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Education and development in East Asia
322
BOOK REVIEWS
Wang Binhau focuses on the need for educating teachers in assessment skills by comparing China's High School Certificate Examinations (HSCE) with England's General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The controversial notion of using examination results to evaluate the teaching quality of schools is raised. The UK's concept of value added and China's 'key schools' serve to contextualise and identify the differing approaches. Little's comparison examines varying degrees of centralised control over assessment and the size of swings in assessment policy and practice. Aspects of selective assessment (range of criteria, school-based assessment in the intellectual domain and the determination of ability) are also used to demonstrate significant differences. For example, selection criteria in China include the intellectual, moral and physical domains. All three are assessed at every level. The technical issues are dealt with in chapters on criteria for the HSCE and the introduction of the equating process, by Cai Jianmin and Ke Kongbiao, respectively. Wolf suggests that the fundamental problem with creating criterion-referenced assessment systems is the difficulty of constructing clear and unambiguous 'domain descriptors' to facilitate writing test items~However, attention to this requirement inevitably leads to longer specifications and narrower tests, which tend to atomise learning. Goldstein discusses examination standards, reference tests, crossmoderation, exemplars, building up experience, socialising assessors and the great difficulty in attaining the transparency which criterion-referencing claims to offer. The final chapters make the links between assessment, teaching and learning more explicit. Ji Ming-ze describes how foreign influences (such as Western psychological testing and Soviet and American assessment practices) have affected educational measurement and evaluation in China. Meng Hong-wei describes how the first national data on student achievement were collected and used to monitor the quality of primary education for the whole country. Chapters on motivation and learning by Pu Guoming and Guo Yuanhua describe experimental work, which to my mind is the most exciting and important contribution to this collection. The problem of how to foster motivation is addressed through student selfevaluation: self-cognition drives students to improve. Wang Binhua presents a case study on student moral assessment in secondary schools, where students summarise their experience, progress and shortcomings in relation to their own targetg Educational Assessment has broad appeal and much to recommend it. The comparisons of developments in China and England are enlightening, important technical issues are illuminated and questions for research are raised. VALENTINE KLENOWSKI Hong Kong Institute of Education
Education and Development in East Asia: Paul Morris and Anthony Sweeting (eds). Garland Publishing, New York, 1995, ISBN 08153-1598-8, x + 293 pp., $47. This book, edited by two University of Hong Kong academics, is especially timely in view of the worldwide interest in the 'East Asian miracle' and the role that human capital development is supposed to have played in promoting economic growth in that region. The book examines the links between formal education and the development process in eight East Asian countries: China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The term 'development' is broadly defined to
include not only economic growth and improved living standards, but also improvements in the social and political domains. Morris' introduction recognises that these countries vary considerably in size, ethnic mix, economic structure and political systems. The book's guiding assumption is that the role of education in development varies in ways not amenable to simplistic or singular explanations. The eight country-specific chapters vary in length and style, but most succeed in providing admirably comprehensive analyses. Among the best chapters is Sweeting's analysis of Hong Kong. He displays a masterful grasp of the complexities and vicissitudes of educational policy and relates his findings to theoretical approaches to education and development. Leung Yat Ming, on China, shows convincingly how education policy is influenced by shifting political goals. Leung observes that human capital theory was taboo in China when it was in vogue elsewhere; it has since been severely criticised but is being uncritically accepted by Chinese educators. The chapter on South Korea is the most disappointing. There is hardly any analysis of its social and political changes and their relationship to education. In the final chapter, the editors provide a detailed and useful summary of the major similarities and differences across the eight countries. They note substantial variations in sources of funding; state responsiveness in educational provision, especially at tertiary level; the extent of state control; emphasis on technical and vocational education; and the nature of the school curriculum. However, several broad patterns are discernible. First, high levels of basic education were in place before industrialisation began. Secondly, the move from low-technology, labourintensive production to higher value-added production was accompanied by the quantitative expansion of secondary education and qualitative improvements of both primary and secondary schooling. Tertiary education opportunities were expanded along with further economic development. Another similarity across countries (except for Hong Kong and Macau) is the way educational systems have been used to foster social cohesion and political stability. A major observation that emerges from these studies is that education has not been the primary source of economic growth, but has supported or facilitated the growth process. The editors conclude by drawing several important implications for economic policies. First, economic growth and development have been pursued single-mindedly as national prioritieg Secondly, they caution against the notion that these societies have serendipitously acquired some magical formula for success that will work well in other social contexts. They attribute successful development in this region to 'the pursuit of sensible economic policies and to hard work, perseverance, adaptability, a readiness to take risks and to plough the benefits of economic growth back into educational and social equities' (p. 262). At the same time, they recognise the part played by such factors as good fortune, geographic location and the relative abundance of natural resources. The book achieves what the editors hoped it would. It leaves a lasting impression of the complex links between education and the wider socio-political and economic context. It also reminds one that 'East Asia' is not a monolithic entity, but encompasses a rich degree of diversity; narrowly deterministic theories of the relationship between education and development are not useful here. ENG THYE JASON TAN State University of New York at Buffalo
BOOK REVIEWS
Wang Binhau focuses on the need for educating teachers in assessment skills by comparing China's High School Certificate Examinations (HSCE) with England's General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The controversial notion of using examination results to evaluate the teaching quality of schools is raised. The UK's concept of value added and China's 'key schools' serve to contextualise and identify the differing approaches. Little's comparison examines varying degrees of centralised control over assessment and the size of swings in assessment policy and practice. Aspects of selective assessment (range of criteria, school-based assessment in the intellectual domain and the determination of ability) are also used to demonstrate significant differences. For example, selection criteria in China include the intellectual, moral and physical domains. All three are assessed at every level. The technical issues are dealt with in chapters on criteria for the HSCE and the introduction of the equating process, by Cai Jianmin and Ke Kongbiao, respectively. Wolf suggests that the fundamental problem with creating criterion-referenced assessment systems is the difficulty of constructing clear and unambiguous 'domain descriptors' to facilitate writing test items~However, attention to this requirement inevitably leads to longer specifications and narrower tests, which tend to atomise learning. Goldstein discusses examination standards, reference tests, crossmoderation, exemplars, building up experience, socialising assessors and the great difficulty in attaining the transparency which criterion-referencing claims to offer. The final chapters make the links between assessment, teaching and learning more explicit. Ji Ming-ze describes how foreign influences (such as Western psychological testing and Soviet and American assessment practices) have affected educational measurement and evaluation in China. Meng Hong-wei describes how the first national data on student achievement were collected and used to monitor the quality of primary education for the whole country. Chapters on motivation and learning by Pu Guoming and Guo Yuanhua describe experimental work, which to my mind is the most exciting and important contribution to this collection. The problem of how to foster motivation is addressed through student selfevaluation: self-cognition drives students to improve. Wang Binhua presents a case study on student moral assessment in secondary schools, where students summarise their experience, progress and shortcomings in relation to their own targetg Educational Assessment has broad appeal and much to recommend it. The comparisons of developments in China and England are enlightening, important technical issues are illuminated and questions for research are raised. VALENTINE KLENOWSKI Hong Kong Institute of Education
Education and Development in East Asia: Paul Morris and Anthony Sweeting (eds). Garland Publishing, New York, 1995, ISBN 08153-1598-8, x + 293 pp., $47. This book, edited by two University of Hong Kong academics, is especially timely in view of the worldwide interest in the 'East Asian miracle' and the role that human capital development is supposed to have played in promoting economic growth in that region. The book examines the links between formal education and the development process in eight East Asian countries: China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The term 'development' is broadly defined to
include not only economic growth and improved living standards, but also improvements in the social and political domains. Morris' introduction recognises that these countries vary considerably in size, ethnic mix, economic structure and political systems. The book's guiding assumption is that the role of education in development varies in ways not amenable to simplistic or singular explanations. The eight country-specific chapters vary in length and style, but most succeed in providing admirably comprehensive analyses. Among the best chapters is Sweeting's analysis of Hong Kong. He displays a masterful grasp of the complexities and vicissitudes of educational policy and relates his findings to theoretical approaches to education and development. Leung Yat Ming, on China, shows convincingly how education policy is influenced by shifting political goals. Leung observes that human capital theory was taboo in China when it was in vogue elsewhere; it has since been severely criticised but is being uncritically accepted by Chinese educators. The chapter on South Korea is the most disappointing. There is hardly any analysis of its social and political changes and their relationship to education. In the final chapter, the editors provide a detailed and useful summary of the major similarities and differences across the eight countries. They note substantial variations in sources of funding; state responsiveness in educational provision, especially at tertiary level; the extent of state control; emphasis on technical and vocational education; and the nature of the school curriculum. However, several broad patterns are discernible. First, high levels of basic education were in place before industrialisation began. Secondly, the move from low-technology, labourintensive production to higher value-added production was accompanied by the quantitative expansion of secondary education and qualitative improvements of both primary and secondary schooling. Tertiary education opportunities were expanded along with further economic development. Another similarity across countries (except for Hong Kong and Macau) is the way educational systems have been used to foster social cohesion and political stability. A major observation that emerges from these studies is that education has not been the primary source of economic growth, but has supported or facilitated the growth process. The editors conclude by drawing several important implications for economic policies. First, economic growth and development have been pursued single-mindedly as national prioritieg Secondly, they caution against the notion that these societies have serendipitously acquired some magical formula for success that will work well in other social contexts. They attribute successful development in this region to 'the pursuit of sensible economic policies and to hard work, perseverance, adaptability, a readiness to take risks and to plough the benefits of economic growth back into educational and social equities' (p. 262). At the same time, they recognise the part played by such factors as good fortune, geographic location and the relative abundance of natural resources. The book achieves what the editors hoped it would. It leaves a lasting impression of the complex links between education and the wider socio-political and economic context. It also reminds one that 'East Asia' is not a monolithic entity, but encompasses a rich degree of diversity; narrowly deterministic theories of the relationship between education and development are not useful here. ENG THYE JASON TAN State University of New York at Buffalo