Quality of Education for Youth: A Case Study of Secondary Education Provision in Ghana

可持续发展目标4（SDG 4）是当前全球教育政策议程的核心，该议程将在2030年前在全球范围内推出（Milligan et al，2016）。它的前身，千年发展目标（MDGs）（2000-2015）专注于实现普及初等教育（UPE），并严重忽视了教育质量，导致目前的“学习危机”，全球数百万儿童入学，但甚至没有达到最基本的识字和算术技能（世界银行，2018）。这一学习危机对全世界的社会经济发展产生了重大影响，撒哈拉以南非洲地区也感受到了这一危机。 撒哈拉以南非洲各国政府正在迅速转向普及中等教育（USE）政策，以追求更高技能的劳动力和更强劲的经济增长。尽管如此，全球教育和研究界尚未就这一问题带来的无数挑战及其更广泛的政策和社会经济影响进行辩论。此外，撒南非洲现有的大部分教育研究都集中在小学、职业教育和高等教育上。为了避免11年后的另一场学习危机，USE需要进行新的分析，以告知我们作为学者和从业人员的集体理解，什么是有效的，为什么以及如何为政策和实践提供信息。为了解决这些差距，这项拟议的研究将探讨加纳的USE政策的实施及其对第一代中学学生及以后的新入学的影响。加纳目前正在进行多项雄心勃勃的教育改革，包括2017年成立的USE，为这项研究提供了富有成效的背景。总体研究问题将探讨如何使用的质量和期望是概念化的，并制定了不同类别的学校和其对教育交付和更广泛的经济影响的不同利益相关者。本研究还将考虑从初中（JHS）到高中（SHS）的过渡，包容性和学习者在课程和教学方面的需求，以支持这一过渡。本研究将采用解释和社会建构主义的方法，采用定性方法和案例研究方法。除了深入的文献审查和文件分析外，实证研究还将涉及选定的中学，有目的地抽样代表现行中学制度中的三个不同层次。所采用的方法将包括与教师、校长和主要知情人的半结构化访谈，以及教师观察和与家长的焦点小组。根据该领域的学术著作，研究的重点来自于在加纳、马拉维和卢旺达担任顾问、研究员和捐助方方案管理员的个人专业经验。特别是，在加纳进行早期利用教育研究时，非常清楚的是，千年发展目标的挑战正在重新出现，迅速扩大到中等教育需要采取不同的方法。此外，很少有人探讨全球框架在实践中如何调整和争议。这项研究将引起关注全球教育、青年、就业能力和技能的广泛利益攸关方的兴趣。这包括学术界、决策者、教育部、发展机构和从业人员以及教育筹资伙伴。此外，这项研究预计将有助于正在进行的学术辩论质量，权变建构主义和分析学习者为中心的教育在全球南方。这项研究还在撒南非洲范围内，对实施使用权的国家，特别是对考虑在不久的将来使用权政策的政府具有更广泛的相关性。

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) is central to the current global education policy agenda being rolled out worldwide until 2030 (Milligan et al, 2016). Its predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (2000-2015) focused on achieving universal primary education (UPE) and critically overlooked education quality which has culminated in the current 'learning crisis' where millions of children globally have accessed school but not achieved even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills (World Bank, 2018). This learning crisis has significant implications for socio-economic development across the world and is acutely felt in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA governments are rapidly moving towards Universal Secondary Education (USE) policies in pursuit of a higher skilled workforce and stronger economic growth. Despite this, the global education and research community is yet to engage in debates on the myriad of challenges this presents and its wider policy and socio-economic implications. Furthermore, much of the existing research on education in SSA focuses on primary, vocational and tertiary education. In order to avoid another learning crisis in 11 years' time, USE necessitates new analysis to inform our collective understanding as academics and practitioners of what works, why and how this may inform policy and practice. To address these gaps, this proposed research will explore the implementation of Ghana's USE policy and its impact on the new intake of first-generation secondary school learners and beyond. Ghana presents a fruitful context for this research in light of the multiple ambitious education reforms currently taking place, including USE which was established in 2017. The overarching research question will explore how quality and expectations of USE are conceptualised and enacted by different stakeholders across different categories of schools and its implications for education delivery and the wider economy. It will also consider the transition from Junior High School (JHS) to Senior High School (SHS), inclusion and learners' needs in terms of curriculum and pedagogy to support that transition.Using interpretive and social constructivist approaches, this research will employ qualitative methods and a case study methodology. In addition to an in-depth literature review and documentary analysis, the empirical research will involve a selection of secondary schools, purposively sampled to represent the three different tiers in the current secondary school system. The methods used will include semi-structured interviews with teachers, headteachers and key informants and, teacher observations and focus groups with parents. In line with scholarly works in the field, the focus of the research emanates from personal professional experiences as a consultant, researcher and donor programme manager in Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda. In particular, when engaging in early USE research in Ghana, it was abundantly clear that the challenges of the MDGs were resurfacing and rapid expansion to secondary education required a different approach. Moreover, the ways in which global frameworks are adapted and contested in practice is rarely explored. This research will be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders focused on global education, youth, employability and skills. This includes academics, policymakers, education ministries, development agencies and practitioners as well as education financing partners. Furthermore, this research is expected to contribute to ongoing academic debates around quality, contingent constructivism and analysis of Learner Centred Education in the Global South. The research also has wider relevance within SSA, for countries implementing USE and particularly for governments considering USE policies in the near future.