Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children
<p>Despite efforts by both global education regimes and states to make education access equitable for all children, underlying patterns of inequity in access to education persist. The underlying patterns of inequity in access make education access and distribution gendered, school-based, class...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2023
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| _version_ | 1826317493769076736 |
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| author | Akuffo, AG |
| author2 | Hamill, H |
| author_facet | Hamill, H Akuffo, AG |
| author_sort | Akuffo, AG |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Despite efforts by both global education regimes and states to make education access equitable for all children, underlying patterns of inequity in access to education persist. The underlying patterns of inequity in access make education access and distribution gendered, school-based, classed, and geographic or region-based. Using Ghana’s recent education policy, “the free Senior High School (SHS) policy” as an exemplar, the thesis explores the gender disparities in access to education that the national data fail to unmask in various parts of Ghana where such disparities persist, and in places where gender parity has been overachieved. Based upon one and half years of qualitative fieldwork in Ghana, which incorporated 328 interviews with policymakers, implementers, and diverse families, and over two years of desk research, this thesis addresses the question presently unresolved in the education access literature: how does the nexus of structural education policies and family politics shape upper secondary education of children in Ghana?</p>
<p>The findings reverberate several issues. First, policymaking is crucial in setting the tone of access to secondary education. The access policy foregrounds certain perspectives such as economics and forecloses other alternatives such as school-based disparities, gender disparity and other regional and district level contextual factors. Consequently, access becomes readily available for some people and foreclosed to others. Furthermore, the omissions in policy texts and the narrow conceptualization of concepts also create implementation constraints. These issues render policy inherently inequitable, enabling middle-income families to solidify their advantages while steering low-income families toward exclusion. At the meso level implementation phase, different approaches (rigid, adaptation, flexible) were employed by policy implementers both central and local in bringing the policy to life. However, the lack of engagement and coherence between disparate implementing units and implementers created implementation gaps. At the micro-household levels, education access policy, and implementation, were only the beginning of education access negotiation for children, especially girls. Children’s access to secondary education was shaped by family type, family dynamics, and intersectional differences like resource dilution and gender. Family type was less important in egalitarian households but became significant when decision-making was polarized.</p>
<p>Access to education varies across multiple layers: what policy provides at the macro level, what implementation allows at the meso level, and what households and family dynamics permit at the micro level. The nested education access theory integrates the macro-meso-micro nexus, allowing for a nuanced exploration of education access as a continuous negotiation. This theory provides deeper insights into educational inequities and helps address outlier (persistent barriers despite free education policies) situations in Global South contexts.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:34:42Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:345e70fd-3d1c-452c-b982-7d58e6b8bd95 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-11T16:54:47Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:345e70fd-3d1c-452c-b982-7d58e6b8bd952025-02-21T09:32:40ZNegotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children Thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:345e70fd-3d1c-452c-b982-7d58e6b8bd95GhanaGlobal southEducationFamilyAfricaSociologyEnglishHyrax Deposit2023Akuffo, AGHamill, H<p>Despite efforts by both global education regimes and states to make education access equitable for all children, underlying patterns of inequity in access to education persist. The underlying patterns of inequity in access make education access and distribution gendered, school-based, classed, and geographic or region-based. Using Ghana’s recent education policy, “the free Senior High School (SHS) policy” as an exemplar, the thesis explores the gender disparities in access to education that the national data fail to unmask in various parts of Ghana where such disparities persist, and in places where gender parity has been overachieved. Based upon one and half years of qualitative fieldwork in Ghana, which incorporated 328 interviews with policymakers, implementers, and diverse families, and over two years of desk research, this thesis addresses the question presently unresolved in the education access literature: how does the nexus of structural education policies and family politics shape upper secondary education of children in Ghana?</p> <p>The findings reverberate several issues. First, policymaking is crucial in setting the tone of access to secondary education. The access policy foregrounds certain perspectives such as economics and forecloses other alternatives such as school-based disparities, gender disparity and other regional and district level contextual factors. Consequently, access becomes readily available for some people and foreclosed to others. Furthermore, the omissions in policy texts and the narrow conceptualization of concepts also create implementation constraints. These issues render policy inherently inequitable, enabling middle-income families to solidify their advantages while steering low-income families toward exclusion. At the meso level implementation phase, different approaches (rigid, adaptation, flexible) were employed by policy implementers both central and local in bringing the policy to life. However, the lack of engagement and coherence between disparate implementing units and implementers created implementation gaps. At the micro-household levels, education access policy, and implementation, were only the beginning of education access negotiation for children, especially girls. Children’s access to secondary education was shaped by family type, family dynamics, and intersectional differences like resource dilution and gender. Family type was less important in egalitarian households but became significant when decision-making was polarized.</p> <p>Access to education varies across multiple layers: what policy provides at the macro level, what implementation allows at the meso level, and what households and family dynamics permit at the micro level. The nested education access theory integrates the macro-meso-micro nexus, allowing for a nuanced exploration of education access as a continuous negotiation. This theory provides deeper insights into educational inequities and helps address outlier (persistent barriers despite free education policies) situations in Global South contexts.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Ghana Global south Education Family Africa Sociology Akuffo, AG Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title | Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title_full | Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title_fullStr | Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title_short | Negotiating two spaces: examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| title_sort | negotiating two spaces examining how structural policies and family politics shape the education of children |
| topic | Ghana Global south Education Family Africa Sociology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT akuffoag negotiatingtwospacesexamininghowstructuralpoliciesandfamilypoliticsshapetheeducationofchildren |