IMPROVING QUALITY EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN
COUNTRIES BY USING A SOCIAL NORM PERSPECTIVE
Anna Lucia D’Emilio1
Introduction
The primary objective of this paper is to apply the social norm theoretical approach and tools
provided at Penn University to improve education in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
This paper will enhance national and regional follow-up interventions to the global Out of School
Children Initiative led by UNICEF in coordination with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics by
highlighting necessary social changes.
In addition, it might also be used by those UNICEF Country Offices which are involved in
Monitoring Results for Equity System for education – MoRES-. This is a new monitoring system
in UNICEF that aims to help the most vulnerable children and involves the identification of
social norm determinants and indicators.
I.
CONTEXT
Advances – Near Universal Primary Enrolment & Gender Parity
At the primary school level, universal enrolment has almost been achieved in Latin America, and
enrolment rates compare favorably to world figures (93.5% vs. 87.6%). In addition, boys and
girls attend in largely equal numbers: the gender parity index in primary education is 0.99
(UNESCO, 2011) .
Furthermore, almost all legal frameworks in the region recognize the right to free basic education
and, many governments openly consider basic education as a public good which, of course, has
implications for policy-makers and programmers. As a public good, education should be nonexcludable and not-rival, hence each and every child should be able to enjoy the right to
education.
1
The author acknowledges the important comments received by Molly Sinderbrand, Francesca Moneti and other
collegues during the elaboration of this paper. Attending Bicchieri’ s lectures was a great experience.
Continuing Challenges – Lack of Quality
However, a closer examination reveals serious concerns about the quality of education and its
impact on children. Hundreds of thousand children and adolescents are still excluded from
school, particularly from pre-primary and secondary education. Furthermore, millions of children
are excluded within schools; that is, they are in school but are not learning. The lack of quality is
also reflected in a range of educational indicators, but most importantly in poor educational
achievement, significant age-grade gaps where children are in a lower grade than their age would
otherwise dictate as well as high repetition and drop-out rates, as reported below:
a) Poor Learning Achievement. Regional studies on student achievement show that half
of Grade 3 students in Latin America scored poorly in mathematics, and a third
struggled with reading. In some countries, over 60% were falling behind in these
basic studies (OREALC, 2008).
b) Repetition of Grades. A significant number of students repeat grades, particularly in
primary school. As the table below shows, only Sub Saharan African has a higher
repetition rate in Grades 1-3 than Latin America and the Caribbean.
Repetition Rates in Primary School (%)
Developing Countries
Sub Saharan Africa
Latin America
Caribbean
Central Asia
Eastern Asia
Western Asian
Arab States
Grade 1
5.5
9.9
9.0
5.3
0.1
1.7
6.5
2.7
Grade 2
5.0
12.2
7.0
1.1
0.3
1.8
5.2
3.2
Grade 3
5.0
13.0
6.2
2.9
0.2
0.8
7.9
3.2
( UNESCO 2009)
c) The Age-Grade Gap. The age-grade gap occurs for a variety of reasons. Some
children start primary school late because a decision is made that they are not ready
for entry into the formal school system. Others are simply not enrolled in primary
school in a timely way. As shown by the 2011 regional study on out-of-school
children, others repeat pre-school (UNICEF-UIS, Forthcoming). A total of 22.8
million children and adolescents below the age of 15 are two or more years over-age,
and another 15.6 million are one-year over-age. The following graph illustrates the
situation.
Student Enrolment (in 000s) and the Age-Grade Gap in Latin America and the Caribbean
d) The High Drop-Out Rate. The aforementioned problems are inter-related and tend to
compound over time with the result that many students in the region simply do not
make the transition from primary to secondary school or drop out in secondary
school. As the above graph shows, the drop-out rate starts early and intensifies at age
15. The end result is that secondary school enrolment falls to 72.8% from a near
universal level at primary school (UNESCO, 2011). This 20 point drop represents
millions of children and adolescents who are denied the opportunity to complete their
basic schooling.
II. THE CHALLENGE
As the statistical data shows, education systems in the region fail to ensure the educational rights
of all children. Millions are out of school and many more face a form of silent exclusion because
even if they are still attending school, they are not learning and, thus, at risk of dropping out.
When exploring these issues with teachers and parents, several factual beliefs2 (Bicchieri, 2012)
emerge, such as the following:
-
Children who do not meet the expected learning results need to repeat. Only by doing so
will learn. The more grades a student repeats, the more likelihood s/he will learn.
-
It is better for children to repeat pre-school or start primary school late. This will allow
them to be enrolled in the first grade of primary only when they are “ready”.
-
Poor learning achievement is attributed to students rather than to failures in the education
system or pedagogical practices.
-
The presence of many over-age students in a given grade/classroom is not an indicator of
school failure.
-
Access and quality are separate issues. The government’s first priority should be to
expand access to education and, only when this goal has been achieved, address quality.
These beliefs causes behaviors that are unconditional, meaning that, as Cristina Bicchieri explains
(2012) , they are not rooted in empirical expectations and/or normative expectations of parents or
teachers. Each parent or teacher performs according to these beliefs regardless of what other may
do or think. Grade repetition is a good example of this. The practice continues even in those
countries where grade repetition has been legally abolished, and more flexible criteria have been
set for facilitating learning and the advancement from one grade to the next. Even though there
has not been a psycho-social study on the issue, it seems that the behaviors associated with the
above mentioned personal beliefs are custom rather than social norms.
The custom of holding students back and delaying completion of the education cycle is
considered “natural” and it is embedded within a complex structure and/or categorization of
rules, regulations, perceptions, values and expectations. This structure or script (Bicchieri)
operates even though those following it may be doing so unawares. The script can be compared
to grammar: it regulates the use of each part of speech and the relation among the different parts
2
As Francesca Moneti explained during the presentation of this case study, factual beliefs are “beliefs about
facts”
(e.g., nouns, pronouns, verbs, etc.). The grammatical system is in place even if the speaker is
illiterate and has never learned it formally. He simply uses it.
Both teachers and parents follow the script dictated by their beliefs and, therefore, accept as
facts that children may not be ready for school even if they are at the legal age; that it is normal
for students to repeat grades and that some groups of children will not be able to learn. Indeed,
there is a culture of repetition in Latin America where both teachers and parents mistakenly
believe that holding children back, particularly in the early grades, is a good way for children to
learn and master the basics. The Pygmalion Effect, a phenomenon where teachers expect less of
students from poor backgrounds (many of whom are of indigenous or African descent), is also in
play. These preconceptions adversely affects the quality of teacher-student interactions, creating
a negative feedback loop or a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, poor students receive
fewer quality interactions with their teachers and internalize their teachers’ lower expectations of
them. In consequence, they tend to have lower academic performance, which reinforces the
teachers’ perspective that poor children are poor students and cannot learn 3. This, of course, is
not true. All children, when given the appropriate supports and educational opportunities can
learn.
The challenge, therefore, to foster quality education is to change the factual beliefs and create a
social norm which articulates empirical and normative expectations around the core issue that
each child can learn if given the necessary support.
III.
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE WORK SO FAR
Almost all countries in Latin America have made efforts to improve the physical condition of
schools, particularly as regards infrastructure and water and sanitation facilities. They have also
been able to address some of the socio-economic problems that undermine access and
participation of children in schools, by introducing incentives for poor families to send their
3
Somehow this is an empirical expectation, so that we might be in presence of a Descriptive Norm. Actually it
will depend of the specific contexts where we will work and may be part of the knowledge gaps we need to
reduce.
children to school, often through cash transfers, be they conditional unconditional, universal or
targeted. They have also introduced some changes into the curricula, such as the inclusion of
emerging topics such as environmental education, life skills and human rights.
However, less importance has been given to the pedagogical factors that may hamper or facilitate
learning. In addition, education reforms have rarely sought to change the factual beliefs of
teacher and parents.
UNICEF has been promoting projects which have proven to be successful in drastically
improving the rates of school failure, repetition, dropout and learning achievement. A case in
point is the “Proyecto de Promocion Asistida” (Assisted Promotion Project) pilot from
Argentina, which has since been expanded to several provinces. Other positive experiences are
linked to the child friendly school initiatives.
The Out of School Children studies which cover the region as a whole as well as Bolivia, Brazil
and Colombia, provide information on the magnitude of educational exclusion from and within
schools. They have all pointed out the magnitude of exclusion and identified four main types
of barriers for the fulfillment of the right to education: a) economic b) socio-cultural; c) material
and pedagogical barriers of school; d) barriers of the education system.
These studies provide, therefore, relevant baseline information that can be useful to identify
strategies to overcome barriers and to change factual beliefs, which is a conditio sine qua non
toward the creation of a new social norm. For the purposes of this paper, the focus is on the
socio-cultural barriers , in the perspective of Social Norm studies.
IV CHANGE IN PRACTICES
As previously mentioned, the challenge is to create a social norm reflecting the idea that each
child can learn and that education is a right for all children and adolescents. The empirical
expectations and new script associated with this norm are based on the need and the potential to
overcome both exclusion from school and exclusion in school. Of course, creating a new social
norm must go hand in hand with other interventions, such as pedagogical changes and curricula
reforms, etc.
Following the steps analyzed at Penn University with Cristina Bicchieri and her team, the
following actions will be undertaken:
a) Identify core groups who can facilitate social change and the creation of a new
norm
A first important step is to identify the core group of people who are best positioned to
convey the messages that will help change factual beliefs and who can model the
behaviours of the new norm. In this way, the new empirical expectation can be
established.
A first core group is made up mostly of duty bearers, such as:
o teachers who have already put in place innovative pedagogical practices and have
achieved positive results
o parents, particularly those who belong to high degree node networks (Muldoon)
and whose behavior can be seen by many people
o representative of teachers’ unions, given the importance that these organizations
have in all countries
o educational authorities who are committed to progressive reforms since they can
build consensus and raise awareness among other actors of the education system
o opinion leaders, such as journalists or high profile figures in the community who
can influence and persuade others
A second core group is made up of rights holders, particularly:
o children and adolescents belonging to youth movements
o people whom they trust and admire, such as young celebrities and activists
o children and adolescents who have benefitted from improvements to the quality of
the educational services they receive
Both core groups are inspired by the same core values (see below) and therefore are
moving towards a similar objective. The reason for having two groups is because they
contribute to solve different problems . For example students have to avoid dropping out
in case of difficulty at school, while teachers and parents are responsible for late entry, or
repetition . However both groups should also converge at some stage of the process.
In order to avoid creating an unworkably large group, it would be advisable to select
people who belong to different networks to act as bridges among networks (idem).
Of
course, the selected group should be sufficiently diverse and include boys, girls, men and
women, hopefully belonging to different social or ethnic groups.
b) Create and implement a communications campaign to help change underlying
factual beliefs:
The campaign should be two-fold. From one side it should create pride in those children,
communities or municipalities which have shown positive results in reducing school
failure. On the other side, it should create a sense of embarrassment in teachers, parents
and in the society as a whole and challenge the acceptance of academic failure and
exclusion. It must induce an emotional response to the problem. At the same time, it is
very important that the campaign does not blame children or teachers since this could
negatively affect their self-esteem and to discourage them. On the contrary it should
leverage the sense of collectivity and common challenge! The campaign must be
embedded within a more extensive communication strategy that targets different
audiences with messages tailored to each but with the same overall goal. To do this, three
main types of arguments could be considered:
o Experiential - The suffering of children who are held back as told in their own
words4 :

“When I started school, I remember that I couldn’t read or write, and I
failed Grade 1 several times.” ~ Lesli, age 12

“I started Grade 1, and they taught me the vowels. They hit me because I
didn’t learn the alphabet.” ~ Josue, age 12
4
Based on testimonial material collected by Asociacion Educacion para Todos, in the framework of the Out of
School Children Initiative in LAC region.

“I was nervous. I was afraid of the kids. Many made fun of me.” ~
Reveca, age 11

“When I knew that I had to repeat I wanted to die because I felt useless”
Andrea, age 12.
o Scientific/technical - Statistical data can be presented to show the magnitude of
children’s exclusion as well as studies debunking the myth that better learning
outcomes can be achieved by holding students back or delaying their studies.
Statistics from international, regional and national assessments such as PISA and
SERCE could be useful here.
o Economic - The cost of repetition and early drop-out: According to the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the inefficiency of
repetition costs countries in the region 12 billion dollars annually (CEPAL, 2007:
163). The State also risks other indirect costs in the future, including higher
policing and related criminal justice expenses as well as payments made under
anti-poverty programmes to name but two. Costs also incur to individuals who
have dropped out, including reduced employment income and related benefits. As
poverty borne of reduced educational opportunities is often inter-generational, the
negative economic consequences can extend well into the future.
In addition to providing evidence and testimonies highlighting the deleterious
consequences of not acting, the communication campaign should also show case example
of positive behaviour (e.g., of individuals, schools, and/or communities).
c. Building a new social norm to achieve the right to education
This new vision must be rooted in the value of education as a fundamental right and also as
an end in itself. Education cannot be separated from an ethical-political horizon based on
human rights. With reference to the specific problem of school failure and a new social norm
on quality education, the core values to be pursued are:

Education is every child’s right. Every child can learn.

Education is everybody’s responsibility. If a child fails, the whole education
system and society are failing.
Any change requires a convergence of interests, will as well as new ways to understand and interpret
reality (i.e., a new script and empirical expectation). Stakeholders also need to be cognizant of the scope
of their decision-making and use the tools that are available to them to cement the desired change,
including by fostering broad participation and buy-in within their spheres of influence.
The following interventions will help mobilize common will:

Public discussion and commitment
The goal is to generate a receptive school environment and strengthen community
participation in schools. To achieve this, it is necessary to provide support to those working
in schools so they can undertake this task and to endow them with the authority over
administrative changes, such as to calendars, use of school spaces and their contents in
accordance with agreements reached with the community.
Several key actions can be undertaken, such as organizing meetings, assemblies as well as
making appointments with influential actors, such as influential leaders, politicians in order
to:
-
create a common understanding and raise awareness about the need for new factual
beliefs
-
assess whether the new social norm is consistent with existing legal norms or whether
amendments to educational laws or regulations are required. It may also be important to
review how learning achievement is evaluated.
-
discuss required behavioural changes and develop a related action plan that outlines clear
commitments and indicators .
-
define sanctions if behaviours contradict the new empirical expectation.
The commitments of each stakeholder must be clearly spelled out meaning that, when a child
is at risk of exclusion from or within school, it is clear how teachers, parents, peers,
community authorities are to respond.

Public monitoring and follow-up
To create a sense of a common goal and responsibility for change, a plan to monitor progress
could be put in place. Countries that have already begun to implement the MoRES
monitoring system could start public discussion on the results achieved and decisions made
to respond to unforeseen situations.

Public award and celebration
Incentives may also an important part of change (Xiao, Mackie) . That said, monetary
incentives to teachers are not necessarily advisable. Other kinds of incentive could be
considered. For example, a teacher with exceptional results could be rewarded with a study
visit to another country or books. More importantly, collective incentives could be created,
such as amassing more books for a high performing school or a library for a village whose
children are all in school and enrolled at the right age. The latter will create a sense of
collective responsibility, and everyone will enjoy the recognition received. Last, but not least,
oustanding teachers, schools or communities could also be publicly recognized by the
Minister of Education along with UNICEF.
V THE WAY AHEAD
Next steps include defining the scope and scale of the project. It has been developed under a
regional office point of view, however it be converted in action aither at local/national or
regional level . Therefore it will involve defining strategies and actions to be taken at the
regional and country levels.
Another initial step will be to identify knowledge gap through studies that map peoples’ existing
beliefs. This is necessary in order to establish a baseline from which to measure progress.
References
BICCHIERI, Cristina (2012). Preliminary Readings for the Course of Social Norms. University
of Pennsylvania. July 2012
-
(2012)
Lectures at University of Pennsylvania , July 2-3
CEPAL (2007). Panorama Social de America Latina 2007, Santiago.
OREALC (2008). Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study: Student Achievement
in Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago.
MACKIE, Gerry (2012) Lectures at University of Pennsylvania , July 9
MULDOON, Ryan (2012). Lecture at University of Pennsylvania , July 11
XIAO, Erte (2012). Lecture at University of Pennsylvania , July 9
UNESCO (2009). Education for All, Global Monitoring Report , Paris.
UNESCO (2011). Education for All, Global Monitoring Report, Paris.
UNESCO , Education Statistics Database. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/default.aspx
UNICEF and UIS (2010). Conceptual and Methodological Framework: Global Initiative on Outof-school Children, New York
UNICEF and UIS (2012), Regional Report for Latin America and the Caribbean on Out of
School Children (forthcoming)