Preliminary Programme

The increase in school enrolment (larger cohorts and/or longer schooling) and the deliberate reduction in the number of pupils per teacher undoubtedly affect the level of demand for teachers. But are these factors sufficient to explain the recruitment policy of the French ministry of Education in the second half of the 20th century? French public finances officials, at the ministry of Economy and Finances, or at the “Cour des Comptes”, have repeatedly questioned the employment policy of the ministry of Education. From their point of view, this policy was disconnected from demographic trends, and not really justified by qualitative arguments: just as if there was an endogenous dynamic of increasing the number of educational staff. Based on political and administrative archives, as well as on interviews and quantitative data, this paper will analyze this discourse as a myth that plays a structuring role in the relationships between the various actors involved in the design of educational policies ; it will also shed light on the daily procedures of human resources management in the education system in order to objectify the manifold determinants of teachers recruitment. It will thus contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of education spending. (Show less)

Enrolment rates in primary schooling were low in colonial Mozambique. However, overall figures, predominantly used in cross-country analyses of education in colonial Africa, hide significant variation between different regions of the colony, population groups, genders and types of schooling in Mozambique. We make a contribution by carrying out a supply-demand factor analysis of the sub-colonial variation in enrolment rates, as well as the corresponding gender gap, for the different types of schooling and population groups established under the discriminatory regime of indigenato, for the period 1930-1962. In particular, we focus on the hypothesis that Islam influenced the extension of primary schooling, primarily of ensino primario rudimentar targeted at the black population. Given the primary role played by Catholic missions in the provision of this type of schooling in Mozambique, enrolment rates could be affected by the reluctance of Muslim families to send their children to Catholic schools. (Show less)

Teacher's wages are central to the historiography of schooling. They form the basis on which expenditure on primary education can be calculated in order to measure investments in education (e.g., Chaudhary, Musacchio, Nafziger & Yan 2012). Teacher's wages may also be used as an indicator for the social status of the teacher profession and the position of female teachers in the school system (e.g. Sohn 2015). Low teacher wages has furthermore ben identified as an explanation, when differences in school development has been explained (Go & Lindert 2010). Despite the importance of teacher's wages, we nevertheless know much more about how much teachers were paid, compared to how teachers were paid (Scholliers & Schwarz 2003). The latter question, which concerns questions regarding wage composition and its development, is important if we are to correctly measure both the regional variation of teacher salaries and their development over time. Complementing public statistics with school district account books, school inspector reports and teacher rolls, the aim of this paper is to provide a more accurate description of teacher salaries and their regional variation in Sweden 1840-1900, that considers the varying and changing role of wages in kind. (Show less)

Thanks to an abundant database that starts as early as 1771, we are able to quantify the long-run development of financing primary education in Switzerland over the course of the 19th century. On a community level, we see a shift from tuition-based to public funding already at the end of the 18th century. With the democratization process at the state (cantonal) level starting after 1830, this shift became more pronounced, as cantonal tax systems supported poorer areas. This political process towards centralization and redistribution culminated with a constitutional article demanding free primary education at the federal state level in 1875. Although the federal state found ways to support underdeveloped regions indirectly, legislative and financial authority remained with the cantons. At the end of the century, Switzerland thus offers a multifaceted account of public-school finance, whose performance we can test with results of compulsory exams of militia army recruits. (Show less)