(2018). Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Afghanistan: Faculty Members' Perceptions from Selected Universities. Higher Learning Research Communications, v8 n2 Dec. This study investigated faculty members' perceptions of quality assurance and accreditation (QAA) in Afghanistan. The study aimed to examine how familiar faculty members were with QAA policy, quality concepts, QAA processes, and whether QAA process has improved the status quo. Through a sequential, exploratory mixed-methods design, the investigators interviewed seven faculty members at four universities and subsequently conducted a self administered survey questionnaire at six universities (two public and four private). A response rate of 54 percent (N = 42) was obtained from the survey. The study findings suggest that faculty members had mixed impressions about QAA implementation. For instance, an overall sum of mean scores shows that faculty members have a positive view about QAA processes M = 3.5 (SD = 0.75); however, interview participants were less satisfied with QAA outcomes. Lastly, one important implication of the study is that successful implementation of QAA processes in… [PDF]
(2024). The Imperial Entanglements of 'Education in Emergencies': From Saving Souls to Saving Schools?. Globalisation, Societies and Education, v22 n3 p405-419. This paper reflects historically and contemporaneously on the relationship between 'International Education and Development' actors and foreign intervention in our colonial past and present, with a particular focus on Education in Emergencies (EiE), a sub-field of research and practice within 'International Education and Development'. Theoretically, this work is underpinned by a critical application of the 'implicated subject', Rothberg's (2019) conceptual addition to the study of violence and injustice which seeks to go beyond binaries of 'victim and perpetrator' and recognise the way many others are 'implicated' in systems of violence and injustice. In the first section we explore this framing for researchers and practitioners in the field of EiE and the complex ways that researchers and practitioners might be understood as 'implicated subjects'. In the second part we explore two dimensions of EiE actors as 'implicated subjects': Diachronic and Synchronic. In the diachronic… [Direct]
(2015). Afghanistan [Education Sector Fact Sheet]. US Agency for International Development Three decades of conflict devastated Afghanistan's education systems and institutions. In 2002, an estimated 900,000 boys attended school, while women and girls were almost completely excluded from educational opportunities. Since then, the Afghan government, USAID, and international donors have worked closely to rebuild Afghanistan's education sector. The Ministry of Education, with support from USAID and other donors, has built more than 13,000 schools, recruited and trained more than 186,000 teachers, and increased net enrollment rates for school-aged children past 56 percent. Today, more than 8 million students are enrolled in school, including more than 2.5 million girls. In 2013, one million Afghan learners are enrolled in schools with USAID assistance, and over 5 million primary grade students benefitted from USAID assistance. This Fact Sheet highlights USAID's work in Afghanistan–specifically improvements made to basic education and support provided to higher education… [PDF]
(2021). Students' and Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences of Classroom Assessment: A Case Study of a Public University in Afghanistan. Higher Learning Research Communications, v11 n2 p22-39. Objective: The primary goal of the study was to examine students' perceptions of classroom assessment at a public university in Afghanistan. Exploring current assessment practices focused on student and faculty members lived experiences was a secondary goal. The study also sought to collect evidence on whether or not the new assessment policy was effective in student achievement. Method: Authors used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to conduct the study. Initially, we applied the Students Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), translated into Dari/Farsi and validated, to collect data from a random sample of 400 students from three colleges: Agriculture, Education, and Humanities. Response rate was 88.25% (N = 353). Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from a purposeful sample of 18 students and 7 faculty members. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and "t"-tests were used to analyze quantitative data, and NVivo 12 was used to… [PDF]
(2020). Evaluation of Students' Mathematical Ability in Afghanistan's Schools Using Cognitive Diagnosis Models. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, v16 n6 Article em1849. Cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) are restricted latent class models that can be used to analyze response data from educational or psychological tests. The Deterministic Input Noisy Output "AND" gate (DINA) model and the Deterministic Input Noisy Output "OR" gate (DINO) model there are two popular cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) for educational and evaluation assessment. They show different views on how cognitive skills are related and the likelihood of an item responding correctly. This study aims to comparison between these two models and comparison between girls and boys for cognitive diagnosis modeling. In addition, this research aims at determining the 8 th grade students' level of mathematics at the school level. Followed by the analysis of a set of data from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 mathematics assessment is used to examine the Mathematical abilities of students in Grade 8, which measures 13 attributes and… [PDF]
(2021). Increasing Girls' Access to Formal Agricultural Education in Afghanistan: Catalyzing the Skills Needed for Agriculture Production and Food Security. Policy Brief. Echidna Global Scholars Program. Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution As one of the top growth sectors in Afghanistan, agriculture is the backbone of the economy–and women and girls are the backbone of agriculture, with 70 percent of rural women working directly or indirectly in the sector (AREU 2017). Even though girls learn agricultural skills informally from family and friends, they make up only 12 percent of all students in agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Afghan girls are trapped in a vicious cycle that limits their potential to develop their skills and use them effectively for national growth and self-reliance. This brief offers context for understanding the barriers to girls' participation in agricultural TVET. A particularly formidable challenge, for example, is that parents, teachers, and even students themselves consider agricultural education to be second-class. Moreover, policies and practices within the Afghan education system present girls with numerous impediments to perceiving agricultural education… [PDF]
(2020). Inclusive Education in a Fragile Context: Redesigning the Agricultural High School Curriculum in Afghanistan with Gender in Mind. Gender and Education, v32 n5 p577-593. This paper examines attempts by a joint Dutch-Afghan capacity development project to bring more gender-responsive elements into the Agricultural High School (AHS) curriculum in the fragile context of Afghanistan. It reviews the gender-specific results of semester-long piloting (including classroom observation and interviews) of the redesigned textbooks and accompanying teachers' instructions at ten AHSs. It also examines experiences of teaching on gender themes. The findings show that it is possible to introduce more gender-responsiveness in the Afghan curriculum, but because it is used nationwide, great limitations on terminology and the kinds of female representation are imposed determined by the most conservative regions where schools are also located. These limitations and how to get around them are analysed in the article, through concrete examples showing the complex interactions with different layers involved when initiating change in such a 'fragile context'. This article can… [Direct]
(2015). Men behind the Women of Educational Leadership in Afghanistan. Planning and Changing, v46 n3-4 p334-353. On nearly any international index of those nations where women suffer the greatest, Afghanistan remains consistently identified within the top ten year after year. Afghanistan stands at a crossroad as the country makes the transition from reliance on extensive support for security from the international community to its own police forces and national army. If the rule of law cannot prevail, if Afghanistan cannot strive to uphold its constitutional guarantees of equal rights for women, and if UNESCO's goals for women as capacity builders and leaders cannot be realized, then the path that lies ahead could lead to civil war once again and a return to the suffering under Taliban-style justice. Even with a myriad of challenges, women in educational leadership are making small and steady gains, and some men in leadership are contributing to the slow transformation. This investigation profiles male leaders of Afghanistan who support women's rights, advancement, and leadership in the… [Direct]
(2023). Engagement in On-Line Language Assessment: Are Test-Taking Skills, Self-Assessment, Resilience, and Autonomy Critical?. Language Testing in Asia, v13 Article 25. Every decision made in the classroom has the potential to either help or hurt a student's development as a learner. When students' mental and emotional well-being are taken into account, effective instruction and assessment are possible, despite the importance of learners' engagement in assessment (LEA), test-taking skills (TTS), self-assessment (SA), learner resilience (LR), and learner autonomy (LA). As a result, this study attempted to illustrate the dynamic between LEA, TTS, SA, LR, and LA. To this end, 435 English as a foreign language (EFL) students at intermediate levels in Afghanistan were given copies of the Test-taking Skills Scale (TTSS), the core of self-assessments questionnaire (CSAQ), The Academic Resilience Scale (ARS), the learner autonomy questionnaire (LAQ), and the learner engagement in on-line assessment (LEOA). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) screening of the data revealed that resilient EFL students feel better at… [Direct]
(2018). Middle East Libraries in Focus. portal: Libraries and the Academy, v18 n2 p243-249 Apr. The article written by three librarians who work in the Middle East, recount their experiences as library managers at academic institutions in Qatar, Afghanistan, and Iraq. While trying to provide services to the students and faculty of their academic institutions, they must also contend with security risks, such as kidnappings and bombings. They also reflect on how they went into library science…. [Direct]
(2019). Conceptual Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics among Afghan Students. European Journal of Physics Education, v10 n1 p1-12. In this paper, the level of conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics among Afghan school and university students in Kabul, Afghanistan was investigated. This study employed a quantitative descriptive survey method where the Pashto version of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) was given to a random sample of 216 students from two schools and 90 students from two universities in Kabul city. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS v.24 and Microsoft Excel, where descriptive and inferential statistical analysis methods were used to determine the students' level of conceptual understanding in Newtonian mechanics. The results of this study revealed that generally, Afghan students had a low level of conceptual understanding of Force which is less than the Newtonian entry threshold for FCI. The results further showed that there is a significant difference between school and university students in the level of conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the results indicate that… [PDF]
(2018). Journey within Afghanistan: Inside Creative's Digital Book Tracking System. Childhood Education, v94 n5 p52-57. The need for innovation to ensure children around the world have access to quality education is clear. That need goes beyond innovation to curriculum and teaching practices, however. Creative Associates are addressing the need to innovate in order to simply ensure that books are reaching their intended recipients…. [Direct]
(2023). Acculturative Stress and Adjustment among Adult International Students in Goa. Journal of Continuing Higher Education, v71 n1 p1-23. Access to primary education, implemented in many nations as a fundamental right, is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26(1). However, higher education requires enhanced levels of financial, institutional, and infrastructural commitment from the governments and the student, and sometimes neither has the wherewithal to do so, especially with the global COVID-19 pandemic incapacitating systems everywhere. The quality of higher education and the availability of multiple choices in foreign degree programs are also key considerations. And in meeting personal ambitions, the students predispose themselves to the additional stressors of cultural differences, adjustment issues, and the academic demands of host nations. This research involves a study of acculturative stress and adjustment using a convenient sample of 60 adult international students from Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and South Africa, in Goa. The respondent test… [Direct]
(2023). The Arctic Migration Route: Local Consequences of Global Crises. Journal of Peace Education, v20 n2 p196-216. This paper addresses peace education focusing on how place-based experiences and collective memories stimulate local mobilisation for refugees fleeing from war. The Arctic Migration Route, located above 69th degree north, became an alternative to dangerous boat trips on the Mediterranean Sea, for people seeking safety and protection in the fall of 2015. During a few months, over 5,500 people from 35 nations, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran came to a municipality in north Norway with 10,000 inhabitants. The paper demonstrates how global conflicts far away, have important local consequences across borders and huge distances. Interviews with local authorities, teachers, voluntary workers constitute the main empirical material. By combining theories of place-based experiences and collective memories with phenomenology of practice, geographical location, collective and cultural memories across generations, are analysed as important driving forces for the local mobilization… [Direct]
(2021). The Hidden Shadow of Coronavirus on Education in Developing Countries. Online Learning, v25 n1 p269-285 Mar. The aim of this paper is to investigate the challenges associated with emergency remote teaching in the developing countries of Palestine, Libya, and Afghanistan, as reported by middle-school students, their parents, and teachers. These countries have been struggling with an unstable and violent situation for decades. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 participants from the three countries and 60 online classes were observed. Findings revealed that COVID-19 widened the digital gap among students and families, which created challenges in terms of online class attendance. In addition, violation of students' and parents' digital privacy emerged as another key challenge to emergency remote teaching. However, teacher presence and timely feedback in synchronous online sessions strengthened students' engagement within the emergency remote teaching environment. Overall, emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis deepened inequities across students and infringed upon… [PDF]