque book etc
 Benefits of Literacy
▪ There are numerous benefits associated with literacy.
These include the following:
▪ Increases the efficiency of societies, politically,
economically and scientifically. An educated
population leads to low levels of fertility, high
productivity, better health and nutrition.
▪ More literate adults means an increase in individuals
campaigning for education as a fundamental human
right
▪ Literacy equips adults with basic literacy skills thereby
making them more proactive when it comes to their
child’s education
 Cont…
▪ Literacy can lead to reduced poverty, political
oppression and high life expectancy
▪ There is a correlation between illiteracy and
education.
▪ Lower levels of literacy and education in
general, can impede the economic
development of a country in the current
rapidly changing, technology driven world.
 CONTN’

▪ Literacy education entails teaching others how to

read , write, listen, speak and to think.
▪ Not many people have access to adequate literacy
education
 HOW CAN WE MAINTAIN
LITERACY PROCESS?
▪ Survival rate is an indicator of quality as it measures the
percentage of pupils enrolled in Grade 1 during the current
school year who are expected to reach the higher grade.
▪ A higher survival rate means more pupils are expected to
reach the higher grade and that dropout rates are lower.
▪ Survival rates measure the extent to which the school system
can retain pupils.
 Survival rates and literacy
▪ Survival rate to Grade 5 of primary school is
commonly considered as a pre-requisite for
sustainable literacy.
▪ In 2016 and 2017, Grade 5 survival rates rose to
82.6 to 93.5%, in 2016 and 2017 the survival rate
for girls were slightly higher than those for boys.
▪ Northern Province has the lowest survival rates at
two different levels of general education.
▪ Central, Eastern, Southern , and North Western
provinces has the highest pregnancies among girls.
 WHAT AFFECTS LITERACY
EDUCATION
▪ The shortage of books and other facilities continue to
constrain the quality of education, thereby adversely
affecting educational outcomes.
▪ Fewer contact hours affect literacy education…
▪ Learners in private schools have the highest contact hours
followed by grant aided and Government schools. and
community schools have the lowest contact hours
 Evidence from Zambia...
▪ There has been a reduction in contact hours in
Zambian schools.
▪ On average learners in grades 1-4 spend 4.2 hours in the
classroom in 2016, and 2017 contact hours spend in class
room decreased to 4.0 hours in 2016;
▪ Grades 5-7 spend 5.2 to 5.7 hours;
▪ And grades 8-12 spend 6.4 to 6.5 hours (source: Ministry
of General Education Statistical Bulletin, 2017:pg 51)
 Literacy Education and Equity
▪ Without equity in literacy education, learners will not
reap the benefits of literacy.
▪ Disadvantaged groups are are likely to leave formal
education without grasping reading and writing skills
▪ These children are held back at every level of their life
▪ Hart and Risley came up with the concept of a
’Million word gap’ between children in poor
households and the well-to do.
▪ Often, a Child brought up in literacy poor household
does not have enough knowledge about reading
 Factors affecting literacy in communities
▪ Students from disadvanted background suffer from an early age
and continue to suffer because of lack of literacy skills
▪ This is why many young people from such backgrounds do not
like reading.
▪ This opportunity gap is characterized by the lack of access to:
▪ Lack of Quality preschools
▪ Few Adequately funded schools
▪ Schools without nurses, counselors, and other school support
services
▪ Affirming school environments …anti bullying, anti tribalism
▪ There is need to train students to access the academic language
and conventions of different subjects
 Factors affecting literacy
▪ Safe and affordable housing
▪ An affirming society that focuses on positive attributes
such as moral integrity, competence
▪ Recreational opportunities
 SOLUTIONS TO IMPEDING EQUITY IN
EDUCATION
▪ There is the recognition across the country that we
need to do more to advance equitable educational
opportunities.
▪ Effective reading instruction is an essential part of the
equity solution.
▪ Equity is essential in literacy instruction.
▪ Reducing the predictability of who succeeds and who
fails.
 How is equity related to literacy
education.
▪ We need to have conversations about contexts,
education instruction and provision.
▪ How can we ensure that rural and urban population
are exposed to the same type of education?
 Addressing equity
▪ This facet of equity work requires us to
remember that we are trying to improve
instruction for diverse students who have
historically been marginalized.
▪ Here the equity conversation has to re-focus on
helping underperforming students in bad
situations to build their skills
▪ We need to create affirming environments at
family, community and government levels
 Addressing Equity...
• But across the nation, many children are more than
one grade level behind in their reading, and it isn’t
due to a lack of student “motivation.” It isn’t solely
because there are no books in the home.
• There is a historical pattern of poor qualified and
inexperienced teachers being exposed to rural
children. The concept started by two forms of
schooling, one for the natives and the other for the
colonialists
• Years of under-funding to the education sector which
has continued to decline in preference to other sectors
 Addressing equity conti...
• Research has demonstrated that student gains in
literacy are the result of an interaction between
teacher knowledge about literacy and teacher skill
with instructional practices (Piasta, etal., 2009).
• For this reason, teachers should receive sufficient
training during their college on how to teach learners
to read.
• Our job as educators is to refuse to replicate that
inequitable access in our spheres of influence—a
matter of equity, not a matter of culture
 Schools reinforce inequalities
▪ In the past, schools have been accused of reinforcing
inequalities.
▪ Scholars cite negative behaviour of teachers and
administrators. Many of these have concepts of
stereotypes which they ‘trout out’ on every possible
occasion. The role of administrators is therefore
important in this regard.
▪ Luangala (2008) describes school managers as key
personnel in the education chain. Many issues that are
raised in schools have to be addressed by
administrators.
 Role of admins
• An administrator who has little interest or less
knowledge in an issue presented to him would often
be reluctant to act even in the face of the law or
policy that states so.
• There are also administrators that are indifferent to
situations in their settings.
• Some of the studies show the link between girls’
retention in school to administrative inertia or
reactivity to implement retention laws (Faweza,
2010).
 Government and Equity
▪ One of the principle functions of any Government is to
promote equity,
▪ Enabling all to have fair access to necessary materials and
social goods, one of which is education.
▪ Equity’s concern is not merely to promote school
enrolment or attendance, but participation in all that goes
on in the school,
▪ Continuation in the school system up to the end of a
given cycle,
▪ Satisfactory performance in school,
▪ Genuine learning and school achievement,
▪ Unrestricted range of education / training or employment
activities.
 Obstacles to equity
▪ Disadvantaged groups have been left behind for example,
▪ (a ) Children: their junior status and dependency make them
particularly vulnerable.
▪ ( b) Rural people: education provision in rural areas is poorer
than in urban. Buildings, furniture, materials and supplies
▪ Question: what is the value of education to rural children
especially if they remain in rural areas after schooling? How can
they retain their literacy when there are no facilities in rural areas?
▪ ( c ) The girls: seen as the most vulnerable in the home, school,
employment opportunities.
▪ Still, Many girls are still falling out of the school system after
falling pregnant(Mulenga-Hagane, 2021)
 Obstacles to equity conti...
The poor still lack access to education:
▪ Discouraged by costs especially if they see that quality is
poor,
▪ Schools are viewed as programs not designed for their
needs,
▪ School curriculum and culture is essentially middle class in
nature in Zambia.
▪ Schools are alien to the poor, and not relevant to their lives.
▪ Yet the poor’s main desire is for more education of
academic type that gives greater promise of upward social
mobility.
 Cont…
The Handicapped:
▪ Possibly 10% of children suffer from some form of handicap.
Most of these need special education/attention at school.
▪ One pertinent problem is lack of accurate statistics for this
category and attitude of society to children who are handicapped.
▪ Some parents feel ashamed to send such children to school. This
leaves many handicapped children not being enrolled in school.
▪ Facilities also, may not be suitable for them if integrated into the
normal school program.
 Barriers to Equity
❑ Barriers to equity in education provision include the following:
▪ Inadequate resources in poor educational institutions
▪ Different home circumstances
▪ Shortage of teachers especially in remote rural areas
▪ Long distance to school
▪ Fewer educational institutions at all levels
▪ High financial direct and indirect costs
▪ Dilapidated school infrastructure
▪ Temporary schools infrastructure
▪ Untrained teachers
▪ High levels of HIV/AIDS
 Equity and Equality
▪ Equity as a social term relates to inequalities in the
distribution of resources.
▪ It is about the adjustments required to allow for more
equitable redistribution.
▪ The government as a provider of formal education must
improve equity through its education policies.
▪ In all different definitions of the term equity, two basic
themes are commonly acknowledged:
 Cont…
▪ 1. EQUALITY OF ACCESS to educational resources and
opportunities.
▪ Implies equal sharing of tax burden to pay the cost of
equalized access
▪ 2. EQUITY means ensuring that as much as possible equality
and fairness are built into the provision of education services.
▪ According to Psacharopoulos and Woodhall (1985), Equity
means an equal distribution, sharing, justice and judgment of
how society distributes its resources.
 Dimensions of Equity
▪ Dimensions of Equity
▪ Equity in Education has two (2) dimensions: these are
fairness and Inclusion
▪ Fairness: Means making sure that personal and social
circumstances (such as gender and socio-economic status)
are not an obstacle to achieving educational success
▪ Inclusion: Implies ensuring a basic minimum standard of
education for all. For example, everyone should be able to
read, write and do simple arithmetic.
 Addressing equity in Education

▪ In education, it means a cohesive set of

policies, programs and practices that ensure
high expectations and positive achievement
patterns and providing equal access to
educational opportunity for all learners.
▪ Equity is furthered by active interventions,
through public policy.
 LEVELS OF EQUITY

▪ Three levels of Equity can be discerned via strategic

programs…
▪ (a) Horizontal Equity: this means equal treatment of
equals.
▪ (b) Vertical Equity: means unequal treatment of the
unequals
▪ (c) Intergenerational Equity: Falls between vertical
and horizontal equity. It should prevail even in
succeeding generations.
 Interventions to Promote Equity in Zambia

▪ To promote equity, the Zambian government has put the

following interventions in place:
1. Construction of more schools in rural and peri-urban areas
2. Giving preferential cut-off points at grade 8&10
3. Modifying educational infrastructure in educational institutions
in order to cater for students with Special Education Needs
(SEN)
4. Free Basic Education Policy (FBE) from grade 1-7
5. Provision of bursaries to the pupils at the upper basic and high
schools (and free secondary education policy).
6. Introduction of the Re-Entry Policy
7. Abolishing examination fees at grade 7 and 9
 Equality Issues in Education
▪ Quality of education
▪ Budget for education
▪ Affordability of education
▪ Mismatch
▪ Brain drain
▪ Social divide
▪ Lack of facilities
 Equality conti...
▪ Addressing equity issues will create a base for tackling
equality in education
▪ Its not enough to have laws i.e 2011 Education out that states
expectations in access, enrolment and the process of
education
▪ There is need to identify and provide systematic help to those
who fall off on the way
 Essence of equality
▪ Education influences a persons life chances in terms of;
▪ Labour
▪ Preparation for a democratic citizen and general human success
▪ The argument is that human success should not be based on
the circumstances of birth.
 Essence of equality
• From independence equality has been a principle that the
education system is founded on
• The replacement of segregated school to schools beeing
open for all
• However, the gap between races is now replaced by the gap
between the rich and the poor
• This divide is seen in infrastructure and resources between
rural and urban schools
• Between urban and peri urban schools
• Efforts to create equality has been thwarted by resources
 How can we create equality in
education?
• Provide equal education opportunity
• An opportunity is a relationship between a person or an
agent and a desired goal mediated by certain obstacle, none
of whcih are insurmountable(Western, 1985)
 What are education opportunities?
▪ Education opportunities are those opportunities that aim to
enable individuals to acquire knowledge and certain skills and
to cultivate certain capacities
▪ Opportunity is valued for acquiring intrisinc knowledge or to
get employment
▪ People should be exposed to apprencticeships or interships
and professional development and training.
 Relevant and Unacceptable Obstacles
▪ E.g the only obstacle to being educated should be enrolling
at a school, passing an entry test, putting in hard work and
the quality of the teachers
▪ There are relevant and unacceptable obstacles
▪ In this case, a persons race, religious affiliation,
gender, tribe, should not be an obstacle
▪ To achieve equality, everyone should face the relevant
obstacles
 Formal equality
▪ Formal rules should apply to all
▪ They should not be obstacles to achieving certain goals
▪ i.e socio-economic class, gender, religion and sexuality
▪ This underpins the famous concept of equality before
the law
▪ Also called the anti discrimination principle
 In education...
▪ As it applied to education opportunity, formal obstacles have
to be removed
▪ i.e that students be white or
▪ should belong to a particular tribe
▪ Or that they should be male or female
▪ Or should tall or short
▪ Without children
▪ Formal opportunity of equality is at odds with schools based
on gender or religious afiliations
▪ People tolerate this form of inequality
 Meritocratic Equality of Educational Opportunity
▪ No other obstacle besides merit should stand in the way of
achievement of desired goals
▪ Educational goods should be distributed on merit
▪ merit is measured by entrance requirements,
▪ Aptitude tests
▪ Classroom participation
 Limitations to meritocracy
▪ Merit is endogenous to education...i.e education opportunity
itself creates merit (Satz, 2007) a child exposed to more
education will have an advantage.
▪ The argument is that we must focus on a child’s underlying
potential rather than to their accessed merit.
▪ (Maybe we have to look less at a person’s CV but on their
potential).
▪ Lets look at those who are less qualified but have worked
hard...Mature entry?
 Why meritocracy is unfair
▪ Meritocracy is opposed to Cronyism (which is the
appointment of friends and associates to positions
without regard to their qualifications)
▪ Upper class have had generations of access to better
facilities, they have consolidated their positions.
▪ How can these be made to compete with the poor
▪ The upper class are in a far better place
 Meritocracy conti
▪ Many upper class in zambia do not send their children
to government run down schools but these come to
compete with children from these school...
▪ Here , one can see that
▪ opportunites to cultivate merit are not available to all
▪ Now we see an intergenerational transmission of
opportunites that has so far led to the create of
divides. This has made the ideal of equality of
educational opportunity unattainable
 Why equality is yet to happen

▪ Historically, Education provision in Zambia passed through

the hands of Missionaries, the BSA Company, Colonial
office, the Federal era and then post independency period.
▪ The Missionaries stifled equality of education through their
stress on denominational persuasion.
 CONTN’
▪ The Phelps- Stokes Commission( 1924) which
recommended an education system that would “adapt”
learners to the conditions and needs of their society,
neglected the concept of equality because:-
▪ (a) They talked about offering elementary education to the
vast majority.
▪ (b) They proposed a requirement for education adaptation to
rural conditions.
▪ Concept of dual education neglected equality
 Why equality is yet to happen
▪ A study conducted in the 1980s (Silanga: 1982) showed
inequality based on geographical and economic
standing of families or urban-rural differences.
▪ There was no equality in education provision during
this period.
▪ The Jomtien Conference (1990) in Thailand and the
Dakar Conference (2000) in Senegal aimed at
promoting Education For All.
▪ These were prescriptions from the outside world which
stressed primary education and neglected general
emphasis on education.
▪ They compromised the concept of equity in education
provision at different levels.
 Practical ways to address equality issues
▪ 50/50 enrolment policy
▪ Re-entry policy
▪ Introduction of punitive measures in education
▪ Increase in funding
▪ Provision of quality education
▪ Removal of impediments to access
▪ Quality partnerships
▪ Follow up mechanisms in communities to
encourage attendance, awareness of laws policies
(Mulenga-Hagane, 2021)
 Final Reflection
▪ Opportunities should be aimed at promoting the least
advantaged, this would correct inequalities in social
luck
▪ But how can we address inequalities in natural luck?
E.g lack of talent?
▪ Can we for example write a letter to a parent
offering extra opportunities because their genes create
significant disadvantages?
▪ Can these injusties be seen as arbitrary?
▪ How can equality in opportunities correct this?
▪ Can we argue that equality in education opportunity
would restructure competition for job, social status?
• We need to provide equality of opportunity to the
disabled, the women and the disadvantaged without
dictating how these people should live their lives.
summary
 References
▪ Ministry of General Education (2018) statistical bulletin.
Lusaka: MOGE
▪ Mulenga-Hagane (2021) Retention of Girls in School in the
face of Absenteeism and Early Marriages: Implication for the
2011 Education Act. A PhD Thesis
▪ Sauntson, H(2020)The complete guide to educational literacy. Retrieved
26th July 2021
▪ Shields, L,Newman, A and Salz, D (2017) ’Equality of
Educational Opportunity’ The Standford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy) (ed) Zalta, E,N.
http//plato.stanford.edu/archives/suned-opportunity/
retrieved 26th July, 2021.
▪ (Piasta, S.B., Connor, C.M, Fishman, B.J., & Morrison, F.J.
(2009). Teachers’ knowledge of literacy concepts, classroom practices and
student reading growth. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 224–248.