ways to access and retention of child in school
Answers
It is important to focus on retention as well as access because, without retention, desired learning outcomes will be significantly reduced due to lack of participation in planned educational programmes. And, learning outcomes are, at least partially, dependent on the quality of the education offer. Thus, the literature that was reviewed addressed all three concepts: access, retention and quality.
To clarify, access and retention can be analysed by focusing on rates of enrolment at a particular level of education. For example, the primary net enrolment rate is defined as the number of students divided by the number of children or youth of primary school age (Engel & Rose, 2011a and 2011b; Engel et al., 2011; Wils & Ingram, 2011). Alternatively or in combination, one can focus on the number and rate of out of school children and youth (Omoeva et al., 2013; UNESCO/UIS, 2005).
Educational quality has been defined in a variety of ways, focusing either on:
INPUTS
(e.g., financial resources, teachers and other human resources, instructional materials and physical facilities);
PROCESSES
(nature of interaction in educational activities involving students, teachers, administrators, materials and technologies);
CONTENT
(knowledge, skills and attitudes being transmitted through the curriculum);
OUTPUTS
(relatively short-term consequences, such as students’ cognitive achievement, skills and attitudes); and
OUTCOMES
(longer-term consequences, such as school leavers’ employment, earnings, and civic participation) (Adams, 1993; Lockheed & Verspoor, 1990).
The relationship between access/retention and quality in education is also complex. For instance, increasing enrolment without a commensurate increase in educational inputs (e.g., classrooms, teachers) may lower the quality of education, whether defined in terms of processes, outputs, or outcomes (World Bank/IEG, 2006).
Additionally, improving educational quality – however defined – may increase enrolment, by encouraging families to send their children/youth to school and encouraging children/youth to remain in school (UNESCO, 2005).
Education is a tripolar process as it revolves around the students, the teachers and the environment in which the education is being imparted. These three are the main constituents of education. All the three play a major role in the process of learning and imparting education. The role of a teacher in the lives of the students is very important. After parents and the environment of the family, it is the teacher and the environment of the school which plays an important role in the development of a child. Apart from giving academic and subject knowledge, a teacher also teaches the students the moral and ethical knowledge. A teacher motivates and inspires her students to excel well in life in academics and also guides him through the journey. In order to ensure the students’ retention in school, a teacher needs to reach each student through his teaching abilities and tell them the importance of education in the life of an individual.