Abstract
Understanding the role of education in development is highly complex, on account of the slippery nature of both concepts, and the multifaceted relationship between them. This chapter provides a conceptual exploration of these relationships, laying the groundwork for the rest of the book. First, it assesses the role of education as a driver of development, including aspects of economic growth, basic needs and political participation. Second, it looks at the constitutive perspective, involving education as national status, human right and human development. Finally, it assesses the ‘other face’ of education and its negative impacts, as well as the specificities of higher education in relation to other levels.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy five nations. London: Sage.
Becker, G. S. (1962, October). Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 70(Suppl.), 9–49.
Beckett, K. (2011). R. S. Peters and the concept of education. Educational Theory, 61(3), 239–255.
Bengtsson, S., Barakat, B., & Muttarak, R. (2018). The role of education in enabling the sustainable development agenda. London: Routledge.
Boni, A., Lopez-Fogues, A., & Walker, M. (2016). Higher education and the post 2015 agenda: A contribution from the human development approach. Journal of Global Ethics, 12(1), 17–28.
Boni, A., & Walker, M. (2013). Human development and capabilities: Re-imagining the university of the twenty-first century. London: Routledge.
Boni, A., & Walker, M. (2016). Universities and global human development: Theoretical and empirical insights for social change. London: Routledge.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. New York: Basic Books.
Bush, K., & Saltarelli, D. (2000). The two faces of education in ethnic conflict. Paris: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
Brundtland Commission. (1987). Our common future (Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bynner, J., Dolton, P., Feinstein, L., Makepiece, G., Malmberg, L., & Woods, L. (2003). Revisiting the benefits of higher education: A report by the Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education. Bristol: Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Castells, M. (1994). The university system: Engine of development in the new world economy. In J. Salmi & A. Verspoor (Eds.), Revitalizing higher education (pp. 14–40). Oxford: Pergamon.
Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q., Hobson, C. F., McPartland, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfeld, F. D., et al. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: U. S. Office of Education.
Dewey, J. (1966 [1916]). Democracy and education. New York: MacMillan.
Diamond, J. M. (1997). Guns germs and steel: The fate of human societies. New York: W. W. Norton.
Fraser, N. (1998). From redistribution to recognition? Dilemmas of justice in a ‘post-socialist’ age. In A. Philipps (Ed.), Feminism and politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin Books.
Garrod, N., & Macfarlane, B. (2009). Challenging boundaries: Managing the integration of post-secondary education. Abingdon: Routledge.
Giroux, H., & McLaren, P. (1986). Teacher education and the politics of engagement: The case for democratic schooling. Harvard Educational Review, 56(3), 213–240.
Green, A. (1990). Education and state formation: the rise of education systems in England, France and the USA. London: Macmillan.
Hanushek, E. (2013). Economic growth in developing countries: The role of human capital. Economics of Education Review, 73, 204–212.
Hanushek, E., & Woessmann, L. (2008). The role of cognitive skills in economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 46(3), 607–668.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. London: Routledge.
Huntington, S., & Nelson, J. (1976). No easy choice: Political participation in developing countries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Klees, S. J. (2016). Human capital and rates of return: Brilliant ideas or ideological dead ends? Comparative Education Review, 60(4), 644–672.
Lucas, R. E. (1988). On the mechanics of development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1), 3–42.
Luescher-Mamashela, T. M., Kiiru, S., Mattes, R., Mwollo-ntallima, A., Ng’ethe, N., & Romo, M. (2011). The university in Africa and democratic citizenship: Hothouse or training ground? Wynberg: Centre for Higher Education Transformation.
Mamdani, M. (2018). The African university. London Review of Books, 40(14), 29–32.
Marginson, S. (2016). The worldwide trend to high participation higher education: Dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher Education, 72, 413–434.
Marginson, S. (2017). Limitations of human capital theory. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 287–301.
Martin, C. (2018). Political authority, personal autonomy and higher education. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 25(2), 154–170.
Mazrui, A. A. (1975). The African university as a multinational corporation: Problems of penetration and dependency. Harvard Educational Review, 45, 198.
McCowan, T. (2004). The growth of private higher education in Brazil: Implications for equity and quality. Journal of Education Policy, 19(4), 453–472.
McCowan, T. (2009). Rethinking citizenship education: A curriculum for participatory democracy. London: Continuum.
McCowan, T. (2013). Education as a human right: Principles for a universal entitlement to learning. London: Bloomsbury.
McCowan, T. (2015). Theories of development. In T. McCowan & E. Unterhalter (Eds.), Education and international development: An introduction. London: Bloomsbury.
McCowan, T., Ananga, E., Oanda, I., Sifuna, D., Ongwenyi, Z., Adedeji, S., et al. (2015). Students in the driving seat: Young people’s views on higher education in Africa (Research Report). Manchester: British Council.
McGrath, S. (2010). The role of education in development: An educationalist’s response to some recent work in development economics. Comparative Education, 46, 237–253.
McGrath, S. (2014). The post-2015 debate and the place of education in development thinking. International Journal of Educational Development, 39, 4–11.
McMahon, W. W. (2009). Higher learning, greater good. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press.
Milbrath, L., & Goel, M. (1977). Political participation: How and why do people get involved in politics? (2nd ed.). Chicago: Rand McNally College.
Milton, S. (2019). Syrian higher education during conflict: Survival, protection, and regime security. International Journal of Educational Development, 64, 38–47.
Milton, S., & Barakat, S. (2016). Higher education as the catalyst of recovery in conflict-affected societies. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 14(3), 403–421.
Mincer, J. (1981). Human capital and economic growth (Working Paper 80). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w0803.pdf.
Newman, J. H. (1947 [1852]). The idea of the university: Defined and illustrated. London: Longmans, Green.
Novelli, M., & Lopez Cardozo, M. (2008). Conflict, education and the global south: New critical directions. International Journal of Educational Development, 28(4), 473–488.
Nussbaum, M. (2000). Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Oketch, M. O., McCowan, T., & Schendel, R. (2014). The impact of tertiary education on development: A rigorous literature review. London: Department for International Development.
Parsons, S., & Bynner, J. (2002). Basic skills and political and community participation: Findings from a study of adults born in 1958 and 1970. London: Basic Skills Agency.
Perkin, H. (2007). History of universities. In J. J. F. Forest & P. G. Altbach (Eds.), International handbook of higher education (pp. 159–206). Dordrecht: Springer.
Peters, R. S. (1966). Ethics and education. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Pherali, T., & Lewis, A. (2019). Developing global partnerships in higher education for peacebuilding: A strategy for pathways to impact. Higher Education.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00367-7.
Prakash, M. S., & Esteva, G. (2008). Escaping education: Living as learning in grassroots cultures (2nd ed.). New York: Peter Lang.
Rist, G. (2002). The history of development: From western origins to global faith. London: Zed Books.
Robertson, S. (2016). Piketty, capital and education: A solution to, or problem in, rising social inequalities? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(6), 823–835.
Romer, P. M. (1986). Increasing returns and long-run growth. The Journal of Political Economy, 94(5), 1002–1037.
Sachs, J. D. (2008). Common wealth: Economics. New York: Penguin Press.
Santos, B. de S. (2015). Epistemologies of the south: Justice against epistemicide. New York: Routledge.
Schultz, T. W. (1961). Investment in human capital. American Economic Review, 51, 1–17.
Sen, A. (1992). Inequality re-examined. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sen, A. (1999a). Development as freedom. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sen, A. (1999b). Democracy as a universal value. Journal of Democracy, 10(3), 3–17.
Smith, A., & Vaux, T. (2003). Education, conflict and international development. London: DFID.
Stewart, F. (1985). Planning to meet basic needs. London: Macmillan.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2007). Making globalization work. London: Allen Lane.
Streeten, P. (1977). The basic features of a basic needs approach to development. International Development Review, 3, 8–16.
Takayama, K., Sriprakash, A., & Connell, R. (2015). Rethinking Knowledge production and circulation in comparative and international education: Southern theory, postcolonial perspectives, and alternative epistemologies. Comparative Education Review, 59(1), v–viii.
Tilak, J. B. G. (2003). Higher education and development in Asia. Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, 17(2), 151–173.
Tomaševski, K. (2001). Human rights obligations: Making education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Right to Education Primers No. 3. Gothenburg: Novum Grafiska.
Unterhalter, E. (2003). The capabilities approach and gendered education: An examination of South African complexities. Theory and Research in Education, 1(1), 7–22.
Willis, P. (1978). Learning to Labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Aldershot Gower: Saxon House/Teakfield.
Winch, C. (2006). Graduate attributes and changing conceptions of learning. In P. Hager & S. Holland (Eds.), Graduate attributes, learning and employability (pp. 67–89). Dordrecht: Springer.
Wolff, J., & de-Shalit, A. (2013). On fertile functionings: A response to Martha Nussbaum. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 14(1), 161–165.
World Bank. (1999). Knowledge for development. World Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCowan, T. (2019). The Role of Education in Development. In: Higher Education for and beyond the Sustainable Development Goals. Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19597-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19597-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19596-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19597-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)