(2014). Time Phased Manpower Model for Education Planning in Afghanistan. Educational Planning, v21 n2 p40-57. This work provides the education planner with an introduction into the use of a time phased linear programming manpower model as it pertains to teacher demands at the provincial and national level. We first explain model fundamentals and then propose the use of such a model to provide keen insights into potential futures regarding a state's education system. Then, we provide a case study that delves into the Afghanistan education system providing insights into teacher training capacity issues as well as potential disparities across genders and provinces. A modification of the model to provide sensitivity analysis regarding policy, assumptions, and uncertainty is also presented, which demonstrates the power of linear programming as a decision tool within the realm of complex policy analysis…. [PDF]
(2021). Program Services for Veteran Students in North Carolina Community Colleges: Perceptions of Administrators and Students. Community College Enterprise, v27 n2 p33-57 Fall. Over 2,000,000 servicemen and servicewomen returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will take advantage of the educational benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and will enroll in community colleges. Despite over 70 years of education benefits for U.S. veterans, there has been little research into the availability and effectiveness of institutional support programs and policies on U.S. college campuses, especially at the community college level. Typically, social support services for veteran students have been examined predominantly at four-year institutions. Goodman and Hoppin (1990) identified that support needs to include encouragement, information, referrals, door openers, and practical help. Sources of social support include intimate relationships, family members, friends, and membership institutions and communities (Goodman et al., 2006; House et al., 1988; Procidano & Heller, 1983; Schlossberg, 1981, 1984; Schlossberg et al., 1995). This study examined the types of… [PDF]
(2016). Intercultural Teaching through Translation: An Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Literacy Course Case in Afghanistan. Intercultural Education, v27 n6 p587-599. The purpose of this study was to teach and evaluate the effectiveness of an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) course through translation to students in Afghanistan. First, an interview was conducted to determine students' computer skills. It was concluded that the students had almost no computer skills. The course was delivered to two groups of first-year students for 14 weeks during one semester. In group one, students were taught by a Turkish instructor through a translator. The course was delivered to group 2 by a native-language speaking teacher. At the end of the semester, students of both groups were given a final exam and were asked to comment about teaching speed, overall satisfaction, teacher reactions, course materials and future improvements to the course. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the final performances of students in both groups. The students also declared that they wanted to greatly improve their computer skills and use… [Direct]
(2020). Ready to Learn: Before School, in School, and beyond School in South Asia. South Asia Development Forum. World Bank Countries that have sustained rapid growth over decades have typically had a strong public commitment to expanding education as well as to improving learning outcomes. South Asian countries have made considerable progress in expanding access to primary and secondary schooling, with countries having achieved near-universal enrollment of the primary-school-age cohort (ages 6-11), except for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Secondary enrollment shows an upward trend as well. Beyond school, many more people have access to skill-improving opportunities and higher education today. Although governments have consistently pursued policies to expand access, a prominent feature of the region has been the role played by non-state actors, private nonprofit and for-profit entities, in expanding access at every level of education. Though learning levels remain low, countries in the region have shown a strong commitment to improving learning. All countries in South Asia have taken the first step, which is… [PDF]
(2019). English Collocations with Afghanistanian Persian Dialect Equivalents: A Comparative Study. Education Quarterly Reviews, v2 n4 p694-703. This study investigates the English collocations with Afghanistan Persian dialect equivalents words in the Afghanistanian context. This study aims to bring out the variations between English and Afghanistanian Persian dialect to analyze weather the collocational differences in English and Afghanistanian Persian dialect may create any problem of inaccurate production for the L1 learners of English as ESL or not. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted in this study, mainly to concentrate on the function of diverse kinds of collocations in the verbal speech of 25 postgraduate Afghanistanian students. With the target of recognizing, classifying, and accountancy for the incongruous collocations produced, these selected students have been assessed through two tests; proficiency and a multiple-choice test. The results of this study showed that a considerable variation between English lexical collocational patterns and their restrictions with their Persian correspondence. The… [PDF]
(2019). "t[superscript s] aran?" — Telephone Conversation Openings in the Rushani Language. Studies in Applied Linguistics & TESOL, v19 n1 p1-16. This paper uses conversation analysis (CA) to examine telephone conversation openings in an unwritten and understudied language, Rushani, spoken primarily in remote, mountainous areas of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. In a sample of three telephone conversations, examples are sought of the four opening sequences of telephone calls originally identified by Schegloff (1986): summons-answer; identification-recognition; greetings; and initial inquiries. At first glance, telephone conversation openings in Rushani appear to skip over the greeting stage and move directly into an extended exchange of initial inquiries. However, upon closer analysis, it is argued that a Rushani word that translates as "How are you" is in fact used by conversation participants as a greeting. The paper concludes with an argument that the study supports a "universalist" position of CA as applied to calls conducted in languages other than English (Luke & Pavlidou, 2002). Despite their… [PDF]
(2018). "Afghanistan Is a Silent Bird. But I Am an Eagle": An Arts-Based Investigation of Nation and Identity in Afghan Youth. Harvard Educational Review, v88 n3 p378-406 Fall. Western development organizations frequently target youth in conflict settings to participate in peaceful, cooperative activities to promote nation-building and deter violence. In this article, Heddy Lahmann examines the narratives of fifteen youth who participated in a US-funded nonformal arts education program in Afghanistan, which operated with the key objective of promoting national identity in its participants. Using open-ended interviews coupled with an arts-based research technique, Lahmann investigates how Afghan youth perceive their identity in relation to the nation. Her research indicates that national identity arguments do not adequately address other salient intersections of identity, such as an individual's developmental stage in life and the significance of gender, and largely leave out the influence of colonialism on the way national identity is conceptualized in non-Western contexts. Lahmann argues that program designers and policy makers must incorporate the local… [Direct]
(2018). Needs, Barriers, and Support Systems for Refugee Students in Germany. Global Education Review, v5 n4 p136-157. This paper details the results of a study of 25 students of refugee background (SoRB) from Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan at two technical universities of applied sciences in Berlin who were participating in preparatory courses to matriculate or were already engaging in their first semesters of study. The research shares what these refugee students feel they need in order to succeed in German higher education, and what they see as barriers. The data are organized around Baker, Ramsay, Irwin and Mile's (2017) analytical framework of hot (familiar-informal), warm (familiar-formal) and cold (unfamiliar-formal) sources of support. This study is relevant at a time of both a massification of participation in higher education leading to greater student diversification and the development of more holistic support for all students, and an increasing mood of political agitation in countries traditionally open to migration…. [PDF]
(2022). Higher Education Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected Societies: Beyond the Good/Bad Binary. International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, v24 n3-4 p160-176. Purpose: This comparative case study looks towards the diverse approaches of higher education to support peacebuilding, from policy and philosophy to pedagogical practices, in conflict-affected and post-conflict settings. The achievement of global development goals is dependent on addressing access to quality education in conflict-affected contexts, including higher education. However, in settings affected by conflict, higher education is often perceived to be a luxury, not a necessity. This study, then, explores whether and how higher education might support peace and development through the unique perspective of the "three faces" of higher education in conflict contexts. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is designed as a qualitative comparative case study. The research examines the work of university educators in two institutions in Afghanistan and Somaliland, highlighting the challenges and opportunities they face working in conflict-affected societies and their… [Direct]
(2021). Post-Abyssal Ethics in Education Research in Settings of Conflict and Crisis: Stories from the Field. British Educational Research Journal, v47 n4 p1102-1119 Aug. This article draws heavily on the post-abyssal philosophy of Boaventura de Sousa Santos in order to theorise new ways of thinking about research ethics in settings affected by armed conflict and crisis, and to put them into practice. Our article explores the dilemmas and tensions faced by four graduate students and a supervisor across diverse international settings. For some of us, these are places we call home, for others these are places that provide refuge to our people: Afghanistan, Jordan, Lebanon and India. We seek to deepen standard understandings of ethics as institutionalised in university forms, arguing that tidy checklists for safety and risk mitigation do not adequately address the complex affective and socio-political struggles permeating research, and the bodies of researchers, in these settings. Our main focus here is on how we can synthesise our various experiences in order to offer something of value to others who may be about to go into the field in settings… [Direct]
(2016). Will You Send Your Daughter to School? Norms, Violence, and Girls' Education in Uruzgan, Afghanistan. Journal on Education in Emergencies, v2 n1 p42-80 Dec. Access to education for all children around the world is supported by international human rights conventions. Despite this broad endorsement, some international actors wonder whether promoting access to education for girls may conflict with dominant local attitudes, values, or customs. Using stratified survey data and complementary qualitative interview data, this study explores why parents in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, choose to send their boys and girls to school, what prevents them from doing so, and what kinds of normative tensions emerge during this process. First, our data show that placing value on their boys' education is not enough to prompt parents to enroll them in school; parents also must perceive that educating their boys will have future returns, thus prioritizing pragmatic assessments over normative value. However, those who send both boys and girls to school are more likely to prioritize the value of education. Second, our data show that parents who report experiencing or… [Direct]
(2017). What's Next for Student Veterans? Moving from Transition to Academic Success. National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition With the passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008, more than 1.4 million service members and their families became eligible for higher education benefits, and veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enrolled in colleges and universities in record numbers. The first wave of research about these new student veterans focused primarily on describing their characteristics and the transition from military service to civilian life and the college campus. This new edited collection presents findings from the second wave of research about student veterans, with a focus on data-driven evidence of academic success factors, including persistence, retention, degree completion, and employment after college. An invaluable resource for educators poised to enter the next phase of supporting military-connected college students…. [Direct]
(2013). Integrating Learning, Leadership, and Crisis in Management Education: Lessons from Army Officers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Journal of Management Education, v37 n2 p180-202 Apr. This article presents a model and case study used to teach crisis leadership as a management education topic. The materials emerge from studies of U.S. Army leaders (company commanders and platoon leaders) working in Iraq and Afghanistan. The authors explain how examples and cases from military combat provide tools to teach about crisis leadership. The authors describe a case study based on a battle fought in Afghanistan in 2002 that they use to increase awareness of the nature of, the experiences associated with, and the competencies necessary to deal with crisis. Finally, the authors link their pedagogy to theory on crisis, leadership, and learning. (Contains 2 figures.)… [Direct]
(2013). The Multidimensionality of Child Poverty: Evidence from Afghanistan. Social Indicators Research, v112 n2 p391-416 Jun. This paper examines multidimensional poverty among children in Afghanistan using the Alkire-Foster method. Several previous studies have underlined the need to separate children from their adult nexus when studying poverty and treat them according to their own specificities. From the capability approach, child poverty is understood to be the lack of freedom to do and to be what children themselves value and have reason to value. The case of Afghanistan is particularly relevant as years of conflict aggravated by several severe droughts, political insecurity, bad governance and ongoing violence have significantly increased poverty in the country. The paper discusses the relevant dimensions when analysing child poverty and uses data from a survey carried out by Handicap International which contains information on dimensions of children's wellbeing that is typically missing in standard surveys. Ten dimension are considered in this paper: health, care and love, material deprivation, food… [Direct]
(2016). Certified Rehabilitation Counselors Role in the Acceptance of Disability of Returning Afghanistan and Iraq Military Veterans with Disabilities. Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education, v30 n2 p176-187. Purpose: To understand the level of acceptance of disability by veterans and rehabilitation counselor's role in that acceptance. Method: The Acceptance of Disability Scale-Revised was given to 117 veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who acquired disabilities. Their experiences working with certified rehabilitation counselors was also examined. Results: Results indicate that veterans overall are at a lower acceptance of their disability than other groups. Veterans with the most severe disabilities and lower acceptance scores are more likely to seek assistance from certified rehabilitation counselors. Conclusion: Veterans with disabilities need to have early and proper interventions from qualified counselors to best transition into civilian life. Knowledge of the stages of disability and steps to acceptance by counselors can aid veterans navigating this process…. [Direct]