Global influences in educational policymaking: Free Secondary Education in Kenya

Abstract

The global discourse of human capital theory has long dominated educational development commitments. There is a huge body of literature which critiques how this discourse and associated global trends and targets have created a standardised blueprint for how education in low income countries should be carried out. While most attention has been given to the primary sector, this article shifts the focus to post-compulsory secondary education. The study investigates how quality is conceptualised in Kenyan secondary education policy documents, and critically examines the influence of the global discourse of educational development on these conceptualisations. Situated within a postcolonial framework and using thematic discourse analysis, findings suggest that neo-imperial power relations continue to exert significant influence in the formulation of the Kenyan secondary education policy. Conclusions point to the need for more local participation in the policymaking process if qualitative improvements are to be successful in promoting sustainable development.

Keywords:

• education policy
• secondary education
• quality
• discourse

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the ESRC for funding this research and Michael Crossley for close reading of early drafts.

Notes

1. This article focuses upon the presence of human capital theory in Kenyan educational policy discourse and the theory is discussed in the following section. There is not space for a discussion of the rights-based approach and its influence. For those interested in the human-rights approach and its related quality frameworks, I would recommend Tikly and Barrett’s Education Quality: Research Priorities and Approaches in the Global Era (2007).

2. In 2003, the Kenya Government announced that primary education would be free and compulsory. More than 95% of children of primary school age attend school and this percentage rises in areas with lower numbers of marginalised and extremely poor people. In comparison, less than 50% continue to secondary school. Although it is widely known that FPE is heavily subsidised by donor money, the funding of FSE is not easy to discern, and is an area that needs further research. Free and compulsory basic education for every child is a clause of the new constitution. It is unknown what implications this will have for FSE and whether secondary education will become compulsory in the future.

3. I did not conduct structured interviews with Ministry of Education staff. However, I did have discussions with different members of staff as I sought to locate all the documentation related to FSE. When I asked one member of the FSE office why he thought that FSE has been introduced I was given the brusque response that it simply made sense given the swell in numbers of students leaving primary schooling in light of the introduction of FPE in 2003. There is not space here to discuss the potential reasons for the lack of any written policy.