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State and Parental Roles in the Decentralised Education System in Nicaragua

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Part of the book series: Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research ((GCEP,volume 8))

Abstract

This chapter reviews a comprehensive conceptualisation of what is meant by education decentralisation in the Nicaraguan context and what roles the state and parents play in the decentralised system of education, according to the policy provisions and according to the reports of the parents interviewed. How the proposed decentralization arrangements are interpreted by parents and their role in the management of the school and in the educational processes of their children are examined. These and other questions are raised in the assessment of the Nicaraguan case, where decentralization of management and decision-making began in 1993, in the context of economic and political transformations. The chapter argues that community participation or collaboration should be studied from the perspective of the participants and their circumstances. The findings reported here for instance indicate that parents confine their collaboration as volunteers, rather than playing active roles in the management of the school.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The poverty line is defined as the level of total per capita monthly (30 day) expenditures by which and individual obtains the minimum daily calory requirement.

  2. 2.

    The measurement used for this variable is the ratio of enrolments at the end of the academic year to those at the beginning.

  3. 3.

    This was the only information available with respect to the basket of staple goods for 2000.

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Correspondence to Nuzzly Ruiz de Forsberg .

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de Forsberg, N.R. (2009). State and Parental Roles in the Decentralised Education System in Nicaragua. In: Zajda, J., Gamage, D. (eds) Decentralisation, School-Based Management, and Quality. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2703-0_11

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